I couldn’t blame Dimitrios the swimming pool keyboardist shooting longing looks over at us on our Corfu love getaway… only I discovered his gaze was for me as I went to the bar.
All of which I was only too quick to report back to my new wife on our honeymoon.
All of whom are gathered this weekend with travel boards around the globe for one of the highlights of the year, the Travel Extra Holiday World show at the RDS, Simmonscourt, in Dublin.
In the mix: Get the party started
Freedom Travel have dug out Daphnila Bay for its crystal-clear waters and lush greenery which in many places might be a sales pitch.
And as British leader Rishi Sunak has a huffy and snubs Kyriakos Mitsotakis why won’t Britain give Greece her Marbles back?
Probably because Britain likes to keep what it finds.
Even if that finding involves chiselling Classical friezes away from the original and shipping it away from its Athenian home.
Hills and thrills: The Acropolis
So that you can show it off in a museum along with all the other treasures you’ve purloined from around the world.
Of course Britain isn’t alone in this, it’s just that it’s done more of it than anybody else.
Mitsotakis’s moan
Mona Sassy: And the Greeks share the tude
Now Mitsotakis made a drama out of a crisis when he lyrically expressed what the separation of the Marbles, the other half is in Athens looks like to the world.
That it was akin to ‘cutting the Mona Lisa in two’ and giving one half to a foreign museum.
Now in what is tantamount to art treason and outing myself as a philistine I would tender that I’d rather have my own Tobago mill pic.
British Museum’s stance
One we stole earlier: The British Museum
The Marbles though are a different story in aesthetics, history and longevity.
And where did we return to from our honeymoon in Corfu… only Aberdeen where we lived and loved (too much information) for four years.
And where I had studied and started my first scribblings as editor of the student newspaper Gaudie.
Before going on to meet my beloved, a photographer on my first paid-for newspaper in Reading, Berkshire… just down the road from Charles’s childhood home.
I guess we’re due to meet then on holiday where yes, the corny side will get the better of me and I’ll exhort Cor phew, it’s Charles.
On this day of days let there be light today Saturnalia and Apollo.
And as we share best wishes to all our friends and family around the world to Pope Gregory and my Greek buddy Evi from Athens and Kythera expeditions.
For it was Greg who set this date (kinda) as Christmas Day.
And Evi who reminded us, like everything in Western civilisation, that its roots are Greek.
All Greek to me
Greeks are the word: With Evi in Kythera
Dies Natalis Invicti Solis as astrophysicist Dionysis P. Simopoulou probably says today.
Dionysi who? Well, only that Dionysius, the honorary director of Evgenidius Planitarios, which is the Athens Planetarium.
Take it away Dionysius who tells us in The Sky of Greece…
The sky is the limit
High V: That’s V in Classic.
‘December as one may see it, is inseparable linked to celebrating Christmas on the 25th.
‘The gentleman, in fact, reason that made the Church to identify the celebration of Christmas on December 25 is the attempt of the Fathers, as Pope Gregory, states…
‘To gradually convert the festivities of Nationals into Christians.
‘Since December 25th was for Rome the central celebration of the Saturnalian and the birth of the “Sunlightless”, known as Dies Natalis Invicti Solis.
‘At the same time, the ancient Greeks celebrated the Chronos (dedicated to the Chronos) and the Dionysia.
‘As well as theophants or surface of the solar god Phoivos – Apollo.’
Now you don’t have to be a Latin and Ancient Greek scholar to follow where he’s going with theophants or Phoivos.
Heaven help us
Apollo was here: Probably
Only to say that just like the Maji 2,000 odd years ago we look to the heavens at this time of year.
Or for Santa and his sleigh.
OK, it’s not The Nativity Story or Elf but Dionysius is onto something here.
Whatever is up there has brought us here in the first place.
And isn’t it exciting and poignant that today is the day the James Webb telescope is launched from the European Space Centre?
In French Guiana (no, me neither!)
But we should look to the skies, as I did in Tenerife, and who needs a reason, but it’s calming and humbling.
Happy Evi after
Where the Greeks pray: Happy Christmas
And Evi’s words here… ‘In nature, these days, light always begins to record its first small victories, minute by minute, on the every power of the night..
‘I hope so true light enters our lives, expelling the darkness of the false.
‘Even when it is combined with the most loved sheep.
‘Let there be light! Many years to come, Health and Prosperity!’
And mine’s too… Let there be light today Saturnalia and Apollo.
The WHO plumped for the naming system so as to remove stigma from countries after the media jumped on the first Covid variant.
And our news gatherers lazily called it the South African variant.
Now we here at TravelTravelTravel being internationalists fully support their motives, particularly because jingoism and racism can run as wild as pandemics.
And it is to the Greeks that we have turned for wisdom and philosophy.
Lay off the Spanish
With queen of Spain Teresa, Eoghan Corry and Sharon Jordan in Dublin
Back in 1918 when the last global pandemic broke out it was tagged the Spanish Flu, the name by which it is still referred.
And this wasn’t because it broke out in the Iberian Peninsula (we still don’t know its origins).
Rather it was because that was where the information first started emanating about the virus.
On account of Spain being neutral in the First World War and its media generously sharing the information.
While, of course, the virus was taking its toll across the world.
Going for a walk: In Tenerife
And war-concerned countries were killing information at home just as freely as they were needlessly destroying each other.
