5/21 The Old Fort and off to Athens

I stayed an extra day in Corfu rather than spend two in Athens.

What a wise decision. A few days previously Antonious was able to make an appointment with his good friend, the Superintendent of the Old Fort. She received her PhD from the Sorbonne in Archeology. She was happy to give us, not new for Antonious, a tour of the not open to the public parts of the fort.

We are going to go up onto the battlements to the left. The mainland is to the right and the first moat is below us. This structure housed some of the various needs when the fort was attacked, food, supplies and munitions, etc. behind massive walls.


Turing 90 degrees to the left on the entrance bridge, built for the public, you can see the Superintendant and Antonious walking ahead towards the entrance and Maria turned, waiting for me.

We enter the, as yet, not reconstructed, part of the fort. (The buildings are contemporary)

We have walked to a corner of the fort. Gun emplacements, you can't see them,

 are on the top. On the right is an above ground, immediately available, munitions storage room. The entrance to the levels below is on the left. In front, Antonious, the Superintendant, an employee who carries a flashlight, and Maria.

Going down.

The first level, with rather low ceiling height. Lower left is a cut out in the floor to allow daylight to go to the second level. In the middle distance is a well for water for long duration stays.

Looking down into the second level.

Looking off in the other direction into the distance towards the bowels of the fort, where there are no openings for light.

Time exposure on the second level. Not really this bright.

Time exposure at the third level. The green you see is sea water, lit from an opening in the base of the wall. Available for non-drinking purposes.

Back above ground. The newer part building was built by the British in the mid 1800's. You can see evidence of war damage on the older wall. What appears to be a cross on top of the fort is actually a semaphore structure built by the British in the early 1800's for communication with the war ships in the harbor.

Antonious's father did some of his military training here in 1952. He was stationed across the hall from the bottom window, third from the left.

Antonious pointing that out. You can see that there is another moat between where we are and the main body of the fort. So, two moats with the part we are on (were in) a fortification between the "world" and the main fort.

Back in the public part of the fort, standing on the entrance way. You can see the closed gate to the other rampart on the left. We are still on the first of the two fort structures/walls. Antonious is talking with the Superintendant.

Into the main fort. Between two more ramparts you see the British hospital built in the early 1800's and now restored. An island in the foreground and part of Corfu in the distance.

A quick glimpse of what are locally called the "Dolphin" boats. Hydroplane. They are fast ferries from Albania. To the left of the green covered building, being rehabbed, is a four story building that had an extra floor added later. The dark yellow color between it and the building to it's left is the entrance street to Antonio and Maria's home.

In an above ground prison built in 1776 is part of an art installation left at the request of the Superintendant. Antonious's colleague used the metaphor of images burned into the skin of prisoners in Athens prisons as "pieces" hung in all the openings of the prison

A drawing on the wall done by a British prisoner in 1911.

Back outside again you are looking down at one of the higher gun emplacements.

You can see the green building and to it's left the entrance to Maria and Antonious's street. Their house is directly below the stern of the dark hulled tourist boat. You can see two others in the left distance.

Beyond the two big boats is Antonious'. Underneath the gun emplacements is the space that has been converted into the galleries used by the students for their exhibition. Many kinds of exhibitions and music events happen there.

The British built a church on the fort grounds in the early 1800's, St Georges. Interesting architectural style choice.

Tourists toasting at the outdoor cafe.

All this happened before early afternoon.

Went back home and finished packing.

SO

Off to the airport to fly to Athens.

Tomorrow will be the Acropolis Museum and the Parthenon.

Kalinihta

5/20 Packing day

A quiet day of getting ready to leave

Sharing the view out of the shower. I could get use to living like this all the time.

When your heritage has been a life as a boater then you find storage space everywhere. But under the bathtub is new to me.

The bathroom is on the second floor with the living room and the two girls bedrooms.

On the third floor, with the kitchen, guest bedroom, dining/living room and access to the loft is the new bathroom, under construction.

Turning left from looking at the bathroom entrance you see the dining/living room. Above your head is the loft. You can see the ladder to it. Behind you is the kitchen and the guest bedroom. Always, always wonderful light. The staircase to the second floor is on your right.

A dinner of pasta with dandelion greens and arugula salad.

Don't forget that if you are writing on a computer keyboard in Greece it looks like this.

Alpha to Omega

Goodnight for now

5/18, Student Crits

Today will a day of crits for the students.

But images that happened before and after.

Maria is helping Antonious translate his book from Greek to English

While I am working, and they are working I keep looking at the one candle that always stays on the table and is lit for dinner every night.

I have no words to present the water. It simply is magic.

On the way to the crits.

Based on Antonious's statement you are looking at 6,000 more tourists.

After the crits

 No pictures, don't take our picture

Antonious was taking me to a place I wanted to see. A student had shown an image that I found fascinating for it's subject matter and on our way there we met one of his close neighbor friends.

The entrance lobby to her home. Like Maria and Antonious's, it is a four story building. This is ground level.

A fascinating lady who keeps her notes on her laptop, literally.

We got to the place. The British Governor's palace, now a museum is close to the old fort. This staircase was built so that the palace "people" could descend to the ocean level for walks and picnicking. You can see the old fort in the background.

A professional photographer was documenting, for the parents, the children's baptismal day.

A late afternoon view of Maria and Antonious's home. Look at the window with the white frame behind the tree. To it's left is the window which is the wall, literally, of the bathroom shower. You look out the window into the garden when you shower (hot/cold?)

Antonious is writing and I am emailing late in the evening.

So, goodnight for now

5/19 Maybe last day for the Blog, for awhile

I loose my editing program tomorrow, Sunday. Leave Monday for Athens and then to US on Wed. Will stop over and unwind for a few days. Then visit on way back to Florida. What I am saying goodbye to......

Antonious took me to a secluded little fishing harbor on the mainland. 

He snapped me thinking about coming aboard after swimming.

Making lunch

Thai rice, Vietnamese oil, Swedish fish, AND Greek Olives.

Back in Corfu and tying up for the day.

On the way home past the old fort. I have a story to tell about what is inside that great wall you are looking at.

"You Are Here". Maria and Antonious live down the street from the upper right projection of land. I can't put an X on it.

A local fisherman cleaning his nets. They come on board over the large spools on the bow. The little "cockpit", the storage area where he is sitting. These craft are very sturdy and well made. See the light in the clear water.

So, goodbye for now and I will resume with the Acropolis and Parthenon,

 when I can