Back To The Palace

Stairway to Penelope's place   Photo©Nigel Summerley

 

Something magical always seems to happen whenever I visit the remains of the Palace of Odysseus on Ithaca.

This time I was at the apparently deserted site with friend, colleague and author Jane Cochrane.

While she disappeared up into the higher reaches of the ruins, I sat half-meditating in the remains of the megaron, the main hall, where Homer set Odysseus's bloody massacre of the suitors of his wife, Penelope.

After a while I took the ancient stairway that would have led up to the quarters of Penelope and her women. As I turned to look back down into the main hall, a young woman appeared, also apparently taking in the atmosphere of the place. 

I returned to the megaron to say hello and asked her if she knew much about the site. No, she said, but she wanted to. She had picked up on the powerful energy of the palace.

I gave her a verbal guided tour from Homer to the present day, and told her how I had worked with Jane on the hiking guidebook Walking In The Footsteps Of Odysseus.

I wanted to introduce her to Jane but she was still nowhere to be seen, and the Dutch visitor explained that she had to leave soon to catch a boat.

I gave her Jane's contact details, and the following day she was in touch to say that she had bought Odysseus' Island (prequel to Walking In The Footsteps), was really enjoying it, and was sure she would return to Ithaca – because she had drunk from the spring of Kalamos.

That's the old belief: that those who drink that water will come back to the island.

I suddenly realised that on this, my third visit to Ithaca I had visited the spring but not drunk the water, so maybe I would never return again.

Then I remembered that Jane had filled up her water containers at the spring... and I had drunk numerous cups of tea made from it.

Does that count? I guess we'll see.

Odysseus Belongs To Ithaca

There have been many attempts over recent years to suggest that  Ithaca, home of Odysseus, is not really Homeric Ithaca and not really the home of Odysseus.

Alternative theories have ranged from the bonkers to the pseudo-academically argued, and one of the most irritating is the claim of some on neighbouring Kefalonia that Kefalonia (surprise!) is actually where Odysseus ruled from.

I don't have the space here to go into the ludicrousness of all these claims. Instead, I would recommend again reading The Excavation at Agios Athanasios/School of Homer – The Archaeological Evidence for the Palace of Odysseus on Ithaca by Professor Thanasis J Papadopoulos.

On my latest visit to Ithaca I had to travel via Kefalonia – which now feels like kind of enemy territory – but I was glad to see that at least the tablecloth at the Kefalonian dockside taverna where I waited for my boat located our hero in exactly the right place (see picture above).

Beautiful Ithaca  Photo©Nigel Summerley

Clear Waters

 

I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Roger Waters in concert in London last night.

I'm no Pink Floyd fan but I have to say this was one of the most remarkable and spectacular rock shows I have ever attended.

And before I get much further into this, I'd like to make the point that Waters is clearly NOT antisemitic.

What he IS is outspokenly anti Israel's treatment of the Palestinians (along with being anti nukes, anti capitalism, and anti the military/industrial complex). That does not equate to antisemitism. If it did, then that label could be attached to a lot of us.

Waters has had the guts to stick to his musical and political guns for decades – and for that he surely deserves admiration rather than abuse. The political pygmies who have made headlines calling for a ban on his performances clearly have no interest in what he is actually saying, doing and singing about. They have their own agendas.

Of course, he is, for his own reasons, also extremely anti-David Gilmour. The overpowering light show that accompanied some of the most memorable rock songs of the Floyd/Waters past featured many images of his old band, but there was a lot of Syd Barrett and not one picture of Gilmour.

The only time during the evening that Waters allowed himself to get really nasty was when he addressed the accusation of antisemitism directed at him by Gilmour's wife, Polly Samson.

What he said about her is perhaps best not repeated here... let's just say this is a man who speaks his mind.

A Farewell To Athens

 

Photo©Nigel Summerley

My talkative friend on the hotel reception desk in Plaka at the beginning of this little trip (and on the last night too) was insistent that while I was in the area again I should visit the Frissiras Museum for Contemporary European Painting. "Most people don't know about it," he said. " And it's just round the corner and a couple of streets from here."

He was right about the location... but not about it being visitable. When I went to have a look I found it was shut. And the only exhibit that I managed to view was the intriguing one pictured above, seen through the locked doors.

I went back to the hotel to report on the Frissiras being closed and to say goodbye, but the reception desk was empty. I glimpsed Stifado the rabbit [this blog 15 April 2023] still hopping about in his cage and was happy to see him again. He didn't seem to have much of a life but at least he hadn't been made into stew.

I headed for the airport...

Photo©Nigel Summerley

Reverse Engineering

 

Back in Athens after my mini-odyssey around Folegandros, Sikinos and Syros, I had a little time to spare, and my good friend and fellow writer Jane Cochrane had recommended I should pay a visit to the Kotsanas Museum, not far from Syntagma.

Basically, it's a place of miracles where the technological achievements of ancient Greece – dating back as far as 2000BC – are brought back to stunning life.

I was primarily interested in the musical intruments: the lyres, the percussion items and the world's first keyboard. 

But the really mindblowing exhibits were the re-creations of things that I never knew existed: such as an alarm clock, a door with an intruder alert, an automated theatre, and a female robot wine-server.

They were based on "simple" principles involving water, air and sand – no electricity, no pollution, no waste. They were all things largely left behind by "progress". Truly amazing.