Saturday, May 4, 2002 18:17
Weather: Hot & sunny, boringly.
Location: Outdoor cafe outside the Vathi Archaeological Museum, Samos.

A week today, I'll be heading home! It's almost hard to believe. But the timing is good... Even though I'm really enjoying the Greek islands, I'm really starting to miss my friends, my family, my cat and my apartment. And paying 4 euros an hour for Internet access is beginning to piss me off, too, since I've got at least an hour worth of things I want to do on the 'net each day.

Ah well. I must soldier on. We all have our burdens to bear. ;-)

One of my current burdens seems to be the unrelentingly sunny weather, which finally gave me a sunburned neck yesterday. I'd taken precautions, too--hat, SPF 30 sunscreen--but I guess I must have missed a spot.

When I got back from my high-altitude hike, around 5pm, I sought out and bought the Herald Trib, which I took back to the hotel and devoured (after a much-needed shower). Around 7:40 I headed back into town, and walked up the hill to the church in the Castro. As I waited for the service to start, I noticed a brief description of the castro was on sale on a side table, which I picked up for 1.50 euros. It was quite interesting: it told me that the little church I was in is the Roman Catholic Cathedral, and that it was in some way protected during the Ottoman occupation by the intervention of the French Bourbons, whose crest is displayed above the altar. Bet there's a couple of good stories there...

The service started with the entrance of the priest, proceeded by two servers, young girls. Though this seemed to be the entire group of celebrants, it soom became clear that the woman sitting at the front of the congregation had an important role as well, as the lead voice in the chants, responses and the choir (5 people), who were scattered throughout the congregation.

Though the service was entirely in Greek, it was close enough to the Good Friday services at S.M.M. that I was able to stay with the plot, as it were. During the chanted Passion, the priest took the role of Jesus, the lead singer stepped forward to be the narrator, and the choir took the roles of the crowd and Pontius Pilate. As they performed the whole story, including the optional bits (as far as I could tell), it took some time, during which the congregation continued to grow in numbers, from about 16 at the outset of the service to nearer 50. With the veneration of the cross, a separate presentation and veneration of Christ in a golden casket, a procession of this around the castro, and a 15-minute sermon (strange, because the priest didn't once make eye contact: he closed his eyes whenever he looked up from his notes), the service ran a full two hours, letting out around 10pm.

Back in the harbour area, most of the bars and restaurants were still open and, indeed, full of people. I had a nice dinenr of fried zucchini and lamb souvlaki, washed down with red wine, and headed back to the hostal to pack for my 2:30am ferry to Samos. Then I grabbed a couple of hours of shuteye before heading back to the port.

Not much to report about the trip: I had a compartment shared with 2 others, my earplugs and blindfold pulled me through, though the light blanket provided wasn't warm enough with cold air pumping through the ventilation system. I woke up and went on deck at 9 to see Samos' dramatic northern coastline as we sailed around to Vathi, the main port & town. On arrival, I found a pensione easily enough and negotiated the same 15 euro rate I'd had in Paros & Naxos.

Vathi is a pretty town, set at the eastern end of a natural harbour, surrounded by hills. I got a number of useful errands completed in efficient sequence, including booking my ferry ticket to Turkey (Monday, 5pm), doing my laundry (most urgent: stinky sweaty long sleeve shirt & hiking pants), then went 'round the town's small but excellent archaeological museum and got a haircut from a local barber. Since I'm a bit sun-averse today, I didn't try to find a beach but instead had a long lazy afternoon indoors, at an Internet cafe and back at the hostel reading the Economist. Tomorrow, I'll be more adventurous again: I'm planning to rent a scooter and tour the island.
posted by Tom at 6:54 PM | link |