IF *I am tourist promoter*, so …

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, flying, photography, stories | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »
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So now that *I am tourist promoter*…
let me get busy ! The island’s economy is at stake (Ω Θεέ μου !)

SO…
Ikaria is mostly known for and associated with the myth of Icarus and to some extent for its medicinal (just *warm* if you like) springs most of them located in the village of Therma very near Agios Kirikos, the capital of the island.

But …  “Life is What is Happening, While We are Thinking of Something Else.”

(J. Lennon?)

Here is an extract fromPr A. Papalas “Rebels and Radicals” -Icaria 1600-2000″
(Chapter 7, Widening Horizons, Tourism, pp.317, 318) and it is about the very first beginning of tourism in Ikaria in the mid-1970s.

“The class and the number of visitors to Therma did not produce the revenues that other islands were enjoying from tourism in the 1970s. Icarians continued to promote Therma and began to consider ways to attract visitors to other parts of the island. There were proposals to spruce up the interior villages for sightseeing tours, to advertise the forests or what was left of them and to renovate the monuments of the island.
….
While Icarians were devising various inept schemes to cash in on the obsession that well-heeled Europeans were displaying for the Aegean, backpackers were discovering Livadi beach between Armenistis and Gialiskari. The locals never held this area in high esteem for they did not regard sunbathing or swimming as a leisure activity. The sandy shore was deserted except for the occasional native following a doctor’s advice to take the sun or sea fro therapy. Bohemian types began to infiltrate a region without hotels or restaurants. They put up tents on the seaside …
… Gradually cafe owners, who had hitherto catered to fishermen, began to build small family-operated pensions. Nudists established a summer community on the Livadi beaches much to the opposition of the locals. In the summer of 1982, an alliance of farmers, Orthodox priests, and Communist officials attacked the nudists with anti-American slogans and threats. There were no casualties, and a compromise was eventually reached. The nudists retreated to the less visible beach of Nas, and the more conventional tourists settled in the Armenisti-Gialiskari where small lodgings by the late 1980s grew into modern hotels… “

You will say that was a typical story. Since the 1970s “a lot of water ran in the ditch” or to be more accurate“a lot of waves crashed on the sand”.
Ikaria is being rediscovered again. It’s not about the beach this time.

To say more: the island is being *retrieved*

Still clubing and panigiria are on and will be on with rough loud music as usual, because we are Greeks, that’s all… Image

Comments

(2 total) Post a Comment

Hey, “tourist promoter” !
How can you inter-connect all that? I wonder how? *good weaver*
Where did you find the link to the photo behind “infiltrated a region” ? That was very good. There is no other to explain what a “gruvalos” is. And I don’t think it’s something bad necessarily. The flower pot in the foreground says it all …
(btw, open this link in a new window and then click “refresh”)

Another thing I wanted to tell you is that I’m growing a like for your BETA “360″.
All of my friends blogs and stuff, though with many more special effects, icons, images and the lights of Las Vegas, do not download ! I have to wait long for a page to appear just to read 2 lines of a new message. Whereas, your blog, “click-click” and I have it in 2″. So bravo for your BETA.
The cover photo for this entry… mmm… 2004 what a summer -:- while everybody else was “Olympic Games”.

Monday June 5, 2006 – 09:31pm (EEST) Remove Comment

-> thank you for quoting from that book !
It’s so sober, so well grounded, well tuned and well tempered. At the same time it is a very “crazy Ikarian” book : so much hard and good work for a place with a lot of history and drama but which hardly anyone knows. . .
Do you get what I mean?
-> when “all that” happened in the mid-1970s, I was there and saw it. We spend our summers in Armenistis. It was a clash of cultures and one of my best memories of youth is that I took part in it. My future wife, her sisters and her brothers were among those “Bohemians”. They were very respectful though. They made a difference, so I chose the prettiest and I believe I made a difference too, so she chose me as well, etc. etc.
-> wow ! the links !…
-> wow ! most of the links work !

Tuesday June 6, 2006 – 10:15pm (EEST)

I AM A TOURIST PROMOTER !!!

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, festivals, hiking, photography | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Αφήστε σχόλιο »
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So this matter has been cleared up. I’m not an enemy of tourism -hahaha Image
Here is a certain Marina Stenos’ blog [*Ikarian Adventures*] who connects to our Flickr photos of Ikaria and calls for visitors.
The strangest thing Image: in Marina’s selection of Ikarian images I saw some of my darkest *unfriendly* landscape shots !!!
Because I ‘ve never (NEVER !) called for visitors in a “come on everybody” way, I was almost upset Image when I discovered Marina’s blog. But then I saw that she names it “adventures“, so it’s ok Image, I guess.
It doesn’t matter that she didn’t send a polite notice to say that she’s linked to our pictures. We even have a club about Ikaria in Flickr and I Image am a moderator of it !
It doesn’t matter. Den pirazi. Δεν πειραζει.
It’s just that I like to communicate. I’m aware that other people don’t. It’s alright.
Funny: how can people who don’t care much about communication, call for visitors?
It doesn’t matter. Den pirazi. Δεν πειραζει. Image
Let’s call this …”ikarian enigma” :-) (-: lol Image

P.S. 1 the irrelevent picture with the rocks and the cars is from the all day long Panigiri of Agios (St.) Isidoros, 14 May 2006
P.S. 2 there are links in this text; I’m not sure whether they appear, so just move your mouse around and you will find them.

