by

A day out in the alluring Greek island of Spetses #summertime #Spetses #Greece

Hi, All! I jumped at the chance to visit Spetses on a daily trip last weekend and I am thrilled to share about it today.

First time I visited Spetses was at the age of nineteen with my Uni friends, so it is very close to my heart. I visited it again for short breaks in the 90s and the 00s. Even though this visit was only for a day, it was just as exciting and my husband and I had six whole hours to catch the vibe of it all.

Spetses is an island of the Saronic gulf (close to Athens) that has a huge naval history thanks to Laskarina Bouboulina, the admiral of the Greek Navy, who was a heroine of the Greek War of Independence.

Oh my goodness. This picture makes me feel so old, LOL. But that was 1986 and I was a student at Athens Uni. And I had to show you this picture as it makes the island of Spetses look so idyllic, exactly as I remember it that first time I saw it. My hotel room had a view to the old clock square. It was so built up when I saw it again the other day it was heart-breaking. The middle space was almost taken on completely by restaurant seating areas, and two of them were not even traditional tavernas. They were serving pizza and pasta instead. I found them so out of place. So I like this old, quiet square better… and if you’ve been to any Greek islands in the 80s, you know what I’m talking about and what exactly it is they lack these days. Just looking at this photo makes me hear bouzouki chords in my mind, and my friends from Uni and I even spent an evening dancing in a bouzouki club!

The t-shirt I am wearing says, “If you’re gonna do it, do it right. Do it in Spetses!” and it featured Garfield laid out on a deckchair, sunglasses on, drink in had. So 80s! I was a huge George Michael fan back then so the slogan was perfect; I had to buy the t-shirt LOL. I wore it every summer after that for decades. It was only last year that it’d got so many holes in it I had to throw it away, much to my grief. RIP Garfield of Spetses, LOL!

But I digress. Back to my wonderful day out… After a hearty breakfast at the Dappia, the beautiful stone-paved port of Spetses, my husband and I went exploring. On the back streets of Dappia, across from a tiny park, we found Bouboulina’s stately home, now a museum.

Laskarina Bouboulina was a sea captain, and one of the greatest heroines of the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s against the Ottoman rule. 

Inside her home, we saw personal artefacts and beautiful furniture dating from many centuries ago.

Taking pictures wasn’t allowed inside but I was able to find online this photograph of the exquisite living room of the mansion. The wooden ceiling stole my heart. It came from Florence in pieces, apparently, and was assembled at the mansion piece by piece. The intricate designs carved on the wood were breathtaking. And so was the room itself. Just the idea that I was standing at the place where Boubloulina planned the next naval battles with other captains for the liberation of Greece made the hairs on my spine stand on end. It was an experience that made the Greek War of Independence come alive, and I felt the kind of awe I have only felt once before – at Agia Lavra monastery, standing before the legendary banner that started the same war in 1821.

How easy it was to picture Bouboulina in her own spaces! It was a huge privilege to be there. I was deeply moved as I admired her own ancient icon of St Nicholas – the protector of seafarers. It was a beautiful wooden icon with intricate carvings – gold plated. I could imagine how many times she must have prayed before it for the victory of her naval battles so she could save her beloved country. Wow. Just that artefact was enough reward for visiting that special place.

The pictures I’m sharing today from my trip feature the beautiful exterior of Bouboulina’s mansion, and also Spetses’s port (the famous Dappia), the imposing Poseidonion Hotel, and other areas. It was 36 degrees C and we were melting, so the horse and carriage ride and the walk to the end of the peninsula to visit the small marina and the shipyard had to be postponed for another time. All we could do was keep sitting here and there in the shade with food and drink for sustenance and refreshment, LOL.

I am also sharing pictures from other areas we visited on the way – the Corinth Canal, Costa (near the cosmopolitan Porto Heli) where we took the ferry across to Spetses, and the enchanting little town of Ancient Epidavros where we stopped over for coffee on our way back home.

GO HERE TO SEE ALL MY PHOTOS

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

A day out in the alluring Greek island of Spetses #summertime #Spetses #Greece Share on X

 

Get Effrosyni’s FREE books with your signup to her bimonthly newsletter! Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

 

Clean romance short read, FREE with Kindle Unlimited. It’ll transport you straight to Corfu to experience summer in an idyllic Greek seaside village. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

 

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

St Efraim of Nea Makri. A Greek saint’s chilling tale

St Efraim Monastery is world famous for the saint’s chilling tale and the miraculous healings connected to his name… Earlier this month, I had the chance to visit St Efraim’s monastery one quiet afternoon. It is located on a mountain overlooking the beautiful seaside town of Nea Makri in East Attica. I was lucky enough to find only a small crowd in the monastery. From what I’d heard, the norm is an endless trail of coachfuls coming and going all day.

St Efraim monastery is visited by Orthodox Christians throughout the year, many going to pay their respects and to pray for a healing for them or their loved ones. The saint is famous for the many visions that the faithful have had of him over time – and still do today. He has appeared in apparent human form even before unsuspecting people who had never heard of him. The saint gave these people advice for their health, and sometimes simply prompted them to get some oil from the lamps at the monastery to put on the part of the body that needed healing… And healings happened every time, apparently. The monastery still receives a multitude of healing testimonies from many parts of Greece and abroad.

Inside the monastery, cotton wool drenched in oil from the lamps are offered in individual tiny plastic bags to the visitors. Those hoping for a healing or just asking for protection are able to buy tall candles, as tall as a person, to light up and leave inside a chapel.

St Efraim’s body is in skeletal form and is kept in a beautiful open casket for people to pay their respects too.

If you’re interested to know more about the saint’s life, his terrible death at the hands of Turkish invaders, and the miraculous way in which his remains were found hundreds of years later, you’re welcome to find out everything in the next segment.

Either way, I hope you will enjoy the photographs I took around the monastery. It’s so peaceful a setting, high on a mountain top, edged by olive groves and overlooking the town of Nea Makri and the coast.

The monastery itself is decorated with beautiful stonework. The court is particularly quaint!

I am including some photos of the seafront at Nea Makri, too. It was the quietest I’ve ever seen it, but it makes sense as it was a weekday. Every weekend, and especially in the summer season, it’s always packed.

GO HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS 

Who is St Efraim?

St Efraim was born in Trikala on September 14 (Cross Day) in 1,384 A.D. He was one of 8 children and was given the name Constantinos. When his father died, Constantinos was still a small boy, and his mother took on all the challenges of raising her children on her own. Constantinos expressed a love for God and Christianity from a very young age.

