Archive | Athens Greece

Riding a learning curve…

By John on October 17, 2019 in Athens Greece, beauty, bike touring in Ireland, biking, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, mountain biking in Greece, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, road biking in Greece, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized, Wild Atlantic Way

The weather these past few weeks on Paros has been luscious. Comfortably dry nights and days that soothe the soul like a tropical compress. I guess I should talk a bit about Ireland. But first, a disclaimer: I knew what I was getting into. I knew it would rain a lot. I had been to Ireland a few times before-hand. None of this was particularly novel. There were few surprises. I chose this route for a first long-distance ride for pragmatic reasons–ease of language, availability of services and to discover if I enjoyed long-distance bicycling…and as learning curves go, I learned a lot, but not what I expected.

The bicycling itself was quite easy. I had already practiced a bit here on Paros, so I knew what it was like to ride 70km on a bicycle weighing 50 kilos. I had ridden up and down hills already on the treacherously questionable roads of Paros. Imagine my joy at the roads of Ireland–smooth, well-paved, clean and, until I reached County Antrim, free of potholes. So riding 50-80 km a day on the bike was not difficult. The hills and “mountains” of Counties Cork, Kerry, Galway, etc…not so tough. What was difficult was Day #4, when I woke up and realized I had to ride another day. And then Day #5 when I was resigned to my fate. After that I rarely thought about where I was going or how far I needed to ride that day. I had established my routine. When it was raining I packed up the tent and rode in the rain. There was no other choice. As I remarked to someone in Donegal Town, “If I didn’t ride in the rain I’d still be in Cork City.”

The Dawes Karakum in the shade of the tamarisk trees.
It is a much happier bicycle here on Paros.

And it rained a lot. Sometimes three times a day. Mostly on me. I got wet. I didn’t melt. I dried out. I rode the kilometres I needed to and then I was done. I saw some beautiful sights–dramatic cliffs all along the coasts; sudden bursts of sunlight that made the landscape glisten and sparkle jewel-like…it’s all there. You can have it. I have learned there is no need for me to return. Rain is one thing, but every day, twice, thrice a day…no thank you. Such was the learning curve. You’ll have to pay me to go back. And that old saying about “the soft Irish rain…” Bullshit. It’s rain.

I missed Greece every day. I missed the food, the people, the climate. The food in Ireland is alright. Not great, really, yet ideal for the weather that one is forced to endure. Heavy, thick stuff, devoid of fresh produce (except potatoes). Mussels cooked in milk (yuck!), a severe lack of garlic and tomatoes that would be best used to repair dry-wall. I missed the heat of summer, the boiled-honey sun glazing the earth in late July through August, the din of the cicadas. By the 2/3 mark, the rain was not so much an obstacle but rather a tedious bore, a meteorological raconteur drawing out the same dull tale. I doubt the temperature ever rose above 22C while I was there. I missed the 35-40C days here on Paros. I missed the people I know, I missed my friends, my parea. This was the learning curve I traveled.

I enjoyed the long-distance bike tour. I enjoyed the hills, the distances. But I knew that going in. I had researched enough before hand and was prepared regarding gear. Everything I brought with me, I used. My kit was sound: waterproof, windproof, serviceable, warm and dry. My Dawes Karakum was the right bike for the job and I enjoyed riding it. I brought it home with me to Paros where I use it throughout the week. I am already looking at next year’s ride. I will stay in Greece, a country I love and in actuality have seen very little. I will ride in May so I don’t miss my summer heat and early morning swims. I will ride for a month because I can ride 2000km in that time. I will ride into the mountains northwest of Athens, to Corfu. Then east through the Pindus to Ioannina and Meteora. South to Trikala…these will be the places I visit. It will rain some but that’s ok. I won’t melt. But I will never leave home.

