Traveling through Life with Nikos Dimitriou

Our guest for this episode, Nikos Dimitriou, is a former world traveler and current host of bespoke writing retreats in Evia, Greece. In our conversation, we discuss how he and his wife explored the globe for seven years before returning home to start their hospitality venture Writers' Retreats | Greece. We explore his writing journey and discuss the importance of community and connection at home and abroad. 

Show Notes:

Visit Nikos and Georgia on Instagram or book your own magical stay in Greece at their website. Check out some of the poems written by Hilary Sideris last time she was in Evia. And for the April special at Root & Rise in France, use the code BYOBestie.

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Transcript

Ep. 90 Transcript – Nikos Dimitriou

Introduction

[00:00:00] Laura Walker: Hey there. Thanks for listening to Writing Connections, a podcast for writers, retreat hosts, and creatives of all kinds. Today, I’m thrilled to introduce you to my guest: writer, adventurer and retreat host extraordinaire, Nikos Dimitriou. I met Nikos in 2023 in the middle of an incredibly destabilizing period of my life, one that started at the beginning of a teaching sabbatical when my then-wife told me she didn’t want to be married anymore. During all the travel and tumult and search for solid ground that came after, one of the most remarkable places I found myself was on the island of Evia in Greece. 

It’s hard to overstate the significance of that trip, where I went to do a solo writing residency. I remember moments of immense loneliness alongside scenes of absolute wonder and awe. I remember the slow and steady work on my novel, which came to new life in this land where it’s set. But mostly, I remember the continual kindness and care of my hosts, Nikos and his wife Georgia, who couldn’t have known how significant this visit to Greece was for me, how important of a step it would be on my journey toward healing.

In this interview, Nikos and I talk about his own journey, one that took him and Georgia all over the world and eventually back to their homeland, where they wanted to introduce others to the beauty and magic of their culture and community. 

Interview

[00:01:21] Laura Walker: All right. Welcome to the show, Nikos. Thanks so much for being here. Let’s start with you introducing yourself and talking about your history with writing and retreats.

[00:01:31] Nikos Dimitriou: Hello, Laura. Thank you so much for the invitation. I’m Nikos. I was born and raised in Greece in an island called Evia, the second-biggest island in Greece and the sixth-biggest island in the Mediterranean basin.

I’m 43. I’m father of two. But before the kids, before the family, with my lovely wife, Georgia, both of us, we had a corporate life. When the financial crisis started in Greece around 2010, 2011, we took the decision to quit everything, sell everything, pack a car, and go travel, go explore the world.

That was Georgia’s dream. We were both crazy, like-minded people. The whole trip lasted about seven years; we left April 2012 from Greece. We visited Africa for two years, from north to south, back to Greece. March 2014, we took a nine month’s break, we reconfigured a few things about the trip, we changed the car, we sold more stuff, we raised more money, and then we set off, from Germany to Halifax, Canada, and we explored North America, Canada, United States, Mexico—all the way to Argentina.

So February ‘19, we moved back to Greece. 

[00:02:42] Laura Walker: Such an incredible adventure.

[00:02:45] Nikos Dimitriou: We’re really blessed. It’s an adventure. Yeah. We’re full. 

[00:02:48] Laura Walker: And you knew, it sounds like, that you did not want to go back to the corporate life. 

[00:02:52] Nikos Dimitriou: Never.

[00:02:53] Laura Walker: Okay, so then how and when did you go from traveling to hosting? 

[00:02:58] Nikos Dimitriou: We were staying in a mountain lodge in the Andes. It’s a three day’s hike. So, we’re helping there. We were volunteers in the mountain lodge, and I got the crazy idea, “Okay, what if we have to go back to Greece?” That was 2017. And I’m like, “Okay, what if we have to go next month, next whatever?” 

I did some online research, and I realized that there is a niche market called writers retreats. So, in 2017, I created a website called WritersRetreatGreece.com. So, the first thing we did in Greece when we were back were to host people in this property that we were planning to run a retreat.

