We've loved Greece.
Such a friendly beautiful place. Full of people so helpful and kind. Memorable people, with so many stories...
Smells of wonderful food, taste of ouzo (which Greg will miss a LOT!) All good smells..tantalising ones...You know how sometimes countries or cities or places have weird smells...(like South Africa) well Greece only has good ones...
Smells of souvlaki, moussaka...home cooking....yummy. And OUZO distilleries....the aniseed...
And the tastes...Oh, the sweets in Greece. The desserts..can't remember the name but the taste of the pastry with the ground up almonds and sauce. The halva with the chocolate swirls. The figs. The apricots. The fetta cheese. The Greek salads...fresh sweet tomatoes and cucumber. THE OLIVE OIL. Fresh bread..
We'll miss all that. But our waistlines won't!
With Italy and Greece being gourmet countries....we've expanded. We won't be showing you the beach pics!!!!
Other quirky things here...have been...
No shower curtains! And no joke, when we thought we did have one (in Mykonos) it got taken away from us!!! As did our umbrella's....well that's our sneaking suspicion anyway..someone's need for shower curtains and umbrella's were greater than ours! Or they had a nylon fetish or something..because, we got back one day, to our room, and they were all gone.
Ok other things...toilet paper goes in the bin, not the toilet. Ew. And this is everywhere over Greece. What's up with their plumbing??
nd, Maniac Drivers. We found this out twice when we've hired vehicles. And once when we hired the quad bike. And..no one wears helmets!!!! BUT US! We've seen them carried on their arms and over the handlebars but not on their HEADS!!!!
Time. If Italian time was..whatever, or whenever..Greek time was, "Ten Minutes" which could be one minute or one hour. It didn't matter. And measurement. "Only ten metre!~" Ten metres could mean 1 kilometre or ten kilometres!
But generally our impression has been one of hospitality. We feel an infinity with Greeks as they do with us.
We keep saying, 'We'll be back' but genuinely, Greece, especially the magical islands are a piece of heaven that we'd love to go back to....
And i'm sure, in our lifetime, we will. Even if it's in our dreams..
Onwards now, to TURKEY. A place Great Aunt Kate had an afinity with..as did Mum and Annie. I hope i love it as much as you all did...I know Greg's had 'different' experiences there, and hope this time, he'll see the other side of a country i've only heard good things about..
Will let you know..
HUGS J&G xxx
Sunday, 3 June 2007
LEMNOS
Lemnos Island,
Between Lesvos and Samothrki
Greece.
Day 92 - 94
We finally got to Lemnos. On another overnight ferry. This time we were old hat at travelling at night on these ferries and straight away reserved our four seats opposite each other so we could at least grab a few hours of sleep. And we did! We slept. After the previous sleepless night it was a matter of having to. And we didn't know if we were going to be staying or leaving on a boat to Turkey once we got there because we had no plans.
We didn't know what to expect at all. But what we did see was another green island. We later found out it was grain, because the island produces a lot of barley and wheat.
It is also a military base and as we disembarked we saw a lot of military men, military cars and trucks. Reminded us of Lesvos, where there were TANKS everywhere!!! Gosh, what is it with these last two islands we went to...lots of army and heavy military. Scary. Is there going to be a war??
Made us nervous. Especially about going to Turkey.....but hey. When your time's up, it's up. Hey. Hey nothing. We want to be safe!!!!!!
We remembered of course, that it was the island where the Allied forces used as a base in WW1 i guess, of course, it was still is a strategic spot to fight off enemy forces now. So it was obvious it was still a military base.
The first thing we did when we disembarked was to find out if we could get to Turkey from Lemnos. We couldn't. We had to go back to Lesvos to get there, and only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was Friday and the boat had already gone. We booked to fly to Athens and then to Isanbul. That was sorted. And safer, we have to say. After the few warnings we've had.
We also found our accomodation in the Port. Port Myrina. A gorgeous hotel too. For 40 Euro a night and overlooking the harbour. We wondered if this was the harbour where Grandpop landed. But he landed in Moudros so it wasn't.
