I saw Star Wars, and I'm glad my expectations were low: it exceeded them, and I enjoyed the movie, but it wasn't really that great and if you're not a Star Wars fan, I would suggest you check out Spider-Man instead. I went to see that on Saturday with Andy & Heather Pierce (up from NY), and Peters Hansen & Dobos, and it rocked.

I got the photos from my Europe trip developed onto CD, and have now posted them onto the site. Check it out!

I'm slowly gearing up mentally for the effort necessary to get my Estonian and Russian visas sorted out for my choir trip in July. The process seems so last milennium... Time for these guys to lighten up a bit, I feel.
posted by Tom at 1:44 AM | link | (0) comments

A couple of bits of news:

First (and best!) I've got Hoover back! Mum & Dad dropped her off yesterday, and she immediately did a chameleon job that was so impressive we were unable to find her in the apartment in approx. 45 minutes of searching, and feared she'd snuck her way outside somehow. When I got home from choir she came downstairs to greet me, but I still have no idea where her hiding spot was. I swear we checked everywhere. Clever kitty. She's apparently happy to see me: quick to forgive a four-month absence, she's accepting petting and other non-threatening affection in her normal neurotic way.

Second, I've updated the trip itinerary and map. Click here to see them, and track where I've been for the last two months!

Third, Rogers finally replaced my cell phone battery and the phone is working again! Email me for the number if you'd like it.

Finally, I'm going to see the new Star Wars movie this afternoon! My expectations are fairly low, but I'll let you know what I thought when I get back.
posted by Tom at 2:02 PM | link | (0) comments

Ok, waking up from 4 days of site inactivity...

So I made it home on time on Saturday, and was very pleased to see Mum & Dad waiting at the airport to drive me home, which was very kind of them. On the way home, however, I started feeling nauseous... I put it down to travel fatigue and car sickness, but later on that night it became all too clear that Lufthansa had fed me something horribly wrong. Suffice it to say that it didn't stay in my system very long, and by Monday morning I was feeling back up to 100%, but I had to miss church and a Consort Carititatis rehearsal on Sunday, plus an excellent dinner with friends Sunday night. Still, in the bigger picture, I'm not unhappy... If you're going to get sick (and you are) the best time to do it is on the way HOME from your two month holiday in Europe.

The week so far has been slow and generally lazy, although I had a burst of high energy yesterday helping Kelly and Diane unpack a van full of Consort Caritatis' office files yesterday. (Heavy filing cabinets up a flight of stairs... ooog.) Tuesday night I showed up at the end of the Exultate rehearsal to see the gang, and ended up going with them to Tracy's house for beer & (gourmet!) pizza. Yesterday night Molly took me to the symphony to see the TSO perform an excellent programme of Russian music. Other than all of that, I've basically been getting in the mood for Star Wars by playing the new Jedi Knight video game, which came out while I was away. (It's good, and parts of it are excellent, but it's not as consistently good as the last one.)

Today Hoover comes home! My cat's been boarding with my parents for the last four months, but they're bringing her back this afternoon... Hooray!
posted by Tom at 10:16 AM | link | (0) comments

Saturday, May 11 12:57
Weather: Partly cloudy, hazy, windy but warm.
Location: Millenium lounge, Istanbul airport.

I'm on my way... Had a nice morning this morning doing a double-time tour through the Imperial Palace. I think I saw all of the stuff that comes with the basic entry charge, and clearly didn't have time to go through the Harem or the Imperial Treasury (an extra 15,000,000 TLR each). The Sultan had a pretty sweet pad! The palace has wonderful views over the Bosphorus and the Halic, and its interior design and luxury was at a very similar level to the Forbidden City in Beijing, though not quite as large. On display were some wonderful relics (real hairs of the prophet! His sandals!), swords, paintings of the Sultans (though I thought those were frowned upon by Islam), royal robes, a collection of china, etc. The Palace was full of tourists, mostly Turkish (it is, after all, Saturday), but was plenty large enough to lose them in.

I got back to the hostel at 11am, just in time for a quick cup of tea with the young owners on their patio before the shuttle bus came to take me to the airport.

