Radovan at the Canal d'amour

No, it's not Skywatch Friday, but I had to post this photo today, since Radovan is winding down his trip. It is a view of a cliff overlooking the Canal d'amour near Sidari in northern Corfu just before sunset. Here you can see Radovan looking longingly at the Canal d'amour, for it is said that any couple who can swim through (and presumably back!) the canal will stay together forever. Radovan, whose wife has passed on many years ago, was feeling a bit nostalgic and lonely until a local girl below caught his eye. No time for dallying though, since we had to leave Corfu the next day.

ABC Wednesday: Radovan on Vido Island, site of Blue Grave

Today "B" is for "Blue Grave," as explained further on. Here Radovan is standing in front of the Serbian Mausoleum on Vido Island, just off the coast of Corfu Town. During WWI, Corfu served as a refuge for the Serbian army that retreated there across Montenegro and Albania from Serbia which was occupied by the Austrians and Bulgarians. As a result of their long march, a large number of Serbian soldiers died from exhaustion, food shortage, and different diseases. More than 5000 of them were buried at sea (known as the Blue Grave or Plava Grobnica) near the island of Vido. A monument of thanks to the Greek nation was erected on Vido island by the grateful Serbs in the 1930s. The Greeks were not the only ones to aid the Serbs during WWI on Corfu. The French and British also came to their aid, treating the ill and wounded in their hospitals and establishing schools. Behind Radovan you can see a poster in French and two in English. This photo was taken in the Serbian House, which houses the Serbian Consulate and is also a museum about the Serbs' WWI experience on Corfu.

Radovan walks Corfu's streets

Since many of Corfu City's streets are so narrow and people live in apartments, there's limited space for drying laundry as you can see from this photo. Those living on higher floors have come up with a very colorful and practical arrangement!

And for those living on the ground floor, you can always string a line along your wall and make sure you have watchdogs on the alert!

Radovan at Lawrence Durrell's villa

We all stayed in Kalami on the island of Corfu, just across from the White House villa, as it is called where the British writer Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990) lived for several years and wrote Prospero's Cell. Neither I nor Radovan have read this book, but we did read his brother Gerald Durrell's entertaining account of the family's life on Corfu entitled My Family and Other Animals. That's the White House in the background. One day we drove into Corfu City, the island's largest town. It's a previously fortified city with a labyrinth of cobblestone streets, some too narrow for vehicular traffic. There is an attractive esplanade between the town and the citadel called "Liston," which is behind Radovan here, where upscale restaurants and European style bistros abound. The Liston was built by the French to resemble the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, but the name was given by the British, as during their rule only nobility could sit there and you needed to be "on a list" to stroll or be seated there. Radovan, being a village guy, was happy this is no longer a stipulation for visiting.

Radovan's in Corfu, but where?

Radovan is now with us in Corfu and played hide-and-seek on this olive tree trunk. Can you find him? Better click to enlarge...Once off the trunk, Radovan was very pleased to see how the locals gather olives. When the olives are ripe, they either fall or are shaken to the ground, which has been covered with the nets you see here still rolled up. Radovan recalls the Serbian equivalent of Polish jokes, which make fun of the Montenegrins for being lazy. Rolling up the net with all the olives is definitely easier than picking by hand. (My apologies to both the Montenegrins and the Poles; nowadays I guess these jokes aren't politically correct.....)

Here's Radovan standing amidst some wild thyme we stopped to pick to take back with us. Smells soooooo good. Drop by tomorrow to continue Radovan's wild time (oh, bad pun) in Corfu.

Radovan needs to go...

Here is Radovan in Piraeus near Athens, where we went for the day before moving on to Corfu. Radovan recognized the wheelchair entrance to this public bathroom, but was a bit confused which of the other two doors to enter. He patiently waited for someone to go in or out, then made his move.

Radovan watches the sunset from Lykavittos Hill

Another sunset, this time from the top of Lykavittos Hill, the highest point in Athens, rising 910 feet above the city. It was quite a climb...
Easier going down though, and Radovan wanted to stop at this restaurant, but we decided to opt for another place, with more unusual fare....

Radovan goes souvenir hunting

Radovan needs to find a couple of small gifts for (small) friends in his village, so first he checked out the icons for sale here. The seller was checking out Radovan.
These are Greek worry beads that men carry and swing like car keys. Radovan thinks it may be a good way to stop smoking, since it keeps your hands busy. Serbia is third in Europe for the number of smokers, so he bought quite a few for friends back home.

