Literature, films, music
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Memoirs of Hadrian
I inhaled the scent of salt and sun on human skin, the smell of pistachios and turpentine coming from the islands where one would like to live and where one knows in advance one will not get off. This is a wonderful novel by Marguerite Yourcenar, which is a fictional letter from Emperor Hadrian to Continue reading
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A Man – Oriana Fallaci
For me, this somewhat forgotten novel by Oriana Fallaci, was an amazing journey into the depths of the Greek soul and an insightful observation of what a non-Greek feels when interacting with what constitutes modern Greece. This half-biography describes the story of two real people: Oriana Fallaci herself, an unconventional journalist, in love with a Continue reading
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No clear mind
No Clear Mind, formed a decade ago in Chania, is one of our favourite music bands. Very underrated, barely known outside of Greece, though moving, deep, calm. After short visit in Corfu, we are missing spring. Continue reading
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Island
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices, That, if I then had waked after long sleep, 135Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, The clouds methought would open, and show riches Ready Continue reading
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Toteninsel
The Island of the Dead is the best-known painting by Swiss symbolist Arnold Böcklin. An inspiration to many, this bleak painting was created in five versions. According to Nabokov, a reproduction of it hung in every German home. Many researchers say, the inspiration for the Isle of the Dead was our lovely Pontikonissi, which every Continue reading
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Films: Durrels
So much has already been written about the Durrell family, who arrived in Corfu a few years before the outbreak of the Second World War. The excellent series based on the excellent trilogy by Gerald Durell (a less acclaimed writer, but a great naturalist), is loved all over the world.On the island you can still Continue reading
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Books: Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek
I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else. This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse as if you had every ambition. Probably everyone has watched Zorba Continue reading
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Books: John Fowles, Magus
Goodness and beauty may be separable in the north, but not in Greece. Between skin and skin there is only light. John Fowles wrote his masterpiece after a year spent on Spetses, where he used to teach English in late ’50 of XX century. Somewhere between multifaceted yet captivating storyline meanders within the magic of Greece. Continue reading
Meraki Hills: secluded Corfu retreat 