I’m literally so tired right now. This is coming from the man that is never tired. 38074 steps today, a lot of those in the blazing Greek sun. I thought about leaving my travel diary for tonight. But then, I remembered my friends and readers. My best friend has been reading my travel diary while I’m out here and so have others. This diary connects me to people.
I had a nightmare last night. It kept me up. It was someone telling me I had to stay up to let someone in. Early morning rise too. So very little sleep.
I started off the day by reading newspapers and short stories in German, Spanish, French, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu (and English of course). All my seven languages. I am going to start on Greek as well. I need to get more disciplined. I promised myself that I would become a genius. I am already there with my publications and research but genius demands work. I read psychology articles afterwards, including one about how friendships die. Something we all know from bitter experience.
Immediately after breakfast, I walked to Naosa. I got in some great shots while I walked down there. In Greece, in these rural places like Ambelas, you have to walk on the side of the road with all the cars literally driving into you.
Why didn’t I get a taxi you ask? Because it is just me here. Just me. I’ve been trained not to spend money on myself the individual because this goes against Indian philosophy. It is regarded as wasteful and selfish. Our culture revolves around the family. Everything should be for all, not for one. Hate it or love it, that is who we are as Indians. Besides which, walking is free and fun.
At the end of the walk, I came to a park with a church next to it, the Assumption of Mary church. The icons there were glorious, brightly coloured, engaging and very stylish. A feast for the eyes. I took a few photographs and tried to wander inside the inside of the church but was turned away. They were cool with it – I’m sure they’ve seen their fair share of curious outsiders. Unfortunately, the folk museum was closed on the weekends.
A lot here is closed because it’s out of season. Unfortunately I’m unfashionable and never in season. I’m alone in what I do. I’ve coped seven days by myself out here. The lonely traveller. See what it did to the Edward Norton character in Fight Club. A holiday is meant to be for sharing. To build relationships. I had fun but I would have had a lot more with others. Although, perhaps I wouldn’t have managed to fit in all the things that I did. Not many people have the massive amount of energy levels and stamina that I have. I come from farmer stock, the fittest of the fit. A body attuned to a hard and demanding life.
I wandered the port of Naosa first after a generous guy let me use the facilities. There was a row of squid on a drying rack outside a restaurant and shipmen organising their nets like a theatrical curtain. The Venetian palace was next, and I climbed the bridge to it getting splashed by the water, wondering how often they’d come here in the old times. Every day, no matter the weather? There were pigeons roosting in the stones and a black and white cat sleeping inside. A Spanish family of four followed me in.
Next stop was an attempt to find a collection of Byzantine art. It was open but appeared to be a collection of small prints in a church full of whitewashed walls, so I don’t know why it was on the city map (although it may have been elsewhere and locked).
A sit down in the port area in the sun to soak up the rays. Three girls with their mum watching the fish in the sea and singing. A guy with a kid teaching him fishing. Every time the guy went to teach the kid something, the kid threw a tantrum. A little tyrant for whom everything had to go his own way. Kind of like human history. Kids don’t want to learn from those older and with more experience. They’d rather make mistake after mistake and do things with sheer ignorance.
Bouldering next to the jetty. Then lunch at Ragouissis. It’s a really great cafe. Ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise sandwich and an Amita sour cherry juice. Very inexpensive. Then you look at the toilet inside. It would have cost an absolute fortune with the stone sink that they had.
Walk next for one hour and thirty minutes to the Mycenaean Acropolis at Koukounaries. I almost didn’t do it. I didn’t want to or couldn’t do a taxi. I didn’t want to walk in the hot sun. Then, I thought of Agatha Christie. All these archaeologists from the past doing the work. I would do the work too. It was worth it. I would earn it. I was a man. I was an adventurer. I was a warrior. I was Punjabi. We are hard. Harder than everyone else.
The Acropolis is on a rugged granite hill overlooking the southwest shores of Naoussa Bay and dates from the Late Neolithic period (5th millennium BCE) down to its eventual abandonment in the 7th century BCE. It is most famous for housing a fortified Mycenaean palace complex that served as a stronghold during the turbulent Bronze Age collapse. The hill was transformed into a heavily fortified citadel around 1200 BCE.
Historians believe Koukounaries served as a critical refuge for mainland Mycenaean survivors fleeing the catastrophic collapse of major cities on the Greek mainland. The Mycenaean phase of the acropolis was short-lived and came to a brutal, violent end around 1150 BCE. The acropolis was besieged and attacked, likely by regional rivals from nearby islands (such as Naxos) or seafaring pirates. Storage rooms just inside the fortification walls were found choked with ash, containing stockpiles of unused stone projectiles and bronze weapons. Archaeologists discovered the skeletal remains of men, women, children, and horses mixed into the debris, proving the settlement was completely sacked and burned.
Unlike grander inland palaces, there are no standing columns or towering walls left intact. Instead, you see low, crumbling stone foundations, vestigial walls, and room layouts scattered among wild Mediterranean shrubs, sage, and oregano.
It took quite a while to actually find the ruins. And I needed help. An American lady that lived there drove up the hill, saw that I was perplexed and pointed out where to go. She was really worried about me. She offered me water and told me there was a taverna and bus stop nearby when I told her I had walked one and a half hours from Naosa in the sun.
Beach break afterwards. Then I saw a French family and shouted at them. They said they would lead me to Naossa and they did through a wonderful shortcut Google Maps is always bloated and sends you in a direction that takes twice as long.
In Naossa I sat on the beach and sun bathed with my top off, watching a selfie taking couple that came and stood next to me. I combed the beach and was just saying to myself why I can’t find heart shaped pebbles, then I found not one but four of them to take home! A romantic will find romance everywhere. And why else was I in Greece? It was because of love.
Dinner at Kiranos. Talked them into giving me the meat platter for two for just myself as one. Young lad had to ask permission from an older guy that gave him a scathing look and scornful yes (suggesting it was obvious) while scrutinising me. I’d got a mixed seafood platter yesterday by asking too. Never hurts to ask. You often get what you ask for. There was sausage, grilled chicken, pork, beef kebab, fries and the best tzatkiki I’ve ever tasted. Dessert of stracciatella ice cream.
The long walk home in the night time with the cars rushing at me. My girlfriend got scared because I let it slip. It’s fine. I made it home. I don’t get scared. I wish I was the sort of person that could just book a taxi. I can’t. I was raised as a poor person by poor people.
Just crashed when I got back, did some photo editing and watched Instagram videos and images. Now, bedtime. Last day in Greece tomorrow.
