M40間諜米格魯的秘密日誌

其實,淡季去希臘小島,有許多的好處:
1. 沒有夏天那麼的熱
2. 觀光客少一半,旅館價錢也便宜很多
3. 景點不必排隊,旅館不必預訂,船票不必先買

By sheer coincidence, I came upon one of the most beautiful Greek Aegean villages I have ever visited - Molivos, located in the north of the island of Lesbos. The town is about an hour or so by public bus from Mytilini, and I fell in love with it at the first sight. It's strange to explain why I love Molivos so such: it's a pretty little village with a lively harbour and quaint cobblestone streets, but there is something about this little hillside village that captures my imagination. Instead of just spending a few hours there, I decided to rent a self-catering unit from one of the locals and stay there for one week.

During the day, I would just visit one of the little cafes on the harbour front and enjoy a cup of coffee while admiring the picturesque view of the Aegean right in front of me. While some people might want to unwind themselves while on holidays, I found such views extremely enticing and made my brain cells work faster....

Northern Aegean could get very windy anytime throughout the year, even in August....

 

To those who are not familiar with Greece and the Greek islands, Santorini is the so-called 'Pearl of the Aegean'.
For me, the honour goes to Lesvos, a much bigger yet lesser known island in the Northern Aegean, close to the Turkish coast. Its unpretentious beauty immediately struck me the moment I disembarked at the island's capital town, Mytilini.

Greece has hundreds of islands big and small, and many of these islands have a common feature: they are
a) home to some famous Greek gods, goddesses or heros with a demi-god status in Greek mythology;
b) home to key figures, thinkers and writers in the history of philosophy, arts, sciences and mathematics,
c) place of refuge for Christian Saints
 
For the time being, I can think of:
- Samos: the island of Pythagoras, the famous philosopher and mathematician that forumlated the Pythagorean Theorem
- Lesvos: the island on which Sappho, the Greek poetess, was born
- Kos: the founder of modern western medicine, Hippocrates, was born on the island of Kos and received his medical training at the Asklepieion of Kos (about 5km outside of present day Kos Town)
- Patmos: the island on which St. John the Apostole took refuge and wrote the last book of the Holy Bible, the Book of Revelation
- Chios: legend has it that Homer was born in the village of Volissos, Chios; some said that he had spent a considerable length of time on the island
Anyway, I was fortunate enough to visit Kos on several occasions in the past few years thanks to its proximity to the Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey and the island's strategic location as the transport hub of the Dodecaneses Islands means it is possible to travel from Kos to many different Greek islands by ferry or air.

The pretty little harbour of Kos Town. The island has some of Greece's best beaches (most of which are located on the eastern half of the island). Kos and Rhodes are the only two islands of the Dodecaneses islands on which Ottoman Turkish population were allowed to settle down during centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule.
Ottoman Turkish legacy could still be seen all over the place. Here, at Kos Town's main square, buildings with distinctively Ottoman architectural style have been converted into public buildings and elegant cafes.
Kos Town harbour on a cloudy February morning. A small canal separate the harbour and the seaside pedestrian walkway.

Open air cafes on the main square, Kos Town. It was still very early in the morning: by 11am, most of the seats will be filled up with locals enjoying the mild winter sun. During the summer months, cafes around the main square are busy throughout the day. The tourist season of Kos starts in the first week of May and last through October. Most of the foreign visitors come from European countries such as Holland, Belgium, Germany, UK, Sweden, Finland etc.

Ruins of Asklepieion, about 5km outside of Kos Town. This was where Hippocrates learnt his trade. Some columns and steps remain but you will need a lot of imagination to reconstruct how the entire complex might have looked like during Hippocrates' times.

Old trees and fallen marble slabs.
Buses to Asklepieion depart from the centre of Kos Town every hour or so during winter time. In the summer months, mini-trains operate regular trips to major sights in and around Kos Town, including the Asklepieion, throughout the day.

I was the only visitor to the site on that breezy February morning.
It was quite cloudy but the hills and white settlements seen in the distant background, across the stretch of water (actually it was the Aegean Sea), are parts of Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey. The width of the Aegean between the village of Aryarlar on the Bodrum Peninsula and Kos is about 5 nautical miles. Regular ferry services operate throughout the year between Bodrum, Turgutreis and Yalikavak on the Bodrum Peninsula to Kos Town. Journey time is about 45 minutes (Turgutreis - Kos) to 1 hour (Bodrum - Kos).
Copyrights 2008. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
  

After 3 days in Mytilini, I decided to look for a new hotel to stay. It was weekend when I first arrived at Mytilini and most hotels near the harbour were fully booked. Thus I had had no choice but to settle for any accommodation I could find.
After walking around the centre of Mytilini for a while, I came across a small hotel in a side street right behind the main harbour avenues. It is situated in a restored old Greek house and looks all right from the outside. I asked at the reception if they had any room available for next week, half expecting they would say 'sorry, we are full' but to my surprise, they still had vacanies and they accept credit card payments.
The room is sunny and I particularly like the stone wall and the homely feeling of this little hotel.
 
