Research Travels in Greece

I have been “radio silent” for the month of September. That wasn’t my intent, but I have a good reason–travels in Greece. Somewhat on the spur of the moment, I planned a trip to the island of Skyros (where my current work in progress is set) with a short trip at the end to Thera (Santorini). I thought I’d report back while in action, but our lovely house on Skyros, like the entire small island, had barely functional internet and simply recording my research photos was a tedious chore that I am now catching up on. I don’t have much excuse for not posting photos on FB etc, except that I like to live in the moment and I have never developed the habit of posting about whatever I’m doing. I was thoroughly enjoying myself, and I let that be fine without telling the world. Very unfortunate from a building reader community point of view, but it was a great trip nonetheless.

So now I will remedy the silence with some posts over the next couple of weeks. This one will be brief. First our house, which turned out to be owned by the family that created the folk art museum and was just below the 19th century family “mansion” (not especially large and definitely built into the steep mountain like all the other houses) that now housed the museum. I lucked into this house. The first one I booked did not have functioning “hydrolics” nor could the plumbing be fixed anytime soon according to the lovely woman, Maria, who arranged the rentals, but she had another house for us, a better one. The house was perfect. It was furnished, I’m guessing, from castoffs from the folk museum because it was full of traditional Skyrian ceramics and wooden furniture. The terrace was spectacular, looking out over the sea and the wide plain below (our view in the photo up top).

Our house clearly predated the 19th century mansion on the hill above us. Its core was a very traditional stone house with some much-later added rooms, whose walls were not so thick and whose windows were considerably larger than the tiny traditional ones. One side of the house used as its wall the still-standing foundations of the classical era (maybe 5th century BCE or so) towers and fortification walls that used to ring the mountain on which sits Skyros’s “capital” of Chora (also referred to as the “village”). It took me quite a while to figure that out. At first we simply noticed that our house had giant stone walls on one side built into the mountain. Eventually I sorted out the island’s basic geography of the Early Bronze Age, the Mycenaean, and the Classical periods. I kept wondering where to find the classical tower that the small pamphlet said was near our house. Oh–there it is, inside our house! You can also see it next to our terrace in the rainbow photo above.

While some Greek families from around Athens vacation on Skyros (the white sand beaches are plentiful and gorgeous), and a few German, Austrian, and Italian tourists can be found, almost no one else ventures to Skyros. Our presence was met with enthusiasm and puzzlement in equal measure. We did overhear a group of four with American accents our last day there, so perhaps we weren’t as unusual as everyone’s reaction to us made it seem. If you want untouched Greece, Skyros is a pretty good spot to go. There are hotels and restaurants for the vacationers, but nothing too big or fancy. Compared to Thera/Santorini where we went at the end of our trip, it is utterly old fashioned and sweet. I like Thera a lot, but it’s mobbed by tourists and tourist infrastructure. Skyros has one paved ring road around the island, a couple small paved roads on the plain where the “modern” town spreads out below the “village” on the mountain, and otherwise dirt/gravel roads and goat paths that google insists are roads.

That’s all for this week. I’ll add more in the research and history mode next post. I had a great time putting my manuscript, which is about half done, into the solid reality of place and senses that I so enjoy as a writer. I also have to move the current palace of my manuscript from one end of the island to the other, but more on that next time!