The book about Zakynthos is coming along nicely, if slowly. I'm up to 12,500 words. That's still much less than I wrote for my Malaysia Diary, though. However, following advice I got on the Google+ Travel Writers community, I've downloaded Scrivener, a program specifically designed to help you write a book. I wasn't convinced that Word was the answer, nor Google Docs, which… Continue reading Easter in Zakynthos
Category: Zakynthos
Just write
I'm finally here in Zante, the travelling bit is over for the time being, and it's time to bang out the words. "A Season in Zakynthos" As a title for the book I'm thinking of "A Season in Zakynthos", which admittedly is derivative of "A Year in Provence", which itself can't be the first time someone thought to… Continue reading Just write
Athens to Zakynthos, via the Peloponnese
We arrived in Zakynthos by the front door, at the beginning of April, the end of orange season. To fly in, as we sometimes do, is to skulk in through the servants' entrance. We sailed into Zakynthos harbour this time like pirates, boots up on the gunwale, telescopes out. We’d flown into Greece the night… Continue reading Athens to Zakynthos, via the Peloponnese
Athens
Noone has ever accused Athens of being a beautiful city. There are way too many cheaply built cement apartment blocks, choking traffic and graffitied walls. But then again I've also never heard anyone accuse Athens of being boring. I spent five weeks in Athens when I first moved to Europe back in 1998. I stayed… Continue reading Athens
Book Review: ‘Blue Skies and Black Olives’
I recently read a book called 'Blue Skies and Black Olives' about a house in Greece a couple of guys built. A father and son. No less a figure than John Humphrys from TV, and his son! The most interesting thing about the book for me was that it was mainly written by a person who… Continue reading Book Review: ‘Blue Skies and Black Olives’
Return to Zakynthos 1985
Growing up, Greece was our promised land. My parents were reluctant emigrants to Australia who never really came to terms with leaving Greece. The devastation wreaked by World War II followed by the Civil War and then the ruinous earthquake of 1953 ensured that there was no future for them at home. My brothers and… Continue reading Return to Zakynthos 1985
The House in Koukla
When I tell people that we're planning on spending four months ungainfully unemployed in Zakynthos I'm often met with stares of astonishment. We realise we're being a bit irresponsible and that the mortgage isn't going to disappear by itself but... well, at some point in your life you just need to shake things up a… Continue reading The House in Koukla
Zakynthos: Flower of the East
This is a little article I wrote about Zakynthos... The little boat speeds out of the v-shaped harbour of Vromi. Ahead a larger boat is waiting for us, its engines idling, the passengers on board curiously regarding us. We pull up alongside and jump aboard. The driver of the smaller boat hands us up our… Continue reading Zakynthos: Flower of the East
War stories
This is a bit of a different post but ANZAC day got me thinking. My parents emigrated to Australia in the 1950's so there aren't any ANZACs in our family background, nevertheless there is an experience of war. My mother was 5 and dad was 9 when WWII ended. They both lived in the same… Continue reading War stories
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