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(9 total) Post a Comment

but you ARE PROMOTING TOURISM already through Flickr ! Haven’t you noticed the sponsors flowing in on the left column of the page “Flickr photos tagged Ikaria” ?
Now if someone knows that there is a very scarce boat connection to the island and evenmore, once there, there are very poor bus lines to visit and see all these places…
well… I can’t say what “product” exactly you are promoting. Surely a specialty product only for the few.
@AKK : why don’t YOU get in the game. Put an ad for the hiking thing, the hiking map or about guided tours (are there any ? I mean good ones -> adventure stuff)

>about the photo :- I hadn’t realised that besides the panigiri, we made such an interesting car+moto expo out there -: <

Monday May 29, 2006 – 11:38am (EEST) Remove Comment

Ha.. who needs guides! Do it Ikarian style and walk along the road until some friendly stranger picks you up ;)

Tuesday May 30, 2006 – 09:38am (EDT) Remove Comment

you are very clever; almost like me.
I wish (curse?) you fall on the right friendly stranger as it happened with Eleni and me and adventure started …

Thursday June 1, 2006 – 02:50pm (EEST) Remove Comment

Eleni, I’m working in the paths and feeling old lately. I want to retire. Find me an assistant. Someone who loves misty mountain tops, deep cold pools and nameless coves. Someone who can go torso naked and wrap his/her T-shirt on his/her head when it’s too hot and when it’s cold, freeze like a brave.
Find me one, eevn if he/she is from the plains of H.

Thursday June 1, 2006 – 10:38pm (EEST) Remove Comment

Are you serious? Do you mean it?
-ASSISTANT PATHMAKER WANTED-
-ΖΗΤΕΙΤΑΙ ΒΟΗΘΟΣ ΚΑΤΑΣΚΕΥΑΣΤΗ ΜΟΝΟΠΑΤΙΩΝ-
Do you like it like this? Shall I shout it out?
(Whatever you say, I will anyway, he he)
Σ’ αρεσει ετσι; Να το βγαλω στη φορα;
(Οτι και να πεις, θα το βγαλω, χε χε)

Friday June 2, 2006 – 03:11am (PDT) Remove Comment

Do whatever you think best. It was you who pointed out that Ikaria is a mini continent in the first place.
A ‘muse’ I have and it is you but now I need something more practical. The article in the Greek “Climbing” magazine made me understand that islands are not supposed to have maountains and a vast inside land. But they do and Ikaria has a lot (go swimming and bar strolling just a bit later, that’s all) and I (we) really need a mountain corps, let this be a corps of one (in the beginning)

tx

Friday June 2, 2006 – 11:42pm (EEST) Remove Comment

a long time ago I joined a Service Civile Internationale team staying in a big tent above the little village of Seix in the Pyrenees. We were clearing, remaking, signing footpaths. We were not paid but we had the tent and the food and met people from all over, as well as being in a beautiful place (that I now go back to far more than I could have dreamt I would). Has this been done? A burst of activity by lots of people can be fun, although to work selflessly whatever the season through good times and hard must be better for the soul…

Saturday June 3, 2006 – 12:11am (CEST) Remove Comment

I mean Service Civil International; my spelling in french is almost as bad as my spoken french.

Saturday June 3, 2006 – 12:13am (CEST) Remove Comment

What a surprise ! We have called for and hosted the SCI in Ikaria twice already. The big sign at the entrance of “Chalares Canyon”, one of our best natural sights, writes “The trail was restored by the volunteers of the SCI”
See (copy-paste the link):

http://users.hol.gr/~aeikaria/comein.htm

and

http://users.hol.gr/~aeikaria/Litanentr%20bg.jpg

somewhere in the files of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hikingIkaria/
there is a report by one of those volunteers about the sejourn and their work. I found it and copied it from the SCI site. It’s in Dutch, so I was never able to read what it says !

Saturday June 3, 2006 – 09:19pm (EEST)

Eleni’s (test) poll about Agriculture

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »
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Basically this is a TEST to see how “create a poll” works

……………………………

In order to do me the honour and vote, I don’t think you need to be “connected” to my blog.
If you have a Yahoo ID, it’s probable that you will be able to vote using only your Yahoo! nickname and password.
Also, you don’t have to be too serious in casting your votes. I’ll tell the Greek Image PM (who reads my blog) not to take any important desicions about Ikaria judging from the results of this poll. It’s all “off the record” and completely unofficial -just one more of ImageEleni’s endless tricks & teases…

So let’s see how it goes.

thank you

Eleni Imagehttp://farm2.static.flickr.com/1068/542989925_01327c0fe8_m.jpg

QUESTION :

What should we grow on the terasses of Ikaria?

What should we grow on the terasses of Ikaria?
flowers
2
marihuana
2
vines
3
potatoes
0
thorny bushes/cactuses
1
nothing -leave them alone and wild
2
whatever -just take care that those ancient stonewalls stand in place
3
How about STRAWBERRIES?
1

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(9 total) Post a Comment

Sorry PM, I voted ‘flowers’ – but now that I think about it, perhaps this may not be good for the ikarian economy. Just a whim, really.

