This week continues to be extremely hard work for David, and
enjoyable work for me. David gets to do all the physical stuff that makes the
boat look nice and I get to do all the creative stuff such as writing blogs,
books and making jewellery.
Last weekend proved to be a weekend of late nights; firstly in the
marina bar on Friday night, secondly in town with friends on Saturday night and
finally some ‘local’ colour in the form of the ‘The Monastery of Agios Symeon Festival’ which started on Saturday
night and continued through to Wednesday morning. With help from the Internet I
found out the following:
The monastery
of Agio Symeon is 8km from Messolonghi, was established in 1740 during the
Ottoman rule, and has great historical importance locally. Messolonghi played a
very important role during the Greek uprising against the Ottoman Empire. In 1822,
the Turks tried to take it but were unsuccessful. Four years later the
inhabitants of Messolonghi unfortunately succumbed to the Turks who surrounded
and besieged the town, and on 10 April 1826 they decided on the mass Exodus of
Messolonghi. However, the Exodus was unsuccessful, most people were killed and
only few managed to get to the monastery and then escape in the mountains. To
revenge for this, the Turks burnt down the monastery, which was rebuilt 10
years later, by a local bishop.
The
Monastery of Agios Simeon celebrates twice a year, on February 2nd and on the
weekend of the Holy Spirit (movable festival, usually in June). The Festival
starts in the evening of Saturday, when two types of groups are formed. The
first are dressed as the former soldiers (armatomenos), also called kleftes.
The other groups are riding on horses, the cavalry.
After the parade, everyone goes to the
historical monastery of Agios Symeon in the mountains. This is the actual start
for the festival. Gypsies playing music, people throw their money in air, and
everybody is dancing, singing, drinking and eating all night and day. The festival goes on for four days and nights
and lasts until Wednesday morning.
We ventured
into town to see the parade, which we had been warned about. The horses are allegedly
given ouzo or beer, and by the look in their eyes I would not have at all
surprised. Although they are healthy looking animals, and most are dressed for
the occasion, the route they take through the town is on marble cobblestones.
The restaurants all take in their tables and chairs and the streets are lined with
hundreds of people. A friend pointed out that it was strange that no-one stood
in front of us, as in the norm in most parades. We were soon to find out why.
The horses
have riders, some are saddled up, some bareback, all with someone on the ground
walking them through by their reins. But the horses are unable to cope with the
marble stones and as they round the first corner their hoofs start to slip and
slide, one very nearly performed a re-enactment of Bambi on the ice; one leg in
all four directions. This of course in turn scares the horses who then rise up
on their hind legs, all within the confines of the narrow streets where we are
all standing. At the same time, the gypsy bands are playing their whistles and
banging their drums, all at a different rhythm and tune. The horses were
dripping with sweat and frothing at their mouths, as they had to wait while the
procession moved slowly through the streets.
We did not
continue up to the Monastery, although free buses are provided both there and
back, but you have to wait for everyone to be ready to leave before they come
back to town, which is normally around 4am.
All in all it was one of those festivals which I am glad I have
witnessed, but do not believe I would wish to see again as I found it quite
daunting being that close to some very agitated, and very big horses. (I do have photos, but have not uploaded them from my phone yet - modern technology confusing me...)
And so back to real life. David is well on his way to finishing the
teak work, the final caulking was squished in this morning, before breakfast,
and is now drying before the final sanding down. Progress so far...
Two coats of anti-foul have been applied to the bottom of the
boat and, although I look particularly attractive in my white smurf outfit, it appears
that my anti-fouling technique was not up the exacting
Perrett standards:-) It seems that I do not have the strength to apply the paint
sufficiently, and it would have been a rubbish finish, or it would have taken
double the amount of anti-foul to complete and would have cost twice the
money...so I made some more jewellery (see below) and wrote some more of my
book, Island of Youth.
that my anti-fouling technique was not up the exacting
Perrett standards:-) It seems that I do not have the strength to apply the paint
sufficiently, and it would have been a rubbish finish, or it would have taken
double the amount of anti-foul to complete and would have cost twice the
money...so I made some more jewellery (see below) and wrote some more of my
book, Island of Youth.
We are
currently booked in to be ‘launched’ on Monday mid-day, so all going well we
should be able to have our first night back on the water to see if everything
else is still in order. Weather permitting, as always, we plan to make our way
north on Thursday where we will stop off at one of two little bays before
hopefully getting back to Nidri on Friday.
