Last few days, 17th-21st June

The Messina straights, Scilla on the opposite side
Sabrina making a scylla of herself with Italian icecream

Taormina impressions at night

We decided, as we left Trapani, that it was time to go home. Lots of reasons -the weather was getting hot; we were getting into high season-pricier and more crowded; and nowhere, we believed, was going to be as nice and as easy as Greece. So we settled for just one more stop, at Giardini-Naxos. Naxos is the poor seaside relation to Taormina, and it languishes at the foot of the cliffs whilst Taomina is on top.

After his dreadful experience with the Cyclops, and various other disasters Odysseus had only one ship and its crew still alive. They sailed through the straights of Messina along the east coast of Sicily until they reached the land of the sun god Helios, thought to be in the region of Taormina and Naxos. Odysseus had been warned by Circe not to kill any of the sungod's cattle, on pain of death, but his men got hungry and were persuaded by one of the crew that a big sacrifice to Helios when they got home to Ithaca would sort it. But Helios was having none of it, and made a plea to Zeus to destroy the ship, or else he would refuse to shine on the world, and go and light up the underworld instead. When the ship set sail again a terrible storm blew up and sank it and all men were lost, except for Odysseus. He was washed up on Calypso's island, thought to be Gozo, Malta and there he stayed for seven years.

The name Taormina is derived from 'Taurus' (bull) but we couldn't find hide nor hair of any cattle. This is Sicily's prime tourist location: lots of expensive hotels and shops; beaches with serried rows of umbrellas and sun loungers; and some wonderful views, with Mount Etna smoking away in the background. We stayed at a family run apartment in Naxos, much like the Greek ones we had grown to know and love. There are remains of several ancient greek settlements in Sicily, of which Naxos is the oldest. Greeks from Naxos (the greek island) and Evbea settled here around 800BC, and there is an archeological park right opposite our apartment, as luck would have it, the site of the ancient town.

In the cool of a late afternoon we visited the park, which turned out to be huge and so overgrown it was almost impossible to see the remains. A further handicap was that all the information was in Italian only. However we had one interesting find in the park museum: Greek amphoras (pottery storage jars used for transporting wine and oil etc) and other bits and pieces which had been recovered from the sea by the local sub-aqua club. The amphoras were covered with barnacles and crud and were dated 1100BC -evidence that Greek ships have been sinking off this coast at the time of Odysseus.

On our last but one day we hired a little grey car (and hang the expense) and travelled up to the Messina straights. This is the narrow sea channel separating Sicily from the toe of Italy. It's the legendary home of Scylla, the six headed monster with three rows of teeth in each mouth and twelve legs, who snatched sailors out of their ships as they passed by and ate them for breakfast. Then, if you escaped them, you were likely to be sucked down in the whirlpools of Charybdis. It was another lovely sunny afternoon when we arrived and we could see the village of Scilla, on the Italian side of the straights. There were people playing on the beach on our side and it all looked very unthreatening. Apparently there are fairly strong circular currents here, but nothing really to warrent its fierce reputation. But this a high risk earthquake zone, so it could be that the lie of the land has changed over the last three thousand years....and that still doesn't account for the monster.

We decided it was time to have a proper Italian icecream -in a brioche and head back for Palermo and the airport. Our trip was coming to an end and now we had the plane tickets, wild horses couldn't have kept us away from home. It was time.

To Sicily and Cyclops 14th-17th June

The Cyclops cave, Pizzalongi

Tuna fishing boats, on the shore near Pizzalongi. Tuna fishing stopped ten years ago, and the boats have been left to rot.

Birgit, Antonio and Andreas, enjoying dinner in Antonio's favourite restaurant in Trapani. Food is glorious in Sicily, and stuff that would cost a small fortune in a deli in London is remarkably cheap here.

Corfu to Palermo in 24 hours....overnight by ferry to Bari on the SE coast of Italy.... then trains from the heel to the toe of Italy....the train is carried across to Sicily by ferry and then goes straight on to Palermo. A marathon, and we didn't really wake up until we arrived at 10.30pm at Palermo Station. But three cheers for Greek and Italian public transport; it really does get you there, no hanging about, and at a fraction of the cost in Britain. Our first impressions of Palermo when we walked around next morning were not encouraging. It looked poor, down at heel and very dirty, despite the occasional glorious building. We were keen to get out as soon as possible, and by lunchtime had decided that our best option was to take a bus to Trapani on the West coast.





We were still half asleep when we arrived at Trapani, mid afternoon. The heat was bouncing off the concrete pavements, and Sabrina needed a loo fast. There were no obvious places of refuge and then, when we were already fervently wishing that we hadn't come all this way, we saw a single sign for 'Bed and Breakfast' on the wall of an apartment block. A man, who we later knew to be Antonio, answered the door and showed Sabrina up to a rather elegant room. He gave a price which was alot more than we had been paying in Greece. Should we stay?.... We pondered outside and then rang the bell again to ask some more questions. Antonio did after all speak English, which was a rarity in Sicily. We wanted to go to Pizzalongi, about 12km further down the coast. Did he know if there might be a B&B there? He didn't. Were there any buses? No, there were not. Why, Antonio asked us, did we want to go there? Embarassed pause...we wanted to see the Cyclop's cave. Ah...would we please let him know by 5pm if we wanted the room.





From there on things got better by leaps and bounds. Antonio, it turned out, was very into the local myths and legends. He offered to take us to the cave in his car the following day, along with his other lodger Birgit, a very nice customs officer from Brenen. Both got into the spirit of discovery, and Antonio laughed alot. The cave wasn't too hard to find. Pizzolongi turned out to be a small hamlet of holiday homes with two streets, named Via Cyclops and Via Polphemus, running up the hill to a ridge of cliffy limestone rocks. Following one of these we came to a small overgrown path leading up to our cave. An information board outside it told us that it had been occupied by stone age people (flints and animal bones had been found there), but there was no mention of a Cyclops. It was a very fine cave, easily big enough for a Cyclops and his flock of sheep and goats; and there were many other caves along the ridge. Even if you couldn't quite believe that one-eyed giants lived in the area, it was interesting enough that our stone-age ancestors, and perhaps even some Neanderthals, had made their homes here.