We ate breakfast at the cafe next to the hotel, Cafe Porto. Had omelette that had more of the filling than the egg (Greg and bacon and a bit of egg and i had mushrooms and a bit of egg!) Was yummy. And we found coffee that was exactly what we wanted. Greek coffee is one of this hit and miss things. Pretty terrible most of the time, unlike Italian coffee which was always delicious.
It came with bread too. (We're wondering why we've put on so much weight...it's the oil...it and everything, comes with OIL as well!) And a glass of water. Coffee always has a glass of water with is. A lifesave when the coffee is crap for sure!!!
We hired a car right away so we could start exploring.
Just thinking of Grandpop as we were driving to the Port made me well up. I thought of how he was kicked by a horse as he was attending a wounded Turk on the Palestinian front when his regiment, the 7th Light Horse, went back after the withdrawal from Gallipoli. I thought how he spent his whole life limping and dressing that leg.
I also thought we were lucky to have him as grandfather. That he was one of the men that lived through that Great War.
First place we went to was Moudros. The second port of Lemmos which apparently was the capital at one stage.
When we got there...it was a military port. We drove in and after the warnings of not taking pics etcetc we saw the war memorial from a distance. And wondered what it was...it even had a wreath that had been put there recently.
It was the ANZAC memorial, donated by the Greek Australian International Legal and Medical Conference.
On the top it said, "Australia and Lemnos 1915 - 1916"
It had a map which showed where all the hosptials were located in the bay and where Grandpop worked. (He was attached to the 2nd Stationary Hospital). He was located on the opposite side to Moudros and attended to men in tents that were set up there.
Apparently in February 1915 the Greek Government offered the Allies the island of Lemnos as a base for a naval attack on the Dardanelles. The attack failed and Lemnos became a huge military camp for Allied Troops including the thousands of Australian (ANZACS) preparing for a land attack on the Turkish army entrenched on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
The main base in Moudros was for men who were recovering from wounds or recuperating from the war. But 2000 men (and some women) from the Allied forces, out of the 44,000 that died in Gallipoli, were buried in the two cemeteries that we saw, in Lemnos, in Moudros and in Portianou. It was so sad seeing all the graves. A lot were unknown soldiers. I liked it that it said, "Known to God' though. A lot of Turkish died too. (86,700) A lot of young men and women who had their lives to lead..never lived.
It was a very emotional day looking at that memorial, being glad the ANZACS were recognised, knowing Australians and Greece have huge ties and a good relationship, having lunch in the resturant overlooking the bay, with a whole lot of military men also at the tables (a lot of young military men on Lemnos), and just thinking about Grandpop and the war.
I have so much more to say, and will email you when we get to the UK sis. I am so grateful for all your information. And knowing your interest and love for Grandpop is as strong as my own.
Gallipoli next.......how much can the heart take?
And of course, Gallipoli was also where Grandad's brothers were....
We also visited the castle on Lemnos, saw the WW1 modifications on it (caves and shelters that were fascinating), walked around the old cobblestone town that has old buildings falling down and mostly untouched since built many centuries before.
The one way streets were amazing....small, cobblestoned, too small for two way traffic. So they were one way. Linked. But one way for very small cars. (no trucks!)
But the best part, over the days we were there..was going to the beach. We swam, sunbathed and loved the beaches here. So tranquil. Sand that was almost white. No pebbles. Serence. Lilo's provided. Water was warm like a bath...
Just beautiful. The sunsets equisite.
And so were the cafes overlooking the Aegean..and the castle.
Good memories..
Between Lesvos and Samothrki
Greece.
Day 92 - 94
We finally got to Lemnos. On another overnight ferry. This time we were old hat at travelling at night on these ferries and straight away reserved our four seats opposite each other so we could at least grab a few hours of sleep. And we did! We slept. After the previous sleepless night it was a matter of having to. And we didn't know if we were going to be staying or leaving on a boat to Turkey once we got there because we had no plans.
We didn't know what to expect at all. But what we did see was another green island. We later found out it was grain, because the island produces a lot of barley and wheat.
It is also a military base and as we disembarked we saw a lot of military men, military cars and trucks. Reminded us of Lesvos, where there were TANKS everywhere!!! Gosh, what is it with these last two islands we went to...lots of army and heavy military. Scary. Is there going to be a war??
