Αναθεώρηση Part 8: Moments . . .

There were many wonderful and poignant moments for me in 2011.

These are the 11 that I recalled most vividly and which perhaps were the most important:

1. New Year’s Day 2011

A New Year’s Day at the southern most tip of the African continent. A new group of friends, new goals for the New Year and a bright, glorious sunshine to somehow set the tone for the 365 days that lay ahead.

We had a lunch by the sea in Cape Town in the wharf. We all announced our achievements and regrets for the previous year as well as the hopes and goals for the new one. The high points and the low points.

Most of that same group were together this year and most had achieved their hopes and goals for 2011.

Most, but not all.

2. Banyan Tree Weekend

In Spring time three single friends and I decided to go away for the weekend to the very luxurious Banyan Tree Hotel resort in Ras Al Khaimah. Two guys and two girls.

The two guys went on dirt bikes and crossed the desert in a magnificently epic journey, while the girls went by car and by road.

We found the girls at the two villas we had rented and sat down to some food to fill our empty stomachs. Then we all jumped into the pool and the drinkers drank champagne as the sun went down, while we discussed life, laughed hard and let ourselves relax.

That weekend cemented a set of friendships that have been really important to each of us all year.

Although no-one has been on a jet ski since…

3. Goat in Aristi

My 40^th birthday came to pass in the sanctuary of the Aristi Resort Hotel which is written about and referenced elsewhere in this blog.

For the celebrations I had requested a goat from the village be slaughtered and roasted on the spit in the traditional fashion. This was duly done and the goat roasted gently under the watchful eye of one of the black clad widows from the village. When brought to the table with salads, wine and bread, I believe everyone – even the vegetarian in our group – salivated visibly.

Before long we were each grasping freshly cut chunks of roasted goat, supping strong red wine and laughing and conversing in time honored fashion. I was honoured by my friends toasting my birthday and was touched in particular by the kind words offered to me by my guests and companions.

It reminded me that there is nothing as unifying and edifying as sharing a meal and conversation with good friends.

The goat may have had a slightly different opinion – especially as I was offered his «αμελέτητα» (you can guess what this means) as the treat of the day…

4. Beach on the Northern Coast of Egypt

In early summer I travelled to the north coast of Egypt – down the road aways from Alexandria – for the wedding celebrations of a colleague and good friend.

The celebrations were an informal affair at her beach house and a wonderfully diverse and interesting group of people gathered – from documentary film makers to musicians, politicians to businessmen. The mood was La Dolce Vita meets Arab Spring.

Discussions of Egypt’s political future were punctuated by dialogues on the blues, the sexual exploits of Omar Sharif and why the residents of the front row of beach houses wouldn’t be coming this summer. (They were all in jail awaiting trial!)

We headed to the beach in the afternoon and sat on lovely white sand by the Mediterranean, drinking ice cold beers and eating fresh clams out of aluminum foil straight from the fire they had been cooked on.

A simple, delightful gathering of interesting people at play. The afternoon turned to evening, coffees and sun downers were drunk before everyone departed for an hour or two only to return for the party which went on beyond dawn – including a virtuoso live performance by Egypt’s leading female Darbouka player. A magic weekend of little sleep and much stimulation.

5. Greek mountain weekend #2

Not content with one weekend in the mountains at Aristi, I spend another weekend in Elati near Trikala with a good friend who invited me to Greece for the weekend which I accepted on a whim.

We rented a car in Athens and drove up to the mountains to a lovely “Ξενωνα” or guest house in the village. Conversation was plentiful and sparse in equal measure, with both of us knowing each other well enough to have no issue with either.

A taverna dinner of freshly grilled meat and rough local wine lead to deep discussions of the soul - its sicknesses and its salvation. A last stop in a tiny little bar near the guest house saw spirits mixed with rock n roll. Lots of memories of times gone by for my friend and conversations with the bar owner about 70’s rock bands and the influence of the blues on Led Zeppelin for me. A late finish followed by sleep concluded a great Greek day.

The next was slower due to the inevitable hangover, but included a magnificent lunch in the mountains in an old taverna sat by a log fire outside on the veranda as it rained and hailed so hard there were dents in the roof of the car. There was nothing for it than to eat goat soup, mountain greens and rough local red from the barrel.

The trip back to Athens the next day was slow and dull, but as I drove I got news on my phone that a couple that I had introduced to each other and whose wedding I had attended a few years earlier, had had their first child. A baby girl. Within an hour I was at the maternity hospital with a overjoyed new dad, a tired grandmother and an exhausted but thrilled mother – and their new joy, the baby.

An hour later I was at the airport and heading back to the land of the sand…

6. Dinner by a little harbour. .

The anticipation that had built to the point of total distraction was suddenly and painlessly released by her arrival – a moment that came to pass as easily and naturally as a page turning in a book.

