Taverna by the Sea

Taverna by the Sea is an account by Jennifer Barclay of her summer spent working in a taverna on Karpathos and a welcome new book of Greek travel writing.

Taverna by the Sea is the latest of Jennifer Barclay’s books about her life in Greece. We reviewed her previous one, Wild Abandon, which was an evocative account of her visits to abandoned places around the Dodecanese. Her first two books, Falling in Honey and An Octopus in my Ouzo, tell of how she came to live on the island of Tilos, while still managing to run her career in publishing remotely.

Detail from the front cover of Taverna by the Sea by Jennifer BarclayTaverna by the Sea

Taverna by the Sea

Taverna by the Sea adds a new twist to the author’s adventures in Greece – and a new book for fans of Greek travel writing (like us) to enjoy. If you can’t be in Greece you may as well be reading about it.

Beach on the Greek island of Karpathos in the DodecaneseKarpathos

If you’ve read Wild Abandon you’ll know that the author developed a great love for the island of Karpathos. In Taverna by the Sea she’s offered the chance to work for the summer at a taverna on Karpathos. It’s located on a beach near Olympos, and the author also helps look after a few rooms to rent up in the town. It's an opportunity she finds too good to resist. She's certainly a person who enjoys seizing the moment, and having new experiences.

The Greek island of Karpathos in the DodecaneseKarpathos

Behind the Scenes

The book is a fascinating account of what it takes to build up and run a taverna in a remote location. How do you keep it stocked? How do you anticipate demand? How do you handle it when a rival taverna opens up and adopts underhand tactics? How do you find staff? How do you deal with staff relations? What happens when the kitchen roof falls in?

At the same time, Jennifer Barclay is still running her career in publishing, as an editor and as a literary agent. Fortunately the taverna seems to have a good internet connection, and the author manages to juggle all her responsibilities while sleeping in a tent on the beach, or working at the back of the taverna during quiet periods.

Another interesting aspect of the book is how the author gets on with the taverna’s owner, Minas, who is so typically Greek. He’s full of wild enthusiasms one minute, and then immediately forgets them and falls asleep on a bench after too much wine. He loves cooking and coming up with new dishes, and gathering wild herbs to use in them, but then will get moody and the author doesn’t know what he’s going to do next.

A cafe on the Greek island of Karpathos in the DodecaneseA Cafe on Karpathos

Fine Greek Travel Writing

The author is very observant, of both people and places, and captures those observations in a writing style that is very simple and straightforward yet full of fine detail that brings everything to life. I enjoyed her accounts of her trips up into the town, and her encounters there with the locals, as well as the descriptions of the taverna’s customers.

Surprise Ending

No spoilers, but the ending to the story surprised me, as I’m sure it will surprise other people… and certainly made me want a follow-up to the excellent Taverna by the Sea.

Buying Taverna by the Sea

Taverna by the Sea is published by Bradt Guides and you can buy it direct from their website, where you can also read an extract here. You can also find it on Amazon.

Other Greece books pages

  • There are many great Greek poets, with two authors winning the Nobel Prize for Literature and names include Sappho, Cavafy, George Seferis and Odysseus Elytis.

    Great Greek Poets: Cavafy, Sappho, George Seferis, Odysseus Elytis

    There are many great Greek poets, with two authors winning the Nobel Prize for Literature and names include Sappho, Cavafy, George Seferis and Odysseus Elytis.

  • Greece Travel Secrets reviews the book Culture Trails by Lonely Planet, which has a section on Artistic Athens and 51 other perfect weekends for culture lovers.

    Culture Trails

    Greece Travel Secrets reviews the book Culture Trails by Lonely Planet, which has a section on Artistic Athens and 51 other perfect weekends for culture lovers.

  • Greece Book Reviews on the Greece Travel Secrets website with reviews of the best guidebooks to Greece, the Greek Islands, Athens, Crete and elsewhere.

    Greece Book Reviews

    Greece Book Reviews on the Greece Travel Secrets website with reviews of the best guidebooks to Greece, the Greek Islands, Athens, Crete and elsewhere.

  • The Lonely Planet guide to the Greek Islands is a thorough and helpful guide to all the Greek island groups, with Athens included.

    Lonely Planet Greek Islands

    The Lonely Planet guide to the Greek Islands is a thorough and helpful guide to all the Greek island groups, with Athens included.