Made us nervous. Especially about going to Turkey.....but hey. When your time's up, it's up. Hey. Hey nothing. We want to be safe!!!!!!
We remembered of course, that it was the island where the Allied forces used as a base in WW1 i guess, of course, it was still is a strategic spot to fight off enemy forces now. So it was obvious it was still a military base.
The first thing we did when we disembarked was to find out if we could get to Turkey from Lemnos. We couldn't. We had to go back to Lesvos to get there, and only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was Friday and the boat had already gone. We booked to fly to Athens and then to Isanbul. That was sorted. And safer, we have to say. After the few warnings we've had.
We also found our accomodation in the Port. Port Myrina. A gorgeous hotel too. For 40 Euro a night and overlooking the harbour. We wondered if this was the harbour where Grandpop landed. But he landed in Moudros so it wasn't.
We ate breakfast at the cafe next to the hotel, Cafe Porto. Had omelette that had more of the filling than the egg (Greg and bacon and a bit of egg and i had mushrooms and a bit of egg!) Was yummy. And we found coffee that was exactly what we wanted. Greek coffee is one of this hit and miss things. Pretty terrible most of the time, unlike Italian coffee which was always delicious.
It came with bread too. (We're wondering why we've put on so much weight...it's the oil...it and everything, comes with OIL as well!) And a glass of water. Coffee always has a glass of water with is. A lifesave when the coffee is crap for sure!!!
We hired a car right away so we could start exploring.
Just thinking of Grandpop as we were driving to the Port made me well up. I thought of how he was kicked by a horse as he was attending a wounded Turk on the Palestinian front when his regiment, the 7th Light Horse, went back after the withdrawal from Gallipoli. I thought how he spent his whole life limping and dressing that leg.
I also thought we were lucky to have him as grandfather. That he was one of the men that lived through that Great War.
First place we went to was Moudros. The second port of Lemmos which apparently was the capital at one stage.
When we got there...it was a military port. We drove in and after the warnings of not taking pics etcetc we saw the war memorial from a distance. And wondered what it was...it even had a wreath that had been put there recently.
It was the ANZAC memorial, donated by the Greek Australian International Legal and Medical Conference.
On the top it said, "Australia and Lemnos 1915 - 1916"
It had a map which showed where all the hosptials were located in the bay and where Grandpop worked. (He was attached to the 2nd Stationary Hospital). He was located on the opposite side to Moudros and attended to men in tents that were set up there.
Apparently in February 1915 the Greek Government offered the Allies the island of Lemnos as a base for a naval attack on the Dardanelles. The attack failed and Lemnos became a huge military camp for Allied Troops including the thousands of Australian (ANZACS) preparing for a land attack on the Turkish army entrenched on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
The main base in Moudros was for men who were recovering from wounds or recuperating from the war. But 2000 men (and some women) from the Allied forces, out of the 44,000 that died in Gallipoli, were buried in the two cemeteries that we saw, in Lemnos, in Moudros and in Portianou. It was so sad seeing all the graves. A lot were unknown soldiers. I liked it that it said, "Known to God' though. A lot of Turkish died too. (86,700) A lot of young men and women who had their lives to lead..never lived.
It was a very emotional day looking at that memorial, being glad the ANZACS were recognised, knowing Australians and Greece have huge ties and a good relationship, having lunch in the resturant overlooking the bay, with a whole lot of military men also at the tables (a lot of young military men on Lemnos), and just thinking about Grandpop and the war.
I have so much more to say, and will email you when we get to the UK sis. I am so grateful for all your information. And knowing your interest and love for Grandpop is as strong as my own.
Gallipoli next.......how much can the heart take?
And of course, Gallipoli was also where Grandad's brothers were....
We also visited the castle on Lemnos, saw the WW1 modifications on it (caves and shelters that were fascinating), walked around the old cobblestone town that has old buildings falling down and mostly untouched since built many centuries before.
The one way streets were amazing....small, cobblestoned, too small for two way traffic. So they were one way. Linked. But one way for very small cars. (no trucks!)
But the best part, over the days we were there..was going to the beach. We swam, sunbathed and loved the beaches here. So tranquil. Sand that was almost white. No pebbles. Serence. Lilo's provided. Water was warm like a bath...
