36 Comments
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Sheryl White's avatar

Definitely sounds like a place worth visiting!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Hi Sheryl, thanks for your comment! Kefalonia is so varied, it's a place I could return to again and again and never have the same trip twice. So glad I got to experience it. Without my brief family history on the island it would not have been on my radar.

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Pamela Leavey's avatar

Diana and Tom, Thanks so much for taking us on a journey to Kefalonia with you! The photos are beautiful.

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Thank you Pamela! I don't think I've ever been somewhere that was so inviting, so easy, and so interesting to photograph. It was almost impossible to distill the photographs down to the few that are in this post!

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Pamela Leavey's avatar

I felt that way about my trip to Sicily!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

These are special places!

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Pamela Leavey's avatar

Absolutely! I need to put together a post about Sicily after I move.

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Tom Bland's avatar

Glad you enjoyed it Pamela, thank you.

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Susanne Helmert's avatar

Wonderful story and photos! I just talked with my hairstylist about Greece - I have never been, but she really likes it! Your photos definitely look inviting. Thank you for sharing.

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Thank you Susanne! I for one would love to see what photographs you would make in Greece! I wonder how much my being of Greek descent allowed me to experience Kefalonia a little deeper but I would like to believe that those who are curious and willing to make genuine connections with the people who live there will find the richest of experiences. I don't think I've ever been so inspired photographically as I was when I was there and I'm grateful to the hospitality and generosity of those we met. I would love to go back someday, any day, even in winter when there is snow on the mountain!

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Susanne Helmert's avatar

I think that any form of deeper engagement with an foreign country gives a better experience than just „playing“ tourist. But I can imagine it must have been special to imagine you were walking in your grandmother‘s footsteps there.

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Diana Pappas's avatar

You're so right - having that connection to the past and to the place was special indeed, for so many reasons, and it was really not a vacation per se. I think I really understood their experience so much more as refugees by being there. They had to leave everything behind in Turkey, and eventually relocated to a city, Volos, in Greece that had other people from their village living there. Kefalonia was just temporary, this liminal space in their forced relocation. It must have been so hard, and yet having been there, I can easily imagine the island was a refuge at the same time.

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Skylar Renslow's avatar

I can feel the warmth through those images, and as I'm reading and viewing this from the inside of a cold camper van listening to the pitter patter of the rain on the roof, the Ionian Sea sounds pretty awesome right about now haha

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Diana Pappas's avatar

That is a dramatic contrast Skylar! It's pretty wet and cold here in MA too so I'm also feeling some longing for Greek warmth and sunshine!

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Kevin Hansen's avatar

Beautiful!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Thank you, Kevin!

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KewtieBird’s Photo Journey's avatar

What a beautiful place!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Isn't it? I think it ought to be better known for so many reasons, but then I don't want it to be spoiled by too much tourism!

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Patrick Tennis's avatar

These are beautiful photographs to match a beautiful story. I love that you had a connection to a place before you arrived. And now you're all the richer for it. Well done!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Thank you, Patrick! It really was such a special experience... I'm the only one in my family that has been to Kefalonia in addition to my grandmother and great-grandmother, and that makes me feel powerfully connected to them. What a bonus that the island is so varied, so beautiful, and so photogenic!

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Rita Ott Ramstad's avatar

Your images and words are so evocative! I feel like I was there. I made a similar trip in 2019 to Vis, the small Croatian island my great-grandparents (mostly) grew up on. I'm so glad I got to go there with my mother and daughter. I wish I had photos as amazing as yours!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

How wonderful to know these places where we are from. I made a trip like this with my Mom to our two known ancestral villages in Turkey and I treasure it beyond measure! This access to the place where countless older generations called home and re-experiencing it as the living generations together after being separated from a place for so long, is something that is hard to adequately put into words. It gets me emotional just thinking about it. Vis looks spectacular! I flew over that coastline once on a flight back from Greece and was glued to my window. It's not far from Kefalonia!

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Rita Ott Ramstad's avatar

I agree! I tried to write about what it meant, and I felt like I couldn't capture it. I came to such a different understanding of my great-grandmother, and of what it must mean to be an immigrant. I feel so lucky to have had that experience. So glad you have gotten to have it, too!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

My mom kept saying how seeing Turkey really helped put her parents into context, to have some inkling of what they left behind by choice in the case of my grandfather, and by force in the case of my grandmother and her mother. So much of what they said, and what they couldn't bring themselves to speak of was revealed just by being there in the place where so much we'll never know happened. What made your great-grandparents leave Vis? Feel free to DM me or reply to my newsletter email... would love to hear more about your experience and family history.

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Rita Ott Ramstad's avatar

I'm traveling today, but I'll take you up on this offer when I get home.

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Davin Trail-Risk's avatar

Such a heartfelt evocation of a place and time. Lovely words and images.

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Thank you so much, Davin, and for re-stacking this as well.

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Michael, not Mike's avatar

Lovely images and writing!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Michael, thank you so much!

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Lin Gregory's avatar

Kefalonia looks so beautiful – your words and images paint a great picture that really brings a sense of the place.

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Thank you, Lin. It exists so vividly in my mind's eye all these years later and I'd just love to return again and again. Sometimes I wonder if I'd be disappointed exploring another island, but of course I'd relish that opportunity too!

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Alon's avatar

Wonderful! I am heading to Greece for the first time later this year and am excited about the sights and experiences that you described so well!

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Thanks, Alon! That's a trip to look forward to! Where in Greece are you going?

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Alon's avatar

I am going to an artist residency on the island of Ithaca - so right next to Kefalonia! Super excited. Any tips? We should chat in private...

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Diana Pappas's avatar

Odysseus territory! Love it! Ithaca is at the top of my list especially because our kid loves the Odyssey but also because we were so close but didn't get there on our two trips to Kefalonia. I'll definitely send along some tips in a DM when I get a chance. So excited to see what you create during the residency... !!

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Alon's avatar

Thank you, I am super excited as well and trying to read the Odyssey before I go…

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