These antiques were a bit pricey for Radovan's budget, but he really wanted to buy the Venus... (Note: Oops! Thank you to Dan of McKinneydailyphoto for pointing out to me that in Athens the lovely goddess is known as Aphrodite, not Venus!)

Radovan cools off

"Karpuzy" is what watermelon are called in Greek, and we enjoyed many of them. Prices fell later on from the nearly 1/2 euro a kilo we paid at the beginning of our stay. Here in Serbia, watermelon are "lubenice," (LOOO-beh-neet-say) and Radovan grows them at home.Here Radovan is watching "Bibi"s son play a tennis match in all that heat....and thinking about the watermelon that he'll enjoy later on.
In the meantime, after the match he enjoyed the tiny ice cream cone that came with our coffee frappés!

Radovan and Driving in Greece

Radovan found out it is very, very hard to park your car in Athens, and if he ever buys a car and comes back, it will be one of these Smart Cars or else even a bike like the big fellow on the billboard is riding.Radovan was scared out of his wits by noisy motorcycles (what a change from his peaceful village), and couldn't believe most riders don't wear helmets...or protective legwear.... In any case, he finally decided to not even think about driving in Greece at all, seeing as how gasoline costs around 1.40 euros a LITER. But now back here in Serbia where the standard of living is lower, it's pretty much the same price. So he'll stick to his donkey or to "Shanks' mare.". (My grandfather used that expression all the time...go Google!)

Radovan Rides the Happy Train

Note: Originally I'd thought I could show the best part of Radovan's trip in a shorter period of time, but I now see that's not possible--bear with me. He'll be back in Serbia on August 3rd---there will be then as many posting dates as days he spent in Greece! "Bibi" will then be posting photos of Serbia from her point of view, not Radovan's! :<)

This is one of Athens' Happy Trains that shuttle tourists on given circuits around the city. We all took a ride and since we were seated in the back of the train so we could more easily take photos, we had a good view of these Japanese lady tourists with their parasols to shield them from the blistering sun.

Radovan decided he didn't need a parasol to protect him, but found a way to cool off under an outdoor restaurant's cooling system that lightly mists guests. It's really refreshing!

Radovan at the shoe store

This is Radovan shaking his head in disbelief at the number of ladies' shoes in this display. On this popular street, whose name escapes me, literally every other boutique was a shoe store. Radovan himself likes simple flip-flops to relax in, like the ones the feet below are sporting.

Radovan enjoys "gyros" with the Gyros Guy in Greece

You must think all we and Radovan did in Greece was eat, and you wouldn't be far off. This fellow works in a small gyros grill not far from our son's apartment (Our son's finishing up his MBA in Greece.) This guy works long, hot hours, and during a shift from 11 a.m. to around midnight, he goes through two of these pork meat slice arrangements and a chicken one. The meat is shaved off as it roasts, and served wrapped in pita bread with french fries, tzatziki salad (chopped cucumbers, garlic, and thick yogurt), tomatoes, and onions, or you can eat everything separately as below. This fellow told us he assembles over 2,000 wraps every shift...

Radovan's Sky Watch Friday in Sounion, Greece

Sunsets are breathtaking just about anywhere, but Radovan thinks this one at Cape Sounion near Athens even beats the sunset over the Morava, a river near his village. (Bending the rules a bit today, with three photos.)

Cape Sounion is renowned for the ruins of the ancient Temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea in classical mythology. The celebrated English Romantic poet (and destroyer of public property!) Lord Byron engraved his name somewhere on them! Radovan looked and looked, but couldn't find it.

Here's a photo of all the visitors getting ready for their own personal sunset shoot.

Radovan dances the Pidiktos!

That's Radovan jumping out of the frame while these three lady dancers are busy watching my husband take the photo. They are not even near the Acropolis, but were dancing in front of a canvas backdrop! The dance is called the pidiktos, and of course, Radovan wanted to give it a try, and swapped costumes briefly with one of the male dancers.

These typical little Greek pom-pom shoes are called tsarouhia, but Radovan still prefers his Serbian opanci (OH-pahn-tsee), although we offered to buy him a pair of these colorful ones. He's afraid the pom-poms would get too dusty or that his goat back home would nibble on them.