Antonio showed us more places of interest, and then sent Birgit and ourselves off on a bus trip up the hill behind Trapani to a mediaeval town, Erice, which also been occupied since time immemorial. On a clear day you can see Tunisia from here. It wasn't that clear, but we could see the islands of Favignana and Maretimo, which both feature in the Odysseus story, and we were content with that. We left Trapani the next day feeling we had made more friends and had a very good time.

something for the kids

Cretan snake goddess...pretty scary lady

'...maybe I'll be lucky today...'

lighting candles to the christian god in a church in Paros

We were woken up at night in Corfu by the most tremedous storm....thunder claps so loud that we were shaking in our beds. In Sami, Kefallonia we felt the earth moving under us. Luckily for us it was just a small earthquake, but 50 years ago a quake shook Sami town to pieces. In Santorini we saw how a whole island had been blown apart by a volcano, and in Sicily we saw red smokey lava still trickling down a big volcanic mountain. All of these things can be frightening, but imagine how much more frightening they were three thousand years ago, when people had no idea why or when the earth would suddenly change.





The ancient Greeks believed that there were lots of gods, and if you didn't give them proper respect, then they would call up all sorts of disasters, like storms and earthquakes. Zeus was the big daddy of the gods. He spent most of his time on Mount Olympus and usually had the final say,but the gods were an unruly lot, and were always coming down to earth to meddle in people's affairs. Zeus' brother Poseidon was the god of the sea. He didn't like Odysseus at all, because he had blinded his Cyclops son Polyphemus. Odysseus was very unlucky on his journey home; his boats were always getting caught in storms, and when Odysseus was all alone on his home-made raft, he very nearly got drowned in a storm. Who was to blame? You guessed it, Poseidon.









Athena on the other hand was very fond of Odysseus and often gave him help. She was the beautiful daughter of Zeus, tall and with grey eyes. She could change herself into any body. She came to the young princess Nausicaa in a dream, disguised as the girl's best friend. She pursuaded Nausicaa that she should go down to the river the next morning to wash her clothes, which were lying about her bedroom dirty and crumpled. And there, as the story goes, Nausicaa found the ship-wrecked Odysseus, and gave him olive oil to wash with, and clothes to put on.









There were lots of gods and godesses and whenever Odysseus and his men had a piece of really good, or really bad, luck, then the gods were usually held responsible. The ancient Greeks also had a strong belief in fortune-telling and in omens. (ask mum or dad what an omen is) Fortune-tellers who made the right predictions, or who interpreted the omens correctly, were often given a big reward. Penelope waited twenty years for Odysseus to come home. When an old man from abroad told her that he would be home soon, she said she would shower him with gifts if he was proved right. He was right; luckily for him!

Nostalgia in Corfu 9th-13th June

We meet up with Angeliki and George at Liapades

The monastery at Paleokastritsa...the site of Lord Alcinous' palace?

A snake slid over Doreen's sandals while she stood by this spring on the beach. An omen from the gods maybe that THIS was the place where Nausicaa washed her clothes?

We have been reading Homer's story as we go along. Once you've got to grips with the flowery prose it's a really great read, with lots of meaty descriptions. Here's a little taster.

Corfu (Kerkyra for the Greeks) was Odysseus' last port of call before he reached his home in Ithaca. All his comrades were dead; he was the sole survivor of the long journey. He had spent seven years with the lovely lady Calypso on the island of Gozo (Malta) but at last the Gods took pity on him and decided to help him get back home. Following Calypso's advice he made a raft and set sail with a fair wind behind him. As sailors always have, (until satellite navigation), he depended on the stars to navigate his course. Homer describes it thus: "He sat with his hands on the steering oar and in expert fashion began to guide his course. Sleep never fell on his eyelids as he watched the Pleiades, watched the Wagoner, slow to set, watched the Bear that some call the Wain, and which ever on the same spot with anxious eye upon Orion, and which alone among the constellations has no share in the baths of the ocean. Calypso the goddess had bidden him in his sailing to keep the Bear on his left hand side. For seventeen days he sailed onwards across the sea; on the eighteenth day there loomed before him the shadowy hills of the land of the Phaeacians (Corfu); at the point where it was nearest it looked like a shield in the misty sea."

So close to home, but Odysseus' luck runs out again. The god Poseidon, who never liked Odysseus, conjures up a terrible storm; the mast of the raft breaks in two and the waves sweep the craft along "like the North wind, late in summer, sweeping thistle stalks over the plain" At last the raft breaks up and Odysseus must swim for his life. After two days in the sea he sees land..."But when he is no further distant than the voice of a shouting man can reach, he heard the roar of the sea against the rocks, for the heavy breakers dashed themselves on the solid coast, thundering in fury....there were only jutting headlands and reefs and crags". After hours of struggling, and searching for safe spot to swim ashore, he "came abreast of a flowing river, where he thought the ground best to land on, being clear of rocks and sheltered from winds". He manages to drag himself out on to the beach. "His body was swollen now all over and brine in streams gushed from his mouth and nostrils" Poor guy! However he manages to drag himself up the beach to the shelter of two olive trees, cover himself in leaves and fall into a deep sleep. Next day, he is found there by Nausicaa, daughter of one of the island chieftains, lord Alcinous. She, with other young women, has been washing her clothes in the river. She gives him olive oil to clean himself, some clothes to wear, and shows him the way to her father's palace. Alcinous listens to his tales of woe - about Cyclops, Circe, the Laestragonians and the cattle of the sun god. Odysseus had been in uncharted waters and, being the sole survivor, had no-one to contradict his stories. Wouldn't you exaggerate a little to justify how you had managed to lose the crews of twelve ships? Alcinous however had a generous nature, and he loads Odysseus with gifts and takes him back to Ithaca in one of his own ships.

We have our own, rather more prosaic, story of arrival to tell. There are no direct ferries from Ithaca to Corfu. With Doreen, we boarded a huge luxurious ferry to Igoumenitsa, a large port on the mainland very close to Corfu. At midnight, we were the only foot passengers disembarking, into a dark, empty harbour.....deserted except for one playful dog, who picked up the ball at the end of the ferry's mooring rope in his mouth and ran off into the darkness with it, leaving the harbour worker scratching his head. A funny moment...but then we had to roll our suitcases a good half mile to our prebooked hotel...not such fun.

Next morning another ferry took us the short distance to Corfu, which was looking dreamy in the gentle sunlight. We had arranged to stay in a friend's flat in Corfu town, and this turned out to be ideally situated, close to the sea and a short walk to the old town. The Venetians ruled Corfu for 400 years and they certainly made themselves at home. Walking round this beautful town we had the feeling that we already half way to italy. Lines of washing are strung across the narrow streets; tall building in various shades and pattinas of yellow, white and ochre, with green and blue shutters; ornate balconies with flowers tumbling down; squares and collonades; churches with domes and painted ceilings. That first evening we sat outside a small snackbar and listened to a choir, practicing in a room opposite; hundreds of swifts were sweeping overhead making their shrill little screeches. We were enchanted.

