[ wind blowing ] ♪

♪ ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la ♪

[ man in street speaking greek ] [ ferry horn ] [ man speaking greek ] >> anthony: people who come here, stopping in naxos, are they island hopping, or are they coming is this the destination? >> lambros: well, i mean, island hopping happens a lot during the summer. so, you know, as someone who's arranged to have like a two-, three-week vacation in greece will probably want to visit like at least two or three islands. >> anthony: mm-hmm. so how many islands in this island group? >> lambros: the cyclades?

>> anthony: cyclades. >> lambros: is it about 15. maybe more. there's andros, tinos, mykonos, syros, paros, naxos, um -- >> anthony: tito and jermaine. [ lambros laughing ] >> lambros: and more. >> anthony: right. and the rest. >> lambros: and the rest, yes. >> anthony: a lot of history here in the greek islands. on naxos in particular, where zeus himself was said to live. where his son dionysus frolicked and presumably drank and threw orgies and dropped e, and danced all night to the bc version of edm. these days you have to go over to mykonos for that. anyway lambros here runs a bar in athens, but comes out here frequently to get away from it all. >> lambros: if you were a greek, you would definitely dig boarding a boat and leaving for the cyclades. you know, there's this air of mysticism about them, like an arcane feeling, that definitely doesn't exist in the other islands, the archipelagos in greece.

[ server speaking greek ] >> anthony: a big glass of raki on the rocks. >> lambros: and a big glass of raki on the rocks. >> anthony: oh jeez, that's a -- that's a little more than i'd sort of -- well, i'll have a sip. >> lambros: yamas. good morning. >> anthony: yamas. oh. [ lambros laughing ] >> lambros: it kind of puts the day into perspective when you start off with a -- with a drink. >> anthony: ah. wow, it's a perfect day for the beach. >> lambros: it's a perfect day, yes. >> anthony: i like the wind here, and actually it's one of the really cool things about this island is it's that breeze, you know, that always. >> lambros: it's like our main past-time, talking about the wind. wind's coming, the wind's leaving, which beach do you go to when the wind is coming from the north. >> anthony: really? >> lambros: the south. yes, most islands want to claim that actually like odysseus, ulysses was from there. >> anthony: right. >> lambros: or homer was from there. it's -- everyone wants to claim,

you know, a bit of fame from the mythology to their islands. >> anthony: i can tell you this, ulysses was kind of a dick. he left his wife alone for how long? and how far was he from home? he wasn't that far. >> lambros: he wasn't that far. >> anthony: i mean, he was just dickin' around in the islands, you know. he couldn't go home and, you know, throw the wife a quick one, you know, before -- [ lambros laughing ] >> anthony: and then he gets pissed 'cause she's got to look elsewhere? >> lambros: he came up with this unbelievable story. >> anthony: yeah. "but baby --" i don't know. >> lambros: he went back home, and he said, "darling, you won't believe what happened to me." >> anthony: "there were these chicks. they were singing. they, they lured the ship into the rocks, and they weren't hot, though. they were really ugly." >> lambros: i think you summed him up perfectly. >> anthony: there you go. "the iliad." i see a lot of empty villas, like a lot of half-finished construction. >> lambros: yeah, they all stopped like a few years ago. >> anthony: right. >> lambros: money just ran out. >> anthony: right. no, i don't want to talk about the financial crisis. it's bumming me out. it's harshin' my total buzz. the pressures of the outside world, i don't want to think about. i'm on a greek island here. it's a beautiful day.

i'm planning on passing out on the beach shortly. you know, maybe some watercolors, do a little cooking, more napping, eating, napping. contemplate mysteries of the universe, or, or nap. either one. >> lambros: or nap. either -- >> anthony: or eat cheese. all of those are honorable options. i mean, that's a vacation to me, is staying put and doing nothing. >> anthony: i wanted to get away from it all, coast gently, gently into another season of television. no sharp edges, easy.

