A Memorial On the island of Amorgos in Greece 2021
We went to Greece to honor Henry’s sister Carolina who died on the Cycladic Island of Amorgos last October. She had a beautiful village funeral the next day.
.
It is a steep road up from the sea to the mountain village of Langada where Carolina is buried in a beautiful small cemetary. Here is her funeral in October.
Here we are gathering in July.
Our event was a memorial at her gravesite. Her gravesite was marked and maintained by loyal friends. It included Henry’s son and grandsons as well as several people from the island. His son made an amazing video of the whole event.
The recollections included that of Irini Giannakopoulos who was one of the young people that Carolina taught English to many years ago in exchange for food. Irini recalled that at that time there was no electricity on the island, and when Carolina tried to teach them the word for ice cream, they had no idea what she was talking about.
Irini is now the CEO and owner of a stunning five star hotel on the island. Two of her sisters run another wonderful hotel, Lakki Village, where we stayed. I will show those photos in my another post.
Another person who spoke was Vangelis Vassalos, also a student of Carolina’s so many years ago. He trained as a doctor in London and is now an acupuncturist and herbalist in the village. He recalled his last night with Carolina, having a cigarette with her and a drink of retsina. He went home and she died in the night.
Henry spoke for himself and his sister in England who could not be there recalling some of their Greek adventures. His son Zac spoke for himself and his two brothers.
After we had a feast and an evening of traditional island music at Nico’s taverna nearby.
The lute player is Giannis (right) and the violinist is Panagiotis. (left) Panagiotis is the youngest member of a musical family going back generations. He played island music with a contemporary interpretation.
You can hear it on the video. right at the beginning.
We spent two weeks on the island and Carolina was very much still with us. I could feel her presence so strongly. Here she is white washing a gateway of Henry’s house which gives you an idea of one of her talents, maintaining three very old stone houses.
She planted many flowers around all the houses
We remembered special times. Here is Henry dancing with Carolina in 1998 after a feast with friends in the platea, the area between the restaurants and stores at the center of the village.
Here is Henry on the terrace of her house on our last night. We spent many evenings at sunset with her here.
She had chosen this village on this island after visiting many islands. It is easy to see why. It is still beautiful and unique. Because it has no airport, it continues to be filled with local culture. Although many of the traditional ways are disappearing, some continue or are transformed by the next generation.
In Carolina’s village the granddaughter of the shoemaker/violinist Stefanikis continues to make shoes, but also designs jewelry .
Photos of her grandfather on the violin playing with Michalis, a dear family friend of ours.
Behind her are the shoe lasts her grandfather used and below is his sewing machine.
Look at the beauty of the streets near her shop.
Another special person is Vangelis, who came to our ceremony. His father was the town baker, his brother runs a wonderful taverna still attached to the bakery where we had our feast after the memorial.
His other brother owns one of the best shops for buying real art, both traditional and contemporary icons, on the island, all three were English students of Carolina.
Vangelis daughter helps to run their shop that sells herbs and delicious mixtures for various purposes made from island ingredients.
Vangelis practices acupuncture here
and distills the herbs here
The olive trees still grow everywhere. Figs also grow wild and sometimes their roots get into the cisterns and block them so they have to be cleared out.
But we also saw very ancient olive trunks holding up passages.
Right outside of the village are the donkeys used mainly now for helping with the olive harvest. They bring up the olives in baskets on their backs but live in these ancient stone shelters.
Going back to Carolina’s story, here is the approach to the beautiful house (on the left) that she restored in the village of Langada and the view from her house to Henry’s house. below you see Henry and Carolina outside his house ( it is actually the roof of the cistern that makes the “patio”.)
Henry and Carolina preparing a meal inside his house in Langada
Carolina also restored another ruin in what was an abandoned village
She walked from her house in Langada to her house in Strombo, across a gorge You can see how rugged the landscape is!
Carolina was amazingly tough and persevering. Near the end of her life she did the walk with two crutches and it took her over two hours. Here is a close up of her house. Very small. Solar electricity!
We had many lovely lunches outside her Strombo house. Here is Henry with her and a view of Carolina emerging from the kitchen in her house
As I said her spirit is in the land here.