Well, it's too soon for me to do a debrief on this trip... Too much to cover, as well! I think it may take me a while to come up with a coherent view of it, except to say that it was probably the best trip I've ever done, and I really really want to come back to many of these countries and see them all on a more leisurely schedule! I'm looking forward to getting home, of course, but would visit any of these countries again in a heartbeat. And to all the people I met on my trip... tasekkur ederim! (Thank you in Turkish.) It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without you. Please come visit me in Toronto!
posted by Tom at 6:04 AM | link | (0) comments

7:14pm

I've having a hell of a time trying to type properly. After the hammam visit (which was WONDERFUL) I feel a little shakey...

A great way to spend the last day. The boat trip was relaxing, and there were indeed some impressive views of palaces and castles on either side. From the far end, the little town of Anadolu Kavagi, there was a great view of the Black Sea and all the tankers and freighters passing back and forth. Anadolu Kavagi had a ruined castle, but it looked much more impressive from the boat than it was up close, strewn with litter and in places badly marked up with graffiti. Back in the town I had a nice prix fixe lunch at one of the many fish restaurants catering to the tourists on the ferry, then had a brief nap in the sun before getting back on the ferry to return to Istanbul.

Back in town I went back to the hostel, settled my bill and booked a minibus to the airport for tomorrow. When I told my hosts I was planning to go to a hammam next, one of them offered to take me since he was going as well. We walked along the tram line to Gedikpasa, where we ducked down a side street and found the Gedikpasa Bath, established in 1475!!

The experience started with changing into a towel. Each guest gets an individual little change room in the Camegah (entry area), with a padlock on the door: you change, lock the door and take the key with you. The next room was the Sogukluk (cool room), which I went straight through to the main room, the Gobek Tasi, which has a large heated marble platform in the middle, and little satellite rooms off of each corner and side. Each room has a domed roof, pierced with little light wells to let in the sun, though that rather dim light was supplanted with lots of electrics as well.

After a wash in one of the side rooms, I soaked up the heat in the sauna for 10 minutes or so, then went back to one of the other rooms and dumped more hot water over me. After about 10 more minutes, a masseur called me back out into the main room. He gave me about 15 minutes of personal attention, starting with a scrapy scrub with a rough soapy cloth, then a fabulous massage, with lots of hot soapy water, and then a sort of bubble bath, followed by a rinse. It was wonderful.

After making sure I'd got the point that he expected a tip, the masseur left me and I wandered back into the cold room, where I went into the cold pool, which felt great after all the heat. A quick shower, and I was almost done: back in my change room another guy showed up with a pile of towels and wrapped me up thoroughly.

So that's why I'm feeling a bit wobbly... Still, not much left to do today. The son & lumiere starts at the Blue Mosque in an hour, and then I think I might just go to bed!
posted by Tom at 12:30 PM | link | (0) comments

Friday, May 10, 2002 10:25
Weather: Cool, scattered cloud.
Location: Onboard a ferry boat, aboout to leave on a cruise of the Bosphorus.

I had a great evening yesterday with Jean and Oliver. After dinner we decided to go to a jazz bar in Beyoglu. We walked there, which took quite a while, past Eminonu, across the bridge, and up through some dark, very steep and fairly narrow streets towards the main pedestrian streen, Istiklal Caddesi. Though it wasn't too late--about 10:30--most of the streets were empty, with only a few hopeful taxi cabs cruising around.

Istiklal Caddesi has a tram line running down the middle, but though I had hopes of seeing the 19th C. tram, I guess it doesn't run in the evenings. As we walked down the street we came across more and more people, and found shops that were still open. This was clearly Istanbul's night life district.

At the far end of Istiklal Caddesi we came to Taksim, a large square surrounded by tall international hotels. Oliver's Lonely Planet had suggested jazz bars in two of the hotels on the square, but it seems both have closed or been converted to other uses. The one in the Hyatt, Henry's, was renamed "Gossip" and is now a 60's styled pickup joint complete with a psychodelic light pattern on one of the walls.

Disappointed, we gave up on the jazz bar idea and settled for a congenial outdoor pub partway back along Istiklal Caddesi. Taken by a sudden craving, Jean headed off and returned with three takeout servings of rice pudding, which we devoured before going back to our beer.

After a hair-raising taxi ride back to Sultanhamet, we said goodnight. I'm hoping to meet them at the Blue Mosque's sound and light show tonight.

Today is my last full day in Istanbul! I'm going to spend most of the day up the Bosphorus, which promises to provide good views of villages and castles along the waterfront. The boat back doesn't leave until 3pm, so I hope there's plenty to see in Anadolu Kavagi! After that, the plan is to hit a hammam for a massage before the sound & light show.

