Athens Day 3 -- Battlefields

This is the first battlefield day and the first step on our Greek road trip. Yannis picked us up to drive the 26 miles 285 yards to the Marathon battlefield which apparently is just a field and very little else. Nobody goes there these days and Yannis told us we were only the third group he’d ever had in 10 years!

It was just a field with a large burial mound in the middle. A tumulus it is called here. It holds the bodies of 192 dead Greeks whilst the Persians who were seriously routed lost 6,500 or so.

What brought the attack was simply the Persians who had a simply enormous Asian empire, were concerned about their noisy neighbours in Europe who they kept running into around the eastern Mediterranean. Diplomacy failed, so to war. The Persians sent 25,000 men by sea to the gradual sloping beaches at Marathon at the behest of a banished former Greek tyrant (there were many of those as the Greeks have a history of quarrelling over everything, still today) who promised to be a good neighbour next time if the Persians put him back in charge. The Bay of Marathon these days has been heavily silted up so is pretty much unrecognisable from what it was like 2500 years ago. Same for many of the coastal areas. The battlefield today is some 5 kms inland as a result. The Persians landed with a lot of cavalry to meet 10,000 Greeks, mostly Athenians, who stayed resolutely in the surrounding mountains. After 3 days the cavalry took off for the ships and more food so the Greeks launched a sudden attack on the remainder of the invading army. Taken by surprise the Persians formed up and the two armies met. The Greeks under Militiades were weakest in the centre but strong on both wings. The Persians pushed forward in the centre as the Greeks gave way, soon the Persians were surrounded and the killing began. The lack of cavalry lost the day for the Persians. History has it that one soldier ran back to Athens with the news….. apparently not. This man’s name was Pheidippides and in actuality a few days earlier he had run some 200 kms to Sparta to ask for help. Bad timing as it was a big religious festival (another one!) and the Spartans said we’ll come along after it’s over. He ran back to Athens and thence to the army at Marathon. After the battle, the Persians reboarded their ships and set sail for Athens proper. They still had a superior number to the Greeks so a direct assault on Athens was still viable. The victorious Greek army to a man ran the 26 miles and 285 yards back to Athens so as to be able to form up on the shoreline showing the Persians they were ready for them again. The Persians went home. Pheidippides ran back to Sparta again to say don’t bother, we won and it was there that he really dropped dead. The real road race therefore would have to be a mere 200 kms or so. The classic 26+ mile Marathon route is marked out still and it was that route taken in both the 1896 and 2004 Olympic Games. I’ll bet no Turks took part. We followed up with a tour of a nearby archaeological museum and went into a tumulus for the Plateans who had been killed in the battle at Marathon, another 12 of them.

After this we set out for Cape Sounion to the south of Athens with Yannis talking away about history and mythology. On the way from Marathon to Cape Sounion, we stopped at one of Yannis’ favourite rest stops near the airport for some Freddo cappuccinos (again)!! Very nice. He added to what Theodora said about the Athenians using the Parthenon rebuild to project Athenian power amongst the independent city states. Apparently it was the later war with the Persians, the one that was lost and when Athens was subsequently sacked, looted and destroyed. The Athenians demanded recompense from the other cities. If the city had sent troops, like Platea, that was OK. If they did not, like many others, they sent money instead. It was a lot of money and even with the early reversals, they found themselves at the end with a huge dollop of cash. So being democratic, the leaders asked the people if they’d like to spend the cash on a big glowing memorial to Athenian bravery, skill and honour. Not necessarily Greek, but Athenian. The people said yes and so the money was used to rebuild the Parthenon and a bunch of other destroyed buildings. So there you have it. On the road, Cape Sounion was at the very end of the promontory which led out from Athens. Today it is the beach area. Very affluent. Further along and out is the Cape where there is little other than a lovely bay with two beach hotels and the cliffs upon which stood the Temple to Poseidon. You may remember from yesterday that Poseidon and Athena competed for supremacy in Athens. Poseidon provided a miraculous spring of sea water, Athena provided the first ever olive tree. Athena won so the Athenians cautious about offending a major God like Poseidon decided to dedicate a temple to him on this spot. It is a spectacular spot.

Yiannis told the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Part bull, part man this beast lived in caves in Crete and ate everyone that tried to kill it. Theseus son of the King of Athens, named Aegis, offered himself to try the next time. He told his dad that if he succeeded in killing the Minotaur he would return with white sails on his ship. Theseus went to Crete and first thing he did was meet the beautiful daughter of the King, Ariadne, who helped him first find the caves and then with a ball of twine helped him find the way out of the maze in which the Minotaur lived. Killing the Minotaur was pretty straightforward but getting out was tricky but the ball of twine helped. Theseus returned to Athens. All good so far but in all the excitement he’d forgotten quite what he’d promised his father about the colour of his sails. He used black ones. Standing on the peninsula of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, the entrance into Athens, all Aegis saw was black sails which meant his one and only son was dead. Aegis threw himself off the rocks in his grief. In response the Athenians called the body of water the Aegean Sea in his memory. Why would you ever have children? This was where Cape Sounion was and the temple is located. Utterly spectacular!

