Greece - Day 8 - Back for Backgammon
September 27, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, greece | Leave a Comment
Back at the cafe this morning … i love Syros :))
The Color of Peace
September 25, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I cannot describe the light,
so subtle and soft,
a glowing from all things.
We greet each other with whispers in the hush.
Bold bravado lost in the afterglow.
Infinite Possibilities …
September 25, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
There are two basic choices in photography, where to stand and when to trip the shutter, or so related David Hurn in “On Being a Photographer.” From just two choices, an infinite number of possibilities are created.
Unfortunately I was struggling with both this morning. I ended up back at the cafe with the regulars for coffee and the special watching spirited games of backgammon … they were welcoming but I was uptight, feeling out of sorts, nothing working, floundering in a sea of infinite possibilities. I was working hard but not working hard, as David Alan Harvey (www.davidalanharvey.com) likes to say, trying to stay loose (an issue at times) and controlled at the same time but just not finding the balance. If the difference between a good photograph and a great photograph is measured in millimeters, I couldn’t even find the meters this morning. I even converted these pics to black and white to try to convince myself they are better than they are.
So I put away my camera, ate, drank, hung out, said yassus to my friends and headed back to my room with roundabout uhill climb and a quick stop at the cemetery. Good day to do laundry, read and sleep. I slept the entire afternoon rising in time for the color of peace.
But first, this morning …
I mean, I think I was even trying to smile, look like crap … not happy with way the morning was going. Why do I torture myself ;-) I have no choice, I must make pictures.
Like I said, a good day for laundry. Good travel tip … shower with your clothes, courtesy of David Alan Harvey. It works :))
Greece - Day 6 - The Boatyard
September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, greece | Leave a Comment
Next to the big shipyard on Syros in Ermopoulis is a colorful little boatyard …
the space between …
Greece - Day 6 - A day with the living and the dead
September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, Uncategorized, greece | Leave a Comment
Met my favorite priest today. Actually we’ve met briefly twice before but this time we talked. He is the Greek Orthodox priest with the church on the hill above Ermopoulis. Yesterday though, he had duty with the dead at the only Greek Orthodox cemetery on Syros. But he’s not at all morose, particularly serious or at all what you would expect, he’s more of a comedian and very helpful. “Yes, yes, it is my turn to sit this week here with the dead. I much prefer the living,” he says with a big smile. “It is much better down here than it is up there,” his finger pointing to heaven. “But what are you going to do?”
You can find him at the only Greek Orthodox cemetery of Syros during the day. Here’s there all week.
Greece - Day 5 - Iconic Nights
September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Ermopoulis, the city on Syros, has an incredible marble town square sitting in front of an equally impressive neoclassical town hall. I mention marble like it is something unique but of course this is the Cyclades and everything is marble, many of the streets and all the winding, narrow ancient lanes that twist around like snakes entwined. It truly is amazing.
Last night I went to the town square to sit, and wait, observe and ponder … and take a few pictures. I got impatient, I wanted something remarkable to happen … a simply wonderful juxtaposition of elements, a perfect moment, would suffice. Patience, patience I kept telling myself … slow down, be here now …. so I sat pondering what it means to be Greek, the symbols that are uniquely Greek and the icons. Then I heard the band which flowed onto the square, a group of priests and navy men in tow carrying an icon, townspeople, politicians, generals following. Everything in the square surged forward to this religious and cultural rite.
The band leads the procession …
Followed by the Greek Orthodox priests and the icon …
Who all gather for a few moments on the square, intonations echoing off the surrounding buildings in the warm night air …
Before moving once again …
A crowd following into a dark narrow lane …
And up the stairs as the procession flows to the church up the hill …
And into the courtyard …
As the people wait …
To proceed into the church, standing in line …
To kiss the icon …
And I wander back to my room, past the shop windows, to my home on the island …
To end a very rich day.
