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Today I got my first e-mail
asking "Where is Kefallonia?" I was sort of
expecting it. Today was the day the film
Captain Corelli's
Mandolin came out in
the USA and it will probably do for Kefallonia
what Summer
Lovers did for
Santorini, multiplied by a million, (unless the
movie bombs). I don't want to be the kind of
travel writer who reviews a destination just
because he knows it is going to be popular or
thinks it may be popular. But being insightful, I
know that if one person e-mailed me the day the
movie was released then probably there are going
to be more. Rather then have to describe the
island to endless e-mailers, the sensible thing
would be to write about it and then direct people
to the webpage. I have no intention of trying to
cash in on the success of
Captain Corelli's
Mandolin or
mention Captain
Corelli's Mandolin
over and over again like a
beacon for search engines to home in on for
thousands or millions of romantic travelers. That
is not my style and would certainly taint my
reputation of being an honest writer, wouldn't
it?
Have I ever been to Kefallonia the island of
Captain Corelli? Yes, actually once. It was in the
eighties and I was coming from Brindisi to Patras
and I happened to be on one of the ferries that
stopped there. No, I did not get off but I could
see that it was beautiful and green and I wanted
to get off or at least return one day. I never did
but maybe tomorrow I will see the movie (Captain
Corelli's Mandolin). I have also flown over the
island numerous times and each time I was
reassured that it was still beautiful and green
just like it looks in
Captain Corelli's
Mandolin.
What right do I have to
make a website for Kefallonia, having only
been in the harbor and flown over at 26,000
feet? Well, I have a friend from Kefallonia:
Jerry, who used to own the Marathon restaurant
in my home town of Carrboro, NC. He had a
calendar of the island on the wall of his
restaurant with a different town or beach on
every page and I can tell you for a fact there
were at least as many beautiful places on the
island as there are months in a year. Jerry
sold Marathon and took all his money and moved
back to the island only to discover that
things had gotten a little more expensive
(even before the movie came out) and he had to
come back and start another restaurant, this
time in Kinston, North Carolina. The other day
I ran into his friend Sotos at BestBuy and he
told me Jerry was going to move back to
Kefallonia again. Probably to meet Nicholas
Gage (star of Captain Corelli's
Mandolin).
Important
Fact: Saint
Gerasimos is the patron saint of the island so
many people are named Jerry, so if you meet
someone named Jerry from Kefallonia that does
not mean he is my friend. That is not my only
contact with the Island of Captain Corelli.
One day I received a postcard from my friend
Larry's sister Olivia, from Kefallonia (as it
was called before the movie). The picture was
of a beautiful cave with a lake in it and a
shaft of light coming through a hole in the
roof making the water an unbelievable
turquoise color that looked like the photo was
touched up. There couldn't be places with
colors like that could there be? Later (much
later) Larry moved to Kefallonia and once he
called me from his house where he was watching
the sunset to where I was in Lesvos watching
the sunset and it was sort of a neat
connection. (I was reading Corelli's
Mandolin).
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Maybe I am grasping
at straws here. How about this: I got
drunk with Louis de Benieres, the
author of
Corelli's
Mandolin.
I know some of you who are a little
bit cynical may be thinking that I am
just saying this so I can squeeze in
the name of
Corelli's
Mandolin
one more time, but
it is true. In fact I was in the
process of reading the book
(Corelli's
Mandolin)
when we were invited out to dinner
with some friends in Athens. "Do you
mind if one of our friend joins us?"
our host asked me. "He is a writer".
Sounded OK to me. (Maybe I could give
the young fellow a few tips). Imagine
my surprise when I discovered It
really was Louis de Benieres (the
author of
Corelli's
Mandolin),
and with me reading the book at the
time it seemed like divine
intervention or something of that
nature. But the girls at the table
were so greedy and they all wanted to
sit next to him and though I knew that
he would much rather be talking about
literature (mine hopefully), than
discussing the desires of middle-aged
women and house cats, I could only
interject occasionally before being
drowned out by the ladies. In the end
we said very little and I never
finished his book. (Don't tell
him). |
Louis and me
(nose) |
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Andy and Terry
Harris Book |
But this
fascinating story is not over yet. Two
other friends that I met in Athens had
written a book about Kefallonia called
"Captain
Corelli's
Island".
Not to cash in on the novel or
anything, it was just a very beautiful
photo book about the island and they
wanted to make sure that somebody read
it besides the same old people who go
to Kefallonia every year. The book was
a collection of excellent photos and
interesting information about the
island. So of course I wanted to jump
on the bandwagon too and make a
website using pictures from the book
in return for promoting it. Not that I
would call it "Captain Corelli's
Island Website" or anything so
blatant. I would just make a simple
old Kefallonia page as if it were any
other island and not one destined to
be the next San Tropez or wherever it
is that Hollywood stars and their
sycophants hang out these days. But by
the time I got around to making my
Kefallonia page the photo book was a
best seller on Amazon.com,
Corelli's
Mandolin
had made Louis de
Benieres a zillionaire and the
movie
Captain
Corelli's Island
is now showing a
few blocks from my house ad even my
friends are sending me e-mails and
asking if I have seen it yet and do I
know what it is about. The rapid flow
of events which Benieres had begun
with his novel has left me behind and
now here I am like anyone else trying
to throw together a website for an
island that within the next few months
everyone in the world will want to go
to. |
But I do have a few
advantages. The first is that I know
how to read and I have lots of books
about Greece and I can probably create
a website that is more helpful and
entertaining without even going to an
island, than many people can after
spending years on the island. In fact
I bet that by reading Lonely Planet
and Frommers I can make a darn good
website and few people will know or
care whether I read the information,
experienced it or made it up. The
second advantage is that I know plenty
of people who live there, have lived
there, visit regularly or have gone
there, which gives me the advantage of
being able to tell different sides of
the story. Plus I have read
three-quarters of Corelli's Mandolin
and I plan to see the movie soon.
So this is my website for Captain
Corelli's Island which used to be
called Kefallonia and in fact is still
known by that name.
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