Tomorrow morning, I'll cram in a final museum: the Imperial Palace. Then off to the airport!
posted by Tom at 10:40 AM | link | (0) comments

Thursday, May 9, 2002 20:36
Weather: High cloud, lots of sun, cool.
Location: Rooftop patio of the Hotel Antique, SW of the Blue Mosque, Istanbul.

I met a Canadian and a Singaporean travelling through Turkey together, Oliver & Jean, and suggested we meet later for a drink. When we got together, they suggested going back to their hotel, where they've arranged permission to use the little kitchen on the roof. I bought a bottle of wine, and we're working on a grilled fish with saffron rice and beans with garlic. Smells yummy!

Today was Museum Day: the Turkish & Islamic Arts Museum this morning, and the three buildings of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum this afternoon. By the end of that, I was totally museum-ed out, and still felt like I hadn't seen much of the city, since everything I've seen for the last two days has been in one district, Sultanhamet. So I walked downhill towards the Halic (Golden Horn), the strait separating the old city (where I am) from Beyoglu to the north.

Here I found fewer tourists and many, many more Turks: the Eminonu district has a lot of stores and is a transport hub, with a busy ferry dock that I plan to return to tomorrow to catch a trip up the Bosphorus. The area actually felt a bit like Hong Kong, with the unrestrained capitalism and crush of people I remember from there.

As for the museums, they were all good, though short on context. A good guide book might have helped, though many of the other visitors seemed to have gone one better and hired an actual guide.
posted by Tom at 9:00 PM | link | (0) comments

Wednesday, May 8, 2002 15:02
Weather: Partly cloudy. Hah! News to report at last!
Location: Upper Gallery, Aya Sofya, Istanbul.

Having paid 15,000,000 TLR to enter Aya Sofya and another 15,000,000 to get access to the Upper Galleries, I'm in no hurry to leave. This is a strangly haunted building, with little artificial light so parts of the structure are in deep shadow even with the bright sunlight outside streaming through the windows. All of the trappings of a Christian church have long since been stripped out--it was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453--but a few of the glittering mosaics on the walls up here were merely covered over and are now starting to be restored.

This is a huge building, almost as big as St. Peter's in Rome, though in a square shape, rather than cruciform. Up here the clamour of the tour groups below merges together with the echoes into a constant babble, almost mystic in quality.

Istanbul! I confess that even now my heart is not in it as much as it should be. There's certainly a lot to see, and my pension is perfectly located in the heart of Sultanahmet, just down the hill from Aya Sofya and backing onto the Imperial Palace walls. I can't wait to get home to Toronto, though, and was actually thinking of changing my ticket and coming home tomorrow, before I realized how much I'd later regret missing the opportunity to see this city. No matter. Saturday is close enough!

My bus pulled into Istanbul's enormous bus station at 7:45 this morning. "Enormous" doesn't really do it justice. It's a hexagonal set of buildings the size of a major airport terminal, with enough room for the dozens of bus companies and hundreds of buses that use it. After an uncertain delay, I managed to get on a complimentary minibus heading downtown, which let me off at a tram station. From there it was six stops on very crowded trams during rush hour to Gulhame, at the foot of the road where the Coskun Pension sits, where I had a reserved room.

Despite my early arrival, Coskun were kind enough to let me into my room. It's a bit small, and smells of fresh paint: I'm the first guest in it, a recent expansion. But it has a little bathroom, so my first three priorities (toilet, laundry, shower) were easily cleared away.

Next step was breakfast, Turkish-style, in a cafe near the Blue Mosque: a small omelette, with olives, cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce and lots of fresh bread, and a thick black Turkish coffee.

Thus restored, I spent the remaining hour of the morning going into the Blue Mosque, which has an exquisite interior but is not a lot visit, as there is only the one room (and foreign visitors are only allowed in one section of it).

My next step was an Internet cafe, where I caught up on a couple of emails but was unable to update the Blog, due to security setting issues on the terminal. I'll try and find another one later.

Lunch was a delicious yogurt salad, followed by chicken kebab, served with a flat bread not unlike naan. Now I should get moving. The Gallery is due to close soon, and I need to see the rest of this church. More to follow!
posted by Tom at 2:44 PM | link | (0) comments

Tuesday, May 7, 2002 18:42
Weather: Warm & sunny, nice breeze.
Location: Ephesus restaurant, Selcuk.