When he was 14 years old, his mother feared the Turks would take him during another of their raids where they took young boys to raise them as Genitsari (Note: Genitsari was a brutal rank of ‘Turkish’ soldiers that hated Greeks with passion. All of them had been taken away when they were small boys (Greek Orthodox children) to be given a strict military upbringing while brainwashed to hate their own nation).

Heeding his mother’s advice, Constantinos left Trikala to seek another part of Greece that would be safe from Turkish raids. She had also advised him to find a monastery and become a monk since he had so much affinity for the monastic life. After many wanderings, Constantinos wound up on Mount Amomon (Mountain of the Clean), which is the very place where his monastery now stands.

Constantinos settled well in the monastery. When he turned 18, he was declared a monk and was given the name Efraim. After a few years, he became a priest. By then, he much preferred to live in natural caves on the mountain as opposed to the monastery.

In 1424, Turkish troops arrived on the mountain and raided the monastery looking for gold. They found next to nothing and slaughtered everyone they found. That day, Efraim was spared as he wasn’t in the monastery. When he returned the next day, he found everyone dead and buried them on his own, then went back to his cave. After that, he returned to the monastery only on special days to do mass in the church.

On such a day (Cross Day), September 14, 1425, the Turks returned and this time they caught him. What followed was 8 months of imprisonment and they tortured him from time to time, insisting to find out where the gold was, but there was none to give.

Finally, on May 5, 1526, the Turks hung St Efraim upside down from a mulberry tree in the courtyard of the monastery and killed him by stabbing him in the stomach with a lit torch.

Fast forward 419 years later…

In 1945, a nun called Makaria, driven by divine inspiration, decided to go to Mount Amomon and settle in one of the old cells of the ruined old monastery. Soon, she began to clear the rubble of the old church inside it, hoping to make it operational again. She asked a local, whom she hired as a worker, to dig at a specific spot, as she had been receiving insistent advice in the form of an eerie whispering voice to do so.

The man was difficult and refused to dig in the specific spot, but the nun insisted so he finally gave up. Digging at about 1.70 meter deep, they found what looked like an old cell and the remains of a man. He wore the robe of a priest, and it was intact. A divine fragrance filled the air as soon as the skeleton came to light.

That same night, while she prayed, Makaria heard footsteps. They were coming from where she had found the remains. On her way there, at the entrance of the church, she saw a vision. It was a tall and thin man, with a long black beard that reached down to his neck. He had dark eyes, and he was wearing the robes of a monk. One hand emitted fire, while the other was positioned in a gesture of blessing. He spoke to her then, asking her to move his remains away from the crypt near the grave where she had placed them.

The next day, Makaria cleared the bones and placed them in a crypt inside the church. That night, St Efraim appeared in her dream to thank her. That was also when he gave her his name.

Over time, St Efraim disclosed to her all the details of what had happened with the Turks and how he had been murdered.

According to the Greek Orthodox Church, the miracles of St Efraim to this day are in the thousands. He is honoured twice a year. On May 5, where his assassination is commemorated, and on January 3, the anniversary of the discovery of His remains.

The mulberry tree where Efraim gave up his spirit has been preserved over the centuries, or, rather, what is left of its dried up frame. Kept safe in an enclosed space in the monastery, it stands as a silent witness to St Efraim’s brutal and untimely death.

Interested in Greek saints and their miracles? Check out my posts about St Spyridon (patron saint of Corfu), St Vasileios (the Greek ‘Santa Claus’!) and St George.

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

St Efraim of Nea Makri. A Greek saint's chilling tale #Greek #Greece #saints Share on X

 

Get Effrosyni’s FREE books with your signup to her bimonthly newsletter! Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

 

Clean romance short read, FREE with Kindle Unlimited. It’ll transport you straight to Corfu to experience summer in an idyllic Greek seaside village. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

 

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

Greek vigil lamps, frankincense and how to clean up your house spiritually

Today, I’d like to share about the Greek custom of the vigil lamp. Vigil lamps are lit in Greek homes on all big religious holidays, but in homes where loved ones have passed away they may be found lit every day, especially in the homes of widows.

Traditionally, in every Greek home, there is one corner (usually the bedroom), where icons are placed on the wall (along with the wreaths from the wedding ceremony of the home owners so the marriage can remain blessed). The vigil lamp is often placed in the same corner too. I have such a corner in my bedroom, but in the recent years, following the deaths of my Corfiot grandparents and then my mother, I created a second shrine in my study. I burn my vigil lamp in there amongst icons and photographs of my deceased family members. It all helps to keep their memory alive and my spirit connected to them.

The light of the flame serves to remind us that God is light, and that we have a divine light (our soul) inside us too. When the lamp is lit in the memory of a deceased, it is believed that it promotes the peace of their soul. Traditionally, a lamp is always kept lit on the grave for that very purpose, but those not able to visit the grave daily, may light a vigil lamp at home for the souls of their departed loved ones.

Vigil lamps come with a cup which you may fill with just olive oil, or water and olive oil if you don’t wish to keep burning the lamp all day. For example, if you intend to leave the house, as it’s not really advisable to leave a vigil lamp burning at home unattended.

Put in some water first, then the olive oil. The latter will naturally float on top. To use a vigil lamp you will also need a float made of cork and a box of waxed wicks. The wicks look long and pink, as you can see in the photograph below. After you put the wick through the hole in the float, squeeze the wick above the float with your fingernails to flatten it and thus stop it from sinking lower through the hole.

The shorter the wick on top of the float, the smaller the flame and the longer it will burn. Nowadays, tall votive candles are available to buy everywhere in Greece to place on graves. These burn unattended for days on end. However, the traditional burning of olive oil is believed to be the best offering.

The burning of frankincense usually goes together with the lighting of the vigil lamp. Personally, I burn frankincense on the big religious holidays and any other time when the energies in my home seem stuffy, negative or just off kilter. Over the years, I’ve grown quite sensitive to energy and instinctively know when to do this. There is no set interval, so if you want to try this too for your home, just use your instinct to decide when is a good time.

In the above photo, you can see the necessary tools for frankincense burning. i.e a suitable bowl (with a handle, as the bowl itself gets pretty hot), frankincense resin, and charcoal discs to put the resin on. To ignite the disc, hold it in the air between two fingers and place the flame of a lighter under it. As soon as it starts to spark, place it in the bowl and blow on it to encourage it to light up further. I light the charcoal disc in front of my open kitchen window and sometimes turn on the kitchen ventilator too, for good measure.