Here are the musicians playing in her honor.
who died on the Cycladic Island of Amorgos last October. She had a beautiful village funeral the next day.
It is a steep road up from the sea to the mountain village of Langada where Carolina is buried in a beautiful small cemetary. Here is her funeral in October.
Here we are gathering in July.
Our event was a memorial at her gravesite. Her gravesite was marked and maintained by loyal friends. It included Henry’s son and grandsons as well as several people from the island. His son made an amazing video of the whole event.
The recollections included that of Irini Giannakopoulos who was one of the young people that Carolina taught English to many years ago in exchange for food. Irini recalled that at that time there was no electricity on the island, and when Carolina tried to teach them the word for ice cream, they had no idea what she was talking about.
Irini is now the CEO and owner of a stunning five star hotel on the island. Two of her sisters run another wonderful hotel, Lakki Village, where we stayed. I will show those photos in my another post.
Another person who spoke was Vangelis Vassalos, also a student of Carolina’s so many years ago. He trained as a doctor in London and is now an acupuncturist and herbalist in the village. He recalled his last night with Carolina, having a cigarette with her and a drink of retsina. He went home and she died in the night.
Henry spoke for himself and his sister in England who could not be there recalling some of their Greek adventures. His son Zac spoke for himself and his two brothers.
After we had a feast and an evening of traditional island music at Nico’s taverna nearby.
The lute player is Giannis (right) and the violinist is Panagiotis. (left) Panagiotis is the youngest member of a musical family going back generations. He played island music with a contemporary interpretation.
You can hear it on the video. right at the beginning.
We spent two weeks on the island and Carolina was very much still with us. I could feel her presence so strongly. Here she is white washing a gateway of Henry’s house which gives you an idea of one of her talents, maintaining three very old stone houses.
She planted many flowers around all the houses
We remembered special times. Here is Henry dancing with Carolina in 1998 after a feast with friends in the platea, the area between the restaurants and stores at the center of the village.
Here is Henry on the terrace of her house on our last night. We spent many evenings at sunset with her here.
She had chosen this village on this island after visiting many islands. It is easy to see why. It is still beautiful and unique. Because it has no airport, it continues to be filled with local culture. Although many of the traditional ways are disappearing, some continue or are transformed by the next generation.
In Carolina’s village the granddaughter of the shoemaker/violinist Stefanikis continues to make shoes, but also designs jewelry .
Photos of her grandfather on the violin playing with Michalis, a dear family friend of ours.
Behind her are the shoe lasts her grandfather used and below is his sewing machine.
Look at the beauty of the streets near her shop.
Another special person is Vangelis, who came to our ceremony. His father was the town baker, his brother runs a wonderful taverna still attached to the bakery where we had our feast after the memorial.
His other brother owns one of the best shops for buying real art, both traditional and contemporary icons, on the island, all three were English students of Carolina.
Vangelis daughter helps to run their shop that sells herbs and delicious mixtures for various purposes made from island ingredients.
Vangelis practices acupuncture here
and distills the herbs here
The olive trees still grow everywhere. Figs also grow wild and sometimes their roots get into the cisterns and block them so they have to be cleared out.
But we also saw very ancient olive trunks holding up passages.
Right outside of the village are the donkeys used mainly now for helping with the olive harvest. They bring up the olives in baskets on their backs but live in these ancient stone shelters.
Going back to Carolina’s story, here is the approach to the beautiful house (on the left) that she restored in the village of Langada and the view from her house to Henry’s house. below you see Henry and Carolina outside his house ( it is actually the roof of the cistern that makes the “patio”.)
Henry and Carolina preparing a meal inside his house in Langada
Carolina also restored another ruin in what was an abandoned village
She walked from her house in Langada to her house in Strombo, across a gorge You can see how rugged the landscape is!
Carolina was amazingly tough and persevering. Near the end of her life she did the walk with two crutches and it took her over two hours. Here is a close up of her house. Very small. Solar electricity!
We had many lovely lunches outside her Strombo house. Here is Henry with her and a view of Carolina emerging from the kitchen in her house
As I said her spirit is in the land here.
