His island of freedom
Δημοσιεύθηκε: 20 Σεπτεμβρίου, 2016 Filed under: exploring, hiking, holidays, ikaria, photography, pleasure, stories, travel | Tags: adventure, aegean, blog review, communism, explorers, food, freedom, Greece, hiking, history, ikaria, ikarians, island in the aegean sea, island life, ικαρία, μονοπάτια, lifestyle, peaceful island, stories, travel 7 Σχόλια
Hello readers! 🙂
how long has it been since I last wrote a blog review properly speaking – that is, to review something written by someone I don’t know? I think the last one was about Jackie Fox, the Ikarian/American who posted a whole series of wonderful articles about her life in Ikaria during the year 2012-13. Jackie published on WordPress so it was easy for me to spot her and connect to her blog articles. The same goes with my present blogger. He is in WordPress where he keeps a blog which he calls: «Dorken at large – Outings in search of personal freedom». I like him so here I am, hard-working, cool blogger Eleni, I am blogging about his doings in Ikaria!
As I always do, I will let him speak on his own. But before that, just let me say only two things: a) Dorken comes from Izmir, a city geographically and historically associated with our islands. It’s so close and so big that in some winter nights when the clouds are low I can see the glow of the lights of his city in the east! b) Some Turks like Dorken, also like a lot of people who come from the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, incarnate the legendary Oriental Oral Narrator – in simpler words, they know how to tell a story and capture the listener!
Go Dorken, speak about my island – your island of freedom! 😊
As always in my blog reviews, if you click on the pictures you see in this article you will be directed to the full posts in the source. There you will find more photos with a few words for each. As you will see, I have borrowed some quotes from Dorken’s posts. Goes without saying that I am solely responsible for my choices.
Dorken’s Ikaria : Foreword
«…but then, there was another island. One that was somehow magical, and for no special reason. One that I picked for myself, my fantasy island, my island. When I told the name, very few people would have heard of it, even though it was so close to where we lived. In my child’s mind, I would be the king of my island and my own civilization. I would declare my independence lying on the floor of my bedroom, lost in the map. It was years later, when I started reading about it, I was surprised to see that my island was of the same mindset, that it had actually declared its independence in 1912, had its own flag, its own anthem, even if it had lasted for only five months. Yes, that was definitely my island…»
Dorken’s Ikaria: Day 1 – Arrival
«Getting to Ikaria is no easy task, I’ll tell you. Despite being one of the largest of the Aegean islands, it seems to be somehow left out of the grid. Although it is clearly visible from the Turkish coast, it is easier to get to Mykonos or Santorini then Ikaria. Well, I hope it will stay that way…»
«The entertaining bit of the trip though was to overhear (ok, not overhear, simply listen, yes I like lis-tening to others’ conversations, shush!) twenty something Istanbulites discussing which beach clubs they should go to in Samos. I’m not going to get into details, but I will tell you this much: some of the Turks really have the wrong idea about the Greek islands. They get on the boat to Samos or Chios thinking they will find the same boom boom – fuck me – boom beach clubs they go to in Cesme or Bodrum, and then they are heavily disappointed. Aegean islands, perhaps with the excep-tion of Mykonos and Santorini, is about peace and tranquillity, and very very good ouzo…»
«.So here I am, sitting on my wooden throne on the beach, adoring my kingdom. I just had the most delicious grilled squid and am on my third glass of white wine. Stars are shining, there’s a gentle Greek tune coming from the back, and the sound of the waves from the front. There’s a brave woman going for a swim. Life is good. So far, I love my kingdom.»
Dorken’s Ikaria: Day 2 – Agios Kirykos
«Mornings of any Aegean trip has the same theme: wake up (preferably not too late), instead of jumping under the shower, jump into the sea, sit at a café, have a bite, have a coffee, and another coffee and another one. Why should today be any different?»
«Ag. Kirykos is a nice island town (town – village – town? whatever), but nothing spectacular. Nice cafés by the coast to enjoy your book. Few pebble beaches around – not very comfy, but the sea is much warmer than in the nearby islands of Samos and Chios. Nice people. Yeah, that’s it. Summary of the day: swim, have coffee, read book, walk around, have more coffee, plan the next day, have another dip in the sea, and another coffee – yeah that’s really it.»
