The island of Aegina is about an hour and a half from Athens by ferry. It's the equivalent of what the Cape or Martha's Vineyard is for Bostonians. To get away for the weekend or even the day... Parfait. It's gorgeous on the island. Where as Athens is all pastels of yellow and orange, Aegina had some pastels of blues, greens, and even pinks. It's a very simple lifestyle there. The weather was perfect; hot but breezy.
We headed to the temple of Aphaia, a goddess only celebrated on the island. Apparently the goddess Artemis made Aphaia into a goddess after Aphaia jumped off of a cliff into fishing nets to avoid the unwanted attention of a man (and of course preserve her virginity). Artemis, so impressed by her actions, whisked her away and made her a goddess. Anyone who follows Artemis, the virgin goddess, must keep their virginity though... if they fail to preserve it, Artemis will kill them. Would you give up sex to become immortal? Crazy times. The greeks were crazy horny.
In front of the temple:
Okay, now for the most interesting part of my day. We met one of the last master artists of pottery today. We trekked (and by that I mean we took a coach bus with AC) to his workshop. He was absolutely brilliant.
Arom, you would appreciate this. He literally centered the clay within seconds and made a vase in front of us under five minutes. It took him maybe three minutes. To explain: the first time I even attempted to take a stab at the pottery wheel... I struggled for a good few hours. To make all of us in AP art feel worse, I'm pretty sure he centered the vase while sitting on the side of the wheel. He wasn't even bending directly over it. WTF.
He is responsible for the entire process of his art. He digs up the dirt, filters it, turns it into clay, makes all of the pieces of pottery on the wheel, fires it in an outdoor kiln, and then paints/glazes it. During the first process when he digs up the rocks and dirt for the clay, he finds fossils and small bones from ages ago. He joked that he sifts through so much fossil now, it's funny to think that one day he'll be a fossil too. Absolutely amazing. Apparently the workshop was handed down by his grandfather... but he has no one to continue the tradition. What a lost... We all fell in love with him. He was so happy with his life... kind of made me wish I had stuck with art. But to each his own path, right?
He made his own clay (see left hand corner of picture):
The finished product:
I bought a teacup from his shop. I couldn't resist. Rob, you better have tea with me when I get back. I can't wait to use it. It's very homey?... it wasn't his most elaborate teacup nor the most beautiful one. But... I fell in love with it. It's very rustic I suppose would be the word... maybe crude almost... I want more teacups. I think one day I'm going to go back and just buy his shop out and only use plates and cups from there. Uh, one day when I'm rich? Hahahaha. Right.
Isn't he great?! I have an old man crush.
After the pottery workshop, we spent the rest of the day exploring the island and spending a lot of time on the beach (and by the beach, I do not mean tanning...I was in the water for most of the time). The water was clear, a soft green, and perfect. Your perfect image of what the Mediterranean would be like, was what I saw today. The salty sting in your eyes, the cool water that wasn't cold, and the fresh warm breeze that rippled the water every so often... I was happy. Coming out of the water and soaking up the sun did a number on my skin. My grandmother is going to kill me. Tan is ugly according to her standards... greatttt. I never burn though *peace sign*. I think it finally hit me that I was in Greece when I got out of the water, stretched out on the towel, licked my lips...and tasted salt. Maybe it hit me because taste involves two senses. Rather than just seeing and hearing Greece, I could taste and smell it. It made the memory that much stronger. I left Aegina with a satisfying sense of tiredness and beach hair. <3
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