In Corfu we wanted to find lord Alcinous' palace, and also the beach with the river where Nausicaa found Odysseus. As usual, many places make the claim to fame, so we would have to decide for ourselves which ones fitted the story the best. We also wanted to visit the places where we had family holidays many years ago. Serendipity, these happened to be in the same area. A bus to Paleokastritsa. Our first stay in Corfu was here, when Mikis was only 8 months old. The area has wild, rocky headlands and spectacular cliffs -fits Homer's description. We walked up to the little monastery on the promontory. It has a commanding view over the bays on both sides, as described by Homer , and is Lawrence Durrell's favoured location for Alcinous' palace, but there are no ancient remains to back up the claim. The monastery itself is pretty and simply built, with storerooms below, a bell tower, and with the rooms and church around a central courtyard. We could imagine the original palace might have looked something like this, and bought some herb tea.

From the beach we took a water taxi to Liapades, in the next bay along the coast. For old times sake we stopped at 'The Cricketers' taverna for a drink, and then walked up to the villa where we had spent two long summer holidays with family and friends in 1981 and 1982. And there they were, 25 years older but still looking good, George and Angeliki, the owners. They remembered us well, as we were one of the first occupants of their prize posession, the first holiday villa to be built in Liapades. There is now a bar and swimming pool in place of the olive grove, and other villas and hotels around it, but it's still very pleasant. We sat and drank coffee with them and reminisced. The people at the Cricketers insisted that Alcinous' palace was on another site nearby -Angelocastro (Angel's castle). Next day we hired a little white car and buzzed around the northern part of the island. We visited the castle, and also possible sites for Nausicaa's washing expedition- Ayios Georgios bay to the North of Paleokastritsa and Ermones bay to the South. Both have rivers flowing into them, but we favoured Ermones, which is smaller and has nasty sharp rocks all around. With the sun going down, it had a romantic feel to it which stirred the imagination.

On Friday 13th we said farewell to Doreen and to the Greek islands. Doreen flew back home (only a little pinker than when she arrived) and we boarded another rust bucket bound for Bari in Southern Italy. (why do they save the rust buckets for the long haul trips, we wondered). The Pope had prevented us taking a more direct route to Brindisi. He was spending the w/e there and all ferries had been cancelled. Was that a godly intervention? No doubt Odysseus would have thought so.

Something for the kids

Coming back to Corfu has been a trip down memory lane. We came here several times when our kids were young. Alexis, Mikis, Sonia, Jo, Jenny, Matthew, Laura, and Dominic will remember those long summer holidays in Liapades -still a lovely place. Corfu was the home of another family, called the Durrells, a long time ago. The mother brought her three children here after their father died, and one of the boys, Gerald Durrell ,wrote a lovely book for children called 'My family and other animals'.

There's a very funny story in the book. The family have just arrived in Corfu, and went to a hotel. While they are having dinner, Gerald's sister, Margot, says that she's just been to the loo and found that the hotel keeps its toilet paper in a basket, instead of on a roll. The others tell her that the basket is for the dirty, used toilet paper . Margot is horrified (she's a fastidious girl) and she rushes back to the bathroom to scrub her hands..... and after all these years nothing has changed. There is still a little bin in every toilet in Corfu.

Kefalonia and Ithaca 2nd-8th June

Lots of people in Stoke Newington will know Liz Vernon, or her sons who went to Stoke Newington School. We bumped into her in Kefalonia, on the last leg of her trip around the world.

A possible site for Odysseus; palace in Ithaca. Andreas and Doreen are listening in awe to Spiros Arsenes, one of the 'Friends of Homer'


Ithaka

Jane dropped us at Ariopoli for the 9am bus and we travelled northwards 150miles that day, reaching Kefalonia around 9pm. The first part of the journey, to Kalamata was beautiful, the bus passing slowly along narrow raods through villages with houses made of silvery-grey stone; dramatic mountains rising on the right hand side, and a lovely coastline on the left. After spending time in Kalamata we continued north but the landscape got less interesting -flatter, more built up-until we reached the unlovely town of Pyrgos. A few miles further on we were dropped off the bus at Leheinia; took a taxi the 12 remaining km to Killini port and then a ferry to Kefalonia. The public transport system can work very well. We had a windy crossing, and were quite tired by now, and for the first time sat below in the smokey saloon.

We checked in at the only harbour taverna in Poros for the night. Next morning we looked out of the window; the sky was overcast and the sea a milky colour and there in the distance was Ithaca. The island had a misty shimmer around it and we were thrilled with the sight of it. Homer's story starts and finishes in Ithaca and we couldn't wait to go over and see it for ourselves. Investigation of bus timetables soon revealed that we were going to be stuck in the harbour unless we hired a car, so we did -a little blue one- and were soon looking around Kefalonia. Is the largest of the Ionian islands and very beautiful. Gently rolling mountains, covered in oak and cypress trees. Only the highest mountain in the centre of the island, Vounos Aetos (Mount Eagle) was steep and the bare rock shines a silvery white against the surrounding green.

We decided to stay in Sami, as this has the nearest harbour to Ithaca and is the main ferry port. Before owt else, we went to the min-market there and Sabrina found herself face to face, shopping baskets in hand, with Liz Vernon... it felt surreal. She and her partner Nick have been sailing round the world for seven years, and their little boat was moored in Sami harbour. Over tea she recounted some of their travels. The boat is a floating house and means of transport and it is, Liz said, a very economical way to see the world...her teachers pension is stacking up!

Sami is a pleasant but ordinary little town, rebuilt after a severe earthquake in 1953. We found ourselves a very nice apartment with great views over the mountains and the sea (and Ithaca). Our fellow guests were German engineeers who were installing more wind turbines along the mountain's ridges. Doreen, Sabrina's Salford University friend, joined us after a couple of days and was installed in the apartment below us. (a veritable ballroom in size) . As we sat on our balcony eating supper on our first evening together the whole building shuddered around us-a mild earthquake. On out last day on the island there was another bigger quake, whilst we sat on the beach. A strange and rather scarey experience, to feel the ground you sitting on moving. A while later we found out that the tremor had been 6.5 in Patras on the mainland, resulting in two deaths and a lot of building damage.

