Across the Island

Psiliamos Beach

The brilliant Aegean

It was a relief to open the shutters tonight when the wind finally stopped howling.  In spite of 50 mph gusts, Leonardo picked me up for lunch and we drove over to Platis Gialis Beach on the north shore of the island where oddly the wind was not as severe. “You’ll love the wind,” he said when we started out.  Along the way we passed exquisite uninhabited beaches accessible only on foot.  “This is Paradise,” he kept saying.  Indeed there is that feeling.  Slowly you stop the worries of the conventional world and ease into a simple presence.

Best table at the Taverna

The woman who owns the Taverna with her husband had done the cooking which produced the finest aroma of Greek food that I’ve yet to inhale.  She was born in this place and has lived there all her life.  Her eyes were clear with an authentic and loving gaze and oh my, the food was delicious.  We drank the local wine that the Taverna had produced, a strong wine a bit like retsina but not restsina.  As you drank, it got better and better the way wine is supposed to.  It was never heady, just warm and heartening. 

A view of some abandoned terracing.

Friendly goats in the hills

Sadly, Scotch broom which is highly invasive is taking over certain areas of the island.  Only low growing trees appear in patchy groups which in America we’d call coast live oak.  The island, I’m told, lost its trees to abundant agriculture, goats and sheep, and the persistence of wind.  At one time, the island produced a great deal of wine.  In 1970 there were 10,000 people living here with all the supporting services that were needed for this population.  Now there are only about 1200.  When the mines closed there was no longer enough work and slowly the population decreased and agriculture diminished.  Remnants of the terracing remains and is almost everywhere in the hills.  But some young people are coming back and are beginning to rebuild the wine industry with a potential to support a larger population.

The Homeric Winds

Looking to the Sea

As Odysseus and his men are preparing to leave Aeolia to sail back to Ithaka, Aeolus, king of the winds, gives Odysseus a leather sack containing all of the winds except the west wind which will take them safely home.  Aeolus tells Odysseus not to open it or he will release storm and chaos onto the waters.  Odysseus does not tell his men that this is what is in the sack.  After a week or so of sailing calmly and nearly in sight of the homeland, when Odysseus is sleeping, the men begin to suspect that Odysseus is hiding a treasure keeping the booty all for himself, and so they open the satchel to look for gold and instead they release the winds turning the sea into terrible storm and chaos, driving the ship back to Aeolia.

Winds from the North

The release of the wind yesterday morning was like that—a sudden declarative burst of turmoil from the north as if the merciful satchel had been opened, keeping the ships from advancing and forcing them into the harbor.  Now I can see that these winds on Serifos come up for days on end and trees could never survive on the open hills.  The island is like a gigantic hard surfaced sea turtle and we are riding on its back.  Today we have 50 mph gusts, howling and buffeting the house.  Nothing that I haven’t been through in Olympia.  Here it is actually safer because there are no trees to be blown down.

Last night, I closed the heavy shutters against the wind and felt myself entering a cave of silence.  Nothing outside, only this interior darkness.  I could begin to sense what I feel is the mystery of the starkness and reticence of the Greek nature.  Completely gregarious and bursting with dance on one side, and a dark unspeaking reserve on the other.  Howling persisted all night and this morning I woke to darkness as the shutters block out any light as well as wind.  The small sailboats are holding steady in the harbor.  This commotion may continue for several more days, I suppose until we are driven back to Aeolia where Aeolus will refuse to help but send the ship off again only to arrive at the land of the Laestrygonians.  Woe is me!!

Daily life in Serifos

On the daily life side, I got here and realized I had not brought the perfect jacket.  The French one I own that fits great, keeps me warm, is perfect in the wind, does well in the rain, and is easy to pack.  My daughter said, “Oh Mom, you don’t need a warm rain jacket.  Rain?  You are going to Greece!  It’s so American to pack for every possibility.  Make do and see what happens.”  All you folks!! Do not listen to your children!  Do your own thinking and use your own smarts.  It rained, there is unmerciful wind on Serifos in the month of May at least until the 15^th they tell me (she travels here in July), and at least to me, it’s very chilly.  So, I found a shop today to buy a fleece zip-up jacket with a hood.  I’m finally ready to sit on the beach in the wind which is blowing consistently at about 25 to 30 mph.  Numerous sailboats are nestled close to shore seeking safety from the blustery seas.

