Newsletter Issue 14: January 2021 Καλη Χρονια or Happy New year! I am guessing I am not the only one glad to see the back of 2020. I also know most of you will be feeling totally desperate with the announcement of another national lock down. As with my last few newsletters I am staying optimistic for 2021 and we do truly believe that if we can all get through the winter, spring will bring a much sunnier outlook. Figure 1 Mylopotas Beach Ios view from Ios Palace Hotel July 2020 “O! how shall summer's honey breath hold out, / Against the wrackful siege of battering days?” ― William Shakespeare, Coming up The usual mix of our news, old news, a notable Syros islander and the Milos Catacombs! “And summer isn't a time. It's a place as well. Summer is a moving creature and likes to go south for the winter.” ― Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay Figure 2 Ermopolis Syros - 2019 1 Our News As you enter your first week of another lock down Greece has been in the same one since 7th November, so back to the texts to leave the house which you can only do for 5 reasons, no none essential retail or bars/cafes or schools open, however we can still get a take away coffee and sit on the beach (as long as we list it as exercise). There was some easing off of restrictions for Christmas Day but for the next week or so lockdown will be tighter to ensure some children can return to school on the 11th January. The Greek PM has indicated this will finish in February when the vast amount of the venerable have been vaccinated. The first vaccine started being rolled out on the 27th December. Greece is now marked as” green” by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, so fingers crossed this lock down has worked and although the behaviour of some including the Church at Epiphany may prolong it. The lock down did throw up some very strange anomalies including an inadvertent ban on selling heaters, slippers and blankets (you will be pleased to know for my sake this has now been rectified!) We expect tourism to restart at Easter. Obviously, there are hurdles to get through but with the roll out of vaccines in the UK and in Europe, faster and easier testing and insurance companies now covering tourists for Covid related issues, confidence in the market is returning. We are giving the option for new holidays in 2021, where we will take a small initial refundable deposit of £50 per adult and £25 per child with the next payment due on the 31st of March so you are making less of a financial commitment and getting the benefit of making sure availability is good. Note for islands with a high rate of tourism from Greece (such as Tinos/Sifnos/Serifos/Kythnos and Syros) accommodation is already being booked up for August, (note this applies to accommodation only holidays with flights bolted on later) Can I also add if you want to plan your holiday but not to commit to anything yet I can do that for you now – we all know the planning can be very time consuming so if it is ready to go it makes all our lives easier! “. .Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables Gastronomy weeks October 2021 – we are in the process of competing details of these and by the next news letter I hope to have more information, we will also be advertising this in February, the plan for the first course is a Greek bread, pie and pastry course, including some favourites like Baklava, Cheese Pies! These courses are limited to 10 people per course and if you want to register your interest please let me know. 2 Old News from the Islands (and Athens!) In the news – there is no news other than Covid – so I am reverting to old news again! Attempt to Save Ancient Statue from the French fails! Milos 1820: The ancient statue of Aphrodite was accidentally discovered by a Greek farmer George Kentrotas in the Tripiti area of Ottoman controlled Milos (more about Tripiti later). Kentrotas sold the statue for an apparently nominal fee to Louis Brest the French Vice- Consul who had heard of the discovery from a French Naval officer Olivier Voutier. Greek historian Dimitris Fotiadis reported that the locals hearing about the sale were furious and tried to stop the statue being loaded on to a French ship, this caused a skirmish and French soldiers on board the ship fired guns at the islanders killing and injuring several of them. The trouble did not end there though, as many islanders on small boats followed the French boat, also getting word to other Greeks in Piraeus about the “theft.”. According to Fotiadis when the vessel arrived at Piraeus there were around 1000 people gathered protesting against the statue’s removal from Greece. The ensuing protest led to both the French crew of the boat and Ottoman soldiers who were there to protect the French again turning their guns on the Greeks with Fotiadis claiming that 200 were killed before the ship finally set sail for France. The Greek historian wrote that the “farmers and fishermen of Milos fought and died to preserve Greece’s cultural heritage and that Figure 3 Venus De Milo – obviously! the events of the Venus de Milo plunder have been shrewdly kept a secret.” The Venus is one of the most viewed antiquities in the Louvre to this day. There was some consternation in Greece when on his first meeting with Emanual Macron the (then new) Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked the French President for the return of a part of the sculptures the Louvre holds, (a Parthenon metope depicting a centaur) but not the Aphrodite. Milos island has an ongoing campaign for the return of the statue. 3 Elgin loses “his” marbles! After departing from the port of Piraeus on the 17th September 1802, en-route to Malta, and then to Great Britain the ship The Mentor, requisitioned by “serial looter” (or conservator of antiquities depending on which side of the fence you sit on), Thomas Bruce 7th Earl of Elgin sank after hitting rocks off the island of Kythira. The ship’s cargo not only contained the Parthenon marbles but also 17 boxes of antiquities all of which ended up on the bottom of the sea. Fortunately for the twelve crew, the ship Anikitos was in the Figure 4 View of the Parthenon from the Zappeion area and all were rescued. Upon hearing of the disaster Elgin organised a retrieve and salvage mission, which involved the authorities and residents of Kythera along with British diplomatic personnel. The marbles were successfully rescued and eventually found their way to the British museum. Many other ancient artifacts were not rescued and left on the seabed. Elgin’s right to remove the antiquities he did is still disputed, in 1802 he received a “firman” from the Ottoman government. According to the firman, Lord Elgin’s men would not be obstructed by the authorities in Athens in their “scholarly work”. Additionally, Elgin was allowed to ‘take away any pieces of stone with inscriptions or figures, many would argue that even this did not give him permission to” hack away” pieces of the Parthenon! In recent years there have been various attempts to rescue antiquities left in the wreck of the Mentor some more successful than others have recovered ancient artifacts. As I have said in the past Mary Beard in her book The Parthenon takes a very balanced approach, around the debate surrounding the return or not of the Marbles. This is also a good book to read before you go to Athens. Visit the New Acropolis Museum in Athens the top floor contains the remaining marbles with plaster copies representing the missing ones Yet still the gods are just, and crimes are cross’d See here what Elgin won, and what he lost! Another name with his pollutes my shrine: Behold where Diana’s beams disdain to shine! Some retribution still might Pallas claim, When Venus half avenged Minerva’s shame. “The Curse of Minerva”, George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron 1807 4 The woman who was told she could not run – but did anyway! “a female Olympian would be impractical, uninteresting, inaesthetic and incorrect. The Olympic Games should be reserved for men. A woman’s role should above all be to crown the champions”. Baron Pierre de Coubertin Born in Syros in 1866 Stamata Revithi became the first woman to “unofficially” run an Olympic marathon. Records show that by 1896 when the first Olympic Games of the modern era were being staged in Athens, a 30- year-old Stamata probably widowed was living in poverty in Piraeus with a 17-month- old child. It is reported that whilst on her way to Athens to look for work she got talking to various people who suggested that if she ran the Olympic marathon, she could find fame and fortune. The Marathon was a race that had never been held Figure 5 Sketch of Revithi from the time before, it was the suggestion of Michel Bréal a French man who had been inspired by the legend of the messenger Pheidippides who had run from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory of the Athenians in the Battle of Marathon, (although he did drop dead after he had made the announcement,) She decided that as she had been a good long-distance runner as a child the 40km race held no fears for her.