My Hovercraft is Full of Eels

To Greece by train - and other journeys of the mind, body and soul

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Worries.….….….….….… =(

August 3rd, 2009 by callum · Greece

  • Chris is wor­ried that Jane might buy a water­mel­on to eat on the train.
  • Jane is wor­ried that Chris will have his purse stolen.
  • Callum is wor­ried that he will get cock­roaches in his san­dals cos his feet are so dirty. [Read more →]

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Food for a 2‑day train journey

August 3rd, 2009 by callum · food, Greece, trains, travel

2  Spinopitas

1 Tiropita

13 Oranges

7 Bottles of water

4 Large tomatoes

2 Cucumbers [Read more →]

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Resources II

August 3rd, 2009 by chris · Greece, resources

Guidebooks are of course an essen­tial staple of the inde­pend­ent trav­el­ler. [Read more →]

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Kimolos

August 1st, 2009 by jane · Greece

I almost burst into tears when I arrived here — out of sheer delight!  It is a beau­ti­ful, quite and undeveloped island with a few Greek hol­i­day makers (and the French couple with the young child we chat­ted to on the first day).  It feels so much ‚ore relaxed and gentle this way, with just loc­al vis­it­ors, and the com­par­is­on with the Scottish islands comes to mind again.  Arriving here felt quite like arriv­ing st Eigg — a few loc­als chat­ting and hanging out at the har­bour cafe, in no hurry to do any­thing oth­er than drink strong Greek cof­fee and watch and nat­ter. [Read more →]

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To Kimolos

August 1st, 2009 by chris · Greece, islands

29th July

Kimilos landscapeChalk and clay, astound­ing eroded rock form­a­tions. No camp­site here at all, but free camp­ing on the beach. Very much quieter here than the oth­er islands, and we are hav­ing to prac­tise our Greek. [Read more →]

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Da greek animals song

August 1st, 2009 by callum · Greece

Greek donkeyDa, doo, da, donk, donk, donkey,

Da, doo, da, donk, donk, donkey,

Da, doo, da, donk, donk, donkey,

Unda da olive tree [Read more →]

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Serifos

August 1st, 2009 by chris · Greece

The camp­site is big and com­mer­cial, tents packed close togeth­er. There’s a swim­ming pool — the kids would spend the whole time there if we did­n’t drag them out to the beach! It’s much too hot to sleep in the tent, so Callum and I sleep on the beach under a tam­ar­isk tree, blas­ted by sand blown by the meltemi (the hot sea­son­al wind). [Read more →]

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Camping Antiparos

August 1st, 2009 by chris · Greece, islands

Camping AntiparosA busy camp­site, but very relaxed atmo­sphere. People sit­ting play­ing chess and back­gam­mon, 1970s rock music play­ing in the cafe, five minutes to the (swim­ming cos­tumes def­in­itely option­al) beach. [Read more →]

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The wind is in from Africa

July 28th, 2009 by jane · Greece

…and last night I could­n’t sleep…

Serifos beachCallum and Chris slept on the beach here on Serifos last night cos it was so hot in the tent, even with both doors open, and I slept in the hot tent cos it was so windy down on the beach!!  Callum slept until 8.30 even whilst wild sand­storms raged about him.  The ele­ments are cer­tainly chal­len­ging, and makes us think yet more about cli­mate change and the urgent need to act quickly to avoid yet more wild windy heat that makes cul­tiv­a­tion impossible. [Read more →]

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A sacrificial option?

July 24th, 2009 by chris · Greece

When I first talked to our friend Rachael about our jour­ney a few months ago, she described it as a “sac­ri­fi­cial” action. Rather an inter­est­ing choice of words, I thought. “Sacrifice” these days tends to have unfor­tu­nate con­nota­tions of osten­ta­tious self-depriva­tion, or empty ritu­al. [Read more →]

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