Hey, any of you dear readers have Nokia mobile phones?
A while back I discovered this site for adding one’s blog as an App for Nokia. What the hell, I’ll try anything . . . when it comes to marketing.
Which reminds me, please Like my up-dated Paros Hospitality page on Facebook.
Paros and its Church of 100 Doors have made the literary pages of the Irish Times in a big way. Perhaps more accurately, Poet Michael Longley has immortalised the church and the romance of Paros by writing poetry about it.
This is the introduction of the book review by Theo Dorgan:
“THE TITLE OF Michael Longley’s new book comes from the island of Paros. Helena, mother of Constantine, had a wooden church built there, and two centuries later Justinian the Great had the church rebuilt, commissioning Isidorus, one of the two architects of Hagia Sophia, to undertake the work. Isidorus farmed out the work to his apprentice, Ignatius, but was smitten with jealousy, legend has it, when he arrived to see the magnificent dome that crowned the great church. Enraged, he pushed the apprentice off the roof; Ignatius, grasping him by the ankle as he fell, took Isidorus with him. The island wisdom is that the church has 100 doors, 99 of which are known; the 100th, they say, will be found only when Constantinople is Greek again.”
Use this link to read the review including some of Michael Longley’s poetry: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0319/1224292565665.html
Use this link to buy the book:
Athens has never been my favourite city and famous travel writer Rick Steves agreed with me. However, he thinks better of it after a tour of three of its neighbourhoods. Read more about Exarchia, Psyrri, and Gazi at Rick Steves
Among those attending were everyone and anyone female connected with diplomacy in China including a great many female Ambassadors. The exhibition was hosted by Le Aimei, wife of the Chinese Foreign Minister. With a name like that I imagine she has an interesting story, but I couldn’t find it on Google. Maybe it is censored?
Spending the winter on an island can cause people to do strange things in search of interesting activity. They may even take up blogging.
This photo is from the newest blog from Paros. The Parianos is a fun combination of wit and whimsy. Check it out, but don’t forget to come back here once in a while for that is my posting schedule.
Cheers
This last autumn Greece had a popular TV series based upon the Victoria Hislop novel The Island. Afterwards it was announced the islet of Spinalonga would re-open as a tourist attraction. The novel featured this former leper colony, supposedly the last one in Europe. It is located off the southeast corner of Crete.
Previously the island had closed from lack of interest but now the local municipality will be offering free boat trips on weekends through the winter and hopefully daily during the summer.
This photo is from the Spinalonga Island Travel Guide which provides a lot of information about the history and current tours to the island.
By the way, Karin read and enjoyed the book.
There is also a locally written and produced book: Spinalonga, The Isle of the Damned by Victor Zorbas. It can be found at Abe Books
Technorati Tags: Crete,Spinalonga,Hislop,leprosy
Greetings to all my Chinese readers out there. Ha, do I have any? Let me know.
Anyway, I have been watching with interest over the past couple years as Greece and China have cozied up to each other business wise. This was given a boost when Greece elected the President of Socialist International as Prime Minister (George Papandreou). Now Greece has created excellent karma in China by greatly aiding the evacuation of Chinese citizens from Libya.
I have also been reading that tourism from China is mushrooming all over the world, yet we see very few Asians on Paros. Maybe that will improve this year because Air China announced in February that on May 11 they will begin “direct” (by way of Munich) flights to Athens from Beijing.
Hmm, it will be interesting to see how many Chinese are interested in the birth place of Western civilization.
Part of living on a Greek island seems to be getting off the island in the winter. This year we spent an exceptionally long time away, mostly with family and friends in the USA but also visiting Ireland, England and Scotland. Being on the move a lot means I did not do much blogging but I do have a lot of news articles saved up to pass on.
This could almost be the ferry to Antiparos but no it is to the ancient isle of Iona in Scotland.
2011 in Greece is one big question mark! We have no idea what will transpire and what will appear on TV news to the rest of the world. We do know that our Paros paradise will be as tranquil as ever. Perhaps this is a good year to escape to Paros.
Below is an account about some TV commercials showing in the USA.
Approved by Yia-Yia: Greek Hummus Ad Dips Into Controversy
By deTraci Regula, About.com February 28, 2011
