The British Pathe archives released vintage reels of Greece. The brief spots document a Greece that drew travelers of the time that had to take donkey rides instead of buses, where tourists were dressed glamorously and old village women sat on the porch in the sun “spinning wool and dreams together.” They were the days where presenters spoke eloquently and life was hard but honest.

Now, the promo videos are more high-tech and the cultured presenter’s voice has been replaced with heart-pumping imagery.

Vintage Greece

Then and now. Which do you prefer?

1961: Aegina, Poros, Hydra
Aegina one of the jewels in an “enchanting necklace around the neck of Greece” where “history dozes in the warm sun while visitors from lands out beyond the Mediterranean come to enjoy the island’s beauty.” Mules take tourists to the ancient ruins dedicated to Athena that are now inundated with coaches. Also featured on the clip are Poros and Hydra, “islands where the clocks have slowed down.” The clip ends on Hydra where people lie in the sun prophetically thinking of the “days to come.”

Aegina, Poros, Hydra today

1962: Corfu
An island that was once seen as “content to dream and remember”.

Corfu in 2014

1963: Athens and Rhodes

People traveled to Athens on Olympic Airways in grand style and were able to visit the Acropolis without scaffolding and walk to the areas now sectioned off to tourists. You could see the original caryatids and then jet off to a more innocent “sleepy” Rhodes before it became a tourist hotspot.

Rhodes today

1964: Crete

The vintage footage of Crete shows the caves of Matala before it became a hippie hangout and traditional farming used at the time.

Crete in 2014

1965: Thassos

Even then, an “Aegean paradise” where “you could hear silence”. At the time, the island was still unopened to the tourist trend when there were no boats at this outpost and bypassed by the scurry.

Thassos today