Thessaloniki traveled to almost all the Greek islands – Two left to reach 100%

From the Diapontian Islands above Corfu to Kastelorizo, which is a “breath” away from the Asia Minor coast and from Gavdos, the southernmost part of Europe, to the north in Thassos and Samothrace, a Thessalonian has set the “flag” of. Small, large, popular and less known inhabited Greek islands, George Polyzos has visited them all. All but two, which he will go to at the first opportunity.

Traveling throughout his life to the Greek islands, he has filled his living room with countless photos – all of them analog, with albums sorted by destination, with postcards, magnets, glasses that write the name of each island and special objects – souvenirs, for to remind him of his every trip.

“Telendos, located next to Kalymnos, and Pserimos above Kos remain to complete this circle and achieve the goal I set many years ago: To visit all the inhabited islands of Greece, which are about a hundred,” he says Mr. Polyzos at the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency.

Traveling to the Greek islands, his goal is to get to know them through tours of their hidden corners, through visits to museums, churches or monasteries, through their local cuisine and special flavors and above all through their people. “When I go somewhere, I don’t just take a swim on a beautiful beach. What I like and what excites me is to get in touch with the locals. Moreover, on every trip I seek to explore my destination and fortunately, both me and my wife are very fond of walking,” he says.

Thassos is the starting point for the tour of the Greek islands

George Polyzos, now retired, first went to an island at a young age, with his parents, in Thassos, while the next family trip was to an island in the lake, the islet of Pamvotida in Ioannina. “Growing up, as a student, my first wishes were to go with my company to those that attracted people, such as Rhodes, Mykonos, Skiathos, the enchanting Santorini. Along the way, however, I got fed up with them and started planning trips, beyond the destinations that the whole world chooses, and to smaller islands,” he says.

His favorite hobby, traveling, required a lot of time, which he lacked during his working life, given that in all the private companies he worked for, he had managerial positions, as he is a graduate of the financial department of the law school in Thessaloniki and did two master’s degrees in Canada in economics and business administration. “In 2012, when I retired, I decided to prioritize my hobbies, so I started traveling more,” the 70-year-old points out.

Father of two children and grandfather of two grandchildren, Giorgos Polyzos married Aspa at the age of 27. They have been to most of the islands together, while on the trips his wife does not follow, he does them alone. They have just returned from Samos a few days ago, on a trip that lasted three weeks.

“It was a tour of nine islands. In addition to Samos, we went to Ikaria and Patmos, but also to some smaller ones, such as Fournos, Thymaina, Leipsos, Marathi, Arkios and the beautiful Agathonisi, which is very close to the sea border with Turkey.” explains.

The definition of the expression “Greek hospitality”

Each of his trips was an unforgettable experience, which, as he emphasizes, was etched in his mind and heart and is mainly due to the touching hospitality he received mainly in small – unknown to some and forgotten by many – destinations. “Without wanting to do injustice to my beloved Crete, where I met pure and beautiful people, I believe that on the small islands you find more authentic people, who have not been changed by the tourist wave and the hunt for money. People, whose greatest joy is just to visit them,” he says.

He tells stories of everything he collected in these destinations, he is moved and moved. He talks about his trip to Corfu, from where he visited Erikusa, Othonou, but it was not convenient to take the boat to Mathraki, the third of the Diapontian islands. Randomly asking someone at the port of Agios Stefanos in North Corfu, he offered to take him himself in his speedboat and also to return him at the end of the day. “I assumed he was making the trip for pay. When I asked what I owed, he told me that I was insulting him, because it is enough for him that I come from Thessaloniki and I want to see his place”, he says.

