Hotels, no matter their greatness, take a battering through age and careless guests. You’ve seen it previously I am certain. Failure to renovate and the reputation of a hotel may plummet when word of deterioration hits the market. Yesterday’s darling may be tomorrow’s enfant terrible. One can’t fail to take note of the battering theContinue reading “2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 15September2026: Pythagorio, Samos: Doryssa Seaside Resort to be Saved by the Bell of Renovation?”
Category Archives: Travel
2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 14September2026: Pythagorio, Samos: Embarrassing Reluctance Being a Tourist: Get Those Cruise Ship Daytrippers Outta Here!
Tourism is enormously important for Greece generating approximately a third of its GDP. Given the swelling mass of tourists I have encountered in this visit Greece faces a potential overtourism problem that must be managed to avoid a negative boomerang. Given the inability of Athens Eleftherios Airport to manage passenger flow, one enters and leavesContinue reading “2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 14September2026: Pythagorio, Samos: Embarrassing Reluctance Being a Tourist: Get Those Cruise Ship Daytrippers Outta Here!”
2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 14September2026: Pythagorio, Samos: Difficulty Parking and the Motorcycle Accident
Although Doryssa Seaside Resort’s main building and its rooms may need tender loving care (such as my room 277) the buffet breakfast retains its lustre. My favourite this time were two large bowls, one filled with segments of orange the other with grapefruit. In season and absolutely stellar! There are local pastries both sweet andContinue reading “2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 14September2026: Pythagorio, Samos: Difficulty Parking and the Motorcycle Accident”
RKS Chinese Literature: Smoking Opium, Hugging and Joking with the Sing-Song Girls (Shen Fu)
We had the wine boat anchor in the middle of the river and happily drank away until several strokes of the night watch had sounded. By then I had begun to fear I could not control myself and so had firmly resolved to return to our rooms, but my friends told me the city gatesContinue reading “RKS Chinese Literature: Smoking Opium, Hugging and Joking with the Sing-Song Girls (Shen Fu)”
RKS Chinese Literature: Where Monks Should Not Live (Shen Fu)
To the friends who were with me that day, I said: ‘Men who want to be monks must live in this kind of secluded place, seeing and hearing nothing for their entire lives, so that they can meditate in tranquillity. At a place like Tiger Hill in my home country, all day long there isContinue reading “RKS Chinese Literature: Where Monks Should Not Live (Shen Fu)”
RKS Chinese Literature: Be Very Careful Looking at Stone Mirror Mountain! (Shen Fu)
Near the town was a mountain called Stone Mirror Mountain. To see the ‘mirror’ you followed a winding path through the mountains for about a li and then came to a cliff with water rushing down its face, and with moist greenery that itself seemed about to begin dripping over the ground. Gradually climbing higherContinue reading “RKS Chinese Literature: Be Very Careful Looking at Stone Mirror Mountain! (Shen Fu)”
2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version:13September2026: Thessaloniki and Samos: The Rapidly Ageing Doryssa Seaside Resort
After a long flight transporting you to different time zones one thinks of sleeping like a baby but for me that is rarely the case. I had a restless sleep waking up at 03:30 and tossing, turning and dozing thereafter. That afternoon nap might have backfired on me. Down to a wonderful breakfast at 10:00.Continue reading “2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version:13September2026: Thessaloniki and Samos: The Rapidly Ageing Doryssa Seaside Resort”
2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 12September2026: Thessaloniki: Of Old Farts, Second Rate Seafood and Rain
Returning from MOMUS and the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography we discovered at last the construction of the Holocaust Museum of Greece has started. There has been talk of constructing the Holocaust Museum of Greece for a decade and finally construction is underway with an opening expected in 2028. Germany has pledged ten million Euros forContinue reading “2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 12September2026: Thessaloniki: Of Old Farts, Second Rate Seafood and Rain”
2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 12September2026:Thessaloniki. Greece: Thessaloniki Museum of Photography: Laszlo Moholy-Nagy: “Light Play”
Always a mandatory stop when I am in Thessaloniki is the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography. Intimate and never crowded. A relaxing café and bar overlooking the ocean if you are in the mood. Hungarian László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946) has been a prominent figure of the modernism that exploded in the visual arts in the first decadesContinue reading “2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 12September2026:Thessaloniki. Greece: Thessaloniki Museum of Photography: Laszlo Moholy-Nagy: “Light Play””
2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 12September2026: Thessaloniki, Greece: MOMUS Experimental Center for the Arts
Headed to the old port area an enjoyable 20-minute walk from Daios Luxury Living, our hotel. The old wharf’s structures have been restored maintaining its flavour as a port with warehouses converted for cultural purposes. It reminds one, at first blush, of the Distillery District in Toronto. One can always expect an interesting exhibit atContinue reading “2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 12September2026: Thessaloniki, Greece: MOMUS Experimental Center for the Arts”