Just beautiful. The sunsets equisite.
And so were the cafes overlooking the Aegean..and the castle.
Good memories..
GRANDPOP
Before we got to Lemnos i did a lot of thinking about Grandpop.
I was there on the day he died. Mum and I.
My memories of him are vivid.
Not just of that day, the day he died, but of all the years he lived with us.
He lived with us my whole childhood..From four until i was 12. He was part of our life and part of our family of seven. He was always there, in his room that came off the kitchen...the outside of his room had steps to the backyard..which Dad had painted white so he could see.
His room looked out onto the oak trees. He would walk around them, slowly, always with kind watching eyes. He'd watch us spear the oak leaves with the iron spike we had made for us to spear the leaves..He was always just 'there' after school, looking out for us. I felt secure knowing Grandpop was always there for us. We were never alone at home.
Sometimes if we were making a racket, he'd shake his walking stick at us. We'd laugh and run into the field...poor thing, we, just being kids, he just wanting peace.
He at the top of the table, opposite Dad at the other end, and next to me. I remember him in his brown jumper, smoking his pipe, getting ready to go on a walk to the Post Office, listening carefully when we grumbled. I remember mum tending to him, because he needed medication, and him being so patient. The hard man that my Dad remembers,and the man mum had to always keep an eye on, was not the man i remember.
Grandpop. In his late eighties and nineties when he was part of my life. Grandpop. With the white fine silky white hair.
My friend Maria used to say he was the old man with the lisp and wooden leg. Of course he didn't have a lisp or a wooden leg. He slurped kind of..with a little sound just before he spoke. We were used to it, but when my friends heard him, they noticed. His leg was stiff. He used a walking stick and it was stiff because during the war he was kicked by a horse and spent the rest of his life limping.
So many memories of this wonderful gentle man who i loved with all my heart. I always felt like I was his favourite. Maybe we all did. But he had a way of making me feel special. He would tell me to go into his room and he'd give me a few of his copper coints and show me his Readers' Digest books.
He'd sew up my teddy whenever i'd worn it out from me sucking my finger and rubbing teddy against my nose. Later it was 'clowny' he'd sew up. I still have teddy at home, with his sewing on it. That was special because those little cuddly toys were precious to me, and not to anyone else, except Grandpop.
He called me Chicky. He called my brother Doogie. I think it was because he couldn't always remember our names. Being that there were four of us. He'd only had one son, my dad, so with all of us it must have been a chaotic family he was now attached to!
I remember once he told me if i kept a 2 cent coin for a year, he would give me 10 dollars. Maybe it was his way of teaching me to keep things safe, maybe it was his way of saying he'd be around in a year to give me the ten dollars. Whatever it was, it was a BIG deal to me. Dad even taped it up so i would definately not lose it.
Unfortunately, i never go the ten dollars. It got chucked under the house, never to be found. It created sibling jealousy!
At night when we'd wash dishes Grandpop would tell us stories. But we never knew really, how horrific it must have all been. It's only now i understand the depth of what he must have seen as a medic in World War 1, in Gallipoli and on Lemnos Island.
After reading 'Kittys Song' more thoroughly, (thanks Annie for typing it up and sending it to me, it was VERY helpful!) i realise he came from Australia to do duty on Lemnos and then found himself in Anzac Cove because he caught the wrong boat. He returned to Lemnos later, to serve in the hospital there, where he originally should have been.
I learned a lot about Grandpop after Dad died. From his war medals. And from some notebooks with his writings from Gallipoli in them. And from photos and documents we have. And from Kitty's Song. We all have a part of grandpop.
He wrote of his mate Totty. And of Eygpt. And of Gallipoli. He served people. He carried the sick and wounded. He was not at the First landings, but he was there, doing his bit. The soldier that was not recognised in his time, but is now, by his family. His grandchildren. Annie went to Gallipoli earlier this year, and now i'm off to Lemnos, and to Gallipoli. To see where he was.
We now have archives about his war service thanks to Annie. There is so much more to learn about this man, a man of great dignity, who left Australia for adventure and saw a lot of what he probably wished he hadn't.
