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| Beach volleyball on Anemomilos Beach, Finikounda--about to block a shot (or throw out his back) |
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| Fire on the Mountain--just above our house |
The
three of us set off from Finikounda, traversing the full length of the
Peloponnese diagonally, with our destination—the Saronic Gulf island of
Spetses, birthplace of my grandmother Efstathia (1899) and site of our marriage
(1992)—about four hours distant. It was the last full day of extreme heat, with
temperatures hovering between 105 and 110 degrees. (The big “break” on Monday
clarified the air and lowered the air temperature to a more manageable 92 degrees.)
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| On the boat to Spetses |
Spetses
A
small island (8 miles by 4 miles) on the Saraonic Gulf, Spetses is emblematic
of old Greece—although it has become a very popular, chic, and over-subscribed
weekend holiday resort for wealthy Athenians, especially those with
mind-bogglingly large, cliffside villas. Some have their own heliports.
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| Emblematic Poseidon Hotel on Spetses, built in 1914 |
We
arrived at the small town of Kosta, across the straits from the Peloponnese
(about 3 kilometers offshore) and got aboard a traditional caique for the 15-minute ride to the Dapia Harbor, which is ringed
by cannons that date to the Greek Revolution of 1821-1832. My forebears, all seafarers, played
an oversized role in the naval engagements against the occupying Ottoman Turkish
fleet. The heroine of the Spetses fleet was Boubaline, the wife of the admiral (he was
killed in the opening volley). She rallied her small fleet (famous for saying
in the eye of defeat and retreating comrades: “Am I not the greater man?”), putting on her dead husband’s
uniform and three-pointed hat, and leading her fellow Spetsiotes to a
justifiably famous naval victory. This occurred in the very bay in which our
little boat crossed from the mainland.
The day is reenacted every September, with a full-size wooden warship (a Turkish galleon) fired upon and set ablaze in the outer harbor, while the amused locals sip ouzo and marvel at their good fortune. The Turks were cast out of our family's homeland after 300+ years of brutal occupation.
Here is a selection of images from our first day on Spetses.
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| Nia plays soccer with her cousin Kyriakos |
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| Third cousins--great-grandparents were siblings |
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| Nia at Aghia Anagiri beach, on the desolate side of the island--one of the nicest beaches |
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| View of Aghia Anagiri |
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| Crawling out of the sea cave--entered by swimming and/or slithering |
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| The more refreshing option: swimming into the sea cave |
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| Sea-maid |
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| The light turns your skin luminescent blue--a bizarrely beautiful effect that the toy camera cannot capture |
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| Selfie in an underwater cave |
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| Above the cave entrance |
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| Another view of Aghia Anagiri |
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| Clarity to the bottom at 40 feet |
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| Dapia--Spetses "commercial" harbor (not) |
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| 25th anniversary minus one day--still best buddies |
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| St. Nicholas/Aghia Nikola church, Spetses |
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| Yet another food paradise for a growing kid |
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| The Old Harbor (Palaio Limani), Spetses |
Love following your family adventures--you are living life the way it should be lived! Hats off to you.
ReplyDeleteTears are on my cheeks as they were in 1992. God bless....
ReplyDelete