The main purpose of the site is to sell my books (three books so far), but also to give access to books about Skiathos (Papadiamantis, Richard Romanus, etc.), & about the Sporades Islands, and Greece.
The site is full of interesting books and articles, resources, photo books, my newsletters, and other interesting stuff.
A section tells you about Skiathos bookshops, & other places where print books about Skiathos (including my own) can be bought in Skiathos Town. Other sections are for reading accessories, & instructions about how to self-publish (everyone has a book in them!). One book that I can thoroughly recommend is a coffee table book of beautiful photos of Skiathos & its residents, by Jason Kofinas. This book has been a labour of love & it shows!
I have also shifted my web pages for our Villas in Zorbathes Valley to this site, to consolidate my Skiathos Stories in one place.
Home is where the heart is, & I lost my heart to Greece in general, and Skiathos in particular, many years ago. When I first set foot on Skiathos, I knew nobody & didn’t speak a word of Greek, but after one summer there, my heart was stolen! “Lucky to be Here” is the story of that journey from 1971 until 2019, when I published the book.
“Tsipouro Tales” is, in some way, a follow up to “Lucky to be Here”, but it is more of a compliment to it. It is about Greek culture, in particular the culture of drinking tsipouro & eating small snacks, which was revived in Central Greece some 30 years ago. It is about what is central to Greek life: good food, good drink, & (above all) good company. The “Tsipouro Tales” are the stories that are told around the taverna table whilst consuming tsipouro.
And then, now published, is “Travellers Tales”, which takes us on the journey around the world that Lida and I took in 2016, and the follow up to India in 2018. The “World Trip” was to see and stay with friends that we had made in Skiathos, but who had subsequently left. We sent out emails saying things like, “You remember 30 years ago, you mentioned that, if we were passing by, to drop in? We are passing by!” We had some wonderful times reconnecting with all those friends. We saw beautiful landscapes, amazing sunsets, ate delicious food, & met people from all walks of life. Our trip to India 2 years later was also an eye opener. We had some incredible times, & met people & cultures that were so different from our own.
However, wherever we go, when we return, we say. “Ah, Skiathos!” It has everything that the world has to offer, just in miniature.
The rest of this site is dedicated to books about Skiathos and Greece, some useful resources, and our Villas in the peaceful valley of Zorbathes.
Read on & enjoy!!
This book is all about Skiathos Island, a beautiful Greek island in the Aegean, and how it changed my life. Before I arrived there, I had been a Grammar School kid, a computer operator (when computers were massive boxes, kept in dust free, controlled environments, and had less memory than the cheapest mobile phone), a factory floor worker, a drop out (Hippie), worked in a betting shop, smoked a ton of dope and dropped quite a bit of acid, and had hitch-hiked around a lot of Europe. I was a boy/man in search of himself – but of course, I didn’t know that at the time. I was just too busy living and learning by moving from experience to experience. In retrospect, fate brought me to Skiathos and Zorbathes, the place where I found the love of my life and taught me to love life and live it to the full.
You can read a chapter here.
“Lucky to be Here” is available via Amazon.com as a Print version, or a Kindle version.
For the print book in Euros, Click here.
For the print book in UK Pounds,
Click here
It is also available as an EPUB:
Click here to find options to buy it.
I have mentioned tsipouro many times in my Skiathos Newsletters & my autobiography, but some (many?) of you may not know exactly what tsipouro is.
It is a distillation of either wine, or a secondary fermentation of grape skins after the wine has been drained off. The more famous “Ouzo” was also originally made like this, but nowadays ouzo is made from any commercial alcohol & then flavoured with anise & sugar.
Tsipouro is still made in the traditional way, & is purer than ouzo, & is always drunk in combination with food. This is the famous “tsipouro & mezedes”, which is a specialty of dining out in the middle Greece area. Mezedes are small plates of food, usually (but not confined to) seafood, & in combination with tsipouro can make for a long lasting & satisfying afternoon or evening. Eating while drinking is a great way to prolong a good time & will not give you a hangover unless (of course) far too much is consumed.
Almost the most important part of Greek life is eating, drinking, & good conversation (good company). Of these the most important is good company, but is nearly always accompanied by food & drink – thus tsipouro & mezedes.
“Tsipouro Tales” is available via Amazon.com as a Print version, or a Kindle version.
Click here for US Amazon.
For the print book in Euros, Click here.
For the print book in UK Pounds,
Click here
It is also available as an EPUB:
Click here to find options to buy it.
“Travellers Tales” takes us on the journey around the world that Lida and I took in 2016, and the follow up to it India in 2018.
Our trip started in Skiathos, then Athens, London, San Francisco, Hawaii, NZ ,OZ, Malaysia, London, Bath, Athens, and finally Skiathos again.
The “World Trip” was to see and stay with friends that we had made in Skiathos, but who had subsequently left. We sent out emails saying things like, “You remember 30 years ago, you mentioned that, if we were passing by, to drop in? Well, we are passing by!
We had some wonderful times reconnecting with all those friends. We saw beautiful landscapes, amazing sunsets, ate delicious food, and met people from all walks of life.
Our trip to India 2 years later was also an eye opener.
We had some incredible times, and met people and cultures that were so different from our own.
“Travellers Tales” is available via Amazon.com as a Print version, or a Kindle version.
Click here for US Amazon.
For the print book in Euros, Click here.
For the print book in UK Pounds,
Click here
It is also available as an EPUB:
Click here to find options to buy it.