The Emerald Isle!
Almost wild beaches.
Ancient relics.
Marble blocks by the sea.
Marble quarry.
The marble that goes to the continent.
Something About Me (SAM)
I once proposed a challenge, Something About Me (SAM). I invited my colleagues to tell something about themselves, things we didn't know but which helped us to get to know each other better. I can say that there were some superb posts. I didn't manage to keep this challenge alive very long, but I remember it with nostalgia now.
I can say about myself that I am a kind of paradoxical man. I am afraid of water (I mean deep water, the water of the seas and oceans, the deep water of lakes and rivers... not the water I drink or the water I bathe in) but I love the sea! I don't say ocean, because I've never seen an ocean and I don't think I ever will unless after death I turn into a traveling spirit, which wouldn't be bad at all.
I can also say that I am conservative and faithful to people, places, and things... I have been married for 45 years to the same woman, and for 20 years I have been going on holiday to only two places in Bulgaria (Balchik and Sozopol) and only one in Greece (Thasos Island) and I do not intend to change them in the future.
The island of Thasos means to me the most beautiful and good life by the sea that any place on earth can offer. Having to choose from only three locations it was not hard to decide.
I have been to Thasos three times in three consecutive years... and there would have been more now if the Covid pandemic hadn't suddenly stopped my travels.
Three holidays in Thasos, cumulatively, means a month living on this island and many, many photos. Photos that, I think, it would be a pity not to show to everyone, as a justification of my passion for this place, and as an invitation to everyone to visit, if possible, this wonderful place... to my taste. However, because tastes differ, it is better for everyone to discover for themselves if it is worth it. I promise to put as relevant pictures as possible.
On An Island (1)- Thasos 2017
Greece has a lot of islands, incredibly many! Some say 1200 islands, others say 6000 islands. There is a big difference between the two numbers but that is because of the area chosen as the minimum to be considered an island.
Thassos is a large island, the twelfth of 1200 (or 6000), located in the Aegean Sea in northern Greece.
Thassos, like all Greek lands, has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with the greatest development in antiquity. It was well known in antiquity for wine, nuts, honey, and marble. In fact, the only local deity was Staphylus, son of the god Dionysus...
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre.
Mamma Mia, that's a god!
I can vouch for the wine, it's excellent, and I only drank the regular wine, not the more expensive one. I can testify for the honey, pine honey, thick and fragrant... extraordinary! I can vouch for the marble, I've seen a few quarries.
There is something else that remains from antiquity, at the seaside, in the pine forests you can come across vestiges from three thousand years ago.
Even more, there is still something left from long before antiquity, long before humans inhabited this land. Green water is like an emerald.
Thassos, nicknamed Emerald Isle!