The reason is that when the charcoal ignites it produces thick white smoke as it starts to spark, a noxious thing to breathe in. So give it a few seconds to let out the worst of it. When it subsides, carefully drop a couple pieces of frankincense resin on the disc, depending on their size.

Depending on the size of the frankincense pieces, you may fit on the disc only 1 piece, or 2 or 3.

As you throw the pieces of frankincense on the disc, if you’re a believer, you may want to do this: If you’re putting on one piece, say, ‘God is one!’ (O Theos ine enas!). If you’re putting on two pieces, say, ‘Two are the natures of Jesus: God and Man!’ (Dio ine i fisis tou Christou. Theos  kai anthropos!). If you’re putting on three pieces, say, ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ (Patir, Ios ke Agio Pnevma!)

Before going around the house with the bowl in your hand, ensure you have opened one window in every room, even if it’s just a tad. Why? Because this will allow your logical mind to accept and understand the notion of ‘sending away’ the demonic aka negative (stale) energy. Negative energy in the home needs to be removed or it will cause all sorts of bad things, like misfortune, disease or disarray…

Now, if you’ve never done this before, here is what I do, and you can adjust the process to your own preferences. The information that follows is my own process, which is quite original for Greek standards. It combines things other Greeks do, along with practices of spiritual people in other countries. Use your intuition, as, for your own home, you surely know best!

Go from room to room with the bowl in your hand making sure that you go to every literal corner, and every nook and cranny. These are the places where stale energy accumulates. In every corner, make a cross in the air with the bowl and say, ‘Jesus Christ wins and makes all evil scatter’ (in Greek: Iisous Christos nika, ke ola ta kaka skorpa). Or, you can simply say, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ, leave now!’ or something similar using the power of His name.

Do not miss the bathroom. Especially the space over the toilet bowl. Honestly. I am not kidding. Do not miss particulatly dusty spaces either. Negative energy loves to accumulate in the spaces that are less than squeaky clean.

As you go around the house, stop at every window and external door, also at every TV or computer screen, every mirror, and the fireplace, if you have one. These are portals from where negative influence may enter the home. So move the bowl in front of them from a distance while vaguely tracing the outline (i.e. that of the window, the TV screen, the computer screen, your bathroom mirror etc). You don’t need to be exact with the lines you draw in the air. It’s the intention that counts.

After you move the bowl around the outline, draw with the bowl an X over the rectangle. This seals the portal and keeps negative influences out.

Stop when you reach your shrine of icons too, if you have one, and do crosses in the air in front of them, offering a brief prayer to God, Jesus, Mary or your beloved saints to help you clear your home and bless it.

When you’re done going around your home, place the bowl in the window sill until the smoke dies away and the disc grows cold, safe enough to throw away. Alternatively, put water from the tap into the bowl to drench the disc and extinguish it.

If you don’t have frankincense discs and the other paraphernalia needed to sanctify your home the Greek way, I am sure you will be able to find similar things in your country. A good choice is the use of frankincense sticks. If you live in Greece, go to your nearest supermarket or search for eshops that sell ‘ekklisiastika products’ (i.e. ‘churchware’) to find higher quality stuff. This eshop, for example, belongs to a monastery, and these tend to offer better quality and thus more aromatic resin, for example.

Is frankincense enough?

Certainly not. Not for me, anyway. I don’t take any chances when ousting stale energy, so I do three ‘sweeps’ of my house back to back! Each time I hold a different thing and always, meticulously, I go in every single corner. If I don’t have much time, I sometimes omit the third ‘sweep’ but I always do the first two.

The first one is what I’ve already described, using the frankincense. The second time I use sound. Loud sound makes stale energy run for the hills, so to speak. Bells or gongs work wonderfully for this purpose. More often than not, I use this sheep bell from the island of Limnos that my father gave me. Its sound is very loud so it’s perfect, but sometimes I use my Tibetan bowl instead. This is not as loud but makes a wonderful eerie sound that I find very satisfying and rather mystical. When I use sound, I don’t have to say any words. The loud sound does all the work 🙂

The third time I go around the house, I pick a couple flowers from my garden first. Holding them in my hand with a small icon or a cross, I go around my home to every nook and cranny, and offer blessings, speaking non-stop. “Peace! Love! Prosperity! Radiant health! Balance! Hope! Courage! Joy! Unity! Harmony!” You get the idea 🙂 The power of words is immense!

So there you have it. This is the best way I know to cleanse my home energetically. I swear the air feels lighter after that for days. One last note: It’s best to do this alone in the house. Definitely no one small, sick, weak or vulnerable should be indoors when you do this. No pets, small children and elderly people. When the energy starts to ‘run away’, you don’t want it ‘bumping into’ anyone of the sort, affecting their energy in a bad way.

For the same reason, you must be strong yourself (physically and mentally) when you do this. If unsure, say a little prayer and ask your angels or your favourite saint for protection before you start.

Hey. I know this is not for everybody. If you found this a little ‘out there’ or ‘woo woo’, I totally get it. It’s Greek culture, after all, and we can often act like a crazy bunch. I mean, take that Zorba guy… He certainly was a little loopy, LOL!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

FREE books, and fun news from a Greek author #writerslife #freebies #Greece Share on X

Check out more of my posts on Greek culture here: https://effrosyniwrites.com/category/greek-culture/

 

Get Effrosyni’s FREE books with your signup to her bimonthly newsletter! Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

 

NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

St George’s Easter egg? A Greek tradition, but not for every year!

“St George wants a red egg!”

That’s what my Corfiot grandmother used to say whenever I asked her why St George’s Day is late in any given year. As you may know, St George’s Day is celebrated on April 23rd, but in Greece this is not always the case. The reason for that is because in the Orthodox faith, the hymn used to honour Him in church, mentions Christ’s Ressurection. Therefore, it is not possible to honour the saint unless Greek Easter has come and gone. So, if Easter is later than April 23rd, St George is celebrated on Easter Monday.

I took this photo on Easter Monday (2022) in the main street of my little town of Nea Peramos (west Attica). After the mass, a procession took place to honour St George. The icon was accompanied by a brass band, the priest and town officials, boy and girl scouts, and other youngsters dressed in traditional Minor Asia costumes.

The town of Nea Peramos (‘New’ Peramos) was founded by refugees from Peramos in Asia Minor, who had brought with them an ancient icon of St George – their patron saint. The icon you see in these photos is not it; this is a contemporary one used to worship Him in the town’s church (St George’s church, naturally). The old icon is kept safe in the church as it’s so precious.

St George has always cast his protective gaze over Nea Peramos and its people. The locals speak of sounds of His horse clip-clopping all around town at night. They say the saint was patrolling around town on his horse every night all through WWII, and they believe this is why not one of the people of Nea Peramos lost their life during the war.