[00:03:33] Laura Walker: At the point that you settled on writing retreats, were you already doing some of your own writing? 

[00:03:41] Nikos Dimitriou: I was done with my writing. What I mean: during the trip, I start writing. We have published two books, travel books. We also tried to create a cookbook, but we realized it was very expensive, the publication, the production, so we got all the content, pictures, recipes, and everything, but we never managed to publish it because it was super expensive.

I did all the writing during the trip. The primary reason was therapy for me. I wanted to document things. It’s a travel book, but it’s mostly what I was feeling and why I was doing things. It was, um, not actually a memoir but sort of a biography, why I’m doing this trip.

There is also lots of, uh, practical information. I also wanted people to know why I am traveling. People have several reasons to go travel, but for us it was an escape. We were young; we wanted to explore the world. The budget was really tight, so we had to survive physically, emotionally, and financially.

The first book I started in Mexico. I finished in, uh, Columbia, I think. The second book, it was the end of the trip, Georgia was pregnant, we were still in Argentina. She had some complications during her pregnancy, so she couldn’t move. So, for three months, doctor said, “You are not supposed to move. You have to sit in the bed 24/7.” So, I would cook, I would go to the market and everything, and I had plenty of free time because we couldn’t go explore further. So, I had plenty of time. 

I said, “Okay, let’s write another book, smaller, like 100 pages.” And, again, it’s a practical guide, it’s like a FAQ to the travel community, and I want it to be my last contribution to the travel community because we knew that the trip will be over. I said, “Okay, let’s write one more, smaller piece, and I give it for free.”

Even for the first book, I didn’t want to sell it. I wanted to give it for free to the community. But then everybody advised me, everybody I would meet, they said “No, you have to put a price tag.” I’m like, “No, no, but it’s a contribution.” They said, “No, no, no. You have to give a value, so you have to set the price.” So, I set the price for the first book. The second book, I’m like, “No, it’s for free. It’s online. Everybody can go to our website and download the book.”

I don’t feel I’m an author. I’m a writer. I was a traveler; I want to express myself. And it’s in the first pages of the first book. I also wanted to create something to support, financially, the trip. We made a tiny little money out of the sale of the book.

Even our experience, like the writing retreats that we host, the majority of our guest writers, they’re not professionals. We have only hosted two professional writers. The majority is people [where] it’s like a hobby. So, I never planned, I never dreamt, that I will be rich off the books.

[00:06:10] Laura Walker: Ha, no, I don’t think any of us really do. I feel like that’s what Anne Lamott would call the “fantasy of the uninitiated.” I mean, really, we’re just here to write and hopefully find an audience one day.

[00:06:24] Nikos Dimitriou: Yes, I would love to print the cookbook. It’s Georgia’s project. The whole idea would be recipes for camping, so quick, simple recipes. And also recipes that she collects from locals that would be more challenging. The whole point was to camp somewhere, like in an organized campground or bush camp.

We would cook in the camp—little stove, little pot—and we rented a little kitchen in Peru in Arequipa. I think it’s the second-biggest city in Peru. We met a few locals, we told them what we want to do, we rented the kitchen, and this is where Georgia cooked everything and we took pictures of everything or little videos.

The way we managed to publish the first book was through crowdfunding. We managed because it was cheaper to publish, but we didn’t manage for the cookbook because everything needs to be illustrated, polished, colored—everything. So, it was too expensive. So, we never managed to raise the correct amount of money to publish the cookbook. 

[00:07:14] Laura Walker: So, do those recipes exist somewhere?

[00:07:17] Nikos Dimitriou: Yes, yes, yes! Everything is handwritten. She has maybe two, three notebooks. I have a folder of all the pictures. The whole concept was to be fast, simple, and easy to make for everybody.

[00:07:29] Laura Walker: I love that. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. 

So, catch us up. Where are you now?

[00:07:35] Nikos Dimitriou: Right now, we own a travel agency, and we design and offer trips to private clients like families, couples, that want to come to explore Greece. So, we get a request, we design a trip for them, and then we do the trip with them. We are with our guests 24/7, and we try to enable them to experience Greece in the most authentic way possible.

