"Come in, graces tender, muses with beautiful hair."
Sappho and the muses. A Lesbos trip
Hilda and the water
In the white tile pool get off and go underground. Staring through the open window into the piece of framed sky: a deep blue, soft as velvet. A breeze cools the head and face. In front of the bathhouse, bare feet crunch in the gravel. The sea is sluggish this morning. A knock on the door. Hilda asks, "Are you okay?" If she hears a satisfied grunt, she continues.
Hilda Burger-Batzakis is one of the many women who have looked for and found life on Lesbos that suits them. On beautiful days like this Hilda has a hundred visitors who seek relaxation and relief in the spa. It controls the cleanliness of the pools and ensures that nobody underestimates the effect of the water. In the spring water, there are, officially confirmed, chlorine, sodium and radium. It shoots at over 40 degrees from the ground and relieves tension, rheumatism, arthritis and sciatica, gynecological and lumbago. "And sick skin," says Hilda, "you can watch while healing." When the heart beats faster after 20 minutes, it's time to get out of the pelvis and slowly dress again.
Hilda speaks Greek, English and German visitors to the spa - and regrets tourists passing the bath in the small bay of Eftalou on their tour of the north of the island, on the road between Molivos and Skala Sykamineas. 20 minutes of healing and relaxation for five euros - whoever rushes by has really missed something.
Hilda has been the boss here for over ten years. Anyone who is 52 years old and has been living on the island for 27 years knows very well that not everything that you tackle will succeed right away. Hilda went bankrupt with a tavern and then had to wash dishes in other taverns for little money. When she took the bath, it was pretty rotten - she rebuilt it with EU funds.
Toula and the tourists
Sand and olive trees - There is nothing more between the sea and the pension of Toula Zakof at the outskirts of the small town Petra in the north of the island. Let yourself be lulled to sleep by the waves and listen to the wind as it sweeps the beach at night - you can not sleep more relaxed. In 1957, Toula was 17, she went to Germany with Costa, her future husband. For 14 years she has put toy railways together in a chord for her dream: a house by the sea in Petra in the north of the island, with nice rooms to rent. Now Toula is 67, and the dream has become a success. Many of her guests are friends from the hard times in Germany. Toula was 32 years old when she returned, spoke very good German, and the government in Athens in 1983 called on all Greek women to start cooperative with state support. The call was almost like a battle cry: Women, the emancipation begins with your own purse! Lo and behold, the first woman to really want that was Eleni Chioti from Petra on the island of Lesbos. Toula Zakof was there immediately. The magic word was: women make tourism.
Already the first reports triggered a huge boom. German feminists suspected feminists here. Lesbians thought of cooperatives where women love women. Wrong thought. The women who boosted tourism on Lesvos loved their husbands and their children. Their emancipation was the money they earned themselves.
Women like Toula, capable and without fear of expansion, had to leave the cooperative again because according to the statute no woman was allowed to rent more than four rooms. "That's life," says Toula, "some want to grow, and some want to stay small, I wanted to grow."
Eleni, Magdalena and the "Cantina" on Lesbos
There she turns, almost a celebrity, in the kitchen potatoes. Eleni Chioti has worked half dead for the "Cantina" in Petra. It was worth it. A steep staircase leads to the restaurant. A nice room overlooking the sea. In the "Cantina" it smells and tastes delicious. Today, Eleni's daughter Magdalena offers lunch. Stifado? Moussaka? Zucchini flowers filled with cheese? Solidarity can not be more enjoyable. Here one eats and drinks with the good feeling of supporting the independence of the Greek women. They do not just rent rooms in Petra, they offer variety to those who want more than stewing in the sun. Do you want to learn a bit of Greek? All right, there are courses. Practice dancing Greek? That's fun. Cooking class with Eleni? You can learn something there.
