The
view as we were coming into the island of Mykonos
As picturesque as the
postcards.
Yes we actually were
there.
It is famed for its
spectacular
sunsets that cast a warm glow over the town.
It was getting quite
dark when we
discovered this boat along the shore.
As evening falls the
town changes
again.
Two views of the harbor
at Patmos.
Walking on the steep
stone streets
through the town where many of the buildings are 600 or more years
old. The towers are windmills
without
their sails.
The Grotto where John is
said to have
written Revelation. Or rather to have
dictated it to a
scribe as depicted in the mosaic over the door where you enter.
This tiny chapel is one
of the places
said to be the burial place of Mary. The claim is also made
for locations
in Ephesus and Jerusalem.
We joined some locals at
one of their
favorite places to relax and unwind.
On to Crete. Arrays of olive
groves cover the
hillsides with occasional churches.
It seems like every home has a garden often with orange trees.
We found this fountain
in a town
square. It looks like it could be used for watering animals. Facing the square was a
church. One of our friends from
the eclipse
cruise was chatting with this woman from the village.
These two sisters
invited us into the
home where they were raised. A courtyard with some
potted plants
and an oven for bread on the flat roof. Inside we found lamps,
houkahs,
pictures, and family keepsakes.
The cask contained rashi also seen being poured. It is essentially
moonshine made from
whatever is left after grapes have been squeezed for wine.
The glass I had was very strong but tasted good.
The bell maker in his
shop and in the
back room a rashi still.
This church had a spring
in the
lowest level. We were offered a drink of the holy
water. Other than thirst being
quenched I
didn't notice any effects. The old gentleman drove
up in the
pickup. He was probably a Greek Orthodox priest.
A produce stand along
the street.
We visited a commercial
honey
factory.
A beeswax sheet, like the worker is holding, forms a base for the bees
to build their combs. It is put in a frame in
the brightly
colored hives out in the fields where the bees do their work.
The full combs are
removed, sliced
open, and spun to extract the honey. There were bees all over
the building
but no one got stung.
The island of Santorini is a volcano.
Not very active in recent history but the civilization there 3600 years
ago was destroyed by the last enormous eruption. The map gives some idea
of the size
of the explosion that formed the central bay (about 4 by 6 miles
across). The islands of Thira,
Thiraissa, and
Aspronisi are what remain of the original island. Nea Kameni and Palia
Kameni are new
islands formed since the eruption.
As we approached we
could see the
steep walls of the island formed mostly of pumice. It makes for and unusual
architecture
with the face of some buildings flush with the rock and the rooms
carved into the mountain behind. Roads from the sea to
the town are
steep even by Kentucky standards.
We took a tour to Nea Kameni where we hiked to the
top of
the island. It is composed of a mix of dense basalt and
relatively light pumice.
You can guess which one I am holding if you have ever tried to hold a
rock larger than your head at arms length.
The tour advertised a
swim in a hot
spring. In fact it was more of a bay that was heated by the volcano.
What went unsaid was that to get there you took this very nice
boat.
But since the bay was too shallow for it to let you off in the warm
water you had to swim a quarter of a mile.
The water was cold enough (about
56 F) to
take your breath
away if you entered too quickly .
When you got to the "hot spring" I found that it was a lot
closer
to a "tepid spring".
Very nice compared to the swim to it of course but as soon as you thawed out from
the there you
had to swim back to the boat.
I suppose if you were there in the summer rather than the
early
spring it would be more pleasant.
The last island we visited was
Evia.
We went by car and a large and very uncrowded ferry. It made
a
stop at a little island to let some folks off.
On Evia we drove and stopped whenever we saw something interesting like
these ruins of an ancient theater.
A mountain or Roman aqueduct through a town
Lunch was at this seaside cafe where we had several kinds of fish and
some wine from a local vineyard.
This may be the vineyard. These olive tree were certainly
some of
the oldest we saw.
A fish farm and a seaside village.
This was a vein of asbestos in a rock outcrop along the road.
Every island was different. We didn't spend anywhere enough
time
on any of them.
Some more pictures from
our
trip to Greece and Turkey.