As it is the first reported death was in the USA but let’s not quibble.
I only say this to set the record straight and correct a historical wrong in favour of my Spanish friends.
And we well know that they have had their own troubles to seek either natural or political as is all too real in one of our favourite Spanish destinations, the Canaries.
Now, Omicron as it’s coming back to me now is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet which means that w’ve had 13 variants.
Delta we all know, and this pesky letter put paid to my trip to Oregon at the last minute…
And led me to pull out of the earlier working assignment to Las Vegas.
But beta, gamma and epsilon thankfully passed us by.
As did their friends zeta, eta and theta… who sound like the intake of a modern-day creche.
The next one barely registered an iota (and yes Greek letters have entered our lexicon before all this pandemic nonsense).
Kappa (no, not an American college sorority), lam(b)da (not a Tex-Mex dance), mu, nu (the other discarded Teletubbies) and Xi (a Chinese dynasty) soon followed unheralded.
Until we got to our Omicron.
Omicron, not Armageddon
Dip your toe into Kythera in Greece
And although our leaders are scaring the bejaysus out of his by interchanging Omicron with Armageddon it’s not.
The narrative is that it’s more infectious but haven’t we been told that the vaccines and the boosters are there to protect us.
And is it just me who is cynical.
That at a time when our politicians want to distract us from restricting our liberties the seriousness of Omicron gets ramped up.
And so we in the UK are told that we must now get a PCR test on arrival back in the UK and self-isolate until we get the result.
Which again sounds scary until you realise that we’re all Working From Home now anyway.
Isn’t it about time that we challenged these assumptions.
Particularly as everything our politicians have told us since the pandemic was called has blown up in their faces?
Democracies on trial
Now we might not go as far as Socrates who attacked Greek democracy (roughly translated as power of the people) in favour of meritocracy or elite rule.
But it is well seen that democracies are on trial.
And they’ll be kicking their legs up on Mount Olympus to greet the composer of Zorba the Greek (or Cretan) and doing a Syrtaki.
Mikis Theodarakis has joined the Gods after taking leave of this Earth at the grand old age of 96.
He leaves a lasting legacy and, of course, an enduring piece of Greek culture which has been played out to millions of tourists since the film was shown 57 years ago.
My Dear Old Mum would visit the same Travel Agent every year to book our family holiday and I’m sure it’s the same for Cassidy’s Sundance Kids.
Cassidy, as all in Ireland know, is the country’s biggest independent Travel Agent.
And it has made generations of holidaymakers dreams come true.
Which is why families continue to go back to them again and again to book their holidays.
Now there have been many heroes over this Covid year and a half and our health workers, teachers…
And heck, all of us should take a bow.
But I’d like to give a shout-out to our Travel Providers who have often worked without pay and in their own time.
And all to make sure customers get away or are refunded or have their holidays rescheduled.
Now there are those who say that getting away is not a matter of life and death.
But if self-isolation (and the Son and Heir is facing that just now) has taught us anything it is that humans do not belong caged up.
And so we are delighted to report that Cassidy Travel’s doors are open and filling our inboxes with their offers.
And so without further ado…
On trend
Last year’s blond: ‘The Donald’ in New York
Here’s where they want to take us and I’m indebted to the awesome Aileen who has taken over babysitting us Travel professionals.
Here are the trends (as the kids say):
The late Autumn deals, New York and Las Vegas shopping breaks, Christmas markets, Lapland, Christmas and New Year Sun.
Take a breath…
New Year and January Ski, Cruising, Florida 2022 and Villa Holidays.
And, yes please to them all.
But we’ll pare some of them down to these Three Cheers.
Ola Barcelona
To the Lord: At Gaudi’s centrepiece La Sagrada
We all know Barcelona in the summer where it’s hot, hot, hot.
And I’m sure I’m still the subject of the proud, brusque Catalan waitress who I managed to draw a smile from when I asked for a hot chocolate on the hottest day of the hottest heatwave.
Thankfully we got to take to the water for a cruise stop.
flights and 3 nights accommodation at the 3*Hotel Leo for the incredible price of €149pp (based on two people sharing)!
Flight departs Dublin 13th and returning 16th October 2021.
Call Cassidy Travel on 01 8901000 or book in one of their 10 stores across Dublin.
Cassidy will get you on board for a scoot around Italy and Greece aboard next summer 2022.
Get on this deal for seven nights in an interior cabin including full board.
Plus Always Included Promotion Classic Drinks package, internet package and tips for only €1929pp.
Setting sail from Rome and visiting Naples and the stunning Greek islands of Santorini, Rhodes & Mykonos,
And phinally Phuket
Phuket, we’ll finish with a land, Thailand, and resort, Phuket, where I sent many a young adventurer and page designer and scuba diver Podge in my time as a commissioning editor.
Cassidy has 50% savings included for a ten-night stay in the 4* Old Phuket Karon Beach Resort from only €998pp for next May.
Stay in a Deluxe Sino Wing room, beautiful period accommodation influenced by Sino-Portuguese architecture.
And enjoy the magnificent pool, mountain views and beach side bars.
Prices are based on two sharing and include flights, taxes, private transfers and hotel accommodation.
Book by September 30 to avail of this amazing deal!
And aren’t these all good reasons to pitch Cassidy’s Sundance Kids.