«Although Greece gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1827, East Aegean Islands still remained part of the empire. In July 1912, the Ikarians said that they had enough with that and revolted under the leadership of a chap named Ioannis Malahias. The Ottomans had their own prob-lems like World War I, so as a result, Free State of Ikaria was declared an independent country on July 17th. Of course, it wasn’t the easiest of times. And with no dowry, no money, no family background, Ikarians had to be glad to be annexed by Greece only five months later in November. To this day, Ikarians are extremely proud of those five months and all around the island, you can see more Free State flags than Greek ones. The flag has a dark blue background with a white cross in the middle – basically Swiss flag turned blue. 🙂 »
Dorken’s Ikaria: Day 3 – Chalares Canyon, Nas, Armenistis
«To get from the south to the north of the island, you have to go up and down the high mountains that run like the spine of Ikaria. The view on both sides is simply breath-taking. One has to be care-ful enjoying the view while driving in Ikaria though. The roads are all very narrow – at some points to the degree that two cars cannot pass at the same time. On one side of the road, there are rocks and on the other side, cliffs several hundred meters high and more rocks at the bottom. Not to worry, you are more likely to come across a goat than a car while driving on the island anyway.»
«I arrived at Nas, at the northwest end of the island towards ten o’clock. Nas is a very small village with a few hotels and restaurants that took the healthy-trendy line. Everything here is organic, healthy, super food and stuff. It’s not difficult to imagine people doing yoga on the beach at sun-rise, which I’m sure they do.»
«Ikaria has an unbelievable amount of well-marked and well-kept walking trails – one might say bet-ter marked and kept than the roads themselves. The one I was going to try today was starting at Nas and following the river along the Chalares Canyon. As the trails are never ending, I decided to walk as long as I found reasonable, then return back either using the same route or some alternative path.»
Dorken’s Ikaria: Day 4 – Evdilos, Kampos and around
«The northerly autumn winds begun caressing Ikaria this morning. The sun is still strong, but you know that it is not going to last long. Colors of the season started showing themselves on the trees at higher altitudes. It is the best time of the Aegean.»
«The roads gently ascend the hills passing by farms and vineyards. After a few dead ends, I seem to have found my way. In any case, if you get really lost lost, just walk down till you meet the sea, not that hard.»
«As the altitude increased, bushes and olive trees left the scene to pine forest. At the end, I reached my destination point: Theoktistis Monastery. It is really a small monastery this one, but sitting on top of the mountain, the view is well worth the climb. There is a small church at the very entrance with your typical Greek icons and what not. As you climb a bit more though, you come across an-other tiny church which drops your jaw. Imagine that there’s this big rock on the ground, then they built block walls on it, and then using what mythical creature god knows, they placed a gigantic rock on top of it all to serve as a roof. Walking around the church, you realize that the roof bit is ac-tually a massive rock cantilevering out of the mountain. They just built a block wall in between the two rocks. Okay, now it makes sense. It’s a tiny tiny church by the way, the door is barely a meter high or so, you really need to bend down to get in.»
Dorken’s Ikaria: Day 5 – Manganitis
«The south coast of Ikaria is rugged, harsh, so rocky that in most places depriving the trees of the least bit of soil to hang on to. This makes it very difficult for humans to settle, but it is a playground for the goats. These steep hills also shelter some of the most beautiful, tiny, isolated beaches you can find on the island, of which, Seychelles Beach has unequivocal reputation.»
«Here’s another interesting note about Ikaria: After the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949 between the nationalists and the communists, the Greek government used Ikaria as an exile location for the de-feated commies. Some 13,000 people affiliated with the Greek Communist Party, KKE, were sent to the island. Considering the current population of Ikaria is just 8,500, you can well imagine the impact of this relocation on the island’s political demographics. And which party do you think wins all the elections on the island today? Yes, you guessed it right :). Even today, the island is referred to by many Greeks as the Red Rock. It is funny though, Ikarians are also very devout Orthodox Christians. Nowhere else have I seen communism and religion going so much hand in hand, but then again, Ikaria is not just any place.»