This is what we do the last five years along with the writers’ retreat. We’re very selective; we have an application form, and then we get a request, and then we talk a lot with the people that want to come stay in the residency to see what they’re looking for, if there is the perfect fit. So, yeah, this is pretty much what we did the last 12, 13 years.

[00:08:15] Laura Walker: I know for someone like me, it really was the perfect fit. It was affordable, beautiful, quiet, so I felt like I could just sink down into the writing. 

Okay, so as a writer yourself, how was your work supported as you traveled?

[00:08:29] Nikos Dimitriou: We found a coworking space in Oaxaca. Oaxaca is a town in Mexico, and we found, by luck, a coworking space. This space now doesn’t exist as we’re talking about back to 2015. So, there was a couple: Jenny, she’s from Australia, and, um, it was an Irish guy—Gary was the name. So, this couple, they were running the coworking space. Gary was a graphic designer, and, uh, Jenny, she was a journalist. 

They were renting an amazing property. It was in the city center of Oaxaca. They had locals working with them and also expats, people from Australia, United States, and Canada. Mostly these three nationalities. So, it was a big creative community, and we were lucky just to be with them. I told you before, I don’t feel creative, but I was dropped somehow in a magical way. So, I was fortunate to be in a creative space.

The space was amazing, like the property itself. So, Gary, he was really visionary, creative. So, the decoration of the space was amazing. They had really nice ideas, so I was blessed to be there for three months and, uh, work on my book surrounded by creatives, getting all the motivations, inspiration, ideas. 

The whole environment was supportive, and it was for free. There is a website so you can find places to go volunteer. It’s called Work Away. Maybe some people are aware. This website, they tried to match the host and the guests. So, we were the guests, they were the hosts, and they were looking for people to help them run the coworking space, and they also have three apartments, like three Airbnbs. A Greek couple shows up—“Do you need help?” “Yes, we need help”—and the plan was to stay for three months. At the same time, when I was not working, I would write my book.

The second book, we were camping in a random town in Argentina, so there was no support from the locals. But, again, I was in nature, I had my time, my space, I had my little camping table, camping chair, and I was writing. So, it was very quiet, very beautiful.

[00:10:27] Laura Walker: Yep. I know exactly what you mean from when I was in Greece the first time. 

[00:10:31] Nikos Dimitriou: And by the way, I got great support from friends because I wanted the content to be edited, to get feedback. Because I’m Greek, English is my second language. You can tell I’m not native speaker. I got certificates, but I’m not super fluent in English. 

I wanted both my books to be written by Greeks who speak English. Both of my friends—one lives in Canada, the other lives in Germany—they work for an international company, so they speak English every single day with their colleagues.

The first book has been edited by a very good friend. She lives in Billings, Montana. She’s American. So, I wanted her to read the book and give me feedback, grammar-wise, context-wise, whatever. And she did. She delivered.

So, I got actual practical help from friends for the final piece. It’s a really big job to go through 300 pages, and not only once. My friend from Montana, she did it several times, and she’s not into the industry. She’s a physiotherapist. But she’s a native speaker, and she writes and speaks really good English. I couldn’t ask for it from a local, from anybody from the community in Oaxaca, like, “Okay, can you go through my 300 pages?” It’s too much. And without any compensation. 

All my friends were happy to help poor Nikos. I wouldn’t publish if I wouldn’t get feedback from them. I had plenty of time. I had no deadline, no publisher, whatever. I got great support from good friends.

The reason I want to publish in English, that is because Greeks, they don’t travel. So, the books, if they were published in Greek, there would be zero interest. People who speak English, like Americans, Canadians, and then lots of Europeans, German, Swiss, Dutch, English, and French people, they go travel. They speak English. I needed help in the part of the language. So, yes, big thanks to my friends. 

[00:12:13] Laura Walker: I very much feel and share that experience with my own writing. The people who read through the novel manuscript that I was working on revising when I was in Greece in 2023, it was all friends and other connections who basically volunteered, so it’s super meaningful to have those kinds of connections for sure. 