It was nearing 4 pm and Yiannis said there was a nice seafood restaurant nearby that would be great for a late lunch. It was! What a great spot too, right on the bay opposite the Temple of Poseidon. And if you think either of us was ready, willing and able to think about dinner after, think again.

When we returned to Athens no more than an hour or so later, we decided a meat feast was called for. First though we felt the need for a brief wander around the gardens nearby where stood the Temple of Zeus and the Arch of Hadrian. The Temple had been destroyed by the Persians centuries before and was a gift by the Emperor Hadrian to the people of Athens when he visited the city. In return the Athenians built a ceremonial arch to the emperor as thanks for the gift.

Nearby was the Parliament building where Yiannis had told us that on the hour there was a change of the guards that we really shouldn't miss. We queued up with maybe a couple of hundred other tourists and waited. First of all the guards dress in what is loosely termed 'traditional' fashion. I never 'knew' much about fashion as a youngster but one thing I did 'know' was that Greek men wore skirts. Quite how and why this was a 'known' fact when I was growing up is unclear to me but that was one of the things that I as a young person 'knew'. I imagine this was it. It is a thick tunic with what look like really thick stockings and those shoes with the bobble on top!

Of course there must be some basis for it in practicality measure. Greece can be very cold indeed so thick clothes would be a boon. As for those shoes though, we came across some in a museum a day or so later and they are very simply hob nailed boots with that bobble on top. Presumably they took the bobble off to fight. And of course OK, OK in England we have the guards at Buckingham Palace wearing those busbies. The changing of the guard ceremony itself took about 10 minutes and looks exhausting. Lots of stamping around and leg and arm swinging. The leg movements look like something out of Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks. After it was all over and the guards had been changed, one of the senior officers presumably came around with a towel to dry off the sweat on their faces. It was really hot so those guys must have been suffering. After last night's faux pas with our dining choice, we'd asked Anthony at the travel agents for a recommendation where local people go. It was out in some suburb or other so we took a taxi there. It was a kebab shop called Kir Aristos. Talk about grumpy and useless! The waiters did virtually nothing so we waited and waited. But when the food came it was fantastic but enormous! We chose a mixed grill to share with another salad. Really stuffed.

We would go back to that place again. Grumpy or not!! This is the route we took today.

The Odyssey -- Athens Day 2

 Day 2 in Athens would be a humdinger. All about the Acropolis. The itinerary said:

'We will arrange a private walking tour of Athens for 5 to 6 hours if you are up to it to visit all the important sites including the Acropolis and the New Acropolis Museum.'

We met our guide Theodora at the hotel and walked the 5 minutes along the street to the entrance to the Acropolis. There were lots of people. Theodora said today would likely be the busiest day of the year as a number of cruise ships had arrived at Piraeus with passengers’ first stop likely to be the Acropolis. 

Viv and I wondered why we would visit today then, or rather this morning as we could easily have visited in the afternoon. Oh well. 

The Acropolis hill is big. And tall. It was tough going slowly dragging ourselves up hill in the heat. Theodora told us the story as we went along.

Nearly there! First selfie du jour at the Greek theatre on the south side of the Acropolis

This is what it looked liked during the Hellenistic Period

The Acropolis had been populated for possibly 4,000 years initially as a fortress for people in the surrounds to retreat to at times of trouble and war. It certainly was imposing yet Theodora advised us that the Acropolis had been attacked, sacked and destroyed many times. Huh?

Very true. 

The Acropolis and the temple on the top known as the Parthenon (there are several other temples on the top but smaller) are relatively recent creations. One may think it looks like something of a rocky ruin, but in fact it’s only about 1,000 years old.

After the Persians attacked Athens, defeated them (Thermopylae was lost if you remember) and occupied Athens, they destroyed everything they could before they left the following year of 480 BC. That included the buildings on the top of the Acropolis hill. These included a partially built Parthenon as well as several other temples. The entire site was ruined.

The Athenians together with a full compliment of Spartans this time (not just the famous 300), annihilated the Persians the following year in 479 BC at Plataea removing all threats to the independent Greek states. To show that they were now the big dogs on the block, the Athenians immediately embarked on rebuilding on an immense scale.

The building of the Parthenon was completed in only 9 years while the crafting of the wondrous sculptures took a further 6 years. Marble was brought from a mountain 17 Kms away and was laboriously lugged up the hill that we were now stumbling up. 

Theodora continued with gusto. 

