Echoes of Greece across the Aegean

Trying to explain what it is you love most about a place can be difficult—especially when that place is Greece. The superficial things come easily, such as the picture postcard images of blue-domed churches, whitewashed houses with brightly painted shutters and the beautiful beaches. Beyond that is the incredible ‘filoxenia’ of the locals, the culture and customs that differ region to region, along with the history and stories of myth and legend that wrap us up in a world of mystery and magic. Oh, and the food – how can I forget the food! Somehow, it all manages to magically collide to give us that uniquely Greek travel experience that absorbs itself into your very soul.

When I first began travelling to Greece, it was long before Instagram. These things were simply there – quietly perfect and waiting to be discovered. The only tools to guide travellers like myself were hefty publications such as the Independent Traveller’s Greek Island Hopping guide. I still have editions from 2001, 2004 and 2009, all heavily thumbed with scribbled notes and faded dried flowers placed strategically on curling pages now slowly disintegrating (which I can absolutely relate to!).

Once you get the travel bug for Greece, you begin to discover that it’s an incredibly diverse country in terms of its geography and geology. Beyond the islands and the beaches are mountains, lakes and rivers. Caves, gorges and ravines that are not only accessible to the super fit and adventurous but to decrepid and out of shape folk like me.

I’ll never tire of Greece. As one journey ends, I always have a handful of other itineraries tumbling around in my head. The further I spread my net to destinations far from the tourist trail, the more I discover additional layers to be peeled away. Honestly, travelling around Greece shouldn’t be viewed as a tick box exercise. It is a country that needs to be savoured so you can fully immerse yourself in the experience. That way, the memories linger a little longer.

So, going back to my original point, trying to describe what it is that I love most about Greece is a complex question and not one that’s easily answered. What I do know is that my feeling for Greece goes beyond its superficial beauty. There is something about the complexity of its culture that utterly fascinates me. In particular, the way different cultures have clashed and blended over centuries.

Travelling to destinations such as Kavala, Ioannina, Thessaloniki, Xanthi, Sochos and Soufli, for example, has reinforced my love of Ottoman/Balkan type architecture. I’ve lamented many a time over an attractive ‘sachnisi’ and, when possible, have weedled my way into some of the old mansion houses that still remain intact today. There is just something about this type of architecture and the 18th and 19th-century interior design that resonates with me. I don’t know why – it just does. Maybe because it feels other-worldly and exotic.

When thinking about Greek history, it usually conjurs up images of the great philosophers such as Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, the heroic conquerors like Alexander the Great and famous battles such as Thermopylae and Marathon. The history is vast. Beginning in prehistoric times with Minoan, Cycladic and Mycenaean history around 3000 BC all the way through the Archaid Period, Classical Greece, the Hellenistic Period, Roman and Byzantine Greece and beyond – it’s enough to boggle anyone’s mind. As fascinating as this is, the part of Greek history that I’m drawn to the most is that which took place in more recent times, and which connects to my love of the architecture I mentioned before.

When I visited Kavala and parts of Thrace in 2023, I set about trying to understand what happened in the lead-up to the Asia Minor Catastrophe in 1922 and the Greco-Turkish population exchange in 1923. Although a relatively short part of history, it is still very complex, especially as many other countries had their fingers in this part of the proverbial pie, not least the British. It is a lot to get one’s head around, but it is still interesting nonetheless. I still have to remind myself that this took place within my father’s lifetime – and that really is a mind-boggler.

This isn’t part of Greek history that finds its way onto the pages of a travel brochure, and yet its effects created a significant upheaval for 1.7 million people and is a profound and painful chapter that still resonates today on both sides. Because this part of history is so recent, it feels almost touchable and therefore more emotive. It’s very difficult to read epic books like De Berniers’ Birds Without Wings or Smyrna in Flames by Homero Adjidis, without feeling the trauma of the events during that period.

So, it is with all this in mind that my latest Greek-related travels will be one that is slightly different in nature. To satisfy my thirst for knowledge about recent (and not so recent) Greek history, I begin my quest to learn more about the Greek presence in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. Today we are heading to Istanbul.

Istanbul, once known as Constantinople and before that Byzantium, is today a city layered with the traces of its mixed cultural past – Greek, Jewish, Armenian, Roman, Persian – a real cultural salad. And of course, it’s impossible to visit Istanbul without soaking up some of Turkey’s own incredible history and culture.

My husband Peter will join me for the first part of this trip – who better to spur me on to hike the length and breadth of the city! We will pack as much as we can into our week in central Istanbul before moving on to – well, let’s wait and see! Like my other extended autumn trips, I have no fixed itinerary (apart from the week in Istanbul) but a one-way ticket and a general idea of direction of travel. I don’t know when or where the trip will end, but let’s see how far the travel wallet and my creaking bones will last. The hope is that this trip will shine a light on the shared and entangled history of both Greece and Turkey and take me on a trip that is a very different type of Greek Oddity. Come follow me on my travels!