As you may know, St George was from Cappadocia, an area now in Turkey that used to be Greek. Legend has it that there was a dragon in Libya that guarded a water spring. Every now and then, people had to pick one of the locals in random to offer for sacrifice so that they could get water from the spring.

When the princess of the land was picked to be sacrificed next, St George, a young officer of the Roman army, arrived on his horse, saved the princess and slayed the dragon with his spear.

Legend or fact? Either way, I am sure you will agree that it makes for a very charming story!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

A St George celebration on Easter Monday. A Greek tradition, but not every year #StGeorge #Christianity #Greece Share on X

Check out more of my posts on Greek culture here: https://effrosyniwrites.com/category/greek-culture/

Get Effrosyni’s FREE books with your signup to her bimonthly newsletter! Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

 

NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

My springtime processes involve flowers, books, and marvellous sea views

Hello, All! Today, I am sharing about the processes I follow every spring! Interested? Curious,even? Read on, I hope it will give you some ideas to follow 😉

Springtime, for me, is a time for renewal. It’s the time to shake away the chill of the winter, and not just from my bones – from my heart and soul too, as I find winter depressing and dreary. Not my favourite time of year at all, so the spring has always been for me a time when I take conscious action to renew myself and to ‘come alive’.

At the first signs of spring, I get to work, opening windows wide and letting the sun soak every nook and every cranny of my home, while I go through it with a fine comb, so to speak, to renew it from the inside out.

Starting from the inside, other than the much-needed spring cleaning, I always make sure to go through my wardrobe, giving away what is not needed. Next, I go through the books in my heaving bookcases. Thank goodness for the local library and the eager friends, who take the unwanted ones from my hands!

I believe in the Universal Law of Recycling, which says that if you create a vacuum in any physical space, the Universe will rush to fill it with something new. More often than not, people come with offerings shorty after I’ve given things away. Always makes me chuckle!

Other than cleaning the house and giving away what I don’t need, I also tidy up all living spaces from the clutter that tends to accumulate in the winter months. I find this helps to calm and clarify my overloaded mind, which tends to get worse when I see disarray and overstuffed corners, especially when it comes to paperwork in my study.

Tidying up and getting rid of unnecessary old papers do wonders for my sense of well-being and mental clarity.

All the above are indispensable procedures I follow religiously every spring.

But that’s not the fun part. The fun starts when I venture out to my balcony and garden… where my two fur babies daily offer me laughter and affection in abundance.


Meet Loulou (left) and her daughter, Sissi. They are both gentle souls, and the only cats I’ve ever had who’ve never clawed at me. I feel so lucky to have them, as they bring me untold joy, though I may occasionally feel otherwise – that is, whenever they bring up to the balcony birds of all kinds and sizes, mice, roaches, or lizards. I tend to like them a little less, just for a little while, as I clear up the carnage LOL.

Loulou and Sissi take great interest in my activities on the balcony and around the garden – when I replant pots or pick weeds or vegetables, for example. They tend to follow me around when I water too, making me laugh with their excited manner and meows.

Every spring, especially, there is lots of that, because I tend to plant colourful flowers to place on the balcony. By miracle, Sissi, who is quite naughty, has never destroyed a single one of them, even though she tends to attack everything else!


Working from home, especially in the spring, has wonderful benefits. One of them is that I will occasionally take a small foldable table outside to sit with my laptop and work in the fresh air, sweet birdsong in my ears. Having beautiful blooms around certainly brightens my day even further.


I live in a small seaside town near Athens, which means I get to enjoy wonderful sea views during my walks along the seafront. There are beaches and a large marina with a string of cafes and eateries, and it’s all pretty idyllic.

This is one of my favorite spots for sitting to look out to sea (and the island of Salamina that’s opposite at a very short distance). Sitting on this bench, I love to empty my mind, and other times to plot my stories, or even to pray or meditate when I feel stuck mentally or emotionally. Sitting on this bench has often proved a lifesaver, my mind clearing and my heart lifting within a few minutes as if I’d been touched by a magic hand. In the spring, of course, this idle pastime serves to plan my summer vacations, too, or simply to dream endlessly about them!

Living near the sea is a huge blessing that adds fun and beauty to my days all year round. Enjoying swims daily is easy throughout the summer since the beach is only a five-minute drive away from home. My husband and I love to sit under a pine tree and enjoy a packed lunch (or a bought souvlaki!) sometimes after our swims with the cricket song in our ears. During the spring, picnics on the beach are just as precious and help to bring the summer a little closer. Personally, I start daydreaming about the summer at the first sign of spring, and it tends to offer new inspiration for new stories to write too. Blessings all around!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

Springtime processes from a Greek author #spring #springtime #Greece Share on X

 

Get Effrosyni’s FREE books with your signup to her bimonthly newsletter! Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

 

NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

FREE books, Easter eggs, cheeky cats, and Greek memorial food!

Greek Easter is next week (April 24), but I am aware Easter is this weekend for most of you out there! Have a great time with family and friends and enjoy those chocolate eggs and bunnies 🙂

I will be busy in the kitchen this coming week, making Easter cookies and also dying eggs with red onions and turmeric, the way I do every year, like our grannies used to. Some turn out very rustic-looking and totally imperfect, which gives me extra joy. If you’re anything like me, and wish to avoid the chemicals in the dye too, you can see here how I prepare them.

Today, I’m pleased to share the latest fun news from my life in Greece: Cute kiddies dressed up for Greek Independence Day and the latest cheekiness from my cats, Loulou and Sissi. I’m also sharing a Greek Orthodox tradition that is very special and is called ‘koliva’. It is Greek memorial food made with wheat berry. You’ll find all the above in my latest newsletter along with a load of FREE kindle books!

CHECK OUT MY NEWSLETTER

Enjoy, and Happy Easter, everyone!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

Rustic Easter eggs, Greek customs, cheeky cats and a load of FREE books! #freebooks #indiebooks #easterweekend Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No
NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

Hot tips for Story Origin, the powerful author platform for book promotion

Image source: Story Origin

Today, I am writing a detailed introduction to STORY ORIGIN, the author platform that has long changed the way I do book promotion. And I am including my hottest tips!

Story Origin has everything an author needs for their book marketing – landing pages for reader magnets to garner new subscribers, newsletter swaps and group promotions with other authors, goal trackers for writing progress, landing pages for ARCs to find new beta readers and reviewers, and more! I am about to include my hottest tips from my own experience with Story Origin in the past two years, so stick around even if you’re already using it. Who knows? You may gain a new idea or two for your own promotions!

