Greek Graffiti - Crete, Santorini, Paros, and Antiparos
This past May, I spent two weeks in Greece, visiting 4 islands in total.
Starting off strong in Chania, Crete, Greece, the country’s largest island. We stayed in Agia Pelagia, a very quiet and, at the time, rainy town two hours east of where this photo was taken. This is where I saw my first Greek graffiti.
This is also where my friend Tori rescued a kitten stuck under the wheel of a car, and when trying to find a home for it, we met someone from our hometown. We were like, “Do you want a kitten?” And he said, “No, girls, I live very far from here.”
“How far?”
“*my hometown*, Pennsylvania.”
We could not believe it, so we asked for his license and surely enough, he was telling the truth. Crazy! Anyway.
Do not ask me to read any of these tags in this newsletter — I have a hard enough time reading English ones in Philly lol. Efcharistó!
Sigma, phi, pi, omega, that’s all I know. You’ll notice the blue tag, “open your real eyes, realise, these real lies…” So ominous.
There is also a tag protesting Airbnb, which I thought was very interesting.
For those more interested in political graffiti, check out this article on Airbnb in Greece.
See the ACAB tag too? I saw quite a few of those. Anyway, I’m gonna move away from political commentary because I don’t even offer that on my own country anymore lol.
The contrast between clear blue waters and sprawling graffiti is so pretty. I didn’t see many, if any, attempts to cover up graffiti like I do in Philly. Maybe the broken windows theory didn’t reach Greece?
On that note, I’m curious what my readers’ opinions are on the following: Is graffiti disrespectful? Is it a sign of disrepair?
My opinion: disrespectful, usually, no. Lots of graffiti is done on abandoned buildings, abandoned by whom is a whole other conversation. But say it’s an abandoned building that has become government property. If the official stance of the government (as it has been in NYC since the 80s) is that graffiti invites crime, then if they’re not cleaning it up on their own buildings, is the government not inviting crime?
When artists tag private property, forcing the owners to pay to remove it, I can see why some would consider that disrespectful.
I view all graffiti as art. So even if I owned the most expensive building in Philadelphia, I would never consider tags to lower my property value. PERSONALLY. Graffiti IS art.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming: pictures!
That little eye guy was everywhere on Santorini.
Which brings me to my next point: Greek graffiti is much more pictographic than in the States.
It feels almost mythic. Maybe I’m just an American trying to fit a round peg in a square hole but when I think Greece, I think of learning about Greek mythology in 2nd and 3rd grade. I think of the images of Demeter wandering through hell with Hades, of Icarus flying by the sun.
My mythology education pretty much ends there, but there’s something to be said about the lasting universality of that: it feels like forever ago that I was 8, but what I learned then has stuck with me ever since. I don’t speak Greek, but everybody understands pictures. That might be my favorite element I noticed about graffiti there, that it felt a lot like storytelling.
Classic port-a-potty/trashcan graffiti.
Speaking of classic/history, I saw the oldest tags I’ve ever seen in a cave under Antiparos.
That says 3rd June 1776. America wasn’t even born yet.
I don’t know if that graffiti was etched into the rock or burned somehow? There were tons of it, though. And it was quite far underground. Very cool.
Some random pics before I wrap up.
That’s all! If you ever get the chance to go to Greece, go to Crete for food, Santorini for nightlife, and Paros for beaches. Wherever you go, graffiti will be there.
Thank you for reading :) Let me know what you think in the comments re: is graffiti disrespectful? Is it even art?
P.S. no opinion is wrong and feel free to disagree with me (actually pls do)
I've been away from substack for a while, I'm glad you were the first newsletter I got to look at upon returning.