On a wing and a prayer

Very busy today and didn't have time to take any photos here in Belgrade! This one is from last Wednesday, when my son and I left Athens. These Greek Orthodox priests were on their way somewhere, but not on our plane. I feel reassured when there's a man (or woman, for that matter) of the cloth on a plane I ride on....

ABC Wednesday "V" is for "Very Proud on The Big Day"

Yesterday was the big day for this year's MBA graduates of Athens University School of Economics and Business, and a big day for the entire program, since it marked the 10 years of the program's existence. This is my son, who just received his diploma, yee-HAH. I'd have liked to have cropped the photo for better composition, but I'm working on my little laptop, which doesn't have a photo editing program to do so, but that's not the essential now, right? Proud mama.

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Not Belgrade, but Piraeus

Flew down to Athens last Friday to attend my son's MBA graduation from Athens University of Economics and Business, which is today. We took the train to Piraeus, where we came across this parrot and his owner. The parrot could talk, but it was all Greek to me....really.

Radovan's last day in Greece

We all left Corfu early one morning to arrive by sunset in Kalambaka, a small town on the plain of Thessaly. This area is known as Meteora, or "suspended rocks," for here on top of sandstone pinnacles, some of which rise 1800 feet (550 meters), are the remaining six Greek Orthodox monasteries, built from the 11th to 14th centuries. At the end of the 12th century, an asetic community of monks flocked to Meteora, and at the end of the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire's 800-year reign over northern Greece was being increasingly threatened by Turkish raiders who wanted control over the fertile plain of Thessaly. Building the monasteries required great skill to say the least, for the stones had to be hoisted up the steep walls by rope baskets...in fact, that's the way the monks were pulled up, too. I can only wonder who the first brave monk was, since he had no one to pull him up... For more info, please refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteora Early the next morning before starting back to Serbia, we took Radovan's photo in front of some of the pinnacles. By the way, five of the remaining monasteries are inhabited by monks, and the other by nuns.
Finally we made it back to Serbia, and here is Radovan with his daughter and son-in-law in their village in Šumadija. Radovan had many tales to tell.... (By the way, the background here as well as the one where Radovan was photographed on his first day with us are from a collection of Serbian naive paintings that my husband and I have. "Naive" artists are those who have had no formal schooling.) Check out this site for photos of some Serbian naive paintings: http://homepage.mac.com/melissaenderle/Serbia/Kovacia/kovacia.html

Radovan looks at Albania

From a small town just above Kalami where we stayed in Corfu, Radovan looks across the Ionian Sea at Albania. You can see it is very close. Bibi's cell phone actually functioned through an Albanian provider. Radovan regrets that his trip is drawing to an end, but he's anxious to get back to Serbia.

Theme Day--Metal

One evening we came across this shop that sold all kinds of copper articles, from coffee grinders to incense burners. I jacked up the ISO on my camera, but still had barely enough light to shoot (Where was my tripod....?)

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.