–JDCM

Following some familial footsteps…

By John on June 24, 2018 in Athens Greece, beauty, Delphi, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Mom, Polly Jo Masters, spiritual journey, Uncategorized

I would like to blog a lot about the terrible political situations that are sweeping the globe, but there is so much of that already from all sides that I have decided not to do so. I re-Tweet, comment, etc…already. That’s enough from me. I would like to tell you a story instead. I hope that, in some small way, it helps to dispel some of the darkness.

In the late 1890s, at the University of Iowa, there was a writer by the name of George Cram Cook. From 1896 to 1899 he taught what is considered by many to be the very first creative writing course. He titled it ‘Verse-Making.’ When he left in 1899, the course was continued by his colleagues and became what is now known as the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Cook then went to Stanford University and taught a similar course and, in 1915, after marrying his second wife Susan Glaspell, moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts where they founded the Provincetown Players, an avant-garde theatre group. He produced plays written by Glaspell, some of Eugene O’Neill’s first plays and also those of Edna St. Vincent Millay. That is just a small sample. He worked with the group until 1919. A long-time Hellenophile, he moved to Greece in 1922, settling in Delphi, home of the Oracle. He died in Delphi 2 years later after contracting glanders from a dog bite. The Greek government granted him status to be buried there, his grave marked by an ancient stone from the Temple of Apollo. His daughter Nella was buried alongside him in the town necropolis and there is a memorial to Glaspell, Cook’s mother Ellen Dodge and his first wife Mollie on the wall above.

Jump ahead about 50 years. My mother, the ever curious historian, began to research the P’town Players, Glaspell, Cook, et al…At that time my family lived in Provincetown as summer residents and were a part of the arts community, largely due to my novelist father. Mom’s curiosity was such that she planned an excursion to Greece with my grandmother. Grammaw had lived and worked in Athens and Thessaloniki in the mid-1960s and, as she was more familiar with the lay of the land, joined my mother in a search for Cook’s grave. I do not remember if they found it, and I sense there was some disappointment to their quest. I would have been about 7 or 8 years old at the time, so this tale is bathed in the slippery mist of memory. I am skipping a lot here, especially about Grammaw and her interest. Another story for a later time.

Jump ahead again to yesterday, 23 June, 2018. I had a free day in Athens so I signed up for a tour of Delphi. I had been there in 2006, but the Mom/Grammaw/Cook story had slipped my mind. I decided to rectify this and follow their footsteps to find the grave. The tour was pleasant enough and an economical way to get there, see the sacred site, the superb museum, have lunch and be transported back to the hotel later in the afternoon. My tour mates were mostly American and Australian tourists and were curious about this aspect of my trip. It was fun. They enjoyed the tale as well. I related a more truncated, less rambling version, by the way.

During a free 45 minutes between the site visit and the museum, I scurried up to the modern town and asked a local about the cemetery. It was easy to find, and when I entered I queried two workmen if they knew of the grave. “No..no English here…no Americans here…” Undaunted, I looked around the small cemetery. Among the cleanly carved headstones and markers, one stood out, up in the northeast corner, beneath a cypress tree–an ancient marble stele. There it was. After sweeping off the graves and taking some pictures, I looked at my watch. I had just enough time to make it back down the hill and join my group for the museum tour.

–JDCM

Thoughts meander…

By John on September 28, 2016 in Athens Greece, autumn, beauty, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, Uncategorized, working

The sun rose golden peaches as I departed the Port of Pireaus 3/4 of the way through September. I have been back in Greece and on Paros since the middle of August. Through a window of the Blue Star Delos and across the gulf the mountains surround Attica. How I love this place. Ancient rocks cradle my heart and timeless seas ferry me home…

I haven’t blogged in a long time and I apologize. Sometimes I have had too much on my mind and to sort out any coherent thoughts and to put them down seems daunting. What I need is time to let the events of the past year-and-half filter out into something resembling…something, something solid.

