This Saturday, “Historical Walks” takes us to Lefkada — the Ionian island that stands apart from the rest of the Heptanese. Unlike the others, Lefkada is not quite an island but a natural extension of Aetolia-Acarnania, connected by a narrow causeway across the lagoon. This distinctiveness is also reflected in its music, where the clarinet takes center stage alongside the mandolinata instruments that accompany Ionian serenades and polyphonic choirs, all influenced by the Italian musical tradition.
Our guide on this journey is Panagiotis Skliros — entrepreneur, writer, and former mayor — who takes us through post-war Lefkada, the place where he was born and spent most of his life. With simplicity and tenderness, he brings to life images of everyday people during a time when the island was struggling to stand on its feet again, still scarred by the Occupation, the Civil War, and the devastating 1948 earthquake.
Through his books Small Lefkadian Stories (2023) and Altani and Other Lefkadian Stories (2024), published by Fagotto Books, Skliros records a time that has all but vanished. Many of his stories focus on the lives of women — often left alone while their husbands left the island in search of work or faded into the anonymity of Athens, driven away for their political beliefs.
“I honor the women who worked the salt flats… Alone, with fellow villagers, sometimes even with their teenage daughters — just 15 or 16 years old at the time. I honor the faces of those women, waxen from salt and sweat. With their baskets and numbered pails balanced on their heads, their bare legs treading through mud and crystalline salt… To me, the salt pans are Lefkada’s own Parthenon, and they deserve to be recognized — both as a place and a memory,” he writes on the back cover of his book.
Oral histories, collective memory, and personal recollections bring the past to life — helping us understand who we really are.
Produced and presented by: Marilena Katsimi
Broadcast: Saturday, May 31, 2025 | 13:00–14:00 (Athens time)
