Reading Greece

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)  The series “Women Writing Greece” by editors Vassiliki Kolocotroni and Efterpi Mitsi, explores images of modern Greece by women who experienced the country as travellers, writers, and scholars, or who journeyed there through the imagination. The essays assembled here consider women’s travel narratives, memoirs and novels, ranging from the eighteenth to the late twentieth century, focusing on the role of gender in travel and cross-cultural mediation and challenging stereotypical views of ‘the Greek journey’, traditionally seen as an antiquarian or Byronic pursuit. This collection aims to cast new light on women’s participation in the discourses of Hellenism and Orientalism, examining their ideological rendering of Greece as at once a luminous land and a site crossed by contradictory cultural memories. Arranged chronologically, the essays discuss encounters with Greece by, among others, Mary Shelley, Eva Palmer-Sikielianos, Jane Ellen Harrison and Virginia Woolf.  Secretariat General of Information: Greece in the World: Books – Modern Greek History

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Explore Greece: Fantastic Agrotourism

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)    In their article “20 fantastic farm stays” in the Observer (5.10.2008) about their favourite rural retreats in Britain and elsewhere, Jane Dunford and Sarah Turner include the Milia retreat in Chania, Crete, is which featured at place 16. In their words:  “An agritourism pioneer, Milia was set up in the Chania region in 1991 by a group of locals who decided to renovate a collection of derelict farm buildings and start an organic farm.” The farm produces nearly all the ingredients needed for the typical regional dishes served up in the farm restaurant, including rabbit with local cheese. One could visit in the fall or winter, as guests are encouraged to get involved: November sees raki production, while olives are harvested between December and February.  Secretariat General of Information: World Media on Greece – Travel