She certainly had a huge passion about the subject and had definite views on things that had impacted the Acropolis over the years. 

First were the Romans. Of course it would be. For some reason, the Greeks thought they could beat the Romans in the first century BC but the Roman tyrant general Sulla in 87 BC routed them, captured the entire region which wasn’t yet a country including Athens, sacked it thoroughly and enslaved the population. That is the entire population including all those philosophers that were still around.

Greece remained a Roman possession until 1458. 

Huh? I hear you say. What about the Byzantines? There were never any Byzantines. That is the name historians gave the eastern Roman Empire looking backwards at some point. The Romans themselves always called themselves Romans, even until the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453. Byzantium was the name of the original Greek settlement that the Roman Emperor Constantine renamed in the 4th century AD when he moved the capital of the entire Roman Empire to Constantinople. So forget Byzantium. Actually you can't for every guide book says Byzantine this or that, mainly churches, so it is most confusing. Best to see Rome at the same time as you see Byzantium. 

When I was in Rome a couple of weeks ago I found a wonderful excerpt from a 2nd century AD travel book comparing the architecture of Greece and Rome. In typically patronising fashion, the writer said that the Greeks do build some pretty impressive structures but the stench, the disorganisation and the overall mess of Greek cities was something beyond the comprehension of a Roman. Happily Rome provided aqueducts so that every villa has its own water source for their fountains. Sewage for the endless ordure and stench. Plumbing so that buildings would remain well serviced during the wet season…. And so on. 

It was a Roman traveler from the 2nd century, one Pausanias, whom we all should thank for even the possibility of reconstruction and renovation. For it is only his writings and the earlier Herodotus (the Greek historian from centuries earlier) that give us the idea what these buildings and monuments look like. Fortunately both wrote at very great length and in Pausanias' case drew thousands of sketches and drawings, many of which survive.

The Romans in addition to their renowned organisation, also introduced a fully integrated taxation system that lasted until 1458 and beyond for the conquering Ottomans discovered they couldn’t do any better.

Specific to the Acropolis though were the changes wrought by the Romans to the amphitheater, the new theatre and performing arts centre that was built. Where the Greeks starting with Thespis, a comic writer of the golden age, wrote monologues, dialogues and drama, the Romans dug a big ditch, raised up a marble wall around the orchestra (aka stage) and staged mock naval battles and gladiatorial combat. The walls enabling the area to be filled with water for the first, and prevent blood spatters covering the 5,000 person audience in the second. Who needs monologues! 

Theodora was not impressed, then moved onto the Emperor Justinian (6th century emperor). She was even less impressed by Justinian. I couldn’t figure out exactly why but as he was the mover and shaker in rejigging the imperial tax policy for the final time, perhaps it was this. Certainly the Byzantines which Justinian was about to morph into (even I am falling into this Rome vs Byzantium thing), as opposed to the eastern Roman Empire, were not fans of the old pagan gods still widely revered in Greece. Under the ‘Christians’ (spoken with gritted teeth) they basically trashed everything to do with the old Gods. This is why most of the faces on statues have been disfigured. I didn't ask about why the male genitalia were also missing from most statues.

We hadn’t reached the entrance to the Acropolis at the top yet and Theodora wasn’t slowing down.

The British didn’t miss out either. Theodora was scathing about Elgin and his plundering of Greek antiquity in 1801 (this is the so called Elgin Marbles in the British Museum). Yet less so for the French who even before Elgin stole everything that was not nailed down (this in an instruction specifically written by the French ambassador in 1784 to an expedition in that year). And almost glossing over the Venetians who in their sack of Athens in 1687 had fired cannons at the defending Ottomans who’d retired to the Acropolis which they used as magazines. This cannon fire hit the magazines which exploded and destroyed about one third of the Parthenon. They then tried to take the remaining massive sculptures from the mantles which caused them to fall 30 feet and be irredeemably smashed. 

An even minded person may consider deliberate cannon fire, explosions and wanton destruction of rather more concern and remark than removing a few bits of marble that had been lying around anyway for centuries, a practice I should note that continues to this day.

We reached the entrance with some hundreds of other tourists and snaked past the temple to Nike and made it to the top of the Acropolis.

Athens' Acropolis is huge. About 3kms long by 1.5 kms wide. Lots of room for lots of temples, and there are lots of temples in varying levels of decay. Impressive. 

The Acropolis during Roman times

Theodora was a fantastic source of information and could talk on almost any related subject. She had artists' reconstructions of what the buildings may have looked like. They looked spectacular. Check out www.ancientathens3d.com to take a look. They may not be entirely accurate but are best guesses. 