A warm greeting, pregnant with curiosity, was followed by nervous discussion and then deep dialogue.

Interrogation, hesitation, investigation, consideration, interruption, hesitation, interaction, continuation…

Imbibe, listen, nibble, speak.

Waves beat gently against the harbor wall, an old woman watched from afar…with benevolence and warmth

I was there, present. It was “now” then.

Her hair had curls and her eyes smiled.

She breathed gently and easily as she slept.

I found my peace.

7. A hotel in Nisantasi. .

A door opens into a room.

A split second of extreme excitement immediately translated into a vigorous embrace  . . . and relief.

A moment of silence.

Eyes scanning furiously to verify the vision is real and no longer just dreamt.

Conversation. Electricity. Vitality.

Peace. Home. At last.

8. A café in Kurucesme. .

One morning, in the late Summer or early Autumn, I sat by the Bosphorus and ate eggs and sesame seed coated Turkish bagels, drank fresh orange juice and strong coffee and gazed across the table at the woman who sat there with me.

Her hair was blowing gently in the breeze, her smile warming me even more than the sunshine. We talked about this and that, we held each other’s hand, we laughed and played.

Sometimes one is suddenly acutely aware of the wonder of a moment, as well as its ephemeral quality.

Such was this moment and many others that followed it, destined to become memories at best.

The name of the café was “Aşk” – it means “passion” in Turkish.

9. Desert Ride

There is nothing more uniquely solitary and free than riding a motorcycle through the desert. Inherent danger and risk mixed with total liberation from the constraints of the built up world.

Deserts have a curious nature and peace – an alternative ecosystem unrecognizable and intimidating to the city dweller used to being crushed by the structures of the urban jungle.

Intense heat, tough terrain, a small satellite device the only thing ensuring direction and destination. The physical challenge of negotiating a large pile of metal and plastic with wheels up sand dunes - at times the size of houses and office buildings.

In the summer we would leave home at 4.30 am when it was still dark and be in the desert ready to ride by sun-up. A group of up to 50 bikes and riders would congregate most weekends and within just a few seconds of departing our starting point all would be spread out and invisible to each other for the next 2-3 hours. Even riding in my small group of 2-3 friends we would only see each other sporadically as we crossed the never ending sand.

My moments in the desert on top of my bike have been incredible intense, clearing everything from my tired head and filling me with an incredible sense of vitality and life.

And I don’t crash every time either…

10. Insomniac moments

At first it drove me crazy. My sleep had been cruelly stolen and my body was left restless and awake without the benefit of enough rest. My mind raced and in its frustration created anxiety and stress. A slow developing living hell in the darkness of night. The final "coup de grace" as the attempt to sleep is suddenly abandoned on an instant and one starts what will be a much longer day than hoped or planned.

But after a week or two of sleeplessness, I began to discover my night self. Thoughts and thinking that would be impossible in the light of day. Conversations and connections with other insomniacs that radiated clarity like a 100 watt bulb and created intensity in my mind and a strange hunger for illumination.

My insomniac period inspired writing, music composition, philosophizing and a proximity to self which is hard to find in daylight hours.

I prefer sleeping as a rule, but now insomnia is not the enemy I once thought it was. 

Indeed, I have some things to thank it for.

11. Istanbul flights

I made several flights to and from Istanbul this year at different periods and stages. Some were filled with excited exhaustion as I tacked on a flight to Istanbul directly after flying from Australia while others were melancholic and forlorn. Others still were warm and nourishing while the last flights were alternately anxious and sad.

The only thing in common with these flights was the fact that I cannot remember time passing on any of them. Time stopped still on each and yet simultaneously fleeted away faster than travelling light. As such these flights were timeless.

I discovered something very exciting thing on these flights while I was lost deep in thought and reflection.

I learned that when we remove time from our thinking, its shadow is lifted. Life, and the things that matter, attain a different clarity and light without time to confuse us about them.

Sadly, flights end (or planes crash) – and with every landing, time came rushing back to me with its darkness and shadow. . .

Αναθεώρηση Part 2: Places . . .

Picking out some of my favourite places of 2011 has been hard too - not least because I travel a great deal for both work and pleasure.

With the exception of #11 - all the other places are places I have been to before, and in most cases many times. I suppose they make this list because these places were either significant this year in a particular way (although that is more covered in a later part of this review when I look at "moments" which by definition have both a place as well as a time) or because my great love or affection for these places is what took me back this year to revisit them...

If anyone reading this was in any of these places with me this year - thank you. For it is certain I enjoyed them even more because you were there...

Let the journey begin:

1. Cape Town

I began 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa. The weather was beautiful, I was with a nice bunch of people who I didn’t know well and started the year on a positive note.