A good day! I got a lot done. After a comfortable night at the Barim Pension, I enjoyed a sit down (on the floor cushion) breakfast and headed out. I picked up a map at the nearby tourist office, and set out to walk to Ephese, 3km down the road. I probably made it about 30m before a passing moped guy asked if I wated a ride for 1,500,000 TLR, which seemed fair, so I hopped on.

Ephesus itself was densely populated with busloads of tourists, but despite all that was genuinely stunning: the ruins of a Roman city of 250,000 people, including houses, temples, markets, two arenas and a brothel, all abandoned to time, Turks and earthquakes when the harbour silted solid. The most spectacular building was the library, restored in 1978 by an Austrian archaeological team, presumably out of guilt over the number of Ephesian artifacts resident in Vienna. The Grand Theatre was half again as big as the one in Epidaurus, though not in active use and with slightly less impressive acoustics. (Still good solid Greek design, though adapted by the Romans for public benefits like executions and throwing people to lions.)

I left Ephesus past the hippodrome (closed to the public) and walked a couple of km up a side road to the Cave of the Seven Sleepers, which, in contrast with Ephesus, had none (0) tour buses or tourists, despite the entrance fee of zero (0) TLR. There wasn't, admittedly, a lot to see -- a ruined tomb, whose gate was locked anyway so it wasn't possible to get too close -- but the view back to Selcuk was good, and getting away from the bus tours so wonderful, that I ate it up anyway.

From there I walked back into town for lunch at a Turkish pizza parlour. Mine had a thin layer of ground spicy meat, no cheese or tomatoes, maybe some onion mixed in, absolutely delicious.

Next stop after lunch was the museum in town, not large, but with many interesting objects from Ephesus, including statues and mosaics, rescued from the hordes tramping through and brought to this safe refuge for study. I noted how many of the Roman emperors depicted in noble statues were the ones generally considered Bad by posterity, whereas the Good ones tended to get short shrift.

After the mueum I tracked down an Internet cafe and updated the Blog. While I was walking there, I passed a large open area where a few hundred students were practicing one of those complicated choreographed dances that are used for Olympic opening ceremonies and celebrations of the Great Leader's birthday in North Korea. While I was in the cafe, another horde of children went past, banging on drums and blowing trumpets. Apparently this is all in preparation for Youth and Sports Day on May 19. Since April 23 was National Sovereignty and Children's Day, when apparently students might be expected to do performance art as well, I wonder how much these kids actually learn in their spring semesters.

For the rest of the afternoon I saw the other "obligatory" sights of Selcuk: the (ruined) church of St. John (under painstakingly slow restoration) and the (only slightly ruined) Isa Bay mosque, big and therefore another tour bus destination.

Before dinner I had a fruitless search for a Herald Tribune, during which I was intercepted by a jewelry shop owner and her two New Zealander friends, all three polishing silver rings and drinking apple tea. They invited me to join them, and (surprise) it turned out that the Kiwis were working in London and travelling in Europe for a couple of months.

Julia, the silver shop owner, recommended this restaurant which has indeed been excellent. My bus to Istanbul leaves in two hours...
posted by Tom at 7:00 PM | link | (0) comments

20:37
Location: Ejder Restaurant in Selcuk, Turkey

I like Turkey already. It feels like the rules--and the prices--are being invented moment-to-moment, like my 4,000,000 TLR meal (salad normally 1,000,000, for you 500,000...) and my 22,000,000 bus ticket to Istanbul tomorrow night, arranged within 10 minutes of my arrival in Selcuk, possibly even more efficient than the automatic ticket machines in Madrid. After the last couple of days of enforced inactivity, it feels great to be on the road again.

The ferry trip over was sunny, funny and cost a LOT of money. Funny, because two ferries left simultaneously and raced across neck-in-neck (mine lost). Expensive, because on top of the very un-Greek 30 euros for the 90 minute trip (more than the overnight couchette to Samos) there was a 8.80 euro port tax in Vathi, another 13 euro tax in Kusadasi, and 20 euros for passport visa to enter Turkey... Ouch!

Kusadasi was full of tourists and carpet salesmen, all cheerfully engaged in trying to persuade each other that a sale was, or was not, an inevitable part of life. I had no trouble getting directions to the minibus (dolmus) stop, which was far better organized than the equivalent Grands Taxis in Morocco. On the way over, a very fancy ATM with a full-colour touch-sensitive screen coughed up ridiculously large denominations with practiced easy, the exchange rate being 1,000,000 Turkish Lira to CND$1.16.

