Who Pays The Ferryman?

Image: Newly built and extended Evthilos harbor

There is something very reassuring about watching the arrival of the daily ferry from Piraeus. Depending on the direction of the wind, you can often hear – and even feel – the steady pulse of its motors long before it appears around the headland that obscures the ferry’s approach into Evthilos harbour (one of two ferry stops on the Aegean island of Ikaria).

This feeling of reassurance, and the sense of security the ferry engenders has to do with the dependence islanders have on this vital link to mainland Greece. Not just because it is the most efficient and cost effective way of transporting large numbers of people between Athens and Ikaria (and the other islands along its route), but also because of the other benefits the ferry brings.

Greek island ferries don’t just transport people, they carry all the daily essentials that modern societies take for granted. From fresh fruit and vegetables, to all manner of groceries; from building materials and feed for livestock to white goods and computer systems. All these and much more depend on a vast ferry system to reach their destinations on far flung islands across the Aegean, the Cyclades, Dodecanese, Saronic and Ionian islands, and other regions.

Some three dozen companies, large and small, provided thousands of ferry sailings each month. Not only are all the major Greek islands and dozens of smaller islands serviced by these companies, but some ferries will even get you as far as Venice, Italy; Port Said, Egypt; Haifa, Israel; Limassol, Cyprus; and Bodrum, Marmaris and other ports along the Turkish coast.

…

Image: Loading ramp of the Blue Star Line’s Ithaki about to berth in Mykonos

The main ferry servicing Ikaria is the Nissos Mykonos, a 28 knot vessel capable of carrying 1,900 passengers and up to 418 vehicles. The seven hour journey to Evthilos also includes stops at the islands of Syros and Mykonos. From Evthilos the ferry continues around to Agios Kyrikos, the capital of Ikaria, and from there on to the island of Samos before making a night trip back to Piraeus. Travellers who like a bit of luxury on their overnight journeys can relax and sleep in one of 31 cabins provided for the purpose.

Built in Greece in 2005, the Nissos Mykonos is a far cry from the old ferries that Greece was known for 20 or 30 years ago. Owned and operated by Hellenic Seaways, this award winning vessel, like many other modern ferries provides passengers with a level of comfort, speed and regular itineraries that comes as a something of a shock to those of us who sailed on the old rust buckets that masqueraded as Greek ferries in the past. The Nissos Mykonos, even provides free WiFi for the plugged in traveler to make use of on long voyages.

Gone too, are the days when passengers and baggage had to be off-loaded from the decks of ferries into pitching rowing boats, for the final hundred yard ‘splash and dash’ to the safety of the harbor-side. Now ferries moor inside fine harbors, and reverse up against wharves which allow passengers and vehicles to pour off (and on) them quickly, efficiently, and safely.

…

Image: The EKO 1 fuel transporter in Evthilos harbor. Note the No Smoking sign on superstructure

Some types of vehicles seem to be absent from the decks of the Nissos Mykonos, and presumably similar vessels. These are fuel laden trucks and trailers that clearly pose a major hazard on the pitching decks of an island bound ferry. To prevent this type of accident, small, specially designed ships visit the islands on a regular basis to off-load fuel into trucks which carry their precious (and dangerous) loads to service stations across each island.

While Ikaria is reachable via a regular ferry service, the island is also large enough – and busy enough – to have its own airport. Those visitors not wishing to spend seven or eight hours on a ferry, can fly between Athens and the island in a couple of hours or so. But for me, one of the joys of travel, is the pleasure I get from journeying on waterborne craft of any size (see previous entries: Up A Lazy River…, and Brooklyn Hidden Harbor Tour…).

One of the best online sites to begin your research on Greek ferries is Matt Barrett’s Athens Guide, where you will find a wealth of information about ferry services, and a mass of information about Athens and other parts of Greece.

Friday Photo #14: Storage Containers

Click image to view full size

I discovered these large storage containers gathering dust in the basement of an abandoned stone house on the Greek island of Ikaria during my extended stay there in 2008.

I have no idea how old they are, but they are almost certainly 60-70 years old if not even up to 100 years old. They were – and still are – traditionally used to store olive oil, or the whole olives themselves. They might also be used to store home made wine, potatoes, or other long lasting vegetables or grains, which would serve to keep the household in provisions throughout the long winters.

Today, modern containers made from plastic are substituting for these large clay pots, which can be a metre or more (3 feet) high. As durable as the plastic may be, it will never be as aesthetically pleasing to look at, nor will it last as long.