[00:12:33] Nikos Dimitriou: 100%. 

[00:12:34] Laura Walker: Yeah. Thanks for sharing all that. It’s a good reminder, I think, of how important these kinds of connections are for us as writers. 

Okay. So, my next question is how did the support that you had from these various communities feed into the retreat space that you and Georgia ended up creating back home in Greece?

[00:12:53] Nikos Dimitriou: The way we try to support our guests, the guest writers, assuming that this is the perfect fit, they know why they come. The level of the support and the type of the support we offer is like local connections with the community but mostly get to know the surroundings and adapt faster, appreciate the location, appreciate the community. When we host people, we try to be discreet but also helpful and be there whenever they need.

The whole idea is to connect our guests with the local community, get to learn, hang out, because sometimes they want to be alone, sometimes they want to be out and eat, laugh, drink, whatever. We try to be the liaison between the local community, which is really strong in our area, and the place we operate, and a person that—he doesn’t know anybody.

The locations we run, the retreats, are out of the map. They don’t exist in the map. And that was the biggest challenge: how you can put tiny villages in the map. The people, they don’t come for the location. They come because they’re looking for a particular place to work and get everything they need.

Some people, if their work is related to the community, if the theme, if the area they’re working on is close to what we offer, it might be helpful, the connection with the local community. But my experience, people, you know, they work in novels, they work in fictions. They don’t come to meet the locals and get actual support the way I got in Mexico with being surrounded by creatives. There is no artist or writer in the area.

And we get several requests, “Is there any community around?” I’m like, “No, this is not what we can provide,” fortunately or unfortunately. Some people look for community, some other people they don’t look for community. They look for a place to work. And this is how we explore the fit that I mentioned previously.

Especially when we started, I couldn’t wait for the people. “When you have free time, I can drive you around and show you around.” I mean, we have a guest in the house, but I’m waiting for him to tell me, “Okay, now I’m free. I want to go explore.” And at the end, this is the bottom line. People love it because they don’t expect it. They book for a place to work, two weeks, three weeks, whatever. Most of the people, they’re very disciplined, but they haven’t thought about the surroundings and, you know, Nikos and Georgia and the community and whatever. So, when they get to experience it, they say, “Wow.” So, it adds up to the experience.

[00:15:12] Laura Walker: And I can attest to that. The first time I visited, I was super disciplined. I just wanted to keep my head down and work. But honestly, even then, I got out every day, I walked, I went to the beach at Karavos, I had that amazing visit to Athens that you set up for me. You mentioned magic a couple minutes ago, and that was very much my experience in Greece.

[00:15:32] Nikos Dimitriou: We don’t promise it, we don’t advertise it, but it’s our offer, it’s our commitment, it’s our contribution to the people that come visit. We try to explain it through the emails we exchange before booking. Some people, they understand, but they don’t comprehend what they’re going to experience.

This is our success. We have a few people that have published stuff. Like I said, we have two professionals. We have a lady; she’s from New York. She comes every year, first of May because she works in the university. So, her free time, she comes to Evia. She likes it. She writes poems, so she’s publishing lots of stuff. We love it because she comes for the community. She knows the properties, she knows the people, she knows the neighbors after three years, but she comes for the community that she met through Nikos and Georgia. And she writes poems about the people she has met. I love it. I love it. It’s on our website; her name is Hilary Sideris. 

Sideris is a Greek family name. So, she has Greek origins, but she doesn’t speak Greek. She tries a lot, doesn’t speak very fluently Greek, but she tries a lot. She understands better than she can speak, and she has published poems about neighbors she has met. So, this is our sort of support. 

[00:16:42] Laura Walker: When you were describing the space in Oaxaca that you stayed in, it very much called to mind some of the touches that I noticed and experienced when I was staying at La Casa Grande, so give like a visual description of the actual setting where people come to write in Evia. 

