Monday 29 August 2011

Message to Beth

Beth  I struggled to reply to your comment, so here is my replly!

I've been staying at Dimitri's in Katapola for twenty years, and it ticks all your boxes! It is in Rachidi the hamlet in the centre of the bay of Katapola. Go down the paved road towards the large church, turn right at the small grocery shop and you'll see a sign on the wall of the first building.

If you send me an email to susan [at] amorgos.freeserve.co.uk I'll send you more details.

Enjoy Amorgos and Astypalia!

Best wishes
Susan

Friday 19 August 2011

"Un Village Cycladien Chora d'Amorgos" by Emil Kolodny


"Un Village Cycladien Chora d'Amorgos" by Emil Kolodny and is written in French.  the book is packed with information about Amorgos, and especially families in the Chora.  The book was unavailable on Amazon when I checked.  You may have more success with French book websites, such as Chapitre.







"In the Bee-loud Glade" by Christopher Connell

Read this book to learn about some old crafts and traditions on Amorgos.


"In the Bee-loud Glade: A Study with Drawings of Greek Village Life on the Southern Cycladic Islands of Amorgos, Donoussa, Schinoussa and Irakleia" by Christopher Connell.

Friday 12 August 2011

Scopelitis Blogspot

There are some interesting photographs on this blog of three generations of Amorgos ferries - the Express Scopelitis, the Scopelitis, and the Marianna
http://www.scopelitis.blogspot.com/

I have travelled on all three ferries.  The memory plays strange tricks.  In the photos all three ferries look more alike than I remember them. 

Thursday 11 August 2011

Xenakis

Many years ago I was in London at the time of the Proms, and there was both a Xenakis concert and if I recall correctly a talk by Xenakis.  But again if I recall correctly one or both was sold out.  In any event, I didn't attend either.  Regrets now that I was not better organised.

An old friend who had been a regular visitor to Amorgos told us about the Xenakis house, the distinctive shaped building in the bay on the western side of Katapola.

Read the article about the Xenakis house in the Amorgos Island Magazine.

Read more in Wikipedia about Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer.

As an architect, Xenakis worked with Le Corbusier - read more about Le
Corbusier on Wikipedia.


Tuesday 9 August 2011

Red or White?

I asked for an Amstel in a small taverna on a small Greek island.  The waiter said something to me that I did not quite catch the first time he said it.  "Bottle or draught?" he repeated.  I was not expecting to be offered draught Amstel in Greece, especially in such a small taverna.

I was reminded of an occasion many years earlier.  I was in Italy in the late 1970s, staying at a youth hostel.  I was eating in the self service restauarnt, and had reached the check out.  the person at the till said something that sounded like "Red or white" in English.  I sometimes find that, when listening to a foreign language being spoken that I do not understand, I subconsciously try to make sense of what is said; and that involves trying to hear sounds that make sense in English.

"Red or white" made no sense at all.

The person at the till said "Which wine would you like, red or white?"

I was expecting the youth hostel to be teetotal, not selling wine!

Yogurt Bar

In all my years of travelling in Greece, I have only once been in a bar or cafe specialising in yogurt.  In Andros chora (this was in the 1990s) I found a cafe sellin home made yogurt.  either I have been looking in the wrong places, or yoghurt cafes are well hidden; or there are few.

Whilst I was in Greece in July 2011 I read an article in Athens News Filling the yoghurt niche about a new yogurt cafe in Athens  - the Fresko Yogurt Cafe, not far from the new Acropolis Museum.  I must pay a visit next time I am in Athens.

In case you are` wondering about the differing spellings of "yoghurt", from the Athens News article

THE SIGN catches your eye and, as a native English speaker, you immediately jump on the fact that they have forgotten the ‘h’. Fresko Yogurt Bar, however, has intentionally dropped the ‘h’, in keeping with the original Turkish word yogurt
I often spelling yoghurt with a "j"!

Molly MacKenzie

You can read a little about Molly Mackenzie in my blog about Jehane West.

I am fairly certain that somewhere I have two books by Molly Mackenzie about Amorgos, one a paperback and one a hardback.  If I recall correctly, in the hardback book Molly writes about her first night on Amorgos when she slept in a ditch!

Jehane West

On 21 May I noticed the announcement of the death of Jehane West in the Times:

Jehane (née Ingram) peacefully in Yorkshire on Sunday 15th May 2011 aged 95. Remarkable Adventurer and Friend. Funeral at Grewelthorpe on Tuesday 7th June at 3.15pm

Some years ago I was reading one of Alec Guinness's books, and he mentioned that his friend Jehane West had rung him from Amorgos to ask about the health of a cat.  Because of the reference to Amorgos the name Jehane West stuck in my mind.

I have since read that Jehane West was a friend of Molly MacKenzie, author of a book about Amorgos (more details to be added when I have laid hands on the book!)

Read more about Jehane West
http://howarddieno.wordpress.com/2011/05/17/a-dear-friend-is-gone/

Another photo of Jehane West, with Molly MacKenzie
http://linniemax.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-3rd.html

Looking in some of Alec Guinness's books trying to find the reference to Jehane West in Amorgos, I came across quite a few other references to Jehane West.  More to be added anon!