The three of us explored Ithaca together for two days, taking the ferry over in the early morning and returning to Sami in the afternoons. Ithaca is a small island and these days is part of the municipality of Kefalonia. The reverse would have been true in ancient times, as Ithaca had the most favourable position for trade by sea. Although small, we had to hire a car if we wanted to see all the ancient sites in such a short time. Homer gives very detailed descriptions of Odysseus' s palace, of where he landed when he finally returned to ithaca and where he hid his treasure (in a cave where nymphs were worshipped) There are two major sites which have buildings and artifacts of the right age (Mycenean) which fit the palace descriptions pretty well. The first is on a small hill close to the little harbour where we arrived by boat; the second at Pelicata, close to a village called Stavros. We went to a tiny museum near the latter which had some little bronze figures, pots etc from Pelicata. By some lucky chance there was a party of Greeks who were about to take a tour of the site itself with members of the local 'Friends of Homer'. The leader of the expedition , Spiros Arsenes, an ex mayor of Ithaca, invited us to join them and we spent a fascintaing couple of hours in theiri company. The Pelicata site has only been subjected to limited archeological exploration in the 1930's (by Brits) but now the Friends were raising money to buy the site and do more extensive exploration. It felt like a time-watch programme. Without too much imaginative invention we were easily convinced that this was indeed the palace -with steps down to basement storerooms, a cystern and a bath fed by a fresh water spring, where Odysseus' wife Penelope bathed each day, as described by Homer.

We came back to Kefalonia exhilerated and with lots of lovely photos of what we had seen. Should we have wished, we could also have taken away shards of ancient pottery, which littered the site, but that would have been naughty. Hoepfully next time we come to Ithaca the Friends will have started their digging and found more evidence to support their claims. Our last day was spent on the beaches around Sami. There is a particularly fabulous one called Antisamos where scenes from the film 'Captain Corelli's mandolin' were shot (boo,hiss). The Kefalonians only allowed it to be filmed there if the very anti-communist stuff was taken out.... and they seemed to be happy with the result, and much money was paid over into the local economy. We waited in a harbour taverna for our ferry to Corfu -the last Greek island that we will visit- and indulged in some very delicious fish soup. A fitting farewell to these two lovely islands.

Gythion, with Jane and Stavros

Andreas dancing the Rembetica in Paleochora, Crete
Jim and Rachel deciphering the Phaestos Disc of Linear B. Minoan Period
Jaane and Katerina in the Venice outfit ready for the beach
Stavros just caught a baby octopus (only for show, we released off to the wilds again)

Our ferry to Gythion was a rust bucket called Pegasus. Built to hold at least a thousand passengers, it looked like the Marie Celeste when we boarded. It seems that nobody but us had managed to buy tickets in advance. Slowly a few more dozen people got on, and then we left Crete's beautfiful shores at 8am.

There are two islands, AntiCythera and Cythera, on route, floating between the western tip of Crete and the Southern tip of mainland greece. Odysseus, like us, has travelled down the Aegean from Troy and then through these staights, the passage between the Aegean and the Ionian seas , and known for their treacherous currents and weather. According to Homer, Odysseus' ships were caught by storms and the strong Northerly wind and blown off course, 'across the teeming ocean' for nine days and nights, and finally landing off the Tunisian coast, on an island called Djerba. This was the land of the lotus eaters (hashish perhaps?); the land of forgetfulness.

We decided not to be blown off course (just too expensive) Instead we planned to reach Ithaka by crossing the Peloppese by bus, but first to Gythion. The sea was as smooth as silk for our Pegasus. We arrived at Gythion mid afternoon and waited for Jane to pick us up. Jane is the daughter of our old friend and neigbour Liz Webber.

Jane lives with her partner Stavros and baby daughter Katerina in deepest countryside close to Gythion. We were installed in a lovely apartment on the hillside behind the family farm. Here we learned alot about how people make a living in these parts. This farm was not the monoculture factory that we still grace with the name of 'farm'. Here everything was grown (olives, grapes, vegetables) and marketed locally; chickens, goats and a pig kept close by, and the income topped up with beekeeping, fishing, and, in the summer, a taverna and rental from apartments . Built up by Stavros' parents, who worked in Germany for ten years in their youth, and now continue to work seven days a week.

We had lunch one day with Liz's brother John and his partner Noni. Noni's house sits alone at the top of a hill with the most magnificent views of the Camares bay below. One of the advantages of being old is that a lot of water has run under your bridge, and sometimes other people have been swimming in the same waters, and there is much to talk about. So it was that we spent good time with Noni and John, and learned of local politics -the hotspots being rubbish collection and forest fires. Last year this part of Greece was devastated by fires, and we could see the blackened hill, perilously close to the farm and other homes in the area.

This tip of the Peleponnese is fertile, green and beautiful, and has wonderful beaches. Amazingly, it is almost untouched by tourism. Andrew, Rita, Mikis and Monique and their tribe of kids will be coming here for their holidays in August. It couldn't be bettered, and we are delighted for them. Local legend has it that Odysseas and his crew moored in Skoutari bay but were seen off after making advances to the local maidens. It seems as if it only happened yesterday! This is now an annual celebration to mark the occasion.

Jane has lived here for three years now and she speaks and understands Greek well. She and Stavros have just moved into their new house. We were impressed by how she has made a life for herself here, with many friends. It's the sort of dream that we had when we were her age, but stayed instead in london.

June 1st marked six weeks 'on the road' for us, a half way point both in time and the place we had reached. We do miss family and friends a lot (the blog is a way of keeping in touch)...but we're in no hurry to come home yet. Travelling is compulsive, and this particular journey is one that we have wanted to take for a long time. So on June 2nd Jane took us early to the bus station in Ariopoli, and we were on our way to Ithaka.

A week in Crete 20-28th May

This a giant Kouros (young man) some 1000 years after the Minoans (we have no Creatan pics yet!)
Coffe morning at Mesta in Hios


Crete is long and skinny (257km long) and far far the largest of the Greek islands. We pulled into the harbour of Iraklion in the evening, our travelling companions Vanvi and Sofia still with us. There were no welcoming room touts and we soon realised that getting a roof over our heads for the night wasn't going to be easy. Iraklion is a big city and the darkening streets felt gloomy and unfriendly. Finding all hotels/rooms either full or pricey we finally opted for a youth hostel, where we paid over the odds for the most dismal accommodation. The four of us sat over an equally dismal sausage kebab and considered our fall from grace. We decided to change our plans and leave iraklion first thing in the morning, without seeing Knossos or anything else that the area had to offer.





Next morning early we caught a bus to Chania, at the other end of the island, where we bid farewell to the girls and continued on to Paleohora on the South coast. There Rachel and Jim were waiting for us with a cool salad in a cool apartment overlooking the small harbour. We quickly found a lovely room on the other side of the bay (five minutes walk away) and happiness was restored.





