My Travel Journals | Urban travel tales

Richmond, sunset, winter 2017, Thames, river

Lost in interpretation

February 14, 2017 by Lisa Samloglou

initial post 14 February 2017 – revised March 2018 I kept walking along the riverside from Kingston-upon-Thames to Richmond, in Surrey from mid-September 2015 to the early spring of 2017. I have been patiently reconnecting the dots that would lead me further ahead; though at that time I just kept walking, immersed in the shadows and in poetic imagery, enveloped in silence… Winter has swept off relentlessly the striking green, leaving dark branches where before was foliage. Up on the trees a second trail unfolds, soggy crossroads leading to […]

Categories: My Travel Journals, Poetic prose, Reflections on love and other arts • Tags: Cultural heritage, Cultural travel, Nature, Poetic prose, Richmond-upon-Thames, United Kingdom

On Reading a Painting

January 31, 2017 by Lisa Samloglou

On Reading a Painting in 5 minutes – unedited I wrote this text as an exercise on first impression looking at the photo-card of a painting I have been given to chose among 10 other cards. The only info known to me was the title at the back of the card, ‘Melanie and Me Swimming’ by Michael Andrews, from Tate. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/andrews-melanie-and-me-swimming-t02334 After looking carefully at the painting, imagine or even write your one text. Then you may read my text. […]

Categories: Ταξιδιωτικά μου Ημερολόγια, My Travel Journals • Tags: Art, Cultural travel, Culture, Literature, Love, Urban travel tales, Writing

‘Every sound traveler conceives all the time the country he/she is traveling ‘ N. Kazantzakis

November 20, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

for Greek http://goo.gl/NHUQbJ On the wall there is a map marked with the places I wanted to visit. Adolescence. Back then, we did not travel in the internet. We had relatives arriving from landscapes as diverse as New York and Sudan where they had emigrated and settled. I dreamed of London and Bavaria before I put my foot on it. I haven’t been to Tokyo yet. The delicate gifts I have received from my father’s Japanese colleagues when I was […]

Categories: My Travel Journals, Reflections on love and other arts • Tags: Cultural heritage, Cultural travel, Culture, Greece, Greek Literature, Life, Literature, Long Reads, Nikos Kazantzakis, Photography, Travel, Urban travel tales, Writing

Rewarding stops at Chora or Ioulida of the Cycladic island of Kea

October 20, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

Ιnitial post 20 October 2013 – revised March 2018 Each time Ι am at the island of Kea or Tzia I would not miss a visit up to Ioulida, the capital of the Cycladic island, also known as Chora. Some time past I used to stop at Rolando’s. Rolando arrived to Kea from Corfu. His fish tavern at Benitses was passed over to his children so that he would settle with his wife Chryssoula to her native island, Tzia. They work side by […]

Categories: Greek islands, Αθήνα για τα μάτια σου μόνο, Ταξιδιωτικά μου Ημερολόγια, My Travel Journals • Tags: Archaeology Greece, Cultural heritage, Cultural travel, Culture, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Museums, Kea island, Kea/Tzia, Photography, Solo traveling, Travel, Urban travel tales

urban travel tales, Puglia, Apulia, Fiesta di Santa Vittoria, Spongano

Places that console me: Puglia, Apulia

September 21, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

For Greek http://to.ly/p90L In my travels of the recent years I am visiting places, locations and communities about which I know very little. I’m one of the travelers who do not get prepared meticulously beforehand. So, I am landing at the place with a vast curiosity and little bias, I like to think. Locally I gather information, starting from the airport or the port, right from the reception point. Landing to Brindisi via Rome I find at the airport a range of […]

Categories: My Travel Journals • Tags: Art, City, Cultural heritage, Cultural travel, Culture, Design, Europe, Italy, Life, Public spaces, Travel, Urban travel tales, Writing

urban travel tales, love/eros for things

The Return with an Editorial and ‘love/eros for things’

September 9, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

For Greek http://to.ly/oQHD At some point I caught myself saying ‘my blog is my life’ and I got scared. Wherever I went, whatever I saw I was thinking aloud ‘this can be a post in my blog’. I would not let go of my camera. I kept mental notes for the texts. I kept visiting blogs, studying how to improve my blog and spent more and more hours of the day and night on social media to conquer ‘the new […]

Categories: My Travel Journals, Reflections on love and other arts • Tags: Culture, Long Reads, Love, Photography, Urban metaphors, Urban travel tales, Writing

a bench with a view

March 26, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

This blog post is an experiment in poetic prose matched with photos from the island of Kea or Tzia that have inspired it. It has been reviewed by the highly acclaimed Exile Room, an art space and very active non-profit organisation operating at the centre of Athens “obsessed” with promoting and educating on the art and practice of documentaries. The last years in the Exile Room they show regularly distinctive documentaries from the international scene; they also organise seminars and host the most hospitable […]

Categories: Greek islands, My Travel Journals, Poetic prose, Reflections on love and other arts • Tags: Art, Cultural travel, Culture, Gardens, Greece, Greek islands, Kea island, Life, Love, Nature, Photography, Poetic prose, Public spaces, Travel, Writing

urban travel tales, Athens National Garden

Where have they gone the monkeys Mom?

March 21, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

It is Sunday, a warm day of 18 C/65 F, when in London is -1/-30.2 F and in New York +2/35.6 F. In Greece we are blessed with a mild weather and an enticing light. In the National Garden, at the center of Athens, next to the Parliament, people are walking, sitting on the benches. Most of the grown-ups have arrived from Central Europe and the Balkan countries, but their children speak Greek without any accent. They take photos; they watch […]

Categories: Athens for your eyes only, My Travel Journals • Tags: Athens Greece, Cultural heritage, Cultural travel, Culture, Gardens, Greece, Public spaces, Travel, Urban travel tales

urbantraveltales,Karthea, Kea/Tzia, Greece, Karthaia, europea-nostra-award-2017

Walking the trail to the ancient Karthea, at the Greek island of Kea

March 3, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

For Greek Προς την αρχαία Καρθαία, στη νήσο Κέα As in fairy tales we stand uncertain at crossroads. As pilgrims we share stories along the way. The starting point is Korissia, the harbor of Kea. The Cycladic island is also known by its other name Tzia. We drive to Kato Mera (Katomeria) following the road map. We stop at the parking lot to eat omelettes and drink coffee. While our breakfast is prepared we walk to the stone shed hidden behind some houses of the village. […]

Categories: Greek islands, My Travel Journals • Tags: Archaeology Greece, Archaeology Mediterranean, Cultural heritage, Cultural travel, Cyclades, Ecology, Greece, Greek islands, Karthaia, Kea island, Kea/Tzia, Long Reads, Photography, Poles, Public spaces, Travel, Urban travel tales

Secret London: Trafalgar Square, Fourth Plinth

February 7, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

The Fourth Plinth, the Empty Plinth at the North West corner of Trafalgar Square has been housing contemporary art exhibits since 1999. At ICA on The Mall, a collection of 21 commissioned maquettes by celebrated artists were displayed under the title ‘Fourth Plinth: Contemporary Monument’ in partnership with the Mayor of London from December 4th, 2012 to January 20th, 2013. Brought together for the first time in 13 years these commissioned artworks chosen to adorn a public space with international visibility, such as Trafalgar […]

Categories: My Travel Journals • Tags: Art, Cultural heritage, Cultural travel, London, Long Reads, Public spaces, Travel, Urban metaphors, Urban travel tales