In celebration of the Greek Independence Day*, I post this text, written in 2016, about the magic island of Corfu:
Romania is my country and Corfu is my home island. (I have written these inspired, of course, by Gertrude Stein).
I am caught in the magic of the island of cypresses, millennia-old olive trees and nymphs. The satyrs are not scarce either, they just resumed human form. If my words escape you, I would like to say that Greeks are very handsome and “warm”.
I want to relocate in a very small cottage on a mountain side, overlooking the sea and palm trees rustling merrily in the lazy salty breeze.
My single worry was to get up early (at 6 A.M. or so) to still catch the stars and then, the sun. And later, after happy hours of basking in its mellow warmth, watch it jumping into the waves on the way to the other realm.
October in Corfu is like late beautiful spring in Romania. Balmy air, birds chirping, tons of colors and fragrances heralding another spring. The one starting in November!
“Gradually the magic of the island (Corfu) settled over us as gently and clingingly as pollen.”
― Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals
I illustrate with my photos: the waning moon at dawn & later, the waxing moon at dusk; the clearest water that I can look into till my eyes turn blue & one stunning sunset; a romantic ship in the Kerkyra harbour & the highest peak – the Pantokrator.
*Greek Independence Day, national holiday celebrated annually in Greece on March 25, commemorating the start of the War of Greek Independence in 1821. It coincides with the Greek Orthodox Church’s celebration of the Annunciation to the Theotokos, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would bear the son of God.