For our grandpop. A school master, that went to serve his country. A husband of Jane, a father of James. A grandfather of four, that was loved till the end.
I want to acknowledge him. His service. His kindness. His contribution to the world. And just for being the kind and loving grandpop that i knew him to be.
I loved him so.
And will continue to search his life. For him. Because he meant so much to me.
I was there on the day he died. Mum and I.
My memories of him are vivid.
Not just of that day, the day he died, but of all the years he lived with us.
He lived with us my whole childhood..From four until i was 12. He was part of our life and part of our family of seven. He was always there, in his room that came off the kitchen...the outside of his room had steps to the backyard..which Dad had painted white so he could see.
His room looked out onto the oak trees. He would walk around them, slowly, always with kind watching eyes. He'd watch us spear the oak leaves with the iron spike we had made for us to spear the leaves..He was always just 'there' after school, looking out for us. I felt secure knowing Grandpop was always there for us. We were never alone at home.
Sometimes if we were making a racket, he'd shake his walking stick at us. We'd laugh and run into the field...poor thing, we, just being kids, he just wanting peace.
He at the top of the table, opposite Dad at the other end, and next to me. I remember him in his brown jumper, smoking his pipe, getting ready to go on a walk to the Post Office, listening carefully when we grumbled. I remember mum tending to him, because he needed medication, and him being so patient. The hard man that my Dad remembers,and the man mum had to always keep an eye on, was not the man i remember.
Grandpop. In his late eighties and nineties when he was part of my life. Grandpop. With the white fine silky white hair.
My friend Maria used to say he was the old man with the lisp and wooden leg. Of course he didn't have a lisp or a wooden leg. He slurped kind of..with a little sound just before he spoke. We were used to it, but when my friends heard him, they noticed. His leg was stiff. He used a walking stick and it was stiff because during the war he was kicked by a horse and spent the rest of his life limping.
So many memories of this wonderful gentle man who i loved with all my heart. I always felt like I was his favourite. Maybe we all did. But he had a way of making me feel special. He would tell me to go into his room and he'd give me a few of his copper coints and show me his Readers' Digest books.
He'd sew up my teddy whenever i'd worn it out from me sucking my finger and rubbing teddy against my nose. Later it was 'clowny' he'd sew up. I still have teddy at home, with his sewing on it. That was special because those little cuddly toys were precious to me, and not to anyone else, except Grandpop.
He called me Chicky. He called my brother Doogie. I think it was because he couldn't always remember our names. Being that there were four of us. He'd only had one son, my dad, so with all of us it must have been a chaotic family he was now attached to!
I remember once he told me if i kept a 2 cent coin for a year, he would give me 10 dollars. Maybe it was his way of teaching me to keep things safe, maybe it was his way of saying he'd be around in a year to give me the ten dollars. Whatever it was, it was a BIG deal to me. Dad even taped it up so i would definately not lose it.
Unfortunately, i never go the ten dollars. It got chucked under the house, never to be found. It created sibling jealousy!
At night when we'd wash dishes Grandpop would tell us stories. But we never knew really, how horrific it must have all been. It's only now i understand the depth of what he must have seen as a medic in World War 1, in Gallipoli and on Lemnos Island.
After reading 'Kittys Song' more thoroughly, (thanks Annie for typing it up and sending it to me, it was VERY helpful!) i realise he came from Australia to do duty on Lemnos and then found himself in Anzac Cove because he caught the wrong boat. He returned to Lemnos later, to serve in the hospital there, where he originally should have been.
I learned a lot about Grandpop after Dad died. From his war medals. And from some notebooks with his writings from Gallipoli in them. And from photos and documents we have. And from Kitty's Song. We all have a part of grandpop.
He wrote of his mate Totty. And of Eygpt. And of Gallipoli. He served people. He carried the sick and wounded. He was not at the First landings, but he was there, doing his bit. The soldier that was not recognised in his time, but is now, by his family. His grandchildren. Annie went to Gallipoli earlier this year, and now i'm off to Lemnos, and to Gallipoli. To see where he was.
We now have archives about his war service thanks to Annie. There is so much more to learn about this man, a man of great dignity, who left Australia for adventure and saw a lot of what he probably wished he hadn't.
