Like Odysseus, I'm Returning to Ithaka

I am heading to Greece to attend a writers' retreat on my beloved island of Ithaka, and to do research for an exciting new project, a book entitled 100 Places in Greece Every Woman Should Go, to be published by Travelers' Tales in 2015.

This won't be your average guidebook to Greece - more like having a best friend along on the journey who will steer you towards a personally curated collection of cool, sometimes unusual and always exciting places you shouldn't miss when traveling in this ancient land - all from a women's perspective, wish a healthy dash of enlightening archaeological facts in the mix. And since I'm all about archetypes and the divine feminine, count on many of the 100 places to be oozing with tales of heroines, saints and goddesses of mythology and the cinema.

I'll be returning to do research in the fall and again in the spring to track down new places and in some cases revisit old ones. As an archaeologist who has lived and worked in Greece for many years, I've had a chance to travel widely in the country. I'll offer up unusual and sometimes mysterious destinations  - a mountain village on the island of Kefalonia where snakes and the Virgin Mary are thought to cure both mental and physical illnesses, a kayak trip down the real River Styx - as well as offer a fresh take on the standards, including the ancient architectural jewels of Athens and the inside scoop on that building with the women holding up the weight of the world!

Photo by Matthew Muth

It won't be easy to narrow down the selection to 100 places - I've already got 251 on my bucket list! So, like Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt, I set out on my quest...