                                              
                                                     Main Entrance to the Hotel
                                     
                             Guestroom with stone walls and windows overlooking the courtyard
                                     
They also provide bathrobe, slippers, towels etc, but unfortunately there is no swimming pool in the hotel complex.
Breakfast are served in the small dining place on the ground floor. The staffs (3 of them) are all very helpful and friendly. One of them used to live for a few decades in Australia before returning to Greece after retirement.
Copyrights 2008. All Rights Reserved.

I stayed at Hotel La Vita during my 5-day visit to Rhodes, Greece, in May 2007. Thanks to some friends, I paid less than 20 euro per person for a single room with breakfast, private bathroom and decent facilities, I thought it is a good bargain. Nowadays it is difficult to find a decent hotel (note: real hotel, not private houses or family-run pensions) that charges less than 60 euro per night for a room anywhere in Greece, let along Europe.

                                             Hotel Bar/Cafe and Recpetion Area
Given that I paid less than 20 euro for my room, I was suitably impressed upon arrival that this hotel is a proper hotel with proper facilities, not some kind of make-shift budget accommodations.

                               My room for less than 20 euro per person
As soon as I entered the lobby, the reception staff greeted me by my surname. She already has a list of all guests due to arrive today in front of her. I was given a double room for single use. Great! But the room has no sea view. Well, I only paid less than 20 euro per night so I should not ask for too much, should I? The room itself is simple yet comfortable. And there is a small fridge where I can buy cold drinks from outside and stock them up for the evenings.

The breakfast room on first level. Self-service breakfast is served from 0630 to 1030 and I find the choices of food available are pretty decent. Because I absolutely love freshly prepared fried eggs for my breakfast, any hotel that offers this on the spot is bound to score points with me.
La Vita has freshly prepared fried eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes, omelettes etc. on offer during breakfast hours. There are several types of bread (soft and hard) to choose from, plus cereals, preserves. jams, fresh fruits, pastries, hot food (baked potato wedges, boiled sausages, stir-fried tomatoes etc.), as well as juices, tasty olives, fresh yogurt and some sweet stuffs that Greeks love for breakfast. Since I don't like sweet stuff at 0700 in the morning, I simply stick to the European selection available. The good thing is, it's self-service so I can eat as many fried eggs as I like....
As La Vita Hotel does not have its own swimming pool, hotel guests are asked to use the swimming pool at nearby Grand Hotel, also owned by the same hotel group. But I prefer swimming in the sea instead, especially as La Vita is just 1 minute away by foot from the long white sandy beach of Rhodes Town.
The hotel is conveniently located, about 15 minutes walking distance from the Mandraki Harbour, 2 minutes by taxi if you are in a hurry, It is close to Rhodes Casino, Rhodes Aquarium, as well as the Old Town.
Copyrights 2008. All Rights Reserved.                                 

While I was still living in Bodrum, Turkey, I had to exit the country once every 30 days due to visa restrictions. The easiest and cheapest way of renewing your Turkish visa is to go to any Greek islands off the Turkish coast, and return on the same day - in the case of Bodrum, the nearest Greek island is Kos.
But after a few times going to Kos on a day trip (plus Schengen hopping visa excursion), I thought it was time to try out other nearby islands too. So I looked at the map and visit all of them one by one.
Chios caught my attention because of two things:
1. Legend has it that Homer was born in Volissos, Chios. Whether this is true or not, is still being disputed by historians, but at least it has been recognised by all authorities that Homer had indeed spent a long period of time residing on Chios.
2. Chios is home to a very unique plant species: Mastic gums (a.k.a. Mastiha, or pistachia lentiscus var. Chia). This is a funny plant: although it could be found in many places across the world, only those grown in the southern half of the island of Chios release resin that has a special armoatic flavour when cut. Those that are grown elsewhere - even on the northern half of Chios - do not release any aromatic resin when cut. Until now nobody can explain why this plant behaves in such a way. Some Japanese scientists had transplanted some mastic trees with soils from Chios to Japan and still the plant refuse to yield any resin as soon as it is out of the southern half of Chios.
As a result, Chios has the virtual monopoly over the highly lucrative mastic trade eversince the Roman times. Despite being ruled by different Empires (Romans, Ottomans etc.), Chios was always given preferrential treatments and semi-autonomous status, thanks to its monopoly of mastic production. Chios mastic is also one of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products as well as a protected geographical indication (PGI) name.

