Travel | Urban travel tales

‘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 travel, Culture, Greece, Greek Literature, Life, Literature, Long Reads, Nikos Kazantzakis, Photography, Travel, Urban travel tales, Writing

Save the spirit of the 31st Athens Classic Marathon

November 10, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

31st Athens Classic Marathon dedicated to the memory of Grigoris Lamprakis November 10, 2013 The city of Athens celebrates today. More than 30.000 runners participate. The community responds, greets the runners warmly, cheers them with bravos and applause. The sun is warm, the sky is blue. I saw runners praying to their gods. I saw a runner in bare foot and a girl crying because she had to give up shortly before the termination at the Kallimarmaron Stadium. I saw tears […]

Categories: Athens for your eyes only • Tags: Athens Greece, Cultural travel, Culture, Greece, Ελλάδα, journalism, Life, Photography, Public spaces, Travel, Urban metaphors, Urban travel tales

view of houses at Chora Kea Tzia Ioulida Greece

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

October 21, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

for Greek http://goo.gl/8qGyCW There is no way I visit Ioulida, the capital of the Cycladic island of Kea, known also as Tzia, without passing from ‘Rolando’ to taste his food and wine. Rolando came to Kea from Corfu; he left his tavern in Benitses to his children and followed his wife Chryssoula to her native island. They work side by side from spring to winter. Rolando brings to Kea a cosmopolitan air sustained by a smiling face and a warm handshake. […]

Categories: My Travel Journals • Tags: Archaeology Greece, Cultural travel, Culture, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Museums, Kea island, Kea/Tzia, Photography, Solo traveling, Travel, Urban travel tales

urban travel tales, Kea/Tzia, Ayia Irini, Caskeys, archeaology, Greece ,Vourkari

Οι Κόρες της Κέας και η Αγία Ειρήνη

October 1, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

For English: http://to.ly/pjzN Επισκέπτομαι το Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο της Κέας μια δροσερή μέρα του Ιουλίου. Το αεράκι μπαίνει από τα ανοιχτά παράθυρα και αναδεύει σκιές που κολυμπούν στο γαλάζιο των τοίχων, ενώ ένα παραθυρόφυλλο κτυπάει με σταθερό ρυθμό. Είμαι η μοναδική επισκέπτρια, εκτός από ένα νεαρό που περνάει σιωπηλά, και εξαφανίζεται. Είτε στέκουν είτε χορεύουν οι Κόρες της Κέας είναι στητές γυναικείες φιγούρες. Οι αντανακλάσεις τους στις βιτρίνες μοιάζουν μακρύτερες, καθώς οι φούστες τους ακουμπάνε στο έδαφος και επιπλέον φορούν περικόρμια. Κάποιες φέρουν […]

Categories: Greek islands, Ταξιδιωτικά μου Ημερολόγια • Tags: Αρχαιολογία Μεσόγειος, Δημόσιοι χώροι, Ελλάδα, Ελληνικά νησιά, Κυκλάδες, Κέα, Κέα/Τζιά, Μουσεία Ελλάδα, Long Reads, Photography, Travel, Urban travel tales, Writing

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 travel, Culture, Design, Europe, Italy, Life, Public spaces, Travel, Urban travel tales, Writing

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

Τόποι που με παρηγορούν, Απούλια, Puglia, Apulia

September 21, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

for English http://to.ly/p90S Στα ταξίδια μου των τελευταίων χρόνων επισκέπτομαι μέρη, τόπους και κοινότητες για τα οποία ελάχιστα γνωρίζω. Δεν είμαι από τους ταξιδιώτες που προετοιμάζονται σχολαστικά. Προσγειώνομαι λοιπόν στον τόπο με πολύ περιέργεια και λίγη προκατάληψη, θέλω να πιστεύω. Επιτόπου συγκεντρώνω πληροφορίες, αρχής γενομένης από το αεροδρόμιο ή το λιμάνι, από το σημείο υποδοχής. Όταν προσγειώνομαι στο Μπρίντιζι μέσω Ρώμης βρίσκω στο αεροδρόμιο μια ποικιλία από καλογραμμένους οδηγούς, χάρτες και βιβλιαράκια με εύληπτες πληροφορίες για καλοκαιρινές εκδηλώσεις, μουσική, θέατρο & χορό, τέχνη […]

Categories: Ταξιδιωτικά μου Ημερολόγια • Tags: Cultural travel, Culture, Design, Italy, πόλη, Δημόσιοι χώροι, Ιταλία, Ταξίδι, Life, Public spaces, Travel, Urban travel tales, Writing

Let’s play storytelling

April 6, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

I am walking mesmerized by the odor of thousand lemon trees like a sleepwalker in slow motion, eyes wandering but not seeing, enveloped in the blurring light of festive green. I get a glimpse of the Santa hat, an unusual sight in April. A teddy bear is hanging with the laundry left out to dry in the garden; a common practice in our Mediterranean countries. I stop still, nailed on the ground. I start taking photos as if shooting could give me the answers. […]

Categories: Athens for your eyes only, Reflections on love and other arts • Tags: Art, Culture, Gardens urban, Greece, Life, Poetic prose, Travel, 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 is reviewed by the highly acclaimed Exile Room, an art space and very active non-profit organisation operating at the centre of Athens with specific “obsession” the art & practice of documentaries. The last years they have been showing regularly distinctive documentaries from the international scene; they also organise seminars and host the most hospitable events. Thank you Exile Room, […]

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 • Tags: Athens Greece, Cultural travel, Culture, Gardens, Greece, Public spaces, Travel, Urban travel tales, Writing

urban travel tales,Tomb at Toumba Building, Lefkandi

Athens hosts ‘Princesses’ of Mediterranean at the Museum of Cycladic Art

March 15, 2013 by Lisa Samloglou

For GREEK http://to.ly/kvJe At the Museum of Cycladic Art from December 13, 2012 until May 8th, 2013 the personal objects that were found buried in the graves were brought together here to constitute the exhibition ” ‘Princesses’ of Mediterranean in the dawn of History”. Some of them have traveled from Cyprus, Southern Italy, Etruria to meet their synchronous from Greece: Attica, Euboea, Macedonia. The turnout is big at the well-organized Museum of Cycladic Art. This spring day, a Saturday, it is […]

Categories: Athens for your eyes only • Tags: Archaeology Greece, Archaeology Mediterranean, Art, Athens Greece, City, Cultural travel, Culture, Greece, Greek Museums, Long Reads, Public spaces, Travel, Urban travel tales, Writing