I have been to Cape Town several times before and indeed went back again for business later in the year, but on Jan 1st 2011 it was really a lovely place to start the year and also some great friendships.

2. Egypt / Cairo & Alexandria

Early in the year I travelled to Cairo - a city I know reasonably well having been there many times in the last 7 or 8 years - shortly after the first phase of the revolution.

The feeling of change was palpable. Hope. Belief in a better future. Faith in human values. The value of the individual. All this against a backdrop of burned out buildings, damaged property, violence, chaos and pain.

Alexandria in the early summer was similar. A different scene by the coast with the Mediterranean as a backdrop. I spent a weekend with a group of what are best described as Egypt’s elite in terms of businessmen, intellectuals, commentators, artists and young up-and-coming leaders. Excitement, opportunity, nervosity, anxiety provided a heady cocktail for discussion on the beach and at the parties in the evenings.

Egypt is one of the oldest civilizations in the world and home to around 80 million people. The change there, while catalyzed by the earlier regime change in Tunisia, really marked Arab Spring as the defining political and social event of the decade and of the millennium so far in the Middle East. And it is still unfolding. . .

3. Aristi

I spent my birthday with a small group of friends in the mountain village of Aristi in the Zagarochoria area of Northern Greece – a little further north from the lake town of Ioannina.

I have been to Aristi several times and always stayed in the wonderful Aristi Mountain Resort (http://www.aristi.eu/en/&gclid=CMv9u6XFrq0CFUoa6wodWxU0mg )

The hotel is absolutely lovely and the staff very friendly and helpful. The food is a nice combination of local traditional dishes with a twist of modern flair and there is a fine selection of great earthy red wines to settle into sitting by a wood fire.

We had a pretty lazy time while there and a lot of great laughs and food. Good company around a dining table can never be bettered in my opinion and our discussions ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous over the nights we were there.

Spring time was in the air and the first mountain flowers were spreading across the landscape like a multi-coloured quilt while the fresh bracing air the accompanies such altitude made the idea of a cup of mountain tea - or perhaps something quite considerably stronger - a popular option during the mornings and afternoons.

And we roasted a goat for my birthday celebrations as I stepped into my 40^th year. (More on that in another part of my review of 2011)

Aristi - One of my favourite places in Greece and a refuge from the world. Bliss.

4. Stresa

During my Odyssey to Greece from the UK on my motorcycle – which is well documented elsewhere in this collection of postcards – I stayed at Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore. While the hotel disappointed and the food I ate wasn’t the very best, the lake was beautiful. In particular the morning of my departure as I drove along the shoreline.

What was memorable about this in particular was my recollection of my father John.

We had spent a summer holiday in Stresa when I was a child. My father never had time to spend with us kids when we were growing up as he was always busy at work. He never saw me play sports or compete in athletics – those attendances were always carried out by my mother who was the token dad on the touchline. 

But on holidays my father would have more time and I remember in Stresa we got a small rubber inflatable boat and rowed out to the lake (it must have been incredibly dangerous if my memory serves as the rubber boat was flimsy and tiny – but hey, we survived). 

My dad taught me and my brother to row, and also how to fish with a spinner (not that we caught anything mind you!). I remember it fondly as one of the few moments of “father & son” time in my childhood – or at least at an age when I was still receptive to my father and his instruction / guidance.

Stresa brought back those memories and other memories of my father. It never ceases to frustrate the hell out of my that he didn’t live long enough to see anything of the things I have done in my life that would have made him proud. A curse indeed.

5. Urbino

Urbino – city of the Dukes – was also a place I visited on my odyssey to Greece this last summer.

Another place I have been to many times and which I have written about elsewhere in this blog.

I remember clearly this summer – as at all the other times I have been – the delight of turning a corner on the windy hilltop road and seeing the resplendent red brick of Urbino's renaissance buildings perched on the top of the hill. The steady rewinding of time as one climbs up and wanders through the cobbled streets. The peace and quiet of a place with very few - if any - motorized vehicles. The history oozing out of every corner, the sense of learning perpetuated today by the university, building on the humanist principles of the Dukes and their courtiers from centuries gone by.

And of course wonderful strolls or "passeggiate" round the town and the delicious food . . . Urbino is a divine experience and was a high note in a journey of high notes.

6. Parathalasso

The Parathalasso at Monastiraki Nafpaktou – outside of Nafpaktos – was where I settled down to spend my time during the summer in Greece.

It was my paradise for a week or more where I spent my days writing, reading, cooking, drinking, discussing, playing guitar and sleeping. I was alone for most of the time, but had visits from my lovely friend Iris with her husband Giannis (a fellow biker!) and someone else who came right at the end of my stay.

