Illustration by Daniel Egnéus and Philippos Theodorides
Once the seat to a school of contemplative yet scientific thought which laid out the framework of Western philosophy, while prompting the beginnings of a sophistication in the arts and culture still pervading during the Enlightenment’s rigorous effort to advance society through the reflective improvement of its citizens and institutions, the European tradition and modern Greece has much to be grateful to its Classical period for.
When we prepare a vegetable to make a dinner less ordinary we’re in debt to the French mastery of ingredients and technique, as the principles of haute-cuisine run through accomplished cookery like blood through grateful veins. The same holds good the further East we move, although the influences of the Orient necessarily change due to regional customs and preferences. Although what Eastern cuisine understands as traditional now has taken its cue from some historical moment different to ours, we share in common the fact that everything began somewhere.
Being able to trace the point of origin of how a social reality came about seems impossible to compare with being a skilled chopper of onions, but cause and effect knows no bounds as the world changes rapidly while staying much the same. Nowadays the diverse Greek islands attract a similarly broad spectrum of people intent on different experiences. For better or worse, they’ve adapted to our current age. Over on Crete, stag do revellers enjoy Malia’s promise of fellow fluorescent-skinned drinkers toppling over in front of the equally screaming signage of its many clubs and bars, identifiable from one another only in overly suggestible names.
Aristotle would likely find Malia an ethical capitulation and final word in Greek tragedy. A destination wholly better suited to the mind’s relaxation is Naxos, whose beauty upon arrival immediately repays the on average 4-hour ferry trip it requires from the Athenian port of Piraeus. Situated in Stelida, Naxian Collection Luxury Villas and Suites is its own tiny retreat within a never unmanageably larger one, as despite being the largest of the Cyclades island group, Naxos is easily discoverable courtesy of readily available hire vehicles from bicycle to convertible jeep. With its typically Mediterranean climate, hair damp with seawater has ample opportunity for a natural blow-dry.
Read the rest of the story by NoéMie Schwaller and Paul Stewart in the A/W14 issue of DASH, available for purchase here.
