Dolce far niente

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I would set out in the morning and look for new coves and inlets in which to swim. For hours at a stretch I would lie in the sun doing nothing, thinking of nothing. To keep the mind empty is a feat, a very healthful feat too. To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, and be completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself.

– Henry Miller

Greece 2010 Wrap-up

Travels with Henry and Irving

No one belongs here more than I do

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Every time I turn a corner in the old town, I feel like the tableau has been arranged just to please me. There’s poetry around every turn: flowers arranged just so; the perfect blue against the perfect red; a fishing net tied just the way I would have wanted it; an old ruin of a door that is just the right amount of shabby.

Is some forgotten, lesser god of Olympus preceding me? How does he know me so well? Or perhaps it’s a Satyr sent to entertain me. As with all things that seem too perfect, I wait for the other shoe to drop.

I want to live here

From noon until dusk the old town is completely deserted, then, at 7:00 pm, it springs back to life like a desert flower after the rain. The night is full of revelations. Through an open window, I catch a glimpse of a Michealangelo candle-maker completely absorbed in his art. I take his picture. He spends the next 20 minutes showing me his designs and explaining to me how he gets olive branches and clothespins to glow in their wax prison.

People lounge in doorways, half in this world, half in another, waiting for another Ed Hopper to come along and immortalize their subconscious.

Traveler Bound for Ithaka…

Birth of a Swimmer

To Euro or not to Euro...

Traveling to Greece during the economic crisis

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A couple of surprises I’ve encountered while traveling in Greece during the economic crisis:

1. Prices have gone up, almost universally.

2. Service has gone down, in almost every respect.

Before leaving for my trip, I’d read that there were great deals to be found in Greece, but the reports seem to be contradictory. Tourism supposedly rose by 20% last year, yet there seems to be a lot of empty space at beaches, hotels, and restaurants. I suspect the bargains only apply to package deals from northern Europe. If you’re an independent traveler expect to pay more for everything: metro, food, rooms, scooters, and cars.

With fewer tourists traveling to Greece, one would expect merchants and hoteliers to make themselves more competitive by offering better amenities, but this isn’t your run-of-the-mill economic crisis. Perhaps someday soon we’ll all start calling it what it truly is: a depression. Pay and pensions were cut but prices continue to rise, which, I believe, is a recipe for disaster, or at the very least, revolution. But I’m prone to hyperbole.

Air-conditioning was rationed in two of the hotel rooms I stayed in. In one of the rooms, the owner tried to convince me that a fan was actually air-conditioning. In another room, the front desk had complete control over the AC, which they assured me was on, though you’d never have known it. This rationing is great for the environment, but a challenge for anyone trying not to succumb to heat stroke in the sweltering inferno that is Athens during the summer.

Also of note:

The price of my jeep rental rose by €20 when the rental manager realized it was one of the few jeeps left on the island. I understand the laws of supply and demand, and how they effect price, but there’s nothing like an instant price increase to make one feel shafted.

After four nights on Hydra, the sheets and towels in my room still hadn’t been changed so I found the laundry room and changed them myself.

Bus service on the islands is much less frequent than in previous years.

Quite a few beaches were littered with trash, never having received an early season trash clean-up.

For die-hard Hellenophiles, these glitches won’t spoil a trip, or even a day in Greece, but I’ll be getting clarification and confirmation on AC from here on out.

How to Lighten a Suitcase

Traveler Bound for Ithaka…

Agathia

The nine heads of Hydra

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In Greek mythology, the Hydra was a nine-headed reptilian creature that lived around the swampland of lake Lerna, five miles from the ancient town of Argolis. Killing the Hydra was the second labor of Hercules — an exceedingly difficult task because one of its heads was immortal and the others were almost as bad — as soon as one was chopped off two others grew in its place.

On Hydra Island breathtaking vistas and the comforting lull of a quiet life have replaced the sinister nine heads. Every time I trick myself into believing I’ve conquered the island and seen everything there is to see, another vista appears and proves me wrong. I could go on like this forever, but my time is short, so I’m forcing myself to move on. I’ll be spending the rest of my time in Greece on one of my favorite islands.

A while back, I received an email from someone who’d read this blog: “I was just wondering if you had found your perfect island yet,” he wrote. “I won’t ask which island it is because I think we all need a secret place that no one knows about.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Kos: Amsterdam of the Aegean

My trip to Greece in 253 seconds

I've missed you

Swimming in the Myrtoön Sea

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They say that Hydra’s lack of sandy beaches guarantee the island will never be spoiled by package tourism. Luckily, I’m a big fan swimming off rocks and pebble beaches. Beaches on the Myrtoön Sea can be reached by taxi boat, but there’s plenty of swimming action a short walk along the cliffs to the left of Hydra town. A walk of one kilometer will take you past the swimming holes of Spilia, Hydronetta, Avlaki, and Kamini.