Irene and the olives
18 years ago Irene Schodlok fell in love first with Lesbos, then with petite Petra and later with the neighboring village of Petri and here with a ruin, which she wanted to convert into a dream home.What you need for it? Money, charm and enough stubbornness to rebel against anyone standing in the way. She was 42 years old, had a grown-up son, 25 years of marriage and a divorce, and in her head was the question she wanted to be answered: was it all life, or is there a future? Maybe on Lesvos? For seven years Irene Schodlok ran a pretty beach cafe in Petra. As fewer tourists arrived, because flights to other European destinations became cheaper than flights to Greece, she sold the cafe, ruined the money and built her dream. She worked like a donkey for this house. At night, she slept in the corners of the ruin like an abandoned dog and guarded her house. For a few years she worked as a single-person construction worker with no wages and harvest helpers - after all, twelve million olive trees grow on Lesbos. There was no money for the work, only the oil.
Under her the sea and above her the sky - or is that the other way around? The house has become a gem. "Happiness is," says Irene Schodlok, "when I feel no bigger than a beetle under the sky at night, then I think: a little human does not have to be responsible for everything in the world."
As a harvest worker, Irene Schodlok discovered her love for the knobby old olive trees that stand in the groves like old farmers. Squat, weathered, bent by the heat and the wind. "Those who love the trees also love the fruits," says Irene. Over the years she has discovered her "olive tongue", which can distinguish good from super-good oils. In recent years, this tongue has been stuck in all the oils on Lesbos and tasted where the best oils are made. They taste fruity. They are golden green and have little acidity. And because olive oil is a healthy food and also makes the skin soft as baby skin after bathing, Irene Schodlok has founded a company and sells the "green gold of the Mediterranean" in Germany.
Irini and the abandoned animals
A ride across the island to the west is like a journey through the desert. The shadows of the clouds glide over withered moss, a bare tree stands on the hill, and skinny goats are bleating on the rocks. If you are too lonely between the handful of houses in Gavathas, you should at least go for a walk on the lonely beach where, if you are lucky, you can learn to walk slow from turtles.
The magnet of the town of Skala Eressou in the southwest of the island is an old lady. Sappho has 2,600 years of devotion, she is considered the first poet in history. She was married, had a daughter, taught wealthy young girls, fell in love with one or the other and wrote about happiness and love, eros, powerlessness and death. Unfortunately, only fragments remain of her poetry. Lines of poetry that lack the beginning, aphorisms that tear to the end, wisdom of life. "Do not touch rubble. ... If the anger spreads in your heart, beware it, the tongue that swears." Whoever touches rubble triggers an avalanche - did she want to tell us that?
A long beach, a sea. It's nice here, no matter if the lady Sappho actually stayed on the spot. The admirers of the poetess - and there are quite a few in Skala Eressou - take the verses from the previous past literally. "Come in, graces tender, muses with beautiful hair."
"Scale Eressou It's just a place for summer, "says Irini Dimitrakopoulou, 32 years old and runs a restaurant with her boyfriend, where the food, as it says on the menu, is cooked with love and served with pride Anyone who watches her thinks the ponytail as a hairstyle was just invented so that Irini can stick five ballpoint pens between hair and gum.
Like most business people, it leaves the place in winter. Then the streets are empty, most stores are blocked. Then lanky dogs and cats sneak through the windy streets like ghosts. Because there are no bites left without tourists, there seemed to be only two possibilities: they let the animals starve to death or poison them. Or founds the initiative "SOS for Animals", to which Irini belongs. Next to the cash register is the collecting box - she does not like to tip. The money is spent on nursing homes, vaccinations and food. Irini could not leave Skala Eressou at the end of the season if she knew that dogs and cats starve to death here.