For our grandpop. A school master, that went to serve his country. A husband of Jane, a father of James. A grandfather of four, that was loved till the end.
I want to acknowledge him. His service. His kindness. His contribution to the world. And just for being the kind and loving grandpop that i knew him to be.
I loved him so.
And will continue to search his life. For him. Because he meant so much to me.
LESVOS
LESVOS ISLAND, Northern Aegean
GREECE
Talk about a journey!
We boarded the High Speed 4 from Mykonos to get to Lesvos, via Pireaus at 11.15am and arrived at 2.50pm and then had to wait around before we headed off to Lesvos at 7pm...and arriving the next morning at 7am~!
The ferry to Pireaus was business class. They were the only seats we could get. We were originally next to 2 American girls, in chairs that all face each other..but there was heaps of room..so we had a dream journey there...
The ferry to Lesvos was very different...in chairs, upright, overnight, for 12 hours..arrgh. We did pass through some other fascinating islands too...
Now that's commitment isn't it? To see George's birthplace? And of course, it's next to Lemnos, where i'm itching to get to, because that's where Grandpop was during World War 1. Lesvos and Lemnos are very close to each other...
We woke up from sleeping on the floor and all over the seats...to see an island that was GREEN! Amazing, because the other greek islands we'd seen were all ROCK. Just white rock. Gorgeous..because they just are..but no vegetation to be seen.
So it was just amazing to see so much green....we later found out the GREEN was all OLIVE TREES. No kidding..the island has something like 16 - 17 million olive trees growning on all the mountainous and undulating hills. Olive groves and pine trees.
We arrived in Mitalini Port and straight away saw the statue of sapphos, the lesbian poet..and took pics..then headed to the tourist office..not that there was one, it was a ferry office, and sorted out how we could get to Lemnos (Limnos to the locals) and also to Istanbul. We were told the ferries to Lemnos went that night only...and the ferries to Istanbul went only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
After thinking about it, and wondering if we could get a ferry to Istanbul we decided to inquire once we got to Lemnos so we booked our journey over there for midnight that night.
We hired a car to see Lesvos...and spent the next 18 hours exploring.
What a beautiful island...we got to Skopelos, which was George's village until he left for Australia when he was 17..and shhhh don't tell the car hire guy but...we actually locked the keys in the car!!! And..a guy broke in for us with wire and pliers! Crikey....what a laugh. He was hilarious...we were a bit worried, as you can imagine, at first, wondering what to do..but it all worked out! The part where Greg had gone looknig for help and i was left with all these greek guys trying to break into the car..then driving off to find Greg, with me in the car, was for a while, very traumatic!!!!!
But later, was cause for Greg and i to have hysterics!
The whole place was funny..in a comical sense. The car hire guy who had this LONG Greek name...lived in Kings Cross he said, and was a bouncer there..and had bullet holes in his tummy, which he proudly showed us (we thought he was going to take his pants down at first!!! And almost did...gawd!~) Before we hired the car, he also told us Aussies were the worst, with a woman having to pay $7,000 damages because she ran into an Audi and it wasn't insured...nor was she...as he doesn't insure!!
We took the chance with him..and it was all ok. No damage from breaking in either!
We went to the beach..Agioss Issidorou beach in Plomari which was beautiful...
We passed very steep side cliff streets, with Greg driving, on the 'wrong side of the road'....
We saw the Roman Aqueduct..and noticed all the houses had red tiled roofs that looked more british than anything. No white buildings like Mykonos and Santorini. It looked like WA really...
We saw the castle, and ate in cute happy little cafes that had lounges and people all playing games like cards and backgammon. So warm and friendly and relaxed, like the hours would just go on and on and there would be no problems in the world.
It was great there....
We waited for our ferry to Lemnos drinking oyzo (as they spell it) after smelling it at a little ouzo place very near Mitilini Port :-)
We did wonder why George left??? it's such a beautiful island!!! No doubt he has his story and later, we'd like to find out more about it..
We later found out a lot of Greek people left Lesvos and Lemnos to go to Autralia post first and second world war as they created so many good relations with each other during these wars and they could get more work there..
