First steps in Greece is a travel diary written by British-Canadian poet Patrick Anderson (1915-1979), published in 1958. In the mid-1950s, Anderson -who had recently divorced with his wife Peggy Doernbach- decided to tour Greece by taking holidays, meeting people and photographing the country. Like many Britons of his generation, he had already been introduced to ancient Greek literature at the Welsh school of his youth and in his studies at the University of Oxford.

As David Roessel points out in his influential book In Byron’s shadow, since the late 1930s, the idea of Greece in the imaginary worlds of the British and Americans has changed. This shift is evident in the way they formed the image of the country in both their minds and texts. The focus shifted from antiquity -and the connection with the past through ancient Greek literature, art and architecture- to a modernist, more naturalistic and intellectual continuity between then and now. This continuity was sought, discovered and reconstructed by poets and writers through their contact with nature, the people of the countryside, and through conversation and wine drinking in taverns and cafes.  The interaction of British and American intellectuals with the 1930s generation of Seferis and Katsimbalis, who had boarded the modernist train, completely transformed their perspective on things.