Bathing

(Picture: one of the baths of Lisvori)

Nowadays people fly all over the world to find a beautiful beach where they can enjoy the sun and the sea. On warm days in summer thousands of day trippers gather together on the beaches closest to their homes. Most people take a bath to cool off or just to swim a little.

Not many people say they take a swim in the sea for their health. But the beginnings of our beach culture came about two centuries ago when the medical world decided swimming in the sea was very healthy. The salt water was supposed to be good for people suffering from asthma, rheumatism and hernias. Even drinking sea water was said to be a good to rinse out your bowels!

That is how in the 19th century quiet coastal places were discovered for recreation, and in small fishing spots like the Dutch village of Zandvoort people found another way to make money: from seaside holidaymakers.

It was as well into the 19th century before governments realized bathing was good for the health. After two serious cholera outbreaks in England (in 1832 and 1849) the government decided to build public bath houses so people could keep clean, and this initiative was soon followed by other European countries and public bath houses continued to be used well into the 20th century - until more and more houses came to be fitted with private bathrooms. Nowadays a house without a bathroom is not considered as a civilized space to live.

The first people to visit the seaside for fun and health were the rich who could afford to travel. Later on, when bathing spots were connected to public transport, the masses were also able to take advantage of a health-giving dip in the briny (TB: nice colloquial English word for sea). The rich, however, already knew about the curative properties of a spell at a thermal bath resort, and had been taking the waters at spas for centuries.

Most people think that the Romans invented these resorts, but already in Greek antiquity people took thermal baths for their health and some people even had the wealth to have the luxury of a bath installed in their home. One of the most famous exclamations ever came from someone thinking in the bath; when the Greek scientist Archimedes (287- 212 BC) supposedly shouted out “Eureka!” when “he suddenly understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged.” (citation from Wikipedia). It was said he then jumped out of the bath and ran into the streets of Syracruse, the city he lived, stark naked.

Taking a bath was as well known to the ancient Egyptians. It is said that Cleopatra bathed herself in the milk from donkeys, in order to keep her lustrous beauty.

Bathing was done for health or for a religious cleansing but the Romans made bathing an act of fun. Thanks to aqueducts that could transport large quantities of water for big baths, they were able to build really large bath houses. Each successive emperor outdid the work of his predecessor. The building of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome was finished in 216 AD and the entire complex covered 25 acres, and besides baths that could accommodate 2,000 bathers there was space for 1,600 people who were just spectators watching the bathers; and there were two libraries, shops, gymnasiums and cafes. In 302 the Baths built by the emperor Diocletian were opened with room for 18.000 bathers!

Later on the Roman bath got a bad name. It was a place for secret meetings and rendezvous, for women and men of course but also for conspiring politicians. When the Christians more or less took over Europe, public baths were banned. You could not wash off your sins in a bath, for that you had to pray to God. It was at the end of the Middle Ages that the thermal baths were rediscovered. Then in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century thermal resorts like Baden-Baden in Germany became popular spots for the European royalty and the aristocracy. The Catholic church then decreed that if they were places of debauchery they better be separate baths for women and men.

Lots of European cities, like Bath in England or Budapest in Hungary, are now still the proud owners of Roman baths and when you swim in its curative water you can imagine how luxurious they would have been in Roman times.

Lesvos has several hot springs but no big thermal resort. The remains of the Sarlitza Palace built at the beginning of the 20th century - the ruins of a hotel now known as the Old Turkish Bath Hotel - shows that Thermi was once a fashionable thermal resort. The many archaeological findings from Roman and older times prove this as well. (TB:The Ottomans were also keen on water and as well as fountains and taps in most of our villages they built a few public bath houses too. Molyvos had one in the centre of town, but when the water heating system broke down nobody could find the money to repair it, so it’s a gently decaying ruin. TB remembers using it several times in 1972)

Naturally occurring hot springs on Lesvos are small and simple and run by the municipalities. But they do give you a really romantic feeling. But none of these places have the grandeur of bathing places like Spa in Belgium or Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.

The two baths of Lisvori are also very simple and small. You use one by yourself (or with your own company). The municipality of Lisvori decided it needed restoration, to make it a more attractive place. The hotel rooms were renovated and the workers started to work on the oldest bath (from the 14th century). When the head of the island’s archaeological service came to inspect the project she went crazy when she saw workers rebuilding the bath with concrete! The work was also halted because the municipality actually did not have permission from the archaeological service to make the restoration.

Now the fights are over and the work has started again. There’s a new big concrete parking lot already finished to welcome you! The mayor however has promised that it will eventually be paved with nice old stones and trees will be planted to give the place some greenery and shade. He also promised that the baths will be ready to reopen in March. But this is a Greek promise (meaning that it can take much more time). Lisvori will never be as big as the Roman Baths of Caracalla but the renovation is definitely progress; a little thermal resort in beautiful surroundings where you can find hotel rooms and some titbits to eat.