KEP

I had seen a road sign in Katapola to the KEP in Chora, but never found (or even looked for) the KEP in Chora.  For some reason I had in mind that that a KEP was a sort of centre for old people.

But this article in Kathimerini shows that a KEP is a Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Taxi strike kills off hundreds of thousands of bookings

From an article in Kathimerini

The taxi strike that ended last week has cost the country between 250,000 and 300,000 bookings for the September-October period while tourism is set for a sudden 20 percent decline, according to industry sources.

Monday 8 August 2011

Katapola - "the Big Boom Project" - destruction of the unfinished hotel

For many years the large unfinished hotel was one of the landmarks on Amorgos.  In this video you can see the destruction of the hotel in April 2006.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pspeYksu3bo

On the roadside in front of the hotel is a large old house which we have always called the "Captain's House".  That hotel was not demolished, and since the destruction of the hotel "skeleton" has been renovated.

Scopelitis' Story - the Metro of the Microcyclades

Whilst I was on Amorgos I bought a copy of a new book (published in June 2011)  - Scopelitis' Story - the Metro of the Microcyclades.  The book is by Giovanni Perotti and Mila de Franco.  There is no ISBN number.  I bought my copy at the Brekas travel agency in Katapola.  I also saw the book on sale at Zoom in Naxos.

The Guardian - "Greece in Crisis"

Read the "Greece in Crisis" series in the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/greece-in-crisis

Back in England - looking back at Greece

I arrived back in England on 3 August.  Some impressions of Greece.

I have never before been to Greece in July or August.  Most of my recent visits have been between February and May, and between September and November.  As Greece nearer midsummer became busier, I arranged my visits more and more out of season.  I like Greece when it is quieter.  I had been avoiding Greece in midsummer.  This year I had an opportuinity for a longer than usual break, but only in July  / August. 

I had heard and read about accommodation being fully booked in peak season, and people sleeping in the streets and on beaches (or was it that some visitors were not prepared to pay mid-season prices for accommodation?).  And about people queuing for a table at a taverna.

I visited Athens and one larger island (Naxos), but spent most of the time on Amorgos. 

Generally there were fewer people on Amorgos than I expected, fewer than I have seen in May.  But when I was in port when ferries were due, I was amazed at the number of people around.  At ferry time the harbour seemed as busy as at ferry times around Easter.  So perhaps many people were staying with friends and family, and did not often venture out.  One Saturday afternoon, when the Big Blue Star 1 or 2 was heading back to Piraeus, there were 100s of people arriving and departing.  The Superjet came in at the same time, adding to the crowds.  On one side of the ferry cars were parked five deep waiting to depart, and there were more cars parked on the other side of the ferry.

Some ferries were full - filling up at Naxos or Paros.  And the Superjet, that called in at Katapola every day, was full on the date I wanted a ticket for.  So even though tourist numbers may be down, you cannot rely on getting a place on the vessel you want.

In Chora on Amorgos, I expected to see Chora congested with tourists, but I saw far fewer tourists than I expected.  Perhaps many more people head for the beaches in midsummer, leaving the villages emptier of tourists than they are in the spring and autumn.

But apart from ferry times there were fewer visitors to be seen than I expected.  There were more room "touts" lined up to meet ferries than I had seen before, so there was plenty of accommodation available.  In the evenings some tavernas were busier than others, but there were always tables available.  In Katapola the road by the port was closed to traffic in the evenings, so taverna tables were spread out into the roadway when needed.

Calling in at Koufonissi on the way to Naxos, I noticed large numbers of people getting on and off the Artemis.

I only spent two nights in Naxos, but there were fewer tourists in the town than I have seen in May.  There was usually a free table on the balcony of my favourite taverna.  In May it is usually much harder to get a balcony table.

I booked a hotel in Athens using Booking.com.  There were rooms available in all my favourite hotels - sometimes in low season there are no free rooms.  I stayed in Athens last Tuesday night.  The taxi strike was then on.  The taxi strike ended on Thursday - I checked Booking.com then - far fewer rooms were avaiable.  So I guess the lack of taxis was deterring people from goint to Athens.

In recent years I had been lazy and got a taxi from the hotel to the airport.  the taxi strike gave me an opportunity to see how good the Athens bus service is.  There were buses every 8-10 minutes from Synatagma Square to the airport, And the journey took about an hour, perhaps a bit less.  As soon as one bus pulled away at Synatgma, there was another waiting to take its place.

The protestors left` Synagma befroe I arrived.  The only "trouble" I noticed in Athens was from the bus to the airport.  The taxi strike was still on, but the ofdd taxi driver had gone back to work.  Near Syntagma I saw a chap carrying a large cardboard poster standing in the road waving the poster.  He was waving at a taxi, the first taxi I had seen.  No violence, just a placard being waved.  I saw a few more distinctive yellow taxis cars on the way to the airport.  One had "Radio Car" written on the rear windscreen.  None of the others yellow cars had the roof top "taxi" sign.