Overview

They planned a short break. Greece had other ideas. After a devastating flood, a run-in with the authorities, endless village gossip, and accusations ranging from blocking rivers to offending the gods, Peter and his Greek wife Alex reach breaking point. So they do what any exhausted Anglo-Greek couple would do. They pack the car and leave. The Parthenon Odyssey is a warm, funny, and gently chaotic road trip across Greece and beyond. From stormy ferry crossings and mountain villages to snow chains fitted to the wrong wheels, impromptu dancing, wine-fuelled memories, and a feline uprising back home, this is a journey with no plan and no clear destination. Along the way, Peter discovers that escape is rarely simple, that Greek logic follows its own laws, and that Alex, force of nature and star of the series, has a unique talent for turning every situation into a story. Written with dry British wit and deep affection for Greek village life, this fourth book in the Parthenon series is about marriage, resilience, cultural collision, and learning when to stop fixing things and simply breathe. Because when you try to leave Greece, Greece always finds you.

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9781916574755

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Reviews

Five star review. ""A book which happily confirms that travel is non negotiable, This is an unusual journey for Peter and Alex in that it majors on a continental road journey, rather than a Greek village in Northern Evia. For those who imagine they will miss Pefki - hey ho - the village is cleverly incorporated into the odyssey via Maria's gossipy phone calls. And Odyssey it is: Mount Parnassus, Delphi, Patras (during Carnival), after which the only comfortable way to travel on the luxurious modern ferries is to count the lifeboats on the top deck and quiz a midshipman about their capacity! ': By now the reader will have caught on to the fact that as well as a journey this book is as much a celebration of Alex's warm and generous character. I'll stop short of calling her character unique, I have known or heard of other Greek women who possess strength of character, Laskarina Bouboulina, or the women who have opened a small taverna and seen it grow to a small chain of hotels; it is just that Alex possesses Greek character in spades. From pulling out a tiny Greek flag from her bag and unfolding it to lead a spontaneous Zorba's dance in St. Mark's Square in Venice which she has requested the band to play. Ordering outsized meals and confirming there's no spaghetti in Bologna. Back to the Odyssey, where the tiny republic of San Marino from where 'it is possible to see half of Italy' and fight with wasps over breakfast. Romantic Lake Como where Alex gets Peter to promise they will always keep travelling, not surprising as they have visited Bellagio. Unfortunately Maria from Perki catches up with them in Lucerne, Interrupting a fondue moment. It's impossible to document all the heart-stopping events in this wonderful book. Take it as read that Bruges with flower vases full of booze and Amsterdam where one way windows work only in the daylight and it is the time to turn right around and head back to flooded Pefki! So not to forget the humble scribe Peter who has to forego a beer in the Munich beer halls with the famous phrase ""we'll come back another day."" Indeed they must! And this appreciation is to the pair of them, Peter and Alex! For this is also a marriage made by the gods on the peaks of Parnassus. I hope there are more odysseys!""

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