[00:17:00] Nikos Dimitriou: The property’s different. La Casa Grande, for example, the place that you stayed, it’s a proper house. It’s a very old stone house about 150 years old. My father, he remodeled and renovated the house in 2014. The actual house was just in a very old rundown building. But my father, he’s a civil engineer, so [he] rebuilt everything. So, it’s very modern. But he tried to keep the aesthetics.

We use this house; my family, they don’t live in this house, but they come visit very often. It’s a house that we use for the family and for our guests. It’s fully functionable: toilet, kitchen, lounge, the outside space. And actually, La Casa Grande is the biggest. 

We have another small summer cottage. Very isolated. We had a few people; they stayed, they knew where they were going, this is what they needed. But we only operate during the summer. In the winter, it’s too remote. In the summer, there are neighbors around, and it’s nice because it’s by the sea, so people, they can go swim, sunbathe, suntan, whatever, and then go work. And the internet is very limited in the small summer cottage. 

In La Casa Grande, it’s a bit better, the internet line. But La Casa Grande is big for Greek standards. Not big for North American standards, even for Mexican standards. 

But the two properties, they cannot be compared. When my father finished the renovation, I’m like, “Okay, this house, it’s not a house we use for a tourism, and it’s not an Airbnb. We don’t want everybody to come.”

The second year of the operation, we had Corona. But after Corona, we did everything step by step. We bought a nice desk, a nice lamp. We were looking for feedback from people, like, “What is missing? What do you think was not necessary?” Things like this. Our idea also is to provide everything to the guests so they don’t need to worry about cook or whatever. They can do their own thing, but someone who comes to this remote place to work, he doesn’t need to worry about anything like how he will move from the airport to the house? “What I’m going to eat?” Things like this. We provide everything.

Coworking didn’t work like this. People that would come here, they would work for two, three, four, five hours, and then they would go. It was a different concept.

[00:19:03] Laura Walker: It’s hard for me to say what my favorite part about being with you and Georgia in Evia was, but I remember especially that sense of what you were just hinting at, that all of my needs were taken care of. I didn’t need to worry about how I was going to travel around. But especially just to be able to wake up every morning and have these incredible local, homemade ingredients. I could put together my own meals, and Georgia’s granola recipe—absolutely magnificent.

[00:19:34] Nikos Dimitriou: Yeah, we try to use local ingredients. Not everything is locally sourced, but some stuff is locally sourced: the meat, the cheese, the fish, whatever. So, we want also the people to experience this. This is also part of our hospitality idea, to try as much as possible local stuff.

And, I think, for the writer not to worry about stuff is essential. I think, from our research, from our five, six years we’re doing this now, this is essential. We never had, for example, um, a request or an actual booking for someone who came, they didn’t want transportation or they didn’t want breakfast. Everybody gets the full-board option, or the majority, because they don’t want to worry about anything. We can match when you want to have your dinner, when you want to have your lunch, whatever, you know, the logistics. 

[00:20:17] Laura Walker: So that you then are able to be there and just focus on the writing.

[00:20:21] Nikos Dimitriou: This is what we think is the most important. If we get different feedback, we will try to adapt, but, from our experience so far, we think people, this is why they come. 

[00:20:30] Laura Walker: I would agree. Absolutely. And for me, that was important. 

It was also the space itself I felt like what worked so well for me. And like you said, I haven’t been to La Bodeguita, but being in La Casa Grande, I was able to work where and when I wanted. I very fondly remember stringing up the hammock on the back patio. 

[00:20:53] Nikos Dimitriou: We have a big collection of hammocks from the trip. 

[00:20:56] Laura Walker: It’s really a great collection; very comfy. And the Wi-Fi was great. I never had issues with that. For me, it was so important to be able to be in different spaces; like, when I needed to find someplace outdoors or indoors where I could just hunker down and write, I was able to do that. I felt like I had so many options. When I wanted to go into town, I could go into town, and when I wanted to focus, I was able to focus. It really is just such an ideal space for writers. I would say solo writers or even small groups. 

