Karin and I are currently re-acquainting ourselves with Oregon, the state where we spent more than 40 years of our life. Oregon is now a major wine producer with hundreds of wineries. One Sunday we toured wine country with two of our friends, Andy and Linda, who have also visited us on Paros.
At one of the winery shops I purchased a tin of smoked pepper salmon packed by Skipanon Brand. I fondly remember the brand because the first time I went deep sea fishing was out of the Skipanon River which is at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River. I think it was this company that tinned some of our freshly caught salmon.
The next day I decided to use the salmon in a chowder recipe in the Finnish style provided by Skipanon. Since we didn’t have any butter I used the olive oil instead. It was delicious and the one 6 oz. can made enough soup to last us for three meals.
Later in the week we watched the movie Julie and Julia which quoted Julia Child as raving about butter making the best food. But I now know better! So I am writing to Skipanon and the Oregon Olive Mill to suggest they do a joint promotion. I will even throw in a night or two of accommodation on Paros as a prize—air fare not included.
For lovers of antiquities and Paros’ ancient poet Archilochos here is an example of the high quality off-season art and culture programs on Paros: http://aegeancenter.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/antonio-corso/
deTraci Regula, the About.com Guide for Greece has written a comprehensive, useful and entertaining Greece Travel Countdown Planner—Its nine pages long but worth the read.
We are preparing to do a lot of travelling over the next few months—something like six separate flights before February. Our biggest concern, other than cost, of course, is weight restrictions on luggage. So I was whinging that airline tickets ought to be sold on the basis of total weight of passenger and baggage. I figure that most adults weigh more than I do so I should come out ahead. Or at least I would not be able to complain about excessive charges for extra weight.
Today I see a survey for TravelSpec.com of 6,000 U.K. travellers indicates that 70% favour charging overweight passengers if they infringe on a neighbouring seat. The others say that that obesity is embarrassing enough and they shouldn’t have to pay extra. Hmm, I wonder if the respondents indicated their own weight?
In other questions survey participants indicated that crying babies and restless passengers were also a concern but the greatest number said they would least like to sit next to people with body odour. True, I can’t think of anything worse. How about you?
Comments welcome.
Today, 17 October is pleasantly warm, 25 C / 77 F. We should go swimming but there is a slight breeze and we are lazy. The photo is of Karin swimming on 13 Oct. Cloudy but warm.
We had more American guests than normal this October. Eddy did three Cooking Workshops, all for Americans. Two couples from Portland, Oregon—just a coincidence—and one from Austin, Texas.
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What’s your October been like? We noticed that for most of the month Pennsylvania was warmer than Paros.
It seems that I have got this simple video thing down. I just put together some snaps and clips from last May. College students learning, reflecting and expanding their horizons on Paros. Too bad I wasn’t with them when they went out at night, then I would have some interesting shots, I’m sure.
For a change in stylistic pace I quote from a recent press release:
Michael Shepherd, Program Manager, said, “Our experience will enhance your experience to create a custom itinerary to suit your interests as well as attract students to the Greek island lifestyle of sun, sea and sport.”
The hallmarks of the program are 100% flexibility and affordable cost. The mainland itinerary with Athens as the hub is customized to suit the curriculum needs of the college. The more popular offerings on Paros include: Photography, Scuba, Sailing, Painting: Oil, Watercolor or Acrylic, Horseback Riding (in the sea) and Greek cooking.
Shepherd emphasized that the entire two week package of learning, reflection and fun with accommodation, meals and transportation, excluding air fare to Greece, can be budgeted at well under 1,500 Euro per student with faculty included at no additional cost. The teacher makes the decisions; Paros Hospitality handles all logistics.
An interested college instructor only needs to provide a brief outline of places to visit and subjects to be covered. Then Paros Hospitality responds with an estimated budget. From that point we jointly fine tune the personalized Greece odyssey. Read More
For background on Michael Shepherd and Paros Hospitality see: www.ParosParadise.com/about.htm
For more information about Greece and the Greek islands see: www.ParosParadise.com “
This is an old story with a new development. Last year we left Paros on Thanksgiving—in America, the date is nothing in Greece. The day before we drove our scooters to the home of our American friends, Al and Ardy. They were not only storing our bikes for the three months we would be gone, they threw in a big Thanksgiving feast as well.
