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!)