«…the highlight of the whole day, perhaps the trip, was the tiny, beautiful, under-stated Manganitis village. With houses overlooking the vast blueness that is the Aegean and the cutest little harbour, this fishing village offers the real isolated Greek island beauty in one’s imagination. And the deli-cious Ikarian ratatouille cooked from vegetables grown by the owner of the taverna himself in his backyard, accompanied by a glass of Mythos… for some people, there is heaven, eden, paradise to go to; for the likes of me, there is Manganitis.»
Dorken’s Ikaria: Day 6 – Departure
«Today, I will have a few beers and enjoy my book until the Dodekanisos Seaways hydrofoil takes me to Pythagoreio in Samos, from where I will board the boat back to Kusadasi. I have one and a half hours between the two boats, I hope the connection will be less dramatic than the last one.»
«I have to express my gratitude to the amazing island of Ikaria, for treating me like the king that I am and allowing me to reign over it for six long days – much longer than many mighty nations tried to do. It would be unwise though to outstay my welcome, for I know that the spirit of Ikaria is all about freedom. I will surely miss this red little rock of mine and who knows, perhaps one day…»
«Autumn winds increased their strength over Ikaria today. Gone are the long, warm days of the summer. Whether you like it or not, change is on its way. Things are about to get different, and different we will have to embrace.»
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Come again Dorken! Maybe your ancestors and my ancestors were related! Maybe they were friends!
Let’s be friends too! 😊
👩 Eleni
September 20, 2016
Reblog : Περίπου το 30 π.Χ.
Δημοσιεύθηκε: 1 Ιουνίου, 2014 Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, ikaria, stories | Tags: aegean, agrimi-mou, camping-in-ikaria, communism, Greece, greek-entries, ikaria, ikarian-enigma, ikarian-legends, ικαρία, Makridakis, my-beta-island, my-friends, poetry, Political Humour, politics, Red Island, red myth, slacker politics, summer 3 Σχόλια
Δόξα! Δόξα!
Σήμερα Πρωτη του Καλοκαιριου και ενω οι λέξεις-κλειδια που οδηγουν στα μπλογκ μας μαρτυρουν ότι παρα πολλοί ανθρωποι ψαχνουν πληροφοριες για καμπινγκ στην Ικαρία, εφετος η αγαπημενη μου Νανα δεν νοιαζεται για «τις αναγκες του κοινου ενοψη του Αυγουστου» (♦). Φευγει πιο περα, μακρια. Δινει το στιγμα της, δημοσιευοντας το…
. «Εδώ λοιπόν που λέτε είχαμε εκλογές και κυκλοφόρησε κόσμος και αν και δεν δυσαρεστήθηκα με τα αποτελέσματα, δεν την γλύτωσα και μελαγχόλησα όπως πάντα το παθαίνω με την πολλή πολιτικούρα. Ευτυχώς όμως γελάσαμε με το … (διαβαστε περισσοτερα)
Με τετοιο πνευμα, τρελη διαθεση και πολλη δουλεια…
ΚΑΛΟ ΚΑΛΟΚΑΙΡΙ!!!
(♦)Παρολα αυτα, αγαπημενοι αναγνωστες, επειδη δεν θελουμε να γινουν ποτε ξανα
αυτα τα πραγματα
η προταση μας για να κανετε καμπινγκ στην Ικαρια βρισκεται στο
.
.
Legends about Ikaria : THE RED MYTH
Δημοσιεύθηκε: 2 Ιουλίου, 2009 Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, flying, ikaria, photography, stories | Tags: aegean, bolsheviks, communism, Doubting Thomas, drunk, eleni-in-ikaria, funny, Greece, hammer and sickle, ikaria, ikarian-legends, interview, island in the aegean sea, KKE, political conflict, Political Humour, politics, rebels, Rebels and Radicals, Red Island, red myth, stories, utopia, wine 2 Σχόλια- .
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THE RED MYTH
(an interview with Doubting Thomas)
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– Let’s cut this short. Are Ikarians anarchists and commies?
– Impossible to x-ray minds. All I can judge upon is what I see. And all I’ve seen on the island is small private property owners, farmers, shopkeepers, craftsmen, journeymen and many jacks-of-all-trades..
