An Instagram Account that Purrs

#GreeceandCats, a self-explanatory labor of love

They can be seen strutting in Greek island alleys, sleeping on straw chairs, scrounging for food under taverna tables, or sunbathing next to ancient monuments.

Entrance is free, everywhere, if you’re a cat, especially in Greece. These feline creatures are a kind of attraction. They feature on post cards and serve as mascots for shops. Cats are full blown stars here.

If you have never been to Greece, then perhaps you can get an idea of what we’re talking about at the Instagram account Cats and Greece.

Cats are not always the protagonists of the posted photos, but they do serve as a bait of sorts to view shots of the Caldera in Santorini, a bougainvillea in bloom, and various other images that have become associated with Greece, often with a touch of humor.

The pictures are usually captioned with cute hypothetical remarks from the cats, or a few words on the history of places, while others are left to speak for themselves by the account’s administrator, Eleni Papaioannou.

Eleni Papaioannou, owner of the instagram account GreeceandCats poses for Greece Is with her cat

Eleni, who grew up in South Africa to Greek parents and decided to relocate to her family’s homeland in 2006, was struck by the number of cats seen all over.

“At first, I couldn’t understand why there were so many of them around, and why they were not kept at homes by people,” she said.

Later on, I realized that sterilization is not a common practice here and that Greeks consider cats as a part of the environment – pets that don’t need to be kept inside, but which can be collectively looked after outdoors. We have 30 cats in my neighborhood, Glyfada [seaside southern Athens]. We all feed them, provide water…”

Her Instagram page, launched less than three months ago, was prompted by the escape of her cat, Nachos.

“I was upset by it and, one day, while browsing through Instagram, was thinking about how beautiful those cat pictures taken in Greece were,” she said.

“I was also made to wonder about how many cats there could be out there – well looked after, too; none of them look skinny!”

With the help of tags, Eleni’s Instagram page hosts photos from users all over the world, while the hashtag #catsandgreece leads to her gorgeous digital photo album. Having already accumulated nearly 10,000 followers from all continents, I could not help but wonder what Eleni attributed the account’s popularity to, and ended up asking her whether it was the cats or Greece that played a bigger role.

“Definitely the cats,” she responded half-jokingly. “Whatever you do that includes them will be fantastic. However, the public’s response to Santorini, Mykonos, Paros and Crete uploads made me realize that Greece also has a bit to do with it!”