A Church Question and A Cruise Answer

 

Agia Kyriaki today, Dimitris Koutsoukos photo

Jeff–Saturday

 

Today, I’m torn between (a) asking a question, and (b) providing an answer to an often-asked question. They’re not related to each other in any way, but both represent what I believe are topics many have on their minds.

 

I think I’ll do both.

 

First, my question:

 

As some of you may know from hearing me talk about how I came to write the first novel in my Greece-based mystery-thriller series, the core plot came to me in a vision while I gazed up at the adorned ceilings of one of Mykonos most significant churches, Agia Kyriaki in Chora.  I’d looked away so as not to see the open casket of my best friend on the island for whom I now served as a pallbearer.   

 

That church later featured in my debut novel…as it has in many important moments in the lives of generations of Mykonians.

 

All of which brings me around to asking this question:

 

Can anyone give me a clear explanation of why this revered gem of a place of worship has been––and remains––stripped of much of its outer protective stucco finish in such a way as to leave it at obvious risk for severe, if not irreparable, damage from the elements?

 

I can’t imagine it’s a matter of finances.  After all, we’re talking Mykonos, where one day’s take by any number of its clubs would be more than enough to rebuild the church from scratch.

Agia Kyriaki in better days

 

I await an answer.

 

Second, here’s my answer to a question asked by many who long to visit Greece, i.e.,

 

What’s it like to cruise the Greek isles aboard a major cruise ship?

 

The answer came to me by email today in the form of a twenty-minute video shot by Robert Gundersen. I met Rob and his wife Joan a few years back at Pittsburgh’s Mystery Lovers Bookshop. Rob kindly sent me this link to their May 2022 seven-day Celestyal Cruise Lines jaunt to Thessaloniki, Kusadasi (Turkey), Rhodes, Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, and Milos. It’s far more than a home movie, for it gives you a sense of what it’s like to tour that way, and whether it’s for you or not. Hope it helps.

 

A final note:  Next week in Minneapolis is Bouchercon, the big daddy of mystery conventions.  Sadly, I’ll be missing the festivities this year, but I wish my friends and MIE mates who’ll be attending––and all the hard-working volunteers who make Bouchercon happen––the best BCON ever!

 

 

–Jeff