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| Paros Shepherd Newsletter - Winter
To get current issues please subscribe by sending an email with Subscribe as subject. Published 5 Feb 03
Greetings! It has been a
long time since our last newsletter in early November. We have been laid
back, just like the island. So we have a lot of catching up to do. There
will be many changes for the 2003 season which we will be ready to announce
soon. In the mean time Karin will tell you about this winter.
November on Paros was still quite active.
It reminds me of watching ants getting all their work done for the coming
winter months. Local farmers are cleaning up fields, getting gardens ready
for the next growing season; others making necessary repairs on homes, and
hotels; and new construction being started. Most hotels and restaurants are
boarded up, and only those stores that cater to the locals are in full
operation. Pariokia is still quite busy, however. Aliki is extremely quiet.
I feel like a local now, as shop owners greet me as one of the islanders.
That feels nice! I only wish my Greek was better. Some shop owners actually
extend some help to me when I attempt to communicate with them in their
language. Eventually, though, we end up laughing and speaking English. I
definitely need to work on my Greek, but the other day I deciphered a box cake
mix in no time, making me realize it IS getting easier.
November saw Michael and I taking a couple
of weeks to fly to Ireland on business. My, it does rain a lot there! In
some ways, it was comforting to see familiar territory and definitely nice to
visit friends. Yet we were glad to return to Paros.
We also needed to make a quick overnight
trip to Athens on business; this was made just a few days before
Christmas. It was the highlight of the season for me. Athens was magic.
Total magic. We went up to the
Plaka (the old city under the Acropolis) which is a shopper's paradise! The
area also has old Venetian architecture mixed in with ancient ruins, etc. It
was warm enough to take coffee outside at the coffee houses. Then when dusk
came, the night became a fairyland with lights everywhere! It is hard to
explain them, they are different than what we have in the USA and also in
Ireland. No coloured ones, and the designs are different. Suffice it to say,
it was awesome!
We walked through the Plaka up through the main shopping street, for foot
traffic only, to the National Palace where the changing of the guard takes
place regularly on the hour. In front of this palace is a huge square
called Syntagma Square. In it is the tallest Christmas tree in
Europe!--they say. Every tree within the square was full of lights, but
what was so exciting was Santa Clauses everywhere, holding small ponies for
kids to have their pictures taken on. Balloon vendors galore with some of
the most imaginable balloons I have ever seen! Vendors selling
cotton candy, roasted corn and chestnuts. Carts full of all kinds of nuts
to buy. Merchants selling their wares reminiscent of a souk: sun glasses,
shirts, rugs, scarves, hats, gloves, books, paintings, even canaries! Along
the street were entertainers from Bolivia and Peru, playing their
instruments in hopes of selling their CD's. (they were selling like
hotcakes!). Further along was a group from Jamaica playing steel drums and
playing calypso. It was so much fun, everyone jiggling and wiggling! Even
I could hardly manage to not make a complete fool of myself with the beat!
I wanted SO MUCH to just shed my coat and wiggle all over with arms and legs
going to the rhythm!!! But I held back....and it was hard to do that! I
love music that makes me want to let go, so to speak. I dance much better in
my mind, I might add!
If anyone would like to read more--a lot more--about our trip to Athens and Christmas, you can find the whole story on line at: http://parosparadise.com/graphics/Christmas in Athens.htm
Christmas in Aliki was probably one of the
quietest I have ever spent. I understand the religious experience is
saved for Easter. We had a tiny fake tree on our table, with some treasures
underneath, and some Christmas music on the radio. That was it. Well, of
course we made the day special for us, but yet it was kind of pathetic in one
sense, yet refreshing in the sense that it is definitely not commercial. I
did not hear a single church bell ring... but Aliki had some lights strung up,
and a nice boat outlined in lights on the beach. Pariokia had more street
decorations, and some of the stores had nice displays. The day before
Christmas I was in a video store and some children came in with a small metal
triangle to ring and sing some sort of ditty. The idea is to get money! The
poor girl in the video store spent most of her time taking money OUT of the
till! It is customary to give one Euro to each child. I would compare this
to The Wrens in Ireland, and of course in the States, we have nothing like it.
New Years was also quiet. In Aliki it was
a beautiful starry cold night. We were invited to join our neighbor, Peter, a
man of culture about 72 years old. He wanted to do something, so he put on a
fish buffet. He said it was what the Germans do. While he is English, he
lived most of his adult life in Germany. I helped him some, but mostly just
sat and drank brandy! He is very proud, and wanted to do it himself, but
didn't mind if I was there to help if need be. He also invited his nephew and
wife, so after a fashion, it was a party! Midnight came, and after a
toast, we all slipped off to our homes, as Peter suddenly looked very tired.
Afterwards he told me he stayed up until 5:00 AM watching German TV and the
New Year's celebrations there!!!
January has been a month of variable
weather patterns. Some days were so nice we could eat out of doors on our
balcony in the sun, put clothes out to dry and take scooter rides to look at
fields of winter flowers. The flip side was days of staying inside, keeping
the rain from seeping under the doors, huddled in front of a portable heater
and drinking coffee while reading books. We worked 2 large jigsaw puzzles in
one week! I suppose it all sounds nice, but I opt for the sun any day! As
January ends I think there appears to be a pattern to the weather: Sunny and
windy mornings (very fresh), and around 2:00 - 3:00 PM it clouds up with a
dark and sinister sky and rains heavily! Then by nightfall it will be clear
again only to wake up in the night to the patter of rain, or the flopping
around of the rush roof on the upstairs balcony. It makes going into town
difficult, because if you are busy and do not watch the sky, then it is easy
to get caught in the rain coming home. Not fun on a scooter.
We just said goodbye to hotel guests
from Portland, Oregon! They stayed a week, and since they were the only ones
here, we got to be pretty good friends! Well, that was easy, because they
were Oregonians! It was like having a visit from relatives! We shared a few
meals, I was a guide around the island one sunny day, and we ate out one
night. Knowing we were coffee drinkers, they brought us 3 bags of coffee
beans from Coffee People and Starbucks! WOW!!!!! GREAT!!!!! I impressed her
with my Chai recipe straight from Seattle (found on the internet). They felt
like they were at home...until they tried octopus in a taverna!
Unfortunately, when it was time for them to go back to Athens, the wind kept
them from leaving for 2 days. That can be exasperating, but they were good
sports. Since they fly standby, at least they did not have to catch any
certain flight at a certain time. I know now that our advice to travellers to
save Athens to the last couple of days in case the ferries don't run is a very
good advice.
So, that is all for now. I will enclose a
picture of winter flowers.....doesn't it look like late spring instead of
January? And now in February the poppies are blooming. . .
To get current issues please subscribe by sending an email with Subscribe as subject.
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Karin and I enjoy reading about a destination before our journey. We find that we get more from the experience by knowing something about the area and it's history. Know Before You Go! For North American residents we highly recommend our favorite big book store, Powell's. For Europe and the rest of the world you can't go wrong with Amazon.
Last modified: 05/25/08 |
