Ivar Papadopoulos Samuelsen`s book My Greece to be presented at the Danish Institute at Athens the 7th of March.
In his book My Greece, Ivar Papadopoulos Samuelsen portrays his genuine impressions and experiences – both in text and illustrations. At the same time, he manages to weave in the history and some factual information from the places he visits.
Most of the 14 places he take us to in My Greece lie outside the attractions of mass tourism, describing places where the traditional Greek spirit and hospitality remain strong. The book is translated in to Greek by Kiriaki Papadopoulou Samuelsen.
- Personal fragments
The author says that the book consists of personal fragments which have been prised loose from the large mosaic that forms the Greek identity, and adds that somebody else would have chosen other fragments and painted a different picture. But for Samuelsen, that is Greece - his Greece.
The following locations are described in the book:
- Thessalia: Koridalos, Agios Vlasios, Horto, Krania.
- Ipiros: Ioannina
- Macedonia: Litohoro and Olympos, Naousa, Kastoria, Thessaloniki, Athos, Kavala.
- Aegean sea: Lesbos, Ermoupoli, Syros, Astypalea.
Above: An image from Astypalea. Vathi.
The author
Ivar Papadopoulos Samuelsen (b. 1950) was originally trained as a drawer and graphic designer. He has worked as an art director in advertising, artist, book designer and web-designer. Currently he works as a teacher in a high school in Oslo which specializes in mass media and communication.
Ivar Samuelsen has written many articles for newspapers and magazines (mainly related to travel). He has published three books of travel stories and has had several exhibitions of drawings, paintings and photos. His travels have included walking from Norway to Iran and cycling through Central Europe.
In 2005 he took a break from his work to row a small, open boat from Norway to Greece. After 380 days of mixed fortunes he reached his destination, the village of Platanidia in the outskirts of the city of Volos.
Ivar Papadopoulos Samuelsen knows Greece better than most foreigners. He has lived on Lesbos and in Litochoro (at the feet of Olympos, the mountain of the gods), and has travelled through and across the country over the past 30 years. He prefers to explore places outside the most popular tourist destinations; he has run wild in the mountains of Thessaly, tread in the ruins where Aristotle taught Alexander the Great, and has visited the monastic Republic of Athos.
As a Norwegian, Samuelsen has the detached perspective to view Greece with new and different eyes than the resident Greeks, and he is surprised about things that the natives take as a matter of course. His numerous Greek-in-laws have led the author to a large part of this fascinating country.
Kiriaki P. Samuelsen