The point being: among the accessories in the case was a knockoff of a Gorilla tripod. I had found it very handy but not gotten around to buying a replacement. But today I signed up as a Google Affiliate for Joby, the maker of Gorilla products. So I am now buying the real thing. It is perfect for taking photos of yourself in any location as well as holding the camera still for night shots. Just don’t leave it where a dog can steal it.
News flash according to Variety Magazine:
Actor, producer and director Billy Zane is to produce and direct a co-production with Greek partners of a script he wrote on the island of Paros.
Zane said the project -- working title "Photismos," which means illumination -- would reflect his Greek heritage. He expects to start shooting on Paros early next year and is about the relationship between a young man and his uncle and will touch on "philosophy, theology, Pythagoras' theories, geometry….and Frisbees".
The budget for the movie is in the region of $2 million and Zane is currently in negotiations with producers in Greece before finalizing financial and production details.
The last two weeks have been another case of doing so much that there is no time to write about it. Worse, I did not take many photos so that I have to wait for our visiting friends to send me theirs.
We have been showing off Paros to four un-related sets of family and friends. It is a lot of fun but leads to weight gain as we have been eating out five nights per week!
One benefit is that my visiting friend, Ben, can edit videos 10 times faster than me. He took time from the beach to work his wonders on my shaky camera work to create this promotional video for one of the private villas that I market.
More villas at www.ParosParadise.com/villas.htm
Two young American men were stopped at the Athens airport with unusual souvenirs of their visit to Mykonos. They had purchased six human skulls to use as Halloween decorations. They had seen the skulls on display in a shop and purchased them for 25 Euro each.
So perhaps the resourceful Greeks have found a new way to boost their economy. The traditional custom here is to disinter bones from graves after a few years, bless them and store them in a vault known as an ossuary. So what happens when the ossuary gets full?
Editor’s note: We are sure most Greeks as well as the Orthodox Church and the Greece government treat all human remains with the utmost respect.
Pyramid of Skulls by Paul Cezanne
c. 1901 Private collection; Venturi no. 753
“A new report on the benefits of extra-virgin olive oil shows a surprising result - olive oil actually changes the way human genes work, reducing the risk of heart disease.”
Read more on her blog which also contains links to more about olive oil and the Mediterranean diet.
The Athens News Agency reported on Friday that for the first 6 months of 2010 the Greek government reduced their annual budget deficit by 39.7%. That’s right nearly 40% less deficit than in 2009.
In other words, since revenues are up and expenses are down, Greece only spent 12.10 billion Euro more than they had coming in versus 20.05 billion Euro for the same period last year.
Everyone here is very curious about what will happen as the tourism season ends in September. Uncertainty is always bad for business and we have a very uncertain future on the Greek islands at this time. Stay tuned.
I just realised that I have not taken many photos this summer. We are not doing or seeing anything that is different, I am afraid.
This is a different view of Club Med 2 that visits Aliki about three times per year.
According to the Kathimerini paper in Athens, Greece’s Prime Minister, George Papandreou, is spending several days on Paros. As I wrote before one of his right hand men, Interior Minister Yiannis Ragousis is from Paros. They are supposedly meeting with other Socialist Party cohorts regarding a Cabinet reshuffle to take place shortly.
Our island is so full this weekend it is easy to believe we are the centre of the Greek world. Though I have not heard anything lately of other celebrities. Even Tom Hanks sitings have been few this year.
A couple of days ago we read that a small airplane with six Israeli security police onboard crash landed on Santorini. There were no serious injuries but I wondered what kind of spy adventure was going on. Then we read that Israel’s PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, was meeting Greece’s PM in Athens and that seemed to explain it. Maybe a short holiday on Santorini on the way to Athens. But now with Papandreou on Paros why would they meet in Athens. Hmmm, maybe there are other spies or celebrities around or is this speculation a symptom of island fever?
What do you want out of life? Do it better on Paros.
We are always on the look out for articles and books about Greek island life. There was a new book out last June but I missed the “virtual book tour” whatever that is.
One reviewer had this to say: “When I agreed to read and review Cafe Tempest: Adventures on a Small Greek Island
Read more from this reviewer here or read more at the publisher’s site here Or USA readers can use the link below on the left for Powell’s Books and Europe readers can use the one on the right for Amazon U.K.
If anyone has read this book, please comment here.
