Gretchen Burch

Greece Reflection

The whirlwind tour of Greece was a non-stop seven-day high. Sharing my trip, via photos
with individuals here in Vermont, I am reminded of the knowledge gained and reliving
the feelings I had from the steps of the Acropolis to the Citadel of Mycenae. Our group
was blessed to have world-class local guides; at each archaeological site Giota Mantziou,
Penny Kolomvotsou, Elena Aggeli, and Theodoros Lentoudis were able to make the ruins
come alive with its rich history. However, for all the knowledge they shared and stories
they told, a sense of place comes more from happenchance meetings with local people.

On the last morning I had in Greece, I finally met and interacted with people who did not
share the limelight of the tourism industry. Walking on the beach in Glyfada with Nancy
and Linda we met a group of fishermen. The fisherman had been out that very morning in
their small boats catching grouper, goby, sole, and squid. Right on the dock they sold
their catch; the fish so fresh you could see their gills gasping for oxygen. Several men
over the course of our visit stopped to buy fish. The captain of one ship, Captain Padli,
was doing most of the selling while we were there. He took great pride in preparing the
squid for the customer; it was clear through with the quick movement with his knife, he
was a seasoned fisherman. Captain Padli took an equal interest of educating us as to
where the ink sack was as well as the mouth of a squid. It was his very own show and
tell, his face beamed with pride and ours with fascination. Both parties, my group and the
local Grecians, were equally curious of each other. A deck hand from Bangladesh, Abdul,
spoke English and engaged in conversation with us and kindly answered all of our
questions. We found out that when they go out to fish, they go out several miles from
shore and can make two or three trips out daily. I have a token of my time spent with
these Greek fishermen, shells from the sea snails. There were some shells from sea snails,
caught in the nets used by these fishermen and Abdul animatedly gave them to us along
with these beautiful creamy orange colored tarp doors from smaller shells. Nancy took
numerous photos including one of us with the captains. I know in that picture is a group
of new friends all wearing wide smiles on a beautiful Saturday morning in Greece. The
unplanned meeting and the discovery of seeing an activity of daily Greek life is one of
my most vivid memories from the trip.