Greece - Day 5 - Sunrise on the pier
September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
A long jetty juts out from city of Ermopoulis on the island of Syros to define one of the best deep harbors in the Aegean. A good place to start the day …
Greece - Day 5 - Politics and Greek Coffee
September 23, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, Uncategorized, greece | 1 Comment
This was my third day at this little cafe on the waterfront … and the first I was acknowledged. “You’re back,” a big smiling face from the next table said to me. “I am here everyday.” Me too :))
We chatted a bit through broken English. He didn’t know of Seattle near where I am from in Washington State but he did know smaller Tacoma, a large seaport. Of course, he sailed the world when he was younger on the great Greek shipping lines and visited every major U.S. seaport between 1961 and 1985.
A man stops by to talk politics and while I don’t understand the conversation, it’s clear he’s talking about the U.S. Presidential election. The Obama t-shirt he’s wearing with “Vote for Change” emblazoned in red is a bit of a clue. He doesn’t want his picture taken … too bad. I point to is T-shirt, he smiles and says, “Ne, Ne, good man,” and rushes off. My new friend at the table turns to me and explains he does not trust Obama, “he will kill,” he says, “he will kill, he is an American.” Tough, tough words to hear in this the birthplace of democracy. It breaks my heart but I know much of the world feels this way now, and for good reason. Emerika has lost it’s way I am told. I nod in agreement, “Ne, Ne but Obama is best bet,” I say. It will be a long uphill road back.
He smiles, slaps my shoulder and with booming voice and beaming face says, “take my picture.” I am in :)) It’s about time, I was starting to feel like the creepy quiet guy in the corner at the party.
I have decided to stay here on Syros through Sunday before meeting Sue on Thira (Santorini) Monday for our 6th wedding anniversary. She is at a women’s conference on the Pelion Peninsula in mainland Greece right now. We have been together 18 years and have only set the reset button once, recently in fact during dark, dark days, but it has all been for the good. We are both shifting careers and our way of life right now … more experiences, more meaningful work, less “stuff” … working for ourselves and our life instead of “stuff.” Change is never easy, though.
So I am here through the week to really experience the center of the Cyclades. I have found the right island, the real Greece with balance of modern and ancient, I am just unpacking my bags. I owe it to my friend Chris Nelson, who was also the matchbook minister for our wedding, a lifelong photographer who attended the Aegean School of the Arts in the ’70s. He told me to come here. Tonight, singing in the taverna! I stumbled across it at 3 a.m. this morning … the singing of Greek songs echoed through the streets. Beautiful. Greece is LIFE, big and bold … Zorba lives.
Off to siesta, much shuts down here between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and then reawakens to go long into the night.
Efharisto Chris!!!!
YASSUS!
Everyone is giving this guy a hard time about always losing in backgammon. “Lose again?,” they ask him teasing. He explodes, in good spirit, in a long string of what I can only guess are curses to conclude with this unmistakable gesture. The cafe explodes in laughter.
Greece - Day 5 - My Room
September 23, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, greece | Leave a Comment
I find even my room in Greece inspiring ….
Greece - Day 4 - Postcards for Panos
September 22, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
So my Greek friend Panos in LA, who I really will have to meet someday, is feeling homesick for mother Greece. I promised I would make some snapshot postcards for him which I did today during my 10 mile walk around Syros, up one hill and down the next. The rule here is what goes down must go back up, and sharply! I climbed more steps in one day than I have in the last two years, which incidentally, was the last time I was in the Cyclades.
The port of Ermopolous lies below two faiths, each with their own church on two opposing hilltops, one Greek Orthodox, one Catholic. They may have opposing perches and history but they do celebrate each others religious holidays. I started in Ermopoulos, once the largest port in Greece and still an important shipping center and shipyard, and climbed up the “Orthodox hill” and then down and then back up to the “Catholic hill” and to the remarkably well preserved medieval town of Ano Syros. Then I got lost in the maze of Ano Syros for awhile. No better way to explore a new place than to become lost. I am doing it often.
A good day, with good sandals. The path to God is indeed long, winding and steep!
These postcards are for you Panos. Wishing you were here … so you could translate!
