Thursday,
June 27, 2013—Alinda, Leros, Greece
Left Patmos at about
two this afternoon (it’s a little after five now), on a local catamaran, (as
opposed to the big inter-island ferry). Still annoyed by Patmos. As I've
mentioned there was just something a little off-putting about the place, despite
its great beauty. Spend my last day there hiking up to the old acropolis (of
which there’s almost nothing left except some fragments of square-cut stone
block walls). Then I hiked up to Hora, a town over-looking the port of Skala.
It’s mainly famous for an old, massive monastery (which looks more like a
Knights of St. John castle than a religious building). It was a great walk,
fascinating environmentally: it’s such an abrupt rise in altitude that only a
few minutes into my hike (which I did partially on trails and footpaths and the
main road) I found myself in a forest, which was dominated by pines and
featured cedars, scattered junipers, and eucalyptus (dumb imported Australian
trees)—it amazes me how quickly the plant communities can change on these islands.
The monastery turned out to be closed by the time I got
there. This didn't bother me too much, as religious stuff interests me almost
not at all (though I would have liked to examine the architecture of the monastery,
which looked really cool from the outside); I mainly went for the hike. I did
wander around the old twisting medieval streets of Hora for a while, which was
interesting. The place was a touch too touristy for me, though, so I was only
there for an hour or so before heading back down to Skala.
Overall I'm pretty torn concerning my Patmos experience.
On one hand, it might be physically the most beautiful Greek island I've been
to. But culturally it had almost nil to offer. Greek, British, French, Italian,
and some American tourists crowding narrow town beaches. Over-priced mediocre restaurants—nothing
original about any of them (they might as well have had the same menu). Scooters
and cars forever zooming past you (lay your head on a town beach and they move
by literally feet from your skull). It’s almost as if the place culturally
cancels out its immense environmental pluses …
*
OK, Leros. Like I said, I just got here a couple of hours
ago. All I've done is find a place to stay (a really cool place, big, with a
kitchen for only twenty-five euros a night) and wander around town, and get
some stuff at a supermarket to make some dinner). Basically this town is one of
three that hug a little section of the island’s coast. Alinda, in fact, might
be the narrowest Greek town I've been to: it literally clings to the marginal
beach that rims Alinda Bay. Though it’s just the next island over,
environmentally this place looks much more like Crete than Patmos: the lemon
yellow light has returned, as has the drier, more rugged landscape. The town
feels a little like a low-rent version of Patmos, though: the same narrow strip
of sand, basically interchangeable nightclubs and bars, traffic forever zooming
by …
There’s not all that much I came here wanting to see.
Apparently this island has one of the cooler medieval castles in the islands
(which is saying quite a bit, because there are a lot of good ones around
here). I plan on checking that out tomorrow. I’m also going to look over the
towns to the south. I may stay another day or so after that if I can find some
cool, more far-flung beaches. If not, I’ll be off the following day. To where
I’m not yet sure. I will keep moving south, though (I've decided to give the
smaller islands up here—Lipsi, Arki, etc.—a miss, mainly because up close they
don’t seem all that interesting, and also because I know they’ll be a bit
expensive) …
Notes
from the Northern Dodecanese:
As soon as one gets
north of Karpathos prices start getting higher (and higher). The islands also
seem to lose that wonderful semi-anarchic quality that Crete has: there just
seems to be more rules up here. Beginning to realize that I like Greece, but I love Crete; it really has everything I
want from Greece: sun, sea, great (challenging) trails, interesting culture … And
again, it’s also a lot cheaper than up here. Glad I’m heading back there,
perhaps sooner rather than later …
Noticing that there’s a
nationality change among the tourists here compared to Crete: the Germans
largely drop out and are replaced mainly by English, French, Italians, and, to
a much lesser extent, Americans. Coming to the conclusion I like Germans the best
of this lot. They may be taciturn, frowning bastards, but in their own weird
way they’re freer. Plus, if nothing else, they’re unobtrusive: they blend in
with their environment better than the English do, who tend to English-up every
place they go. French and Italian people mostly just seem to want to hang out
with their own kind, which makes then almost non-factors, except that they’re
taking up space that could go to less ethnocentric travelers. Some of the more interesting
travelers I've met in Greece have been English, French, and Italians in Crete:
it’s almost as if that island attracts the rebels, the more interesting
offspring of these countries …
Now
that I've got a nice place to stay I’m going to have a off night, I think, a
night to be alone and recharge. I need to read, write, watch bad Greek TV …
Writers have to get away from people to get closer to them, pointed out
Lawrence Durrell. At least for short periods here and there that is very true …
Beach out in front of where I was staying ion Patmos
Skala, Patmos
Forested Area Above Skala
4 comments:
Getting a little too critical with your fellow travelers there Rob. I hope none of those frowning bastards (or dunb? trees) are actually following your blog while you're with them..!!..Wiki
Germans invented the frown - I'm sure they'd consider what I said a compliment ...
No that I think about it, you're probably right. And the French invented the pouty lips with the "Puuuuhhh" sound. Wiki.
True dat ...
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