late summer of 2015 in the cyclades, and it feels a million miles from the greece you see in the headlines. >> male news reporter: greek banks have remained closed for the entire week. now the depth of their financial woes is becoming painfully clear. >> female news reporter: athens has asked its people whether they accept stringent reforms as part of the countries second bailout. >> male news reporter: 40,000 greeks have hit the streets. >> female news reporter: the country could find itself kicked out of the euro. athens could just be words away from finical disaster. >> anthony: that greece is, they say, teetering on the edge of economic apocalypse, broke, in peril of being foreclosed on by the disdainful european powers. on top of that, there's a refugee crisis. greece, probably the least prepared, least equipped to take in thousands of refugees from

syria, afghanistan and elsewhere, is being flooded with desperate women, children, men. they wash up on their shores alive, and dead. >> man: it's not just a question of greece now. >> anthony: and yet here, on naxos, one of thousands of greek islands, you could for now if you chose to, remain blissfully ignorant of what's happening elsewhere. pretend that everywhere is just like here -- beautiful, sleepy, delicious food, everything is just fine. [ women singing in greek ] ♪ >> anthony: john steinbeck said any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming. but the greek fishing trade

didn't stand a chance when hit with the one-two punch. first of diminishing fish stocks, then the financial crisis and slacking demand. is life good on naxos compared to the mainland? [ george speaking greek ] >> anthony: really? >> lambros: yeah, i mean, well, if you come from this island with the fresh air and the sea -- >> anthony: right. [ george speaking greek ] >> anthony: really? this gentleman is a fisherman. >> lambros: george is a fisherman. his name is fearless george. >> anthony: fearless george. >> lambros: yes, yes. >> anthony: so, as i understand it, in many, if not all of the greek islands, the government or the eu is offering buyouts to fisherman? they're basically saying, "we'll pay you to not fish." [ george speaking greek ] >> lambros: they're trying to

get the older domestic fisherman out of the way basically in order to -- >> anthony: the little guys. >> lambros: yeah, the little guys. basically the little guys in order to get more commercial fishing being imported into the land. quite a few have sold out their businesses, their boats, and they've moved into, like, tourism. [ george speaking greek ] >> anthony: who -- up here? i mean, as far as the, the economic crisis, i mean, you've got the whole eu crunching down on poor greece. greeks are being depicted as basically lazy, addicted to social welfare. what happened? [ george speaking greek ] >> lambros: i'm pretty sure he means the politicians. [ george speaking greek ]

>> lambros: and the people are paying for the complete wrongdoings of the politicians. [ george speaking greek ] [ lambros speaking greek ] [ george speaking greek ] >> lambros: so yeah, it's a shame really. anyway, we had a good spell living on other people's money for about 40 years was -- was good fun. you won't see these folks at the post office they have businesses to run they have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters

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[ man singing in greek ] ♪ [ man singing in greek ]

>> panos: the wreck was a cargo ship, and crashed on the reef in 1982, so it's 34 years inside of the water. >> anthony: diving in the cyclades is some of the best in the med and i was told this wreck was filled with stolen doubloons and nazi morphine.

panos, my dive master, has certainly never heard these rumors. no treasure down there, nothing sinister or unfor -- >> panos: maybe there is inside, in the engine room. i never get there so i don't know what is inside. the rumor is that they crashed it on purpose in order to take the insurance and so nobody was injured. everybody was safety transferred to the port. that's a rumor, of course. >> anthony: how many times have you been down to that wreck? >> panos: hundreds of times. >> anthony: hundreds of times? >> panos: hundreds of times. >> anthony: and it never gets old? you still have fun? >> panos: yeah. every time is special. >> anthony: the greek islands when compared to the rest of the country are doing pretty well. tourism on naxos, in fact, is on an uptick. i don't know what your family told you when you said, you know, "i'm gonna go to naxos and i'm gonna run a dive center."

