Greece is probably the most beautiful country in the world.
Its architecture, wrecked ancient and Venetian stone overgrown with vine. It’s food and drink. It’s history and philosophers. The unique turquoise of its seas over plunging white limestone. Pines that grow lusciously from dry clay soil adding their scent to the salty air. It’s rugged coastline. They reach me in a profound way.
Greece makes sense. Perfect sense in fact. The logic of an ouzo over ice and fresh grilled octopus dressed with olive oil and oregano is as compelling as the mathematics of Pythagoras and physics of Archimedes.
I love Greece. But she is a difficult lover.
Her people's “I couldn’t give a f***” attitude is something I find very appealing despite the basket case institutions that this, along with a profound laziness and effortless corruptibility of character, gives rise to.
There is some nasty racism here. Levels of resentment for Arabs, fleeing war and fitted out by NGOs in smart new sportswear, can be quite shocking; there is a bit of mob madness about it. As Yugoslavia was in the 90’s, Greece is the place where, I fear, the pogrom might feasibly once more get a run in Europe. Not that such currents are sustainable. If Greece were removed from the European teat she would devolve into cholera and cannibalism within 6 weeks and her population halve within 12 months.
Greek national and cultural pride, the love of things Greek by Greeks, is a wonderful thing. But pride sometimes ticks over into chauvinism.
For this, I have a pret-a-porter line of reasoning ...something I prepared earlier. You were out-sailed by the Phoenicians, out-built and out-fought by the Romans, out-mathed by the Persians and Arabs, out-sculpted by the Florentines, out-traded by the Venetians, and, quite frankly, Albanians are better at cooking lamb.
Whatever. I’ll be back swooning at the feet of Dionysius, again.
Where I slept:
Marilu's Paxos Port House: Stunning, right by the port.
Where I ate:
Thalassa (Gaios, Paxos): Fresh seafood prepared very well in the Greek style, even if it is a little touristy. Fishalida (Corfu Old Town, Corfu): Right next door to the fish market so it doesn't get fresher. Immaculate grilled fish and seafood pastas.
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