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JOURNAL
01/01/2026

Patras ~ Familiar Days, New Faces

A photographic journal ~ 2026

Self-portrait wearing a green beanie and sunglasses, making a peace sign on a hillside near Patras.

For three years, New Year’s meant Iasonas and Eirini coming up to Thessaloniki. In 2026, it was my turn to head to Patras.

This time I travelled with my girlfriend, without Melina. A little adult time, and a chance for my closest friend and his partner to meet someone who had become an important part of my life.

“Old memories, new faces”

01 / A CHANGE IN TRADITION

They came in 2023, when Verena was still with us. Again in 2024, for the first New Year without her. And in 2025, after we had moved to Pefka.

By 2026, I wanted to change things a little. Same friends, a different city, and someone new beside me.

Roadway and cables of the Rio–Antirrio Bridge beneath a blue sky with scattered clouds.
Sunlit street in Patras lined with parked cars and apartment buildings, with a mountain in the distance.
Illuminated church dome and arched windows against the night sky in Patras.

A little organised spontaneity. Enough of a plan to bring us together, with room to see how the days unfolded.

02 / TWO WALKS

Two moments stayed with me. The first was our walk around Patras on New Year’s morning, with Iasonas and Eirini, taking in the city and the Agios Nikolaos steps.

The second was that same evening: my girlfriend and I wandering around, trying to find snacks and something to eat.

Agios Nikolaos steps in Patras at night, lined with lamps and pink lighting.
Decorated Christmas tree glowing beside a television and wooden room divider.
Apartment balconies and parked cars along a Patras street beneath a clear blue sky.

A new year, old friends, and the very practical question of what we were going to eat. That belongs in the memory too.

03 / DÉJÀ VU, WITH NEW FACES

Underneath those ordinary moments was a stranger feeling. A new way of experiencing a familiar reality.

It felt like déjà vu, but with new faces. Old memories and new experiences kept overlapping until the boundaries between them became difficult to make out.

Dark green window shutters framed in white against a pink wall in Patras.

I would almost call it a trance. I was enjoying what was happening while part of me seemed to be somewhere else.

I was there, and somehow I wasn’t. Both feelings existed at once.

Rio–Antirrio Bridge spanning blue water beneath mountains and hillside wind turbines.

04 / A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING

I photographed a little of everything: streets, small details, views, and myself somewhere in the middle of it all.

View down a Patras street toward the sea and distant mountains under a cloudy sky.
Self-portrait making a peace sign above Patras, with the Rio–Antirrio Bridge and mountains behind.
Street in Patras framed by apartment buildings, with a snow-dusted mountain in the distance.

Looking back, those photographs sit alongside the two walks and that peculiar mix of feelings.

The first entry of 2026 ~ familiar company, new experiences, and memories that came along with me.

MEMORY CARD

PLACE

Patras, Greece

CAMERA

iPhone 14 Pro Max

SOUND

Ormatie ~ Twisted Turns

MEMORY

Déjà vu, with new faces.

THE STORY CONTINUES
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