Ahhhhhhhhh!
Hello Geezer readers. Hope all five of you are well. This is my second blog from stunning scenic Santorini - see the first part at http://swandiving.typepad.com - the bird's blog.
Like last time, we're blogging from our villa balcony, which clings precariously to the inside of Santorini's volcanic caldera. See, when the volcano blew the center of the island all over the Aegean over three thousand years ago, it created this huge lagoon in the center of the semi-circular surviving ring of the island - like a Pacific atoll!!
So Maria and I are sitting here looking out over the still moonlit waters of the caldera (lagoon), a gentle southerly breeze blowing, and I'm imagining Alastair MacLean-style British commando raids on unsuspecting Italian and German garrisons (we were just chatting to an old Greek guy who was gravely recounting the wartime years ...)
OK, picture time (click on the thumbnails for the full size photo) ...
Here I am on our down day yesterday - a day of not doing much, sitting around reading our books. From time immemorial I have enjoyed letting the water from a cool shower drip off me in a warm country, armed only with a crummy book and a beer. In this case, it was this holiday's "diamond in the rough," The Postman - now a major Kevin Costner motion picture. By the way, no one out there better dog on Kevin Costner movies because - to get technical for a moment - they rock!
Here's where I got that little gem - Atlantis Books. It's this great bookshop run by a couple of young Americans and Brits, installed in this poky little set of rooms under a rocky promonotory at the tip of the island. What a concept - they're selling off books old and new in a place with zero competition, their lives are easy, they sit there all day in their cool bookshop, shuffling the i-pod to set their soundtrack, look out onto their large balcony to catch the best sunset in the Aegean. Like the legendary Shakespeare & Co. in the Mediterranean - see http://gyoza.com/shakespeare/html/RDCframes.html
Ahhh! That is the life ... Bravo Atlantis Books, Bravo ...
Here's the sunset view from the little Armeni beach - a tiny fisherman's cove down a long slender cliffside pathway. We did a bit of "swimming" - read paddling - off the dock whilst all the tourists scrambled to catch the sunset on the other end of Oia. We, naturally, are not tourists - we are ... sigh ... travellers ...
Poopy. enjoying the sunset. Simply beautiful ...
"reincarnated warrior of old, I remember you" ...
We saw these three sailing ships as we ascended from Armeni beach. Lovely to see the ships moving under sail. After reaching the top of the strenuous climb, we felt really really alive - young, fit, and in love ...
Like all great tales, this blog entry ends where it began ... with me quoffing a beer. In these islands, under this sun, pitted against the saltiness and dryness of the air, any beer becomes the elixir of life and any man can become king for a day.
looks like such a wonderful trip, i hope to be a copycat one day. I can hear you talk in your writing, very entertaining!
Posted by: mia | October 26, 2004 at 03:48 PM
"A great study of the Geezer, and his roman nose, in profile, having Alexandrian delusions. The sea is calling to him, whispering ...
"reincarnated warrior of old, I remember you" ..."
Oh boy, I wish you nothing but the best.
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Patton: "You don't believe me, do you Brad? You know what the poet said,
'Through the travail of ages, midst the pomp and toils of war, have I fought and strove and perished, countless times among the stars. As if through a glass and darkly, the age old strife I see, when I fought in many guises and many names, but always me.'"
Patton: "Do you know who the poet was?"
Bradley [smiles slightly and shakes his head, no]
Patton: "Me."
Posted by: Uncle Abner | November 10, 2004 at 02:08 PM