Molyvos Life
Just another WordPress.com weblogAuthor Archive
MOVING IN MOLYVOS FESTIVAL 7-9th OF JUNE 2012
The Moving in Molyvos festival is part of a new creative approach to the promotion of the island’s well-known health-giving properties such as the natural hot spring spas. These are already enjoyed by both holiday-makers and participants in the many health and well-being seminars held on the island every year.
Now the local tourist association is bringing together the many teachers and workshop leaders working on Lesvos to celebrate their work in this unique three-day event.
The festival offers the chance to take part in a fascinating series of workshops, open to men and women, at the special festival price of 5 euro per class in:
• Yoga (three different forms)
• Nia,
• Tai Chi
• Chi Gong,
• Healing Dances and songs
• Aqua therapy.
• Greek dancing
• Eastern Belly dancing
• Nature walks
All participants are invited to a series of complimentary Greek lessons and special free evening events:
• Welcome drinks to introduce the festival and the teachers
• Sunset at Molyvos castle with ouzo and traditional Greek music
• A chance to dance! Enjoy a short performance of Greek dances
before getting up and joining in – encouraged by some Greek wine
and snacks.
During the festival, there will be an exhibition of classic and contemporary work by local artists at the Trifon building on the harbour every evening, with free entrance for everyone.
All the festival events are designed to complement each other and to foster well-being, strengthen the mind and body, and energize the individual.
You can look at the festival programme and create your own, personal timetable of classes, leaving time to experience the special energy and vibrance of Greece’s third largest island.
On our part, we look forward to welcoming you and providing a unique experience that maximises every aspect of Molyvos- our very special Aegean village.
A significant proportion of the festival income goes to local charities.
For more information check out our website. www.movinginmolyvos.com
SPRING CLEANING IN MOLYVOS !
Spring and sunshine finally came to Lesvos last weekend after an amazingly cold winter and how did we celebrate?
We went to the old rubbish dump of Molyvos (Mythymna) and cleaned it up.
Set high up in the mountains behind Eftalou, it is an area of outstanding beauty and we wanted to restore it to its natural state.
With rubber gloves to the ready we marched forth to be horrified at how much rubbish there was still left there.
3 Tons of rubbish was collected,
organised by the environmental group of the Molyvos Tourist Authority, the volunteers included residents of the village, the local scout group and even a group from the Mitilyne Post Office who drove 60 kilometers to join us.
However, Sky TV who were supposed to be filming the day didn’t show up but an interview was given by telephone. So, we didn’t make it on to the television but we got great suntans. 
There is still more rubbish but at least we are happy to be moving in the right direction and hope that this initiative will be taken up by many more local groups.
Melinda.
Waves
There are many waves in life
Through the Trees. 
Waves hitting the shore
Stones washed away.
These pictures were taken by Elpi Deligianni.
Trouble finding flights to Lesvos for 2012
You might be interested in reading this email that i was sent
Melinda
Hi Melinda,
I don’t know whether you are aware of the dire situation facing Lesvos for next year.
While you and your colleagues are working away to attract more people to Molivos, we are finding it almost impossible to get there.
Our travel agent Lisa Murray, who works for a wonderful company called Travel Counsellors, has been checking out for us today and has found that not only have Thomson and First Choice pulled out of Lesvos for 2012 but have NO plans to return in the near future.
That leaves just Thomas Cook/Manos with just one Saturday flight a week out of Manchester and no-one at this stage planning to fill the void.
Liisa has checked with other companies such as Olympic to see whether they have plans to fill the hole left by Thomson, but none are plannng to do that.
We are now desperately trying to find somewhere else as superb as the Eriphilli where we can book a package two or three weeks next May, before the few available planes are filled by bird watchers heading for Skala Kalloni.
I’m sure the Thomson move will have a devastating effect on the restaurants and other businesses in Molivos.
Problems are even cropping up with Thomas Cook, the one operator still taking bookings from Britain. For instance, the Molivos Queen (below the castle) was being offered at the beginning of this week and a friend of ours booked the first two weeks next May.
When I tried today, the accommoadtion had been pulled from website for what Thomas Cook say are “contractual problems”.
Slowly but surely, the places we like are disappearing and, more frighteningly, the planes to get us there.
