We know: think of Greece and you picture the blue sea from Instagram, a taverna with your feet in the sand, a list of the best islands whose names you can't pronounce saved somewhere on your phone. And then, of course, the Acropolis.
Yet beyond the nostalgic way the coast gets told in summer, and beyond the myths of antiquity, Greece has a very earthy heart. There are so many unpaved roads to drive by, quiet villages and messy cities. The ancient here loves to roll at the present's feet, and the air has its own way to smell like the Mediterranean, look like the Middle East and sound like the Balkans.
History's paths have brought peoples and cultures here that still meet in the way things are done, in villages, in traditions, but also in deep wounds and in tormented music.
The past runs deep, but it's only one part of the story: Greece keeps writing new chapters that rarely make it into a guidebook. There's a twentieth century told by artists whose work glows in small house museums in Athens, or in quiet workshops on some minor island: stories that can move you as much as an ancient tragedy. And then there's today, with all its contradictions: struggle, rebirth, poetry and concrete.
Whatever you think you know about Greece, give us the chance to tell you a little more. We're certain we'll surprise each other, more than once, on every trip.