Gone Greek!

by Sheila Sobell ©

Going Greek island hopping? Take these suggestions with you to make the best of going Greek!

Santorini

Our first glimpse from the cable car of startling white-washed geometrically shaped houses and blue-domed churches against a painterly sky knocks us out. Just as “good fences make good neighbors” in Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall,” in Santorini, buildings are constructed close to each other for mutual protection against winds that could easily decimate those standing alone.

Of course, in tourist season, the main streets of Fira Town are thronged with tourists, but the local bus service to outlying villages is excellent; the tickets cheap and easy to buy on the bus From Fira, our first stop is Pyros, a tiny marvelously preserved fishing village 4.5 miles southwest of Santorini. Built into the side of Mount Profitis Ilias, this quintessential Cycladic village offers breathtaking views of the island. The capitol of Santorini until the early 1800s, it boasts 42 churches for about 400 inhabitants – or one for every 95 residents – probably the highest church/resident ratio in all of Europe. From early days, the village’s economy relied on fishing. When the men returned safely from the sea, they‘d bring a special offering for the church altar. As the families prospered, they wanted to make a more grandiose gesture of gratitude to God and built their own houses of worship.

Arty Oia gets less of the tourist throng than Santorini, as well as our vote for most romantic date. We stopped for lunch at Kandouni restaurant in the old town. It’s a toss- up as to whether its history, décor or cuisine – a blend of Thai, Spanish, Norwegian and Italian influences - is the more enticing. Originally the home of a sea captain who plied his trade far from home for much of the year, the house was protected by high walls from which his wife could pour hot oil over pirates looking for an easy target to pillage. Later the building housed the village’s first pharmacy. A century-old photo of the doctor and his nurse who operated the pharmacy was discovered by the current owners, and hangs in a prominent position in the restaurant.

Corfu

You can’t go anywhere on Corfu island without bumping into Greek mythology and literature. Take the island’s distinctive shape. According to our guide, there was a power struggle between Uranus, god of the sky, and his son Coronus, who was itching to usurp him. After Coronus castrated Uranus with a scythe, he threw the bloody instrument into the sea. It sank under the island and turned to stone, reshaping the land mass above. From the foam created by the mix of blood and sperm, Aphrodite, the goddess of love was born. Centuries later, power still proves a potent aphrodisiac.

The Greeks are masters at preserving their heritage by incorporating the old into the new. In an 11th century church in Anemomilos, a suburb of Corfu, the two pillars supporting the roof are remnants of a Greek temple that stood on the site originally. Next to them are rough block Corfu letters spelling out the name of Jesus Christ. These, along with the crosses etched into the stones overhead, indicate that the building has been transformed from a Greek temple to a Christian church.

Anemomilos itself has become a focus of conservation efforts. Called the “land of the windmills” because production was once centered there, the village is populated with curious one room houses once home to factory workers. Found nowhere else on the island, the houses are still used as dwellings.

What surprises us is the plethora of olive trees here and throughout Corfu, and by comparison, the rather small production of wine. Although viniculture was a major industry during Roman occupation, the emphasis changed to olive oil production after the Phoenicians conquered Corfu in the 14th century and subsidized the planting of olive trees. Today Corfu boasts more than four million trees with revenue from olive oil second only to tourism.

We want to bring something back from our visit to Corfu, but our guide pointed out that there are few crafts indigenous to the island. At D’Oliva at Ag. Spyridonos St. 26 we stop to admire how the old local tradition of olive wood carving has survived over the centuries; then bought marmalade, candied fruit and liquor made from the kumquat or “golden fruit” introduced to Corfu in the 19th century by the ambassador to China and Japan, who brought the plants back to the island in his luggage.

Quite by accident we discover the finds of finds - a local selling a series of beautifully shaped wooden bowls and an extraordinary wine shop. Inside is a variety of wines available for tasting in Dixie cups. All of the labels are simple strips masking tape with a phrase written in ink to describe the contents – dry white, dry red, sweet red, etc. The sweet red, just €3, is a stunner and the perfect way to celebrate our Corfu experience.

Suitably fortified, we stop for baklava, karydopita (nut cake) and Greek coffee at the Golden Fox in Lankones village, a restaurant clinging to the side of a mountain with a dazzling view of the bays of Paleokastritsa. A charming village with just one very narrow road bookended by stop lights to regulate traffic, and women wearing native Greek dress, it seems much further away from the sophisticated city of Corfu than 25 km.

When we get the bill, we are surprised that there is no charge for the bottle of water on our table when we arrived. “The ancient Greeks believed that Zeus was the friend of foreigners,” says our guide. “When people traveled through dust and heat, traditionally the first thing they were offered was a drink of water. Still today some restaurants offer you a glass of water free of charge as symbol of hospitality.”

If You Go

For general information about Greece, visit www.gnto.gr. For information on accommodations and transportation, visit www.gtp.gr. Bus information for Santorini is at www.ktel-santorini.gr. Details about the Kandouni restaurant in Oia are at www.kandouni.com. Details about the Golden Fox restaurant in Corfu are at www.corfugoldenfox.com.

Sheila Sobell and Richard N. Every are professional worldwide travel photojournalists and members of the Society of American Travel Writers and the North American Travel Journalist Association. Visit them at www.writersobell.com.