The top temple is one to the goddess Athena who supposedly gave the gift of the first olive tree to the city, whilst the bottom temple is the Parthenon from the end where Elgin supposedly cut down all those marbles. Imagine the temple with a triangular shape on top of those flat bits. Inside that triangle were dozens of massive sculptures. It was these the Venetians and French could not cart off. It was Elgin's crew that devised the method of cutting the carved frontispiece off the monster 12 ton lump of marble that solved the logistics impasse. These statues we saw in the museum.

By now we were fading so decided to head for the Acropolis Museum which had A/C and a cafe to take a few minutes rest. There we had Freddo Capuccinos which are worthy of conversation in and of themselves.

The museum contained many of the remaining statues from the Acropolis where Theodora was able to demonstrate which were original and which were reconstruction due to either being plundered (yawn) or destroyed. It was all very interesting.

View from the museum coffee shop

What is not understood is the size of the statues. They are truly enormous and in marble which means every block weighs some 12.5 tons. The practicality of how the blocks were transported was fantastic. Each block was dragged 17 kms and when the oxen could go no further up the hill, the carts carrying the blocks would be attached to a pulley system and a herd of mules would be encouraged to pull ropes that were at the other end of the pulleys. As they descended, the cart ascended. Thousands upon thousands of blocks.

So the simple art of pillaging was also very difficult. Lord Elgin was ambassador to the Ottomans based in Constantinople in 1799, this during the Napoleonic Wars. He canvassed the Caliph to enable him to survey some Greek sites with a view to removing any interesting objects. Silver smoothed the way and the Caliph, very keen to stay out of the way of the war as the Ottoman Empire had begun to weaken irredeemably, agreed. Elgin sent in a crew to see what they could find. 

What they found were the debris from previous multiple lootings and occupations from over the centuries. Athens had been sacked by the Herulians in 267 AD, by the Huns in 396 AD, the Goths in the 5th century, by the Slavs in the 7th century and so on. Long list. The Franks occupied the city in 1204 during the 4th Crusade and fortified it whilst the later occupying Byzantines built over original Greek structures. As well the locals had simply taken building materials just lying around for their own home construction. No metal. This had already gone. So not much in perfect condition. (Not many people either. Athens had become depopulated over time and it wasn't until 1834 when it was named capital of a newly independent Greece that people began to return to the city. Many government buildings for example date from after this date. Not antiquity at all).

What Elgin's crew did find were portions of sculptures and depictions of events carved into the marble blocks. However each weighed tons. Literally. So they cut the front of the blocks to save weight and shipped what they could back to England. In the museum today, on display are the original part blocks with plaster casts of the bits Elgin's crew took stuck on top. From my uneducated perspective it does look like bits and pieces of rubble. Sort of 'Oh look, Hercules' left shoulder' that sort of thing.

Several years later in 1816, Elgin canvassed the British Government who paid 35,000 GBP for the items which were then immediately displayed in the British Museum.

View from the Museum

These are the friezes taken down from the side of the Parthenon. Restoration is slow for a decision was taken by the EU (if you can imagine) that restoration should only happen when over 70% of the original materials of say a column are found. If these are lying around nearby then the columns can be put back together which is what happened. If not they are left to lie around, which explains the endless piles of rocks everywhere. Very timely, costly and difficult. Greece is a poor country so often has other priorities. 

Statues taken from the ends of the Parthenon, in those triangular parts I described before. If the sculptures are white, that means they are recreations. Often plaster casts taken from the originals in what ever museum they are currently displayed. Yes that means the Elgin Marbles but also the French, Germans and Turks hold plenty. As for the Venetians, well half the city is decorated with Greek stuff looted from their various occupations. If the sculptures look old and yellow, that is because they are the originals. The museum hopes to get back all the other yellow and old bits.

Theodora says that attempts are being made to recover these items which the British Museum is resisting. The French are not being pressed to return their pillaged items. Nor are the Turks who took over the items already removed by the Byzantines and Ottomans in centuries past. Just the British. Probably think the British are the softest touch. Could be right.

Fantastic day. So much history to absorb. Very painful on the brain cells.

The flowers were gorgeous, particularly the Bougainvillaea. The colours were so intense and vibrant.

We's asked Yiannis and Anthony at the travel agent for recommendations for a good restaurant that locals would go to. Trying to avoid the tourist traps. Mistake actually as we discovered many of the tourist traps turned out mostly to be as good as the local spots. But anyway, Anthony suggested Dionysus as an option. We had a reservation at 9 pm.

Short walk near the Acropolis again and in a big car park this restaurant grew up the hill opposite to the Acropolis. It was rammed with people at a special event with many guards preventing the hoi pilloi getting in. It was a shipping company event obviously with some politicos or other big wigs. Armed guards at the front. Flunkies carried champagne on trays. Amazingly we were allowed entry, but turned away to the non event section. 

What a view of the Acropolis!! The menu was a typical fine dining menu from anywhere in the world but with a couple of local things. The 22 hour braised lamb was finished sadly. 