Let’s face it. Being an indie author is hard work. Having organizational skills is a must in order to succeed. Still, it seems that no matter how organized we are, finding time for the mountain of tasks that await us each day is always a challenge. We all could use a little help, but few of us can afford a virtual assistant. This is why, for most of us, promoting becomes a tedious task.

Let me tell you something. I used to be one of those authors. Promotion to me had become an aversion. I could only manage doing major promotion 3-4 times a year tops. I’d spend money on ads that didn’t pay off, and also paid to participate in group promotions with other authors, but they often didn’t result in any significant ROI either.

And then came Story Origin. And just like that, I started to promote without any hassle, because this brilliant author platform helped me organize everything swiftly, saving me hours of work. And I saw a rise in my sales too. The features of Story Origin cover all you need! Before we start, here is a short glossary of the terms Story Origin uses. You could ignore it for now, but it may come in handy  if and when you sign up, in order to understand what each term means:

GLOSSARY

‘Campaign’ = this is your newsletter. You add a new campaign on Story Origin for every newsletter you will be sending out.

‘Mailing list’ = This is just the description of your newsletter. You only register it once.

‘Universal book link’ (UBL) = your book’s Amazon link. You register it once for each book, add any Amazon affiliate tags you may have, and you’re done.

‘Reader magnet’ – a free book that you put up on Story Origin to garner new subscribers.

‘Tracking link’ – this is the unique link that Story Origin assigns to you every time you are to promote a book of another author or a group promotion. This link will be visible to the corresponding authors so they can see how many clicks they gained from your effort.

‘Archive link’ – this is the link to your newsletter. After sending it out (with Madmimi, Mailerlite, or whatever), you are encouraged to go in your ‘campaign’ page and put the archive link in there. This allows the authors who swapped with you to see your newsletter. I always publicize my archive links as I appreciate other authors allowing me to have a look in their newsletters too, if I want to.

Story Origin’s founder and developer is Evan Gow from the USA, who is very nice and friendly – always readily available to help if you have a question or if you stumble upon a technical issue (the latter is very rare). Of course, there’s also an online tutorial, which I didn’t have to use, simply because Story Origin is self-intuitive and thus easy to learn. From the moment you sign up, there’s a fair amount of ‘hand-holding’ on the platform. I’ll also do my best in the following paragraphs to show you how to start!

SETTING UP YOUR MAILING LIST
The first thing you do on Story Origin is set up your mailing list. This is just a description of your newsletter and you only register it once. Here, I have to stress that Story Origin is simply the place where you organize your newsletters. You still get to create the newsletters where you normally do, like MailChimp, AWeber, MailerLite etc.

SETTING UP YOUR FIRST NEWSLETTER (CAMPAIGN)
After you’ve created your ‘mailing list’, Story Origin will prompt you to set up your first newsletter (It’s called a ‘campaign’). You don’t have to choose a frequency for it. You can create the next ones whenever you’re ready. This, in itself, is the best benefit I have reaped from Story Origin. By having to decide on my next newsletter date early on so I can apply for swaps and group promotions, my mind soon got used to thinking far ahead. I never knew before when my next newsletter was coming. Now, I know from one month, even two months in advance, what my newsletter dates will be. And I soon got greedy and found myself sending out two newsletters per month, filling each one to the brim with even 20 swapped books and 4-6 group promo banners!

Did I get punished for my greediness? Not really. Quite the opposite.

What I got was wonderful spikes in my book sales in the USA, something I’d never seen before, as I used to sell mostly in the UK. I even had up to 1,000 KENP spikes on days I did no promo and hence could only attribute these to newsletters of authors I swapped with or group promotions running. What I also got from using Story Origin was sales in many different books in my back list at the same time – books that hardly sold any more. And that’s because every month, thanks to the group promotions, I can promote many books at the same time. I am sure you know how much work it is to do this on your own. But with Story Origin, all you have to do, is register the books in different group promotions, put the banners in your newsletter and tweet about them individually a couple of times. That’s it. And what do you get for this little trouble? While the group promotions run, that’s 2-4 weeks usually, you get sales without having to do a thing from day to day. Great, huh?

HOW TO LOOK FOR GROUP PROMOTIONS
From your Author Dashboard, take the option ‘Browse group promotions’.


Group promotions can be generic, like… ‘May Romance Sale’ , ‘Beach Reads For a Buck’, or very particular, like… ‘Characters With Protective Instincts’, ‘Love Found in Unusual Places’. Your books don’t have to be discounted (only rarely they do). Make sure to read the rules of each promo to the letter, though, and stick to your commitments. Slowly, you’ll build a good reputation, which means the same group promo organizers will accept your books for their promotions again and again.

Note: When you apply to a group promotion, you’re allowed to put in a little note. If you share your newsletters wide on your social media or on your blog, say it in the notes. If you have a large following on, say, Twitter, and are willing to share the promo there, make sure to mention this too. Some organizers also pose questions to answer in the notes, so make sure to answer them all clearly. Most of the time, they’ll ask you to clarify something, like the heat level of your romance, or to confirm that your book will be on KDP Select for the duration of the promotion.

Before you hit the button to apply to the group promotion, make sure to go to the very bottom of the page and check how many authors have already applied. The more you see on there, the better, obviously. Though, if it’s early on, you may see only a few, but the list may get longer later on.

Make sure to also choose ‘Preview’ to see what the landing page of the group promotion looks like. For me, the banner is very important. If it’s not appealing to the eye, chances are the promotion won’t be successful. One last criterion for me, is how many books the group promotion organizer accepts. Some accept more than one books. So submit them all in one go. I always give high priority to those accepting 3-4 books, for obvious reasons!

So! When you check out a group promotion, these are the important questions to ask:

  • Does it suit my audience? (e.g. don’t go for a steamy book promo if you write clean romance)

  • How many other authors are in this promo?

  • How many books do they accept per author?

  • What does the banner look like?

Check all four points before you decide. This way, you’ll make the best decisions for your books!

YOUR UNIQUE TRACKING LINK
This is the one thing you must not miss! Very important! Make sure to always use in your newsletter the specific tracking link Story Origin assigned to you for each book and group promotion you have committed to feature. This way, the other authors will be able to see how many clicks their book or promo got from your newsletter. And, this is the only way you can prove you’ve kept your end of the bargain. See this detail from my last campaign page:

The campaign page lists–among other things–the books and group promotions that are to be featured in that newsletter. As you can see, each has their own tracking link. You can see how many clicks each one got in this particular newsletter. The authors and organizers also get access to this information so they can check if I fulfilled my obligations to them.