i know my parents would've said, "you should do something sensible with a future, like banking." as it turns out, this was a sensible career choice, i guess. so cheers to that. >> panos: yes, yamas. >> anthony: around 25% of the nation are unemployed now. they say that about 40% are living close to the poverty line. that's apparently the mainland? and yet tourism is stable and maybe even growing. >> panos: well, it is, it is getting bigger even though it is completely opposite with a crisis. >> anthony: so people are basically saying, "oh, financial crisis, beautiful islands, beautiful country." >> panos: yes. >> anthony: "now is the time to go 'cause we can get it for cheap." >> panos: tourism is the only thing i believe that saved greece. apart from this area, every other thing collapsed. >> anthony: it's really beautiful. ♪ [ the stray bitches singing ]

>> anthony: madea, antigone, helen of troy, aphrodite, demeter -- greek women have always been known for their beauty, their fierceness, their strength, their willingness to fight for what they believe in. and these ladies who call

themselves the stray bitches, these women are very much part of that tradition. when i mentioned that i was drinking ouzo before, i kind of -- >> woman: there was a reaction. >> anthony: there was a reaction. >> group at table: we prefer raki. >> anthony: okay, so i will be drinking raki on the rocks. >> group: bravo, yamas. >> anthony: the stray bitches. who are the stray bitches? >> woman 1: us. >> anthony: what, what are? >> woman 1: it's a theatrical, musical group, with political --

oa -- with political issues. and it speaks a lot about what we live today in greece in athens. >> anthony: i've seen you described as anarchists. >> woman 1: ah, no, i don't like stereotypes. >> anthony: right. >> woman 1: i don't like characteristics. yes, of course, i like very much the anarchy philosophy of course. it speaks about solidarity and the common good. because all life in greece is very hard. >> woman 2: during the '90s it was all this wealth and prosperity. we were all okay with this, but now it's time to talk about politics and make political statements. >> anthony: a lot of the world, greece is being depicted as greeks got used to not having to pay taxes. [ everyone laughing ] >> anthony: this is -- the stereotype is -- >> woman: this is a great -- look -- >> anthony: is it true or not? >> woman 3: that's a very nice strategy to create a stereotype of the people you want to exploit. and say they are lazy, they're terrible, aids propaganda, let's -- them. >> woman 1: from the moment we build our state, we build it on loans. the great powers, england, france, russia, helped us to build our state so we owe from

this moment. the truth is that never this nation take care of the citizens. they didn't give back anything, nothing, to the people, so why to pay your taxes? >> woman: it's distrust. >> anthony: a basic distrust is that people are going to spend the money well? >> woman 1: it's not like -- it's not like a mentality thing that comes from our genes, from our cells. we are not like "the lazy people." >> anthony: so what happens? should greece be in the eu? >> woman 4: here for the people in greece it is a feeling that "oh, if we go out of the european union we are lost." we are as people ready to risk to go in another direction because this direction doesn't work for us. >> anthony: nobody's suggesting we return to an agrarian wonderland where we are all going to farm together and live in a commune, right? >> woman 1: why not? >> anthony: you like this idea? >> woman 1: yeah, why not? >> woman 3: some of us will, some of us. >> anthony: if i put a yogurt in the refrigerator, and i put my name on it, "tony," and someone takes a bite out of it, i've got a problem. >> woman 4: really? >> anthony: yeah, this is why i don't live in a commune. >> woman 1: because someone

will -- is taking my yogurt? >> woman 4: yeah, but if you didn't have a yogurt you would like to eat from someone else's. >> anthony: and i will. [ laughter ]

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[ group chanting ]

♪ [ chickens clucking ] [ singing in greek ] ♪

>> anthony: hey, man, how are you doing? >> labros: hi, tony, how are you? >> anthony: good now. [ man singing ] >> anthony: yes, an idyllic mountain village -- apiranthos. the sort of place where you can still walk in to a town square and find yourself caught up in a celebration. this one celebrates greco-american actor john stamos's return to "full house." then get ready for wine, raki and being hand-fed by strangers. >> lambros: i think it was sending off of a villager to go to the army.