Crete has more than its fair share of tourist resorts, but Paleohora is a two hour drive through mountains from the nearest ferry harbour and airport; too far for the average package holiday. Around it is the most rugged mountainous countryside, shot through with deep gorges that run down to the sea. Much of the coast is inaccessible except by boat. (we watched a truck loaded with beehives drive on to our boat at one tiny port, and off at the next -moving hives around to the best sources of nectar is common practice here)





Our apartments were at the end of town and we would sit on our balcony at breakfast and watch energetic-looking Northern Europeans making off to the hills with hiking sticks; on bikes; or even jogging. But we were enticed out of our bed at dawn by the sound of the sea, and go straight down for a swim. What greater luxury could there be?





We were specially interested in a place a few miles up the coast called Lyssos, because it is said locally to be the home of the Cyclops. It is only accessible on foot or by sea, so we hired a small speed boat taxi from 'Capitan Georgios' to get there. According to those who have studied the ancient greeks Lyssos would not have been Cyclop's home -that would be much further afield, probably in Sicily, but it certainly fits Homer's quite detailed description well. Ruins of a Roman necropolis add to the atmosphere of the place, and there is also the remains of an ancient greek temple. The only occupants now were a group of campers who chanted, bathed naked in the bay and set up a small shrine in the temple. We aslo ran into some hot weary people who had walked from Paleohora. Hardened walkers that they were, they didn't even stop for a swim before they headed back. (a 3.5 hour walk each way, in the heat!)





None of us wanted to leave Crete without seeing Phaestos and Knossos, archeological sites of the most ancient of the Aegean civilisations, the Minoans. And of course the famous Iraklion archeological museum. This, we decided, required a 2-3 day expedition. Jim, our sole, long-suffering driver, clearly missed his vocation as a rally car driver. Taking us through unmade mountain tracks with crumbly edges; through towns with no noticable traffic rules, all in temperatures around 30', we will be forever grateful that we somehow got to places, slightly frayed, but in one piece. Cretan roads also suffered from a dearth of signposting -strange when you consider the huge number of visitors each year. One time, we got completely lost. Instead of being on a slip road on to a duel carriageway we found ourselves on a dead-end, confronted by a large factory buidling. It was getting late, and there were only two men "drinking" and certainly not working inside. We were not allowed to leave (nor would they give us directions) until we had sat down and accepted the famed Cretan hospitality -the local firewater Reki with bits of cucumber and artichokes. We still hadn't found a place to sleep for the night, and Rachel looked as if she were sitting on hot coals. All ended well, in a small and delightful town close to Knossos.





There are geological fault lines right down Greece, all the way to Cyprus. This means frequent earthquakes, so it is rare indeed to find an ancient site where stones are still standing. Knossos is an exception: It was excavated in the early 1900s by Evans, who decided to resurrect columns, staircases and even rooves of this ancient palace. We quite liked this, although the reconstruction is educated guesswork, and you have the impression from the information boards around the site that other scholars may have preferred it if Evans had left it alone. The archeological museum is something else, and deserved of its reputation. The fabulous artifacts, going back 5000 years include the famous snake goddess and fresco of bull with dancers jumping over. The Minoans were already in decline by 1200BC, and the Myceneans (from mainland Greece) had Crete in a firm grip by then. It's unlikely then that Odysseus would have got so hopelessly lost (for seven years) on an island that was already well known





So we returned to Chania, well satisfied and said farewell to Jim and Rachel, who were going back for another week at Paleohora. Without our learned friends we would not have known that the birds that tumbled over the gorges on ragged black wings were ravens (croaking 'Nevermo.o..o..re) ; that the birds waking us up at dawn were collared doves; and maybe, just maybe, the big birds that sometimes circled above us were booted eagles. We also learned that a huge sinister-looking black lily, growing wild, was a Dragon Arum, and that insects slide down inside it's smooth trumpet, not to be released until the plant has ripened and produced its pollen, when the surface becomes rough enough for an upward climb!





Our next destination was to be Gythion, at the southern end of the Pelopponese mainland. However, ferries were infrequent and we could get no definite information that there would be one until the day before its departure. By sheer dogged determination , Andreas managed to obtain tickets, and we stayed in the harbour town of Kissamos, near Chania the night before departure. In a little taverna on the sea front Sabrina had the most delicious dish of the whole trip; rabbit and onions cooked in wine. (pushing back the meomory of the sweet baby white rabbits, with pink ears, that she's seen in a petshop in Chania earlier that day.)

Cyclops story

This is an engraving of Odysseus' men putting the stake into the Cyclop's eye


Sonia, Jo, Jenny, Mikis and Alexis will remember this story, told to them when they were children by Jim, at dusk, by the olive groves in Corfu. Here's a shortened story for the new generation







Odysseus and his companions were on their way home from Troy, but their boats were blown off course and they were lost. They landed on a small island -nobody there..but they could hear people talking and see smoke on land across the water. Odysseus decided to take one boat and 12 men with him to the mainland. They took with them a goatskin full of wine and other provisions. They found a big cave; someone's home, and waited for them to return. In the evening a huge man, with only one eye (a Cyclops) came in, driving his sheep and goats before him. He rolled a big stone over the mouth of the cave, milked his animals and started to make his dinner. The men were terrified, but trapped. When the Cyclops saw them, he snatched up two of the men and ate them!







The next morning he ate two more of the men, then went out with his sheep and goats, rolling the big stone back over the cave mouth. The stone was too heavy for the men to move. It seemed they were going to all die unless they could think of a way out. Odysseus found a trunk of olive wood that the cyclops used as a walking stick. He and his men cut a p[iece off and sharpened it to a point at one end and then hardened it in the camp fire and hid it in the dung on the cave loor. When Polphemus (for that was the Cyclops name) came back that evening, he ate two more men! Then Odysseus stepped forward offered him some wine, and asked him to let them go. Polyphemus said no, he was going to eat them all, but because the wine was so good he would eat him last. He asked Odysseus his name, and he replied 'I am called 'Nobody'', and offered the giant more wine. Soon he had drunk so much that he fell into a deep sleep. Quietly, the men took out the the pointed stake, heated it up in the fire then crept up to Polyphemus and plunged it into his eye.





The cyclops leapt up and roared in pain and anger, but he couldn't catch the men. The other cyclops living in caves around heard the noise and came running to find out waht was wrong. 'Nobody has hurt me' shouted Polyphemus. 'If nobody has hurt you, we can't help you' they replied and went back to their caves to sleep. Meanwhile, Odysseus tied the sheep in pairs with a man tied under each pair and waited for the morning. At last Polyphemus rolled back the stone, and the sheep and goats trotted out. Polyphemus felt all the animals as they left the cave, but didn't think to feel underneath them. Odysseus kept back the largest billy goat and jumped up under his belly, holding tight to his wool. Polyphemus stopped him and said 'My big ram, why are you last, when usually you are the first to go out in the morning?" Odysseus thought he wasn't going to escape, but the cyclops let the ram past. Odysseus jumped down, untied all the other men, and they ran like hell for the beach, driving the flock of sheep and goats before them.