Best wishes,
FRANK and SHEILA
Rambo Update
First of all I would like to thank the many people who showed interest in Rambo’s story, I feel I must give this update to prove that in spite of what the situation it’s never too late to try to save an animal. I have asked my husband and son every single day since I last saw Rambo what his progress was and it was always positive but I didn’t want to write anything until I had seen him with my own eyes. Due to the fact that I am not mobile plus the start of a new working season I was beginning to fret that maybe I wouldn’t see him for months but 2 days ago plans slotted into place and I got the chance to meet up again with our “old man”. I got off my son’s bike quicker than I had ever thought possible and charged off into the field of waist high grass and there he was, quite a way off with 2 of our other horses. We shouted his name and he began to approach us and my son said “shake the bag and see what happens”(we were armed with carrots and apples) I could not believe my eyes!He broke into a lopsided trot and as he got nearer I could see the transformation,not only could he move better but he positively shone in the sunlight.Gone was the dull and lifeless winter coat and in it’s place was the black sleek summer coat that gleamed with health,once again I cried of course but they were tears of joy and disbelief this time. We fed him and almost had to wrestle his head out of the bag at times and this was when I really noticed his eyes. They were alive and full of life,shining and full of mischief, Rambo was well and truly on his way to recovery,he still has a problem with his legs but he can definitely get himself where he wants to be, he still needs to pad out a little more but that will come in time but all in all his progress has been far better than I could ever have wished for. After a while, when he had had his fill and had paid his respects to us he sauntered off to join the horses again, my heart was at peace and my mind at rest. This day we had 2 young girls with us, Justine and Claudelle, my son had met them quite by chance at the restaurant he works at and funnily enough they had read my first story about Rambo. They are here on a photography course from Canada and from what I have been told they have taken numerous shots of him already and soon their work will be shown in a local exhibition, I cannot wait to see the fruits of their work! Our “gentle old man’ will get his five minutes of well earned fame and I will be one of the proudest people present.
Before I end this update, Susan, I have to tell you that yes, the 50 euros were taken but we paid willingly and I should also explain that Rambo had been loose on those hills for about 2 years so our hopes of ever seeing him again were dwindling daily.God bless the man who bothered to recapture him and God bless Rambo for accepting us again so willingly.
Alaine
Kalo Taxithi Tony Barrell
‘Kalo Taxithi’ is a common Greek term used to wish a special person a good journey into their spiritual after life.
A great friend of Molyvos who will be much missed – Tony Barrell 7 May 1940 – 31 March 2011
Traveller, journalist and writer, Tony Barrell made his first visit to Molyvos in 1970 and quickly became part of the village – his second home.
We are all saddened by the news of his death from a heart attack on March 31st 2011. He died in his sleep after a wonderful evening of laughter and reminiscence with friends including my mother, Jennifer.
Last summer, Tony and his wife Jane had a great gathering here to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their first visit. He always enjoyed staying here and hated leaving. At the time of his death he was still in the process of writing a book with Jane “Your island, My island”.
A very giving person, he was always so willing to help me with projects which needed writing or photographing. It has taken me a long time to write this tribute. A good friend, he will never now be able to keep his promise to come and stay in beautiful Mystegna in the Kyparissis Beach Houses on the east coast of the island.
During one of his many visits, he met a Dutch woman, Julie, who writes a blog about Lesvos and he helped to correct her English translations. She edited her writing into a book which has just been published. She had been so looking forward to reading his final review of it.
As touched as all of us, she has written the following tribute:
A farewell to Tony
Now that I finally changed as well in also
Now that you teached me fishes are fish
And after so many other English corrections
You left us.
After you did this huge job
In correcting and commenting on my columns
And finally the book
You left us
Without me having a chance to pay you back
In dinners and fish
Without me reading
The Final Review
Reading about you
You were more than great in Australia
Writing about so many topics
And finally again about Japan
Here on the other end of the world
Where the news of a shark kept papers alive
You left your traces in friendships
And dinners and party’s
I have been lucky
That one day you and Jane walked into my house
And so we met
And so we worked
Here in the country
Where old history
Of brave wars and great philosophers
Seem to live so close with modern live
You found an island of peace
Sunken into the blue Mediterranean
Where Greeks and foreigners
Mingled into a life of happiness
Here in the little town of Molyvos
For decennia you came back again and again
And now Molyvos lost another
Of its big writers.
Tony, thank you for everything!
Julie Smit
Tony Barrell (7 mei 1940 – 31 maart 2011)
Addio TONY by Julie Copeland.
Our friendship with Tony Barrell & Jane Norris goes back a long way: Jane and I go back 50 years (!) when we first worked together in a Melbourne theatre troupe, and later, living in London, where she met Tony.
In 1969, when John Slavin and I were first living in Molyvos, I sent Jane a postcard saying something like: `we’ve found the place we’ve been looking for – do come and see!’
And so they did, arriving from London in the village Spring of 1970 – and the rest is history.
Naturally Greece was then a very different place; Molivos was much poorer, much smaller – but they `got it’, proving over the years to be more adventurous explorers than us, hiking around the coast (before there was a road) to Skala Skamia, while later Tony and his old friend, the English writer Roger Deakin looked like swashbuckling pirates, as they strode through the island in search of ancient trees, on many excursions accompanied by Heinz Horn, who still knows the island terrain better than anyone.