(With thanks to Tony Barrell)

@ Smitaki 2010

Wake up!

Last week the rally drivers from 'Grease to Greece' proved that it's possible to drive a car without petrol. The Englishman Andy Pag, who last year drove to Africa on waste chocolate, chose this time to cover the 2,500 miles from London to Athens driving on used cooking oil. The restaurants they asked for this oil during their journey were all happy to donate it, because it served a good purpose and disposed of it. With this story I don't mean to encourage the whole world to start driving on used cooking oil. Because then you will get an increase in demand for vegetable oil, which would upset the balance in the world: for instance in Asia they now complain that the production of palm oil, another alternative energy source, diverts agriculture from other crops and thus increases the risk of famine.

Olive oil may not be the oil most used for frying (although in Greece it is), but according to the British press the demand for olive oil in England is now so high that the country may be to blame for southern Mediterranean countries becoming deserts. Harvest machinery and water are the main requiremments when producing cheap oil for supermarkets. Because of the increasing demand, big companies buy olive groves but don't care about the environment and the landscape, using lots of water and chemicals for an increased harvest. This already happens in Italy and Spain, but not so often here in Greece.

Greek olive oil is internationally increasingly regarded as an excellent oil, just as the Lesvorian olive oil wins more and more international prizes. Here on Lesvos those machines driving over the trees to harvest the olives are still a distant nightmare. Although I can imagine that for some Lesvorians these machines would be a dream come true, because they make for less work and eventually they will earn you more money. As with the increase of organically grown olives. That is not done because of a better quality or because it's good for the environment, but most Lesvorians do this because you earn more money from organic olives.

Luckily enough Greeks are not good investors in new machinery or in new energy. So old traditions like picking olives by hand, will not quickly be lost. In the case of traditional production, olive oil can even earn them a big advantage. The Lesvorian oil keeps its good quality and there is a growing group of people who want better quality (I don't trust the quality of olive oil produced by the big companies).

Greece could have been as rich as any oil producing country: it has enough energy resources. But it prefers to be fooled by unreliable Russia (by the way, not only Greece) in signing contracts for big oil pipelines from Russia. If the Greeks dared to invest, they would not have to be so dependent of countries with oil and gas. Windmills, solar energy, cars driving on olive oil, why is it that Greece is not full of these things?

They also have plenty of geothermal energy which is currently hardly exploited, mostly just for growing asparagus and tomatoes. Just look at Lesvos and its thermal springs. It's full of boiling energy here under the ground and the only thing they do with it is exploit some thermal baths and those also are not used to their full for health care: some Lesvorians can be as stiff as can be because of rheumatism, you will never get them into the healing waters of a hot spring.

Maybe that will change, because last week the prime minister of Greece, Kostas Karamanlis, had a long conversation with Geir H. Haarde, the prime minister of Iceland. They didn't only talk about economic and tourist exchanges, but also about geothermal energy, a resource that Iceland uses as much as possible.

Karamanlis accepted an invitation to visit Iceland. Will he then realise what a treasure geothermal energy can be? The Greeks refuse to learn from their neighbour Turkey. It was the Turks that made the hot springs on Lesvos popular. Maybe the Lesvorians will not use the baths because they think it's a Turkish tradition. Turkey has exploited for years already its geothermal sources. Hundred and thousands of households there are heated by hot water coming from the ground.

So it's time that somebody convinced the Greeks that there is gold under their soil. Lesvos could become important because the island is so rich in thermal springs. Hot water for central heating, spa centres for tourists, heated greenhouses for vegetables and flowers.

Why should we continue to pay huge bills to the electricity company and keep on pumping expensive fuel into our cars, while there is plenty of energy under our houses and cars can run on waste products or (allegedly) water (on the internet you can order a book that apparently tells you exactly how to convert the engine of your car so that it can run on water)? Greece could be a very rich country, because of its volcanic soil and all the hours of sunlight it gets. It's time that Greek scientists stood up to educate the people. The Greek scientists/philosophers of early times are still venerated like gods, but the modern scientists are kept out of the picture by political shenanigans.

Copyright © Smitaki 2008

Kane hamam

We've already lived a couple of years here on the island, not far from the hot springs of Eftalou, but we've never become big fans of them. In the summer it's too busy, in the winter it's not always clean, because nobody takes care of the bath. Sometimes the bath is full of soap because people like to do their laundry there, sometimes you will find a group of youths partying and sometimes you'll find a heap of clothes from refugees, who, refreshed by the hot spring, find new energy to continue their flight.

So unfortunately there first has to come an opportunity to visit such a hot bath. A month ago Jan had a nasty fall and bruised a rib. Hot spring baths do not cure bruised ribs, but when the rib had nearly stopped hurting, back ache arrived, because of the different posture in order to avoid injuring the rib.

The muscles got stiff because of all the extra effort and for this a hot spring bath does miracles. So it was decided to take a cure of hot spring baths in Lisvori, because since last winter a friend of ours is managing the place.