One of the major drawbacks to living on an island paradise is getting off island and back again with manageable luggage. Karin and I used to travel with at least two gigantic bags each when leaving for months at a time. But now the decreased airline allowances and increased charges for overages have severely hampered our ability to bring back necessities such as peanut butter and maple syrup. See Back on Paros
This week the travel search site Skyscanner.net highlighted a potential solution to packing light: Nakation. That is travel to clothing optional or naturalist locations. They published a survey that indicates 2% of their respondents booked a naked vacation just to avoid paying hefty baggage charges.
We do live simply here on Paros. Maybe we should carry it a strip, I mean a step, further.
If you are a true Paro-phile you will enjoy watching this video for the high quality video of Paros scenery. Warning: it is over 20 minutes long.
It reminds me of watching an old Madonna movie, Body of Evidence, because it was full of scenes from our home town of Portland, Oregon.
Anyway this video was done by a group of students from the School of Informatics of Indiana University. Their objective was to document the connection between agriculture and tourism on the island of Paros.
Search this blog for more of my comments about the food and drink of Paros. Now my slogan of Do it better on Paros can be Eat better on Paros!
Φαγητό του Παρελθόντος: Τροφή για το Μέλλον / Food of the Past: Nourishment for the Future from Parosweb on Vimeo.
The two photos here came from Tony McCarthy who lives in Waterford, Ireland and visits Paros often. For more photos including our former house and store please go to Chuck and Claire’s European Adventures
There is more about Chuck and Claire on Paros Here
And more about our Irish connection: Naoussa on Arthur’s Day
and Irish Women with Foreign Partners
Not quite to the day, but last July I started looking for a new template in order to do a major up date to my major web site, www.ParosParadise.com
Today it was with great trepidation that I pushed the Publish button to upload the new 50+ page site. Wonder of wonders, it worked without a hitch—that I know of, touch wood.
True I did no work on the project between November 2009 and May 2010, but it has been my major focus over the past few weeks. I now have a modern site with much more emphasis on photos of the Greek islands.
It is not yet complete, of course a good web site never is, as I have a punch list of at least 50 items that still need updating and improving. Most of the content was just cut and pasted from the old site. Please notify me of any errors or glitches that you see as I might not notice them.
My next focus is to see if my up-dating eliminates the dreaded Google Page Rank 0 that I received two years ago after many years as a PR 3 and 4. Also, I hope to blog more often . . .
This is just one example of the type of quality events held on Paros each summer.
“Vassilis Tsabropoulos belongs to the elite of European piano soloists. He has given piano recitals in international centres of Europe and America, participating in important orchestras with renowned conductors.”
However, what makes this concert outstanding is the location: an open air theatre at the beach! Its all in the atmosphere of a Greece idyll.
Greekophiles are all familiar with Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis as well as the annoying little ditty played on many sites. Play Nothing against the music, I like Mikis Theodorakis, just not while trying to gather info from a web page.
Now the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in Myrtia, Crete, near Iraklion has opened a permanent exhibition on Nikos Kazantzakis. He lived a fascinating life so I am sure this museum would be worth a visit.
While I found Zorba the Greek a great read with insight to Cretan culture, most of Kazantzakis’ literature is heavy going. For a quick and easy lesson buy the video. Cheers.
This post will play catch up on a few recent announcements.
The damage observed on them, cut limbs and a head is recent, probably caused by excavation machinery, although archaeologists said the statues will be restored in full. They are 1.82 and 1.78 meters tall and unique in that they are almost identical works sharing the same facial characteristics.
A previous post on this subject: Where Men Walked 3000 Years Ago
Ω Ω Ω
The Athens Metro (Subway) is destined for major expansion in both the near and long term regardless of economic turmoil. Imagine how many artefacts will be dug up there! Actually you don’t have to imagine because much of what is found is on display in existing stations.
The new station in Holargos is due to open in June, while Agia Paraskevi will be ready by September. Another six stations, extensions of the line 2 in the southeast and west, may possibly be added to the network by March 2011. These are waiting the outcome of the Siemens bribery scandal before completing the electronic controls.
The Ministry also announced that tenders for projects worth 10.3 billion euro are to be launched up until 2012. These will extend and connect other lines.Ω Ω Ω
The government giveth and the the government taketh away: The Athens public transport organisation OASA announced that it will scrap a special bus service providing tours of Athens' ancient sites for tourists as of June 1, due to low levels of use.
The number 400 'Sights of Athens' bus was an open bus that tourists
could use to visit each of the city's archaeological sites and museums
using an all-day pass.
