Molyvos Life
Just another WordPress.com weblog2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.
Crunchy numbers
A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,900 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 10 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 16 posts. There were 3 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 328kb.
The busiest day of the year was April 20th with 50 views. The most popular post that day was The party .
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were lesvosaccommodation.com, en.wordpress.com, mail.live.com, twitter.com, and mail.yahoo.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for molyvos, molly’s bar molyvos, molyvos blog, molyvos life, and bazaar molyvos.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
The party March 2010
1 comment
Melinda October 2009
Karen November 2009
Liz December 2009
A Seasonal Job or A Year-Round Job? November 2009
4 comments
The world’s best yoga spots
25 January 2011 | By Abigail Hole, Lonely Planet
Most peaceful
Angela Farmer and Victor van Kooten’s yoga hall (www.angela-victor.com) is situated deep in the Greek countryside, in a quiet olive grove in the Eftalou Valley, only five minutes from the beach. The only sound you will hear is the distant jingling of sheep bells. There are three hours of asana each morning and evening meditation and pranayama on the upstairs terrace.
Lesvos, You Beautiful
Poem by Sappho translated by Molly Drake and Sabina Glas
Born out of fire,
mingled by waves your waters caress me,
your rocks support me
Your winds carry the old with them
Your sun warms my heart Old Dragon Woman, you,
who are resting there
Calling me into your dreams
Whispering silently your messages into my ears
Your snake children wandering through me
And your stony body mixes with my bones.
This loosens my soul and dreamt of brother ego
That sent this distant message to me,
Strong bones, strong heart, strong minds
My songs and dances call
The shining companions out of the sea I could catch a glimpse of their play
In my heart I melted with them and followed them
In Dreams I danced and sang with earthy playmates
Praising your beauty and breathing in the hot water the Strength of Mother Earth
Molyvos Friends
I was born in England and have been married to John ( whom I met at the tender age of eleven!) for the past 40 years. We have two sons aged 35 and 30. Over the years, we visited a number of the Greek Islands but took a break from our normal routine to holiday in Sri Lanka when we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. The following year, we were faced with a dilemma – Sri Lanka was just so wonderful, how could we follow that??? I came up with the idea of Lesvos … it seemed unspoiled by tourism and no-one I spoke to had heard of it. So we booked a holiday and the rest is history. We fell in love with the island and, ten years on, Lesvos (and especially Molyvos) is still my favourite place in the world. We introduced my sister and brother-in-law to the island on our second visit and now the four of us live for our visits to Lesvos. While John retired 12 months ago, I continue to work for an English professional football club (no wonder I need to de-stress!!) but next summer I plan to join him in retirement and together we’re dreaming of spending more of our time in our beloved Molyvos.
Rosie
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS.
Despite me being born in Melbourne, my mother always says `Molivos is your real home’ ; and come to think of it, I’ve had the longest, if intermittent, relationship with this place than with anywhere else in my life .
Since I retired last year from a high pressure, high profile career in radio and TV, my partner John and I have again spent early summer through to October renting the very old house we first lived in here in 1968 (yes, we too are getting old!) – which is a quite weird experience, as it’s hardly changed at all in over 40 years, including the antique outdoor plumbing!
But I have enjoyed the luxury of peace & time behind the high stone walls in the overgrown garden, the early roses, growing our vegetables (after this summer’s brilliant early crop, disease wiped out my tomatoes, as it did many others), making delicious jam and chutney from the old apricot and plum trees, sketching, reading, bringing up two beautiful cats, swimming in the world’s best sea, driving my old car to favorite spots around this end of the island. Or just having a paraia, sitting outdoors eating, drinking wine, having interesting conversations with a variety of good friends.
Like many foreign and Greek `outsiders’ who’ve attached themselves to Molyvos, stayed, made lives here, left and returned – I have intense reactions to the good and bad of village life, angry at what’s happening to the picturesque town, the treatment of animals, of `illegals’, refugees, the destruction of the natural environment, disgusted by the never-to-be-finished concrete skeletons which litter the beautiful landscape, along with the tons of unrecycled plastic, garbage, frustrated by the `byzantine’ bureaucracy, etc.etc.
Naturally people constantly ask how Moyvos has changed over 40 years; and it has, enormously. To start with, the town is more than twice the size (why is the old architecture beautiful, the new houses so ugly??) Secondly, thankfully, the village is now not so poor … Those of us fortunate enough to see the May outdoor screening of a fascinating 1958 Greek documentary about local fishing, were struck by just how hard life was then for local families. Not however, for we young `pet foreigners’ (who arrived here on the return voyage of the ships taking Greek migrants to where we’d come from -Australia), who although we were also poor, loved experiencing the traditional life, renting the many deserted houses, living on virtually nothing. No cars!
But while one can never – I repeat – NEVER romanticise poverty – most of my older Greek friends (and I) have a great nostalgia for `those years’ here, maintaining that people were happier (perhaps less discontented?) , enjoyed the simple life more, that the village has `lost it’s soul’ - to tourism, materialism, greed.
And sadly, while it’s great that more young people, especially women, have the opportunity to be educated, or qualify for future employment - Greece’s severe financial crisis means it’s hard to be optimistic about the chances for them to better their lives, to fulfil their potential, their dreams & ambitions.
So at the end of a long, hot summer, with the luscious red fruit loading the old pomegranate trees in the garden, I leave part of my heart here with fears that Greece is in for a very tough, difficult winter..
Tou kronou.
Julie C
Walking with Eva
Hi my name is Eva and I am an “outdoor-person”.
