Sighs, Laughter and Dreams

Loving this time in the Aegean, it must be said. Some carry-overs from the initial tour on the Ionian side with Nick that have become wonderfully familiar: the Greek salad served with a full flat slice of feta on top, the 0.5 L of "barrel" house white wine that is always refreshing, the 2 Euro (or so) gyro pitas (pronounced "hyro" - you have to love how the "g" seems to be pronounced like an "h" in Greek, and the "P" in this alphabet actually sounds like our "R", though who is to say which is "right"?), the old guys in the cafes absent-mindedly thumbing their rosaries, and the never-changing weather that is turning my body browner and browner (and the beard, not yet shaved since the Camino, blonder and blonder).

Whether it has been getting lost in the narrow, maze-like and freshly painted streets of Mykonos Town, or rolling the eyes at the old fat nudists at the western end of Paradise beach, or contemplating the sweep of history at Delos from the summit of Mount Kynthos, or strolling the shoreline of Naxos at dusk in view of the old Temple of Apollo arch, there can be no denying that the Greek islands are a wondrous place to kick back and relax awhile.

It has also served as a wonderful venue for novels, and happily I have been reading voraciously. The joys of traveling solo - never having to discuss or argue where to eat, where to say, what to do, when to leave, and always having time for whatever you like. And for companions, they are easy to find within the pages of the great works, if not in the hostels. And perhaps none more enjoyable to date than Alexis Zorba, from Kazantzakis' famous "Zorba the Greek". How excellent a creation he is, so larger than life and a lover of impossible things. "What a strange machine is man," he says at one point. "Fill him with bread, wine, fish, radishes and out of him come sighs, laughter and dreams. Like a factory." Ah yes, beautifully done. And so great to read that jewel here, of all places.

To Crete on Friday, it looks like. Then Ios and Santorini, before Athens then London then Iceland. Two months of the trip gone officially as of today, the 27th. It certainly seems much longer, in many ways.