Very organised this morning, up early & cooked a chicken stew before I left for the day to visit Mitilene. This is the main town on the island of Lesvos & where the airport is. I have driven through it but not had an opportunity to look around so I thought, why not today? My driving skills are second to none now so I felt prepared to take on a longer drive & more traffic.
Packing a bag with snacks & water I headed off into the unknown, first incident happened as soon as I left & google maps took me in completely the wrong direction! It might have been me really but I’m going to blame maps! Anyway, after a 20 minute return trip to Molyvos I was on the right road. I tackled hills, hair pin bends & gear changes on slopes like a pro & even opened her up to speeds of almost 100 km/h on the open road!!
It really is beautiful driving in the sunshine with the air on on (windows down), Greek music blaring on the radio (sporadically), listening to the birds & feeling my hair blowing wildly in the breeze. The views are at times inspiring & terrifying but I’m really enjoying the driving part & feel quite attached to my little white Hyundai.
I plotted a course to the Lesvos Theophilos Museum which is down near the airport. Google maps took me through the centre of the town which was terrifying, roundabouts, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, mopeds, lorries, you name it! Once I was in it I couldn’t escape & so I just fell into sync with everyone else & hoped for the best 😧
I made it safely & pulled up at the museum, which was in the centre of a village on the outskirts of the town & right in the middle of a ton of houses. The laneways are so narrow & cobbled it’s a bit of an ordeal navigating them but once you commit you are left with no choice as they’re too narrow to turn around & many are one way.
The museum is a small whitewashed building which looks rather unassuming from the outside. Inside though it is a treasure trove of beautiful paintings by the folk painter Theophilos Hatzimichail (1867/70 – 1934). Born in Varia, near the museum, he was an unusual child, left-handed, obsessed with drawing & always wore the traditional Greek fustanella which was out of fashion at the time. He was often mocked by others including his only family & at 18 he move to Izmir, Turkey to work as a gate-keeper at the Greek consulate.
A prolific artist his entire life he lived somewhat of a nomadic life, wandering the island of Lesvos & painting on walls, houses & material in return for a meal. He wanted to share his art with everyone & at times organised theatrical acts for national ceremonies & worked as a costume maker. Much of his work has been damaged over time but some has survived & been restored. He died in 1934 & after his death his talent was discovered by the renown art critic & publisher Stratis Eleftheriades who exhibited Theophilos’ work in the Louvre, going on to establish the Theophilos museum in order to display the Greek mythological & scenes of the day, folk painters works.
The top work is called ‘The Gathering of the Olives at Mytilene’ & the bottom one, which I love, is ‘Women of Ayassos Dancing at Karini’. The colours are beautiful & the movement in the paintings is wonderful. I like the way that the woman in the orange pants has her foot just peeking over the edge of the frame. It makes the painting come alive. They are all done on material which has been restored & is framed under a special type of plexiglass in order to stop the decay of the material.
Next stop was the Stratis Eleftheriadis-Teriade Museum, which is next door. Walking through the car park, which is full of the oldest gnarliest olive trees I’ve ever seen, I passed a chapel, outside which is an absolutely enormous oak branch held up by a concrete pillar. It must be really old & it looks like the support has been there for ages. So good to see it being preserved, why cut it down or let it fall when you can prop it up?!
The Museum- Library Stratis Eleftheriadis- Teriade displays all the works of Teriade, a man who understood the meaning of modern art & supported young artists. He brought together leading artists of the day & gave them the freedom to work during times of economic & social difficulty. The top floor of the museum is dedicated to artists such as Tsarouchis, Chagall, Matisse & Picasso, amongst others.
The information was in either French or Greek so it was a bit of a labour of love translating it! I think I probably missed lots of important info but in a way it was freeing to just look at the art as art & not as a representation of the information displayed. I only took one pic & that is of a face by Matisse, the French artist who lived until 1954.
It never ceases to amaze me that a few lines on a piece of flat paper can evoke such movement, depth & feeling. How can so few strokes on the page produce something so beautiful? As someone who has a fear of blank paper it’s a wonder to me!
Downstairs is home to the Great Books & Verve collection in its entirety. I had never heard of Verve, the publication of a series of manuscripts dedicated to artists of the day. There are 26 issues which begin in December 1937 & end in July 1960. The publication was produced throughout the Second World War & combined traditionally outstanding art of the day with new movement in writing & art.
The artwork is phenomenal, combining historical manuscripts of the Middle Ages with modern art from Picasso & many more. The publication is exhibited issue by issue & in the centre of the displays are the ‘Great Books’, 26 illustrated books displaying original works of lithography, woodcut & copper engraving.
Unfortunately I neglected to take pics & didn’t realise the import of what I was looking at! I was however suitably awed & left feeling pretty overwhelmed with it all. Could have had something to do with the fact that I was famished & needed a drink?
I asked the nice chap in the museum where I could go for a spot of lunch close by & he rang the tavern at the top of the hill to check it was open for me. He assured me that I could park in the square & walk to the tavern…so off I choofed.
It did not pan out as planned! I got up to the village no drama but there was no square to speak of. I could see the tavern above me at the top of a vertical wall so I began to look for a parking spot. Of course, there were none & I was caught in the one way, narrow, cobbled hell that is the Greek village 😵💫 To say that the gap between houses & cars was miniscule would be the understatement of the century. I had no idea where I was going, if the roads were one way or how I was going to get out of the maze of streets.
Employing my usual, fake it till you make it attitude, I carried on as if nothing was awry & followed a car as it sped down the hill. I made it back down to the museum, cursed my hunger & carried on. Not far down the road I found a supermarket so I quickly swerved into the car park & set about finding some lunch there.
I wanted to get some supplies for next week, when I’m without car again, so I explored all the aisles with curiosity. Just as I was deciding about lunch Maria messaged me her shopping list, which I had offered to pick up for her & so I set about finding the things she wanted. After that I went to the deli & ordered some slices of salami (in Greek) before paying at the checkout where I packed my products myself into a box, which I asked for (in Greek). All very satisfactory indeed!!
I drove towards town & pulled into the car park at the port to have a picnic. Sitting on the only bench in the shade I ate my bread, salami, apple & nuts with only Greek magpies for company. The world was busily going about it’s business behind me but I couldn’t have cared less.
Picnic over I braved the one way system through Mitilene again & made it in one piece! I have still seen nothing of the town itself & frankly couldn’t give a hoot. The drive back up into the hills was fun & I rather like having a manual car, there’s a level of skill involved in navigating tight uphill bends without stalling. I was feeling pretty smug by the time I reached the top of the hill above Petra!
I pulled over to take in the stunning view before dropping down from Petri to Petra. This area really is one of the prettiest on the island that I’ve seen so far. It’s green & lush with sweeping views one minute & narrow windy roads with no visibility the next. Everywhere I look there are small shrines on the sides of the road & little chapels & there floats on the breeze the scent of flowers, sheep shit & the sea.
And so another day draws to a close. I’m going to try to get to Molyvos castle tomorrow, only got the car until Friday & I fancy a more gently day. I’ll pop in & see the library again & have a coffee, maybe lunch somewhere… so we’ll see if I actually make it all the way up the hill! Καληνύχτα 😴