I return to the island after a long weekend wth friends on another island, another archipelago. This marks the last of my long-term commitments for 2016 and I finally feel like I can relax. The deeply emotional yet business-like events of laying my mother to rest and selling the family home are behind me. My inherited furnitures, works of art, books and homewares are tucked away in storage units. I packed my bags with those things that I could smuggle and left America. Oddly enough, I feel no sadness in leaving the house I called home for so long. With my mother’s absence, the place felt empty and hollow. She had been its heart and soul and without her it was just a shell.

I have finally found an ear doctor who has offered anything like a solution to my labyrinthitis/Meuniere’s/tinnitus…Dr. Peraki’s prescription has improved my hearing almost 10% over the past month so I have been told to keep at the regimen and we shall see what is what in about 2 months, just before Christmas.

Speaking of that…one novel feeling…I am not thinking about plane tickets back to America. This time, during the past several years, I would begin looking at dates, routes, etc…not today, thank the gods. I am looking forward to being here through all of December and January, February, without the interruption of having to leave.

And so on I ramble…

—JDCM

Deep in the Ancient City…

By John on April 19, 2016 in Athens Greece, beauty, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, Uncategorized, working

Below my hotel balcony the city breathes deeply. Tribal drums motivate interpretive dance, guitars reverb surf music through metro tunnels, amplified bouzoukis in Syntagma stir a metallic thrum, mingling the aromatic sounds into a heady stew. And the smells! Food, concrete, diesel, piss and old, old stone. Athens is alive! In the distance I hear a saxophone, I imagine the player–sunglasses at night, hat on the sidewalk at his feet, the slow crooned blue woodwind wail runs through the ancient marble veins. Voice carry up from the street–all the languages I have ever heard and many from central Asia, east Asia, Eurasia…The Cosmopolis…the world as a city. It is here. I am here. It is my home. I am blessed. I wear the sign of the anointed. If you have to ask, you’ll never know.

I was in taxi and the driver and I were talking. He told me had two jobs and was raising his three children by himself. “You have three jobs then, ” I said. He laughed in agreement. “I think this is the beginning of something”, he said. “There is only one choice now for us and it is that things will improve. There is no other alternative.” It must be the truth.

This is the beginning of something. It is all happening here. The Pope came to town. There are rumbles of possibilities and energy flows, rich static arcing through the crowds in Monastiraki, Psirri, Exarchia, Sygrou Fix, Thissio, Keramikos…We wait for the great popular firework display, crescendos of chrysanthemums and showers of sparking lights heralding a New Age. The Emperor will emerge, naked. The applause will be deafening, the laughter unending. The party is always starting…

I have worked for the past few days deep in a secret archive in the city, a vault of imagination and celluloid. We are alchemists turning crystals into precious metal. Magicians. The dancer moves across the page, fading into view. Her body leaves atomic molecules, drifting bits of herself, richly perfumed droplets of life. She bursts from her black background, glowing, free and transcendent. This is what it is all about. We plant our collective flags and cry “This is me, this is who I am!” We glow, shine and dance through the traffic, gathering stars in our arms, passing them out like leaflets to the big show. Entasi!

–JDCM

The hazy shade of winter…

By John on March 14, 2016 in Athens Greece, beauty, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, mountain bike race, mountain biking in Greece, Paroikia, Paros, Polly Jo Masters, spring in the Aegean

After a few weeks of unseasonably warm and dry days, the weather has turned back to winter here on Paros. The rains have started, the clouds have rolled in…the wind has shifted from the north. We need the water badly. I am sitting at Port Kafe, waiting for the boat to come and take me to Athens for a couple of days. The schedules have changed for today so I have a few hours to wait. Still, I would rather wait here than in my flat. Pericles makes an exceptional Greek coffee and he knows me well.

