This edition presents approximately 140 of the photographs taken by John Donat during two successive trips to Crete in 1960 and 1961. The interest of these photographs lies not only in their aesthetic value and artistic quality but also in the very personal way in which Donat captured the place, its people, and their activities, strongly evoking the atmosphere of the time.

In some of his photographs, he records characteristic alleys and houses of the old town of Chania, the picturesque barbershop of Pipis in Ierapetra, the weathered face of an elderly woman, sturdy figures of Cretans, and the sharp gazes of children. Elsewhere, he captures almost cinematographically the tavern of Bouzounieris: its patrons, sailors dancing zeibekiko, the jukebox with pictures of Kazantzidis and Marinella.

A little further down, he encounters the procession of the icon of the Virgin Mary on November 21, the day of her Entry. The metropolitans in their official vestments at the center of the procession, soldiers at attention lined up on the left and right, and the altar boys holding the banners, who cannot hide their playful spirits even at such a moment.

Traveling in the countryside, Donat is enchanted by the old Byzantine frescoed chapels as well as the lines of the hills, the olive groves after the rain, the cafés, the distillery of raki, and the olive mill. He befriends the locals, the Malefakis family in Agios Ioannis, Pavlos and Eleni Orfanoudaki in Anopoli, Papamarkos in Kandano, and photographs them with the same love they receive him.

In Kalo Chorio, he observes the preparations for a wedding. A beautiful girl who has just made the wedding bed, happily arranging her hair. And while Donat photographs her, she gazes away, a look so intense that it seems she has just escaped from an Italian neorealism film.

There is an endless variety in John Donat’s photographs. This book takes you on a journey to Crete and helps you reconstruct life on the island as it was in the early 1960s. It is a book that started from a journey, that of John Donat to Crete, and in turn leads you on a journey, a captivating journey, just like this book.