Almost the first thing I saw when I got off the ferry, driving along in the dark, almost empty roads was three little dogs, out for a roam by themselves and I thought to myself, yeah, I’m in Greece…

Wandering dogs are seemingly everywhere. There is a mish mash of local charities collecting them up and campaigning and I’m sure there is cruelty going on (many of the actual strays are hungry) but their untethered trotting around brings a leap of happiness to my heart. I think I over-identify with them. That and the association with The Littlest Hobo, a canine childhood hero of mine, jumping on and off trains in the US doing good deeds. Just as not all those who wander are lost, not all the dogs are strays. Many of them ‘belong’ to people but are on the loose (unlike in the UK), sniffing other dogs bottoms and lying about in the sun. I was also told that in some parts of the country, where work is seasonal, people will leave the dog behind to fend for itself over winter and then have it back when they return in the spring. Obviously not OK and I now, along with other travellers I’ve met, leave dog food out when I park up. Although large pet shops are to be found in every town there does seem a different attitude to dogs, many are chained up as canine alarms and some of these are underfed and subject to the elements without the benefit of roaming. Cats are also ubiquitous, especially in the cities and around the tourist sites. In the larger places they are regularly fed by locals and there are little cat shelters scattered around, miniature cardboard cities for felines, some multi-storied and prettily decorated. There does seem an general concern for them and, in fact, one of the six strict reasons that you could go out in the November 2020 lockdown was to feed stray animals, which is rather touching, both in sentiment and the fact that it was enshrined in law.

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