Mopeds clatter like crazy bumblebees, cars honk pedestrians off the road. The modern one Mytilini, the capital of the island, is, if you come from the silence, a little hell. Not half an hour before Mytilini lies the Spa Spa in a secret bay on the Gulf of Geras. Admission costs less than an ice cream. Hot spring water shoots into the pool, just under 40 degrees. Ancient records say the water helps against rheumatism and arthritis, gynecological problems and weight problems. The tip comes from Irene Schodlok and was like a present to say goodbye.Once she lay here in the bathroom, when a sunbeam fell through the window and the mosaics under her feet glittered like a thousand stars. Then she knew that the wish she is expressing would come true. So we have left a wish in the spa - and wait.
Info Lesbos
Area code for Greece: 00 30
getting there With Olympic Airways daily via Athens or Thessaloniki to Mytilini, about 400 euros. With LTU on Wednesdays (from early May to mid-October) from Dusseldorf or Munich directly to Mytilini, approx. 360 euros (www.ltu.com).
trips
South: Walk in Vrissa over the longest beach of the island. Circling the two gulfs Kallonis and Geras by car or motorbike. West: Visit the "petrified forest" between Sigri and Antissa, which is 15 to 20 million years old. The landscape gives a real lonely Arizona feel. Center Island: Monastery Limonos, most interesting monastery of the island. During the Turkish occupation guardian of the Greek language and writing. Tour of old pilgrim's cells. In the neighborhood: the convent Myrsiniotissas with enchanted garden and shy nuns. North: The lively town of Molivos and the harbor town of Skala Sykamineas with a view of Turkey. If you have the time, ship from Mytilene to Ayvalik in Turkey - two to four times a week, depending on the season. Grand Bazaar, cheap accommodation. And while you're there: take the bus to the famous temple complex of Pergamon.
Experience, enjoy, learn
Hiking and everything about olive trees, oil and medicinal herbs are added Irene Schodlok in Petri. Tel. 225 30/419 32 or in Germany: 080 41/793 37 81 and 01 79/650 39 11, www.oli-vine.de (also helps with the provision of private accommodation). Living, hiking, dancing, cooking, learning Greek Eleni Chioti (Women's Cooperative in Petra), tel. 225 30/412 38 or -413 09. Guided walks, accommodation (also for groups): Erika Meyer in Polichnitos, phone / fax 225 20/426 78. Spa in Polichnitos: Spa for rheumatism and osteoarthritis. Separate cymbals for men and women. Is considered the most beautiful spa on the island. Spa Loutra Korfou on the Gulf of Geras, near the hotel "Mytilana Village". Separate cymbals for men and women.
Accommodations
Mytilana Village, outside the capital on the Gulf of Gera. Swimming pool, garden, overlooking the gulf. Double room from 55 Euro, Tel. 225 10/206 53, www.mytilanavillage.gr. Hotel Panselinosbetween Molivos and Eftalou. Large rooms, quiet location, overlooking the Turkish coast. Double room from 55 Euro, Tel. 225 30/719 05. Hotel Sappho in Skala Eressou, firmly in woman's hands. Double room from 40 Euro, Tel. 225 30/534 95.
Eat Drink
In Petra at the women's cooperative "Cantina". In the beautiful fishing village Skala Sykamineas at Christo Karagianakis. Specialty: fresh fish. In Petri, Mountain nest near Petra: ask for Eleni. Tavern with large terrace. The family cooks authentic Greek. In Stipsi, the pretty, rich village of Petri, you can eat in a rustic, lush and real Christos and Meni in the "Melbourni".
Read
In more detail LesbosTravel Guide (15,90 Euro, Michael Müller Verlag). Daphnis and Chloe from Longos. An antique romance novel, which plays on Lesbos (6.50 Euro, island publishing house). Homer: The Odyssey, heartily translated by Christoph Martin (19.90 Euro, Eichborn Verlag). Iliad's Venesis: Aeolian earth, Novel of a Greek childhood (11 Euro, Insel Verlag).
info
Greek Tourist Board in Frankfurt / Main, Tel. 069/257 82 70, www.gnto.gr; Globe travel - Christine Holzer is Lesbos specialist in Murnau: Tel. 088 41/48 94 89, www.globus-murnau.de.
