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From Ithaki Greece to Victoria Australia - An ithacagreece.com trip
 
November and December 2006
 

Athens

Up and Away

Ithaca Society

IPS Lunch

City Central

The Shop Drop

Landscapes

Coastline

Beaches

Country Victoria

Suburbs

Upside

Downside

   
Christmas Lunch - Ithacan Philanthropic Society
The tickets for the Christmas Lunch put on by the Ithacan Philanthropic Society of Melbourne were booked out long before I was sitting on the plane for Melbourne, but missing out on a ticket, didn't mean I missed out on lunch thanks to Anna Vlassopoulos and family of Doncaster (pic above), who grilled up a big snapper to keep me going until I had the chance to catch up with the Ithacans at the function room in Kew. There were faces often seen on Ithaca during Summer and even a few faces from Ithaki. By the time I arrived, many were preparing to leave, but I got a few pics before it was too late.
 
There seemed to be real Kefi at the function. The Melbourne Ithacan community enjoying eachothers company speaking a little Greek, a little English and quite a bit of Gringlish. Happy faces and good moods as far as the eye could see. Above Left - Demetri and Lia Raftopoulos, daughter of the late Stathi Raftopoulos, poet and philanthropist.
 
Above - L - R - George Coutsouvelis, President of the Ithacan Historic Society, Kristalenia Callinicos and mother Andriana Zervoulis who still have their house in Raxi along with Spyridoula Digaletou-Coutsouveli.
Below - Theodosia and Petros Kouratos who have their roots in Exoghi
Ithacans living in Melbourne Australia
Above Left - Dennis Katsamas and the previous President (pre - 1995) of IPS, Adonis Raftopoulos. Middle - Chrissa Raftopoulos and Jim Vlassopoulos and right - Dennis Sikiotis all the way from Stavros.
Above - Eli Galatis who was born in Anoghi and left the village at the age of 16, and Helen and John Callas aka Thrappa from Exoghi.
Above Left - Yianni, another face from Ithaki, is here on holiday visiting relatives. He's seen above with his aunt Christina. Middle - Freda Razos and Jim Vlassopoulos. Right - Effi Katsamas with her husband and IPS photographer, Dennis.
Above Left - Spiridoula Paxinos returns regularly to Ithaki. Middle - Spiros Paizis. His father is from Stavros known by the nickname Skaltses and his mother is from Exoghi with the nickname Kapnisi. Above Right - Maria Lourantos-Evangelou.
 
The Ithacan Philanthropic Society of Melbourne gains strength each year - Keeping the connection alive.
Left - A very proud Peter Paxinos, IPS president now since 1995, explains that the Society is growing and that its community and its dedication to keeping IPS going all these years, puts the club in an eviable position amongst other clubs around the world who struggle for attendance. They are continuously fine tuning the running of the society to keep Ithacans living in Melbourne and their families, coming back and interested. Peter was born in Melbourne, but spent his teenage years 1951 - 1959 at Parata, the region between Frikes and Stavros. Peter boasts a great committee who love and respect eachother as they work for the common goal - Keeping the connection alive.
See you on Ithaki!!
Above - The Rat Pack of Ithaki... well a few of them - Peter Razos of Ag. Ioanni, Lucky Vlassopoulos of Exoghi and YIanni of Lefki/Stavros...oh Baby!
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