MONASTERY OF PANGIA HOZOVIOTISSA

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Spent some time yesterday chatting with Spyros. Turns out he is a prominent person in Katapola. Besides his computer/internet skills, he is Secretary of what I would describe as the local Chamber of Commerce. Called here the Association of Katapolis’ Businesses.

An interesting conversation. We covered my reaction to Katapolis, its businesses and people. All favorable. We also covered Greek politics. A today hotbed.

I had no plans for the afternoon. A stupid sudden urge hit me. Go back and revisit the Monastery from last year. The Monastery of Pangia Hozoviotissa. It was a killer walk uphill last year. I made it. I swore however, never again. I did not keep my word.

A short bus ride and I was there at the foot of the hill. Let me put everything in perspective. The Monastery was built into the side of a cliff. Back around 1100 A.D., some King was sitting on the beach and an icon of the Blessed Virgin washed up on shore at his feet. He took it as a sign from Above. He had this magnificent I do not know how it was conctructed monastery built into the side of the hill to honor the Blessed Virgin and God.

For a normal person, the walk up takes about 15 minutes. For me, it took 30 yesterday. Not bad. I went slow. People passed me. I did not care. The steps/path was a narrow walk way winding around the cliff. I made it and did not feel as bad as last year. In fact, I felt nothing adverse. God was on my side! The wind, also. A strong wind was at my back.

Nothing inside had changed in a year, except for the Monk talking with me. A different one. He spoke English. Wanted to know where I was from. Key West. He knew of Key West. A bad place. People take their clothes off. I jokingly asked if he had been watching Fantasy Fest on the internet.

He was curious as to what I did. I explained Key West Lou to him.

There is a book guests are asked to sign. I had signed it as Louis Petrone. Several guests had signed after me. He said you must sign as Key West Lou. He then signed my name for me as Key West Lou with the date.

I am immortalized as Key West Lou in a religious place!

Dinner last night was at a new restaurant. Rita, the American living on Amorgos, had suggested I try the Corner Restaurant. I did. Good meal! No, a great meal! Steamed greens in oil and bruschette to start. Lamb chops as the main. These were for real. The best yet. More than I could eat.

I have been working at my KONK Life column since 8:30 this morning. Took me five hours. A bit long. However that is the time that was required to tell the story. It will be published next Thursday. The title is Flora’s Story.

So much for yesterday and this morning.

Enjoy your Sunday!

SUNBURN / NO WATER

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I did good yesterday. Got sunburned. Then no water when I returned to the apartment. No water till this morning.

After an interesting lunch with some Amorgos businessmen, I decided to go to a beach. The businessmen had educated me further on the economic crisis. I would not be surprised if the Greek people at some point end up in the streets as the citizens of Egypt and Turkey recently have.

Greek isles have tons of hidden coves and beaches. I decided to spend the afternoon discovering one. I opted for Saint Anna Beach.

A twenty minute drive away. Cab or bus. Cab driver wanted 20 euros to deliver me and another 20 to pick me up. A rip off. I decided on the bus. 1.6 euros each way. The bus drops you off and picks you up four hours later.

Saint Anna Beach turned out to be two coves. Just for swimming. No boat activity. The bus dropped me and the two other passengers off. Canadians. The bus driver said business is terrible this year. They are considering cutting out some bus lines.

The road to the beach was up and down. More up than down. A narrow road. Only wide enough for the bus. I wondered what would happen if some one came driving the other way.

There was an immediate and direct drop down the mountain on one side of the road. A couple of inches to the wrong side and it would have been all over. The bus driver was a jockey of sorts. A rough rider. He had the steering wheel in one hand and a cell phone in the other. I got sufficiently uncomfortable at some point with the speed of the bus and the drop down the hill that I yelled out to him…..Two hands! He replied with a smile…..No problem, I do this every day.

We finally arrived. The beach was down a dirt pathway. Rather steep. I made it without falling. The beach is close to the monastery I visited last year. The water was clear. Very clear. Pure. Colored blue and green. Shades changing constantly.

The beach is dedicated to Saint Anna. Called therefore Saint Anna Beach. A small church was nearby bearing her name. I tried to enter. The door was locked.

The water is so crystal clear that back in 1988 a major French movie was partially filmed here. Le Grand Bleu. A diving film. Much of the filming was done at Saint Anna Cove because of the clearness and unobstructed view below the surface. Many underwater scenes were filmed. The movie has become a cult classic for divers world wide. The film was in English with French subtitles.

Le Grand Bleu won several major European awards. There is a restaurant on Amorgos called Le Grand Bleu. It shows the film twice a week for free to entice business.

I went in the water. The glorious Aegean. For the first time this trip. The water was cold. Though the days are hot, there is a constant cold, not cool, breeze running over the water. Once I adjusted, the water was fine.

I noticed a lot of little fish gathering around my feet. I was told later that they actually eat the top skin off. I could not tell.

I was in the water and then flat out on the beach. Back and forth. The sun was getting to me. I looked for some shade. No trees. Ho ho! I was in trouble!

Four hours later, the bus picked us up. As soon as I got into the apartment, I stripped and looked in the mirror. I was lobster red all over, except for the area covered by my bathing suit. I assumed I was in for a painful night.

The sun had tried me out. I spread a large towel over the bed and took a nap. Did not even bother to shower.

When I woke two hours later, it was time for dinner. Had to shower first. No water. I was still covered in sand and sun tan lotion. Waited a bit and tried again. No water. Eleni, help!

Eleni was no help. The water was off on the entire island. She did not know why. She did not know when it would return.

Screw it! I put some clothes over my sun tan encrusted sand body and headed out for dinner.

It was Mythos again! The food that good.

I had a dako salad to begin. My first. Fantastic! Small diced tomatoes on top of a thick slice of bean bread covered with crumbled bits of feta cheese. A light oil accompanying the dish.

Bean bread was a fist for me. It is dark. Hard. Before being placed in the salad, it is soaked in water to soften it. Then everything loaded on top. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the salad.

My meals have been outstanding. The Greek food on Amorgos the best. Sometime however there is a need to revert. I had a desire for pasta. Mythos had spaghetti bolognese on the menu. I ordered it. Another delight!

The pasta was more like perchetelli. A bit larger than spaghetti with a hole through it. The ground beef was tasty. The presentation top shelf. An inch of parmessan cheese spread around the outside of the dish.

What a meal! Enjoyed two gins and a large bottle of water with it. Total cost, including tip, 16 euros. $21 American money.

There was a table nearby of Swedish women. Two mothers and what appeared to be three daughters. The daughters college age. What beauties! Each dark tanned. Each with long flowing blond hair.

There still was no water when I returned to the apartment. I slept on the towel. Did feel grimy. Nothing I could do about it.

The water returned about 8 this morning. The shower felt terrific!

Yesterday, my computer set up was supposedly all fixed. Turns out it was not. What worked yesterdasy afternoon, did not work last night. I brought everything back to Spyros this morning. He cannot understand. It is getting confusing. I am doing this blog on one of his computers in his internet store. He just advised the tablet and data port were talking. The laptop was not. He will continue working on it. I refuse to let the situation bother me. However, I am occasionally compelled to mutter under my breath…..F__k Verizon!

Enjoy your day!