  • Lonely Planet Crete is an excellent and thorough guide of almost 300 pages to the largest of the Greek islands.

    Lonely Planet Crete

    Lonely Planet Crete is an excellent and thorough guide of almost 300 pages to the largest of the Greek islands.

  • The latest edition of the Lonely Planet travel guide to Greece is a comprehensive 750-page guidebook to the whole country.

    Lonely Planet Greece

    The latest edition of the Lonely Planet travel guide to Greece is a comprehensive 750-page guidebook to the whole country.

  • Greece Travel Secrets reviews the photography book Monemvasia with extracts from works by Yiannis Ritsos and Nikos Kazantzakis.

    Monemvasia Book Review

    Greece Travel Secrets reviews the photography book Monemvasia with extracts from works by Yiannis Ritsos and Nikos Kazantzakis.

  • The Bradt Guide to Northern Greece is a detailed guide to Thessaloniki, Halkidiki, Macedonia, Thrace, The Pelion, The Sporades and the rest of Northern Greece.

    Northern Greece Guide

    The Bradt Guide to Northern Greece is a detailed guide to Thessaloniki, Halkidiki, Macedonia, Thrace, The Pelion, The Sporades and the rest of Northern Greece.

  • The Bradt Guide to the Peloponnese is the best book on the Greek region which includes attractions like Mycenae, Epidavros, Olympia, Monemvasia and Nafplion.

    Bradt Guide to the Peloponnese

    The Bradt Guide to the Peloponnese is the best book on the Greek region which includes attractions like Mycenae, Epidavros, Olympia, Monemvasia and Nafplion.

  • Wild Abandon by Jennifer Barclay and published by Bradt Guides is A Journey to Deserted Places of the Dodecanese islands in Greece, including Rhodes and Kos.

    Wild Abandon

    Wild Abandon by Jennifer Barclay and published by Bradt Guides is A Journey to Deserted Places of the Dodecanese islands in Greece, including Rhodes and Kos.

  • Fire on the Island is a romantic thriller novel by Timothy Jay Smith set on a fictionalised version of the town of Molyvos on the island of Lesbos.

    Fire on the Island

    Fire on the Island is a romantic thriller novel by Timothy Jay Smith set on a fictionalised version of the town of Molyvos on the island of Lesbos.

  • If planning a trip to Greece, what are the best books about Greece to read before you go, or to take with you, to give you a sense of place?

    Books About Greece

    If planning a trip to Greece, what are the best books about Greece to read before you go, or to take with you, to give you a sense of place?

  • Ikaria by Meni Valle, brings together the best and healthiest Greek recipes with an evocative travelogue about Ikaria, one of the world’s Blue Zone places.

    Ikaria Book Review

    Ikaria by Meni Valle, brings together the best and healthiest Greek recipes with an evocative travelogue about Ikaria, one of the world’s Blue Zone places.

  • A Thing of Beauty by Peter Fiennes describes ‘Travels in Mythical and Modern Greece’ and places the Greek Gods in the context of modern-day Greece.

    A Thing of Beauty

    A Thing of Beauty by Peter Fiennes describes ‘Travels in Mythical and Modern Greece’ and places the Greek Gods in the context of modern-day Greece.

  • A Rope of Vines by Brenda Chamberlain is an evocative memoir of the author’s time living on the Greek island of Hydra in the early 1960s.

    A Rope of Vines

    A Rope of Vines by Brenda Chamberlain is an evocative memoir of the author’s time living on the Greek island of Hydra in the early 1960s.

  • Eurydice Street, A Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff is an honest account of what it’s like to move to Athens and live as a foreigner, learning Greek customs.

    Eurydice Street

    Eurydice Street, A Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff is an honest account of what it’s like to move to Athens and live as a foreigner, learning Greek customs.

  • The Summer of My Greek Taverna by Tom Stone is a memoir of his time on the Greek island of Patmos in the Dodecanese, running a restaurant.

    The Summer of My Greek Taverna

    The Summer of My Greek Taverna by Tom Stone is a memoir of his time on the Greek island of Patmos in the Dodecanese, running a restaurant.

  • Margarita’s Olive Press is a modern gem of a book of Greek travel writing, in which the author falls in love with and renovates a property on Zakynthos.