[00:21:24] Nikos Dimitriou: We have hosted, a few times, couples, but we want to make sure that the people, they know each other. We had two couples, so the guy, he was a writer, hobby. He had a proper business, like another business. He said, “I will come one week by myself to write, and then my partner, she will join me the last four days.” In this way, yes. But we don’t want to host people [who] they don’t know each other and they will try to get to know each other during the stay and work.

We are open for friends, couples, or small groups. Now, we can host more than three, four people. It has two bedrooms. And I want people to have their own space. So, two bedrooms mean two people max in La Casa Grande, but because of the new addition, then we can have more.

If we’re talking about solo travelers, two people max. But then they should know each other so they can get along.

[00:22:13] Laura Walker: Gotcha. Yeah, that makes sense. 

So, in your experience with building and creating this space for writers, what has your relationship with rejection and failure been like? Like, what were some of the obstacles you faced once you started to put your retreat space together?

[00:22:30] Nikos Dimitriou: The online part, because people find us through Google, so they’re looking for a retreat in Greece, and luckily we come up in the first page in Google. Googling nowadays, AI, they work on a specific way. Even back then, you have to put money on promotion, like Google ads or something. 

It’s a niche market, so there are not a lot of retreats in Greece. In general, there are not lots of retreats. I was following a retreat in France. It was a really beautiful property. It was a sort of a castle. So I was following them, and I was copying practices, what they were offering. I want to understand what writers need and what writers are looking for. 

A big obstacle is to be visible when people are searching online. Now, because people use AI, they do research. Nowadays, they will use an AI to locate retreats in Costa Rica, in Ecuador, in wherever, and then AI tools, they check also your visibility in Google and other platforms. So, you must exist in Google. For me, this is a big thing.

[00:23:28] Laura Walker: So then, in that regard, any recommendations for other people wanting to host writers like this, like tools or resources they could use?

[00:23:36] Nikos Dimitriou: We used, it’s called Res Artis. We would pay an annual membership, and then they have several tiers. We were, like, the lower tier because our scale was really small. But they tried to help assist, promote, artists and art spaces and actually put them together. So, we got several requests. 

People, they found us through Res Artis’ network. I found out there are a lot. This was European-based, there are Australian-based, North-American based. So being in these networks and getting help will help you being visible and much easier for you to be found by people.

And then if we go to the practical part, you have to make sure you have a comfortable, safe space. Luckily, all this hard work has been done by my father. We didn’t design it to be a writers retreat. Like I said, it’s a house. But for me, I think it works. It’s a comfortable space, but, again, there are lots of limitations because it’s a small village—the telephone, the lines is not very good. La Bodeguita, there is no connection at all; we use 5G connectivity.

But again, we try to put everything together, like our hospitality, our personalized service, so the practical part for some people to do. For us, it came very natural because we love the hospitality industry. The towels, the curtains, the beds, the breakfast. For some people, it might be challenging, how to personalize, how to put the personal touch. Some people, they have it; they own it; it’s much easier for them. 

But for me, the service is very important also, like how to be found and then how to assist the people. I found out that you have to be with the people after they go.

[00:25:11] Laura Walker: What do you mean? Say more about that.

[00:25:13] Nikos Dimitriou: I always say to the people, “When you publish something, tell me. I can post it. It doesn’t cost me anything. Instagram post, Facebook post, a blog post. It doesn’t cost me anything. Send me content; I will publish it. It will help you in the long run.” It’s one more thing; it’s one more endorsement. So, for me, I think it’s very important before, during, and after if you want to offer it. The retreat, uh, owners, people that run retreats, they have to assist, they have to be along with the writers even after.

Hilary, the lady from New York, I think she has published twice the last three years. So, whenever I get this email, “This is my last publication,” then I say, “Okay, send me pictures, send me links.” It helps your online presence. People get to know you, and people are interested to come visit. They see that other people, they stayed, they created, and it’s helpful for everybody.

I have noticed retreats, they do groups. It’s a different operation. They try to connect people. This I understand. We do very small scale. Like I said, we select the people that come. We don’t do big numbers. It’s a side business. It’s a side income. We don’t rely on this. We love it, and when it’s enough, I’m like, “Okay, now we don’t host anymore.” So far, we love it. We love to host people, meet people, and see the excitement when they come visit.