Similarly, on the campaign page, you also get to see how many clicks YOUR books got in the other authors’ newsletters.

HOT TIP #1: On the day of your newsletter, or anytime before that, when you wish to finalize the content, you have to ‘mark the slots full’ and also delete all the pending requests for swaps you made to other authors that never got accepted. If you don’t do that, and if you don’t check your campaign page one last time before sending out your newsletter, you may have a last minute entry you don’t get to notice and thus will not honour with a slot.

HOT TIP #2: If you have registered Amazon affiliate links in your UBLs (Universal Book Links), you need to click on ADD in the campaign page for every book and group promo. This adds your Amazon affiliate link to them. When people click to get to Amazon and buy, you get a small fee. In the above image, it says ‘UPDATE’ instead of ‘ADD’ because I had already added my affiliate links for each book. However, please note it’s not a good idea to add your affiliate link if the book will be FREE on Amazon when you send out your newsletter. I check prices of all books on the day I send out my newsletter, partly for that very reason 🙂

HOT TIP #3: If your book is going to be FREE or 99c on specific dates, go to your Author Dashboard, then to the option ‘Newsletter Swaps’, and leave a note for every author who will feature your book during the days of your promo. Something like this: “Please note my book will be FREE March 20-22. Thank you!” The sooner you do it before their newsletter goes out, the better their chance to see your note on their campaign page, before they get to put their newsletter together. Who knows? They might give your book a top slot to highlight the FREE or 99c offer!

IMPORTANT: After you’ve sent out your newsletter, you need to go back to your campaign page and add your newsletter link (it’s called an ‘archive link’). This way, other authors and the group promotion organizers will be able to view your newsletter. They’ll need to check that you featured their book or group promotion, for example, if your tracking link shows 0 clicks. It’s fine if you put it in the newsletter and it got no clicks, of course. In any case, for me, posting the archive link is common courtesy (if not the mark of a true professional) and I strongly suggest that you provide it.

HOW TO LOOK FOR NEWLETTER SWAPS
From your Author Dashboard, take the option ‘Browse newsletter swaps’.
To look for suitable swaps, you can narrow down the search by using tags that relate to your own work. If you write about witches, angels, or ghosts, use these words as tags. Or use genres, for example, ‘paranormal’, ‘romance’, ‘clean’ etc. When you swap, you swap books that will take readers to Amazon (these are marked as ‘UBL’, i.e. ‘universal book link’) or Reader Magnets or Review Copies. The last two are freebies authors put up on Story Origin. You can cross-swap among these things, no problem. Anything goes, as long as both authors are happy.

Personally, I swap similar things. I think it’s only fair, for example, to ask an author to feature my reader magnet only if I offer to do the same for them (since I’ll be getting some of their subscribers to sign up to my newsletter).

Reader Magnets and Review Copies are books that the authors have uploaded on Story Origin as freebies to get new subscribers or reviewers respectively. The FREE books are offered in three formats: PDF, EPUB and MOBI (PDF is optional, the other two obligatory).

HOT TIP #4:
Amazon no longer provides authors with MOBI files in the bookshelf. You can make your own MOBI by downloading Kindle Previewer from your KDP Bookshelf. Open the app and open your manuscript (word or epub format) then choose EXPORT to export your book in mobi format. This procedure won’t add a cover to your mobi, but what you can do is create a Word file with the cover on the first page, and use that to make your mobi. Then your cover will be a part of the book 🙂

READER MAGNETS
If you have a reader magnet to swap in order to garner new subscribers, your best bet is to pick reader magnets to apply for a swap. The author you apply to will be more likely to accept your reader magnet if they’re looking to promote their own too. To promote your reader magnet more effectively, I advise you to also enter it in the ‘Giveaway’ group promotions.

This worked like a charm for me: I uploaded an ARC copy of my book “Running Haunted” as a reader magnet when it was on preorder on Amazon (but not in KDP Select yet – otherwise I’d be breaking Amazon’s exclusivity rule). I then promoted it for at least two months on Story Origin, both in swaps and giveaway group promotions. I got nearly 900 subscribers (a CSV file download) and it cost me sweet nothing!

Obviously, you don’t have to use your preorder as a reader magnet. You can create a short read, perhaps, to put perma on Story Origin for that purpose. Choose a genre that will attract the readers likely to love your novels. Personally, I don’t swap with reader magnets that are incomplete books (samples). All my reader magnets are complete books. I think it’s only fair (and courteous) to do that in exchange for a reader’s email. Besides, readers are more inclined to sign up if you offer the whole story.

IMPORTANT: All your associated swaps and group promotions must run their course fully before you delete your reader magnet from Story Origin. That includes the newsletter dates of the authors who are featuring your reader magnet, obviously. And only after everything has run its course you may register your preorder book on KDP Select, let us not forget, as Amazon demands exclusivity for all kindle books registered on KDP Select. So double-check your dates when you set up swaps and enter promotions for reader magnets (or review copies.)

THE ONLY FAULT I FOUND WITH STORY ORIGIN: Deleting a reader magnet will delete the record of all associated swaps i.e. the tracking link for your reader magnet and the one of every author’s book it got swapped with. It will result in you not being able to honor any future swaps with other authors associated with this reader magnet. Plus, you won’t be able to see the full history of your stats. A way around this would be to mark the reader magnet as ‘unavailable’ instead of deleting it from Story Origin. Speaking from (unfortunate) experience, I highly recommend you do not delete a reader magnet.

REVIEW COPIES
I haven’t used this feature yet, but from what I can tell, the platform does all the work once again, collecting the readers’ details and distributing your book to them. And you get to screen every single application! Story Origin shows you each reader’s review history on Amazon so you can decide if you’re accepting their application or not. Both reader magnets and review copies are available in MOBI, EPUB and PDF on Story Origin. It is obligatory to upload your book in EPUB and MOBI format. PDF is optional.

Earlier in this post, I gave you a tip on how to get a MOBI for your book. Here are free online converters that work for me to convert books to PDF and EPUB:

WORD to PDF converter: https://www.freepdfconvert.com/
PDF to EPUB: https://www.zamzar.com/convert/pdf-to-epub/

Once you’ve grown familiar with Story Origin, it’s worth checking out all the other options on your author dashboard. You’ll find, among other things, a beta reader feature, goal trackers for your writing and editing progress, as well as great stats from its powerful database.

 I hope this information has given you a good idea of what awaits you on Story Origin, if only you give it a try!