We also found out...Greek people, are among the most honest we've come across...and so helpful. Something we saw over and over again. We thought maybe it has something to do with being Greek Orthodox, which is a religion that we found out more about, and seems to be very ingtrigingly real. And encompasses a will to have a good honest way of living..
GREECE
Talk about a journey!
We boarded the High Speed 4 from Mykonos to get to Lesvos, via Pireaus at 11.15am and arrived at 2.50pm and then had to wait around before we headed off to Lesvos at 7pm...and arriving the next morning at 7am~!
The ferry to Pireaus was business class. They were the only seats we could get. We were originally next to 2 American girls, in chairs that all face each other..but there was heaps of room..so we had a dream journey there...
The ferry to Lesvos was very different...in chairs, upright, overnight, for 12 hours..arrgh. We did pass through some other fascinating islands too...
Now that's commitment isn't it? To see George's birthplace? And of course, it's next to Lemnos, where i'm itching to get to, because that's where Grandpop was during World War 1. Lesvos and Lemnos are very close to each other...
We woke up from sleeping on the floor and all over the seats...to see an island that was GREEN! Amazing, because the other greek islands we'd seen were all ROCK. Just white rock. Gorgeous..because they just are..but no vegetation to be seen.
So it was just amazing to see so much green....we later found out the GREEN was all OLIVE TREES. No kidding..the island has something like 16 - 17 million olive trees growning on all the mountainous and undulating hills. Olive groves and pine trees.
We arrived in Mitalini Port and straight away saw the statue of sapphos, the lesbian poet..and took pics..then headed to the tourist office..not that there was one, it was a ferry office, and sorted out how we could get to Lemnos (Limnos to the locals) and also to Istanbul. We were told the ferries to Lemnos went that night only...and the ferries to Istanbul went only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
After thinking about it, and wondering if we could get a ferry to Istanbul we decided to inquire once we got to Lemnos so we booked our journey over there for midnight that night.
We hired a car to see Lesvos...and spent the next 18 hours exploring.
What a beautiful island...we got to Skopelos, which was George's village until he left for Australia when he was 17..and shhhh don't tell the car hire guy but...we actually locked the keys in the car!!! And..a guy broke in for us with wire and pliers! Crikey....what a laugh. He was hilarious...we were a bit worried, as you can imagine, at first, wondering what to do..but it all worked out! The part where Greg had gone looknig for help and i was left with all these greek guys trying to break into the car..then driving off to find Greg, with me in the car, was for a while, very traumatic!!!!!
But later, was cause for Greg and i to have hysterics!
The whole place was funny..in a comical sense. The car hire guy who had this LONG Greek name...lived in Kings Cross he said, and was a bouncer there..and had bullet holes in his tummy, which he proudly showed us (we thought he was going to take his pants down at first!!! And almost did...gawd!~) Before we hired the car, he also told us Aussies were the worst, with a woman having to pay $7,000 damages because she ran into an Audi and it wasn't insured...nor was she...as he doesn't insure!!
We took the chance with him..and it was all ok. No damage from breaking in either!
We went to the beach..Agioss Issidorou beach in Plomari which was beautiful...
We passed very steep side cliff streets, with Greg driving, on the 'wrong side of the road'....
We saw the Roman Aqueduct..and noticed all the houses had red tiled roofs that looked more british than anything. No white buildings like Mykonos and Santorini. It looked like WA really...
We saw the castle, and ate in cute happy little cafes that had lounges and people all playing games like cards and backgammon. So warm and friendly and relaxed, like the hours would just go on and on and there would be no problems in the world.
It was great there....
We waited for our ferry to Lemnos drinking oyzo (as they spell it) after smelling it at a little ouzo place very near Mitilini Port :-)
We did wonder why George left??? it's such a beautiful island!!! No doubt he has his story and later, we'd like to find out more about it..
We later found out a lot of Greek people left Lesvos and Lemnos to go to Autralia post first and second world war as they created so many good relations with each other during these wars and they could get more work there..
We also found out...Greek people, are among the most honest we've come across...and so helpful. Something we saw over and over again. We thought maybe it has something to do with being Greek Orthodox, which is a religion that we found out more about, and seems to be very ingtrigingly real. And encompasses a will to have a good honest way of living..
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