Memories, memories... As summer approaches, the desire to see the sea grows stronger every day. Memories of the most beautiful sea I've ever seen, the Aegean Sea.
The other day I saw @missdeli's post about Limenaria on the island of Thassos in... the Aegean Sea! I mean from the place I have visited three times and which is my favorite place in Thassos. This beautifully written travel blog, Heading out on a boat trip on the Island of Thassos, Greece has made me miss those places even more.
The only remedy I have in such cases when I am consumed by longing is to look for the photos that help me remember.
That's how I ended up choosing again for memories of the good and beautiful times when we were exploring Thassos, more precisely the town of Limenaria. What's nice and interesting is that there are three of us here who write a lot about Thassos and each presents the place differently, which I think is very interesting for a reader.
Our colleague, @missdeli, sees Thassos and Limenaria with the eyes and feelings of a modern young woman who loves life and all that is good, @lightcaptured is a perfect photographer and shows us something else, what only the photographer's eyes can choose, and me, the way an old man can still enjoy the sea.
Surely there are many more who have written about this island, but the three of us, I think, have written about it the most.
Blue
I will always remember the moment of crossed from the mainland to the island—a short trip, about 40 minutes, by ferry.
A pleasure mixed with curiosity, impatience, fear, and blue. When we arrive in Greece we are truly immersed in blue.
The ferry has always been accompanied by birds. Their flight so close to the tourists was a delight and helped, at least it helped me, to forget the stress caused by the fact that there was so much water under us.
I imagined the ferry is a plane flying through the blue sky and the seagulls are small hunting planes that accompany and protect it, making us feel like very important people.
These birds were also our pilots, guiding the ferry to the great mountainous island that is Thassos.
As we approached the island, the birds also appeared and welcomed us. A welcoming committee!
This period of sea travel is like a story, a story in which I have allowed myself to give the seabirds a different interest than it is in reality.
The reality is much more prosaic and means that the main reason why these birds accompany the ferries is that tourists offer them food.
Less touristy Limenaria
One of the great regrets of my life is that I couldn't live by the sea, in a smaller or larger town or village. This regret has changed my behavior as a tourist.
When I go on holiday to the sea I am less interested in the sea and more interested in the life of the local people. I like to think of myself as a local and I try to go where the locals go, eat where the locals eat, and choose the hotels that are in the neighborhoods of the city and less by the sea and near the beach. Not everywhere this is possible but in the towns and villages of the Greek islands, you can feel at home.
From the hotel, I was able to walk either to the pine forest or to the sea. To get to the sea I had to cross the city. Just as the inhabitants walked to work, the market, or the beach.
If it wasn't for the sea at the end of the street, I might have thought I was in a small town, as there are hundreds, even in Romania, the country where I live. Romania is about 700 km to the north and the vegetation is mostly similar to that of Limenaria.
But the differences also appear in the landscape. Mediterranean trees and vegetation, like this palm tree.
Both Greece and Romania are Orthodox Christian countries. So these churches, which are obligatory in every locality, are also a common element to take the similarity between these two countries further. However, church architecture differs and it is easy to see that.
If it wasn't for the sea, but the sea was there, all around, and that changes everything.
Where there is a sea there must be a harbor. Limenaria has two. Not too big.
The fishing and tourist harbor, where the fishing boats of the locals and the boats that make sea trips with tourists are hosted.
The harbor of yachts and boats belonging to the sailing tourists.
I have no navigational skills and I'm not even such a good swimmer that I don't drown if the water is deeper than my height. That's why I'm not interested in harbors. If you are interested in sailing and boating adventures, then please read @missdeli's post linked above.
Instead, I like stairs...
White
In Limenaria there are a lot of stairs. From a few steps to hundreds of steps...In Greece, especially in the islands, white stairs are everywhere and form one of the specific elements of this country. No matter how small, simple, or dilapidated, these stairs are always painted white...
I'm old and I don't like old people. Instead, I like old houses, even if some are even older and sicker than me.
There is an aesthetic of ugly that appeals to many. Here it is not ugly. Here it can be old, dilapidated, unkempt out of helplessness but with great beauty for those who can see it.
A street like a staircase, a street in steps. It's a street that brings neighbors together, I think. Greeks are open and friendly people!
When you go to a foreign place you can idealize life and relationships between people. I don't know what these people's lives are really like and I think I would have liked to live my childhood there, on those stairs, with the children of all those houses so close to each other.
These stairs seem to me a work of art, a sculpture in which both people and nature have collaborated. The white drawing, the white paint, the little green plants that managed to grow out of a crack in the wall, the black earth that was brought by the water after the rain...
Wherever there is a small space in the wall, with a little soil and a little water, a small plant will grow. Nature is an extraordinary force in Greece!
Green is always a blast. I'm surprised green didn't feature on the Greek flag.
The green is not on the flag because it didn't fit. Blue and white is enough. I like the Greek flag so much. It's a flag that expresses what Greece is.
I will never tire of recommending Greece as the best destination for holidays and travel. The whole Mediterranean Sea basin and all the countries bordering this sea are somehow similar.
You don't have to believe everything I say. Especially as I have only traveled to Greece and have seen the other countries that could compete with it, France, Italy, and Spain only in movies and photos.
I am firmly convinced that Greece is in the first place, as I am also convinced that every traveler has his favorite places. All opinions are subjective but I still believe that you can't go wrong when recommending a holiday and travel to Greece!
