Ancient Beauty
Executive summary by darmansjah
Patrick Leigh Fermor, the dashing philhellene who died last
June, knew that to get under Greece’s skin you must stray from the instant
gratifications of its seaside resorts. Traveling on foot across the gorges of
Roumeli and mountains of Mani, Leigh Fermor discovered a land of fierce beauty
where traditions run deep. Eventually, he settled in Kardamíli, a sleepy hamlet
in the southern Peloponnese, which he hoped was “too inaccessible, with too
little to do, for it ever to be seriously endangered by tourism.”
Happily, he was right. While some islands have been scarred
by unregulated development—and as the country grapples with the worst financial
crisis in its modern history—Greece’s rugged mainland retains its unadulterated
allure. Foraging for mushrooms in Epirus, watching pink pelicans take flight
over Prespa Lake, listening to ethereal chanting in Meteora’s monasteries (such
as the Roussanou Monastery, above)—there remain pockets of Greece where time
stands still. You just have to know where to look.
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