A nice cafes in the fairly affluent Mastic village of Pirgi, southern Chios. The production of mastic on Chios has been controlled by cooperatives and 24 so-called 'Mastic villages' in the southern half of the island. Most of the mastic villages have a fairly well-preserved medieval village centre. Pirgi, for instance, is famous for its painted facades, frescos and walls that signify the mast amount of wealth accumulated from the mastic trade. Because the price of mastic has remained stable in the past decades, Chios is one of the few Greek islands that is not dependent upon tourism as its main source of income. As a result, there are neither big hotels nor well-developed tourist resorts on Chios. It was in fact fairly difficult to get any accommodation on the island which cost less than 40 euro per person per night.

Fresh tomatoes hanging on the balcony: this is a common sight at Chios mastic villages.
Mastic gum has been used in a wide range of products for its antiseptic and curing properties. It is known to be able to effectively reduce bacterias in the mouth and helps to prevent inflammation of skin etc. Romans used mastic gum to cleanse their teeth. The use of mastic as food ingredient became popular in the Middle East and the Near East when Chios came under Ottoman rule and has remained an important part of the region's cuisine till this day. Mastic gum is also the crucial ingredient in the making of confectionary and sweets, including the famous Turkish delights (although I am not very fond of it except for the rosewater flavour).
Korres, a Greek skincare brand that produces wonderful skincare products and cosmetics with natural herbal extracts, has developed a line of skincare products called 'Greek Floras' with Chios mastiha gum as its main active ingredient - which, I must say, has one of the best face creams and eye creams I have ever used. The project was launched in active collaboration with Chios Mastiha Growers Association (CMGA), the local farmers' cooperative that promotes and markets the Chios mastic both in Greece and overseas. CMGA also has its own flagship stores - called the Mastiha Shop - on Chios, Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes etc. It was one of my favourite stores around the globe: the shop looks more like a posh boutique with a wide range of nicely-packaged skincare products, shower gels, shampoos, hand soaps, hand creams, sweets, preserves, etc.

The view of Chios town's harbour. In the distant background is the coast of Turkey near Cesme.
I arrived at Chios on board a lousy ferry - Penelopi - of Agoudimos Lines. Try to avoid this ferry if you can. It was a long journey all the way from Kos via Kalymnos, Patmos, Samos to Chios. Chios' wealth is evident: the whole harbour is full of posh bars and ultra-modern cafes frequented by locals. Unlike the majority of Greek islands,  Chios is not dependent upon tourism as its main source of income. Subsequently it took me some time to find a decent accommodation at affordable prices.
Any trip to Chios should include a visit to some of the island's mastic villages - I went to three of them but to be honest, I was rather disappointed by them. Yes, the medieval town centres are kept in good conditions, but they lack a certain atmosphere that would keep you enchanted. Even Volissos, the supposed birthplace of Homers, was disappointing: everywhere you see old stone houses with overgrown gardens almost crumbling to pieces. The only good thing is that you don't get to see any other tourists over there.

A decent corner cafe near the Orthodox Church in the village of Pirgi. The ice-coffee was excellent in the steaming summer heat - more than 40 degree Celsius!!

Harbour front of Chios Town with all the posh cafes and flashy bars. In the evening, it was nice to sit at one of the waterfront cafes and look at the ferries entering the harbour. The Mastiha Shop also has free seating in front of its flagship store. For three days in a row (I spent altogether 3 days on Chios), I shopped at the Mastiha Shop and fill my suitcases with all sorts of Chios mastic products....

One of the waterfront cafes near the harbour. In the evening, it is also the gathering place of many residents of Chios town.

Here comes the ferry that would take me northwards to Mytilini, Lesbos. The ferry 'Nissos Mykonos' is a brand new high speed ferry built in 2005, with comfortable interior and aircraft-type seating. After the terrible trip on board 'Penelopi', I thought it was wise to spend a few more euros and travel with a modern vessel instead of some rusty old ship that smells of smoke. In 2008. a brand new high speed ferry 'Nissos Chios' replaced 'Nissos Mykonos' on the Piraeus - Chios- Mytilini route. It is supposed to be even better than 'Nissos Mykonos'.
Copyright 2008. All text and photo by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.