Ω Ω Ω
Finally, we have another Value Added Tax (VAT) increase on top of the one just last January.
The regular VAT rate on most goods will increase from 21 percent at present to 23 percent, while the reduced rate of 10 percent currently charged on a range of goods and services will be increased to 11 percent. The lowest rate of 5 percent will increase to 5.5 percent.
The increases will also affect island areas, where current VAT rates of 15 percent, 7 percent and 4 percent will rise to 16 percent, 8 percent and 4 percent.
Only time will tell how much of this is passed on to the consumer and how much absorbed by the businesses. Greek consumers are well aware that higher taxes on business eventually come out of their own pockets. I am not convinced the same can be said of voters in those countries such as the USA and U.K. that do not have a large un-taxed economy.
I have not yet seen the official press release (probably due to a journalist’s strike) but the BBC says “Greece says it will cover the extra costs for any tourists stranded in the country as a result of industrial action or natural disaster.”
It then quotes Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos: “We are guaranteeing to pay any extra room and board any visitor in Greece pays even if stuck here because of a volcano in Iceland." Of course, that says nothing of re-booking airline flights, which in my experience has been the largest expense.
To which my response is: It is no more difficult than normal. There are always strikes in June and September; they are rare in July and August and are announced in advance so you can plan around them. A traveller should build in flexibility when travelling internationally to handle unexpected occurrences in any case. Also, demonstrations only affect certain parts of Athens and can be easily avoided as well.
Come to Paros and chill out.
The photos represent the three groups. Now that I am back in the groove I hope to write about them.
Now the International Congregation of Agia Sophia, a US-based group founded in 2005 with the purpose of returning the building as a place of worship for all the world's Christians, is planning on holding a liturgy there on September 17, the Orthodox feast day for Saint Sophia.
(Hagia, Agia and Saint are all the same word in different languages.)
The group has notified the Turkish government but I would not expect them to receive permission for this. Nor, I think, would I like to see them succeed in their ultimate goal.
What do you think? Comments welcome.
The 16 kilometre-long gorge starts at an altitude of 1,250 meters at the northern entrance in the settlement of Omalos and
ending at the shores of the Libyan Sea. The actual walk through the Samaria National Park is 13 km long, but the trekker has to walk another three kilometres to Aghia Roumeli from the park exit.
This trek is only recommended for the experienced walker with hiking boots. Also unless you take an escorted tour you have to be an adventuresome traveller because it is easy to miss the ferry and bus connection back to Chania, the nearest city. This happened to Karin and I when we made the jaunt in 2001. That was one of those days you can laugh about afterwards but was not pleasant as it unfolded.
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Part two of this post is follow-up on a previous post: Another Paros Boy Makes Good in which I commented upon Greece government decentralisation.
Recently Yiannis Ragoussis, Minister of the Interior, etc. presented the “Kallikratis” plan for re-organisation of local government. It is to create fewer municipalities with more power and funding, he says.
What was especially interesting to me was his admission that prior Socialist governments were part of the problem as well. Here is the quote from the Athens News Agency:
"There is now a general awareness that the wasteful, clientist,
centralised and inefficient state is the cause of the Greek problem as we experience this today," he said.
I think we are seeing the evolution of major changes in Greece. Who said, “We are living in interesting times.” ?
Thessaloniki is not on the main tourist route for Greece. Yet there is a lot of interest and value there to see.
Now the city is trying to make is easier and more pleasant for pedestrians to get around the downtown area by excluding cars on Saturdays between Noon and 7 P.M. I hope it works and gets extended.
ANA-MPA photo / S. Barbaroussis
Karin couldn’t resist swimming in the sea on a warm April afternoon.
She claims she wasn’t cold.
I stayed on the shore and took artsy photos.
April shadows will bring May flowers.
On Paros we are fortunate to have the world’s best gelato—in my world anyway—that is made on site by Denise of Gelato Sulla Luna.
On Paros the lessons will be from 21 through 25 April at 15:00 and 21:00. Each session will be 10 Euro or 3 for 25 or the best deal: a pack of 9 lessons comes with a full kilo of Denise’s gelato! Contact Denise at parosgelato at hotmail for bookings and location.
For tango on Paros in the summer read about Ballroom Dancing
Do it better on Paros
Now you can buy a monastery on Paros for half the price of an island. Today I got an email notice of a 14th Century Greek Monastery for sale. When I went to the company’s web site I couldn’t find the monastery but I did find an island off Voutakis beach near our village of Aliki.