Here are the musicians playing in her honor.
It is a steep road up from the sea to the mountain village of Langada where Carolina is buried in a beautiful small cemetary. Here is her funeral in October.
Here we are gathering in July.
Our event was a memorial at her gravesite. Her gravesite was marked and maintained by loyal friends. It included Henry’s son and grandsons as well as several people from the island. His son made an amazing video of the whole event.
The recollections included that of Irini Giannakopoulos who was one of the young people that Carolina taught English to many years ago in exchange for food. Irini recalled that at that time there was no electricity on the island, and when Carolina tried to teach them the word for ice cream, they had no idea what she was talking about.
Irini is now the CEO and owner of a stunning five star hotel on the island. Two of her sisters run another wonderful hotel, Lakki Village, where we stayed. I will show those photos in my another post.
Another person who spoke was Vangelis Vassalos, also a student of Carolina’s so many years ago. He trained as a doctor in London and is now an acupuncturist and herbalist in the village. He recalled his last night with Carolina, having a cigarette with her and a drink of retsina. He went home and she died in the night.
Henry spoke for himself and his sister in England who could not be there recalling some of their Greek adventures. His son Zac spoke for himself and his two brothers.
After we had a feast and an evening of traditional island music at Nico’s taverna nearby.
The lute player is Giannis (right) and the violinist is Panagiotis. (left) Panagiotis is the youngest member of a musical family going back generations. He played island music with a contemporary interpretation.
You can hear it on the video. right at the beginning.
We spent two weeks on the island and Carolina was very much still with us. I could feel her presence so strongly. Here she is white washing a gateway of Henry’s house which gives you an idea of one of her talents, maintaining three very old stone houses.
She planted many flowers around all the houses
We remembered special times. Here is Henry dancing with Carolina in 1998 after a feast with friends in the platea, the area between the restaurants and stores at the center of the village.
Here is Henry on the terrace of her house on our last night. We spent many evenings at sunset with her here.
She had chosen this village on this island after visiting many islands. It is easy to see why. It is still beautiful and unique. Because it has no airport, it continues to be filled with local culture. Although many of the traditional ways are disappearing, some continue or are transformed by the next generation.
In Carolina’s village the granddaughter of the shoemaker/violinist Stefanikis continues to make shoes, but also designs jewelry .
Photos of her grandfather on the violin playing with Michalis, a dear family friend of ours.
Behind her are the shoe lasts her grandfather used and below is his sewing machine.
Look at the beauty of the streets near her shop.
Another special person is Vangelis, who came to our ceremony. His father was the town baker, his brother runs a wonderful taverna still attached to the bakery where we had our feast after the memorial.
His other brother owns one of the best shops for buying real art, both traditional and contemporary icons, on the island, all three were English students of Carolina.
Vangelis daughter helps to run their shop that sells herbs and delicious mixtures for various purposes made from island ingredients.
Vangelis practices acupuncture here
and distills the herbs here
The olive trees still grow everywhere. Figs also grow wild and sometimes their roots get into the cisterns and block them so they have to be cleared out.
But we also saw very ancient olive trunks holding up passages.
Right outside of the village are the donkeys used mainly now for helping with the olive harvest. They bring up the olives in baskets on their backs but live in these ancient stone shelters.
Going back to Carolina’s story, here is the approach to the beautiful house (on the left) that she restored in the village of Langada and the view from her house to Henry’s house. below you see Henry and Carolina outside his house ( it is actually the roof of the cistern that makes the “patio”.)
Henry and Carolina preparing a meal inside his house in Langada
Carolina also restored another ruin in what was an abandoned village
She walked from her house in Langada to her house in Strombo, across a gorge You can see how rugged the landscape is!
Carolina was amazingly tough and persevering. Near the end of her life she did the walk with two crutches and it took her over two hours. Here is a close up of her house. Very small. Solar electricity!
We had many lovely lunches outside her Strombo house. Here is Henry with her and a view of Carolina emerging from the kitchen in her house
As I said her spirit is in the land here.
