Hydra

[linmag]

Hello everyone

We got back very early Thursday morning, and had to go to work later that same day. I think I sleep-walked through most of Thursday and Friday! Hydra seems like a dream now, though at least the sunshine seems to have followed us at last. It was so good to meet so many old and new friends on Hydra. Thanks to Jarkko and Eija for all their organisation and hospitality, I hope you enjoy your well-earned few days of peace as the only Cohenists on the island (except Nicolas, of course!).

I'm glad you got back in one piece, Paula, and I'm sure Megan's hand will be fully recovered in time for Berlin

I discovered yesterday to my sorrow that our local supermarket does not stock Mythos, so will have to arrange a return visit to Greece to avoid withdrawal symptoms setting in.

[Henning]

We were disussing the title of that movie in which Loren starred on Hydra.

Here is some info about it:

http://www.islandstylebook.com/html/gre ... tstime.htm

[lizzytysh]

We were also discussing the female lead and you win . Little did I know I fell in love with Hydra long before I ever set foot on its magical shore. The title song still resonates from when I first saw the film and fell in love with it, and Sophia Loren, as well. I hope I can find the video. Thanks for the link to the article. So many places I still want to be on that tiny island. Next time will be the local, eating places.

Demetris ~ Your hello to Nikolai was passed on, and returned with pure delight on his part. I know you can see his face, smile and eyes, just with my saying that much . I fell in love with and drank all the Mythos you might have . Tasted the Retsina and Ouzo because I promised. However, my new definition of "trauma" = Amstel instead of Mythos [just ask Ken ~ as in enroute to Jarkko's].

I owe Nikolai a Mythos, though.......the one he bought on our last night there, and that never got drank, in lieu of my postcards getting written ~ completed at 5 AM [including falling asleep in the process, with some evidentiary scrawls], just in time for one hour's sleep, prior to 7 AM departure on The Flying Cat. Thanks for everyone's offers to help, but it was one of those things I just had to do myself, aside from stamping, for which I thank Wybe and Jarkko profusely; and the passing to me of the cards, to whom I owe Russell and Megan my thanks.

Henning ~ You took the perfect photo of "grandfather" [on the right], whose young granddaughter returned to him often, touching him on the knee, as she closely and adoringly looked up into his face and smiled, pausing a few minutes for love before continuing the Greek dance with her brother[?]/her cousin[?]/her friend[?], to delight herself and the customers of Dusko's. She inherited his joy and pleasure of life. It all comes back with your photo .

I'm eating Greek olives [including the juice] as I write this. The Mediterranean diet agrees with me. Ahhh, to have a Mythos.

Love,
Lizzy

[Dem]

Hi Elizabeth
thanks for the card!

I am glad that you enjoyed your stay in
Greece.

Isn’t Hydra unique?
The island has a special energy, hasn’t it?

Was Loren also on the island?

By the way, although the composer of the film score Hugo Friedhofer was nominated for the Oscar Award for that year (1957) the title song “Boy on a dolphin” *
(http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0148736.html) that Sophia sings in the film is actually a version (same melody but completely different English lyrics by Francis Paul Webster) of an original Greek song titled “Ti 'ne afto pou to lene agapi” ( “What is this that is called love”) by Takis Morakis, a Greek composer.

(You can listen to the original song here:
http://www.greekmidi.com/english/composers/morakis.html


There are many films that were shot on Hydra, mainly Greek films from the 60’s and 70’s that are being played again and again on the TV channels here.
But if you want to have a look at Hydra of the 60’s, when Leonard was living on the island, in an excellent black and white photography, search for this film:

“Phaidra” with Melina Mercoury and Anthony Perkins
http://www.ioffer.com/i/Phaedra-1962-An ... ri-7091857

(Yes, Phaedra was also the name of the character that Sophia Loren played on her own film)

Dem

PS) By the way, I never understood all this fascination with Mythos beer. I always preferred Amstel!

* “Boy on a dolphin” is a common theme in the Greek imagery.
There are depictions of a boy riding a dolphin in ancient arifacts:

http://www.newworldtreasures.com/dolphin.htm


(And if I remember well, Loren in the film plays a diver that discovers exacly such an ancient statue during one of her dives)

The image is also used in the modern Greek poetry by poets, like Odysseus Elytis who for example writes in his poem/libretto “The Sovereign Sun”:
(in my cloumsy translation)

The Sun speaks:

Hey you the lands and the seas
the vineyards and the golden olive trees

you hear my news
in my middays/noons

"From all the places where I go
only this one I love!"

From the middle of the cliff
to the middle of the other pelago.

red yellow crops
waters green and bottomless

"From all the places where I go
only this one I love!"

With its little boys
on its dolphins

with the naked girls
that are burnt on the sandy beaches

with the cock-eyed roosters
and their koοkorikoοs!

