One of the advantages of living in Athens is that in two hours or even less you can be on an island. As there are many islands, this time my choice was Andros, one of the Cycladic islands. The idea of visiting Andros was already for a while stuck in my mind because I like its name. What a funny and weird reason for visiting, don’t you think? Even if it is, they say you can’t make a mistake with Cycladic islands. I suggested to my partner to go to Andros for a few days. I was looking forward to the idea of going for a short break, since September came, my favorite month for vacation. It is the month in the year when the sun is no longer so strong, and when there are fewer people on vacation. We agreed to go there and then I started thinking which book to bring. Recently I bought a book written by Osho titled “The book of understanding: creating your own path to freedom.” I decided to bring that one, even if often it happens that I don’t read while traveling. Many times, on my previous vacations, I was bringing a book to the beach every day and at the end the book was only salty and dirty or twisted inside out from pressing in the bag. Anyway I packed this book first. I was happy that I didn’t complicate packing with thoughts about what to wear, what to bring or whether it is going to be cold or not there although I heard that it can be windy on Andros. While packing I saw on internet that Brian Ferry is performing in Irodion theater under Acropolis. I decided to go and listen to him. His voice has been described as an “elegant, seductive croon”. I agree with that statement. I enjoyed his voice and two hours passed very quickly. My mood got even better and I finished packing our stuff very fast. I was ready! Andros, here we come!
The excitement that I feel every time when I am on my way to a new destination makes traveling worth doing: getting to know the place where you will spend time, meeting other people, learn something new, knowing how local people live, what they eat and try peculiar products, how they feel and how they spend their time, getting to know with some customs… I was hoping to find out one of those things in the following days. The first thing that I felt on my skin was a strong wind. I liked the little village called Batsi where we settled and I forgot fast about the wind although my hair was going up and down all the time, which was funny. The classic look of Cycladic islands is that there are not many trees. I was cheerfully surprised, on Andros there are a lot more. We started exploring the island by car and on our way we saw a lot of goats. I think the goat can be a symbol of this island. Fortunately, the goats were cautious and did not run out on the street. You can not tell this about cats, we had seen a lot of dead ones on the road… and then for a while your thoughts go into some philosophical way of thinking, what life is and how long it will last, how do we live it and whether we live it fully.
Osho : The fear of death is fear of time. And the fear of time is, deeply down, fear of unlived moments, of an unlived life. So what to do? Live more, and live more intensely. Live dangerously. It is your life. Don’t sacrifice it for any sort of foolishness that has been taught to you. It is your life: Live it! Don’t sacrifice it for words, theories, countries or politics. Don’t sacrifice it for anybody. Live it! Don’t think that it is courageous to die. The only courage is to live life totally; there is no other courage.”
Every morning I was waking up early because I really like the morning quietness and I was waiting for the sun to rise. I liked our dark blue doors and the moment when I was opening it to see the view on the sea. I smiled every time. Those little things, make life beautiful. Are they small? I don’t know if they are because for me those are big things that can define a good feeling for the whole day. Just siting in front of our balcony and watching at the sea with clouds passing by. Some mornings I would walk a bit to find a place for meditation, sometimes I would sit closer to the coast and write my thoughts on a piece of paper. Sometimes I would just write that I am sleepy still but happy to catch that peaceful moment. Living in big city with its noise, makes you really aware to enjoy these moments of peace. In those early mornings, I would see some people running. I think it is good to do your daily things, like running, even if you are on holiday. I guess it is even better for the runners, with those beautiful surroundings. Except running here you can also walk, on the island are more then 20 walking paths and every October there is a walking festival. That sounds interesting and inviting at the same time. People from all over the world come for that festival. These information you can find out while talking to locals. Information about paths is Andros can be found on the Andros Routes site which describes Andros as ‘an island made for walking’. Andros Routes was formed by a group of volunteers who love the island, its culture, history and beautiful landscape. What a nice idea of those people. I put this event into my calendar.
One of the things that make a place memorable are the people living in it. In just few days spent on Andros I saw smiley and friendly people, gentle and kind. People that make you feel nice and welcome.
Every morning I liked to go to the bakery to buy bread and I could get a glimpse at the back room and see the bakers preparing some nice stuff. They looked busy and happy. Like I said, I am a morning person and people in the bakery were the only ones woken up and on their job. The smell of just made bread was seductive and as soon I was leaving the bakery I was cutting small pieces of bread and eating them. Buying bread was one of the things I was doing while I was a kid. With my friend from neighborhood, together we would buy bread and I would always stop at her place to eat some chocolate cream on bread. That bakery brought back nice memories from my youth.
While walking and visiting the ancient tower of Agios Petros, 2500 years old, we met a French guy who bought a little goat house 40 years ago and renovated it into a big house. He is living alone, and has a garden in front of his house. He was fixing a little path around his house and wished him success with his work. We were curious tourists nosing around. We spend some time talking with him. He said that spending the winter on the island is one of the best things. Everything is green, the temperature is pleasant and it is quiet. While exploring another part of the island and walking around, we met a lady in front of her house. After few minutes, she invited us kindly into her home. Unfortunately, we didn’t go, because we ordered already some food in the restaurant, so we couldn’t let our food get cold. We just came to see one waterfall while waiting the food, so we didn’t have time. After that, I was felling sorry that we didn’t do that. I wish we were more spontaneous, like her. You can’t see that friendly and welcoming people in the cities.
On Andros islands, you can do a lot of stuff. Going to the beaches is probably the main activity during the summer. There are lot of nice ones. In my opinion, Zorkos beach was the most beautiful. It is possible that I had that feeling because the weather was wonderful, no wind and the water was crystal clear. Next for me was Vori beach. On the bottom of the sea you can find a ship wreck. That was a big surprise while snorkeling there. On that beach, a bit further, in a little lake two photogenic swans were enjoying. We couldn’t resist not to make pictures of them. When people started going and leaving the beach, they got out of the lake. It looked like they were saying goodbye. We met some French people who were cleaning the beach from plastic and other stuff. That was nice thing from them and we joined. It is nice when someone is taking care of environment. They live on Andros island for 6 months yearly. Andros is an island that you like to return again. You fall in love easily. This time I didn’t manage to see everything, that’s why it would be nice to see Andros’ beauty again. While you are there, you can visit some of the monasteries. There are few on the islands, we didn’t manage to see all of them. The island is full of white little churches, if there is nothing else in some part of the island, there is for sure a church. Churches and goats are everywhere.
Like those beautiful swans were saying goodbye to us, I am saying goodbye to Andros island, for now.
I know I will be there soon again.
Just to add, I didn’t finish reading the book of Osho (its salty and dirty) but I will finish with some of his quotes:
“One just needs a little alertness to see and find out: Life is really a great cosmic laughter.”
“You will find meaning in life only if you create it.It is a poetry to be composed.
It is a song to be sung. It is a dance to be danced…”
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this is my comment about Andros