Boats seeking night shelter

Wind began just after sunrise this morning.  I was up to see the light come over the hill across the harbor and fifteen minutes later the mood changed and Athena had arrived to order the shift.  Leonardo had postponed our lunch up to Platis Gialos because he had to join a group who were going to disperse a dead friend’s ashes in the sea.  I thought about the winds and the ashes and couldn’t help but hope they had some experience with human remains and how ash flies everywhere in wind and seems to grasp onto the nearest warm human body as if to hold on to life for a moment longer.  But I’ll hear about that tomorrow when we meet. 

I think I would love to go around in a small sailboat in the Aegean and visit the islands.  I’m sure it’s possible, but life is short and I won’t be able to do everything.  The life of the sea and the sailors is another world this landlubber knows not of.  But I have a pair of keds and that makes me boat worthy should an invitation come along to test the waters of the mythic sea and maybe meet Poseidon to whom I will only offer compliments about his nymphs.

Early morning light on the Chora

One amusing daily life side: when Leonardo picked me up at the dock and we came to the house after a brief tour of the quay, he mentioned that we hadn’t discussed cleaning.  I said oh yes we had, we had agreed on a cleaning at occupancy and a cleaning at the conclusion.  It had been his suggestion.  I don’t need a cleaning person, I said.  I’m quite able to clean up after myself.  But oh, he said, you may need a cleaning person.  For instance, you might need someone to iron your bed sheets.  I replied that I don’t iron my bed sheets.  To this he sucked in his breath in utter horror.  I imagine how crass and uncivilized my life has been in comparison to the Romans where Leonardo comes from.  I think it’s an Italian thing and not a Greek thing.  I don’t see the Greek women standing over ironing boards ironing sheets, but it has made for a great laugh and I’m sure it will become a standard to turn down an event or two and say that I can’t go because I have to stay home and iron my sheets.  

Serifos and the Mycenaen world

The Lion's Gate to
the Mycenean acropolis

Remains of the complex of
houses at Mycenae

Travels to the ancient archeological sites took us to Mycenaean treasures and a civilization that evolved between the 16th and 12th centuries BCE.  That's pretty old.  The excavations suggest that the dynasty associated with Perseus, the founding father of Mycenae, were also present here.  This culture is my strongest gut connection and stirred me the deepest even though Olympia, Delphi, and Athens were astounding. At Mycenae we saw the tomb of Agamemnon within the walls of the Mycenean acropolis, and the tomb of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus outside the great Cyclopean fortress.  The walls of this acropolis are called "cyclopean walls" because the stones are so large that only the Cyclops could have lifted them.

At Agamemnon's burial site some believe
 that the distant mountain is
the outline of Agamemnon lying in state.

Agamemnon's Burial Site

The reason I'm excited about it is that Serifos is where Perseus and his mother Danae landed when they were abandoned by Danae's father who was told by the Oracle at Delphi that his grandson would kill him.  So, he set them adrift in a wooden chest not wanting to kill them since Perseus was also the son of Zeus.  On Serifos, they were taken in by Dictys who helped raise the boy to manhood.  Dictys was the brother of Polydectes, the King of Serifos.

Oh goodness, the mythology is so complex.  When Perseus was grown, Polydectes fell in love with Danae but Perseus did not trust him and prevented the union.  Polydectes tried to remove Perseus by challenging him to bring back the head of the Gorgon, Medusa.  You remember, Medusa slept with Poseidon in the Temple of Athena, Athena got offended and turned Medusa's hair to snakes.   To keep the story short, Athena agreed to help Perseus by giving him a polished shield.  From Zeus he received an adamantine sword, from Hades a helmet to be invisible, from Hermes he received winged sandals, and from the Hesperides he received a satchel to carry Medusa's head after holding the eye of the Graeae for ransom to learn of Medusa's location.  When Perseus found the sleeping Medusa, he looked in the reflection of the shield and thus was not turned to stone by the eyes of Medusa as he used the sword to cut off her head.