We shared houses, good and bad times, often dramatic times; ferocious winter winds when I recall us all crawling behind the parapet on our hands and knees into the agora, unable to stand, as the gale hurled roof tiles like missiles around us; we lived through the years of the military dictatorship; good friends have died and are buried there.
One was our very special friend, Nassos Theofilou, author of several untranslatable books, librettos, lyrics, etc.
Tony made a radio feature based on one of Nassos’ stories about his grandmother, complete with the sounds of Molyvos which Tony continued to record over the years - many, many audio hours of sheep bells, doves, fishing boats – everything!
Tony was drawn to Nassos’ sense of the bizarre, his crazy humour, as despite language differences, they punned and joked together.. they were in many ways soul mates – but like Tony, a few years ago Nassos died suddenly of a heart attack, far too young.
However, one of our (several!) important summer rituals continued to be sharing his widow Lydia’s large, delicious dinners - and lots of ouzo! - under the stars and olive trees out at the Theofilou farm, accompanied by the owls and the cats.
Last summer, with our Molyvos friends, including Lydia, we shared another significant ritual, when Jane rounded us up to celebrate her and Tony”s 40th anniversary year in the village. There we all were, people from many places, on the terrace of the old house they rented - a miracle of connections.
Tony really loved the island, where he became a different person. (Their daughter Klio shares her name with the village up the coast! ) Jane maintained the best tonic for his health problems was his return visits to Molyvos
Most of all he loved the people, their company and their stories – the crazier the better!. 
He loved swimming in the cold, clear sea, excursions exploring the island, he loved the landscape.
Some time back Jane got serious about making a film tracing the extraordinary pull that Molyvos has had, and continues to have, on people who visit, stay or live there.
Our Molyvos friends have been shocked at the news of Tony’s death; Lesbos summers will never be the same, and we shall surely miss him.
for tributes, listings and audio of Tony’s work, you can go to the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) site: abc.net.au/rn -
& type in search `tony barrell’
www.abc.net.au/rn/360/features/tonybarrell/
GOODBYE TO THE MYTH OF MITHIMNA
THERE’S a myth among British birdwatchers that the ONLY place worth staying on Lesvos is Skala Kalloni.
It’s a misconception probably shared by birders from other European countries who flock to the island for each spring and autumn migration.
Only those in the know seem to choose Molivos - or Mithimna to give it its historic name – as their base.
Well, in my humble opinion as an avid birdwatcher, it’s about time someone banished this myth about Mithimna.
When it comes to finding a perfect place to combine birdwatching with walking in spectacular, hilly scenery, having a massive choice of eating places and history around every corner, then Molivos is the place to be
Is there any nicer place in the whole world to round off a day’s birding than with a meal on Molivos harbour side, watchingdolphins and diving terns in the fading light?
Skala Kalloni with its salt pans is only a 40 minutes drive away.
All around Molivos are superb places to seek out the birds – some of them rather rare – from dense olive groves to the magnificent coastal strip between Eftalou and Skala Sikamnia. 
Even among the narrow streets and alleyways of the old town, there are birds to be seen and heard. You just have to look and listen.
Swallows nest under almost every canopy and overhang of buildings. Most years, for instance, they successfully rear young on top of an ornamental coach lantern under the canopy of The Captain’s Table restaurant on the harbour.
As darkness falls, the monotonous call of the Scops owl can be heard around the town squares and among the eucalyptus trees alongside the school.
The sound is reminiscent of the slow “peeps” of the Greenwich time signal.
Molivos is a place where it is usual to spot the unusual.
Floodlights which illuminate the castle are a magnet to moths and other flying insects. So birds such as nightjars and little owls are quick to take advantage of the ready meals.
Last year, barn owls, little owls and kestrels all nested within a few yards of each other in stone crevices near the castle’s main entrance.
Keep an eye on the sea, too. Some years, thousands of
Mediterranean shearwaters can be seen in the huge bay between the harbour and the Kavaki headland. At times there are so many it looks like a giant oil slick.
The headland itself, near the “disco on stilts”, is known as one of the best places in Europe to see the very rare Ruppell’s Warbler.
Inland, the reservoir off the Vafios road is a good place to see Eleanora’s falcons hunting for dragon flies. Many other birds can also be “ticked” here.
In our 16 years of holidays in Molivos – sometimes twice a year – my wife Sheila and I always see at least 120 species.
Really keen birdwatchers can expect many more than that.
FRANK WOOD, press officer for the Bolton area of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in North West England.
molyvosevents
