#Photography for the Unusual: Greece at Random 10/7

Photographer:  Silas

This is a beachfront a little below the KASTRO Bar outside Katakolo, Greece.

Perhaps you wonder what this fellow is doing but first a little background on the waters here.  The water is relatively shallow for a good distance out from shore and that makes it perfect for snorkelers since, in addition to octopi, there are the ruins of Pheia which are easily approachable.  It is legal to take some of the artifacts for display in your home but the law must be taken seriously since the authorities take a dim view of removing anything which may be deemed an antiquity of historical importance.

But that doesn't tell you what he's doing and it's a little difficult to see but he holds an octopus in his hand.  They're relatively common so snorkelers and perhaps free divers frequently catch them.  There's more than one step than the catch before the octopus can be eaten since they're extremely tough.  The method they use for tenderizing them is to whack them against a large rock and it may take many tries before the octopus is deemed fit for eating.

This is a tiny island which isn't more than ten meters away from the 'mainland' of Katakolo.  There was no law to forbid it so a man was living in this ramshackle construction and he stayed there regardless of the weather.  He wasn't supplied with water, power, or anything of that nature but this was his choice as a Greek Captain Fantastic.

The narrow streets of Pyrgos, about 15 km from Katakolo, weren't a problem for me since I was riding Haximoto, my trusty scooter.  Pyrgos probably isn't a city in the way many of you think of one since it only housed about fifteen thousand people but there was more cosmopolitan sophistication there than you might expect.

This is a religious procession in Pyrgos but I regret I can't tell you what specific type of celebration they were making.  There was a Greek Orthodox priest in all his adornment walking in the procession but I did not think it would be seemly to photograph him.  I had never previously seen such processions since America doesn't much go in for them so it was a fascinated to see this one.

As to cosmopolitan sophistication, did you ever see a Lamborghini farm tractor anywhere.  Who ever brought that much coolness to plowing the fields but they do it around Pyrgos.