On the way back to Serifos, Perseus rescued the beautiful Andromeda by slaying the sea monster Cetus.  Andromeda's mother Cassiopeia had made the claim that Andromeda was as beautiful as the Nereids, the sea nymphs, and this made Poseidon angry, and Andromeda, tied naked to a rock, could not be released until Cetus was slain.  The story has many more angles to it, but Perseus does return to Serifos and learns that his mother Danae has been the victim of violent advances for her hand by Polydectes, so he turns Polydectes to stone by showing him Medusa's head.  Dictys who had raised Perseus, becomes the King of Serifos with Danae his consort.  Perseus eventually becomes the founder of Mycenae and lives with Andromeda until they die and are placed into the constellations near Cassiopeia.  The Greeks do believe that Perseus was an authentic human and that he is the founder of Mycenae.

So that is my excitement about having been to Mycenae, seen the ancient ruins, and then to come to Serifos.  The mythic subject of Serifos is exile.  The Romans too exiled people to Serifos.  And exile is the subject of The Odyssey and Joyce's Ulysses, both texts that have been central in my reading. 

At Serifos, May 5

It's an early Monday morning and the village is waking up.  A regular school day for the local children. One boat came in yesterday and took half the visitors away.  Today another ferry will take the others.  No other boats then until the coming Friday.  Many restaurants and hotels will not open until June.  It's quiet and nice.

Livadakia Beach looking toward
the Island of Ermoupoli

Yesterday I found the beach I'll frequent.  It's a walk over a hill and down a staircase.  When I arrived it was unoccupied.  Later, four people from Brittany were swimming in what they thought was very warm water.  To the touch, it's not very cold.  I haven't been swimming yet, but I'll surely venture in soon when the temperatures climb above 65 which has been typical.  Today's high will be 64.

Livadakia Beach

Manana spirit dominates here.  Yesterday I bought a scarf wrap in a shop because it's chilly at night.  There's a heater in my house, but I like to live without having to turn it on all the time.  Anyway, the shop keeper didn't have enough coin change for me so she said, oh bring it by whenever you can...in a few days...whenever.  I've found the Greeks to be very trusting which is very different from what you read in guide books.  According to the Greeks, it isn't the Greeks who are creating this reputation, it's non-Greeks.  I'm inclined to agree.

The images from the classical antiquities remain deep in my thought and in the evening I'm studying Ancient Greek history from Yale lectures on iTunesU.  Serifos, in ancient times, was where people from the mainland were exiled and it remains a bit of a backwater place for people who want to be without pretension.  Tourism is just beginning here and I'm glad to see it before the hoards come.  The barren hills must have been a fearsome thing if the hills were indeed barren in those times.  I wonder what you would eat although there are plenty of springs for water.  You could certainly fish.  I don't know how it became treeless.  On the north shore there are many goat and sheep farms and perhaps these animals ate out the roots of the vegetation and the exiled peoples cut down the trees for habitats.  It's very similar to Scotland—a stark and awesome beauty.  I'll ask Leonardo, the agent, who will take me to lunch on Tuesday to Platis Gialos on the eastern shore.  There are taverns and cafes in these little towns at the trailheads to the hideaway beaches only accessible on foot.

BOOK READING MARCH 29

Book Reading &

Discussion

with author

Eido

Frances

Carney

Saturday 

March 29

3:00 p.m.

Orca Books

509 E. 4^th Avenue

Olympia

360-352-0123

www.OrcaBooks.com

Ryokan's Story

New Book Announcement:

KAKURENBO Or the Whereabouts 

of Zen Priest Ryokan

by Eido Frances Carney 

with translations by Nobuyuki Yuasa

Temple Ground Press, 2013.  

ISBN-13: 978-0985565114

Written for a general audience, this is an exploration of the life of the Zen priest-poet Ryokan interwoven with memoir of the author as she observes Ryokan’s life during her own training as a Zen priest in Japan and encounters Ryokan in contemporary life as a model for learning and renewal. Ryokan loved the game Hide-and-go-Seek, Kakurenbo in Japanese, and this provides a metaphor as the author seeks to uncover the mysterious pathway of the hermit priest. The book includes a generous amount of Ryokan’s poetry by the award- winning translator Nobuyuki Yuasa.

Available at Amazon or your local bookstore

http://www.amazon.com/Kakurenbo-Whereabouts-Zen-Priest-Ryokan/dp/098556511X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378748269&sr=1-1&keywords=kakurenbo