Sunday May 28, 2006 – 07:53am (CEST) Remove Comment

no votes for marihuana? Come on now…

Sunday May 28, 2006 – 03:11pm (EEST) Remove Comment

I was tempted.. but the stone walls are tooooo important! They are a trademark of the island.

@AKK: We hiked a trail today from Pigi to Kampos, which Mihalis said you’re “clearing”.. However, I must say that in places it was looking a wee bit .. shall we say.. over-natural :)

Sunday May 28, 2006 – 02:07pm (EDT) Remove Comment

so you hiked on a part of *the trail of the elves*
I left and the negociations with them were not concluded, hence, the *over-natural*. And to think that in other countries governments pay for this works. Oh, there are times I wish the Greek Pm didn’t read my blog like a comic book …
@Ψ have 2ice a good time in Ikaria ! ((-:I hate you:-))

Sunday May 28, 2006 – 12:43pm (PDT) Remove Comment

I voted for thorns ! Now the PM will be very confused. It was not a whim. I just love wildberries or blackberries or whatever they are called. I also like the “figues de barbarie” (frango-syka) the fruit of the cactus and I have a special (German made !) tool to collect, peel and eat them !

Monday May 29, 2006 – 11:45am (EEST) Remove Comment

ΦΡΑΟΥΛΕΣ !!
STRAWBERRIES !
(…fields forever..)
They grow with big success in the mountain villages. They adapt so well that once planted, they go on growing wild. I should have told you on time so that you added it in the poll.
EVERYBODY LOVES STRAWBERRIES !

Saturday June 3, 2006 – 10:12pm (EEST) Remove Comment

Of course, I would have voted for them! R has been re-named Fraoula. It all started when she ate your stawberries AKK – she has them every day now!

Saturday June 3, 2006 – 11:11pm (BST) Remove Comment

That might have invalidated the whole survey now, adding strawberries in after we have all responded. You can’t just add strawberries! We might have voted for it! Now it makes it look like they are unpopular…

Then again if there are lots of snails, strawberries could be a ‘high-maintenance’ crop!

Monday June 5, 2006 – 01:11pm (CEST) Remove Comment

No no no … This was a test poll and thank you very much for taking part! Besides my friends, many others see it and I hope they can vote using just their Yahoo IDs.
Ah, by the way, I haven’t told you (you asked me and I didn’t answer in Flickr). I was planting potatoes this year !
I enjoyed it because they look so good (& orderly -this is my small vice) as young plants. Then I left and didn’t eat any. When I return, my good old neighbours will have kept a bagfull for me so that I can add up some weight again.

Monday June 5, 2006 – 05:03am (PDT)

End *Radio Silence* (May 21, 2006)

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, flying, photography, stories | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Αφήστε σχόλιο »
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( … blip … )
OK , 1, 2, 3, test, test.
…………………………….
ahem… ahem …

Hello blog !
Hello world !
It’s me, Image Eleni. Here I am back again.
The ‘monster’ was afraid of me as much as I was afraid of the ‘monster’.
The people at work did not believe that I was actually going to spend a winter in Ikaria. I showed them the photos + some I didn’t upload in Flickr. Now they are thinking of shooting a documentary about this island. This is not going to happen. I’m against the idea -for the time being at least. My island is a “BETA” island = “unfinished”, “unpolished”, rough. It’s just come out on the surface. It’s a new invention. (Or perhaps it’s a “GAMMA”?) Anyway, it works but it wouldn’t look good on the screen (yet).

I’ll post again about this.


Meanwhile go:
http://surfmadpig.livejournal.com/65264.html
http://surfmadpig.livejournal.com/65446.html
http://pics.livejournal.com/surfmadpig/gallery/0000afh1

HA HA HA Image

φιλάκια
Ελένη Image

P.S. today is my name day, St. Constantine and Helen’s. Oh, friends please don’t take the trouble to log in etc. to write wishes. I know your feelings for me and I’m grateful. My best gift is the ‘stats’ of this blog.

Tags: | Edit Tags Sunday May 21, 2006 – 11:12am (PDT) Edit | Delete

Next Post: Eleni’s (test) poll about Agriculture Previous Post: R A D I O S I L E N C E

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Thanks for coming back. I didn’t want to be your answering machine.
The absolute proof that you were roaming in Ikaria : your car !
The mechanic in Athens wouldn’t repair it unless I had it steam-washed all over outside and inside including the motor, wheels -everything ! He asked me if you had taken part in the Paris-Dakar race. “No”, I said, “But it’s more or less the same. My friend spent three off-seasons in Ikaria”.

Work now and earn the money for the repairs. I think the commonwealth or common fund or whatever of the Ikarians should contribute to buy you new tires at least. It’s amazing how many stones, rusted old nails and other metal scrap we found in the old tires.
Except the air filter which was so full of dust, the rest of the engine is in a perfect shape. The mechanic (who was ready to throw up at the looks car) said that eventually you are a good driver.

Monday May 22, 2006 – 11:00am (EEST) Remove Comment

an Opel is an Opel. I missed the car, though I had the time of my life travelling by train across half Europe. When you washed it, did you take care to gather some of the ‘sacred Ikarian mud’?
Why do I think you did? I really do. Are you testing it? Besides metal scrap what other ingredients will you find? We want a USDA *official report* (please) here in public.