– But all three Mayors of the island are supported by the Communist Party!– I happened to meet them. I saw three mild and complaisant middle-aged gentlemen. If they had long beards and wore black frocks they would be like clergymen. And like clergymen they deal with the problems: they talk long and discuss. As Doubting Thomas I appreciate discussions very much. Evenmore when there is wine involved.
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– Which by the way happens to be red.
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– It’s also very strong and sometimes too rough; as strong and rough as the natural profile of the island..
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– Speaking of the natural profile of the island, isn’t it true that in the mountains of Ikaria you may meet old people who speak like bolsheviks?
– It’s true that I’ve met some old farmers who spoke like Bolscheviks. But the question is : do they behave like such? I doubt so. The bucolic surrounding just didn’t fit. The bolsheviks I met were all regular churchgoers, for example. And that’s how I met them: in church. I saw them and listened to them from my icons in church. I was puzzled on how honnest they were; so, to shed some light onto the matter, I read «Rebels and Radicals», a book on the recent history of Ikaria. xxx xx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxx I was very disappointed. I didn’t read anything about bloodsheds. There was a lot about starvation, migration, deprivation, but only a few rebel acts. In a book with a red cover and a hot title, I expected an occasional massacre, a couple of mass executions, prison camps, bloody uprisals. Yet there was very little -if none at all. Given that Ikaria was involved in one way or another in every major event of the last two centruries, at a certain point I got suspicious -as if the writer had supressed information. Not that he actually did. What I mean is that I was surprised not to find a lot of violence through the pages of that book.
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– How do you explain this?
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– I’m not here to explain. My job is to doubt. I thought we had agreed that this interview would not follow a «cause – effect» course.
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– Oh sorry, Mr Thomas; I forgot myself.
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– Don’t apologize. I understand your need for explanations. So here is a hint: «when elephants quarrel, ants suffer».– [xxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxa the red hammer & sickles and the black «Smash Capitalism» slogans all over? Somebody would say t xxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx violent ants.
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– Is anyone scared? This is the question. Bankers and industrialists never visit; nor are there any resident bankers and industrialists. Who are these slogans supposed to -allow me the expression- scare the xxxxxx out of? If you ask me, I must see confiscations of private property, collectivization of the land, community-run hotels and restaurants, ban of free trade and profit, replacement of forests with sovkhoze plantations, hydroelectric dams; or show me some tourists who got xx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxx Only then will I see Ikaria as a Red Rock.
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– This is scary! As far as I know nobody wants to do these things in Ikaria -for real at least.
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– Seeee?.. It’s a Legend !.. Somehow your island, the name, the landscape, the wine, has the inherent ability to generate this type of myths. You must be aware of this and take measures. Now with the globalization [xxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxx turning more and more xxxxx xxxxx to the left, you will have more tourists xxxxxx xxxxxx. .
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– Measures? Like what?
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– Keep the prices low; build campings; look after the nature. This Red Rock thing is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx[ xxxxxxxxx people want to believe it -for the be-best, or the wo-worst. So it’s up to you. You can make it work for your own good...
– Oh Mr Thomas, you are so cunning and practical!
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– Of course I am. I am a saint! Have you forgotten?– xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . . .
——————————————————-
(F[xxx ! This interview was censored as soon as I uploaded it. The reason is that [xxxxxxxxxxxx . The [xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are responsible for this. xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx I am very sorry about it. Read through behind the black tapes using your
imagination. That’s what’s all about, isn’t it?).
Comments
(2 total)
I had an uncle exactly as you describe. His family used to be well-off in the times of prosperity when the islands had trade with the Asian coast. But when I met him he was just a poor farmer. He dreamt of the coming of the worldwide revolution that would unite everybody equal etc. When we had a family reunion in Ikaria, they sent us kids away after lunch. Then my father and my old uncle sat down in private and counted the possibilities…
I evesdropped many times to know what they were talking about. It was deadly boring. Yet I was impressed by their knowledge of the world politics. This was in the middle of nowhere … you know where. My uncle was the sweetest little man. And the palms of his hands where like a stone out of labouring the earth all his life.
