Corfu Magazine - Vol. 3, No. 3; March 2008
THE GREEKS HAVE A WORD FOR IT …
by Steve Williams
In the 21st century, many of us have travelled the world, immersed ourselves into different countries and cultures, and seen sights that our parents could only dream about. In the UK, research has revealed that almost half of us originated in central France and the movement of peoples around Europe has blended our genes to produce the typical white Caucasian that we find today right across the continent.
Of course, our common history started many millennia ago and as people dispersed to all corners of Europe they were each influenced by geography, climate, resources, disease and local events. Individual practices and philosophies were developed and the regions of Europe each emerged with their own characters and beliefs, their own languages and cuisines and clear identities that set them apart from their neighbours.
Considering the Mediterranean, the favourite holiday destination of so many northern Europeans looking for some elusive sunshine, what is it that makes each of us choose a favourite spot which is better than all others? Why do some of us prefer Portugal to Spain or Greece to Italy, and why do many of us settle on a favourite resort to which we return year after year? Clearly, we only have so much time to make our choices as the number of destinations far outweighs our opportunities to visit them. Each one of us relates differently to other cultures based upon our own backgrounds and conditioning and, after years of searching for a single word that best encompasses my attraction to Corfu in particular, I have settled on ‘contentment’.
To be content is to be satisfied and quietly happy, to be delighted and to have a due sense of benefit. I find
Corfu to be most agreeable in all that it offers, especially when compared to the demands and pressures of northern European life. Apart from the climate and the scenery, I feel it is the people and their character, their standards and beliefs and, most of all, their friendliness that makes me so content.
I have asked a lot of visitors what it is that draws them back to Corfu and, if you extract all the common elements of Mediterranean holiday destinations, you're left with one thing - the people. There is no doubt that I now have more genuine friends in Corfu than in the UK, and that's without the ex-pats. Maybe I've been lucky, but I’ve found the Corfiots generous to a fault, they are caring, kind, friendly and funny. Many are possibly the best friends I have ever had.
So where does it all come from and why do the Greeks have an approach to life that I feel more at home with than the one I have lived with for sixty years in the UK? Do I subconsciously identify with aspects of my childhood that are buried deep within my memory - things that are drawn from the carefree years of my infancy, or is it that the Greek lifestyle is simply more logical? Greeks remain on the whole an extrovert and friendly people, known for their hospitality and somewhat relaxed approach to the demands and pressures of daily life. Some in Greece regard this 'live and let live' approach, however, as more clearly conveyed in economic terms as a moderate work ethic; others prefer to reaffirm their position by highlighting the near sub-tropical climate of much of Greece and the need for the famous afternoon 'siesta'.
Looking a little deeper into what I, and many other visitors to Corfu, find so welcoming about the island, it seems that hospitality toward strangers and travellers was a popular element in many of the myths and stories for which Greece is so famous.
Commentary
Johansen - continued
so far from anything and anyone else. It was a dump then and it’s a dump now and sooner or later Corfu will need to decide whether it wants Kavos anymore.
Our two weeks flew by, as holidays always do when you spend so much of them travelling, but even back then the development, or was it over-development, of Corfu was becoming an issue.
The 80s onwards saw me return in different guises. With mates, with other mates, with girl, with another girl and, finally, with family. Corfu, as we say of certain things, has something for everyone.
Understandably, you might conclude from my comments that I don’t like any of the changes that have taken place in Corfu, but you’d be wrong.
Oh yes, I love Corfu Town and the magnificent forts and Liston, the glorious beaches of the west coast and the rocky inlets of the east. The spectacular Ropa Valley and, despite the presence of those ludicrous radio transmitters, the peak of Mount Pantocrator are unforgettable and unmissable.
But I like the Kanoni peninsula too partly because, not despite, the aircraft (much quieter these days). And I am not alone. Just take a look at the walkway to Perama and see the huddled groups watching the jets roaring a few feet above them, or from the cafes and restaurants above.
Oh most people come to see Mouse Island but quite a lot get a kick out of seeing the constant coming and going from the airport. I know I do.
And whilst I enjoy the beauty of the Achilleon Palace, I also love the raucous atmosphere at Aqualand.
It’s getting the balance right, isn’t it?
At the moment, Corfu has the balance about right. Just.
It could have done without the open quarrying near the Troumpeta Pass and some of the more crass development in some popular resorts.
But these are minor quibbles.
There is still plenty to maintain the happiness of the traditionalist who professes to enjoy a little modernity too. Corfu does a good job standing still and moving forward all at once.
Off the beaten track, and sometimes on it, you will always find an unexpected village, a town that’s a speck on some maps and forgotten altogether on others, where you can sit in silence and drink coffee.
What brought me to Corfu was someone else’s recommendation. What brings me back, time after time, is what I first saw in 1985.
At the moment, Corfu has the balance about right. Just.
It could have done without the open quarrying near the Troumpeta Pass and some of the more crass development in some popular resorts.
But these are minor quibbles.