Monday May 22, 2006 – 12:22pm (PDT) Remove Comment

Salmonbelly is smiling.

Monday May 22, 2006 – 04:50pm (PDT) Remove Comment

@@@:What an idea ! Yes, Ikaria is BETA. When you see how these “unfinished” systems work, there is always a ‘dialogue’ with the members (take a survey, give us your opinion, complaints, requests e.t.c). The owners also monitor the system and see what the people actually do and what they like or tend to do. So they act accordingly. So it’s about interaction and Ikaria -yes, if you want it like that- is a very interactive BETA island.

@@@’sacred Ikarian mud’? -lol . Nostalgic, El? Already?

Tuesday May 23, 2006 – 01:11pm (EEST) Remove Comment

Ψ is in Ikaria, ‘doctor’ is in Ikaria, ‘ash’ is in Ikaria and they ‘interact’ with the unfinished BETA. I hate them and in the same time all my good thoughts are with them. Breathe radonium, my friends, the island’s (non-radioactive) noble gas coming out of the (so many) cracks of stones and get (not cracked or stoned), just high. I so lovingly hate you…

(p.s. glad the ‘salmon’ smiled)

Tuesday May 23, 2006 – 12:57pm (PDT) Remove Comment

El, you can stop hating me now. My visit was all too brief – but we (Rowan and the goat) interacted well with the Beta. I have your honey (many kisses for that) – and some local tsipouro here in England – to assist with the continuing interaction.xxx

Monday May 29, 2006 – 12:15am (BST) Remove Comment

I thought you were coming in August and had arranged for “spring flower honey”. But you came earlier and you caught me by surprise and you got just “standard” stuff.
I don’t hate you much. Just a bit. I wish I knew what the weather is like where I am now. I would be glad even if it was raining and thundering. We live and work in a completely artificial environment. My batteries are full to burst though after an Ikarian winter.
x
El

Monday May 29, 2006 – 02:06am (PDT) Remove Comment

The honey is far from ‘standard stuff’- it’s lovely!Next time I come, I will bring you some heather honey from Derbyshire – that is lovely too; but you have to promise to be there, and not to be in that horrible artificial environment you are in now. You must be going crazy…..I hope the batteries are ‘long life’.

Monday May 29, 2006 – 10:43pm (BST)

R A D I O S I L E N C E

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: choses vécues, flying | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Σ Ι Γ Η   Α Σ Υ Ρ Μ Α Τ Ο Υ
Τhe ‘monster’ is not looking for me, so I’m going to look for the ‘monster’. I need all my concentration and breath because it’s gonna be a deep dive.
R A D I O    S I L E N C E
Σ Ι Γ Η   Α Σ Υ Ρ Μ Α Τ Ο Υ
Υet I’ll try and keep posting stuff in Flickr. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to answer comments though
R A D I O    S I L E N C E
Σ Ι Γ Η   Α Σ Υ Ρ Μ Α Τ Ο Υ
(… blip…)
Tags: ικ, icarus-elle, *blip*, deep-dive, ελευθερία | Edit Tags Monday May 15, 2006 – 03:17am (PDT) Edit | Delete

Next Post: End *Radio Silence* (May 21, 2006) Previous Post: 14 May, 2006

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My name is Nana. I’m Eleni’s answering machine. This is an automated message:
“His excellency the Greek PM and the Cabinet are kindly requested to have a little patience. There will be no entries in this blog for about a week. Eleni is on a business trip. She is traveling by boat and train. Veuillez excusez. In the meantime you can watch TV and concentrate on the Eurovision song contest.”
(… blip …)

Tuesday May 16, 2006 – 11:07pm (EEST)

14 May, 2006

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, hiking, photography, stories | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Αφήστε σχόλιο »
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My *Angel pool* – η Αγγελολιβαδα μου

dedicated Imageto the salmon, the eel, the mountain ash, the humanist Ψ, the angelos-x-angelos, the simon whose name means rock, the goat-simon-doctor.

So what happens if you survive the call of a nymph?
The weaker ones loose their speech temporarily or for ever. Some loose their minds too. But there are some cunning strong men who look at the nymph only with the corner of their eye -the corner of their mind- so they are not harmed. On the contrary they are given *eloquence* : ΕΥΓΛΩΤΤΙΑ

Why am I not funny today and I speak like a drunk Image? Because I am drunk Image(slightly).

Today was St. Isidoros day Image(big day marked with a red circle in the local agenta of events) and my birthday as well.

Thank you.
ImageEl

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(6 total) Post a Comment

Auguri Elenuccia!

Sunday May 14, 2006 – 07:50pm (CEST) Remove Comment

Χρόνια Πολλά, ρε θηρίο ανήμερο.
Το δώρο μου το άφησα στον Άγιο Ισίδωρο και σίγουρα το βρήκες.

Congratulations for the Ikarian Angels’ pools, too. I’m amazed that though in a murder mood because you are leaving (don’t deny it), you go on giving. Toro, OLE !

Sunday May 14, 2006 – 09:36pm (EEST) Remove Comment

Hronia Polla Eleni!

