MYKONOS-SYROS-KEA-SALAMIS-AEGINA July, 2007.
We are at the airport, waiting for Atlas Jet Airlines to fly to Mykonos. Our flight is delayed for twenty minutes. Leaving behind one of the hottest days of Istanbul, we arrive at Mykonos after a flight for one hour. There is a strong wind. The plane tours over the island. It is a volcanic island without any greenry. The turquoise coves look very beautiful from the plane window. We take our bags and go to the boat anchored in the marine. Our holiday begins. This is a break for four days. After we settle in our cabins, we walk down the harbour from the pier to discover the sourroundings. Chora is the name of the location where the marine is. We learn that there is an old pelican named Petros on the seashore of the marine. It has become the symbol of the island and it makes friends with the seagulls. Children run after the birds.
Turkey lives the excitement of the general elections. We started our trip after giving our votes. We watch on TV the opened polls and vote countings. AKP is ahead by 46%.
We are in Venice of Myconos, with its other name, Alevkantra Cove. Narrow seashore, small vawes beating the shore, stone pier, wooden blue chairs... When we proceed towards the pier from the whitewashed small bar, called Caprice, I get almost breathless with the spectacular sunset view. It is as if the reddish ellipsed huge sun is getting melted in the sea.
Windmills are the symbol of this island. We decide to have our dinner in a restaurant called Sea Saten. Accompanied by the windmills behind, with a marvellous sea view in front, fish being cooked in the big stone oven and the sprinkle of the waves beating the white walls, we delightfully eat our hors d’oeuvres and spaghetti with sea food. All the places are open until late at night here. The continuously blowing wind is the must-have of the island. We walk on the narrow roads of this island.where all pavements, even the stones put on the roads, have been painted to white. We make windowshopping. The bars are crowded. Younsters have been carried away with music, drinking and dancing. Everbody is happy. After a good evening walk, we go back to our boat.
Early in the morning, we go to Psarou Cove by boat. After enjoying a very long swim, we have lunch in the famous beach restaurant on the shore, called Namos. It is very popular with its reed umbrellas, white sand and turquoise sea.The fashion designer Armani comes for lunch in a crowd of people and, of course, we take their photos without getting noticed. A bit of sleep in front of TV, swimming anddd, we raise anchor to discover the other coves... Nakedness is free on the famous beaches called Paradiso and Super Paradiso! We visit these beaches on Kalamopodi and Plintri Coves by boat. The weather is quite windy... Everybody gets tired because of the wind and with a sudden decision, we go to SYROS Island, which is on calmer waters.
Mykonos from my camera;
And..... After an exciting trip with a strong wind blowing with an intensity of 8 and waves going over the boat, on sunset we enter the marine of Syros Island called Ermoupoli. We, the food on the boat, everything get covered with salt from the waves. We are tired. We get tied to the marine. We, our boat, staff get all washed. We decide to have dinner on the boat and we go for a walk afterwards. We tour the island with a mini train that shows the important parts of the island. Syros became the most important of the Cyles İslands during 19th century. We love the historical Court Palace, the neoclassic artchitecture of the catholic and orthodox churches. We get the info from webpage: http://www.greeka.com/cyclades/syros/syros.htm and get to know the important places. While we have dinner late at night, the lights of Syros and moonlight get mixed making sparkles on the sea. Exhausted from the windy trip, our eyes cannot resist being open anymore... Sleep... Our heads slip and drop while resting on the upper deck and the day ends up the in cool sheets in the cabin. Syros from my camera...
We raise anchor at six in the morning; I can hear the sound of the chains but am unable to wake up. Our next stop is KEA (Izia) Island. One of the most beautiful Cyclades islands...
I decide to sleep until our arrival on the island and awaken there; clinging to my quilt, I go back to sleep. When I wake up, we are on a turquoise sea on the north of the island called Odjas and I jump into the sea to wash my face.
We swim for a long while. We have lunch on the boat and on the nightfall, we sail towards the port in Vourkori. We drop achor on the marine and go to the main land. The settlement locations are on the hills to get away from pirots. We take a taxi to go the the capital called Loulis. After a ten minutes drive, we are at the settlement spots. We get off the taxi on the square. The car cannot go on the upper roads. Typical stone houses among the city walls are very well preserved from those years until now. Pottery and ceramic works, metal sculpture and other sculpture from all kinds of materials have become the handcrafts of the island. Their skill is top on Marble works as well. We have lunch at Aristos in the marine.
We wake up in Salamis in the morning. Salamina, the capital of the island, is 95 sq. km with a population of 28.574 and its best beaches are on Kanakia and Kalones Coves. We make a full tour of the island. Some parts of the island are reserved for fish farms. We cannot find a beautiful cove to swim and start sailing for another island nearby.
AEGINA, with 85 sq. kms, is a very small island. It is a beautiful settlement and has been the capital of Greece before Athens. Upon recommendation from a Greek friend of ours, we go to Eginitissa Cove. We are on now on the small island, Angistri, of the tiny fisherman’s village called Perdika. It is the cove of a tiny island near the main island with one of the cleanest and most beautiful coves of the island. It resembles our Heybeli Island. The cove is surrounded with pine trees and the sea has crystal clear water. Many small and sailing boats have anchored in this cove. Snowwhite rocks, a turquoise water and green of the pine trees become reflected on this island. We watch the bottom of the sea without glasses.
The sun is slowly getting red and prepared to set at dusk. It is the end of another day again and we are getting ready for the last evening of our holiday. We raise anchor and sip our champagne while we proceed slowly following the sun...
The sun doesn’t want to set. The sea, the sky is in a crimson light flood.
We cannot find place in Egina Marine and enter the marine of Perdika village.
The restaurant called O’Nasos, decorated with its snowwhite tables, wooden chairs, flowing curtains and sea shells, draws our attention. We decide to have dinner here.
It is family run restaurant and is very cute. We get settled on our table. While we drink our ouzos, the gloominess of our ending oliday falls down on us.
We eat our last dinner of our trip here: Salad, a bit coarse but similar to our shepherd’s salad, decorated with tomatos chopped in big sizes that are, as we are told later, so delicious due to little watering, with hot feta cheese (kopanisti), onions chopped in rings and big black olives, toasted breads left in virgin olive oil and grilled sea bream.
Tomorrow we will return to Istanbul flying from Athens.
SALAMIS and AEGINA from my camera:
Early in the morning, we raise anchor to go to Athens harbour.
Our last stop is Athens.
The pictures I have taken on our way to the airport
Our plane takes us to İstanbul.
While I scribble down these lines on the plane, as the grandchildren of Barbaros, I think about the victory he won with sailing boats based on human power when he conquered these islands and added them to the Ottoman Empire in 1537 after many journeys and I heartedly congratulate him once again.
Tülin Erkaya (2007)
Note: I am writing these lines and taking these photos for my beloved grandchildren Emre and Cem.
Dear Emre and Cem;
While you read these lines and look at the photos, I hope you will follow the places your grandmother visited and her thoughts and live all these once more.
Who knows, maybe I might have the chance to share those moments once again together with you.
I love you so much,
Your Banni TULLY :)