A Sign That Something's Wrong

 

Photo©Nigel Summerley

Pictured above is the new sign that has appeared at the entrance to the most remarkable site on Ithaca... 

It's difficult to believe this is how the authorities are promoting a place that was described by Homer as the Palace of Odysseus – and unequivocally confirmed as such in recent times by the esteemed archaeologist Thanasis Papadopoulos, who studied the extensive Mycenaean remains here.

There's a further "explanatory" sign nearby (pictured below), which conveys precisely nothing – apart from labelling the site as Agios Athanasios (the name of the latterday church on the site which had absolutely no connection with Odysseus, apart from employing building material purloined from the much older palace).

The epic The Odyssey was arguably one of the greatest stories ever told and the foundation of western literature... Does Ithaca care nothing for the fact it has a site of such huge cultural significance crumbling away in a neglected corner of the island?

It is certainly not caring for the site, which lost vital coverings in a hurricane three years ago.

Nor is it providing any real information for curious visitors to the site, who can end up wandering about, not knowing what they are looking at.

The architect Dimitris Skirgiannis produced beautiful and detailed representations of what the Palace of Odysseus probably looked like, based on the work of archaeologist Litsa Kontorli-Papadopoulou. These drawings could be reproduced at the site, with a key to all the relevant locations there. This would cost almost nothing.

Meanwhile, it is left to the excellent exhibition set up by – and thanks to the passion of – Dimitris Paizis-Danias, in the nearby village of Stavros, to lay out in detail why this site is so important and why it is so clearly linked to the times and the tales of Odysseus.

Anyone with a serious interest in the remarkable legacy that Ithaca seems to be doing its best to ignore should read Papadopoulos's testament, The Excavation at Agios Athansios, which is now available on Amazon.

It would be rather good if the powers-that-be took a look at it too...

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

Beyond The Pail

 

This photograph was never intended to be a great picture... it was more of a note of how the Arethusa Spring on Ithaca looks.

But it has just taken on a new significance.

A reader in Key West, Florida, who saw my article in The Guardian on walking in the footsteps of Telemachus, got in touch to say he had hiked to the spring three decades ago... and left a bucket there for hauling up water.

I sent him a copy of this picture and he confirmed that the rusty bucket in the foreground looks like it's his.

Unfortunately, both his rusty bucket and the slightly less rusty one are no longer fit for hauling up water.

So maybe someone needs to take a new one up there...

If you fancy doing it, Walking In The Footsteps Of Odysseus – A Practical Guide To The Homeric Paths Of Ithaca, the book I worked on with author Jane Cochrane, may be helpful. Details at www.janeocochrane.co.uk.

Free books on Odysseus and his palace

To help celebrate Orthodox Christmas, two of Jane Cochrane's books about Ithaca will be free from Amazon as e-books from 7 to 11 January inclusive. If you don't already have some kind of e-reader, you should be able to download one for free from the internet.

The Excavation at Agios Athanasios / School of Homer is a record made by the archaeologist Professor Thanasis J Papadopoulos of his work done jointly with his wife, Litsa, at the site in north Ithaca. This publication gives the well-hidden archaeological evidence for the Palace of Odysseus being there. To help the lay reader, Jane has written a short introduction. 

Walking in the Footsteps of Odysseus (in which I also played a part) is a practical guide to the Homeric footpaths of Ithaca.

You can download e-books of The Excavation at Agios Athanasios / School of Homer and Walking in the Footsteps of Odysseus HERE.

Ithaca In Words – and Pictures

Jane Cochrane oversees her paintings being displayed

Preparations are under way for the official launch of Walking In The Footsteps Of Odysseus, the new guidebook to Ithaca by Jane Cochrane in which I played a bit part as walk-checker and sub-editor.

A capacity audience is expected to be at Paddington Library for the event on 28 April when Jane will be in conversation with me, talking about the genesis of the book and her love affair with the island so closely linked to Homer's Odyssey.

Whether or not you are going to the launch, you are now able to see some of Jane's beautiful Ithaca paintings on show at the library – for as well as being a meticulous researcher and writer, she is also a talented artist.

More information at www.janeocochrane.co.uk.

You Too Can Follow Odysseus

Jane Cochrane's brilliant new Ithacan guidebook, Walking in the Footsteps of Odysseus, is now available to order online – details at www.janeocochrane.co.uk.

And she will be in conversation (with me) for an official launch on the evening of 28 April at Paddington Library, London W2. If you want to be there, you will need to book at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walking-in-the-footsteps-of-odysseus-tickets-269509499167?aff=ebdssbdestsearch.