GO HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT STORY ORIGIN, SEE THE PRICING OPTIONS, AND SIGN UP!

I am on the Standard plan, which is paid (it costs me $10 per month), but I get my money back, just with my earnings from the Amazon Affiliate tags embedded in my universal links. It all adds up considering all the swaps and group promotions I feature in each newsletter.

If you prefer to start with the FREE plan, please note, it will NOT allow you to do newsletter swaps or participate in group promotions, or to create reader magnets in order to garner new subscribers.

Some of the things you CAN do on a FREE account: You can use goal trackers, create universal links for your Amazon books with your Amazon affiliate links embedded, and you can also create landing pages to give your readers free books. But, this is not the reader magnet feature. It’s called ‘Direct Downloads’ and won’t allow you to collect email addresses. It’s just a landing page to give away a free book in MOBI, PDF and EPUB format.

VISIT STORY ORIGIN NOW AND SEE ALL THE FEATURES YOU CAN GET ON A FREE ACCOUNT

Whether you prefer to find your feet with a FREE account first or to jump straight to a paid plan so you can do swaps and participate in group promotions right off the bat, I urge you to try this wonderful platform.

If you write paranormal, fantasy, humorous, or contemporary romance, I hope to see you there and collaborate with you!

Interested to see how my newsletter looks like with Story Origin’s group promotion banners and swaps?

Go here to see one of my newsletters from March 2022

A note about my own newsletter here, and my ‘strategy’ with Story Origin, which may help you:

I spoke about my ‘greediness’ earlier in the post. Because I feature 20+ books and 4-6 banners of group promotions in every issue. But, let me tell you something. Not only does this ‘greediness’ work, but I have zero ‘shame’ for it as well. Why? Because despite featuring a lot of books, most of them get clicks in double figures. See some of the click stats from my newsletter of March 25, for example:

That’s a higher click performance than the ones I see in many other authors’ newsletters who only feature a couple of books in their newsletters. So what’s the harm in featuring a lot of books then? I mention this here, because I see a few authors on Story Origin ban those who feature more than a couple of swaps! And yet, when I check their past stats I see really poor figures… (Yes, past stats are visible in Story Origin for all authors so you can check them before you attempt a swap with them. Nice, huh?)

So, obviously, I have a different opinion. And that is because I feel it is not about how many books you feature – but about your efforts to market the newsletter. Authors have better chances to see their books get double figure clicks in my newsletter among 20+ other books than they have in a short newsletter of another author who won’t do much after sending out their newsletter.

I send mine out again to those who don’t open it a couple of days later. And I also share each one widely via my two blogs and social media. One of my blogs is accessible via Goodreads where I have a couple thousand friends. It all adds up!

So, bear my logic in mind, if you use Story Origin… Do not shy away from authors, like me, who feature many books. If you check the stats of an author and most books are getting clicks in double figures (or triple figures if the book is FREE) then their newsletter is a good bet!

This sums up my introduction to Story Origin, and I wish you all good luck with it, if you try it. For me, it’s long become the best way I know to market books. Other than giving me a steady trickle in sales, KENPs and Amazon Affiliate earnings, it has also given me a place where I can get organized, and that, in itself, is golden.

I hope you have found some value in my tips and advice, enough to be inspired to try this awesome platform for yourself. I wish you success! You are welcome to comment below if you have a question or wish to share your own experience.

DISCLAIMER: This post uses an affiliate link. It means Effrosyni Moschoudi will earn a commission for any resulting paid plan subscriptions on Story Origin. This will not affect the price paid on the platform.

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

Hot tips for the powerful book promo platform, Story Origin #authors #authorRT #writers Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

March 25th celebrations in Greece, garlic dip, and vegetarian pastichio

 

This is salt-cured cod – the traditional food for the 25th of March in Greece, and the one thing I could never serve on my table, even if Greek custom dictates it! Growing up, March 25th has always been a bit of a drag around lunchtime. My mother would be busy battering and frying salt-cured cod (we call it ‘bakaliaros’), and I’d be just as busy behind her back fake-gagging and pulling faces, since even the smell attacked my senses. I was not looking forward at all to the time I’d be asked to eat the fried fillet pieces on my plate.

And because I’d refuse to eat them, I’d wind up having only half a meal – the weeds (dandelions or beetroots with their greens) and, of course, garlic dip (skordalia) with fresh bread to dunk in.

Since I loooove greens and skordalia I wasn’t too put out, I guess!

Nothing’s changed since then, as far as my tastes go. Like every other year, I’m having unsalted cod today with my skordalia, thank you very much 🙂

March 25th is a unique Greek holiday – being both a religious one and a national one! So it’s a two-in-one kind of affair that is celebrated in every home with a patriotic spirit… and salted-cod, of course.

On this day, the Greeks commemorate the War of Independence from Ottoman rule after no less than 400 years of slavery. I guess this explains why the Greeks are so resilient, huh!

Athens celebrates with a huge military parade which I’ve had the pleasure to attend a few times over the years. Always a thrill, especially when the Tsoliades (the Presidential Guard) pass by in their traditional uniforms, striking one foot down so forcefully it feels like the earth is shaking. The result creates rippling vibes of patriotic pride to rise into the air. The memory brings a lump to my throat just thinking about it!

CHECK OUT THIS POST ABOUT THE ‘EVZONES’ – THE GREEK PRESIDENTIAL GUARD. YOU WILL SEE PHOTOS FROM THE ATHENS PARADE AND A VIDEO OF THE EVZONES. UNMISSABLE STUFF, IF YOU LOVE GREEK CULTURE!

Image copyright: makisgonimo.blogspot.com

As I stated earlier, March 25th is also a religious holiday. It is the feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, when Archangel Gabriel announced to Her She will give birth to Jesus.

The day calls for a lunch of cod with boiled greens or beetroots and garlic dip (skordalia).

The latter is made with crushed garlic cloves, potato, olive oil and fresh lemon juice. I can vouch for the fact that it’s utterly delicious. Mind you, it’ll give you hot dragon breath for the rest of the day, but boy, is it worth it!

DO YOU LOVE SKORDALIA? GO HERE TO GET MY RECIPE!

As I mentioned earlier, the fish used for this day traditionally is salt-cured cod. Housewives leave it in water overnight to remove the super-salty flavor.

Using salt-cured fish, in case you’re wondering, is a custom that began out of sheer necessity. When the Greeks started to commemorate the Annunciation of Virgin Mary by eating fish back in the 15th century, people had no fridges in their homes, plus, it was imperative for merchants to be able to distribute fish everywhere around Greece, even in areas far away from the sea, in the depths of the mainland, without the fish spoiling. That is what led them to sell this kind of fish instead, which is cheap and can be stored for long periods, too.

