"" I met a radical on a Grecia ..." a Greece Travel Page by johngayton

....he gave me back my smile..." copyright Joni Mitchell - from "Blue"

Yep, there are times when you have to borrow some-one else's words, but share their smiles, AND I didn't lose my camera, met a few radicals AND left with a smile ;)

This is now my second visit to Greece and I am still none the wiser how it all functions - get off the beaten track in downtown Athens and you may as well be on the "sunny-side" of the MOON, yet visit the smallest of islands and you are in some wierd and wonderful place on planet EARTH. It is still all CHAOS, total complete and utter CHAOS - no rhyme or reason to what's round that next corner, city or country, island or mainland, the next corner yields yet another hidden surprise and almost infallibly a happy one :)

Take something simple like the language, it's Greek isn't it? That's where the simplicity finishes, walk down one street and we have upper case Greek on the street signs, turn the corner and it's in lower case, check the shop fronts and they're randomly mixed, with a few italicised too just for good measure - then when you get the English translations that's when it really starts to get confusing - the P that you thought was Rho on that shop is in fact a proper P on the next one and where's the H gone from Iraklio on that map? (and we've lost the N as well!!) Thira and Fira and Oia and Ia, HA aren't these on Santorini? HeHe - NOPE they're on Thira stupid! - whose main port of course is Athinios, but that's not where your ferry ticket is for, just where the bus goes.

OK Dazed and Confused you may be but a beer is still a beer (well actually it's a birra!), a smile is still a smile BUT REMEMBER Nee means YES!

This was something that I'd always fancied doing and so when the opportunity presented itself, as a prelude to Euromeet 2007 on Santorini, I jumped at the chance. Gala (sinequanon) and Janet (janetanne) did a superb job of negotiating the yacht charters and planning our trip, leaving from Marina Alimos on the Sunday morning and aiming to arrive on Santorini on the following Friday and stopping off at various islands en-route.

As always with anything "planned" in Greece there has to be some element of chaos involved and just for good measure I managed to throw in a bit of "John Chaos" to the equation, firstly by missing my intended flight from CPH (having had a night out with Raz around town!! - night HA! -It was dawn when I got back to CPH hotel!!!), and then ending up on the wrong side of the marina when I did eventually arrive (via Prague!) at some unearthly time in the morning.

The chaos continued as I tried to find where I was supposed to be meeting the boats - have you ever tried asking a Greek for directions when your language repertoire is confined to "Birra Parakalo"? The sun was high, my light luggage seeming to absorb weight from the air itself in an almost exponential fashion as I trawled the docks, my pores excuding Danish beer with every step - had I wanted to get drunk all I would have had to do is wring my shirt out into a glass!!

But as with everything Greek (and John!!) it all fell into place after a couple of frantic mobile calls to Gala and eventually finding the port information office who finally gave me some nice simple directions - "Follow the docks round as far as they go - ITS A LONG WAY!" and an invaluable map.

Dazed and Confused, Sweaty and Foot-weary, I finally catch up with the rest of our crew(s), the familiar faces of Janet and Gala a huge relief, even Allan was a welcome sight!!!

And so the flags were hoisted, the sails set (well actually the motor was switched on!) and off we went........sailing the seven seas - with adventures and haircuts, mutinies and pirates, beers and dinners, dancing and swimming, seasickness and sunburn: all to come ;-)

Sailing the Islands provided some everlasting memories: Claudia and I now being bonded for life as "The Bouncing Buddies"!!; Gala teaching us Greek dancing on the docks of Serifos and Sifnos :-); The Greek captains mutiny!!! - Only in Greece could it be the CAPTAINS who mutiny!!! (Quelled by Gala in no uncertain fashion); Jim The Anchor and getting snagged on another chain; Bit of male bonding on Ios as we hauled the boat onto the fixed mooring; Torrential rain stranding us on Kea for the day (I really DID need that haircut!!); Swimming with and EATING the fishes - loads of fish - and of course the unifying themes for me - Beer!! Wine!! Ouzo!! Never felt so healthy after a holiday in my life!!

It's all to follow on the individual Island pages - links maybe here or elsewhere - patience dear chaps and of course YAMAS! John.