An old Greek man smiling from the door of his house in Ano Mera village, Folegandros island, Cyclades, Greece
Once you get to Folegandros you should not just focus in its beautiful Hora , but also visit the north part of the island, called "Ano Mera", where time seems to have stuck back, in the 50's. Almost no cars there, everybody moving with horses and donkeys, and everybody a great "ambassador" of the world known Greek hospitality. Truly beautiful images of "Old" Greece. On that part of the island, many of the inhabitants have roots from Crete (my island) something that happens also in other islands of the Cyclades, mostly Naxos, Milos, Mykonos etc. Their ancestors came to the Cyclades some 300 or 400 years ago, when Crete fell to the hands of the Ottomans. In Ano Mera, I found many people with the last name "Marinakis" a very common last name in Lasithi prefecture, where I come from. I found also people with typical last names of the Hania Prefecture, like the fine, 82 year old, gentleman whose last name was "Psaromilingos", a very common one around the region of Sfakia. I sat there and talked for a little while with this man, who like we use to say in Greece, "had eaten life with the spoon", and was full of the wisdom of the simple men. What caught my attention in the first place was a "graffiti" on the wall of his house that was saying (I 'll try to translate it, keeping some kind of rhyme): "Everything in life is vain, everything pure vanity/ a field of green grass, is the outcome of humanity. Love each other"
Size: 3242px × 5071px
Location: Ano Mera village, Folegandros island, Cyclades, Greece, Europe
Photo credit: © Hercules Milas / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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