Polyphemus heard them and stumbled after the men. He tore rocks off the hill and threw them after the boat. The wash almost sent the boat back to the shore, but the men rowed as hard as they could and at last escaped. Their companions were so relieved to see them back again, but shocked to hear what had happened to the six missing men. Dividing Polyphemus' animals between them, they pushed off their boats and continued on their long journey.

Something for the Kids

Here we are about to put on our helmets and do something very silly -rrrroar round the island very slowly on this quad bike.


This man is taking his catch along the harbour in Naxos to his cafe. Fresh octopus for lunch.
The little boy lives in this mountain village with his grandparents. Here is with his yayia.

Santorini 17th-20th May

Coming into Santorini by boat is quite an experience. First you see a long line of black cliffs with what looks like snow on top. Then you find your self entering into a space between cliffs, and soon you're surrounded by islands, all rising up high. What we thought was snow turns out to be the white houses of the towns and villages,perched along the cliff edges. We could see the zig zag path from the harbour of Fira, the capital, (goes up 580 steps!) but the big ferries go to a new harbour a bit further on. There we were met by Petros, who was commended to us by Iannis at Naxos, who took us by minibus up to the family pension. Nothing could have been as good as our Naxos pension, but Petros was spartan, and located in a dull part of town. That evening we wandered up the town agog with the stupendous views over the caldera, and found another pension perched at the highest point, with views over the sea on both sides of the island, and went there the following morning. It cost 10E a night more, but how often do you come to Santorini?

Santorini is a magnet for tourists from around the world, and there were already plenty of us. The attractions are obvious -its history, the amazing scenery and the style of the towns and villages. Unlike other Cyclades islands, where the little streets are all turned in upon themselves, Santorini's streets and houses are flung open to the sea. They cling to the sides of steep cliffs; many of them burrowing into the rocks, and often there is nothing bwteeen you and a long drop but low parapets. Santorini was the site of the biggest volcanic exposion in human history round about 1500BC, It blew apart the island, leaving the ring of islands, which surround a central active caldera. You can take a boat trip over and bathe in the hot lake in the caldera, but we didn't. Instead, we bathed in the sea from sand the colour of black ash, feeling the water temperature go warm and cold as we moved about. Nothing much grows on the islands except vines, looking oddly as if they are planted in grey ash. Occasionally you get a whiff like burning. But what the island lacks in the way of buccolic beauty is made up for in the architecture of its buildings - rather hobbit like; everything small, rounded and a delight to the eye. Many of them now of course shops,cafes, and tiny hotels

Santorini has a town like Pompeii, only very partially excavated out of the lava that covers it. The site has been closed for three years, and perhaps they are doing lots more excavation work. (perhaps not; we have seen museums closed for 2 years in Greece for minor improvements)
However, there are two great museums where the wall frescos and various other items from this and other lava-covered sites are on display. Many of them very beautiful.

But this is an expensive place, and only so long you can spend admiring the view, so time to move on to Crete, where we'll meet our good friends Rachel and Jim. (They lent us their kagools just before we left Santorini. It is now very warm, and they're probably packed away for good, and just as well. ..We must have been a comical sight; Andreas wearing one much too small, and Sabrina in one much too large!

Unfortunately John we've not seen even a bust of Homer, let alone anything more substantial. And we like the idea that he may have been female but it seems unlikely given the status of women at that time. Can you tell us more about him? We do enjoy reading you writings in the comments bit..so please do write more!

We just learnt how to upload pictures from our mobile, which you will find on the last posting.

xx A&S

Some wide angle mobile pics

Santorini
Mykonos
Hios
Lesvos
Samothraki

Naxos 13-16 May 2008

''Little Venice' in Mykonos. The waves lap at your feet as you sip your ouzo!

Our jolly bakers in Mykonos. Bread and spinach pies are our staple diet, and they have to be fresh

A heartfelt thanks to Alex for recommending Pension Panos in Naxos -the best we have yet stayed in -location, facilities and huge hospitality of Yiannis and his family. Where else would you find a barrel of home-produced cool wine in reception and snacks in the afternoon, freely offered to all guests? In between attending to his Pension, Yiannis works as a rope catcher for the huge ferries in the harbour. A well remunerated job according to Yiannis, with 50 weeks a year holidays and free health care for the whole family.

Naxos and Paros, so close together and so similar in size that they are usually twinned in guide books. They are in fact very different: Paros a soft gentle landscape, whilst Naxos is a mass of steep mountains, crinkly at the tops,. Naxos town, where we stayed, is medieaval, built up the side of a hill with 13thC castle and venetian mansions at the top. Every island has an archeological museum, and will tend to have a collection from 2-3 sites, all from around the same period of time. Naxos museum is a cracker. White figurines, the tallest about a foot high, of women, circa 3000BC made of white marble and in near perfect condition. So modern in style, they might have been created by Picasso. Also pottery dating back to 1200-1100BC (Odysseus time); black slip on a pale coloured clay in a wonderful free-flowing style. Mainly of octopi, with tentacles that wave wildly around the pots. Photos not allowed, so Sabrina drew one for future reference.

We hired a little white car, sharing with two young women from Vancouver of chinese origin, taking it up into the mountains and visiting villages there which time has forgotten.. Vanvi remembered having to duck into bomb shelters when the Americans were bombing N. Vietnam, and her family were among the 'boat people', ending up in Canada. Sabrina is currently reading Jane Fonda's autobiography, so we showed her the photos of Jane in Hanoi. Was she a hippy? Sophia asked. Neither of them knew of either Jane or Henry Fonda - fame is indeed fleeting! They offered us thin wafers of seaweed and cashew nut cookies for our picnic, brought all the way from Vancouver. Naxos and Paros are both sources of pure white marble, and we saw the strange site of a mountain cut into vertically, from its pointed summit down a few hundred feet. It looked like a white city.

We decided to spend our last day in Naxos on a beach (it has only just become warm enough to make this an attractive proposition); and took the bus to Plaka, a 2km long stretch of pure yellow sand, backed with sand-dunes. It's a beach where dress is optional; so we slathered ourselves in sun tan cream and made the most of it -hardly anyone else there. So, will post a pic to make you all green with envy when we can unload some memory. Beaches draw us all like a magnet, and give credence to that lovely theory that we didn't come down from trees and make for the caves...(Desmond Morris style). No, we came down to the waters' edges and lost our fur as we waded about in the shallows, babies clinging to the remaining hair on our heads.