As Mr. Polyzos was then informed, this man was the owner of the island’s only tavern at the time, where he had lunch with his wife, after they had previously enjoyed a swim in the sea. “At the next table was a young tourist from England, who was sitting alone, eating Greek salad and reading a book. I invited her to join us and during our conversation she said that in recent summers her main stop is Mathraki, because she loved the quietness, the simple environment, the simplicity of the people”, says Mr. Polyzos, emphasizing that these are exactly the advantages that he himself recognized. And while they finished their meal and in a few hours they had to leave, he wondered how they would do their walk to discover the island with a full stomach and the temperature at the highest price of the day. At that moment the keys of a small blue car, the only one outside the tavern, “landed” on the table and with a smile the owner urged them to take it and go wherever they wanted.

A similar incident happened to him when he tried to visit Kastos, an islet below Lefkada, which has a ferry connection on certain days of the week with the small port of Mytikas in Etoloakarnania. “While we booked three nights in a room for rent, we missed the boat and I called the owner to let her know. She told me not to worry and that she would send her husband to pick us up. In addition to not taking money for the transportation in his boat, his wife welcomed us with sweets, pies, hugs and kisses…”, he remembers. As he thinks of Kastos, Mr. Polyzos becomes melancholy, because during his stay he had learned that at that time, the permanent residents in the winter were only seventeen, all of them old people, who every day gathered in the cafe and …were measured. “If they realized someone was missing, they would go to their house to see if they were hurt or if they needed anything,” he explains.

Another story that comes to his mind is from his visit to Trizonia, the islet located in the Gulf of Patraikos – Corinthia, very close to Glyfada of Fokida, where he went in a few minutes on a small boat, with which he would return night. “Meanwhile a storm arose and a ban was issued for small ships. The captain, who had a house on the island and invited me to stay, refused to pay him and said it was his pleasure that we would spend the day together, drink tsipouro and eat octopus,” he says.

From their last trip, they remember their arrival in Arkiou, where they asked the taverna where they would eat after the established reconnaissance walk if there was any local flavor they should not miss, such as a special pie. “Although it wasn’t on the menu, by the time we got back from the sea the cook had made it and on leaving she gave us other local dishes,” he says.

He still remembers that in Palio Trikeri, a small island in Pagasitikos, an Agioreite monk they met, who restored the island’s long-abandoned monastery, when he learned that they would like to stay one more night but there was no availability in the accommodation they were already staying in , offered to accommodate him together with his wife in one of the cells. “It was strange to have a couple living in the same monastery cell, which was beautiful, very well-kept and spotlessly clean by ladies who went there thinking that in this way they were offering to the Virgin Mary to whom the monastery is dedicated. It had two single beds, separated by a fireplace and decorated with beautiful hand embroidery. They didn’t charge us anything for this particular overnight stay, since the guests, if they want, give whatever they want,” he explains.

One of the most vivid images that stands out, was during a walk in the country of Anafi, an island east of Santorini. “As I walked among the freshly whitewashed houses, on the cobblestones that have the white dividing lines of the Cycladic style, outside one house – on the steps of which sat a grandfather with a wrinkled face and white hair, he had a pot of basil, which I stroked and soon after I brought my hand to my nose to smell him. The aroma of basil mixed with sea salt and the Aegean wind enchanted me and I couldn’t resist running my hand over it a second time. A few steps further, I hear a voice “my son, my son” and turning to see, it was the grandfather who got up to offer me a bunch of basil that he prepared at that time, because he realized that I liked it”, he says with emotion.

“Visiting small islands is recognition for the inhabitants”

George Polyzos believes that we should show our love and appreciation to the inhabitants of these islands, most of which had great glories in the past. “These people are nostalgic for the past, they are disappointed with the conditions that prevail in the present and they are anxious about the future, because they think that they are big and if something happens to them… who and when will come to get them and where will it take them…” , he emphasizes.

He makes sure to keep in touch with some of the people he met and often offers to reciprocate the hospitality either in Thessaloniki, at his home in Pieria or at his holiday home in Halkidiki. His next goal is to visit all the artificial lakes of Greece and to complete his visits to countries in Europe that have a population of less than one million.

RES-EMP

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