Fish soup and the other lamb option for me. Salad for Viv. Bottle of white wine, different grape for us. Chocolate soufflé to follow.

Very nice walk back along the ‘most beautiful street in Europe’ per Theodora. We decided we would not eat at such a place again. Bring on the tourist traps and grilled meat!

Skate, the Korean Way

My last post left Viv and I departing Penang for London at the end of April. Our overall plan was to spend some time in the UK with Indy, Cat and Charlie and then for our paths to divide: Viv to Bermuda with her Mum Ann whilst I would go to Rome with my tennis buddies for the Italian Open, pasta and wine. I would then head to Bermuda to reconnect and then we would all troop back to England and thence on to Greece, our ultimate destination and realistically the reason we were doing all of this traveling in the first place.

Despite the raising of Covid restrictions, fair to say that travel is not yet back to its pre-Covid levels of seeming normality. Simply handling all that bloody paper work and getting those tests is a real pain in the neck. But at least we are able to travel. First comment is to say that British Airways is just about hanging on. Number of flights may be fewer but they are trying hard.

On the way from Bermuda to London I couldn’t watch any of the drivel shown on BA’s appallingly low standard in flight fare that was in English. I did find a cooking show concerning 2 Korean chefs who flew to Malaysia to eat seafood and in particular skate.

As they discovered Skate is not found in Malaysia but various rays are, so their quest began in a Kuala Lumpur street market eating sting ray mostly in various ways.

They loved them all. I do too even though I haven’t been to eat ray in KL, only Penang in the north. One such favorite was skate cooked in a creamy durian sauce.

Durian is a soft fruit indigenous to Malaysia. It is everywhere in Penang. It is something you either love or hate. This is because it has the same texture, smell and to me anyway the taste of shit. 

One of the chefs loves durian, the other does not. The non lover found the dish delicious whilst the lover waxed and waxed ever more lyrical about it. It looked slimy to me. Thankfully no smellovision.

The chefs then went to eat at big restaurants, Malay, Chinese and Indian which are the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia. Having savored the fare (non sting ray fare) and lapped it up, they then decided to do a big cook up for their new Malaysian friends and feature skate which they would import from Korea.

Koreans love fermented food. Kimchi for example is fermented cabbage based. Fermented for the unwary means aged in polite terms or nearly rotten if you want to put it plainly. 

The skate was 15 days old.

Thank goodness for no smellovision!

They cooked a dish each. One chef prepared a sort of kimchi appetizer featuring deep fried fermented skate. The other cooked a dish where the skate was first braised then mixed in with a sort of Mediterranean salad featuring avocados. They also did a together dish featuring a cream of durian sauce.

The three chefs sat at a table excitedly discussing what they might expect and then the appetizer appeared. The kimchi and fried skate dish. They took their first bites. 

Silence.

I know that sound from my own experiences with cooking something. Probably the first time was when I was on a boat on the Norfolk Broads in England with some work friends. We took turns cooking and one day was mine for breakfast and I pushed the boat out. We'd had quite a bit to drink the night before so I thought a nice greasy cook up was in order, including a favourite of mine; fried bread. My mum always fried the bread in lard so I'd bought some and added it to the rest of the delicately fried goodies. To me it was great if perhaps a little leaden both on the plate and in the tummy after. To the others, it was just plain silence. I never had to cook again that trip. 

Back to the story...

One chef took a drink of water and said the dish was very interesting and contained flavors she’d never had before. This was the Indian. The Malay chef said ‘yes it was interesting and very nice’ before taking a sip of water. The camera didn’t show what the Chinese guest chef said.

The braised skate came out next and the guest chefs took a bite.

No silence this time. The Chinese chef said it reminded her of stinky tofu, something often found in Chinese cooking. The Malay chef said yes and after a little while again said it was nice.

The final durian dish came out. The Indian chef had left by now and generous portions were heaped out with rice. The two remaining chefs took a bite.

Clearly both chefs love durian for they waded in with gusto. Both said the creamy durian flavor dominated the dish …. Aka they couldn’t taste the fermented Skate, thank goodness!!

As someone who likes fresh skate very much, I think I may have struggled with these dishes. Great fun to watch though.

Bermuda retrospective

Six weeks or thereabouts in Bermuda has gone like a flash. Well not to start with of course. Things never go that way but by about half way things had picked up to the extent that we added an extra two weeks onto our expected stay. Happily it was to see our children who on their own without prompting by us visited Bermuda.

Highlights of course were being with the children but in addition it was all about reminiscing. Would things be like they used? Would there be changes that exponentially change the place? Have things actually moved on, ahead or simply further along? What change to the political environment which when we first left on our travels had just seen an election with a change in government?

So in no particular order, this is what struck me.

