Holiday!

On Sunday morning I’m flying out to Greece for a week; after eight years, I’m finally going back to the lovely northern Aegean island of Thassos.   I would have preferred, truth to tell, not to fly this Sunday, as I imagine that airport security will be even more hectic than usual on September the 11^th.   But as things worked out, that’s the day the holiday begins.  Charter flights to Thassos are on Sundays; end of story.

To be precise, it’s a charter flight to Alexander the Great Airport, which is on the mainland at Kavala. From the airport there’s about a thirty minute journey to the small port of Keramotí.  From Keramotí, opposite Thassos, another thirty minutes by ferry takes one to Limenas, the main town of the island.  From there, about another thirty minutes takes one to where I am staying, the resort of Chrisi Amoudiá, aka Golden Beach.  The name says it all, really; Chrisi Amoudiá has one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen.  I tried to upload a picture, but blogger has come over all queer and won't let me.  Never mind...

In forty-eight hours I’ll be there - what a blissful thought.   I will have stood at the bow of the ferry, watching the silhouette of the island approaching; the little white and terracotta town, the green hills behind, the central mountains soaring above.  I will have walked down onto the white marble quay, and been put in a coach and driven up across the nearest ridge of hills, and have been deposited at my studio.  I will have discovered what the view from my window is like, the view I will live with for the next week.  I will have sorted out how far it is to the nearest minimarket, to the nearest cafés and tavernas.  And I will have walked down to the beach, and swum in the warm, blue Aegean Sea.

See you all when I get back!