Sunday May 14, 2006 – 11:09pm (BST) Remove Comment

Thank you everybody
Σας ευχαριστω ολους

Monday May 15, 2006 – 02:52am (PDT) Remove Comment

Belatedly, happy birthday Eleni, you are a special soul.

Monday May 15, 2006 – 07:27am (PDT) Remove Comment

Aww geez, I spend one day moving and packing for my trip, and I miss your birthday, El! Just my luck. Well, happy birthday anyway! Much luck back on the mainland, and don’t disappear completely!

Monday May 15, 2006 – 02:21pm (EDT)

Eleni (still) in Ikaria (May 12, 2006)

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, flying, stories | Tags: , , , , , , , | Αφήστε σχόλιο »

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My birthday Image is in a few days. As a gift to myself (because if I didn’t have me, what had I become in life?) and because myself needs, I ‘ll (tara tata taram…) try and illustrate “The Island” with photos.

For the rest, today was a cloudy and it rained a bit in the morning, so we cocooned.

Tags: ικ, το-νησί, the-island, weather | Edit Tags Friday May 12, 2006 – 01:31pm (PDT) Edit | Delete

Next Post: 14 May, 2006 Previous Post: *2 uUNdrowned Ophelias*

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Taurus, yes indeed I can see it. Me too sort of, on the cusp, but my girlfriend says more Aries.

Friday May 12, 2006 – 03:28pm (PDT) Remove Comment

yeah, Taurus. Terrible, isn’t it? I smash everything and then I say ‘sorry’, and I mean it, and I want to make even, but people don’t believe me. I’ve seen capricorns and aries do 100 t worse but they don’t have the looks, see?

Did you read ‘The Island’ in that link? Is it too scholarly and ‘British English’? I’m using the Greek translation.

Saturday May 13, 2006 – 01:05pm (PDT) Remove Comment

Oh no, my little mountain ash is Taurus (she was one last week), and I am Aries. She is already showing signs of wilfulness – we lock horns already.

I re-read The Island after your comment – I don’t know what the style of the poem says to a wider audience, but to me, the language evokes an ambience, and a feel of the island in the 50′s from an onlooker’s point of view. I can identify with it totally. My Greek is not good enough to comment on the translation, but I can only assume that it also captures that same feel and subtleties present in the original. I look forward to the illustrated verion.

Saturday May 13, 2006 – 11:28pm (BST) Remove Comment

-> images of beauty and words of love soothe the bull
-> I read somewhere that while in Ikaria McNeice had seen and known a lot and that he found himself in a very difficult position. On one side he had an idyllic place (the closed circle) and on the other Civil War, Cold war, nationalists vs communists. The sudden vision the poet has during his afternoon siesta under the pine tree, when the idyll becomes a Kafkian nightmare is my favourite part.

Sunday May 14, 2006 – 08:33am (PDT) Remove Comment

The poem, I like it at first then it become too long and ponderous and my intuitive nature rebels.

Monday May 15, 2006 – 07:23am (PDT) Remove Comment

You are right. The poem is often ponderous and really too long. As Eleni assumes, the poet was an eye witness of many situations and acts that he could not write shorter, hence clearer about. But the verses make good imagery and if Eleni already has or can find pictures to match the text, then …
We will see.

Thursday May 18, 2006 – 01:18pm (EEST)

Eleni Perforata in Ikaria 2 (March 27, 2006)

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 28, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Αφήστε σχόλιο »
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Oh wouldn’t it be dreamy nice if these ancient terrasses refilled; if not with vines (take so much time, work and money to grow), why not instead with Johanes Perforata?

One thing I know well: where I work they’d drink it by the gallons; they’d have it in samovars, one in every room and all around the place.

Then the economy of Ikaria …

… but again, isn’t it perhaps wiser that it stays as it is now : just a few vegetable gardens and the rest covered with white daisies? Who am I to advise on “island economics”? I am critisizing and blaming me for my weakness. I find me guilty of ‘imperialism’. But I won’t send me to the firing squad. The gods will intervene and say: “Let her go; she doesn’t mean to rule the island and change its ways. It’s just that it’s blooming spring and she is feeling lonely; there are so few people around her age there now to share this beauty, the acts and the ideas that go with this wealth. Let her go. This week she will only listen music by Chopin, next week it will be Schubert and the last week before Easter she will listen Bach’s Passion“.

I Imageshake hands with me Imageand I go free again. I have all those CDs. This has happened before, so I know and have taken my measures.

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Ah, viniculture ! After the next episode of “The Story of Life”, I challenge you: make an attempt to ‘see’ how it could be revived. Use the medieval parable of the dying vinegrower, his reluctant sons and the alleged treasure in the vineyard to help you start. ‘See’ a new set up, invent a new motivation. Or everybody in Greece will be public clerks on 400 euros a month.

Tuesday March 28, 2006 – 10:44pm (EEST) Remove Comment

Even heaven

Spring make me happy and fool. How can you be sad when the sun shines and the perforata blossoms?
living everyday in a “concrete jungle” I really wonder how can you only think to any antidepressive, there on the island perforata.
I know, even heaven is boring.

Tuesday March 28, 2006 – 11:27pm (CEST) Remove Comment

Yes, ‘see’ grapes growing Elle. The terraces were made for vines, were they not? And spring blossoms to make people happy fools!