1. Bermudaful but...

Well this one is easy. We all knew this but it still gets me that the place is so stunningly beautiful it couldn't really have been manufactured. It has happened thankfully in the typical laid back, somewhat shambolic manner in which Bermuda typically operates. Sounds pretty bad when written like that but for as long as I remember (and that is quite a long way back), there really hasn't been a plan in Bermuda. From an economist's point of view, this isn't ideal but for people living there really it has been a dream. Things meander along for the most part peacefully. People get along more or less and the environment is staggeringly beautiful.

Flatts Inlet

However behind the scenes, maybe under the surface even though it isn't really. Pretty much everything is known within seconds of it happening... often before. In a small place, this is pretty typical as everyone knows everyone else. Viv tells the story of how she was walking along Queen Street in Hamilton when she ran into a couple of old ladies struggling to open a door to a building. She proffered help and was met with "do I know you?" Viv didn't but sort of recognized a family resemblance to a friend so mentioned this and of course it turned out that these two ladies were her aunties and as Viv looks rather like her friend, so the ladies did a momentary double take too. These ladies as it turned out wanted to visit a betting shop but finding it closed decided on a Plan B that included KFC just down the street. Viv said it took an hour to walk the less than 200 yards down the road as these ladies stopped to chat to every other person that happened to walk by. When you are Bermudian and reach a certain age, you know every other person as either a relation, friend or child of a friend. I imagine this is typical in other places with a 60,000 population like Bermuda, but it is also something that makes the island what it is.

A couple of years ago, one of the three Bermuda banks did an IPO (one being sold to HSBC many years earlier and the other involved in transfer of ownership to a private equity firm) meaning that no longer would any Bermuda bank be Bermuda owned. This is important for as a previous CEO of the Bank of Bermuda (sold to HSBC) once famously said to a management meeting "the decisions we take here may not always be in the best interests of the bank... but they will be in the best interests of Bermuda". This has changed with profit motive taking over. Disturbing, for the banks were typically very large employers of Bermudians and just before we arrived in mid-May, this bank laid off 40 staff in one swathe. Most being long time employees. Couched as being an exercise in encouraging early retirement, the reality is simple cost cutting. Something US listed companies do all the time courtesy of their need to report ever improving quarterly financial results. The simplest thing of all to do is lay off staff. I fear that this is not an isolated event but do hope otherwise.

2. Sports

It is that time of the year when the northern hemisphere moves into summer and with that outdoor summer sports. And my goodness there are plenty of them.  Overseas were the US Open (golf), French Open (tennis), World Cup (cricket) and others. I have been riveted to these although I prefer to play rather than watch. Most of all it was tennis at Pomander Gate but increasingly it has become pickle ball too.

Southampton Princess golf course

Tennis at Pomander Gate

So what is pickle ball? It is a construct that appears to me to simply enable older ex-tennis players to play a similar kind of racquet and ball game. The court has the dimensions of a badminton court (without the tramlines) and the net is much lower than on a tennis court. You play with what sounds like a wooden paddle and a large, yellow plastic ball with holes in it. Simple rules that you can grasp on the first try. Simple to learn too as the mechanics of everything are something like table tennis but on a larger scale. Both racquet and ball are light so available for all ages.

Pickle ball at Pomander Gate

The growth has been startling to me. This time last year, the club had two nets that it simply lifted onto a tennis court. One on either side of the net. It was a busy day when 6 people turned up to play and those that were were usually organized by the same two people who had first come across it in Florida where it is very popular. This year, the club has taken over the centre court and whilst leaving the net in place has repainted the remainder of the court so as to create 4 permanent courts, 2 on either side of the net. These days it is typical to have 16+ people come to play... and they play Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. And Sunday mornings too. It has attracted so many people from outside the club that it created a new pickle ball membership which has proved to be very popular. Far less so with the tennis players who sadly for the club actually don't play that much. Certainly when pickle ball is taking place, it is rare that the tennis courts are in use.

Most interesting to me is the dynamic. This time last year, comparatively speaking nobody played the game. Today there are 40 people that regularly play with more turning up to try it all the time. Quite a few have given up on tennis to concentrate on pickle ball and have become very good players. So much so that there is already the growing question of people not wanting to play with others that aren't up to their standard. Last year, it was great just to play. Now things have moved on very quickly as people's competitive natures kick in.  The first tournament was last week. I took part, lost more than I won but along the way hammered the winner and lost quite comfortably to one of the perceived weaker players. Personally I am just happy to play. I am looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

3. F&B

Being visitors, we spent a lot of time eating, drinking and being entertained. Both in people's homes and out and whilst my waistline expanded at a greater rate than my steely will evaporated, boy are things expensive. Noticeably so since last year.  For sure, we spend a lot of time during the course of the year in Penang, which is a lower cost environment, but really. On our first visit to a supermarket, we saw a cauliflower priced at $11.99. It has always been the way that local produce was expensive, but it didn't feel like this. On the other hand booze and beef in supermarkets aren't that expensive but put them into a restaurant and vroom! Apparently restaurants mark up wine a minimum 4 times these days so good luck with finding a $50 bottle of wine at a restaurant.