[lizzytysh]

Hi Demetris ~

You're welcome, of course . Maybe next time you won't be reachable by postcard because you'll be there yourself .

Amstel doesn't even begin to compare to Mythos ! Not even close! I finally reached the Greek restaurant nearest me, and they're having trouble getting their Mythos and other Greek beer, so they're out of it. However, the bartender's ordering some special for me [a case I can take home ~ yes, I know with reading something like that, it's hard to believe I'm not an alcoholic, but a case will last me a long time]. The distributor won't deliver it to them, so they're having to drive to Tarpon Springs [a Greek community] to get it, so they're switching to another beer [can't recall the name]. However, smooth in every way is Mythos. I love it.

I drank token amounts of ouzo, retsina, and Amstel ~ but all bets were off when it came to Mythos [still, as I recall, two bottles was my max].

Thanks for the link. I'll listen to the original song . I also saw the movie "Phaedra" with Melina Mercouri and, in fact, named one of my cats Phaedre [the spelling I used for whatever reason] after it. Such a beautiful name.

Yes, a special energy that's unique and wonderful envelope Hydra. Very expansive and magical just being there and experiencing it. Swimming in the Aegean Sea and having the gentle sea breezes all around as you walk the pathways to and from the harbor is truly indescribable [at least I haven't found the right words yet]. I know Bobbie mentioned her concern with not wanting to go and have the magic not be the same as it was in 2003. I can understand that concern. Yet, any time on Hydra seems to have its own measure of magic, no matter what.

Gotta go now ~ my second job awaits ~ saving all over again for Berlin and another trip to England and Hydra. Some people are property poor. Looks like I'm going to end up being travel poor. Worse fates than that are out there .

Love,
Elizabeth

[tomsakic]

I recently saw (and bought) DVD of Melina Mercouri's famous movie Never On Sunday, directed & co-starred by her husband, otherwise great director Jules Dassin (famous for his noirs like Naked City, and French gangster movies like Rififi).

I think this movie is their most famous collaboration (I must say I never heard for their movie Phaedra before, although I know that Dassin made dozen of films with Mercouri on Hydra). It's also shot on Hydra (I think that Ira Nadel mentiones in his biography how Leonard hated all those crowds gathering around Mercouri-Dassin team, making of Hydra notorious place and ruining his peace for writing - he cites Leonard's letter, and if I remember well, Never On Sunday is directly mentioned).

Anyhow, film is b&w and I hoped to see some nicely shoted Hydra. But the film was nightmare. Typical quasi-mediterranian stupid movie with many rasistic prejudices. She was Greek whore, adored by whole city, and he was English writer who wants to make "honest woman" of her, but at least he realises that it's her way of life, and that it's Greece. And most of the movie, they sing with bouzuki, and throws glasses to the floor.

Not recommended.

Thanks for the card, Lizzytysh

[lizzytysh]

You're welcome, Tom ~ it was touch and go whether you'd get it from me or from one of 20 others, but in the end, I prevailed . However, you can thank Jarkko or Wybe for the stamping .

~ Lizzy

[jarkko]

Just a moment ago I ordered the DVD "Boy on a dolphin" from eBay,
it was 14,95 US$ plus postage (to be mailed from NY -- means NTSC format).

On the kitchen wall at Henry Denander's house on Hydra there is an original film promo photo showing Loren, Ladd etc. sitting in the harbour of Hydra. I took some photos of it and will post it here next week.

The seller described the film with these words:

Boy On A Dolphin (1957)

Certainly script writers Ivan Moffat and Dwight Taylor have done the best they could to arrange a fairly equal balance of nature and Sophia...

The Greek Isle of Hydra is one of the most cosmopolitan points in the Mediterranean, a dream world with a unique beauty... It appears like a huge dry rock rising out the sea with its tiled houses and buildings scaling the precipitous terrain, one on top of the other, starting from the quay and reaching up to the tops of the hill, while the victorious color scheme is Aegean (white green and bright blue), and the weather is Adriatic... The pretty port looks extremely picturesque, dramatically beautiful...

Director Jean Negulesco has thrown all the grandeur and loveliness of these features upon the eye-filling CinemaScope screen... But Alan Ladd's and the audience's attention is directed to Sophia who explodes beautifully into warmth, glamor, beauty and sex, through frequent and liberal posing of her in full and significant views... Her statuesque beauty reminds us what the Mediterranean can offer in grace and richness...

Diving in the Aegean Sea for sponges off Hydra, peasant girl Phaedra (Sophia Loren) discovers a golden statue of a boy riding a bronze dolphin, chained to the body framework of a wrecked ship... Together with Rhif (Jorge Mistral) her lazy fisherman lover, Niko (Piero Giagnoni) her little brother and an English doctor Hawkins (Laurence Naismith), she tries to look for a rich American sponsor for the raising of the sunken statue...