Today is the first day of Lent in the Greek Orthodox Church. For the next 40 days there should be seriousness, sadness, contemplation. Also no oil, no animal products, no leavened bread,no meat with a backbone. No weddings, no christenings, no birthdays, no name-days…Thank the gods for octopus and chorta, fresh clams and beans with lemon juice! Like most traditions co-opted by the Church, the idea began long before Christianity. It falls around the same time of the year when the stores of food would begin to run low. The fall and summer harvest’s bounty is beginning to be used up and it is too early for the new lambs…the seas perhaps too rough to fish. So for the next 40 days we scrimp and don’t eat so much. Or so we should. I think, maybe, considering everything that is happening in the world, we should do it just to experience a little starvation. Many people don’t have this luxury.

Today is also my mother’s birthday. She would have been 92 today and we would have gathered and helped her to celebrate with flowers and cards. I can still celebrate the day. She was very proud of me and my sisters, loved us dearly and without conditions, without judgment. She worried, like all good mothers can and do. She rushed to our aid when she could. She let us go as we needed. She gathered us in her arms when we returned home for a holiday, a weekend or a much needed break from all the difficulties that taxed her children’s existence. For me, she was the parent I turned to for help. In times of trouble she would look me in the eye and say, “Listen, this is all going to be over soon…” or “You have always been able to just do it, just go out there and make your own way…!” and eventually “The last thing I want you to do is waste your life taking care of me…I’m alright. You get on with it.” She was quite the woman. Quite the mother. My mama. Our mama! I miss her every Goddamn day…that would have been something she would have said too. She was brilliant, caring, gentle and could curse like a longshoreman. Happy Birthday mama. Many kisses.

Below are some images from the past few weeks–pictures drawn by the children of some friends for my birthday, a photo of me at the bike race receiving the 3rd Place Bronze…Mom would have been tickled pink to see these things and to be at the party. I would like to think she was.

–JDCM

Asleep, then waking…

By John on August 30, 2015 in Athens Greece, beauty, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paroikia, Paros, spiritual journey, Uncategorized

The streets of Athens feel empty at 04:00. This ancient city is sleeping.

I have returned home from my father’s memorial service in Provincetown. It was a lovely and moving weekend laughter and tears. On Sunday we scattered his ashes in the bay. We boarded the rented schooner and set sail on a foggy and grey afternoon, light winds from the south. As the skipper cut the motor and the crew raised sail, I was struck by how calm and peaceful the air had become, silent but for the waves lapping at the hull. Light mist settled upon us with caring hands. As we came about my sisters and I stood against the gunwale and poured him into the briny blue-green, the water turning momentarily milky as the ash melted into the deep. And he was gone. Afterwards we gathered with friends and told tales of the man. We watched a moving short film prepared by his widow, and ate some food. We all agreed he would have enjoyed it. He would have also exclaimed, at one point, “Enough already!”, his modesty finally outweighing his pride. So long, weary traveler! Kalo taxidhi!

I have been musing on happiness–again. I have heard that it is an ‘inside job.’ If so then what are the external expressions? I know that I am happy yet my world, to some, may look messy, chaotic, perhaps unsystematic. There is nothing neat and orderly about it. It is not sanitary or perfectly aligned. Maybe a need for external neatness, a desk of neatly sharpened pencils and carefully arranged in/out boxes is actually a cry for help? I know my father’s office, even when he was young and dementia had not taken its toll, was what would have been thought of as messy and disorganized. In fact, everything was exactly where it needed to be. His internal life, his ethos, was ship-shape and trim. His morality and sense of self were in alignment and he was happy. And he left a desk of unfinished work–a sign of a life well-lived.

I celebrate the dust and disorder of the external and understand how it feeds my imagination. It is a zen geometry, creating an oblique stack of books, random pieces of folded paper, a crumbling temple on a rock overlooking the noise and chaos–all precarious. It allows me to get lost, discovering the jewel in the mud that others will never discover. I have permission to get muddy. To find joy and laughter in the lack of right-angles, the subtle aspects of color and shades of grey…That is fun. That is happiness. Creation is messy work, full of uncertainty and risk.