basically a good reason for everyone to, you know, let -- let some steam out. >> anthony: whoa. >> villager: oh. >> lambros: yes, yes, yes. >> anthony: lamb, pig? >> lambros: this is lamb, this is pork, and this is pork. >> anthony: and the famous potatoes, of course. >> lambros: and the famous potatoes. this is called rosto, which is a traditional naxos style of pork. >> anthony: oh, good sauce. it's like tomato and peppers or -- ? [ woman speaking greek ] >> lambros: wine, tomato sauce, pepper and garlic. >> villager: yamas. >> anthony: yamas. >> lambros: yamas, yamas. >> lambros: lambros. >> stefanos: stefanos. [ lambros speaking greek ] >> anthony: so you make wine? >> stefanos: i make wine, yes. i make good wine. >> anthony: born here? >> stefanos: well, not born here. i came to naxos when i was 23 years old. >> anthony: from? >> stefanos: athens. >> anthony: athens? very different life here. >> stefanos: i believe here, you

live every moment of your life. yeah, you feel really the freedom. >> anthony: oh, thank you. this village, what do people here do for a living? farm? tourism? both? >> lambros: yeah, i guess a combination. >> anthony: i noticed a lot of churches, little chapels. >> lambros: there are shit loads, and it's basically the continuation of the original temples, be they apollo or zeus or athena or something. >> anthony: they switched over? >> lambros: they switched over to churches. >> anthony: hey, you guys thought pagan idolatry was fun? check this out. it's much more fun and we'll slide right in there and you won't even notice. >> lambros: seamlessly. yes. [ male villager speaking greek ] >> anthony: important island in mythology though. >> lambros: extremely. >> stefanos: it is the old dionysus island. yes, it is. >> anthony: god of wine, women in song, basically. >> lambros: and madness. >> anthony: and madness. one of the things i like about greek mythology is that the gods were all deeply flawed. i mean, they had some serious

problems. they were always, you know, sleeping with humans. they were jealous. they get angry. they weren't pure. they weren't perfect. they weren't divine. they were -- >> stefanos: they were humans. >> lambros: yeah, but every now and then they dionysus would appear, everyone would say -- it and have a great time. why not? ♪ [ man singing in greek ] ♪

♪

[ thunder ] [ gunshots ] ♪ >> anthony: food porn is so easy. at this point it's like shooting

fish in a barrel. i mean, you want this, right? of course you do, but you can't have it. >> yannis: one pepper or two? >> anthony: no, one is good, one is good. >> yannis: and did you try a pepper? it's different. >> anthony: all right. it's beautiful, thank you. >> maria: okay, here we eat a lot, okay, you can eat as much as you like. >> anthony: thank you. a family farm. this one dates back to the venetians. mom, dad, daughter maria, her husband yannis, who happens to be the aegean regional governor. let the food begin. stuffed pepper. the famous potatoes. >> yannis: naxin potatoes. >> anthony: coq au vin, uh, a slow-cooked rooster? >> yannis: rooster. rooster with red sauce. >> anthony: and a -- >> yannis: rabbit. >> anthony: rabbit. yes. >> yannis: yamas, welcome.

>> anthony: so how does -- ? i mean, the rest of the country is not doing so well, but apparently here is pretty good. >> maria: yes. >> anthony: what's different about naxos? >> yannis: it's um -- >> maria: self-sustained. >> yannis: self-sustained. for example, in naxos, you can find 130,000 goats and lambs, and also, half of the population cultivating the land. so there are farmers. >> anthony: so, it's not just a tourist economy. you produce stuff here. you grow things. >> yannis: yeah. ♪ [ statis speaking greek ]

>> anthony: let me ask a difficult question. i'm not gonna ask you this question, because you have to be diplomatic about difficult questions like this. i'm going to guess your father doesn't. so who caused the greek financial crisis? what happened here? [ statis speaking greek ] >> maria: he's not optimistic. he says we have a -- [ statis speaking greek ] >> maria: we need years. [ statis speaking greek ] >> anthony: what does it mean to be greek? what are the characteristics that all greeks either do or should aspire to? [ juliana speaking greek ]