So… years, decades, and centuries later, the Greeks continue their tradition of going for salt-cured cod, even though they now have access to superstores, large fish markets, and freezers in their homes. Crazy, huh? But that’s the power of tradition, I guess!

Thinking of new meals to try during the fasting period that extends all the way to Orthodox Easter, I came up with a vegetarian version of Pastichio last week! What started in my head out of the blue wound up steaming on my plate one cold winter’s night, really hitting the spot! It even satisfied my meat-loving hubbie and that’s a feat in itself haha

As you may know, Pastichio (that is essentially an Italian meal adopted by the Greeks yonks ago) is traditionally made with minced meat. This version is just as yummy, cheesy and creamy – a wonderful alternative.

Curious to see what’s in the pasta mix?

GET THE RECIPE!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

Interested in travel, food and books from Greece? Here's a blog you will love! #greek #blogger #Greece Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get three of my books for FREE with your sign up to my newsletter. Fun news from my life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. 

by

Cheese-eating Sunday and Lent Monday in Greece #Greekculture #healthyliving #healthyfood

“Cheese-eating Sunday” and “Lent Monday” came and went so quickly this year…

And it’s all been a blur of Netflix and yummy homemade food. I say this because I wound up “cocooning” at home for the whole long weekend, since the weather was cold and just yucky. But not to complain, as I said – those excellent Netflix movies, nice meals, and adding wood to the roaring fireplace kept me busy, happy, and warm.

On “Cheese-eating Sunday”, we had this meal photographed here. I guess I honoured my father’s land that day, because the meal consisted of my father’s own organic crop of beans from the island of Limnos where he was born and raised. The cheese pie I accompanied it with was made with the traditional “Kalathaki” cheese of Limnos that is utterly delicious when bought fresh. There is also the dry variety for frying or grating, but I love the fresh one as it’s wonderfully unsalted and makes for the best cheese pie with fresh herbs.

My father ventured to the fields near home and picked organically grown fennel for me to put in the cheese mix. With the greens of fresh onions the mix turned out delicious. I have to admit, though – I cheated! Once again the pastry was shop-bought.

In case you don’t know, “Tyrofagou” (loosely translated as “Cheese-eating Sunday”) is the last Sunday of Carnival in Greece. Tradition dictates the housewives use up the last dairy at home to make pies as the next day, Lent Monday, marks the beginning of the 40-day period of fasting until Orthodox Easter (which, in case you’re wondering, is one week after Catholic Easter again this year, as it often is – on April 24).

This is an old photo of my dad and his granddaughters separating the beans from the husks in the traditional way in Limnos. It’s done by stepping on the husks once they’ve turned really dry and crunchy. A strong wind serves well too to remove the unwanted debris after the husks have been crushed!

My mussel risotto went down very well on Lent Monday. We accompanied it with the traditional lagana (flat bread), beans in tomato sauce, dolmadakia (vine leaves stuffed with rice), and chalva (semolina cake) for dessert.

Mussel risotto is not a traditional Lent Monday meal in Greece, but my husband and I have had it for decades now on Lent Monday, so by now it’s our very own family tradition. Especially as we can buy the mussels fresh, all year round, from the local mussel-farmer families. They sell them at permanent kiosks on the roadside (I live in a small coastal town near Athens).

Now that the “Sarakosti” (40-day fasting period) has started, once again I need to muster all of my self-restraint!

I never fast too strictly, but, like every year, I intend to steer clear of meat altogether. Well, I can try. Problem is, I daily sit down to eat with two men (my husband and my father) who love their meat, so I know I’ll be cooking it! Peg on the nose? Cooking on a full stomach? I am still considering the best way to do it this year. Any ideas? LOL!

Wish me good luck, folks, as the temptation is a tough thing to beat, especially when hubbie ‘has the munchies’ and talks of souvlaki pitta LOL!

Before, I go. If you’re interested in Greek food, you’re welcome to check out on my blog my favourite recipes. Many traditional Greek dishes among them, like gemista, moussaka, fakes, briam, koukia, bourtheto, chicken soup with avgolemono and lots more!

Till next time, keep smiling, and enjoying fabulous books. Go below to check out my latest newsletter and get a load of free kindle books!

In my latest newsletter, I am sharing a bunch of FREE kindle books to suit various tastes and the latest that’s fun from my life in Greece. Cat lovers are especially catered for in my newsletters, more often than not with photos and the latest antics of my two cats. It’s all bound to put a smile on your face! Check it out here: https://madmimi.com/p/06c0a31/preview

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

FREE books, and fun news from a Greek author #authorslife #writers #Greek Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

My new book, and a FREEBIE! #newbook #newbookalert #preorder

Hello, All! Thrilled to announce my new book, My Corfu Love Story,  is out on preorder! I am celebrating by offering The Ebb for FREE till Monday. Make sure to grab it while you still can!

1.99c on preorder! Clean, feel-good romance novella

Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos…

Spyri, a half-Greek restauranteur in her early thirties, is back on the island of Corfu, staying in her grandmother’s village home to decompress from her busy life in London.

Once again, precious memories of that old summer pour in, the time when she’d fallen for Markos, a timid teenager from Salonica staying with his aunt in the village.

He never returned over the years, but, somehow, she never forgot him. Now, Spyri hears sad news of Markos’s aunt’s passing. But her grief is mixed with new hope when she finds out that he has arrived at the village for the funeral. The moment Spyri and Markos meet again, sparks begin to fly…

VISIT AMAZON

 

 

FREE! Sofia dreads village gossip so she doesn’t talk to boys… but Danny is too charming to resist.

Sofia Aspioti, a young student, arrives on the idyllic Greek island of Corfu for her annual summer break. Because of her strict upbringing, Sofia is discontented with her life. Her parents expect her to be the model daughter, so she keeps her heart locked away, avoiding boys, to keep herself out of trouble.

But all that changes when she falls in love with Danny, a charming British tourist, and throws caution to the wind. Next thing she knows, strange dreams about a woman dressed in black begin to haunt her…

VISIT AMAZON

 

In my latest newsletter, I am sharing a bunch of FREE kindle books to suit various tastes and the latest that’s fun from my life in Greece. Cat lovers are especially catered for in my newsletters, more often than not with photos and the latest antics of my two cats. It’s all bound to put a smile on your face! Check it out here: https://madmimi.com/p/06c0a31/preview

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

New book by Effrosyni Moschoudi, out on #preorder Set in #Corfu #Greece Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.