She had two alternatives: Dr. Jim Calder (Alan Ladd), a U.S archaeologist, devoted to return lost artifacts of great value to their home countries, and Victor Parmalee (Clifton Webb), an ambitious art collector, prepared to pay highly price to cool his insatiable desire for ancient treasures...

With striking photography of the Greek island, the sparkling sea, and the Parthenon, this entertaining film, with nice music by Takes Morakes, is another example of cinema ingenuity...

[lizzytysh]

Taking your cue, I just ordered the film from another site, Jarkko. I'm really looking forward to watching it, again, after so many years. As soon as I can get it to connect, I'll listen to the other rendition of the song, too. Thanks, Demetris.

[jarkko]

From Leonard, about the movie:
"I've seen it several times. The windmill on the road to Kamini was built (or renovated) for it. The film used to show now and then at the old open air cinema, perhaps it still does"

--- the open air cinema still exists on Hydra, but has been closed for some time; it had no showings in August 2000, June 2003 or this June, when I visited the island. Let's hope they will open it some day, at least for the high season! / Jarkko

[lizzytysh]

Vibrantly sensual and relaxed the original, musical score is, Demetris. It doesn't include any lyrics, but I've just listened to its instrumentation. I can see and feel the sunshine and the bright whites of the pathways and houses.

I wish Hydra were like a dream to me right now, but it remains a vivid memory that creates melancholy when I think of specifics ~ places, people, animals, experiences.

[Bobbie]

Hi Lizzy...

Glad you had a good time in Hydra, and that you got to experience the magic.

And speaking of magic.. that's exactly right.. I wasn't ready to dispell what I'd already experienced.. maybe that sounds corny, or off kilter.. or something. I can't explain it exactly, but apart from that, I still remember very vividly my time there, the smells, the sounds (roosters at 5:00 in the morning through the open shutters) what the air and sun felt like, the light, the way the breeze would kick up every evening at almost exactly the same time (5:00) - the lace shop, the music, donkeys clip clopping and braying, cats darting here and there under the tables and in the alley ways - breakfast at Yanni's place every morning, Greek coffee and eggs with slices of tomato (not to mention, the food in general) nights with Nickolas at the Roloi - I never drank so much beer in all my life... and I'm typically a wine drinker ... every night, pitchers and pitchers of Mythos would come to the table. I've tried to find it here, but no one knows what I'm talking about. It's just as well. But maybe I will try again.

Even after 3 years, it's as if it all happened yesterday. To me, Hydra is like Brigadoon.. maybe something that can happen only once every one hundred years. These past three years, my diet has consisted of mainly Mediterranean fare, and I've finished many a bottle of Ouzo. I think my hair shines more now, from all the olive oil. Eh, there are worse things than having shiny hair from olive oil.

Take good care, LT.

B

[lizzytysh]

Hi Bobbie ~

Pitchers of Mythos? I don't recall that availability! The bottle was fine, and sometimes it seemed quite natural to drink directly from it. I've also not drank beer on a daily basis for a week [don't recall ever doing that, in fact] ~ at a rate of 1-3 per day [don't recall any days of 4 ~ but then maybe I wouldn't ].

I can understand your concern with not wanting to compromise your already-blissful memories from before; to just preserve all that you'd already experienced and keep it intact.

Yes, the roosters.....and the 'cacophony' [at times] of bells, as well [particularly, it seemed, at 7 PM. Delightful, even so. Maybe the ringer had a learner's permit .]

Yanni's ~ where was Yanni's? The lace shop I walked past enroute to/from our pension. With no prices posted, I presumed it was too pricey for me. Do you recall the range? Beautiful and I would've loved to come home with some, but money got eaten alive with the exchange rates.

That's funny that you mention your Mediterranean diet since being there. Enroute back from the monastery, several of us stopped in a side-street bookstore and I bought four books ~ on olive oil, Mediterranean-style cooking, and herbs & spices. Recipes in them, as well. I love the one book that has [including photos] explanations of proper selection of olive oils, as well as health benefits. Haven't had time to read anything yet, but will soon. I'm very excited to begin eating this way [finances ~ lack thereof ~ really assisted me in my eating many Greek salads, as it was]. Hadn't considered the shiny hair, but you're right. I know that, overall, it's very healthy.

I tried ouzo and retsina [fulfilling my promise], but just couldn't bond with either ~ too intense. Mythos, on the other hand, is phenomenally smooth. I wish I'd gotten the name of the cabernet-type red wine we had at Dusko's and another place. Very, very nice and also smooth. Our additives must really ruin a lot of what we drink.