Photographer: Jim Lesses, Ikaria, May 2008

Friday Photo #11: The Longing

Click image to view full size

One of my favourite images from my stay on the Greek island of Ikaria, over the summer of 2008. There are no prizes for guessing what this group of teenage girls are looking at, as they prepare to take part in a summer dance festival on Saturday, June 14, 2008, in the Ikarian village of Rahes.

I have uploaded several videos of performances from this festival to YouTube, including the one embedded below in which you catch glimpses of these same girls performing during the evening.

The film is a compilation of many of the dances performed that night. The festival took place on the village basketball court, under lights that attracted hundreds of moths and other airborne insects which fell constantly onto the heads of the audience below. This probably explains why only half the lights were turned on during the performances. Unfortunately, this also made it extremely difficult to get good, well lit footage of the dances.

The music you hear throughout the film is the traditional Ikarian dance known as the Ikariotiko. The music is performed here on a Tsampouna, an instrument made out of goat skin, which has obvious links to the Scottish bagpipe and the gaida. The player is probably Eva Kratsa from the Aegean Island of Mikonos. That’s her in the last frame of the video just before the final credits.

A full, unedited film of the Ikariotiko dance that ended the festival can also be found on YouTube under the name, This Island Life: Rahes Festival Ikariotiko.

Photograph: The Longing, by Jim Lesses

Location: Rahes, Ikaria, June 2008

Spring Has Sprung, Down Under

~ It is one of those quirks of nature that while the northern hemisphere enjoys summer, the southern hemisphere rugs up for winter. And so it is, that the first days of September herald the start of spring in Australia, while Europe and North America start moving into autumn (or fall, as our American cousins like to say).

And so it is too, that the more the months, weeks, and days tick inexorably by, the more I seem to have travel on my mind. Especially now that spring is in the air.

I am still not much nearer to finalising my travel plans for next year. Maybe it’s because I’m a Libran! Or maybe it’s because I’ve never been good at making quick or snap decisions that have the potential for major impact on my life. Personally, I hate to blame my procrastination and constant vacillating on a star sign. That’s too easy, and quite frankly a cop out. Still, all these things are plaguing my thoughts today as I look at the calendar and tick off the days in the lead up to April 2010.

One of the downsides of being a solo traveller, is that you have no-one to share the planning and decision making process with. Sure, you can discuss and mull over the various options available to you with family and friends, but there’s only so much you can expect from those closest to you.

Putting myself in their shoes, I think I would soon tire of the constant discussions revolving around which destination to visit first.

“Yes, Jim,” I can feel them thinking, “It’s all very well us sitting around planning your holiday with you, but while you are lazing on the sandy beaches of some Greek island, sipping coffee on the Champs-Élysées, or spending weeks driving the byways of America, we are going to be stuck here in dear old Adelaide!”

So, ultimately, you have to make all the decisions on your own.

As April draws nearer, I will start to solidify some of the ideas rolling around in my head. On any given day they can and do change constantly, but currently my thinking is thus: fly directly to Athens, Greece, and spend the first month or so on Ikaria (see Friday Photo #7: My Island Home, Ikaria, Greece). Then travel overland to one of several possible destinations (Italy, France, Spain or England). Since I am currently learning a smattering of Spanish (see Spanish is The Loving Tongue), it makes sense to visit Spain in order to reinforce the Spanish I’ve already learnt and to hopefully learn even more.

However, early next year I will also undertake a French for Fun and Travel class at the adult learning school where I am currently taking the Spanish class, so it would also make sense to spend some time in France.

At any point I can always return to Greece, which could serve as my European base. My aim is to spend most of the northern spring and summer in Europe, and then travel to America later in the year for a stay in New York, before driving south to Arizona to visit a cousin in Tucson. I will either return to Australia from there, or return to Europe.

As you can see, I have much to decide, and a thousand decisions to make before I book my flight, and for a Libran, a thousand decisions is about 999 decisions too many!

Spring Flowers image courtesy of Rikx Flickr Photostream

Friday Photo #7: My Island Home, Ikaria, Greece

Click image to view full size

This stunning view along the south coast of the north-east Aegean island of Ikaria was taken late in the afternoon from the terrace of my sisters house at Partheni. The beach in the foreground is Kampos Beach, and the cluster of homes in the middle distance are part of the port town of Evthilos. The village on the hillside in the far distance is Karavostamo.

Imagine waking up to this view every morning! Or maybe sitting on the terrace at the end of a long hot summer day, with a Greek coffee, or home made wine in hand, and watching the ever changing colours as the sun slowly sets in the west.