In Selcuk the dolmus dropped me at the autogar (bus station), and my prior reservation quickly cleared the area of would-be room salesmen, each of whom offered directions to my pension as a parting gesture of goodwill. When I started looking around for a bus schedule for tomorrow, one of the touts took me under his arm to the appropriate sales office. A short time later I was checked in at the hostel, with a full day of Ephesus time available tomorrow between the 8am breakfast (included) and my 21:30 bus.

All in all, not bad considering my ferry only docked 2 1/2 hours ago!
posted by Tom at 9:03 PM | link | (0) comments

Hilarious inpassing.org quote for the day:

"She actually likes to have her office hours outside the office, near the window overlooking the plaza."
"Down the hall? Why?"
"She says when she's in a bad mood she likes to watch dumb people walk into the sliding glass door."
--Two girls outside Sproul Hall
posted by Tom at 4:48 AM | link | (0) comments

Monday, May 6, 2002 10:30
Weather: Hot & sunny. I'm going to have to leave this section out, in future: no news to report.
Location: Aolis hotel cafe, Vathi, Samos.

Well, I've pretty much had enough time in Greece. I'm ready to move on. I've check out of the hostel, dumped my pack at the local travel office (free storage) and I'm enjoying a cappucino with a couple of chocolate-covered coffee beans and a miniature cookie in one of the harbourfront cafes. I don't recognize the music playing, but it's good: sounds like it could be early Leonard Cohen. I have about 5 hours to kill before the travel office closes, by when I have to be back, and my ferry leaves about an hour after that.

Yesterday afternoon was a writeoff. I read my book, watched some Greek TV, and went for a brief swim in the rather disappointing Gregou beach, north-west of the town. After a shower, I met Sahn and Kerry and we found a good bar for a couple of drinks before dinner. They're yet more of the seemingly endless numbers of Australians working in London. As they'd just come from Turkey, I got some useful information on how the buses work (very well), the markets (chaotic), and the hammams (good, but best to stick to the tourist-oriented ones). In exchange I told them about my Greek islands experience, and suggested they skip Athens and see some of the mainland instead.

It turned out that they were staying at the same hostel as me, the Pension "Dreams", so after an excellent dinner at Taverna Gregoris in town we walked back, and I hauled out my Lonely Planet and gave them the Greek section, which I won't need any more. Kerry noticed that someone had abandoned sections photocopied from a Turkey guidebook on the table in the hall, so I picked them up and we're all happy.

Most important lesson of the whole trip: talk to strangers!
posted by Tom at 4:45 AM | link | (0) comments

Sunday, May 5, 2002 14:31
Weather: The clouds burned off, so it's sunny again!
Location: Vathi harbourfront restaurant

Happy Easter! Happy holiday... when everything in Greece is shut. No travelling for me today...

Last night after a good dinner (which ended with a complementary creme caramel -- I was the restaurant's only guest, pre-festivities) I kipped out for a little while, then headed down to the local church square for the midnight celebrations. As the service went on in the church, a crowd of revellers of all ages filled the square. At quarter to twelve the church's outside lights were extinguished in preparation for the emergence of the new flame.

Finally the church opened outwards, the congregation and clergy pouring from the doors, bringing out lit candles, whose flame was quickly passed to the candles and lamps of those waiting outside. The clergy, resplendent in red and gold robes, climbed a small stage and announced the resurrection in chant, then the bells started ringing, and then the fireworks started going off.

It was actually rather like being in the middle of a war movie: part of the square emptied as firecrackers were lit by hand and thrown in that area. For about 10 minutes the noise of the firecrackers and bells was deafening, and the flashes lit up the square like strobe lights. I called Kelly, Robyn & Dave, and Patrick to share the moment, but only got answering machines... not to worry. It was overwhelming... and quickly over, as the congregation moved back into the church to complete the service and the square emptied, with families going home and younger people heading to parties and bars.

I headed down to the harbour and sat quietly on a bench, looking for, but not seeing, a fireworks display. Instead, the firecrackers continued from all parts of the town, interspersed with heavier "crumps" as if artillery and small arms fire had started up all around. I wondered briefly about the annual casualty rate of a festival where drunk young men threw bombs with careless abandon.. and then decided I was getting old, and went to bed.

