Vacation past

Some of the best vacation I had so far were these of my childhood, in Agios Andreas.

Agios Andreas is a village in Peloponnese (Greece), about one and a half hour away from the house where I grew up.

The village is a combination of mountains and sea. Its main part is located on the foot of a mountain and there's also a part of it which is by the sea.

I've been on vacation there, with my family, as long as I can remember myself. I have been there lots of times with my beloved late grandpa, with family friends and my family even made some great friends there, about twenty years ago.

To go there, there's a road, up the hills, with view at the sea.

When you're almost there, there's a small pond (with extremely cold water I must say), with small marbles in the bottom, where the waters are supposed to be therapeutic. There where small turtle in there too, a few years ago.

This pond is continued to a lake, which at some point meets the sea. 

The beaches of Agios Andreas are a combination of small rocks and sand. But I mainly remember the sand. Inside the sea, there are many rocks (which I am afraid of since I was a kid, I can only imagine what lie beneath the rocks, maybe nothing (or just sand as one friend of mine says), but still....) but if you walk/swim for a few meter you'll discover a great sand bottom!

When I was still at school, my family and I used to rent a flat which was only a few meters away from the beach. I was lying down on my bed at noon, on my side, and I was watching the sea...

From that flat, I also remember the smell of the gas cooker while my mother was making coffee or cooking, the smell of Dettol when she was cleaning (and actually Dettol is ever since reminds me of something very pleasant) and the old fashioned sweets we where buying from a pastry shop in the village.

Oh, I love those beaches! I can remember myself playing, reading and swimming there. 

If you take a walk a long the shore, you'll end up on a hill, where there are just a couple of coffee shops and taverns and a small port from where the fishermen of the village go off with their beautiful boats. 

I've had many meals in the tavern on the top. I remember the vintage chairs there where there when I was a kid. And the view from there is just.....dreamy and spectacular! Watching the rocks, in front of you, starting from under your feet and continue until they meet the sea water!

Very precious memories....

and I would love to have a collection of photos to match them, but I preferred a screenshot of a map.

And the collection of photos matching the memories are a great idea for a photography project and one more visit there this summer...!

For now I'm sipping my coffee to the sunny memories and to the photo frames that start forming in my mind!

"Dear Santa"

Dear Santa,
  (erase)

Dear Life,

     December is here and as always I'm thinking about the year that comes to an end. Plus it's time for my wish. 

     I got it, ok, in life you can never know what's going to happen for sure. Many bad things can happen. Only you can create "magic". You can live even when people you used to love aren't in your life anymore. You're stronger than you think. You shouldn't lose your faith in people, because there will be those that will prove you wrong. There's so much beauty in the world. 

    I don't know if you remember my last year's letter, but this year I'm an other version of myself. From being the person that couldn't look other in the eye (because I was feeling uncomfortable thinking that they could see inside my soul), I now know that what really counts is what people have inside their soul. Now, I'm doing things that I love (or adore, is that a better word?!). Now, I know what I really really want from my life and others around me. I'm grateful for what I have, for the things I lost and found again and for the brand new ones I've gained.

    So, as for my wish......I want two things. The one is to have my own creep. My own special creep. I think it's time, don't you think? I have been through enough and some outside-from-my magic-zone happiness would be wonderful! You know that I want simple things that in the same time are the fairydust in reality. A creep that will be there, a creep that will hold your hand sometimes is all you need. Sometimes you only want to "enjoy the silence", because "words are meaningless".

    Secondly, I want to see happy people around me. Please life, make their whishes come true too. Our souls should be happy these holidays.

    Well, that's what I want. I'm an atheist, so I don't believe in a god to whom I can pray, but I write this, like I'm making a wish and throwing it in the wind. I'm trying to believe that very good things can happen.

Angelina

"I once was......"

Today, stays still.....

but there was a time when this was filled with water and all around people were dancing, with sparkly clothes and drinks on their hands!

And music was playing, while the summer breeze was making their hair fly!

A child's philosophy

What I really like about children is that they have their own perspective of the world.

Yes, adults do as well, but children do it with a really magical, full of imagination way! 

They try to understand and translate the world around them with the terms they're familiar with.

So did I. And I still remember my best (ever) philosophy I had as a child. I remember thinking about it and saying it to others when I had the chance.

I believed that....

* Note: I grew up playing with the original, tiny, Polly Pockets. Each figurine wasn't more than 2 cm tall.

(second photo from tumblr.com)

A vintage house between the mountains

From a child's point of view....

"Nostalgia"

Grandpa

For my grandpa (who died on March 18, 2005).....

I remember when he organized my first exhibition.

(I was around six, I was painting a lot and one day he had the idea of organizing an exhibition. He used the corridor of my home, he hang all my work on the walls and friends were visiting and buying my art!)

I remember the big walks we were having (just the two of us) in the nature around the house where I grew up.

I remember the "apricot kernel mountain".

(This was a one meter tall "mountain" made of apricot kernels. It was located some meters away from home.)

I remember the letters we were sending to each other and the postcards he was sending me when he was on vacation.

I remember the do-it-yourself jewelry kit he bought me once.

I remember this amazing belt he had, one with a Superman buckle!

I remember the cat story (from his exile days), the chess story, the tuna story and the mathematics story he used to say.

I remember that the period he was sick and dying I eased my pain by watching movies all the time.....

.....and I remember that because of him I studied cinema.

I remember that one of his "words of wisdom" phrases was:

"If you can't always do what you want, at least don't do what you don't want".

I remember this one postcard (which I still keep) where on August 2nd he was wishing me happy birthday for my six and a half years (my birthday is on February 2nd)!

I remember the three places he used to live (all three were in the centre of Athens, he liked being in the center of the city so he could walk everywhere) and whenever I walk by one of these places I smile.

I remember many things about him and I always smile.