It’s very small scale. If you’re going to go big scale, more challenges, more obstacles, to make sure everybody’s happy. We keep it low.

[00:26:37] Laura Walker: Keep it small and simple.

[00:26:38] Nikos Dimitriou: Yeah. 

[00:26:39] Laura Walker: Well, thank you so much for your time, Nikos, especially with this incredible time difference. I know it’s really late there. Before we wrap up, where can people find you online?

[00:26:49] Nikos Dimitriou: WritersRetreatGreece.com. That’s the website. There is an application form top right, and then we try to reply as fast as possible.

[00:26:58] Laura Walker: What about your social media presence?

[00:27:00] Nikos Dimitriou: The same, @writersretreatgreece. It helps Google. I tried the key word to be identical in all whatever possible.

[00:27:07] Laura Walker: Alright, I’ll make sure I drop that in the show notes. Again, thank you so much for being here, Nikos.

[00:27:12] Nikos Dimitriou: Thank you for the invitation. I’m really happy to see you again, and come visit again.

Outro

[00:27:19] Laura Walker: In his Frequently Asked Questions PDF for Overland Travelers, Nikos describes such travel as intense, fast, sometimes extreme, and a highly concentrated set of events that you will most probably never have the chance to experience again. He then goes on to explain that the hardest and most challenging part of such a pursuit is to be present. This same description characterizes my 2022-23 sabbatical year, during which I traveled across the country to Pennsylvania, down to Flagstaff, Arizona, and over to Europe. My time in Evia gave me a welcome opportunity to slow down and catch my breath, to just be present. 

If you’re interested in La Casa Grande, La Bodeguita, or any of Nikos and Georgia’s other offerings, please go to their website, linked in the show notes, to learn more.

And if you want to tag on an additional opportunity for rest and rejuvenation in France, Root and Rise is offering a two-for-one deal for April only. This is the château that I interviewed Erin McGuire about last month. You can check out that deal in the show notes as well.

Please tune back in next month for my conversation with writer, forest guide, and nature evangelist Florence Williams. This wraps up the regular part of our show. As an added bonus for today’s episode, I thought I’d share some of the writing I worked on while I was in Evia in 2023. This is from my novel, A Gift of Fire, which is now under revision.

Bonus Excerpt

Prometheus had long imagined sculpting them. He thought of what it would feel like to scrape together the soft clay, to shape it and feel it grow warm against his fingers. To feel it taking on life.

At night he dreamt of creation and awoke clenching fistfuls of mud. He spent his days walking along the wet, mucky banks of the Elpeus, close to the waters rushing high with snowmelt from Olympus. He would squat, push his stick into the muddy surface and dig up the clay from underneath. He pressed it between his fingers, testing its texture. Sometimes he would discard what he had gathered and keep walking; other times he would collect enough to ball up in his shoulder sack.

Each evening he came home with residues of various colors—browns and grays and rusty reds—caking his hands and wrists. He dumped out the day’s collections onto the table, sat down and stared at the lumpy balls of clay. Creating life required forethought, he knew.

In the beginning, there was only stillness. The clay sat moist and motionless in his hands until he squeezed them closed, watched it squish out between his fingers. Then he would try again: shape the arms and the legs, connect head to torso. Nothing. After more futile tries than he cared to count, he brought the figures to Athena. 

*      *      *

Athena watched Prometheus approach, reading the frustration in his gait, in the scowl on his usually cheerful face.

“Look!” He thrust his hand toward her, boyish as he always was when in the grip of strong emotion.

“I’ve given them shape, but I don’t know how to give them life.” His brow furrowed, and she smiled as he pushed a curl away from his forehead; it fell back into place. “Can you help me? You’re good at this kind of thing.”

She took the figure from him, grasping it gently between thumb and forefinger. She held it up to the sun and squinted at it. “Where is the clay from?” she asked. 