This morning I got up around 9:30, showered, and set off to see the island. This plan quickly fell apart. The scooter rental agencies insisted that I have an International Driver's Licence. I eventually found a couple of car rental places, but they were far from cheap. I bit the bullet and signed up for a little car, only to find (to my embarrassment) that I no longer have any idea how to drive a stick shift. When the rental people saw my awkward attempt to pull away, they took away the keys.

Depressed at the thought of wasting a day here with basically nothing to do, I was walking towards the bus station to see, for the second time, if there was any activity, when I saw that there was a crowd gathering in a large harbourfront square. They were watching the preparation for a televised Easter festival, complete with local dancers. I took a seat.

Some time later, the whole thing got underway. As a small band played and sang, a group of about 20 men & women dressed traditionally started a circular dance as the cameras rolled. Between numbers there were lengthy breaks as a glamourous M.C. chatted up the band, the dancers, the V.I.P.'s seated at a food-laden table, and (once) one of the tourists in the audience. Other breaks were clearly being filled with taped segments, which we could hear but not see.

I watched for a while but probably spent as much time looking at the rest of the crowd as watching the show, which got old pretty fast. I ended up chatting with an Australian couple who sat down next to me. We gave up on the show, and they headed off to find a hostel (having just arrived from Turkey), but we made plans to meet later for a drink and dinner. They also told me about a small beach they'd found, within walking distance of the town, so I'm going to head over there this afternoon.
posted by Tom at 2:56 PM | link | (0) comments

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 | (0) comments

Thursday, May 2, 2002 11:50
Weather: Hot & sunny.
Location: Internet cafe, Parikia.

I had a fun evening with Megan and Kirsten, my Australian neighbours in the hostel. We started with dinner in small restaurant opposite the water: fried zucchini balls, giant beans, and stuffed vine leaves for appetizers, shrimp saganaki as an entree, a rather bad sweet white wine and a jug of water to wash it all down. While waiting for the rather slow service, we traded stories: Megan's a nurse working in London, Kirsten a health inspector on her way home to Melbourne from her London stint. After dinner we walked into the old town and found the Pirate Blues Bar, whose welcoming bartender served up a seriously excellent CD collection, a progressively unwise series of cocktails and shooters, and a friendly but unobtrusive banter. He gave us a free round, and we invited him to join us for a round. At the end, I suggested tequila, but he refused outright and served us vodka shooters with sugar-coated lime slices instead. As Megan said afterwards, it's always a real pleasure to run into someone who is so good at what they do!

I didn't feel too bad this morning, which is probably due to the vast amount of water I consumed yesterday on the hike and at dinner. I got up, packed, and had breakfast on my balcony, leftovers from yesterday's lunch but still very nice. I packed up and said goodbye to Mike's... I have a ferry to Naxos at 12:40, where I'll stay for 1 1/2 nights: Friday night I catch an overnight ferry at 2:30am to go to Samos. I doubt I'll have any trouble sleeping on that one!

Update on the sunburn: it seems to have subsided considerably overnight, but I'm more sensitive to the sun than usual this morning. I'm wearing my hat and keeping to the shadows. I don't think I've ever had this many freckles before!
posted by Tom at 4:52 AM | link | (0) comments

19:40
Location: Back in Parikia at the Internet cafe.

Just a quick note: I think I got sunburned today, despite the SPF 30 sunscreen... Should have bought the hat BEFORE the hike, not after, I guess... Ooops!

Dinner tonight with the Australians. Off to Naxos tomorrow, where I hope to catch a Good Friday service... and some more beach time, assuming my sunburn's not too bad.
posted by Tom at 12:42 PM | link | (0) comments

17:40
Location: Kolimvythres beach, near Noussa, northern Paros.

I got off the bus in Lefkes, a pretty village near the centre of the island, and headed upwards following a sign to Parikia. It led under some trees, which were a brief welcome break from the sun, but soon came out at the main road again, not particularly helpful for a hiker! I followed the road over the next hill, looking for a place to turn off into the countryside. In the next valley, just over a little bridge, I found a dirt lane heading off left, passing a driveway and continuing up. I followed it as it twisted up the hill, until it reached a tiny chapel.

There, I turned and continued up to the right, trying to avoid getting caught on the razor-sharp thistles. Soon I joined what seemed to be an old stone read heading almost straight up the hill at quite a steep angle. As I neared the top of the hill, the road stopped so suddenly that I had to turn and go back to make sure I hadn't missed a turn. But a path continued up, eventually coming to a farmhouse.