–JDCM

The true gifts…

By John on January 1, 2015 in Athens Greece, beauty, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paroikia, Paros, rangefinder camera, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, Uncategorized, working

–It is New Year’s Day, 2015. Happy New Year! May this next year bring us all the best that life has to offer. I am sure there will be uncertainties, enough for all: jobs, businesses, pursuits of all colors. The best thing I have found is to be active and know when to let go of something that simply will not budge. It is better to walk away from the brick wall than to keep banging your head against it.

–Sometimes the best gifts can be those that have been worked on and constructed by the giver. I gave some of my family photographs this year. This past autumn I was lucky enough to be in Paris for a week and photographed the Parc de Bagatelle with my Voigtlander r4M using Rollei 400s film. The negatives were lovely and I chose three specific images for presents. I worked carefully on the pieces, choosing specific papers for the right feel, adjusting the developing chemistry to activate the proper tonal scale and contrast. They are lovely. I was happy passing them on to good homes where they would be appreciated.

–I return to Greece this week. If all goes well I will be back on Paros by Tuesday lunchtime. My name day is January 7th, which is also the birthday of a close friend, mentor and colleague. I hope to cook her and her husband dinner that night. Probably pork chops.

–The real gifts are non-material. I no longer live in an imagined world of fear, where people are out to get me, shaft me, or otherwise take advantage of what I like to think of as my good nature. I no longer play the victim card. I no longer need to open up my Bag from the Past to show people what-tough-time-I-have-had-and-if-you-had-my-life-you-would-be-like-this-too! I am so happy I found a way up and out, have been able to let go of so many bad ideas and open my heart, embracing change as a positive force. Yes, I have days that are not perfect, but that is OK. That is the gift of being right-sized: I am a person among people, a worker among workers. I am emotionally secure among grown-up people.

–I heard a good quote the other day…

“You know what the big problem is in telling fantasy and reality apart? They are both ridiculous!”

–JDCM

cafe/kafe, romanticism and keeping it light…

By John on November 15, 2014 in 35 mm photography, Athens Greece, autumn, beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paros, rangefinder camera, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

–I was eating my corn flakes and goat’s milk one morning and it occurred to me that I am an incurable romantic.

–I returned from Paris two weeks ago and I am back on Paros, about 2300 km and one vowel distant. My time in France was lovely. My heart was filled with warmth even though the weather had chilled by the time I departed.

–I was able to shoot 4 rolls of Rollei Retro 400s while in Paris. I also gave myself a Christmas present. I found a very affordable Leica M2 at the local Leica store. The deal was good and I was there. I had to get it. According to the serial number it was manufactured in 1966. I find it extremely cool that I bought a an old Leica in Paris. It just feels right. Very romantic.

–While in Athens on Friday, I ran a couple rolls AGFA APX 400 through it. That made 6 rolls. When I returned to Paros and checked my ‘to do’ box in the darkroom I found two more rolls of film (Rollei Retro 100) that needed developing. I spent Sunday afternoon developing of film. 8 rolls from three different places from three different cameras…Here’s the breakdown:

–4 rolls Rollei Retro 400s, Voigtlander r4M w/ Voigtlander 35mm lens, Paris; 2 rolls of AGFA APX 400, Leica M2 w/ the same Voigtländer 35mm lens, Athens; 2 rolls Rollei Retro 100, Balda ‘Super Baldina’ (c. 1956), fixed 40mm lens, Paros.

–While working I listened to The Clash’s ‘London Calling.’ It was released in the UK in 1979. 35 years later it still sounds fresh, complex and vibrant.

–Romanticism…OK. I don’t wish for days gone by. Whatever they say, life was not simpler, or easier. Thomas Hobbes referred to life as ‘…nasty, brutish and short.” He was right. I like living on a remote island. Romantic again.