I first came to the island as a child and explored Lesvos with my father who was a great storyteller and made history come alive for us children.Later after my education in publishing and sports I came back to the magic island and have lived on Lesvos ever since.
I love nature and this is something for which this island is renowned.
Lesvos surprises with a varying many-faceted Mediterranean landscape.
Rich in flora and fauna, silvery olive groves, green pine woods and wild volcanic scenery.
Lesvos with its great scenery and stunning views combines the natural worlds of the east and west – Asia and Europe.
For nearly ten years now I have organized and led individual walks on this fascinating island.
I enjoy leading people through uncharted terrain, making it safe and enjoyable for all of us, usually in small groups.
My walks are tailor-made to the needs and wishes of the participants.Long walks, short walks, cultural and historical walks, adventure walks, romantic walks and sooo many more, all over the island.
After spending the day in the natural world and experiencing the special atmosphere of this island we all, by the end of the day, have made new friends.
On our hikes through the countryside we dicover picturesque villages, fabulous views, hidden monasteries, and ruins of bygone eras. The routes take us along donkey tracks, old pilgrim trails and long forgotten stony mountain paths, sometimes crossing streams, scrambling over boulders, fences and hedges. On the way we meet up with donkeys, sheep and goats, perhaps a falcon, buzzard or jay even a tortoise or salamander. One memorable time in early springtime I was accompanied by an eagle up in the air . It gave my a very special feeling.
We sometimes take a midday break at a rural taverna, with scenic views or directly overlooking the Aegean, we may also enjoy a picnic straight out of our backpacks somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the silence of the mountains or with the sound of the sea.
You may also like to know more specific details about the flora and fauna of the island, as well as history, and information about contemporary Greek life, You can find me at: www.wandern-auf-lesvos.de or mail me wander@otenet.de
I wish you a lot of fun exploring this fascinating Island, see you in Lesvos
Eva
Magic Green Vegetables
Last week I went for a beautiful walk with some friends in the southern part of the island. I had heard of an organic farm close to a village called Milies and had been thinking of going to visit it.
Well, spring was in the air, and on Saturday night over a glass of wine we decided to go – “we” being Melinda, Evelina, Amber and me.
We have all been living on Lesvos for a long time. Melinda has been here since she was a toddler, Evelina is from Molivos, grew up in Athens, but has been back here for nearly 20 years now.
I have also been in town for nearly 20 years and Amber, who is Dutch like me, has been here nearly 10 years. But, since the island is so big, there is still lots we haven’t seen yet. Amber is actually the real explorer. She loves to go walking with her dog Bella every day or with friends and her uncle Jan, who lives here as well.
In the end we were lucky, because Jan decided to come as well and he has a jeep so we didn’t have to make a detour, but could drive from the village of Agiassos and past the former mental sanitorium that is now used as an official shelter home for young refugees under 16, often from Afghanistan, who have landed here by boat from Turkey.
After the shelter the road became a dirt track with fantastic views over the bay of Geras and some steep slopes. I have a terrible fear of heights but was quite relaxed about it as the slopes are covered in pine trees so I couldn’t really see how high we were. After about an hour we arrived in Karionas, where we parked the car at the local taverna. It was closed, but in typically trusting Greek fashion, a big bag of bread was hanging outside the door, so we were pretty sure that on our way back we would be able to have a nice lunch there.
In Karionas we split up, because Amber and Jan had done the walk already and were going to do another one this time. Evelina, Melinda and I hit the road to the farm.It was a dirt track again, through pine forest and olive groves. It was nice to see that most of the olive groves had signs saying they were organic.More and more olive farmers around Molyvos have also changed to organic farming which means no spraying of the trees with chemical pesticides.
After less then an hour we reached the farm. It is also a holiday place with some cottages, a café and stables for horses. The horses are used to explore the surroundings, but there are also mountain bikes and guided tours on foot. However, although we had phoned to say we were coming, we didn’t find anybody and, after a look around, we decided to go to Milies, the next village, which is now nearly deserted with only 2 or 3 inhabitants. (there were around 400 in 1920).
We rested at the fountain next to the church and refilled our water bottles because it was going to be uphill on the way back and very warm, I had stripped down to a t-shirt.
For more shade we took a small paved path. We saw some horses and passed the farm again. Now the café was open and an old lady greeted us warmly. We had missed her before because she had been cleaning the cottages as they were expecting guests. Unbelievable! She was 85 years old and still working hard. The timing wasn’t so good because it was now her lunchtime so we just drank a glass of water, had a little chat with her, and then left her to her lunch, which was standing on the table and was no more than bread and a plate of wild greens that she had probably gathered herself.
No wonder she was still cleaning rooms at her age. We had got quite hungry ourselves and were eager to go back to the taverna at Karionas and have lunch. We knew what we wanted for our veggies!
The timing was perfect. Jan and Amber had just arrived. But the taverna was closed even though the bread was gone and there was a car there that hadn’t been there that morning.
So we drove to Perama, a beautiful fishing village at the golf of Geras, and ,besides a big variety of fish, what was on the menu?…. magic wild greens. Why do I call them magic? Because from now on, I’ll be eating them. Who knows – maybe I will be still cleaning my own holiday house when I am 85.
Karen
The party
For a live view of the 60′s,70′s,80′s party
Saturday the 6th of March 9pm Greek time.
www.mymolivos.com
A fast connection helps.
Enjoy because we sure will.
Have a glass of wine with us
Melinda
molyvosevents