Two dogs barked at me as I passed them, but soon I was on top of the rise, with a good view. The farmer's lane went off down the slope to the left, and I felt obliged to take it as there were no trespassing signs on his fields. Checking the map, I realized I needed to be heading right, so when I came to a T junction I turned off. I'd had a brief relief from the flies in the wind on top of the hill, but they were persistant and had started bothering me again almost as soon as I headed downhill.

I passed an old monastery, and stopped for a bit of a rest. As I did, the caretaker came out to feed the local cat. He invited me in, but was clearly on his way out on an errand, so I declined and continued on.

[Pause while I walked back to the road so I could catch my bus. I hitched part of the way, which gave me the time to finish my journal entry:]

The road continued on, and before long I came out on the main road near Marathi, the ancient quarry for marble that was the source of the stone of the Venus de Milo. I had half an hour to wait for the 3:30 but, so I took a brief walk into the quarry grounds. By 20 after I was back at the bus stop -- even an ancient quarry isn't particularly exciting!

The bus got back to Parikia at 3:50. Next stop: a swim. I checked the timetable and found the bus for Noussa was leaving at 4, in 10 minutes! So I sprinted back to Rooms Mike, changed into my swimsuit, grabbed a towel and was back at the bus stop with a couple of minutes to spare.

Noussa is a beautiful old fishing village, with narrow streets and whitewashed houses stacked up the hills. It's also got a few new hotels, a couple of big expensive yachts in the dock, and a lot of tourists. I stayed only long enough to figure out where the beaches were, and that I was a bit too late for the ferry boats to be useful, and I walked back along the road to the first beach, Kolimvythres. It turned out to be farther than I'd expected: about 45 minutes at a pretty brisk pace, but it had lovely sand and was almost completely empty. I had a short swim and feel much better to have lost the sweat from the hike!

posted by Tom at 12:39 PM | link | (0) comments

Wednesday, May 1, 2002 12:17
Weather: Hot, partly cloudy, windy.
Location: On top of a hill, on a rock by the Moni Agiou Antoniou (monastery).

The ferry was a bit late arriving, but Mike was still there, waiting to greet me. He drove us the short distance to the second of his two hostels, and pointed out some of the sights of Parikia, the main town of Paros. The rrom was excellent, with a double bed, balcony, fridge and bathroom for only 15 euros per night. I dumped my stuff and headed out to check out the town. The main north-south road ran along the waterfront, and I walked south past the ferry dock and innumerable newspaper stands, cafes and bars. The sun was setting, providing a striking view across the water where a lone fisherman was sitting in his boat.

Further down I turned into a side street and wandered back northwards through the old town, whose narrow stone streets were lined with whitewashed houses, wooden doors and windows painted in the traditional blue. I passed a little church, from whose doors the sound of singing emerged to fill the street: an orthodox holy week service.

In the north part of town I stopped in the Internet cafe around the corner from the hostel, then continued on past an ancient graveyard to another section of restaurants, where I had dinner.

Back at the hostel, I did some laundry and was hanging it up to dry when I heard my neighbours on the balcony next to mine, two Australian women. I said hello and we chatted for a little while, but I was feeling very tired from the long day and soon went to bed.

This morning I got up to another sunny day, showered, and went out for a capuccino and a ham & cheese crossant. Then I stopped in a supermarket and put together a picnic lunch. The bus stop was nearby, and I climbed onto a bus heading across the island to the village of Marpissa.

The bus wound its way over, climbing and descending the many hills en route, and I soon gave up on my original idea of walking all the way back. The hills were mostly covered in rugged-looking little farms and orchards, but it was pretty clear that the main income for the island at the moment is probably tourism, as the farms didn't look especially prosperous.

At Marpissa I got off and headed uphill to the monastery of St. Anthony, perched high above the surrounding villages with a view across the water to Naxos. The road wound upwards, past a couple of poor donkeys, their legs tied to prevent them from running or escaping their field. There were a lot of flies buzzing about, and it was quite warm, but once I got to the top, up a path lined with wild flowers, the wind from the northeast blew the flies away and cooled me down. I found a good rock to sit on, and am now admiring the view.

A quick lunch, and I'll make my way back down. At 1:15 the bus will head back, and I'll hop off part way and do some more walking.
posted by Tom at 12:25 PM | link | (0) comments