The world revolution never came. But my uncle died (falling off a fruit tree) thinking that it was about to come. He saw around and found that conditions were improving. People were coming and going, there was more money, cars, telephones, etc. This was enough for him. In fact the «world revolution» he dreamt of… he was in it already 😀
Thursday February 22, 2007 – 10:49pm (EET)
typical story :: thanks for adding 🙂
Friday February 23, 2007 – 12:57am (PST)
IF *I am tourist promoter*, so …
Δημοσιεύθηκε: 28 Ιουνίου, 2009 Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, flying, hiking, ikaria, photography, pleasure, stories | Tags: adventures, aegean, beach, clubbing, communism, dreams, eleni-in-ikaria, Greece, grouvaloi, gruvaloi, hikers, hiking, hippies, history, ιστορία, ικαρία, μονοπάτια, lillies-hippies, links, livadi-beach, Messakti, nas, nudists, panigiria, photos, rebels, retrieved, tourism, tourist-promoter, utopia, volunteers Σχολιάστε
let me get busy ! The island’s economy is at stake (Ω Θεέ μου !)
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 from Pr A. Papalas «Rebels and Radicals» -Icaria 1600-2000″ (Chapter 7, Widening Horizons, Tourism, pp.317, 318). 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.
This time not about the beach 
To say more: the island is being *retrieved*, rediscovered by hikers! Still clubing and panigiria are on and will be on with rough loud music as usual, because we are Greeks, that’s all… 
(2 total)
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 «grouvalos» is. And I don’t think it’s something bad necessarily. The flower pot in the foreground says it all …
Monday June 5, 2006 – 09:31pm (EEST)
-> 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.
Tuesday June 6, 2006 – 10:15pm (EEST)
Eleni’s photos in Ikaria
Δημοσιεύθηκε: 27 Ιουνίου, 2009 Filed under: choses vécues, festivals, hiking, ikaria, photography, stories | Tags: april, broody, camera, communism, flickr, ikaria, island in the aegean sea, ικαρία, μεταπτώσεις, my-photos, myphotos, photographer, Red Island, sony, transitions, workersday Σχολιάστεrecently some of my photos are better because:
-> I’ve decided to add some more pixels and the resolution is higher
-> my friend techno-wise Nana showed me that my camera has «filters». With the time I’ve leaned how to use and adjust them.
-> I have a better control of the four basic functions of the Photoshop (‘levels’, ‘contrast’, ‘colours’, ‘saturation’).
-> When I am about to shoot a photo I close my big mouth and keep it tight shut. Sometimes I grind my teeth. As a result I don’t shake, tremble or do my usual «floating’ mouvements. When I’m *stiff like a broom stick* (as we say in Greece) and I don’t *swallow flies* (as we say in Greece), my
pictures are not blurry. It’s exactly like shooting with a g**mn riffle or pistol !
(*** dear blog, remind me to do the same when I cook…)
-> I’m not ashamed anymore to shoot at things that I like.
-> the light in spring is better than in winter.
-> I bought a second memory card for my camera, so now I have more space and I can afford more experiments and failures.
-> I feel ‘feconde’ (can’t remember the English word)
-> Flickr is a big school and all my friends and contacts in there are great teachers.
BUT … my camera is developing a problem: dirty spots, empty spots, less pixels. I’m told that the sensor is dying… Maybe it was the price for those so very succesful sun-eclipse shots which broke records. The spots are in the upper part of the frame where usually (in this dimension of time and space) there is more light, so the spots show more. Until I repair it (which I doubt) or buy a new camera, I must absolutely remember to hold my camera upside down and click the button with my thumb instead of my index. So the nasty spots would appear in the lower part of the frame where it’s usually darker (in this dimension of time and space). They will be there but they won’t show.
However, I think they’ll show on a surface with sand or water. Too bad.
I wanted to take some beach shots before I leave Ikaria.
We had a cloudy rather warm Workers Day. This is a big celebration here.
Today it’s like winter. It’s cold and a breeze from the north makes the sea look unfriendly again. I like it. I’m sorry for the very few tourists, but I really like it. I haven’t become 
a pervert. Spring must have transitions (μεταπτωσεις), draw backs and draw forths like a spring, «poing-
-poing--poing--poing».
