"I have brought my homemade wine for you," he said. He dries the grapes for a week then makes the wine, which is red and a bit sweet. Actually, pretty good. I don't much like sweet wine but this was a treat.
He hung around about twenty minutes talking of many things: the (de)evolution of the island, his time as a sailor (which was the only way for a young Greek man from a small village to make any money, back in the day), the politics of the island (the word "Mafia" came up several times), how Chinese tourists are the worst ("Not Chinese-Americans, or Canadian-Chinese, or Australian-Chinese...but actual Chinese? They are rude. For instance, they will come right down to your private terrace, here, and take pictures of you. Then, they will turn their ass to you and take pictures of the ocean. Then they will walk off and say nothing!")
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Last night we turned our rental car in. The guy was Greek but spoke decent German and English as well. Somehow he got started on Greek history and politics, which B enjoyed, but then I said something about politics and he said: "What would you do, for instance, if you worked in the government in the USA, and you discovered George Bush was an alien?" He said this in all seriousness.
"I guess I'd tell someone, but nobody would believe me..."
And at this point he launched into his theory that aliens ("reptilians") have slowly infiltrated positions of power throughout the world, and this helps explain the fuck up-edness of politics in our modern world. "Go to YouTube, and enter the word 'reptilians,'" he said. I wish I had a long, forked snake tongue I could shoot out at the guy as we left, just to let him know the reptilians have infiltrated the tourist groups, too.
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But it had been a good day overall. We finally dragged our asses out of the house about 12:30, and took the car down the road that parallels the ocean. We saw a few cars parked on the ocean side so we parked, looked over the edge, and saw a nice, relatively empty beach about fifty feet down.
We spent several hours here. The beach was very rocky and covered in dark sand, but the water was crystal clear and relatively warm, and the waves were tiny. I preferred to wear my sandals in the water because of all the stones----even though they were smooth, they still hurt my feet when I walked barefoot on them.
We had a snorkel mask with us so I put it on and floated face down several times, and I realized: I've never done this before. I saw lots of very small fish moving around in the water, and weed-like growths on many of the large rocks, and the gentle movement of the water caused the light to dance around in patterns on the bottom. Stuff that's kind of boring compared to, say, what you'd see off the Great Barrier Reef but very interesting for a first-timer. How often have I ever stuck my face under the sea and looked around? Now, exactly once.
There was nudity. B keeps wanting me to mention that. She finds it bothersome and alarming that prudishness of the kind humans endured in the pre-clothing optional days seems to be returning...hardly anyone strips down any more. This seems to suggest, to B, that people are getting more and more conservative instead of more and more open.
But there was none of that conservatism on our beach, at least among the non-Greeks. (According to B, the Greeks are still squeamish about nudity on the beach.) Just before we left, a group of 2 young men and 3 young women showed up. They were laughing and jabbering loudly among themselves, having fun. The women were topless and the men were totally nude, and having a good time---one guy actually hopped up and down like a monkey, beating his chest and making chimp noises as he did so. Then he and his buddy smeared the dark sand on themselves, and tried to do handstands.
Meantime the women were in the water. Every so often they'd dive in, then stand up and flip their heads back like in a shampoo commerical, the water flying off their long hair. It's not that these women were particularly beautiful but I think the sight of it was, the fun and the freedom of it. You could tell this wasn't a group of investment bankers or real estate moguls. No 21st Century tight-assery among these kids, no sir!
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You see dogs laying around in the village. That's their job: to find some shade and lay around in it. I can't blame them---it was hot and very humid yesterday. They all seem to get along with each other, though once a day or so you'll hear a bit of annoyed barking that lasts about ten seconds.
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The sunsets over the ocean are supposed to be unbelievable. They hype the hell out it here---restaurants with a deck or a flat roof have signs: SUNSET VIEW! and there are tour boats that take people out to watch the sun disappear into the sea.
Just before turning the car in last night, we drove down to the nearby port to watch the sunset. It was crowded, and the cliffs high above were filled with people gazing out to watch the Big Event. There was a series of restaurants and bars at the port, several hundred meters away, but we sat on a concrete wall instead. Anxious sunset-watchers kept showing up, trying to get a parking place or a sitting place before everything happened...
Restaurants and bars at the port.
Just one of many places to watch the over-hyped sunset.
Just one of many places to watch the over-hyped sunset.
Just before the Big Moment, the sun started sinking behind a fog bank miles in the distance...so the famed sight of the sun appearing to sink into the ocean was replaced by the sight of the sun vanishing behind a big wad of cotton.
Still, we enjoyed it. Have to say, though, it didn't live up to the Big Hype. Best sunsets ever? Amalfi coast in Italy, watching the sun vanish behind the Isle of Capri.
And the Italians didn't bother to mention how beautiful it was...
A not unpleasant sight, nevertheless.