“From the Elpeus, far, far out beyond Olympus.”

“Hm. And what have you tried?”

“Waiting. Hoping. Taking them apart and putting them back together so many times.” Despair entered his voice now along with the frustration. “What else can I do?”

Athena shook her head at him, then laughed. “You’re serious? Oh, clever Pro! Think about it. What makes you alive?”

He couldn’t answer right away. Then, cautiously he offered, “My thoughts, my movements. Blood flowing.”

“No, those happen because you’re alive. What makes you alive? What do you share with all the living?” She waited a moment, then said, “Watch.” 

She breathed gently onto the figure in her hand. It stirred.

With Athena’s breath, the figures took on life. 

Prometheus watched, delighted, as they sat up, then stood on unsteady legs. With practiced fingers, Athena shaped eyes and mouths, ears and noses onto the softness of the faces. The little figures saw each other at once and spoke together. Prometheus formed genitals, and so some were male like himself, and others female like Athena. They were not like the gods and goddesses in other ways, though. They were small and simple. They would not live forever. 

Still, the two marveled at the little figures. The way they moved, walking and running, gesturing with their hands. The way they laughed and shouted and danced. The way they explored the world around them. The new lives brought much joy to their makers.

*      *      *

But not everyone was so joyful. Word of the new creatures got back to Zeus quickly. Maybe Athena went to him straightway, afire with Prometheus’ contagious excitement. Maybe she only mentioned it to the other immortals and the tale made its way to Zeus in the conventional manner, expanding and remaking itself with each new telling. Who knows? In a place like Olympus, every story has variations, and even the variations have their own versions depending on who’s speaking, and to whom. 

This particular rumor came not long after Zeus had called together all the immortals. As their king, he warned them of the risks of treachery. Now, with his knowledge of Prometheus’s creation, he wondered, was this an act of rebellion or of veneration? At any rate, Zeus wanted to know more. 

He found Prometheus sitting in the dirt of his courtyard. Not squatting with dignity, but sitting. In the dirt. A dozen or so little toy figures surrounded him.

Prometheus did not look up at his approach. Zeus stared down at the Titan. Unaware, Prometheus continued gazing rapturously at the creatures he had formed. Finally, Zeus cleared his throat, the sound a crack of thunder. Prometheus startled, looked up at the Olympian king standing over him.

“Zeus,” he said. “I’m glad you are here. Do you see what I have made to honor you?”

Zeus squinted at the creatures on the ground before them, but did not speak.

After a moment, Prometheus broke the silence. “You say nothing. What do you think?”

Zeus shook his head and squatted alongside the Titan. “They’re…interesting.” 

“They’re miracles!” Prometheus’ voice was raw with reverence. “You should see the things they can do. They talk, they sing, they compete at sport. They are so like us.”

“Interesting, but so small,” Zeus went on as if Prometheus hadn’t spoken. “They’re like little bugs. Watch this.” He tapped one of the creatures on the back of its head and it went sprawling. The creature cast a look up at Zeus, scrambled to its feet, and ran toward its mud hut. “I mean, I could squash them just taking a step. What kind of honor could these creatures bring?”

“They can—”

But Zeus paid no heed to his words. Planting his hands on his knees, the god heaved himself into a standing position. “Make me an army,” he said with a scornful smile. “Then I’ll be impressed.”

*      *      *

For a moment after Zeus left, Prometheus sat completely still. His chin sank to his hands, and he stared at the creatures that moved about in front of him. The figure that had been knocked down earlier limped away from its doorway and joined a knot of others. The group looked up at Prometheus, shook their individual heads, expressed their collective discontent.

He could see in them now what Zeus saw; even in his constant scorn, the thunder-god had made a fair point. Lively though these creatures were, they were terribly vulnerable. They would never make it in the wide world without his protection. Prometheus felt his joy darken the way smoke blackens and stains a clay dish. Before compassion could overtake him, he swept the little figures into his hand and closed his fist around them. When there was no more life or movement, he opened his hand and looked at the shapeless clay that remained.

He would have to begin again.