New York.- By Vicki James Yiannias
“Does anyone really need a reason to visit Greece? The land, the people, the history, the food… you’ll find all these reasons, and more, in travel brochures and posters. But why you really should visit Greece is to feel alive,” Diane Shugart, editor of Odyssey magazine in Athens, Greece, told the GN, expressing what so many feel to be a 
fundamental truth about that beautiful country.
Addressing the topic of visiting Greece in view of the economic situation, she said, “Greece is still Greece. And people may be going through a very difficult time, but they haven’t lost their humanity or their zest for life.”
The Peloponnese and Crete hold special fascination for Ms. Shugart.
“I have so many favorite places in Greece, it’s impossible to name one. But time and time again, I find myself returning to the Peloponnese and Crete. I’m enchanted with how they shrink the world, bring it closer, but also open it up, thanks to a varied topography that puts 2.5km peaks just minutes away from the sea.” If she were restricted to just a couple of days in Athens, said Shugart,
“I’d spend the first day visiting the Acropolis and Acropolis Museum before wandering around Plaka and Thisseio, and take in the sunset at Sounio. I’d spend the second day on a day-cruise to the Saronic islands or independently visit Aegina or Poros. Maybe I’m biased, but there is a reason I’ve chosen to live on Poros, says Shugart, who is in the enviable position of being able to step out of her house and walk along the sea, “Or maybe combine a trip to Poros with a tour of the Argolid.”
It’s a cliché by now, but undeniable nonetheless, that the clear, ecstatically blue seas of Greece heal the body and calm the soul. According to the many who say that they can’t do without the health benefits derived from swimming in Greece’s therapeutic sea every year, it’s not just a divine experience but also a necessary one. It makes sense. 93 out of 100 Greek beaches are rated “excellent” by the European Environmental Agency, and a recent CNN report names 4 Greek beaches, two on Crete, and one each on the islands of Zakynthos and Lefkada, among the top 100 best beaches in the world. The only thing you need to know about the famous Zakynthos beach “Ναυάγιο” the report says, is that it’s “exquisite”. You’ll see “dramatic sunsets, and electric blue water” at Lefkada’s “Εγκρεμνοί” beach, and the “pastel colors of the marvelous” Μπάλος beach in Chania, Crete, make it “postcard perfect”, while the “biggest beach party” takes place on the Φαλάσαρνα beach, also in Chania.
Following Gianna Daskalakis-Angelopoulos’s suggestions to support Greece’s agrotourism by visiting small producers of wine and olive oil, while you are Chania take the opportunity to find out how forward-thinking Greece is in its support of organic and sustainable agriculture by visiting the Astrikas Estate, where Biolea olive oil originates. One of the most serious quality olive oil exporters to the US, Astrikas Estate is only 30 kilometers away from Chania. Walking though the primordial olive groves you can breathe in the past, then view the future by learning about the importance of sustainability.
For more agrotourism entwined with a culinary experience, you can just make it for a June 24-27 cookbook vacation on renown cookbook author Aglaia Kremezi’s island paradise on Kea, where you have a festival in general, learning to cook with the splendid produce—even some indigenous varieties of greens that you may never have seen before–that she and her husband Costas cultivate, taste wines and olive oils and feast on your own perfected efforts in the best of Greece’s rural settings. A second program, a special olive picking and pressing program, here you pick olives and press them in Aglaia and Costa’s own olive press is coming up on September 22-26.)
In the village of Tsangarada on the eastern slopes of Mt. Pelion, one of the most beautiful places in Greece, you can embrace nature in a special kind of foraging agrotourism (a contemporary rage) by staying in the AMANITA Guesthouse, situated between the mountain and the sea, and taking the guesthouse’s gastronomic tour of the mountain, the walking tours among the Forest of the Centaurs’ centuries old trees to collect fruits, nuts, and herbs and gather mushrooms, treks along the mountain’s stone pathways, and the beaches and tiny hidden coves bordering emerald green waters.
These suggestions are just drop in the vast sea of Greece’s summer holiday potential. This small country holds a universe of things to discover, to invent, and to luxuriate in. You can pursue whatever pleases you in its sophisticated cosmopolitan centers and gorgeous land and seascapes.
Diane Shugart offers a last, invaluable thought: “As for what else to do when you visit Greece, there’s a lot and there’s nothing–which is something we’ve forgotten how to do. I’ll go on vacation with a list of books to read or a project I want to work on in peace, but instead I’ll spend those hours just sitting, staring out at the sea or the land. Greece helps you find balance,” she said, “The thing about coming to Greece is that once isn’t enough. You always have to come back. You always want to come back. Again. And again.
Your tourist dollars will help get Greece’s economy moving more than any other assistance. Let’s go to Greece this summer!