Some wonderful conversations with myself as well as with others, in the heat of the Greek summer sun and washed down with gallons of rough wine.

It combined pretty much the entire essence of Greece for me this year and I was truly happy there.

7. Istanbul

Istanbul is one of my favourite cities in the world – and I have written about her many times, and photographed her also.

I didn’t visit as frequently this year as in previous years, but some of my most powerful moments played out there in 2011.

It always symbolizes to me a meeting place. A meeting of east & west, of ancient and modern, of people, of cultures, of ideas, of cuisines.  It is a crossroads and a stopping off point. An arrival and a departure in one.

8. London

I have started to rekindle my relationship with several cities this year – stimulated by a number of things, both circumstantial and existential.

As a non-resident former resident, I return to London with a mix of emotions, but usually with the intent of taking the best out of the city which is easy to do when you don’t live there full time and have a little money…

Of course I have friends in London also so I can combine visiting people with visiting favourite places – from pubs to clubs, restaurants to cafes, galleries, bookshops, favourite streets, exhibitions, shops and live music . . .

London has a lot and is a place that is also partly home partly not home. One day I suspect I will live there again and I will be proud again to be a Londoner.

9. Paris

I hadn’t been to Paris for many years before my visit late in 2011.

I confess I went on a whim and to escape from myself for a couple of days. To reflect and connect, to be in a place full of culture and romance and to immerse myself fully into a place of dreams to avoid my nightmares – and Paris did exactly what I needed.

Of all the things I wrote this year, one of my favourites was the “Carte Postale” from Paris (http://osapp.blogspot.com/2011/11/paris-3-carte-postale.html).

I thoroughly enjoyed Paris again and decided that I must return again soon and not leave it another 20 plus years. But next time I go with a woman I’m crazy about, a fellow gourmet or an artist – not on my own.

10. Athens

Another city I fell back in love with this last year is Athens.

I used to live and work in Athens for around 6 years and knew the city pretty well – although as a resident does, and not as the visitor. Just as I used to know London before I became a visitor (i.e. hardly ever going to museums, galleries, shows, exhibitions etc and just flitting from one bar to another and restaurant grazing in the main – not that this is bad, but the visitor makes more effort in a city.)

I have missed Athens terribly I realize – and with it Athenians and the Athenian way of life.

Of course things are tough in Greece right now and people are hurting – including and maybe especially Athenians – but life goes on and people still eat, drink, discuss, argue, consider and debate when not at work. And Athenians do it in an environment ideally adapted to these things. Their city.

I have been several times this year to Athens and each time have the combination of warm memories from the past and a thirst and hunger to live experiences there now.

I missed the long lunches that turn into drinks and then into dinner. I missed the grazing around the cafes and restaurants of Kolonaki, or the mezopoleia in Gazi or Kerameiko. I missed strolling around the Acropolis, stopping to drink a coffee and read the paper in Thiseio. I missed sitting down for fish and ouzo in Nea Filadelphia or down in Pireaus.

Most of all I miss my friends from Athens with whom I did a big portion of my growing up and whose company and conversation sustained me.

So I’ve been going back, and hanging out. Seeing people and the city.

My last trip was just before Xmas and while I went primarily for one meeting, I met up with a lot of friends and had a great time. And when I went to leave for Dubai, I didn’t want to go…

So Athens will feature more frequently in my 2012 agenda, and I cannot wait to organize a trip there with my Dubai based friends and show off my “second home”.

11. The Places I Haven’t Been Yet

Another favourite place is the place I haven’t been yet, but dream about constantly as I try endlessly to reshuffle the deck of priorities in my future travel plans . . .

There are many places I want to go next year and beyond – including some of the places mentioned above, but four specific places that I am curious to visit are New Zealand, Argentina, Japan, Vietnam.

New Zealand sounds like a natural paradise with a reputation for unspoiled nature, peace and quiet, wonderful gastronomy and of course great wines. Friends of mine have done motorcycle tours there and that sounds like a great way to see the place.

Argentina has been calling me for a long time – Buenos Aires and its grandeur, the countryside with Gauchos and the wonderful meats and the drama of Patagonia. I’ve never been to Latin America and Argentina is where I want to start.

Slowly, slowly I have been visiting Asia more and two countries I am dying to visit are Japan and Vietnam. Both for their cuisine, but also their history and in the case of Japan, its very different culture / way of life which fascinates me.

Finally, there is one journey I want to make next year – the Camino De Santiago. The 800km pilgrimage by foot from the south of France to Compostela in North West Spain. It is one of the oldest pilgrimage routes in the world and while I am not planning on doing it for religious reasons, I do believe that it will be spiritually rewarding as all road trips are. Just this one will be on foot and not in a Mustang or on top of a motorcycle!