>> maria: she says, above all, the family. [ juliana speaking greek ] [ statis speaking greek ] >> yannis: this means greek. greek remains here. >> maria: you are bound to the land. the land of your ancestors. >> anthony: the farm itself, how long has it been in the family? >> maria: this was bought by the grandfather of my father in 1901. [ statis speaking greek ] >> maria: for us in the family, it's a very special place, and especially for me and i believe for my father.

it has a special vibe. there's a good energy, this land. at the post office they have businesses to run they have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters ship packages all the amazing services of the post office right on your computer get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again

♪ [ woman speaking greek ] ♪

[ woman singing ] [ woman singing ] ♪

>> anthony: please translate -- so i went to the beach today. i'm laying there having a good time, suddenly like 200 nudists show up. late afternoon i find myself on a fishing boat ruminating on matters of great importance. so here's my question. it's a philosophical question. greece is the home of philosophy, as we know it. why are the first people who take off their clothes the last people you want to see naked? [ george speaking greek ] >> anthony: yeah, i totally agree with whatever he just said. oh yeah, here we go. >> george: octopus salad. >> anthony: lambros is there, and george of course, and george's son, niko.

[ lambros speaking greek ] [ george speaking greek ] >> anthony: man, that is so good. [ george speaking greek ] >> anthony: oh, mashed fava beans. it's amazing. >> lambros: this is like as traditional as you get. all these dishes are either used as an appetizer before the main dish, which is the soup, or as breakfast. >> anthony: breakfast. >> lambros: they have this for breakfast, maybe a couple of beers, and then they go to sleep again for a few hours. >> anthony: now you're talking my language. [ george speaking greek ] >> anthony: beautiful. all the fish he catches, it's sold on the island? or sent to athens? >> lambros: mostly to athens. >> george: niko. >> anthony: what kind of fish is this? [ george speaking greek ] >> lambros: olive oil and lemon. >> anthony: man.

this is some professional-quality stuff. [ george speaking greek ] >> lambros: you need to eat more. >> anthony: ah, this broth is fantastic. >> george: yamas. >> anthony: yamas, thank you. [ lambros speaking greek ] [ george speaking greek ] [ nikos speaking greek ] >> lambros: he liked his dad doing it and he likes doing it himself. [ lambros speaking greek ] >> anthony: i was going to ask. [ nikos speaking greek ] >> lambros: "where there's a will, there's a way," he says. [ george speaking greek ] >> lambros: this is going to be great pleasure to translate. he said when they were at the

right age, something like 14, he took him to the brothels and took him to the whores and told them to realize they are all out to get your money. get them a few drinks, have a good time, go completely nuts while you're young, and everything so you're gonna be a bit laid back on the whole woman issue when the time comes. >> anthony: when you're 50? >> lambros: maybe, maybe. >> anthony: okay, okay, glad i asked. all right, not really. >> lambros: so this is ouzo. >> anthony: oh, sweet. i'll have some of that. pack in even more adventure with audible. with the largest selection of audiobooks. audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. or discover magic when you hit the open road. with the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. and for just $14.95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. if you don't like it exchange it any time. no questions asked. you can also roll your credits to the next month if you don't use them.

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>> anthony: yeah, looks good. >> woman 1: looks very good. >> anthony: oh man, that is really good. >> woman 1: the good food makes you happy, very happy. >> anthony: yeah. >> woman 1: opens your heart. >> anthony: there's a lot of countries where they're really, really poor but they're super serious about food. >> woman 2: like where? >> man: like here. [ laughter ] don't go, don't go very far. >> anthony: people who are not greek come to the greek islands for the first time, come to naxos, what should you do here? you should drink raki for sure. >> woman 1: for sure, to eat. >> lady: get drunk with raki also. >> anthony: get drunk. it's not enough to just drink it? >> woman 1: no, get drunk and sing and dance. >> lady: don't tell me what you ate. tell me who you ate with. >> anthony: hmm. [ laughter ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ all talking in greek ] ♪ [ laughter ] ♪

>> crowd: yamas. [ glasses clinking ] with were shocked. at that time i didn't think about that. >> you were alive and holing a camera at a very important time in history. you had to do something important. >>