|
The
lonians are the bridge uniting Greece with the rest of Europe. They
encapsulate the beauty of the Greek countryside and the nobility of
Venetian architecture, the azure of the sea, the dark green of the
cypress trees and the silver of the olives, the zest for life and the
lyricism that all the islanders possess. Truly, how many civilizations,
how many races have gone into producing what we see today. From the time
when Odysseus was shipwrecked on Corfu, the island of Nausicaa, after
his long journey from Troy to Ithaca, up today, Corinthians, Sicilians,
Illyrians, and Romans all coveted these marvellous islands. And later,
in the Byzantine era, Goths, Normans, Franks, and Venetians, noblemen
and pirates, kings and fortune hunters, all passed through the lonians
and all left something to mark their passage. |