If there is a heaven out there somewhere, this would be one of my ideal visions of it.

Photograph: My Island Home, by Jim Lesses

Location: Ikaria, Greece, April 2008.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

~ My attention was drawn to an article in the Adelaide Advertiser published on February 17. It detailed the enormous costs associated with getting married in Australia in 2008. I believe the original source for the data published in the paper came from an online poll conducted by Bride to Be last year.

Here are a few Australian dollar figures for you to think about if you are contemplating taking that fateful step.

• The average cost of getting married in Australia is $50,000
• One couple reported spending more than $62,000 on their wedding!
• The average cost of wedding receptions is almost $10,500 (approx: $110.00 per head)…
• …which means the average number of guests is around a 100
• Even wedding cakes cost a small fortune these days – an average of $387.00

All of this got me thinking about the four weddings I attended last year during my stay on the Greek island of Ikaria.

The first wedding I went to had upwards of a 1000 guests!

No, that number is not a typo – it is correct, although not precise. The exact number of guest is unknown, because although the couple getting married issue invitations to family and friends in the traditional manner, the invited guests are not expected to RSVP their intentions to attend. Both families concerned just assume that everyone invited will be there, and that if they don’t, others will make up the numbers!

By the way, at one of the other weddings I attended they were expecting 1200-1300 hundred guests! The numbers fell well short of that (again around a 1000 or so), because there were two other weddings taking place on the island at the same time, and many families would have received invitations to at least two, if not all three events.

Here is a seven minute video I put together of the wedding and the party that followed. I call it a party, because essentially that’s what it is – a huge party celebrating the marriage of the bride and groom, and the ‘marriage’ of two island families. The first couple of minutes set the scene, but once the ‘reception’ starts, the party really begins.



One could write a book about island weddings, but I have to keep this as short as practicable, so let me highlight some of the logistics of the wedding you see in the film.

The church where the marriage took place was tiny, as are most island churches. Since it was barely big enough to hold the families of the bride and groom, most people who attended the wedding itself, hung around outside chatting, and waited for the ceremony to end.

The assembled throng then walked several hundred yards to the village centre where the reception was taking place. Seated on benches, ranged along trestle tables, the wedding guests waited to be served the tradition wedding meal – a dish of rice and goat meat. There were salads and lots of mezes (Greek finger food), and plenty of red wine sourced from the island itself or from local islands.

I know what you’re thinking: How on earth do you feed a thousand people?

Well, apart from the paid ‘professionals’ working on the day, the musicians; the Wedding Rice cooks; and the photographers, virtually all other work is carried out on a voluntary basis by extended family, friends, and acquaintances of the bride and groom.

The video shows some of these people serving guests. The huge two person serving tray you see (at around the six minute mark), holds upwards of 30 plates of food, and helps distribute meals quickly and efficiently.

Since the wedding will go right through to the early morning hours (and in many cases through until late morning), the volunteers serving the meals don’t have to worry about missing out on all the fun. Once everyone has been fed, a process that might take a several hours, they still have 10-12 hours of partying ahead of them.

There are no dull speeches; no embarrassing roasting of the bride and groom; no official toasting, even. Just lots of food, wine, music, and good fellowship. Oh, and hours of constant dancing.

You will also notice that children are everywhere. Asking parents to leave their children at home would be as unthinkable as having a wedding without dancing. Greek island weddings are huge community events which involve pretty much everyone - and that includes children.

At some point convenient to the newly weds, they will each take a glass of wine and circulate among the guests clinking glasses with as many of them as they can; all the while accepting the good wishes the guests bestow upon them for a long and happy marriage (you catch a glimpse of that at the two minute mark in the film).

I can’t tell you what the typical budget for a Greek island wedding might be, but I’m sure it is a fraction of the cost of Australian weddings. Since they are held in the open air, there are no hall hire fees, no waiters to pay, no extravagantly decorated tables and chairs, no stretch limos, and no wedding planner.

The main meal, as I said, consists of rice and meat (cooked in huge cauldrons). It probably required no more than 80-100 kilograms of rice to feed everyone present, and a good quantity of meat. Rice is cheap, and while the meat is less so, you can be sure that every guest was fed for far less than the average Australian price of $110 per person.

The contrast between a typical Australian wedding and a Greek island wedding could not be more pronounced. I haven’t attended weddings in other parts of Greece or on other islands, so I don’t know how they compare with those that take place on Ikaria, but Ikarian weddings are monumental events that are a wonder to behold, and a joy to be part of.