Comments
(3 total)
- greg
Offline
El, like shooting a g**amn gun, try to exhale slowly and relax just before snapping the shutter (pulling the trigger). Works for me, not that my pics are anything to crow about.
Tuesday May 2, 2006 – 02:23pm (PDT)
- egotoagrimi
- Offline
The woman behind 30.000 euro TV cameras is suffering from a 30 euro sensor fault !?!
We are coming and bringing you a new Sony. Are you feeling better now?
Wednesday May 3, 2006 – 10:23pm (EEST)
- AKK
- Offline
are you sure there is no grease left on the lens or the lid?
Tiny drops of resin gum from the pines perhaps?
Thursday May 4, 2006 – 12:54pm (EEST)
Eleni in Ikaria -January 14, 2006
Δημοσιεύθηκε: 20 Ιουνίου, 2009 Filed under: choses vécues, exploring, flying, ikaria, photography, stories | Tags: aegean, communism, eleni-in-ikaria, fullmoon, ikaria, island in the aegean sea, χειμώνας, ικαρία, January, merominia, moon, opel, photographer, sky, snow, snow-in-ikaria, travel, up-with-lonely-winter, weather, winter Σχολιάστε..
Hello all
Γεια σε ολους
This was supposed to be a very special night. The night of the brightest full moon or the year!
In fact the full moon of August is brighter (because I think it’s closer to the Earth), but the sky in summer is not so clear as in some nights of January. Anyway I had great expectations for tonight. At dawn it looked as if it was going to snow and because snowfall, though quite often on this island in winter, doesn’t usually last long. So I hoped that we would have the brightest moon of the year travelling in a clear sky and shinning over a white landscape.
Well, it didn’t work out that way. It didn’t snow (yet) and there are big grey clouds in the sky. The moon’s sure shinning bright but we don’t see it. The beams filter through thick snowclouds which are travelling very fast with the north wind. This creates strange light effects -which of course I am not as photo-wise (yet) as to catch with my camera (boohoo-hoo).
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From the southern part of the island the moon is very visible, they tell me. There are patches with clouds and shadows and that’s even better -it must look like the but with the moon instead of the sun. Even if wasn’t tired I wouldn’t drive to Ayios Kirikos on such a night -I’m afraid of frost and ice on them mountain roads. The car is ok, the tires are not (too many drives on stony dirt roads in autumn).
I talk a lot about the weather. Yes I do. It’s a very important ‘factor‘. Not even residents are used to it. They talk about it a lot too and the TV or Radio weather forecasts are very popular. The even have a special way to foresee the weather of the whole year. The system is called ‘merominia» (one day=one month) and it’s based on analogy. They do this in August and if they read the signs well, they are always correct. But one has to be very patient (perhaps also stay awake for 6 days and nights) and very experienced, so it’s usually old men who do this. It’s not a secret, like magic and if you ask they are glad to tell you what they do -just observe the sky and take simple notes every hour for six 24hours. Can you do it? No? I thought so.
Enough with the weather.
Next time I’m going to discuss …. Communism !!! bbrr wssh ggrr glarp… arrghh
bye
El
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Comments
(1 total)
αν είναι για το κομμουνισμό, αστο καλύτερα : )) να γράψεις για τις ξάπλες και τις μάσες. Αυτοί που μας φιλοξενούν καλύτερα να είναι κομμουνιστές. Εμείς ας ήμαστε καπιταλίστριες.
φιλακια Ελενίτσα
Είσαι όμορφο κορίτσι ακόμα και στην ηλικία σου
Γιατί δεν βάζεις φωτογραφία;
Sunday January 15, 2006 – 03:22pm (EET)
Rebels and Radicals
Δημοσιεύθηκε: 20 Ιουνίου, 2009 Filed under: choses vécues, ikaria, stories | Tags: aegean, bolsheviks, communism, contradictions, eleni-in-ikaria, environment, freedom, good-book, Greece, history, iam, icaria, ikaria, ikarian-enigma, ikarian-legends, ikarians, island in the aegean sea, lifestyle, lost-village, political conflict, politics, Red Island, religion 7 Σχόλια
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This is the cover of a good book about the history of the island. After reading it, I was more determined to spend the winter in Ikaria.