There is a different Paros monastery that I would guess is available as well. We walked to it a couple years ago with friends. Here is Karin’s photo journalism account: Walk to Aghios Ioannis Klidonas
So here is your chance to counter those wealthy Greeks who are exporting their cash out of the country. Buy island property while the market is down.
Cheers,
Typically we choose to spend our Easter in a very low key manner. Yesterday we packed a picnic and scootered the length of the island to Monistiri Beach. We had read several articles in Paros Life indicating this beach and the peninsula behind it were being converted to a nature and conservation park.
So I was quite surprised to see that the beach club there—long noted for wild music and parties—had been enlarged and that the beach umbrella stands were all set up for this season. One never knows what is actually happening behind high-sounding press releases, I guess. Maybe it means the music will be more conservative.
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Anyone who will be near Athens this 16-20 June should check out the 2nd Annual Athens Fringe Festival. In addition to the more traditional music and stage performances the program includes bar poets, concerts in galleries, dance lessons, juggling, photography and film festivals. Even the shops are getting into the act with White Night in Athens, whatever that is. Most of the performances are at the Technopolis theatre in Gazi.
Of nearly equal moment is that we were able to collaborate on a project that I have wanted to do for years: prepare a comprehensive list and description of Paros beaches. Karin wrote most of the text and I inserted relevant photos that I could find.
Please take a look by clicking the NEW! tab above.
If that doesn’t work try this link: http://www.parosparadise.com/ParosBeaches.htm
All corrections, opinions and comments are welcome. Please comment on your favourite Paros beach.
One of the motivations for this blog is that we enjoy sharing our Paros paradise. Last week we stepped out of the virtual realm to share our island with a couple we met through blogging.
Chuck and Claire are an American couple that recently retired and are travelling around Europe in a camper van. Karin quickly found empathy with their journey and became a pen pal with Claire. While passing through Greece Chuck and Claire decided to park their van and ferry to Paros for a few days. We are so glad they did.
I won’t put any excerpts of their visit here. You must go to their blog to see the photos of Paros in March: Our Greek Island Idle
Enjoy
Well, dear reader—the few of you left—we are now back on Paros enjoying the slow pace of digging out from under the back log of work. Here we take a break by gazing out to sea or a short walk through the village. In Prague our days were filled with hopping on a tram or Metro to some site, museum or shopping centre and we took our breaks in art nouveau coffee shops.
In fact we were so busy that my Prague blog is quite empty. But Karin did quite a few photo journals that I eventually hope to include there. So if you are interested in Prague check our CzechMates in another month or so or just watch here for a bulletin.
Here is this year’s schedule:
This spring there will be a new series of Round Table Talks,
each one having a different speaker and theme.
They will start at 7.30 pm with a 40minute lead-in Talk
followed by discussion.We hope you will be able to attend these interesting evenings, with lively conversation and discussion.
There will be cheese and wine to follow.
There is no charge and you do not have to be a member of IPAC,
just someone who enjoys art, creating it – or both.The Talks and discussion will be in English.
Wednesday 17th March Ramona Ghika, BA Hons Ceramic Design, Central St. Martins College, University of the Arts LondonSubject: Endless Creativity:
Inspiration is everywhere. And if you don't see it, look again!
Wednesday 28th April Ben Nash, Cartoonist
Subject: Sex, Death, Money & Madness:
Human frailty in the world of cartoonsWednesday 5th May Subject: will be announced
Please come and invite your friends. Everybody is very welcome.
at Apothiki Art Center in Parikia, 7.30 pm
Yes, Paros is busy in its own relaxed way. We are looking forward to a lot of visitors to share it with.
Cheers,
I love that title and use it a lot when promoting my workshops on Paros. But today it is announcing a series of free mini e-courses by deTraci Regula who edits the Greece Travel part of the About.com network.
She is offering the following:
- Plan Your Trip to Greece - Plan your trip to Greece with these tips for Greek travellers
- Learn the Greek Alphabet in 8 Three-Minute Lessons - Learn the letters of the Greek Alphabet quickly and easily with these fun, easy lessons.
- Learn About Greek Mythology - Learn about the Greek gods and goddesses in this easy e-course on Greek mythology.
Think Greece -- Have Fun -- Sign up here
