Ithaka

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for

I pulled the blog name Ithaka Bound out of thin air a few days before I was due to leave for Greece.

I’d tried three or four other names — all included the word Greece and all were already taken by others.   I wracked my brain for a clever name but nothing clever came to me.  Then I remembered that beautiful poem by Cavafy.

My mind wandered to the King of Ithaka who left his home, all those centuries ago, to fight the Trojans over an abducted Spartan queen named Helen. How long Odysseus wandered, looking and yearning for home, never giving up until he had Ithaka in his sights.

Ithaka is the proverbial homeland of the soul that we all seek — internally or externally — we all know it’s there, we can sense it just in front of us, always just out of reach. I decided to make my pursuit external and included it on my list of islands to visit.

Arriving in Ithaka is special, no matter how you do it.  If you take a boat from Lefkada, over water as smooth as glass, you’ll arive in the postcard port of Frikes.  Arriving by way of the main port of Vathi, (Ithaka has a permanent population of 300)  is just as breathtaking an experience.  You’ll be greeted by a sign in the port reminding you that every traveler is a citizen of Ithaka.

I guess that’s why I felt so at home there. I’ve been a traveler since birth, and I think wanderlust is wired into our genes the same way green eyes or a dimpled chin would be.  Don’t blame me if I can’t stop wandering — it’s in my DNA.

It’s in yours too.

I’m not going to post any photos of Ithaka because I don’t want to ruin your arrival on the island.  You’ll find Ithaka to be exactly as you’d imagined — an emerald green jewel rising out of a turquoise sea.  The greenest island in Greece, surrounded by the clearest, calmest waters that never knew a meltemi.

That’s as far as my description will go.  I wish you a journey as happy as mine was, and may you be spared the trials of Odysseus.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon – you won’t encounter them

unless you bring them along in your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

I’ll be back in the States on the 10th.  I’m giving myself two days to get to Athens, just in case the sea decides to delay my return or someone goes on strike.

Hope your road is a long one.

I expect my return acclimatzation to be painful–I’ve been living a Greek island dream so what else could it be?  My first few days without the sea will surely have me sobbing like a Sicilian widow.

© 2009 – 2011, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.

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