Sarah Sparks
The Aegean

Believe the postcards: The Aegean drowns you in the most intoxicating blue you’ll ever see. Go ahead and follow the tour groups and the guide books, learn the facts about the area and its people—but then get lost.

Meet the natives who walk around with the sea in their hearts. Spend one long afternoon, as I did, riding on a creaky bus up a narrow, twisting dirt road to the Kastriani monastery on the highest hill of the Greek island Kéa. Spend the evening with the monk, who doesn’t speak but whose instruments and family sing for him. Learn circle dances in the stone courtyard; breathe in the sweetness of laughter in the air; marvel at an endless sunset over the endless surrounding sea. Then you’ll know the Aegean, and no matter how much time passes, you’ll carry the liquid joy of that place in your heart.

Sarah Sparks is an editorial assistant for TRAVELER.