Here are the musicians playing in her honor.
It is a steep road up from the sea to the mountain village of Langada where Carolina is buried in a beautiful small cemetary. Here is her funeral in October.
Here we are gathering in July.
Our event was a memorial at her gravesite. Her gravesite was marked and maintained by loyal friends. It included Henry’s son and grandsons as well as several people from the island. His son made an amazing video of the whole event.
The recollections included that of Irini Giannakopoulos who was one of the young people that Carolina taught English to many years ago in exchange for food. Irini recalled that at that time there was no electricity on the island, and when Carolina tried to teach them the word for ice cream, they had no idea what she was talking about.
Irini is now the CEO and owner of a stunning five star hotel on the island. Two of her sisters run another wonderful hotel, Lakki Village, where we stayed. I will show those photos in my another post.
Another person who spoke was Vangelis Vassalos, also a student of Carolina’s so many years ago. He trained as a doctor in London and is now an acupuncturist and herbalist in the village. He recalled his last night with Carolina, having a cigarette with her and a drink of retsina. He went home and she died in the night.
Henry spoke for himself and his sister in England who could not be there recalling some of their Greek adventures. His son Zac spoke for himself and his two brothers.
After we had a feast and an evening of traditional island music at Nico’s taverna nearby.
The lute player is Giannis (right) and the violinist is Panagiotis. (left) Panagiotis is the youngest member of a musical family going back generations. He played island music with a contemporary interpretation.
You can hear it on the video. right at the beginning.
We spent two weeks on the island and Carolina was very much still with us. I could feel her presence so strongly. Here she is white washing a gateway of Henry’s house which gives you an idea of one of her talents, maintaining three very old stone houses.
She planted many flowers around all the houses
We remembered special times. Here is Henry dancing with Carolina in 1998 after a feast with friends in the platea, the area between the restaurants and stores at the center of the village.
Here is Henry on the terrace of her house on our last night. We spent many evenings at sunset with her here.
She had chosen this village on this island after visiting many islands. It is easy to see why. It is still beautiful and unique. Because it has no airport, it continues to be filled with local culture. Although many of the traditional ways are disappearing, some continue or are transformed by the next generation.
In Carolina’s village the granddaughter of the shoemaker/violinist Stefanikis continues to make shoes, but also designs jewelry .
Photos of her grandfather on the violin playing with Michalis, a dear family friend of ours.
Behind her are the shoe lasts her grandfather used and below is his sewing machine.
Look at the beauty of the streets near her shop.
Another special person is Vangelis, who came to our ceremony. His father was the town baker, his brother runs a wonderful taverna still attached to the bakery where we had our feast after the memorial.
His other brother owns one of the best shops for buying real art, both traditional and contemporary icons, on the island, all three were English students of Carolina.
Vangelis daughter helps to run their shop that sells herbs and delicious mixtures for various purposes made from island ingredients.
Vangelis practices acupuncture here
and distills the herbs here
The olive trees still grow everywhere. Figs also grow wild and sometimes their roots get into the cisterns and block them so they have to be cleared out.
But we also saw very ancient olive trunks holding up passages.
Right outside of the village are the donkeys used mainly now for helping with the olive harvest. They bring up the olives in baskets on their backs but live in these ancient stone shelters.
Going back to Carolina’s story, here is the approach to the beautiful house (on the left) that she restored in the village of Langada and the view from her house to Henry’s house. below you see Henry and Carolina outside his house ( it is actually the roof of the cistern that makes the “patio”.)
Henry and Carolina preparing a meal inside his house in Langada
Carolina also restored another ruin in what was an abandoned village
She walked from her house in Langada to her house in Strombo, across a gorge You can see how rugged the landscape is!
Carolina was amazingly tough and persevering. Near the end of her life she did the walk with two crutches and it took her over two hours. Here is a close up of her house. Very small. Solar electricity!
We had many lovely lunches outside her Strombo house. Here is Henry with her and a view of Carolina emerging from the kitchen in her house
As I said her spirit is in the land here.
Here are the musicians playing in her honor.
This entry was posted on August 5, 2021 and is filed under Uncategorized.