So now it's on to Santorini, that most unusual of Islands, where a live volcano still smoulders at its very centre. A great draw for tourists so could be expensive!

Paros 10 - 12 May 2008

Paros, Naxos and Santorini are not recognised as stopping places for Odysseas but are adored by all travel writers and friends, so we decided that we must see them!

The 10am boat from Mykonos to Paros was another travelling experience for us. A huge catamaran, the first boat we used in the Aegean for just passengers and no cars. It was much lighter and faster. It left dead on time and moved on the calm water as if sucking air and spitting a huge white spray of water from the back. Very smooth, but we wandered how it would feel in much rougher waters? 45 minutes later we landed in Paros and within minutes the Cat was hooting for departure. It is true what they say "... blink an eye and you would miss it!"

The room offering touts were in plethora and waiting for us at the port exit with their placards, some with photographs. At the start of our journey we would have followed our guide book advice and ignored them but after our lucky and very satisfying experience of Mykonos, we were ready for them with prepared questions about what type of accommodation they were offering, where it was, did it have any cooking facilities etc. We again struck lucky with everything we wanted, including transport to the inn, except a kitchenette but a cheap breakfast thrown in instead.

With no cooking facilities, we tried the next door taverna as recommended by our host Alex, a French woman in complete control of the hotel and charm to go with it. We liked the taverna, and the food and the Romanian owner who spoke 6 languages, that we followed our motto of roughing it, and ate there all the three nights we stayed at Paros.

The highlights of Paros for us was the bus ride to Lefkes, a village in hilly central part of the island and a 5km walk from there down to the seaside on a most impressive Byzantine marbled road that was built to carry goods to all the villages from one side of the island to the other. Looked for ancient coins but we were too late. Others must have had the same idea and been more lucky some time ago! Next was the quad bike hire for the following day. The winds were brazing and handling the quad was not easy. It was not a happy experience although it enabled us to visit a number of places that buses do not go, expecially a lovely private museum on the east of the island. It was full of minuture exhibits, all skillfully done by a local fisherman. The acre large yard was full of minute famous churches, ancient temples, oil mills, water mills, ports, potteries, ironmongers, you name it and everything, including the smallest item of such life, was hand made by this fisherman. Inside were some beautifully crafted model boats, ships and trimerenes going back to 500 years b.c.

On the third night we were beaten by mosquitos to b.................... , got up at 6.00am and plunged into the icy sea next to our hotel to escape. We watched the sun coming up and decided to be on our way!!!!!!!!

Naxos was waiting for us. A new experience to enjoy and write about.

Mykonos, Delos, Tinos 6th-10th May

Mykonos, so the Rough Guide tells us, is the most popular and the most expensive tourist destination in greece. Our preliminary enquiries for apartments and rooms before we arrived worried us; it looked like Mykonos was going to cost us an arm and leg. We couldn't believe our luck then, when we were met at the ferry harbour by room touters, and a young woman offered us a room, with use of kitchen, right in the centre of town for a reasonable price (35E a night). it turned out to be of monastic dimensions, but with a huge patio overlooking a crossroads of little pedestrian only alleys. Lovely. Mykonos town is a maze of these alleys, sandwiched between little white two and three storey houses with outside staircases, which seem to fit together neatly like a jigsaw. Even Andreas, who has a great sense of direction, could get lost in two minutes flat. The town has great charm and caters for elegant young people who don't mind spending alot of money. Displays of expensive jewellery, beautiful clothes, intimate bars and cafes; even the internet cafe was intimate. Although early in the season there were already plenty of people about. Lots of Americans and Italians; many same sex couples and small groups.

During our stay we made day trips to two other islands nearby. Delos, in Odysseus' time, was the religious centre of ancient Greece, and later also became an important trading centre (an equivalent to the modern stock exchange). In Homer's story, Odysseus remarks that Apollo's temple has a small palm tree growing by it. Now this tiny island (only a mile long) is barren. We wondered how such a tiny place could have had such importance. It is very central in the Aegean; We climbed up the small hill behind the ruins of the ancient town and found we had a spectacular 360' view over surrounding islands and sea. You could imagine the priests and priestesses, seeing boats coming from afar, saying 'Quick. light the sacred fires; put on the Mystique perfume; we have visitors'

The other island, Tinos, is the Greek equivalent of Lourdes, and an important religious centre for modern Greeks. (most of Andreas's relatives in Cyprus have visited, for their summer holidays). It was very quiet when we were there. The long approach up the hill to the sacred church from the harbour is a wide straight road. We noticed that on one side there were parrallel tracks, like the ones you hold carpets down with, lined on one side by cats eyes. We guessed that at busy times, carpet is indeed laid down for those who wish to can crawl up to the church. Oh my gods, I think I prefer the ancient ones...they were more human.

One morning we went to Paradise beach with Carol, a fellow lodger in the town. When at home she swims every day in Tooting Bec open air (unheated!) pool. She has decided to leave her London life and is looking for a house in Mykonos. Her pleasure is swimming long distance, between islands. We watched her heave heself over a rocky reef and disappear, doing a fast crawl, not to reappear for another half hour. Phew! My brother Ben spent some happy times in Mykonos in the eighties. Cyprus is not so chic, but I think he should come there, with Karifa. They would like it.

Something for the kids

In Mykonos we saw some models of ships used by ancient Greeks. Here's a picture of a one which had forty rowers, like the ones used by Odysseus' band.

People on the island like to keep pigeons in very fancy coops. here's one. Unfortunately, they don't race the pigeons, like Mr Potter, but eat them.

Samos 2-6 May 08

Samothraki harbour, leaving for Limnos
Ferry arriving at Limnos at 4.ooam to take us to Lesvos
St. George's day at Therma in Lesvos

We haven't been following UK news avidly, but on May 2nd we looked up BBC anxiously to find the election results. Oh dear dear dear...Boris!. There was a village in Chios, Anavatos, where, in 1822, all the women and children threw themselves from a precipice to their deaths (their turkish overlords were giving them a hard time) It seems the majority of people of London have done the same. But we are far away, and burrowing into a past where people have been making innane choices over and over.