Tuesday March 28, 2006 – 09:07pm (PST) Remove Comment

so, it’s 2-2 for spring blues. If the one of the two who don’t understand, (let’s say, Jimmy -lol) was Adam in Paradise, God wouldn’t have created Eve. Then again if Eve didn’t understand too much, there wouldn’t be all that mess afterwards.

-> oh, the grapes… I’ll see what I’ll ‘see’.
(how much does a finacial advisor make, btw?)

Wednesday March 29, 2006 – 09:53am (PST) Remove Comment

Cheer up Sister, if you are sad, I am too.

The Tuft of Flowers
I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.

The dew was gone that made his blade so keen
Before I came to view the levelled scene.

I looked for him behind an isle of trees;
I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.

But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,
And I must be, as he had been,–alone,

`As all must be,’ I said within my heart,
`Whether they work together or apart.’

But as I said it, swift there passed me by
On noiseless wing a ‘wildered butterfly,

Seeking with memories grown dim o’er night
Some resting flower of yesterday’s delight.

And once I marked his flight go round and round,
As where some flower lay withering on the ground.

And then he flew as far as eye could see,
And then on tremulous wing came back to me.

I thought of questions that have no reply,
And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;

But he turned first, and led my eye to look
At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,

A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared
Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.

I left my place to know them by their name,
Finding them butterfly weed when I came.

The mower in the dew had loved them thus,
By leaving them to flourish, not for us,

Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him.
But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.

The butterfly and I had lit upon,
Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,

That made me hear the wakening birds around,
And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,

And feel a spirit kindred to my own;
So that henceforth I worked no more alone;

But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,
And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;

And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech
With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach.

`Men work together,’ I told him from the heart,
`Whether they work together or apart.’
–ROBERT FROST

Wednesday March 29, 2006 – 11:10am (PST) Remove Comment

of my taste, of my heart (and the rythm which sounds and beats like a song) –thank you –thank you

(btw do you type or copy-paste; hope it’s the second; if the first, ah ah, very very obliged…)
X

Wednesday March 29, 2006 – 12:22pm (PST) Remove Comment

Happy Adam

What a sad world if the both Adam and Eve were sad! So let Adam be sad and Eve be happy, or Adam be happy (let’s say Jimmy) and Eve be sad. This is the secret of love (and happiness), no matter if you’re in heven or hell.

grapes and happiness everywhere in every season
PPP

Thursday March 30, 2006 – 12:32am (CEST) Remove Comment

veuillez excusez my cyclothymic girlfriend; her psyche swirls on a spiral course.

-good poem that – thank you ‘face carved on stone’ for sharing

Thursday March 30, 2006 – 11:22am (EEST) Remove Comment

Elle, this one was cut and pasted for sure and yes, isn’t it lyrical?

Nana, notice that the face in stone, he’s winking ;)

Thursday March 30, 2006 – 07:58am (PST)

*2 uUNdrowned Ophelias*

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 27, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, hiking, ikaria, photography, stories | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Αφήστε σχόλιο »
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…ooooImagejjhh… THE rIVer pooLS of MAy & jUne
*Angel pools* – *Fairy pools*
ΖΗΤΩ οι “Αγγελολιβάδες” ΤΗΣ ΙΚΑΡΙΑΣ

ophelias

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(12 total) Post a Comment

Homeric Hymn 5 (to Aphrodite) 97ff.
ἤ τις Νυμφάων, αἵτ᾽ ἄλσεα καλὰ νέμονται
ἢ Νυμφῶν, αἳ καλὸν ὄρος τόδε ναιετάουσι
καὶ πηγὰς ποταμῶν, καὶ πίσεα ποιήεντα.

σοὶ δ᾽ ἐγὼ ἐν σκοπιῇ, περιφαινομένῳ ἐνὶ χώρῳ,
βωμὸν ποιήσω, ῥέξω δέ τοι ἱερὰ καλὰ
ὥρῃσιν πάσῃσι.

(my translation)
“Perhaps you are one of the Nymphs who inhabit the beautiful glades,
Or one of those who dwell upon this beautiful mountain or at the sources of rivers or in grassy meadows.

I will build you an altar high on a promontory, in a place easily seen from all around, and I will make beautiful sacrifices upon it every season.”

Perhaps one of those heads belongs to my namesake, Ψαλακανθα, who after all, was one of the Naiads of Ikaria :) (http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NymphePsalakantha.html)

ps: what does “αγγελολιβάδες” mean? “angel-fairies”?

Tuesday May 9, 2006 – 07:13pm (EDT) Remove Comment

>>cool Schubert’s bums<<

(and because of Ψ who has Homeric stuff like that always handy, I’ll post a short lecture on “angelolivades” tomorrow. It’s basically “women lore” so I may be wrong, but I’ll just say what I know. If I am completely wrong, put the blame on Ψ.)

Wednesday May 10, 2006 – 10:55pm (EEST) Remove Comment

God damn, sounds like a place I will have to visit. Don’t go crazy and kill yourselves Ophelias.

Wednesday May 10, 2006 – 07:17pm (PDT) Remove Comment

Sure, AKK, blame everything on me. Is the pool in the photograph on your excellent list?