This said I did go through my list of favorite things to eat in Bermuda. Pretty much.

 i) Multi-grain roll with tuna fish and chopped egg, lettuce and tomato, butter on the bread and those cute little yellow peppers that go pop in the mouth. 

Only from my friend Paul at Hickory Stick on Bermudiana Road in Clarendon House. I used to eat this sandwich probably three times a week when I was working just down the road. On the other days it would be Paul's fish cakes on Tuesdays and on the other day I'd go somewhere else. I know... traitor. Creature of habit...me? No way.

 ii) Beef patty

Quite a few places do patties but I found one of the nicest to be from Supermart on Front Street. Find them in the hot shelf near the whole chickens. One is not enough, two is too many. These are great hand held foods for maybe a morning after. On such days, an apple doesn't quite cut it.

 iii) Club sandwich with coleslaw

OK, with French fries!

Loads of places, some up market, do perfectly adequate club sandwiches but my favorite is at The Spot on Burnaby Hill. It may not be the best but I like it. You eat at the counter and get to drink their famous coffee which they generously refill whenever you want.

 iv) Bermuda fish sandwich. Layered pieces of fish, lettuce and tomato, butter on the white toasted bread, ketchup, tartar sauce and lots of hot sauce on top.

Mahi Mahi 

Many places do fish sandwiches, most aren't that good. The best tend to be in the least attractive looking places. Viv went to Woody's in Somerset and raved about it. I went on a search for a fish sandwich on a public holiday and found none of the best places open so had to settle for a very poor second best. However I was recommended to the Seaside Grill on North Shore next to the Clay House as the fish was purported to be really fresh. We went twice, the first being mahi mahi, the second and best time being when I had red hind. Boy, was that good.

 v) Liver and onions, maybe with bacon but always lots of gravy

I really like liver from several places but finally settled on the Red Carpet on Reid Street which serves it with mashed potatoes, veggies and lashings of gravy. The maitre d' Chris asked me how I'd like it done... cooked of course. You don't have liver medium rare. It is the gravy that makes it for me and this was pretty terrific.

 vi) Auntie Blanche's cherry and walnut cake

This is almost undescribable as it is so sublime. Traditional Bermuda cakes are rum cakes, Christmas cakes laced with rum, mince pies and somewhere along the line fruit cakes the king of which is the cherry and walnut cake. Our old neighbors Blanche and Brenda were great bakers and fine exponents. Blanche in particular did wonderful cherry and walnut cake. She once told me that her secret was the gin she soaked the fruit in. Others are much dryer but Blanche's are moist and simply lovely. She only made these cakes at Christmas time as she would soak fruit in their respective booze for a month or two before and make them a couple of weeks or so before the big day. More latterly she would make cakes ostensibly for me as I am a fanatic about them. As she has become older, these occasions have grown fewer but a week or so ago, she made me a beautiful cake. Simply lovely. Thanks Auntie Blanche!

4. Transport

For such a small island, getting around Bermuda is really key to enjoying it properly and fortunately we had a car at our disposal for much of the time we were there. Thanks Dave and Jeremy! However I had a fantastic time on the local public transport as with the passage of time, I turned 65 and on renewing my driving license, the fine people at TCD also awarded me a Bermuda Senior's ID card. Nice photo too! Amongst other wonderful things, this little card enables me to enjoy free travel on buses and ferries!!! Beat that! So I did at every opportunity and found the number 1 and 3 buses are pretty darned good.

We went for quite a few walks on the Railway Trail which I really do enjoy. I am impatient by nature and do wish they'd rebuild the trail more fully than it was before/is right now. Progress is great but to me painfully slow. Looks like volunteers only at the moment. I wish it were a higher priority.

5. Beaches...

I was really trying not to do beaches again this year but really couldn't avoid it. Truly they are lovely. This year however there were a number of storms out to sea and these storms brought in mounds of brown sargassum weed which is piled high on most beachfronts from Horseshoe Bay to Coopers Island. Still the best I've ever seen.

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Looking forward to returning again soon.

Mozzarella, Vino and the best view in the world!

Like a previous trip I have been extremely remiss in not staying current on these posts.  However I did use that wonder App called Track My Tour (please tell Chris that I sent you if you check it out) which did a much better job.  Here is the link to this part of the trip -- Click here.

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One great thing about Daniele is his enthusiasm for life.  Everything is in absolutes.  The best mozzarella, the best wine in the region and the best view in the world.  All today!  Who couldn't be excited by all this?