In the Footsteps of Telemachus

If there is anyone out there who hasn't had enough of reading my blogs on An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague and An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague, I have an article in The Guardian this week about literally one of the high points... Click here

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – The Maltese Sanction

A map... and a rather good one

Weird a place as it is, I've always had a soft spot for Malta... and so of course does the British government.

The latter says it's now fine for tourists to visit the former.

But hold on... Malta says it's only fine if they can prove they have had two vaccinations. And – here's the rub – the proof has to be in a letter, not on a smartphone. That's a piece of paper! Not some app-based thing.

Not possessing a smartphone, I made sure to take a letter with me to Ithaca this month.

Wouldn't it be rather wonderful if the ubiquity of the smartphone began to fade just a little bit?

We might then see tourists using maps instead of walking around staring at their phones... or looking about them at their surroundings... or even talking to local people to ask them the way.

Congratulations to Malta, which is reported as saying: “From 30 June 2021, all arrivals from the UK need to present proof of full vaccination (two doses). Only the paper version of the NHS Covid vaccination letter, with subject ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination confirmation: two doses received’, will be accepted, not the digital app version, nor a printout from the digital app.”

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Siren

Siren                             ©Nigel Summerley

 

There seems to be a lot of interest in unidentified flying objects just now. So here's a UFO spotted a while back off the west coast of Italy...

It's my idea of a Siren... and it could be my ticket back to Ithaca once more... since it's been accepted for the Paint The Lyric exhibition set to take place there this September [see this blog An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Paint The Lyric, 22 February 2021].

Half-woman and half-bird or half-woman and half-fish? And why do some stories say Odysseus encountered two Sirens and other versions say three Sirens? 

Perhaps there is just one answer to all these questions... and this could be it...

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Cyclades

Much as I have come to love Ithaca... I have missed not being able to take in the Cyclades on this latest trip.

Some of my happiest travelling times have been in those wonderful islands: especially Kythnos, Kimolos, Serifos,  Sifnos, Iraklia, Amorgos, Schinoussa, Delos, Syros, Tinos, Andros... all of them have their own special magic.

So the next best thing was a visit to the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens. It was filled with sculptures of unparallelled simple beauty – but not (thanks to the covid plague) filled with visitors.

As with some of the remoter Cyclades, all the marvels on show seemed to be there as a gift just for me.

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – A Modern-Day Homer

 

Andronikos Sakkatos

Athens has many attractions... but for me, this time, perhaps the greatest was to meet again with Andronikos Sakkatos, the archaeologist and passionate Odysseist, whom I encountered by pure chance last year in Ithaca at the end of my own odyssey [see this blog, An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague – 13: 29 September - 4 October 2020].

We met this time at a café near the Acropolis, and Andronikos spoke for the best part of two-and-a-half hours about his hopes for Ithaca to start making the most of its Homeric heritage.

Much needs to be done. The archaeological site of the Palace of Odysseus must be secured and made visitor-friendly, hundreds of still unsorted artefacts have to be put on display, and the island needs a new cultural centre focused on the importance of The Odyssey to the whole world.

This is the message of Andronikos – a modern-day Homer who seems capable of singing the praises of Odysseus forever. He didn't even take a break for a second cup of tea or a snack – "I can't eat when I am being passionate," he explained. "I am a machine!"

He may be a machine but he also has a huge heart – a truly great man and a real Ithacan hero.

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Blood on the Tracks

 

Ithaca 2021

Walking on Ithaca is a pleasure that does not come without pain... particularly when one is following the paths less trodden.

At the end of my odyssey in 2020 I was left with my legs badly cut – from walking on an Ithacan path that had been seriously blocked by trees blown down in a cyclone [see this blog, An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague – 13: 29 September - 4 October 2020]. The agony by a hundred cuts came courtesy of the briars and undergrowth that I was forced to make my way through, off-piste.

I was more than happy to return to Ithaca... but I never wanted to repeat that particular experience. However, after following a less well-walked path that petered out into thick forest and bush... I've just done exactly the same. And my legs are covered in bloody scratches – bloody painful scratches, in fact.

Maybe this time I will learn my lesson.

Ithaca 2021

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Summoned to the Palace

 

Site of the Palace of Odysseus

Endless confusion, lockdowns beginning and ending and beginning again, the virus under control one minute and out of control the next, mixed messages, corrupt practices...

Thank goodness 2020 is behind us...

The only problem is that all the above applies to 2021 too...

And once more I wonder if I'll make it to Ithaca... and now, increasingly (and Odysseanly), how difficult it will be to get back home.

The paperwork is done – vaccination certificates in duplicate, passenger locator form, proof that I have to travel for work – so now it's just a matter of packing the case that travelled with me for six weeks in 2020 on The Odyssey in the Year of the Plague [see this blog] – which succeeded against the odds.