There is still plenty to maintain the happiness of the traditionalist who professes to enjoy a little modernity too. Corfu does a good job standing still and moving forward all at once.
Off the beaten track, and sometimes on it, you will always find an unexpected village, a town that’s a speck on some maps and forgotten altogether on others, where you can sit in silence and drink coffee.
What brought me to Corfu was someone else’s recommendation. What brings me back, time after time, is what I first saw in 1985.
©Happy Holidays Corfu
Nowhere in Europe is there a country so proud of its past and the lessons it delivers. It is a real treat to see young people everywhere celebrating their inheritence and Greece is one of the few places in Europe where the day-to-day role of folk dance and music is sustained. Rather than functioning as museum pieces, preserved only for performances and special events, they are a vivid expression of everyday life. Dance has its place in ceremonial customs that are still preserved in Greek villages and I will never forget the group of teenagers, in modern jeans and trainers, who took their ghetto blaster onto the top deck of an Italian ferry so that they could indulge in a little traditional dancing – just for themselves. Carnivale and Easter offer more opportunities for family gatherings and dancing and Greek tavernas providing live entertainment often include folk music and dancing in their programmes.
This code of hospitality is what most visitors to Greek shores take home with them and what I believe brings them back again year after year. So why do the Greeks think that this hospitality is so important that perfect strangers be treated with such respect and attention? Historically, human heroes served as role models for the ancient Greeks, who would have been expected to emulate the interactions between the gods and these legendary people. It seems likely that there was an attitude of "what goes around comes around:" that you should be kind to strangers because one day you too might be a stranger in need of a warm fire and food. If there were no hotels, this reliance on the kindness of strangers was the only way to survive when one had to travel.
Along the same lines, this pre-set code of honour would have neatly answered the question as to what to do when a stranger comes to the door? Refusing entrance, food and shelter could incur the wrath of the gods, especially if there was the possibility that the person at
the door was indeed a god in disguise. The gods could take on human forms, such as a beggar or some other undesirable, for the purpose of testing the humans they encountered, and to fail the test could mean death. In every religion, in every culture, there is the wandering god or goddess, or fairy queen or witch, who is dependent upon the hospitality of the ordinary human mortal. The decision of the mortal often results in the difference between living happily ever after, or dying a painful death. And so, hospitality becomes a way to worship the gods, or is done out of fear of the gods, yet it maintains a socially important rule of the culture, a rule without which the culture would be very different.
In modern Greece, the strong links with the past and pride in historical heritage, ensures that these values, like all other cultural traditions, have persisted through the years. I am sure today that the many Greek friends you have made on your numerous visits to Corfu do not, for one minute, imagine that you might be a god in disguise, but the ethos continues. I believe that this thread of belief still runs through Greek society and that we, the visitors who feel content in this environment, have somehow identified it as the single most important quality that sets Greece in general, and Corfu in particular, apart from all those other destinations across Europe.
The notion of ‘filoxenia’, the Greek word for hospitality, is still deeply rooted in modern Greece. Constructed from the words for ‘friendship’ and ‘stranger’, it clearly gives rise to that delightful feeling of satisfaction we all feel when we, as ‘strangers’, return to see our ‘friends’ in Corfu every year. It is very easy to make friends with the Greeks and I have not detected a feeling like this anywhere else. I believe that ‘filoxenia’ is the source of that magical quality that is unique to Greece. Long may it continue.
Working together under the Diktyo realestate banner
to meet your needs for properties and homes on Corfu...
Detached House for Sale Feakon, Kerkira
€85,000.00 Bedrooms: 1
Property code: AN1097 ·Area: 138 m2, Price: € 85,000.00,Bedrooms: 1 Floor: Storage, Road Access: Asphalt
Area: 138 m2, Price: € 85,000.00,Bedrooms: 1 Floor: Storage, Road Access: Asphalt Old olive oil factory with the old stones and the old wooden press can be reconstructed as a model house. Unique. Few of its kind exist int his condition on Corfu.
REAL OPPORTUNITY
Welcome to Corfuplan-Gerekos
WELCOME TO THE REAL ESTATE OFFICE CORFUPLAN IN CORFU. WE WORK NOT ONLY THROUGHOUT CORFU BUT THROUGHOUT GREECE AS WELL. WE ARE NOT JUST ANOTHER IMRERSONAL BUSINESS THAT CONSIDERS THE CLIENT ONLY AS A ANOTHER TRANSACTION, WE ARE A BUSINESS THAT HELPS OUT CLIENTS MAKE THEIR DREAMS A REALITY.
100% local financing available to the buyer that will restore and ronovate this old wine press to its original state...
CONTACT Paul Gerekos (Corfuplan) at:
Tel.: 0030-26610-90870; Mob.: 6934854112
Email: corfuplan@yahoo.gr
CONTACT Marcos Gerekos (Corfu Dream) at:
Te.: 0030 26610 90433; Mob.: 6977488745
Email: corfudreamproperty@yahoo.gr
OR FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW AND A REPRESENTATIVE WILL CONTACT YOU
I am interested in:
