Aegean Dream by Dario Ciriello

Aegean Dream Reviews

• 
  Julie

  There are moments of pure magic in every life, glimpses of beauty no grief can tarnish, that live on in the sheltered niches and alcoves of memory. This was one of ours. Remember these places and their treasures, that you may find your way there whenever the darkness of the world presses too close.

  ~ Dario Ciriello, recounting a night swim in the Aegean, surrounded by bioluminescent plankton.
  
  This quote comes late in Aegean Dream, Dario's story of the year he and his wife, Linda, spent on the tiny Greek island of Skópelos. Sounds like just the sort of reflection someone who lives on an island so beautiful it became the setting for the movie Mamma Mia can afford to make. But read it again. For there is such sorrow in Dario's phrases. By the time he comes to recognize this moment of beauty, he and Linda have already made the wrenching decision to leave Greece.
  
  Linda and Dario had left behind a comfortable life in California to immigrate to Greece barely a year before. It was a bold move, but not a crazy one. They had spent time in Skópelos and Dario, a British national, had EU citizenship. They were assured by the Greek consulate that residency for Dario would be automatic and Linda would have no trouble obtaining hers once they were in country. They had thought through plans for small business ventures for soapmaking (Linda) and housepainting (Dario), as well as a chance for Dario to spend more time writing. They spent over a year in the planning, including intensive study of the Greek language.
  
  Their motivation, besides envisioning a life in a whitewashed cottage, shaded by olive trees, perched on an island in the middle of the cerulean Aegean? Oh, man, I could have written this:

  Why then fear moving to another country, shooting for the moon? Life was to be lived, and they knew how to do that in southern Europe, where people had time for family and friends, and didn't measure their worth by how many hours the worked.
  
  We knew there were risks. But the risk of growing old and having regrets because we'd been to timid to follow our dreams was the most frightening of all. What to others seemed like courage was, to us, necessity. It was survival.

  Yes. This. ^^^
  
  A year later they returned to California, on the edge financially and crushed emotionally. The same corrupt and convoluted bureaucracy that sent Greece into an economic tailspin and nearly took down the Eurozone not long after they left, slapped these two souls into a corner. Their only way out was to leave.
  
  We're all familiar with the "Despite the infernal locals and all that annoying sunshine and cheese, we rallied and restored a medieval barn into the perfect home-within-a-vineyard residence in southern Europe" tale -- you know, those memoirs we love to hate: A Year in Provence, Under A Tuscan Sun, etc. We devour them like gluttons, unable to squelch our envy but helpless to stop building our own castles in Spain as we live vicariously through someone else's dreams come true.
  
  But few of these stories have unhappy endings. It takes a very brave soul to admit when the dream has become a nightmare, it's time to cut losses, and move on. To turn back and reopen doors which you'd slammed shut and tossed aside the keys. It takes an even braver soul to release that story to the world.
  
  Dario's recounting of their experiences is vivid and maddening, but fair. Funny. Honest. Reflective. There is so much affection for Greece and for the dear Greek friends who sheltered and tried their best to help usher the Ciriellos into the community and through the maddening maze of bureaucracy that you hold out hope it's not going to end the way you know it will (and this review is no spoiler-- even a cursory glance at the book's description lets you know what to expect). This is not a dump-on-Greece misadventure. This is the story of two smart, resourceful, courageous, and imperfect people trying to meet a culture on its own terms.
  
  Aegean Dream hurt me with thousand tiny cuts. My husband and I left the Pacific Northwest for New Zealand just a few months before Dario and Linda left California for Greece. Our stories proceeded very differently--we had Permanent Residency and moved to a country where everything works with astonishing efficiency. I cannot fathom a place easier to immigrate to than the Land of the Long White Cloud. But we returned less than two years later, our hearts shattered. The how and the why shall become fodder for my own memoir that I'm still -- seven years after our return -- building the courage to write. But even though our circumstances were very different, our emotional journey has so much in common with Dario and Linda's. Aegean Dream was a cathartic and healing read for this traveler.
  
  

  Others have had it far worse than us, and we count ourselves fortunate. Our trials have tempered us and made us realize how resilient and adaptable we are. We learned to live for the day, and to be happy with little.
  Would we risk such an adventure again?
  It's a question we don't dare ask ourselves.

  
  I received a copy of Aegean Dream from the publisher for an honest review. My thanks to Panverse Publishing, founded by Dario Ciriello after his return to the United States. Now, there's a happy ending.
• 
  Nora McKinney

  First of all, let's get this out of the way: this book is not only wonderfully written, it's also grammatically flawless. The geek in me rejoiced.
  
  I can't begin to describe the range of feelings that Dario and Linda's adventure in Greece evoked in me. Knowing something of Greece's bureaucracy and corruption (but never really having had to deal with it much) I understood and felt for the couple. The whole range of contradictory emotions, from the elation at being able to live in something close to paradise, to the despair that comes with being unable to make things work, no matter how hard you try, because of the hostility of the system and some individuals, and all of them sometimes at the same time, lead the reader on a wild roller-coaster ride.
  
  It is difficult to describe the mentality of a country like Greece to western Europeans, but Dario makes an amazing job of it using examples of his, his wife's and various friends' adventures which make you get it in a most effective way.
  
  I have to admit that some tears flowed when, at the end of the book, Linda and Dario walk to the airport gate hand in hand, relieved to be leaving Greece for good. I'm happy these two made it out sane and managed to get their lives back on track.
  
  All in all, an amazing, well-written story, which hits you all the harder because it's real.
  
  
• 
  Regina Lindsey

  Aegean Dream by Dario Ciriello
  4 stars
  
  
  Who hasn't dreamed of selling out and running away to live in your dream vacation spot? That is exactly what Dario and Linda decide to do. Dario is British born and married to Linda. The two lived in California and had a lifestyle that afforded them to own a home and travel abroad frequently for vacation. In addition to loving Greece, with Dario's background he dreamed of fleeing "stifling" American values and wanted to get to a cradle to grave system. They saved their money, studied the language, and moved to Skopelos (most notable as the location for filming the hit movie Mama Mia). There Linda planned to use local ingredients to produce hand made soap and sell wholesale to the local retail outlets. As an artist Dario assumed he could just start up a business as easily in Greece as anywhere else in the world. What ensued would probably be better entitled Aegean Nightmare, as the Greek system and culture completely drained the two leaving them dead broke; not Hillary Clinton dead broke, but homeless and with substantial credit card debt within nine months. They return to the U.S. unsure of how they are going to pick up the pieces.
  
  This was an utterly fascinating read. You couldn't help but be impressed with the approach the two took in pursuing this dream. Not only did they take the effort to learn the language, but they consciously resisted becoming integrated into the expat community (many of whom were suffering the same fate) and instead tried to become a part of the local community. Even in the end, they have nothing but good to say about the friends they made there. You also can't help but have some sympathy for the two as they become paralyzed in a system that seems to have no interest in assisting local entrepreneurs much less foreigners. If you have ever wondered how the Greek economy went into such a free fall a few years back you will have a much better understanding after reading this. But, I have to admit that I smiled a little when Dario, who at the beginning of the book didn't have many good things to say about the U.S. began holding it up as the model for doing business. I didn't hold it against him though because this is a really good example of how ideology and practicality are often unable to be reconciled. That's true rather you are a conservative or a liberal. He seemed to accept that.
• 
  Bonnie Randall

  "Every Eden comes with snakes," says Ciriello and this could easily be the tag-line for Aegean Dream, a memoir of an emigration odyssey knocked to its knees by a bureaucracy designed, it seems, to keep foreigners endlessly chasing their tails (and spending their money). The red flags start out small for Dario and Linda, AG's impossible-to-not-love, real-life heroes, yet said flags are certainly visible, and, traveling with them through their story, one wonders why they didn't head for the nearest tarmac far sooner than they did.
  Ah, but then one is introduced to the people who enter their lives (Takis! His companionship alone is worth staying for), the food and drink and fellowship that seems to be generated with every meal in Greece, the views from every vantage point of Skopelos -magnificent - and, most of all, one sees how Dario and Linda love, truly love, this piece of paradise, how their souls are tied there.
  That's what makes Aegean Dream so terribly poignant, incidentally - not knowing that it all ends up going sour, but, rather, seeing the emotional cost levied when it does. Anyone who has ever felt profoundly moved and /or connected to a particular geographic location needs to read this book. Similarly, anyone who has tasted the bitter truth that's disappointment - especially in the face of something that, for every other reason SHOULD be yet still isn't - should also pick up AG.
  Beyond that, anyone who appreciates a tale told with sentimental heart yet unapologetic honesty, that can make you laugh out loud and also feel tears prick your eyes over and over, really needs to go to Greece with Dario & Linda live their Aegean Dream.
  Loved it.
  
• 
  Andrea Cunningham

  Dario Ciriello does it again and this time it's a true story! I read "Sutherland's Rules" first and was captivated by his story-telling. "Aegean Dream" details the triumph, trials and decision-making skills that are necessary to have in order to move to another country. That's it in a nut-shell.
  
  The other part is the emotional roller-coaster that this book provides. I had to take "breaks" a few times because the foreshadowing was so intense that I knew how the story was going to end...and I didn't want it to end. I wanted it (the adventure)to be the way Dario and Linda had envisioned it to be...so I had to keep reading to have "closure"!! I rooted for you guys throughout!!!
  
  Thank you for detailing such a personal adventure in your life. Dario I am a MAJOR fan of your work!
• 
  David Canford

  Who has not dreamed of living on a Greek island? The simple life, the freshest of food straight out of the ground or from the sea, swimming in those translucent waters and soaking in the sun. This account indicates the reality is likely to be more of a challenge. Leaving their life in the USA, this couple chooses the island of Skopelos, now famous as the location of the ‘Mama Mia’ movie. I was looking for some escapism so for me it was disappointing. There was much about their problems, especially dealing with Greek bureaucracy. And in the end, they have to admit defeat and leave. I applaud their courage in trying to make a go of it but it wasn’t an uplifting read, at least for me.
  
• 
  Jon

  Wow...hold on, formalities first...
  
  I'm on the Panverse street team, which means I read alot and have found a way to weasel free ebooks. ;) I'd burned through all of the latest releases, so Mr. Ciriello was nice enough to send me a couple of Panverse's back catalog, including Aegean Dream.
  
  Anyhow! Non-fiction and I have a rocky relationship, mainly because I started reading stuff like Heinlein, L'Amour, and Brooks by the time I was 10. I blame my parents for reading quality fiction and extremely severe asthma for too much free time. ;) I currently have an entire wall of bookshelves, and out of all that space my collection of non-fiction fills one shelf. So, you can understand when I say I didn't expect much from this autobiographical account of moving to Greece.
  
  I am not ashamed to admit I was wrong.
  
  With this book, Dario opens up a period of his life and allows us to ride along on what ultimately would prove to be a failed attempt at moving to a small Greek island and living the good life. But what you really take away from this is a sense of hope, of not being afraid to fail. Sure, they hit the ropes with failed bureaucracy. Yes, they moved back damn near penniless, and right into the downward spiral now referred to as the Great Recession.
  
  But!! They lived on an island in the Aegean. They met wonderful people. They lounged on beaches that you only see in movies (literally, in this case...as Dario and his wife Linda were preparing to leave, Hollywood was setting up shop to film "Mamma Mia!"). They had experiences that most of us dream about, and all because they were willing (and able, yes) to take the leap.
  
  Dario's retelling of those experiences reminds you to find those daily joys in your own life, to treasure the moments that pass all too soon. We all have those flashes of insight where we take a picture in our mind, thinking "Life is good. Life is beautiful." Despite the dark times in all of our lives we, like Dario and Linda, can only be rewarded if we know where to look.
• 
  Diane Hammond

  Guts and beauty
  
  What a beautiful, brave and moving account of pursuing one's dreams! I went through all the author's highs and lows with such hope and admiration. Would recommend this book to anyone who dares to dream.
• 
  Wendy

  I probably would not have picked up this book if Dario were not a friend and Clarion West workshop classmate of mine. "Americans go and live abroad and learn life lessons" stories have become a genre of their own in recent years, and I tend to expect them to be a bit sentimental and pat. (I should note that Dario is not technically American, being Italian by heritage and British by birth, but I'd be proud to call him my countryman any day.)
  
  However, I'm really glad that I picked up this book, because while there's sentiment here, there's also humor and honesty. The book is an easy and entertaining read, and you really find yourself rooting for Dario and Linda as they try to make new friends across barriers of language and culture (a task at which they succeed admirably), or go head to head against the Greek bureaucracy (at task which ultimately defeats them). As something of a foodie, I also particularly enjoyed the accounts of Dario and Linda being introduced to Greek cuisine, and introducing their Greek friends to American cuisine. (If I ever need to make friends fast in a foreign country, I'm hoping I can go armed with Linda's chocolate chip cinnamon roll recipe.)
  
  This book should absolutely be required reading for anyone thinking of packing up and moving to a foreign country. But even if you've never had the urge to emigrate, you'll find plenty of entertainment and food for thought here.
  
  
• 
  Paula Weisberger

  Some of my favorite books are the give-it-all-up-and-move-to-a-foreign-country books. Only the third book I've read about Greece. The couple really presented a nuts and bolts story of making a move like this happen. I enjoyed hearing about the interesting meals, the seasonal happenings, the eccentric neighbors, the rhythms of daily life, etc., i felt the ending was rushed, and didn't really buy the quick decisions made at the end...
• 
  Tim

  I loved this! It was written by my friend Dario and was such an amazing mix of bitter and sweet, as they chased their dream of living on Skopelos in Greece.
  I think Dario was very fair to himself, his adorable wife and to the good and bad of the Greeks. What an amazing experience, and what a story. Read it!
• 
  Julie

  
  A funny. moving, exasperating and delightful account of Dario and Linda's time in Greece. This brought back so many memories of how wonderful Greece and Greeks can be and how infuriating their bureaucracy. I laughed and cried and was transported back to the land I love. A great read and the sadness when they leave is palpable.
• 
  Dave

  Wow! I finished a book in less than three weeks--unheard of!
  
  Not a great book, but one I enjoyed because it reminded me so much of the very frustrating trials we experienced living in the Greek culture as we did in 1982-1985. I might have given this a fourth star had it been written with fewer profanites/vulgarities.
• 
  Edith

  Loved the honesty, the story, the descriptions of beautiful settings and friendships and the passion for life that set this adventure in motion. Surprised and saddened by how things that have been planned and thought through can go sideways so quickly. Resiliency in the face of adversity is exemplified.
• 
  Judy

  Enjoyed this book.
• 
  Bev Collyer

  Great reading
  
  I loved this book as out brought back happy memories of the 5 months I spent living in Nikia, a village of 30 people on Nysiros, also in the Aegean. I could relate to so many wonderful experiences, especially those involving the people. Fortunately, I am retired and can go back and forth between Greece and Australia, so did not have to deal with bureaucracy. The book provides an accurate portrayal of living in a small Greek and it's a great read regardless of whether you have been to Greece or not. I'm currently on ikaria and wish I could stay. Highly recommend this book.
• 
  David Watson

  Would you be willing to leave the security of your every day life for the chance to make your dream come true? Dario and his wife Linda did just that when they decided to leave behind the financial security they had and live on a Greek island. Many of us have gone on vacation and thought how great it would be to live there. Aegean Dream by Dario Ciriello is the story of two people brave enough to turn a dream into reality.
  
  I was hooked on this book from the start. In the beginning you hear Dario and his wife Linda talk about how wonderful it would be live in a vacation destination which is something that lots of people do. Aegean Dream is a very detailed travel memoir that takes you from Dario and Linda planing out how they can make the trip happen, overcome the obstacles to make it happen and what life was like in Greece. This book doesn’t sugar coat anything, you see how hard it was to make a living on the island, how difficult the government bureaucracy was to deal with and the hard realities to living your dream life.
  
  I was surprised how good it was, I figured that at some point I would lose interest in the story but I never did. I enjoyed hearing about all the differences between Greeks and Americans and with Dario and Linda constantly having a new challenge to face, I was curious to see if they would be able to make a living. They have issues such as appliances not working, getting their belongings through customs, and getting their business up and going.
  
  As they go to Greece they have a plan to make and sell soap using local ingredients. While they have a solid business plan what they didn’t plan on was the government red tape. Reading this book you can see what led to Greece’s financial collapse. The government sets up a lot of obstacles to starting new businesses which Dario and Linda have to deal with, also at one point you hear about a woman saying how employers get away with not paying their employees and one employee went over a month without getting paid. Another thing that you read about is one person saying that people use credit too much and they don’t seem to realize that one day they will have to pay the money back.
  
  I loved reading about how Greek people were so friendly and very different from Americans. Dario talks about how they were invited to several dinners where everyone was encouraged to eat and drink until they got their fill. This book is worth reading for two reasons, it’s a great look at a culture that is very different from ours and its a story about a couple who tried to make their dreams come true. Aegean Dream is a great story from a great storyteller and is a book that you should read before you decide to follow your dreams. One thing you will learn is that you have to take the good with the bad, running down a dream isn’t easy.
• 
  Margaret Fisk

  Dario is a BayCon friend of mine, but this year I learned we had something else in common: a love for, and some time in residence in, Greece. Though I never did get the chance to give him one of the limonadas I happened to have with me, a lemon soda I fell in love with as a kid in Paros, he did end up giving me a copy of his memoir to review, a process that transported me into my past with every vivid word.
  
  Memoirs require a tricky balance between fact and organization. Life doesn’t come with the ebb and flow expected in a novel, and a true recounting is full of dull moments that offer little to pull the reader in.
  
  Dario manages this balance through a strong, sarcastic at times, narrative voice combined with blunt foreshadowing. In the times when things are going well, he reminds the reader of the doom hanging over their innocent heads, and keeps the story alive with the tragedy to come, the comedy of small moments, and descriptions that made me long for my own time there.
  
  This is not a travel diary. If anything, it’s a Greek tragedy with fascinating characters, a deep insight into cultural differences and how xeni, or foreigners, fall into two very distinct categories. I was only ten the last year we managed to make it to Greece, my family’s tale also falling victim to economics though in a different way, and yet the environment, both natural and cultural is achingly familiar.
  
  I know Dario as a person, but even so I got sucked into this story as though it were fiction. The evocative descriptions, the honesty in both the good and bad moments, and the rhythm of the story make it easy to forget that this is a memoir of something that happened to someone else. Like any good story, I found myself there among the players, frustrated or delighted, with the knowledge, revealed from the beginning, that despite everything the venture would go south. At the same time, as with any powerful book, there are moments when how Dario, his wife, and their friends handle what life sends their way offer life lessons. That’s what makes this book transcend a simple diary and become so much more. I’d quote my favorite, but I think it’s better experienced in context as you share their journey.
  
  So, if you want a glimpse at another culture, one much more in depth than you’d ever see on a one or two week excursion through the Greek islands, or if you’re just interested in a tale of courage, adventuresome spirit, and rolling with the punches life sends our way will all too much frequency, I think you will enjoy Aegean Dream. I salute the strength of purchase that led Dario and Linda to take this chance, and all the wonderful things they reaped from it despite how things turned out, this book being only one of many.
• 
  Aidan

  Dreams are easy. Turning them into reality takes a brave soul and plenty of work. Aegean Dream follows the bravery and hard work necessary to make dreams reality. A book about the expat dream set in a seaside Aegean village. The book captures the challenges of expat living and brings us along with Dario and Linda as they experience the highs and lows of making a home in their new country: bridging the language and culture gap, establishing new jobs, and battling with the bureaucracy of their new home.
  
  For those who like the voyeur research model, this provides a glimpse on expatriate living and the Greek economic crisis. It is easy to imagine the glamour of living on a seaside island, but harder to understand the travails required to connect in a foreign land. Moreover, the central conflict in the story revolves around some of the same threads that underlie the heart of Greek's current problems. The tale is wrapped in a beautiful package accompanied with mezzes and ouzo, horta, sun-drenched hillsides, and sea-side beaches. The setting is gorgeous, the love of this place comes through clearly.
• 
  Lynette Aspey

  I recall being very excited for my friends Dario and Linda,when they decided to chart a tangential course in life, leaving their professional careers in the US to pursue an independent, sustainable life-style on the Greek island of Skopelos. I knew that they had the energy and drive to make it work...
  
  ..they just hadn't bargained on the Greek bureaucracy.
  
  Dario describes their year in Greece as “Comic, tragic … a story of love and friendship”. It is this, and more. “Aegean Dream” is a wonderfully readable account of two people who had the courage to step “out there”.
  
  What I admire most about Dario’s writing is his clarity; there’s no fabrication here. You see, I know the guy, and he’s dangerously honest. Dario loves the Skopelos of his Dreaming with an intensity of the true romantic but his account is not misty-eyed. This is a book that leaves you knowing that you’ve shared an experience of value that will stay with you in anecdotal flashes of recall: Dario has remembered it for us.
  
  
  
  (This review has been excerpted from my blog. If you're interested in reading the full post, you can find it at:
  http://sleepingdragon.info/2011/to-th... )
  
• 
  Samuel

  While the first edition printing here does have an assortment of typos and formatting quirks here and there, it's still quite an account of (trying?) to move to, live, and work on a small island in Greece. Even as a EU citizen, Dario has so many hoops to jump through, so many barriers to these simple three things. The book employs a variety of techniques, from short chapters to longer ones, blog posts and letters, as well as selected photographs. Comic at times, both funnily and darkly, as well as the foreshadowed (and known, as these events were a few years ago and I'd known Dario had moved back to the US) impending doom crept closer. "This is Greece!"
  
  So, yeah. I don't want to move to, live, and work in Greece. But I very much want to visit these islands, ride these ferries, walk these streets, eat this food. (So often reading this book made me hungry!) I'm not sure what qualifies a memoir like this as a "success"; for me I very much felt Dario's frustrations, elations, victories and losses coming through.
• 
  Emily Sandoval

  I'm not much for travel memoirs, but for fans of the genre, and especially for people who are thinking of moving to a foreign country, this is definitely worth a read. I've never been to Greece, but the imagery was so evocative, I could almost imagine I was there. At the same time, the recounting of Dario and Linda's battle against the Greek bureaucracy had me wincing in sympathy. It did feel a bit overlong—perhaps sticking too close to the truth, as real life doesn't come in a nice, perfectly-plotted progression.
• 
  Tracie Chapple

  A brilliant book. So well written & thoroughly absorbing. Having been to Skopelos I can picture the scenes. Also having moved from the UK to USA I can really identify with the whole red tape aspect!
• 
  Chelsey Meighan

  Not bad. Wouldn't read again though...