How I Spent My Week

Where is this headed?

Jeff–Saturday

Caro's blog yesterday recounting the criminal felling of Britain's legendary Sycamore Gap Tree at the hands of an eco-terrorist (my description, not Caro's) riles me big time.  Perhaps that's because I spend so much time traveling around Greece and am amazed at how much of iconic value to western civilization (and beyond) lay at risk to callous acts and a panoply of preternatural psychosis. 

On that bit of alliterative P'ing, I now shall switch gears and point to the beauty that remains in our world if one just bothers to look for it.  Barbara and I are spending a few days with friends on the Aegean Cycladic island of Naxos, a place we've come to love, and which seems to be resisting (somewhat) the propensity of many Greek islands to chase tourist cash at no matter the cost to their citizens' birthright. 

Here's just a token peek at the sort of natural beauty and historical icons the gods have entrusted the Greek people to protect and preserve. May those who care persevere and succeed.

–Jeff

On the Many Joys of Finding New Friends

 

Saturday-Jeff

 

Decades ago, before I was writing mysteries for a living, I served time as a practicing lawyer. A highly successful colleague remarked to me one day that the practice of law gave him the chance to be deeply involved in the lives of clients without having to make friends with them. His precise words were, “I have enough friends and don’t need any more.”

 

What a sad and limiting outlook. 

 

From my perspective, making new friends enriches your life in unimaginable ways. If you meet people whom you instinctively like and spend time getting to know them, I’m always amazed at the things you learn when they open up about their lives…and what you learn about yourself in the process.  In other words, my dance card is never so full as to miss out on making a new friend.

 

What brought all of this to mind was a week Barbara and I spent this month on the Cycladic Greek island of Naxos.  Five years ago, we barely knew the island or anyone on it.  But when Barbara said she wanted to celebrate her birthday there, flexible me said, “Sure, whatever you say, darling.”

 

Through hotelier friends on Mykonos, we found the glorious Grotta Hotel.  Nestled atop a rugged seaside cliff, it offers in one direction a majestic seaside view of the old town of Naxos, in another the massive symbol of Naxos–the 2500-year-old Portara marble gate to an unfinished temple to Apollo––and each morning the best breakfast buffet in all of Greece.   

 

We couldn’t have been happier, but soon became precisely that when we met Nikoletta-of-the-irresistible-smile.  A powerhouse host who spares nothing to accommodate guests of her family-owned hotel, we bonded at once. So much so, that today Barbara and she are as sisters…and I get to play the crazy uncle to her perspicacious son, Spyros.

 

As if the hotel didn’t present enough to keep Nikoletta busy, she is also the moving force behind the Eggares Olive Press. Set amid the verdant, olive-growing farming village of Eggares, it’s been in Nikoletta’s family for at least five generations. Newly restored as a museum, shop, and cafe, it serves as a draw for families, where visitors learn the storied history of the Greek olive, have access to the sorts of products in which the olive plays a prominent role, and get to taste the results of some of its many culinary uses.

 

But that was only one of the serendipitous deep friendships that came out of our first journey to Naxos.

 

I’d happened to mention on Facebook that we were off to visit Naxos, and a fan wrote to me recommending that I stop by an art gallery in a village about a half hour from Naxos town. Her son was a friend of the owners, and she thought I’d like to meet them.

 

With no fixed itinerary, and the deep green valleys and marble mountains of the Cyclades largest island calling out to us for exploration, we thought, “yiati oxi” [why not?].  So, there we were, off to the heart of the island in search of a sleepy village’s dirt paths lined with oleander, jasmine, bougainvillea, fig, and honeysuckle, all set amid ancient olive groves, Byzantine stone churches, and classically restored structures.  

 

It was in this village of Halki that we discovered Fish & Olive Gallery and met its owners and creators, ceramist Katharina Bolesch and artist-sculptor Alexander Reichardt.

 

Their gallery has been an integral part of Halki for more than twenty years, and they are widely credited with bringing to this once crumbling former capital of Naxos the vigor, energy, and skill that launched a renaissance propelling Halki into what is now considered one of the island’s most charming locales and a must-visit destination for those interested in the arts.

 

The world class caliber of Katharina and Alex’s work is attested to by the long list of distinguished clients, patrons, honors, exhibitors, and foundations that proudly support them and their Gallery. At the opening of the Gallery, Mrs. Niki Goulandris, President of the Goulandris Natural History Museum, and the European Woman of the Year 1991, had this to say about our friends: “The partnership of the couple Katharina Bolesch and Alexander Reichardt in Naxos, the opening of their workshop [Fish & Olive Gallery] at Halki, represents boldness and commitment to tradition as well as to each other. Pottery in Naxos in the context of Cycladic art has had a long history. As a foreigner, to dare to carry on a tradition that had gone on for centuries demanded Katharina’s in-depth knowledge of ceramic art and the inspiration and sparkle of Alexander.”    