Some [not many I don't think] found Hydra to be a bit boring after awhile, but I wasn't one of them. The pace and the many differences were enlivening for me. I'd love to revisit after an extended period of meditation, continuing it on the island, as well. I'd like to experience how the island and that state of being come together.

For all the pictures I took, as I look back, there are so many more I wish I had. I know I'll be there again, so along with saving for Berlin and Leonard's touring, I'll be saving for Hydra, as well. There's so much I can just feel, simply thinking about it......and I've rarely stopped thinking about it, since returning home.

Perhaps, by the time another meeting takes place there, you'll be willing to chance it. The magic is still alive .

~ Lizzy

[Bobbie]

Hi Lizzy...

I'm racing the clock.. going to Long Island (and NYC) tomorrow morning till the 30th, and then on to Maine till we return to Vifginia on the 8th of July.

Yes, I will take a chance on breaking the spell of magic and go back to Hydra one day... probably sooner than later. I hope. Maybe. Definitely. (never mind... ) :--)

I didn't even realize that I had said "pitchers" of Mythos.... had to go back and re-read my post after you said that you didn't see any pitchers in Hydra. I don't know what I could have been thinking of.. maybe NY and Montreal, where the pitchers were flowing like mad. But yes, of course.. in Hydra there were bottles, and a draught that came already poured in big glasses. (I would include a picture of Elke drinking from a pitcher at the West End after closing night, but I can't see how to attach it... ) Sigh.

Yanni's was up one of those alleys (on the right from the harbour) just a few streets over (toward the Roloi) from The Alkionides, where we were staying.. just a simple little restaurant.. not sure what the real name was.... just that the proprieter was called Yanni, and he was ever as delightful as Nickolas, only in a different way. I have a picture of the two of us, taken on the day of my departure. I told him I would be back one day, so I guess I will.

Yes, overall it was expensive at the lace shop..... but there were small things that were quite reasonable. Still, I didn't buy anything there - bought a couple of bracelets in the harbour instead, and the rest of my mad money was spent on souveniers to bring home to family and friends -and a bottle of Ouzo for myself...

Yes, the Mediterranean diet is the BEST... my HDL is 142 from all that olive oil and red wine... my doctor's eyes popped out of her head when she saw the readings.

Have you watched the movie Shirley Valentine... ? If not, you must. You MUST - and that goes for everyone here. Doesn't take place on Hydra.. Mykanos instead..... but which Greek island it is really doesn't matter. The story is wonderful.

Well, Ouzo is definitely a matter of taste even more than retsina I think, (especially since the percentage of pine has been decreased in retsina) (I love anise flavoured things, so ouzo seems wonderful to me) - so if it's not your thing, it leaves room for something else to please you... which seems to be Mythos. Good choice, even though Dem, the great Greek, says he likes Amstel better. When it comes to beer.. gimme a Guinness.

Anyway.. gotta go finish packing.

See all of you later in July.

Big hugs for H. :--)

B

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[lizzytysh]

Well, schoot. Missed the Mythos in draft form, too. However, you know how that can be with the sizes of glasses [however, you said "big glasses"] and the foam involved. Not necessarily cheaper; though smoother, with Mythos that's not really an issue.

I called my credit union today to confirm how many separate savings accounts I can set up. Since I'm not restricted, at this point, there will be six:

Berlin
Visit to Mom
Hydra Alone
Next Hydra Meet-Up
England
Leonard Tour

Minimum $25 to open each. Will deposit minimum $25 each month, with additional amounts to the soonest to occur.

I'll check back for that photo of Elke [or is it not in the NY Event section?] ~ now that I know her better, I can appreciate it more .

I'm wondering if the 'Yanni' is the one I have pictured in my mind. Can you post a photo [somewhere?] of you at it? I took a photo of the manager [if not owner] and cook of a restaurant where I had lunch, too. He [the former] was always so friendly, each time I passed by, after that. I really want to spend every meal at one of the 'local' restaurants next time I go.

Thanks for the lace shop info. Next time there, I'll check it out for one of the smaller, more inexpensive items. It was always magical just walking past that much lace hanging outside in the open air and sunshine, wasn't it? Much of my money went for souvenirs for others, too.

No, I haven't seen the film Shirley Valentine, but have heard about it [perhaps, in the Chatroom ~ maybe even from you?]. Or, maybe it was from women I know who live locally [here]. As I recall the plot, I may have an anecdote that 'somewhat' aligns with it .

Actually, I love anise-flavoured things, too. Perhaps, I'll give ouzo another try [probably would be best to wait till I return, though.....or maybe I'll make a side trip to Tarpon Springs.....or maybe the Greek restaurant I found, somewhat locally, will have a quality import].

Have a good trip....or by the time you read this, hope you had a good one .

~ Lizzy