Thursday May 11, 2006 – 12:24am (EDT) Remove Comment

In the Ikarian dialect “livada” means “pool” or “pond”. A “livada” can be a small rainpool in the street, a large river pool and even a lagoon at the mouth of a river.
All the deep dark pools in the rivers are named “Angel’s pools”, Angelo-livades. There were 2 reasons I got interested in them. First, my name is Angelos ! Second, the first time I swam in one of them and I proudly announced it in the village, I was stared at as if I was a ghost and asked : “Did you survive?”. That was about 30 years ago. I was thrilled and was determined to find out what lay behind this.
So I pressed and insisted on my father who grew up in Ikaria in the 1920s when “all that” was alive and the myths were facts. Later he became a historian but always kept a great love and good taste for folklore. According to him:
1) An “Angel” is a fairy; not a nereid (which is actually a female spirit dwelling in the springs and sources), but a nymph.
The “Psalakantha” story in Psalakanthos’ link makes sense. There are so many pools in Ikaria, hence as many nymphs.
2) The Ikarian mothers invented all sorts of stories to frighten their children away from these pools (not to play, swim or sleep around them). They didn’t want them to drown or catch pneumonia -which was a deadly disease before antibiotics. So the originaly benevolent Angel/Nymphs were calumniated and presented as monsters. They were supposed to mesmerize their victims with reflections and colours and so drag them to the bottom (where there would be palaces and treasures etc. etc.), but in fact they were turned into slaves etc. etc.
3) The Ikarian mothers of the old times were very heavy labourers. But before that they had been young maiden too. By inventing the legend of “evil pools” they were protecting a secret of their own adolescence : they visited these (hardly accesible) places and swam ! If they were seen, well… it was not a teenage neighbour Maria, Eleni, Anna, but NYMPHS = terrible “angels” -stay away, stay away; turn your eyes and leave at once or you don’t survive !

Myths were so practical in the times before plumbing, bath tabs and showers … especially before the invention of SHOWER CURTAINS !

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/53/139105906_23fd58f2b1_m.jpg

Thursday May 11, 2006 – 01:02pm (EEST) Remove Comment

@Ψ : the pool in the photo is one under # 4 in the list of pools of msg 637
( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hikingIkaria/message/637 ) This particular “Angelolivada” is very weel known. It was the first I ever swam in (and “survived” !) The photo flatters the pool. Now after the contruction of the road above it, it’s left with only 1/3 of its original size. Besides being near the road, it’s too near Nas so it gets crowded in summer. It’s like an annex to the beach. But it’s still ok as an introduction. I suppose this is why Eleni chose to put this photo in this entry. Maybe because it’s the most known pool, so readers would believe her.
Some other shots of pools in “Lower Chalares” (near Nas)are in:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38852820@N00/

Thursday May 11, 2006 – 01:09pm (EEST) Remove Comment

yeah, we are nymphs, *Schubert’s bums* (I liked that -lol), fairies with i-pods. This *good machine* is our secret. We walk listening to music. We don’t talk. Do you know how far *no talking* can get you? We talk in the evening.
Eleni is uploading some photos in her Flickr -artistic as usual. Sorry, no *Schubert bums* in them. Our own beauty would defocus the viewers from the beauty and the complicated-ness of the settings. Currently neither of us is looking for mess around with boys and absolutely not on the net.
“Στη λίμνη τη βουνίσια … τραλαλα” hip hop

Υ.Γ. δεν με πειράζει το περπάτημα και το ξέσκισμα στα αγκάθια, μόνο που πιάστηε ο κ**ς μου καβάλα στο παπάκι …

Thursday May 11, 2006 – 10:21pm (EEST) Remove Comment

love Schubert -hate hip-hop. Sorry youngsters…

Thursday May 11, 2006 – 12:52pm (PDT) Remove Comment

This angelo-livada is so known that me too swam in it (and me too survived). No sounds but the whisper of a thousand “cicades”. Floating in the water as a turtle, my breath took the same cicades rithm, my lungs did the same sound of the wings of a dragonfly, I moved slowly as one of the big fishes wich live there, naked as an eel.
Naked and naturally happy as all the nimphs who, only then I realized, were there, hidden by shadows and lights, breathing at the same rithm of cicades, doing the same sound of the wings of a dragonfly, silently listening at Schubert with their i-po(n)ds.

Friday May 12, 2006 – 02:07am (CEST) Remove Comment

WHAT A GREAT SCRIPT FOR THE NEW APPLE COMMERCIAL! I’ll purpose it them, but may be I’ll prefer Mendelssohn’s “midsummer night dream” music.

Friday May 12, 2006 – 02:15am (CEST) Remove Comment

I saw your latest uploads (“aque dolci”) in Flickr. Very difficult takes ! Who am I to admire most, the amateur trekker or the amateur photographer? I can’t decide.

Friday May 12, 2006 – 01:54pm (EEST) Remove Comment

the *invisible* people salute the return of Jimmy. They’ll remain invisible and won’t bite the bait (for an Apple commercial, a Timotei commercial, or an “Ikaria” commercial). We will remain invisible. We have already given too much. Others should come now and populate our landscapes with bodies and faces.
Like http://www.flickr.com/photos/38852820@N00/
-ooohhh it can be much better…

 

Loving is Sharing. Loving is also to help

In May the fog in the Aegean is PURPLE !