With luck I hope soon to stand in the Palace of Odysseus again...

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – To Go or Not To Go

 

The Daily Star's front pages have overtaken Private Eye for outrageous humour... and this headline which it splashed on this week really did sum up the situation now facing travellers.

I'm not going on holiday but I'm bound for Ithaca. When work is writing and editing travel articles, who needs a holiday? So for me, it's a no brainer. I have my paperwork to show I'm working and that I've had two vaccinations, and I've filled in my passenger locator form for the Greek government. I've even started packing...

But what about the people who are going on holiday and have booked everything, only to be told that they shouldn't have done? Do they cancel? Or do they go ahead. Either way, they'll be following government advice – and not following government advice.

It's been argued that the mixed messaging from Downing Street is a deliberate exercise in behavioural psychology, designed to confuse and soften up the population to make them crave rules and be more malleable.

Is there really an intelligent plan behind it all? Maybe Dominic Cummings will shed some light on this and much more this week...

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Faith in the Fates

 

No, that's not the UK Cabinet trying to figure out what to do... it's the Fates (as portrayed in the wonderful Disney movie Hercules) measuring out what should happen next...

In fact, you'd probably be better off trusting the latter than the former...

You want an example of the UK government's ability to still send mixed messages and sow confusion?

Travel to Greece has not been banned but we are being told not to go... Add that to being told you can now mix with people indoors but you are advised not to do it...

We've had to put up with this kind of thing right the way through 2020 (see this blog for An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague – a day-by-day account from March through to October last year) and we're still having to put up with it in 2021.

Those with essential reasons will – at the moment – be allowed to go to Greece. It's essential for me to go to Ithaca. And I feel increasingly that it's essential for me to get out of the UK for a while at least...

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – The Burden of Proof

 

Ithaca's greatest advocate... Homer

Last week I was told by my GP practice that if I wanted written proof that I'd had two Covid vaccinations, I would have to hand over £25. That was an offer I found easy to refuse... since I was under the impression that the NHS was going to issue vaccination certificates free of charge.

Today a call to the NHS confirmed that it would send me an official letter of confirmation within five working days. Which will be helpful, since the Greek government is currently asking visitors to provide such proof – and since I'm due to arrive in Ithaca on 1 June.

For those who don't want to pay for a GP letter or wait for a piece of paper from the NHS (or, indeed, bother with having a vaccination), it appears that all the necessary documentation is available – forged – on the internet.

The pandemic seems to be a gift that keeps on giving... to the criminal, the corrupt and the greedy.

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Ithaca Beckons

Odysseus remembered... on Ithaca

Maybe, this blog should turn its thoughts properly towards my odyssey in the second year of the plague.

My first odyssey in the year of the plague (see posts from 2020) ended up producing 70,000 words as I planned and finally made my journey around Greece and Italy in the wake of Odysseus.

As a result of that trip, I now have the honour of working with Jane Cochrane on a new guidebook to Ithaca – with Jane doing all the hard work of writing and research, and me doing the fun bits of walking across Ithaca in the footsteps of Odysseus – guided by Homer.

Sorry again, Greta, but the only way we are going to get to Ithaca is by flying to Kefalonia and taking the ferry from there. 

The flight has been changed twice already due to the shifting Covid situation. So, once more, making it to Ithaca depends on the whim of the gods – and the virus.

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Troy Story

 

One of the strangest books I've ever encountered has found its way into my possession.

In Where Troy Once Stood the Dutch writer Iman Wilkens puts forward his case that the fabled city of The Iliad was actually in what is now Cambridgeshire. I'm not making this up... but I don't know about him...

And when it comes to The Odyssey, he locates the Cyclops in the Cape Verde Islands, the island of Aeolus and the realm of Circe in the Netherlands, the Laestrygonians in Cuba, the Sirens and Scylla and Charybdis in Cornwall,  Calypso in the Azores, and Ithaca in southern Spain...

Will I be cancelling my trip to Ithaca (an island in Greece) in June to walk in the footsteps of Odysseus once more? Er, I think not... 

An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Paint The Lyric

Odysseus Dreams of Returning to Ithaca by Elias Mesisklis

I am indebted once more to Anastasia Gavilanes, who was so helpful to me when I arrived on Ithaca at the end of my odyssey last year (see this blog An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague – 13: 29 September - 4 October 2020), for telling me about the Paint The Lyric festival planned to take place on the island later in 2021.

The theme is simple. Artists are invited to give their perspectives on The Odyssey – a character, a theme or the whole story – and their visions are brought together for an exhibition on Ithaca.

The wonderful painting above is an example of what can be expected...

If you want to know more and/or get an entry form, visit the Paint The Lyric Facebook page.