 

But their work goes on, and each time I see Katharina and Alex, they surprise me with some new major project underway.  This time was no exception.  They are deeply committed environmentalists, who look to the sea and earth for inspiration in their work and repay their gods-given talents by collaborating with like-minded souls such as the Cousteau family in advocating for bettering our world. 

 

Later this month, Fish & Olive Gallery will pay honor to the Tara Ocean Foundation––“the first foundation in France to be recognized as promoting the public interest dedicated to the ocean”––founded by Agnès Trouble (aka “agnes b.) and chaired by Etienne Bourgois by hosting the TARA Ocean project exhibition.

 

Barbara and I are honored to call Nikoletta, Katharina, and Alex dearest friends.

 

And I’m ever so happy that I never listened to my badly misdirected one-time colleague. 

 

––Jeff

I Am Exhausted

Jeff––Saturday

 

The photo of Barbara is only to lure you into reading further. This confessional moment is all about me complaining that I AM E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D.

 

But not for a reason likely to generate sympathy in any mortal soul. 

 

You see, we’ve been island hopping around Greece’s southern Cyclades Aegean islands for three weeks (with a finishing week ahead) at the very height of Greece’s busiest high season in recent memory. And we’ve been doing it jumping from ferry to ferry aboard our trusty/rusty 15-year-old Suzuki Jimny, aka mobile luggage carrier and safe deposit box.

 

I call it a safe deposit box not because of any ingenious security devices or secret compartments—indeed it has a tear away cabriolet top—but because no self-respecting thief would waste its time on our battle scared little Jimny with all the Bimmees, Mercees, Porchees, and RangRovees to pick from on the Greek islands during high season.

 

Instead, I rely on the hide in plain sight approach, leaving the back seat packed with (scruffy) luggage, well-worn supermarket plastic bags, and half-empty water bottles.  A plunder not tempting for even the lowliest of porch pirates.

 

But when it came to where we stayed, it was all first class and reasonably priced accommodations, miraculously pieced together at the very last minute by Barbara. I shall not rank them, for they’re all first-class gems to which we cannot wait to return. It’s been a lot of driving, a lot of book research, a lot of fun, and a lot of new wonderful friends.

 

I once knew a fellow who told me he wanted no more friends, as his “dance card” was filled with all that he needed. Poor fellow, I hope he never made it to Greece, for he did, he’d need to spring for a new dance card.

 

Before I collapse from another long day of writing, dining with friends at an unexpected treasure of a taverna, the endless conversation that fuels the Greek experience, and trying to work around the virtual Internet dead zone where we are tonight, I realized I’d not yet prepared my post for Saturday. 

 

That’s when I decided to post the names and websites—where available—of the places we stayed that we loved on our Southern Cyclades adventure. So here goes…and I’m off to bed.

 

Iraklia                           Horizon  (www.iraklia-horizon.com)

Iraklia

 

Andros (Kato Aprovatou) Cycladic Shangri la /Lemontree Guesthouse AirBNB

 

Andros

Syros (Kini)                   Pinot Di Loto (www.pinotdiloto.gr)

Syros (Kini)

 

Syros (Ermoupoli)        Top Suites Syros (www.topsuites.gr)

Syros (Ermoupoli)

 

Syros (Port)                   Diogenis (www.diogenishotel.com)

 

Syros (Port)

Naxos (Chora/Grotta)      Hotel Grotta (www.hotelgrotta.com)

 

Naxos (Chora)

Naxos (Chalki)               Wonderful Friends in Chalki

 

Naxos (Chalki)

––Jeff

 

PS.

 

Jeff’s Upcoming Events

 

Bouchercon 2022   Minneapolis, MN

Thursday, September 8th  11:30-12:15 

"Odd Jobs: Writers Write What They Know."

Alan Gordon AKA Allison Montclair (Moderator), Julie Holmes, Donna Andrews, Linda O. Johnston/Lark O. Jensen, Annelise Ryan, Jeffrey M. Siger

Welcome to Greece in Winter

Jeff–Saturday

 

A lot’s happened in our world this past week, with plenty more certain to come.  If you’re interested in catching up on that news, today’s blog may not be your cup of tea…or shot of Jack Daniel’s, sip of Metaxa 7 Star, chug of Russian Standard.

 

For a change of pace, I thought I’d share some photos sent to me by Greece-based friends capturing results of nature’s surprise winter visit to Athens and the Cycladic Islands. It’s been decades since snow so extensively blanketed those islands, and what hit Athens and its environs brought the city to a virtual Stop the World I Want to Get Off moment.

 

Here’s a glimpse of the storm’s effects on three locales—Athens and its suburbs, Mykonos, and Naxos. May you enjoy the photos snuggled up in a warm and cuddly place.

 

Athens

 

Mykonos

 

 

Naxos

 

 

–Jeff