In Athens, where I live most of the time, I follow the hurried pace of everyday, modern life. Often I experience the need simply to stop, to feel, to really live. Greece provides everything for a soul in need for such restoration: the sea and sky, people and countryside, architecture and history. The light. Summers.
Greece is also a living crossroads: between East and West; a distant past and tomorrow; between tradition and fashion; modern youth and old people still carrying with them earlier, simpler times; between absolute peace and quite and endless festivity.
A way of life is also a way of thinking. I regard every day as a unique experience of beauty. I think of August nights on dreamlike islands; of amazing meals in the tiniest hidden tavernas-or in chic modern restaurants. I sleep in the old hotels that still retain their air of glamour, and fill my lungs with the smell of thyme while searching for a path to the perfect beach somewhere in the Cyclades. I look out over a wonderful landscape, over incredible sunsets, remembering a party one night on the beach, a summer love and a chance conversation with an old man in the village square.
Such moments and memories are endless.
This book is a collection of moments representing my escapes from everyday life. It is also an indication of what Greece has always offered which such abundant generosity.