So, a fond farewell to Don in Chios, and on to a ferry for Samos the same day. So far we have been travelling South to islands that hug the Turkish coast. Samos is nearest of all, with just 2km of water between the island and the mainland. The coast cuts deeply into the harbout, Vathi (= Deep) and first impressions as land slides by the ferry on both sides are of a beautiful, verdant country. We have been delighted to find how different in topography and character each of the islands is. Samos is the first we have come to, where package tourism is obviously big business. (our nearest taverna has a plastic singing fish outside to encourage custom) . When we arrived we were accosted by a large man called Costas and soon found ourselves installed in a pension 'Dreams', 60 steep steps up from the harbour. We found that it is best to stay put in the harbours -always places with lots going on, and a hub for local buses,banks, archy. museums and other services. Chios and Lesbos are two of the largest Aegean islands. Samos is half the size of Chios, We hired a little orange car to explore the island. We find that we can get a lot more car for our money by hiring for one day, 1pm to 1pm the following day. Short distances; so see what the islands have to offer, then explore more by bus and on foot in subsequent days.

Our first stop is always to the archeological museum. This one had lots of small items, brought back from all over the Med. to furnish the temple of Hera, where they were found. The Samiots were great travellers and traders, and the island remains a prosperous place. You can always tell this by the number of children playing in the streets. No children=migration and depopulation. Two special items for us: a remnant of a tripod, 1300BC from Cyprus-these were decorative items used to hold great cauldrons. In the Odysseus story, they are frequently given as 'gifts', in bartering for other goods or favours. The other item was a piece of engraved bronze, 700BC part of a horse's halter, which pictured two of Odysseus' comrades with a long pole, with which they are putting out the Cyclop's eye. At this museum we were allowed to take photos, so we have them hoping to upload them on to the blog.

The main tourist resort in Samos is Pythagorios (Yes, Pythagoras lived there). Only a few tourist stragglers-too early in the year yet. It's an area full of ancient remains, and above the town there's a tunnel 1 mile long bored through the hill to provide water for the town. The tunnelers started at opposite ends of the hill (which we later climbed) and apparently met in the middle only one foot adrift. You have to give it the ancient greeks, they knew a thing or two about civil engineering.

One of the nice things about travelling has been the people we're meeting en route. Special mention here for Ian and Vera, an Aussie couple of our age and fellow lodgers in Chios Rooms. We met again in Samos, and over coffee they described the embarressing inconveniences from a recent operation for prostate cancer. We couldn't help but admire their candour, their 'that's life, so just get on with it...and don't give a XXXX!' attitude. More uptight, we felt unable to reciprocate with such personal information.

Leaving Samos, we're now going westwards to the Cyclades islands, starting with Mykonos on a high speed hydrofoil. Andreas has grim memories of such machines and is watching the weather with some anxiety.

And something for the kids:

The ancient Greeks usually lived near the coast and did nearly all their travelling by sea. Their ships were like long open canoes with sails and oars. Did you know why their big clay pots were wider at the top and pointed at the bottom? Well, they were used to carry wine and oil from island to island and they fitted nicely and safely on the boats.

If you have not read or been told the story of Odysseas, he was a fighting sailor during the war between the Greeks and the Trojans some 3,500 years ago. On his way back to his island, Ithaca, he had lots of adventures and did not manage to get back home for 10 years. Sabrina and Andreas are following on his foot steps and hope to do it in less than three months. We are at the end of our 3rd week and we have already seen many interesting places and things he has done. Look out for this space.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Andreas & Sabrina

Chios 28th April-1st May

Our ferry docked in Chios (Ch as in loch) at 9pm. Chios is home to the Aegian University and all 1400 students seemd to be on the long harbour front, in the line of cafes blasting out disco music. The few lodging we saw were shut or seedy, all very noisy. And here, a small lament about pavements. Everywhere we have been cafes have the awful habit of filling up the pavements...and then there's the steps, the uneven surfaces, the sudden disappearances altogether. When you are pulling a wheeled suitcase you really curse them. Needless to say, wheelchair users are never to to be seen....do they need some good laws and enforcement!

By 10pm we're beginning to feel a bit desperate when before us, near the end of the harbour is a large old mansion, and in large blue neon letters 'Chios Rooms'. Eventually we gained entry and were shown round by its owner, a New Zealander called Don. It was such a beautiful house, ceilings 15 ' high, and cheap, that we decided there and then to stay a while. The following evening, in the communal kitchen, Don told us that he lets out rooms for 5E for three hours to soldiers, so that they can have a warm shower and relax. If someone said that to you, what would you be thinking? Of course, Don, just what young men, confined to barracks all day, need!

Chios is the reputed home of Homer, author of 'The Iliad (about the ten years of the Trojan War), and 'The Odyssey" (about Odysseus' ten year journey back home to Ithaca). He lived somewhere round 750BC, and was describing some real events, some mythical that occurred around 500 years earlier. it's such a long time ago that no-one can be very exact, or know how much Homer was working from ballads handed down over orally over the generations. (people didn't write down Greek until around 800BC so everything would have been mouth to mouth). Homer was a real life person and we are here to find him.

On the morning after our arrival, we took a bus along the north road to Omeroupolis (Homer's Town and found Daskaloupetra (Teacher"s Stone) on the edge of the town. We climbed up to a small area of flat rock, a stool size stone was in the middle and a semi circle of stone benches around, all very ancient. Homer was blind, and we took it in turns to sit on the stone with eyes shut and imagine him with his scribes; sound of waves lapping, and craggy mountains to our backs and we agreed that this was as good a place as any. Dictating those long stories all in verse, would have required intense concentration, probably only possible with no other detractions

Next day we visited the archaeological museum and were guided round the most important finds of Chios. We were shown two female figurines in clay dated around 1300BC in the shape of the Greek letters ψ & φ, the precursors of the Greek alphabet. Nothing specifically related to Homer, but our lovely guide suggested we visit the site of Emporium which was built between 800-600 BC. We hired a little yellow car and took ourselves to an amazingly kept limestone ancient village built up a steep hill ovelooking the Aegean, with a temple dedicated to Athena at the top. Our journey continued to two 1400 AD fortified living villages. One of them, Anavatos was stone built in exactly the same way, 2,300 years later but with a church at the top.

Ian, we are planning to have an Easter (Mayday really) meal to-night, our last evening on Chios. A lovely place which we would like to visit again!

Next Samos!

We are off, we hope, from T5 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The final plans have been gone over, the good byes said and Ellispondos is waiting!

Thanks to all your comments and best wishes. Keep your comments coming, it is nice to know we have company.

Our Odyssey starts tomorrow. We will keep you informed.

Loves to all
Andreas & Sabrina

Setting Up the Blog and ready to go!

Just set our blog up for all our friends who want to waste their time to follow our Odyssey!



We are leaving for Istanbul on 17th of April 2008 and will be following Odysseas journey from Troy to Ithaca. It took him roughly 10 years but hope to do it in less than three months travelling mainly by ferries.



We are getting very excited and would like to share some of this with you.