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18/06/24 To borrow a quote from Eric Morecambe, while we visited all the correct places in the next few days, we didn’t necessarily visit them in the correct order! The order of places visited below is the order in which Odysseus visited them to keep the storey in context. Our journey started in Pera Pigardhi, then on to Vathy where a hire car was our mode of transport to visit the rest of the sites. Myth The myths of The Iliad and The Odyssey, as narrated by Homer which are among the best known,but here’s a very condensed recap. Events kick off when Paris, son of the king of the city state of Troy (in modern day Turkey), runs off with the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Menelaus was obviously furious with Paris and therefore set about gathering an army to go and storm the almost impregnable walls of the mighty city of Troy in order to reclaim his kidnapped wife. Odysseus knew that, as the honour of Greece had been slighted, he was duty bound to help out. The thing was, he was very happy on Ithaca, where he was true king and had a lovely wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus. So when Menelaus sent his emissary Palamedes to demand his participation in the the coming conflict, Odysseus feigned madness by spending an enjoyable couple of days ploughing some nearby land and sowing salt. Unfortunately, Palamedes rumbled this ruse by chucking young Telemachus in front of the plough, this pulled up Odysseus short, thereby demonstrating that his marbles were in fact still intact. So, somewhat reluctantly, Odysseus headed off to war in Troy and the net result was a stalemate that lasted ten full years, much to the wows of the homesick king of Ithaca. Ultimately, he was the one who resolved things by coming up with the cunning plan of building the Trojan horse - ostensibly a giant wooden sculpture of a horse that was meant to be an offering to the gods to mark the departure of the Greek army, which appeared to have given up. Of course this wasn’t really the case and, as we all know, the belly of the horse was full of Greek warriors. After the horse had been dragged within the walls of Troy, celebrations commenced and, in the ensuing festivities, the Greek warriors exited the horse, opened the gates of Troy and ushered in the Greek army with inevitable horrific results. All that remained now was for Odysseus to sail home to his beloved Ithaca. Regrettably, things didn’t pan out that way. The voyage back was fraught. Initially hampered by unfavourable winds, they were delayed on the Libyan coast by the hedonistic Lotus-eaters and then managed to get lost and rile Poseidon by landing on the island of the Cyclopes and maiming one of his hideous one eyed sons, Polyphemus. Things degenerated from there and Odysseus spent a year on a different island with the beautiful goddess enchantress Circe who wouldn’t let him leave until she got so fed up with his musing for his wife that she finally let him leave. He then spent some time in the underworld, before his men managed to further irritate the gods by making a huge barbecue out of the sun god Helios’ beautiful cattle. Much beleaguered and eventually ship wrecked by another outpouring of Poseidon’s wrath, Odysseus next spent seven years on the island of the beautiful sea nymph Calypso before finally being allowed to leave. He then encountered the dreadful sea monsters Scylla, Charybdis and the Sirens. Again he was ship wrecked and finally washed up on the shores of Corfu, where he was helped by Nausicaa, yet another beautiful young woman. Nausicaa introduced him to her father Alcinous, king of Corfu, who on discovering he was the mighty Odysseus, showered him with gifts and gave him new ship. Suitably replenished, Odysseus was finally able to make the short hop back to Ithaca. Jefferson S (2022) In the Wake of the Gods. A Cruising companion to The World of The Greek Myths Chris and I can relate to Homer’s Odysseus for modern day sailing in Greece. As Jefferson (2022) suggests, Odysseus’ little jaunt back from Troy has all the ingredients of a classic sailing season. The trip begins as a high-spirited affair that soon gets derailed, in part due to unforeseen consequences, as a result of an impromptu barbecue. Meanwhile, he was delayed on the Lybian coast by the hedonistic lotus-eaters that leads to heavy hangovers and a reluctance to continue at all. All the while, unfavourable breezes mean that Odysseus’ intended destination of Ithaca remains tantalisingly out of reach. Despite these trials, Odysseus eventually returns home. While we haven’t encountered barbecues from cattle rustling, or hedonistic