    Margarita’s Olive Press

    Margarita’s Olive Press is a modern gem of a book of Greek travel writing, in which the author falls in love with and renovates a property on Zakynthos.

  • The very thorough A-Z Guide to Santorini by Tony Oswin is now in its 15th edition, a sure sign that the guidebook is both popular and kept up-to-date.

    A-Z Guide to Santorini

    The very thorough A-Z Guide to Santorini by Tony Oswin is now in its 15th edition, a sure sign that the guidebook is both popular and kept up-to-date.

  • The 2022 edition of the A-Z Travel Guide to Kos is the 15th edition of the best and most comprehensive guidebook to Kos in the Dodecanese islands of Greece.

    A-Z Travel Guide to Kos

    The 2022 edition of the A-Z Travel Guide to Kos is the 15th edition of the best and most comprehensive guidebook to Kos in the Dodecanese islands of Greece.

  • Mermaid Singing by Charmian Clift is a fine example of 1950s travel writing about the Greek island of Kalymnos in the Dodecanese.

    Mermaid Singing: Kalymnos Travel Writing

    Mermaid Singing by Charmian Clift is a fine example of 1950s travel writing about the Greek island of Kalymnos in the Dodecanese.

  • Peel Me a Lotus by Charmian Clift is a Hydra travel writing classic, describing her family’s life on this tiny Greek island near Athens in the 1950s.

    Hydra Travel Writing Classic

    Peel Me a Lotus by Charmian Clift is a Hydra travel writing classic, describing her family’s life on this tiny Greek island near Athens in the 1950s.

  • Heaven on Earth is a collection of 19 travel pieces about Greece by Mike Gerrard.

    Heaven on Earth

    Heaven on Earth is a collection of 19 travel pieces about Greece by Mike Gerrard.

  • Greece Travel Secrets reviews the Greek cookbook, The Ikaria Way by Diane Kochilas, containing 100 delicious plant-based recipes.

    The Ikaria Way

    Greece Travel Secrets reviews the Greek cookbook, The Ikaria Way by Diane Kochilas, containing 100 delicious plant-based recipes.

Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

Latest Posts

RSS

  1. No Ferries in Greece on April 9 as Seamen Join Nationwide Strike

    The Pan-Hellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) has announced its participation in the 24-hour strike called by the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) on Wednesday, April 9. The strike, which will…

    Read More

  2. Andros: Greece’s Top Hiking Island for 2025

    Andros, named Greece’s top hiking island for 2025 by Conde Nast Traveler, boasts diverse landscapes, scenic trails, cultural charm and stunning beaches.

    Read More

  3. Karpathos: One of Europe’s Best-Kept Travel Secrets

    The Greek island of Karpathos, a true hidden gem, has earned a spot on GEO magazine’s list of Europe’s nine best-kept travel secrets.

    Read More

  4. Mavros Gatos: A Genuine Neighborhood Taverna Operating in Pangrati Since 1963

    Among the many city eateries offering modern and classic Greek cuisine, Mavros Gatos in Pangrati stands out as a prime example of what a true traditional taverna should be today.

    Read More

  5. Matt Damon and Christopher Nolan Arrive in Messinia to Start Filming “Odyssey” – First Images Released

    A total of about 180 people arrived on two direct flights from Morocco, including actors as well as the core production team.

    Read More

  6. Ten Best Dishes in Greece

    moussaka-pixabay.jpg
    Greece Travel Secrets lists the ten best dishes to try in Greece, especially if it’s your first visit, and also discover the best places to find them.

    Read More

  7. Athens’ Most Coveted Culinary Hotspots

    Athens sizzles with culinary creativity, blending timeless classics and innovative flavors at unforgettable dining spots.

    Read More

  8. Culture Ministry Announces Free Admission to Greek Museums and Sites

    Greece’s public museums and archaeological sites will offer free entry on Sunday, March 2, and Thursday, March 6, following a decision by the Greek Culture Ministry. According to the ministry, on the…

    Read More

  9. Syros’ Hidden Soul: The Timeless Charm of Apano Meria

    Apano Meria, rich in geology and Cycladic history, captures the timeless charm of the Greek islands.

    Read More

  10. Athens Taxis to Strike for 24 Hours on Wednesday, February 19

    Taxi drivers in Athens will hold a 24-hour strike beginning at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, February 19, in protest of changes to street mobility regulations and increasing competition from ride-hailing apps.

    Read More