Δημοσιεύθηκε: Ιουνίου 27, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, hiking, photography, stories | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Αφήστε σχόλιο »
250 magnify

Last weekend a group of 40 mountaineers from Athens came in Ikaria and walked on the mountain range from one side of the island to the other. I intended to meet them or rather find them somewhere along their way to “spy” on them. That is, to follow them from a distance just to enjoy the sight. “People in Landscape” : a theme that I have an obsession with.
I also wanted to make them wonder of who I’d be, if they saw me. A shepherdess, a hunteress?  A hiker who follows a better path than theirs? Add up some mystery…  Image he he
But the weekend was very foggy. Mist covered the mountains, so I assumed that they wouldn’t do it and got back Imagein bed.
I had done the same mistake : I underestimated the Greeks.
Not only had they walked the whole Image length of the mountain ATHERAS (including some very dangerous passages) in the fog but they also took a dip in a lake with air temperatures 16-20 degrees). On the next day they walked in the canyon of Chalares, they swam in the river pools and then in the beach of Nas.


Angelos met them and took a few good photos. They are in

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54751302@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54751302@N00/sets/72057594125554615/

and of course in

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hikingIkaria/spnew

I borrowed one
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54751302@N00/140450559/
to decorate this entry. “People in Landscape”. I know this is very important. I can’t explain why right now. Until I do better, go to what I’ve wrote before on girrafes and savanahs in:

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-k6mEB.w4aKpoevlwq.w-?p=397

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so that was you plan; “spy” on people like “the madwoman of the mountains of Ikaria, eh? Red hair would be seen from very far away even in the mist.
Anyway, they were travelling very fast. Too fast for me and far too fast for you. They wouldn’t stop and talk, talk, talk and have smokes and take pictures.
It’s difficult for the Greeks to wake up in the morning, pack and get on the move, but once they do —

Friday May 5, 2006 – 11:16pm (EEST) Remove Comment

-> once upon a time short-legged restless Greeks (armours, shields e.t.c.) walked all the way to India and back.
-> in fact the color of the fog in the Aegean is *salmon*. You can’t see a thing but it’s not scary. Because of this colour you feel ok; good vibrations… In it you sense that the sun reigns somewhere over the clouds.
It was very different during the blizzard on Ikaria in winter, though. Oh yes, it was, man.

Sunday May 7, 2006 – 10:46am (PDT) Remove Comment

never seen fog the color of salmon

Sunday May 7, 2006 – 06:10pm (PDT) Remove Comment

ha – I assumed that you were going to react with a comment _:
By “salmon” I translated the french “saumon” which is light greyish purple colour with a touch of yellow in it _: but the flesh of a fresh salmon fish is brighter and more to the orange, isn’t it?

Monday May 8, 2006 – 01:34am (PDT) Remove Comment

Yep, varies between pale orange and crimson, although we also have races of chinook salmon that are white-fleshed, we call them “white kings,” very rich and highly prized by those who know about them.

These Greeks, they are through-hikers, yes? Bully for them. And you, you are a woman of the misty mountains to a certain extent…

Monday May 8, 2006 – 08:19am (PDT) Remove Comment

I’m writing very fast and short right from THE island (…no horizon … just the blue). We arrived this morning. Eleni and I are going to smash it ! She is leaving, you know… So we’ve taken an oath to avoid the beaches. So it will be anything else but the beaches. My bf will very useful to break branches, hold us and drag us over boulders, make sure to show everybody that we are “accompanied”. There will be no photos from these adventures. We are too big stars, super bums !

Goodnight
(so ‘un-ikarian’ -lol- we go to bed early…)

Monday May 8, 2006 – 11:10pm (EEST) Remove Comment

No Nana, you two should go to the beaches and cast a net while you’re there. Never know what you might find.

ATHENS, Greece – A Greek fisherman has handed over to authorities a large section of an ancient bronze statue brought up in his nets in the Aegean Sea, officials said on Monday.

The male torso was located last week near the eastern Aegean island of Kalymnos, the Culture Ministry said in an announcement.

The one-meter (3-foot) high find belonged to a statue of a horseback soldier, and would have been part of the cargo of an ancient ship that sank in the area. It was taken to Athens to be cleaned and dated.

Together with the torso, the fisherman brought up two small bronze pieces believed to belong to the statue, and a wine-jar from the ancient city of Knidos — in what is now Turkey — dating from the first century B.C, the ministry said.

The seas around Kalymnos are rich in ancient wrecks and have yielded several impressive finds in recent years, including a large female statue now exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The fisherman who netted it in 1995 earned a euro440,000 (US$558,000) reward from the Culture Ministry.

Other scattered pieces of bronze statues found in the area include a head, legs and arms, but it is unclear whether these could match the horseman’s torso.

Tuesday May 9, 2006 – 10:48am (PDT) Remove Comment

“vade retro satan” and don’t temp us ! or good swimming and deep diving will be illegal in Greece.
WE ARE DIAMOND GOOD GIRLS -:))
As for the bronze statues, we don;t need them. We will soon be like that and better under the Aegean sun, bien sur…

Tuesday May 9, 2006 – 12:39pm (PDT)

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