When people
ask me for the reason, I say ‘Leave me alone! I’m a Rebel and Radical’!!! Now I have some scholarly arguments to support my position.
😌 -
Anyway, I’m not watching the big football match between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos on TV tonight. Men go nuts about it, but I’ll stay cool and I’ll blog a little. I’m not very keen on politics and I can’t write an essay about communism in Ikaria. But what I can do is to quote Pr A. Papalas’ book review from the website page of his publisher.
The link is : http://www.bolchazy.com/Rebels-and-Radicals-Icaria-1600-2000-P3537.aspx
So here it goes:
« … Icaria, a long, craggy and destitute isle in the Aegean Sea is visible from Turkey. The toil and travail of its people symbolizes the journey all Greek People made to achieve a modern society. But unlike other Greeks the Icarians often chose a dead end path. Never in agreement with those around them, the story of the Icariaians shows the best and the worst of Greek society. The Icarians were loyal subjects of the Ottoman Empire who, because of poverty and lack of resources, were not expected to pay heavy taxes while most Ottoman Greeks were dissatisfied with Turkish rule and dreamed of independence. But just before World War I, when the Greek government did not want to annex the island because of international complications, the Icarians expelled the Turks and demanded inclusion in the Greek State. At that time the bulk of the young men were escaping the grinding poverty of the island by immigrating to the United States. Although the majority of these men stayed in America and brought wives from the island to the New World, they maintained local ties. Their influence, both positive and negative, affected many qualities of Icarian life. The Icarians did not find their expectations fulfilled as part of Greece and remained disenchanted with their conditions through the twenties and thirties of the 20th century. The forties brought first, the Italians, then the Germans, and finally the British. After the turmoil, many Icarians supported radical political solutions to their problems, sympathizing with a native a guerrilla movement and rejecting efforts to improve their island, seeing only the great Capitalistic conspiracy at work. In the last decades of the 20th century the Icarians finally entered the modern but at a too rapid rate leaving the people unable to cope with some aspects of modernity.»«Anthony J. Papalas has assembled a true “peoples» history by bringing together unusual documents such as dowry agreements and Ottoman court records, memoirs, and accounts of Icaria by people who were involved in the events he describes, all interwoven with informative and perceptive descriptions from forty years of interviews with Icarians from all areas and conditions. Here is a history on the social level, not grand politics or great battles, but rather the everyday existence and immediate choices which, once made, shape succeeding events.»
….
(there is more in the webpage cited above )
καληνυχτα
Ελενη
😚
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Comments
(5 total)
Ευχαριστώ για την παρουσίαση αυτού του βιβλίου. Φαίνεται πολύ ενδιαφέρον! Θα το παραγγείλω.
Καλό Σαββατοκύριακο!
Φιλικά, Κωνσταντίνος 🙂
Sunday January 15, 2006 – 08:46am (EEST)
Bolchazy-Carducci! They’re a local publisher based near Chicago, and I never realized they were so widespread. I have a shelf full of their books because they are the only ones publishing new editions of ancient Roman and Greek texts. They are always marketing their books at Latin teacher conventions, hoping they will order class sets, but I’ve never seen this one.
Sunday January 15, 2006 – 04:55pm (EST)
Hi Ψαλάκανθε! It’s a small world, isn’t it? Bolchazy also sells the same author’s ‘Ancient Icaria’. Just because of your nickname, you win a free copy of it translated in Greek : «Αρχαία Ικαρία» with many illustrations etc., far better than the American original in layout. Only that you ll have to travel to the island to get it 🙂
Monday January 16, 2006 – 10:56pm (EET)
Haha! Thanks.. see you in May, as soon as the semester ends and I can get a plane out of here.
Tuesday January 17, 2006 – 12:18pm (EST)
I think we will not be all dead from bird flu by then.
When you come, there will be a copy with your nickname on it waiting for you in the newsagent’s (in the same time a ‘βιβλιοπωλείο’) in Evdilos, the nearest town.
Wednesday January 18, 2006 – 01:09pm (PST)
THANK YOU! 🙂
Thursday May 25, 2006 – 12:18pm (EST)
Eleni's Blog in Ikaria 
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