Welcome.
How the needs of small talk gave birth to Greece authentic…..
Brits do small talk by talking about the weather. French complain about the government. And nomads like myself ask each other where they come from.
People who travel meet lots of other people who also travel. We are the new nomads. Instead of a tent, we have a briefcase and few credit cards. But the fundamentals remain the same.
When nomads meet, they ask each other where they come from. A shared habit among lots of cultures. An excellent way to start some small talk but also to ‘measure up’ your interlocutor. Is the person coming from an elegant suburb in the capital of his country/ Or from a picturesque island where all the celebrities of the world rush to visit? Has the person rubbed shoulders with some big personality in his/ her local market or school and got some halo of fame on them?
So during the last 30 years of my nomadic life, I have been answering that I come from Kavala, a town in Northern Greece. And to my great frustration, there was always a ‘blank’ reaction. Nobody seemed to have ever heard of Kavala and and this has been cutting conversations short. My attempts to explain that although not an island, it is very picturesque town, with gorgeous beaches, rich history, great food and wonderful culture were, let’s face it, pointless. And there did not seem to be any decent way to just show to people what a great place Kavala is.
So i got fed up and decided to take action. I met the brilliant Gesthimani, and together we designed, Greece Authentic: Kavala, a window into this beautiful part of the world for everybody to see what a great place this is.
And my ambition is that next time someone asks me where I come from, I will simply respond : let me show you….Because a picture speaks a thousands words…And several pictures speak volumes about this great area I am proud to call my birth place.