Patras ~ Familiar Days, New Faces

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.

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.

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.

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.

04 / A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING

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

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.