Radovan visits ZEUS's Temple--ABC Wednesday

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, also known as the Olympieion, is a colossal temple, now in ruins, formerly dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. Begun in the 6th century BC by the Greeks, it was not completed until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian some 650 years later. Radovan was reminded of Roman ruins near Leskovac, Serbia, of the ancient town Justiniana Prima, founded by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6th century AD.

The Arch of Hadrian is a monumental gateway resembling a Roman triumphal arch. It spanned an ancient road from the center of Athens to structures on the eastern side of the city including Zeus's Temple. An inscription on the western side facing the Acropolis states: "This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus," whereas an inscription on the eastern side of the arch (facing the Temple) states: "This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus." Radovan can see the Acropolis through the arch.

Radovan at the orthodox priests' convention

Imagine Radovan's luck to come across a Greek Orthodox priests' convention right on a main tourist/souvenir shop street downtown! Radovan is Serbian Orthodox, and was pleased to visit with the priests for a while, and especially liked their little donkey.

Another priest accompanies a little girl, who could quite possibly be his granddaughter, since priests are allowed to marry before they become priests.

Radovan in the metro.

Finally we arrived in Athens, and decided to see a bit of the city right away. The metro is the fastest and most economical way to get around (walking costs less, of course, but it was waaaay tooooo hot). The Athens subway is very, very clean; both the trains and stations. One regular ticket costs .80 euros. Radovan didn't pay, tsk-tsk.

We took the metro to Syntagma Square, site of the Greek Parliament, where every hour the changing of the guard ceremony is performed in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Like many other tourists, Radovan wanted his photo with a guard, and tried to talk him into exchanging hats with him, but he wouldn't.

Radovan eats and drinks.

We held off our appetites until we crossed the Greek border, and then dug in. Above, Radovan is enjoying the first of many Greek meals, all fairly new to him. He's standing between a plate of olives, eggplant salad (grilled/baked eggplant mixed with yogurt, feta cheese, herbs, and olive oil), and of course the traditional Greek salad. Radovan recalled a similar well-known Serbian salad, and made me promise to post a photo upon my return.

Here's Radovan frowning a bit, since he likes white wine spritzers, but doesn't care for the taste of the Greek retsina, made exclusively of two kinds of white grapes, but with Aleppo pine resin added. Bibi's husband likes it, either straight or with soda water, as pictured above.

Meet Radovan! or, "Radovan Goes to Greece!"

Driving down to Greece for our vacation, my husband and I stopped to ask directions from this little man, who was waiting for a bus to go visit his daughter and son-in-law. He hinted he had never left his native village in the once very heavily forested Serbian region known as Šumadija (SHOO-mah-dee-ya), and so it wasn't hard to convince him to postpone his intended visit for a while, and join us! (All we had to do was show him the guidebook below...) His name is Radovan (RAH-doe-vahn), and I invite you to see a bit of Greece through his Serbian eyes and my ex-pat lenses! It'll be two-a-day-photos for about 10 days or so!

Radovan believes ladies in Greece love birds more than fancy dresses.

Another brush shop, but far away.

I told you yesterday there weren't many such brush shops around, and indeed, the next quaintest one I found was in Negotin, a city in Central Serbia that my husband and I visited a while back. This one, named "Vulcan," is owned by Miodrag Vlajsavljevic (VLAY-sav-lyeh-veetch), whom we did not meet, since the shop was closed all day. But it looks like he too has a wide selection of brushes and brooms. This shop dates from 1907, so is older than the Zivkovic-es.

P.S. PLEASE stop by my blog in the upcoming days, starting tomorrow, since I'll be posting some of my Greek vacation photos seen through the eyes of a tiny Serbian traveler who accompanied us.... Mystery man, at least until tomorrow!

The little brush shop that was...and still is.

There aren't many of these shops around anymore, in Belgrade or even elsewhere. The Zivkovic-es (ZHEEVE-ko-veetch) have had this shop in the family for over 70 years. It's very small, as you can see, and the buildings that surround it are scheduled for demolition, so it's anybody's guess just when it will happen and where the little shop will go. Inside you'll find just about every kind of brush you can dream of, natural bristles and synthetic ones. All the brushes are hand-made. The sign in Cyrillic above simply states "brush shop."

ABC Wednesday "Y"--buzzing in on Yellow!

"Y" is for "yellow," and I'm probably not alone with this connection. I had really just meant to take a photo of a field of gorgeous sunflowers and some individual ones, but when I clicked on this giant flower, I realized I'd also captured this little guy zooming in. I dedicate this post to my favorite artist, Vincent van Gogh.