Ankunft auf Limnos

So, ich habs geschafft, die Sommerferien sind hier. Montag nachmittag um 5 bin ich in Athen mit dem Bus abgefahren, habe um 19:30 in Lavrio auf die "Samothraki" gewechselt, mit der ich dann durch die Nacht Richtung Limnos gedampft bin. An Bord habe ich Leute aus dem Dorf getroffen, so dass ich Gesellschaft hatte.

Die Zeit auf dem Schiff verging dadurch schneller und ich wurde gleich Über die neuesten Entwicklungen im Dorf informiert. Geschlafen habe ich etwa drei unruhige Stunden. Morgens um 5 sind wir in Myrina angekommen. Ich konnte zum Glück mit Leuten vom Dorf nach Panagia mitfahren. So bin ich um 7:30 im Häuschen angekommen. Hätte ich den Bus um 11 nehmen müssen, wäre ich erst nach 12 hier angekommen.

Weiteres Glück: Das Haus ist in sehr gutem Zustand, sauber, ohne Wassereinbrüche oder sonstige Katastrophen. Da mein Freund Spiros vor kurzem im Haus war, war alles viel sauberer als letztes Jahr (damals musste ich erstmal ein paar Tage putzen). Nach kürzester Putzarbeit konnte ich mich gleich aufs Ohr hauen. Guter Trick für Ferienhäuser: Vor der Abreise einige saubere Bettwäsche einpacken, dann hat man es bei der Wiederankuft einiges einfacher.

Mittags bin ich dann erstmal Fisch essen gegangen. Und dann nachh einam weiteren Nachmittagsnickerchen um sieben erstmal schwimmen. Der erste Tag im Dorf.

Looking at Samothraki

Yesterday, while biking to Zemata beach (25 minutes over dirt roads) I had a good view on Samothraki. Samothraki is an island about 50km from Limnos. It was one of the occasions, where I wished I had a better camera. On the picture the mountain in the sea that is the island of Samothraki is hardly visible, but in real the view was much better. Still it had that dreamy atmosphere.

Samothraki's top mountain peak is 1611m above sea level. That's why we can see it from Limnos (when the wind and the weather is right). It's also a green island, full of trees. Much different then Limnos, I really should make a small trip to Samothraki.

The Year of the Tomato

Apparently this year on Limnos is the year of the tomato. Multiple sources (wishing to remain anonymous, though it was mainly Sotiris who told me) confirmed to me that cucumbers, peas, carrots and other vegetables, and even grapes, did not have a good year. Confirming this myself, I haven't seen a local grown cucumber in the last two weeks. But tomatoes. There are lots of tomatoes around, and very fine tomatoes indeed.

So at Stratoulas cafe / fish tavern, what I get for salad is tomatoes. When I go to one of the shops, there are lots of tomatoes. And one of my unnamed sources announced, that his mother is preserving all those tomatoes they got from their fields, so she can make tomato sauce for a while now without buying any of the stuff. I haven't tasted Sotiris mother's tomato sauce, but judging her cooking skills from her fasolia and other assorted dishes, I believe it will be great.

The two specimens in the picture were given to me for free in the Super Mini Market. This crazy Swiss guy went there and took 3 (three) tomatoes. The shop-owners mother did not laugh about me (at least not while I was there), but she refused to weight and subsequently charge those few tomatoes. So you've got two in the picture, while I tested the taste with the third one. Excellent.

Writing in the Distance

The last week or so I had been reading in "The Selected Letters of Anton Chekhov"[1]f. I'm not usually into reading this kind of stuff, literary letters etc., I even get bored by collections of short stories pretty fast. I need a story that develops, has depth and moves on, in short: a novel. But Chekhov's letters had something that held my interest. Most of them are alive, they tell a story and keep me wanting to read the next one to find out what happened afterwards. But apart from being a good read, these letters catalyzed my thinking about letters, about keeping contact with friends and family far away...

Abschied von Panagia und Limnos

Mit einem Bild von letzter Woche möchte ich mich von Παναγιά und Λήμνος (dem Dorf Panagia auf der Insel Limnos) verabschieden. Auf dem Rückweg vom Strand Zemata habe ich halt gemacht um den Mond über dem Dorf zu bewundern. Das Dorf ist auf dem Bild rechts nur ganz milchig zu erkennen, das Meer dahinter kann man sich auf dem Foto nur denken. Der Mond ist fast voll, mit dem Auge scheint er riesig zu sein, im Vergleich dazu erscheint er auf dem Bild winzig.

Panagia ist kein Ort an dem es viel Ramba-Zamba gibt, es ist ein ruhiges Dorf nicht weit vom Meer. Gut zum Ausspannen, Fisch essen, es gelassen nehmen. Badeferien, Veloferien, Faulenz-Ferien. Inzwischen bin ich wieder am Packen und auf dem Weg in die grosse Stadt. Bis bald, Panagia!

Back in the Jungle

Just a short note: I arrived in Athens after an 18 hour trip door to door. That includes around 13 hours on the ship. (The picture shows the top deck of the ferry boat SAOS II. But don't let the empty space fool you, the boat was packed full with passengers.) Then I had to take the KTEL bus to Athens (Pedio tou Ares).

I arrived home Friday around 5 in the afternoon. Slept long this night, but am still a bit groggy. Coping with unpacking, laundry, getting things sorted out. Now I'm in for a treat of the city, going out to cinema, seeing what's about. What a change after the quiet on the island.

How To Get To Limnos

Now that I'm back in Athens, I'm reflecting a bit about this trip I took. Limnos (or Lemnos as the English speaking sometimes write it), had a lot of tourism this year, almost more than the island is prepared for. 97% booked out hotels, 100% booked out planes (waiting lists closed because of overbooking) and ferry boats. Tourism may increase as people get to know and like the island. Up to now this tourism is mostly Greek tourism, but soon the foreigners may get to know Limnos as a non-typical Greek island too.

But transport to and from the island is still a problem: It's hard to travel to Limnos and even harder to come back. I had recommended the island to a few friends, but only the very interested ones persist enough to actually get there. This August, nobody had visited me, mainly for this reason. Some thoughts about getting to Limnos:...

Picking Up at an "Old" Project

Today is my first day back at work after a months vacation. After saying hello and asking everyone how they spent their vacation time, I got back to work where I left on my "old" project. In fact it's not that easy, since I completely "got away" from work on my vacation. So I made a little plan on how to get back into things...