Who is Online

We have 152 guests and no members online

 

Tourlos

 

Arriving at the Mykonos Cruise Port at Tourlos, we initially took a bus tour of the island. Among the points of interest was the island of Delos, offshore, the mythical birthplace of Apollo and Artemis (who's temple was one of the seven wonders previously referred to here). 

 

On Mykonos many houses have these characteristic 'pigeon houses' - a  source of protein
In the distance is the island of Delos - it's the preserve of anthropologists and is tourist free. 

 

Not to be overawed by the proximity of Apollo, we also visited a church/monastery (built by those Johnny-cum-lately Christians with their single three-in-one God).

In fact, there are hundreds of churches on Mykonos. All very picturesque. Apparently, every family had or has their own church, in order to ensure the safe return of fishermen.  Apparently, Apollo is little use in that regard - He's not Poseidon.

We also visited Kalafati beach which, we were told, is much visited by jet-setters. Gaze in wonder - what celebrities may have waded here?

 

 Ano Mera is home to the restored 16th-century monastery Panagia Tourliani,
which houses holy icons and features - as Wikipedia tells us: a 'striking' bell tower and a marble fountain.
We did a tour of the holy objects in the museum - but there is none so holy as the icon, seen in the picture above,
set in a golden frame with silver accoutrements and a face blackened by time and circumstance. 
The faithful queued to offer a silent prayer.
The beach, on the other hand, recalled much more secular pursuits - boys the girls met when backpacking.

Mykonos town is reached by ferry or bus from the cruise port that's a 30 minute hot walk to town. We caught the ferry.

Once away from the very touristy seafront it's quite a steep walk to the top but the view is worth it. Again, picturesque.

  

There are more photos of Mykonos in the album - click on the image above to see them 

 

 Our next stop was the last on the cruise - back in Athens - from where, after a flight delay, we flew to Crete where we had rented a car for the following week.

 

No comments

Travel

Bali

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of February 2016 Wendy and I took a package deal to visit Bali.  These days almost everyone knows that Bali is a smallish island off the east tip of Java in the Southern Indonesian archipelago, just south of the equator.  Longitudinally it's just to the west of Perth, not a huge distance from Darwin.  The whole Island chain is highly actively volcanic with regular eruptions that quite frequently disrupt air traffic. Bali is well watered, volcanic, fertile and very warm year round, with seasons defined by the amount of rain.

Read more: Bali

Fiction, Recollections & News

Recollections of 1963

 

 

 

A Pivotal Year

 

1963 was a pivotal year for me.  It was the year I completed High School and matriculated to University;  the year Bob Dylan became big in my life; and Beatlemania began; the year JFK was assassinated. 

The year had started with a mystery the Bogle-Chandler deaths in Lane Cove National Park in Sydney that confounded Australia. Then came Buddhist immolations and a CIA supported coup and regime change in South Vietnam that was both the beginning and the begining of the end for the US effort there. 

Suddenly the Great Train Robbery in Britain was headline news there and in Australia. One of the ringleaders, Ronnie Biggs was subsequently found in Australia but stayed one step of the authorities for many years.

The 'Space Race' was well underway with the USSR still holding their lead by putting Cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova into orbit for almost three days and returning her safely. The US was riven with inter-racial hostility and rioting. But the first nuclear test ban treaties were signed and Vatican 2 made early progress, the reforming Pope John 23 unfortunately dying midyear.

Towards year's end, on the 22nd of November, came the Kennedy assassination, the same day the terminally ill Aldous Huxley elected to put an end to it.

But for sex and scandal that year the Profumo Affair was unrivalled.

Read more: Recollections of 1963

Opinions and Philosophy

The Carbon Tax

  2 July 2012

 

 

I’ve been following the debate on the Carbon Tax on this site since it began (try putting 'carbon' into the search box).

Now the tax is in place and soon its impact on our economy will become apparent.

There are two technical aims:

    1. to reduce the energy intensiveness of Australian businesses and households;
    2. to encourage the introduction of technology that is less carbon intensive.

Read more: The Carbon Tax

Terms of Use

Terms of Use                                                                    Copyright