Page 41 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Greek Islands

Nicolas Cage and
Penelope Cruz in
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

HOMER’S ODYSSEY
Long before the magic
of cinema, the ancient
Greeks wove fantas-
tical tales of half-god
heroes and mythical
civilizations. The most
legendary of these is
Homer’s Odyssey, a
sequel to the equally
epic Illiad, where the
bard’s weary but
cunning hero took
ten long years (and
a circuitous route) to
return to his home on
Itháki after fighting in
the Trojan war. Spots Wartime Romance
mentioned in the
famous Homeric epic Louis de Bernières’ 1994 blockbuster novel Captain Corelli’s
are marked through- Mandolin, set on wartime Kefaloniá (p84), was a romance
out the island, such as between an Italian soldier and a Greek woman – but it mainly
Arethoúsa spring and inspired readers to fall in love with the island, where the movie
the cave of faithful was filmed in 2000. Particularly lust-worthy locations from
swineherd Eumaios, the film include the beautiful beach of Antisamos and the
friend of Odysseus. pastel bay village of Fiskárdo (p85). The gracious Venetian
townscapes were annihilated by the 1953 earthquake, so
sets built at Sámi (p85) stood in for 1940s Argostóli.
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