After getting Spruzzo setup in the Agios Nikolaos marina (bought giant springs for the dock lines….the docks float and can move a lot….everyone has these big springs which make interesting music when we get movement from the dock) we travelled to Volos for a few days. Volos is the 4th largest city in Greece and I love it. Victoria practiced law and her mom still lives there. It has a great port but it is not touristy at all and feels to me like ‘real Greece’. Has a great waterfront you can walk or bike along. They have restaurants called “tsipouradika” where you order tsipouro (similar to ouzo you mix with water and ice) in small bottles. Two or three would be good for a nice evening. For each small bottle you order (costs maybe C$3 each) you also get one or two small plates of food (mezes) that you don’t select (whatever they are making) but they are semi-standard: dish of small fried fish, picked beets, potatoes with stuff) and with a few people and a bunch of drinks you end up with both drinks and a large number of small yummy things to eat! It is very inexpensive and the food is quite good. If you want to buy reasonable real-estate and have a great quality of life in Greece check out Volos.
After Volos, Victoria, myself, her mom and her daughter Danae went to The Hague for Danae’s graduation from her master’s program. I really enjoyed The Hague and The Netherlands in general. It is such a well-ordered society. I love that you can bike everywhere, and bikes are king. (I noticed that most of the bikes had HUGE locks which means they must have a bike-theft problem.) Pedestrians need to give way, and so do cars. The cities are very dense, lots of low-rise apartments (maybe you can’t build up too high on the soggy ground?). Only downside is eating out was extremely expensive. Probably twice as expensive as Greece and 1.5x Canada prices. Ouch. (I checked and the minimum wage in The Netherlands is roughly C$14/hour compared to Greece which is around C$7. ) Also it was cold compared to Greece. The weather was like Toronto. The museum of the old Dutch Masters The Mauritshuis is really wonderful. The paintings from the 1600 look almost new, and are amazingly detailed.
They also have an Escher museum. I was familiar with Escher (I had his self-portrait staring into a reflecting sphere on my university bedroom wall) but there were dozens of his works that I had not seen before and it was interesting to see his artistic progression. Apparently he did not become interested in his famous abstract works until he was forced to move from Italy (because of the health of one of his children) which he loved, and ended up somewhere he didn’t like…..so he began to create other worlds that interested him. It seems art requires suffering. Sad to consider when you are enjoying some creation.
We also visited Leiden which was a very pretty place, and spent a quick day in Amsterdam visiting The Rijksmuseum. (We missed visiting the van Gogh museum because you need to pre-buy tickets and they were sold out for days!)
I was also reminded of the ‘Golden Age’ of The Netherlands when they were a Great Power. They had colonies everywhere.. The United East India Company was the first multinational corporation and the largest in history! They were the only country/company allowed to trade with Japan. Lots of paintings of great battles they won against the British and the French. Eventually the British became richer, built a bigger navy and the Dutch lost. It would be interesting to study a history of the expanding and contracting empires in and around Europe. A sobering study I expect. It seems as though everyone has invaded everyone else at one point.
We had a travel adventure getting back, but money and an extra day of travel solved the issue. Now we are back in Agios Nikolaos. I really love it here. We are surrounded by mountains, the town is not too small or big and is right around the marina.
Today was 24 degrees and beautifully sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be 25 degrees. Early November here is nicer than summer in Toronto!
Adventures on Spruzzo 