After spenting one week in the really really beautiful village of Molivos on the island of Lesbos, I decided to move on to the next island - Limnos (Lemnos), because I read it somewhere that the harbour of Myrina at Limnos is one of the prettiest harbours in Greece.
Because the cheapest hotel accommodation I could find online prior to my arrival on Limnos was more than 70 euro per night, I thought it would make sense to look for cheaper alternatives once I arrived. This turned out to be a grave strategic error, as I found out (after walking around the whole town for more than an hour) that all hotels on Limnos were booked out because it was a major holiday week in Greece: even the most expensive hotel on the island, where I had to pay 90 euro for a single room, was fully booked. Since I am not the kind of person to stay overnight on a bench near the harbour, I decided to take the night ferry to Thessaloniki one day earlier than planned and sleep on the Thessaloniki-bound ferry instead.
The overnight ferry from Mytilini arrived early in the morning at 0700 and I was a bit disappointed by the view of Myrina. The harbour is quite pretty but it is not as beautiful as I had imagined: it looks more Irish in terms of flaire than Aegean (if you know what I mean). The white washed houses, with outdoor cafes (still closed when I arrived) and little lanes remind me of some seaside villages in County Kerry, Ireland. Even the shopfronts and the way houses are laid out around the town are really Irish-like. There are a few taverns next to the little fishing harbour but it was so early in the morning, everything was quiet.
Once I came to the conclusion that no accommodation whatsoever was available on this island on that particular day, I decided to enjoy myself a bit before the overnight trip on a ferry for a second time in two days. I found a nice cafe on top of the hill overlooking the pretty bay near Myrina and spent at least 3 hours there sipping coffee and admiring the scenery:

Another side of the bay, with hotels and guesthouses (all of them fully booked!) - and nice cafes and taverns along the waterfront. It would have been lovely to spend a few days on this island.

Prices on Limnos are high: although the island is not well-known outside of Greece, many Greeks come to Limnos for its rugged scenery and good sandy beaches. The eastern half of the island is well-known for wild fishing. Limnos is actually an interesting place, historically - more interesting than it first appears but I only realised that after my visit. It was on board an Allies warship stationed in the Bay of Mudros, in the eastern half of Limnos, that the armistice between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire was signed in 1917, bringing the First War World in the Middle East/Eastern Mediterranean War Theater to an end. As a result of Ottoman Empire's surrender to the Allies, British forces took control of the Gallipoli Penisula and the Dardanelles.

But I would always remember Limnos as 'the island where Greece's best honey comes from': well, I had left my bags at a local store selling locally produced wines, goat cheese, honey etc, The guy who ran the store is a fan of AEK Athens and we started chatting about football. As Limnos is also well-known (within Greece) for its white sweet Muscadet, I decided to try out some wines and cheeses, all produced by the owner's family on his family vineyards and family farms. The goat cheeses taste great together with the wine. However, the only thing I could take with me is the local speciality: thyme honey, because it needs neither refrigating nor special protection. In addition, thyme honey is not available elsewhere in the world, and it is said that the best thyme honey in the whole of Greece comes from Northern Aegean.
Indeed, on the metal can it is stated: Greek Honey Is the Best ...... (I should have taken a photo of that can!)
Next time I think I will spend 1-2 days on the eastern part of the island, where the vineyards and honey farms are. Of course, I will make sure I book the hotel accommodation in advance....
Copyright 2008. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.

Most of Samos' vineyards are planted with Muscadet, the famous white varietal that makes a sweet, flowery, almost honey-like, white wine. The colour of this wine is golden and has a relatively high alcohol content for a white wine (more than 12%).
The vineyards of Samos are located on the hilly slopes facing the sea. During the day, long hours of sunshine make sure that grapes have sufficient natural sugar contents essential for the sweet Muscadet wine, while the cooling sea breeze that blows from the Aegean provides for ideal growing conditions during the hotter months of the year. As a result of hot sun and sea breeze, the natural sugar contents of Samos' white Muscat grapes is among the highest of all white varietals.

A typical wine village in Central Samos. Viticulture is one of the most important economic activities on Samos. A bottle of top-class white Muscadet from DOC Samos (Samos Wine of Origins) can fetch up to a hundred euro in luxury restaurants in Athens and other major cities in the world.
Many village cooperatives handle the production of white wines. One of the biggest of such farmers' cooperatives is located at the port city of Karlovassi, Samos. There you will have the chance to join free wine-tasting session and try out different types of Muscadet wines.

                             A close-up view of Muscadet vines among olive groves
Muscadet is a fairly robust varietal. Unlike some varietals such as Pinot Noir or Riesling that are extremely sensitive to climatic conditions and soil factors, Muscadet thrives in hot climates and can be planted directly on the ground (the only other varietal that could be planted directly on its root stocks without any support is Zinfandel).

A small wine-growing village in the Central Samos. The local taverna serves good local dishes and good local white wines.
Copyrights 2008. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.