Meet Daniele! On the left.

First stop along the coast road was half way up between Positano and Ravello on one of the many hairpin turns.  Of course being Italy there were cars everywhere, even here, but I suppose it was still just about walking distance from the jammed streets and lanes of Positano.  Easier to walk in and out than struggle with the traffic.

Not a bad view!

The scenic overlook was spectacular though.

Ravello as far as I can make out is the 3rd biggest attraction in this region after Positano and the coast road itself.  It is a very pretty little village but it is not at the top of the hills here like all the other high villages which were created as refuges from marauding pirates.  It is sort of about half way up and on either side of a ravine through which a river passes.  Swanky hotels are here a-plenty.  This is definitely the place where the rich and famous come.

The other side of the ravine with Ravello in the centre

Our purpose here though was rather more prosaic -- we'd asked for a day of local gastronomy and of course the local vino and this was it.

First stop was a childhood friend of Daniele who just happened to be the local cheesemaker but not just any cheese but the local mozzarella -- not buffalo milk, just cow this time.  His name is Biagio and he owns the local cheese factory... which just happened to be next to a bar owned by Eugenio, an Anglo-Italian who sounds more English than I do but whose family comes from Ravello.  And if there's one thing the Italians do well (other than pasta, cheese, wine...) is family.  The call home even if he'd never lived there was too strong.  Factor in a young lady also from Ravello and really there's not much chance Croydon has it over this little jewel of the Amalfi Coast.

Together they thought of starting up a hands on thing for tourists on a lovely shady spot opposite their respective business fronts also overlooking the spectacular ravine.

Viv and I were experts on Mozzarella now but have never actually handled the stuff which is what Biagio made us do.  The cutting, kneading and stretching are all pretty simple.  The stumbling block comes with tearing the perfect little balls you've made off the larger chunk of the stuff.  Mozzarella when stretched and kneaded has the consistency of rubber so to rip off the lovingly moulded little ball without mangling it beyond recognition did not come as second nature to us.  Biagio of course soothed our grumblings and said they were really very good, symmetrical and perfect to serve in any 5 star restaurant.

Biagio at work. Nest step is to tear the little ball off the dangly bits without making it look odd

Just to prove a point he went away leaving us to sip wine with Daniele and eat some little deep fried appetizers from Eugenio's bar, returning with a huge tray of artistically arranged mozzarella based treats.

He served our creations alongside his and looking at them arranged on a tray it did make us think how much they looked like a sperm.  Or rather the pictures of them you see in a biology book from school. Sort of like an early stage tadpole but that white colour.  I think I better stop here before this segment becomes too mixed up with the wrong kind of thing.  Really it was all about the mozzarella, not the... OK, you see what I mean.  Move on.

See what I mean?

The final word on the mozzarella interlude will come from Monty Python. Good luck Biagio and Eugenio.

The trouble with sipping a little wine with deep fried yummies and some odd shaped mozzarella meant that our immediate next stop at Tramonte in the mountains at yet another friend of Daniele's vineyard for lunch promised to be an all out assault on our stomachs and our very ability to keep going.  As it turned out we gritted our teeth and managed a good showing courtesy of a reasonable delay while they got things ready after we arrived.

The vineyard

This part of the region is actually over the hills and on the other side so has no sea view at all.  Just more pretty hills and valleys.  The region has been farmed since the pre-Roman era and is very fertile.

Our favourite was the rose

Daniele filled the gap by manfully uncorking wines seemingly by the gallon.  They were very good indeed particularly the rose which was a simply lovely colour, the same as the local roses as Viv pointed out.

Daniele is really something.  His background like so many Italians seemingly is the hospitality industry.  He has worked in hotels and restaurants and has a background as sommelier meaning he could talk with enthusiam and knowledge about the wines we were drinking.  The local varietals of course include some of the common grapes but many date back to Roman times which are very unusual.

Lunch was home made pasta with fava beans and veal with local broccoli and just the 4 wines: 1 white, 1 rose and 2 reds.  We of course agreed to buy a mixed case of wines to be shipped home which will probably make them the single most expensive wines ever once landed.  Ah well.  It was a great lunch and terrific time.  We just hoped the next segment would not include food or drink.

We made it to Ravello around 5 pm which was when things were gradually winding down and Daniele dropped us off in the central piazza which like many things here is on the side of a ravine and which is home to a whole bunch of tourist shoppes (of course), bars and restaurants and just down a little, actually not so little, lane to the Villa Cremoni which these days is a very swanky hotel.  However they do allow people to stroll around the gardens and take in the view which just may be the best view on the Amalfi Coast.

Ravello from the central piazza. Ravines everywhere!

That bit is right at the very end of the gardens on a long terrace with Romanesque busts of probably emperors or gods at every turn.

As for the best view in the whole world.  You decide.