–The ‘cafe/kafe‘ photographs are matted, framed and behind glass. I will hang this small exhibit this Friday at Mikro Kafe here in Paroikia. It is not a grand exhibition, just something light and easy, something small to keep my hand in while I continue the prep for the second, far more involved ‘Portraits‘ exhibit next autumn. There. I said it. Autumn 2015.

–JDCM

“…the streets of Rome…”

By John on October 1, 2014 in Athens Greece, autumn, beauty, craft, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, skill and craft

“Well the streets of Rome

are filled with rubble;

ancient footprints are everywhere.

You almost feel like you’re seeing double

on a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs.

Gotta hurry on back to my hotel room

where I got me a date with Botticelli’s niece.

She promised that she’d be right there with me

when I paint my masterpiece.”

That song kept running through my head last weekend. It began Sunday morning as I left Pistoia and here, in Athens on a warm Wednesday afternoon, it still echoes…

Thank you Mr. Zimmerman, for the ear-worm…

In any case, I left Pistoia with a scratchy throat and by that night I was slightly feverish, congested, et al…I am dubbing this ailment the Tuscan Plague since it attacked all my friends as well. Each seems to have had some variation on the virus, all miserable. I killed mine with plenty of bed-rest, warmth and the miracle of modern pharma. Arriving in Athens this morning I am much improved. I am also relieved to be back in Greece. I need the local soul food.

Rome was lovely despite my ague. I was able to visit the Museo Massimo and gaze upon the precious and lovely Roman frescos; I wandered through the Galleria Borghese and marveled at the Bernini sculptures, frozen motion and pliant, soft marble. How did he do that? Truly a high point in sculpture–a divine concoction of craft, skill, artistry, aesthetics, hard work and obsessive compulsive desire for perfection. Some would say “madness”…”insanity.”

I ate some glorious grub as well. Roman stuff…fried artichokes, sweetbreads, lemon pasta…Very fancy by Greek standards. Foreign food. Western. Give meat on a stick, tomatoes and capers slathered in olive oil and a plate of fried sardines.

Good to be back in the East.

–JDCM

Paros, Athens, Amsterdam…

By John on August 18, 2014 in Athens Greece, beauty, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, spiritual journey, Uncategorized

I have been back in Greece since…August 1st? July 31st?…It feels blurry…I remember a 27 hour travel day: cars, planes, boats…my body temperature shocked from a cool New York July 70F to a sweltering Athens August 38C…dehydrated, jet-lagged, sleep-deprived. I experienced daily periods of vertigo and lightheadedness for almost a full week. Water, sports drinks, sleep and more water…7 days later I was 100% and feeling fine. A friend believes I may have picked up a mild virus during a leg. Perhaps. At least it wasn’t my suspected Google-diagnosed brain tumor or West Nile Virus.

Paros has been jammed with tourists, as it always is this time of year. Too much, really, for me to handle. I found the best thing to do is bike early in the morning, go swimming, have coffee, check email and make sure it is all done by ten in the morning, then hide in my apartment until a reasonable hour, like 19:00 hours…we dine late, 22:00 or even later…

I left Paros last night (this morning?) at 01:30 on the Blue Star Naxos. The large ferry was mobbed with Athenians returning home after the religious holiday (The Ascension of the Virgin Mary) and we docked just a couple of hours ago. While on the dock, weaving through the crowds, I heard an American voice say, “How can this be so stressful? I thought Greece was laid back…” Ah, yes, the great illusion…

I was tired so I took a cab to the Attalos Hotel, my oasis. While my room is not ready yet, I am out of the chaos and look forward to snoozing most of the day away on cool sheets.

I am en route to Amsterdam, NL for the week. My little scheme is to visit some top-notch museums (Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, Rembrandt House, Modern Art), eat some Indonesian food and visit some good friends outside of the city during the weekend. Pretty simple. Then back to Greece and Paros for the very end of August and most of September…

–JDCM

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