lotus-eaters, we have had unfavourable breezes, the outcome of Brexit and the Greek authorities to deal with. Anyone who has sailed for any length of time in the Greek Islands can relate to this. Meanwhile, anyone who has sailed in the Ionian can also truly understand Odysseus’ yearning to return to the island of Ithaca. It is not only a lovely spot, but it is utterly saturated in myth. Myth On his return to Ithaca, Odysseus was washed up in Dexia Bay that in Homeric times was the port of Forkynas. He then met up with the goddess Athena, who had always been rooting for him and was now on hand to help him out. Athena told him to hide the gifts he had received from Alcinous in the cave just up from the shores of Dexia Bay. The cave of the Nymphs is just off the winding road that runs from Dexia Bay up into the hills. It is a 1.2 mile climb rising up 188m from sea level. The cave is not very impressive but there are a pleasant selection of stalactites. We managed to find the cave of the Nymphs, but our approach was from Vathy Bay as it was better protected from the prevailing winds than Dexia. After a very hot walk up the hill we found the cave and made our way down into it by way of a steep slope with a rope to lower yourself down. Inside, as described above, there were some stalactites and it certainly appeared to be a good place to hide your treasure. After hiding his treasure, Odysseus closed the cave with a stone. Athena then told Odysseus to “go at once to the swine herd who is in charge of your pigs, he has been always well affected towards you and is devoted to Penelope and your son; you will find him feeding his pigs near the rock that is called Raven (Koran) by the fountain Arethusa, where they are fattening on beechmast and spring water after their manner.’ To find Artheusa Spring we anchored in Pera Piganhi Bay ,a lovely sheltered bay with crystal clear water, but very deep. We had to long line to the rocks, our first mooring of this kind for a long while. It all went smoothly once we had dropped enough anchor chain to reach the bottom before reversing towards the rocks! The climb up to the spring was attempted in the early morning because of the relentless heat now blazing down on Greece (40’c +). The walk started along the dried up river bed and then climbed up using a marked rough path with shingle and loose stones. We found the spring, it was a bit low on water due to the summer months but as it is 3,000 years old we were impressed we had found it. Now all we had to do was to find the cave that Odysseus pigs had been kept as described by Athena. The directions were a bit vague but there was a marked path, in possibly, the right direction, so we started off. The path went up again on slippery shale and loose rocks. By now the heat of the day was starting to penetrate and while we really wanted to continue, we decided that we didn’t want to become another statistic of the heatwave, so we gave up and made our way back to Muskie for a well earned dip in the sea. Odysseus’ Palace The third Ithaca landmark of the Odyssey is shrouded in mystery. This is the location of Odysseus’ Palace. The fact is Odysseus was not a fabulously wealthy ruler and the indications are that he would have had a relatively modest palace. Odysseus states that from his palace you can see three different seas, so it obviously had a fairly commanding position. The book suggested you should anchor in Polis Bay and walk to the village of Stavros, and get a short taxi ride to take you to the site. We decided to anchor in Vathy Bay and hire a car for the day so we could not only visit the palace but see other sites in the comfort of air conditioning. Our first stop was the village of Stavros that has a museum and a model of the palace of Odysseus. Then we drove to the site, parked up and had 5 minute walk to the site. At the start of the hill, near the first diggings, you can see the Melanydros spring, where, according to Homer, Penelope’s servants came to fetch water. In the site, there are ruins of Mycenaean buildings as well as a church of Agios Attanasios that was built on the ruins of the palace. As Jefferson says…. “It is an other worldly place with commanding views across to Cephalonia. Standing here in this heavenly place, in the blinding Greek light, you feel like you are on top of the world, or on the edge of a different, more divine one. No wonder Odysseus fought so hard to get home.” Arethusa Spring - there was water in there.  On the walk to find the Spring and the cave.  Cave of Nymphs where Odysseus hid his treasure on his return to Ithaca  Inside the cave  Model of Odysseus Palace  Odysseus Palace now   Sent from my iPad |