Yes, from time to time you do read about miracle cures and people praising the hot springs as if it were one of the last undiscovered secrets in the world. We regularly tell people who struggle for example with rheumatism to take a bath in the hot springs. Even though we never ourselves experimented with the magic powers of such a bath.

So now we say: tavma! It is a miracle, because indeed it helps!

A down to earth person from Holland would reason that if all that I write is the truth, why is nobody clever enough to exploit these baths. It is a question that we discuss a lot with our friends.

A small incrowd on the island, especially a lot of the youth, are regular users of the baths, because they do believe in the healing properties of a bath and because taking such a bath is so wonderful. A lot of elder Lesvorians totally refuse to go into the mineral water, even if they are doubled up with rheumatism or gout. People on this island will not believe in the curing power of the hot springs.

On the Greek mainland there are many different health resorts that are exploited. Hotels with their own baths, big public spas, pools full of mineral water, mud baths. In the town of Edipsos healing water even runs through the streets, they have that many springs and health resorts. On the island of Iskaria mineral baths have been known since 500 BC and nowadays you can get hydro therapy there.

Lesvos is the Greek island with the largest number of hot springs. But if somebody were to sell you a holiday with a healing program like say in the hot spring of Eftalou, you would feel swindled. There are hot springs, but the main building and the small dome with its 'do-not-bump-your-head' -entrance is not exactly what you think of as a health resort. Lesvos is far from the extended German health resorts where in earlier centuries many famous and rich people gathered, not only to cure, but also to be seen.

The hot springs of Lesvos are like the island itself: very simple. The baths of Polychnitos, Thermi, Yera, Eftalou and Lisvori all still have that antique atmosphere, like you were getting into the bath with the Romans. No beautiful shining tiles, but century old stone basins that have an unidentified colour because of the minerals in the water. Holes in the roof make sure that there is a fairy tale play of light beams and steam and the privacy of most baths make sure that you really can relax.

'Kane hamam' is what the Greeks say when they are taking a hot spring bath. But hamam is the Turkish word for Turkish bath, which means a steam bath. The Turks love making hamam. Could that be a reason why most Greeks neglect the hamam, because the Turks love to do it?

In Kalithea on Rhodes you will find maybe the most beautiful baths in Greece. In creamy Italian style, with mosaic floors, arches which rest on elegant pillars, palm trees radiating an exotique atmosphere, beautiful paths leading to the main building with pillars and hedges of pink bougainvillea. The baths of Kalithea were already famous when in 1928 an Italian architect created this beautiful building. But, the baths of Kalithea are nowadays only to look at. They are no longer in use. So also on Rhodes you have people who underestimate the power of the hot springs.

Not that I really mind that the hot springs on Lesvos are still that simple. Somewhere in the North of Greece there are baths that you have to reserve for at least three weeks in advance. You have small mineral lakes that you have to share with at least another hundred people. There is an idyllic pool under a waterfall, a place you have to share with at least 50 other people.

Here on the island there is at least one smart person who drilled for his own spring and the water that comes out, he will use on a commercial basis. The family Hotel Alceos is building suites each with their own hot mineral bath. So simple is life. And that quickly you can organize a health resort.

The only thing is, what will the Greeks think of this? They believe that hot spring baths are not good for children. So maybe it is time for the medical world to decide whether or not hot springs are healthy. We already know that the leaves of the olive tree do not cure cancer. But an island full of hot springs that are good for people with rheumatism, arthritis, sciatica, gynecological and dermatological ailments, neuralgia, skin diseases, kidney and gall stones, prevention of heart attacks, sugar diabetes, neurasthenia, illnesses of the womb, sciatica of the hip joint, intestinal diseases, bronchial diseases, gynecological complaints and more of those illnesses that benefit from mineral water, you would think that those springs should make Lesvos the Lourdes of the Aegean!

Copyright © Smitaki 2007

Tzeli Katzidimitriou

Last week I met Tzeli Katzidimitriou, a writer and photographer from Lesvos. It was an exceptional meeting because this Greek woman was so open minded that in ten minutes I had the feeling I was talking to a friend I already knew for years. Tzeli was very busy because she had to travel from one part of the island to the other part, from Eftalou, Petra to Eresos to meet people for her work. She is working on a book on Lesvos and that does not progress as quickly as she wants because at many points she has to make choices about what she will write about and what not. When you know the island as well as Tzeli does, it is difficult to know what is interesting for people who do not know the island.

It will not be the first book Tzeli gets published about Lesvos, although it will be her first written book about the island. Two books already published by her might be known by visitors to Lesvos: '39 Coffee Houses and a Barber's shop' and 'Sacred Water, The Mineral Springs of Lesvos', which are two tasteful photo books about kafenions and a barbershop on Lesvos and about the hot springs of Lesvos.

The photographs are taken with a strong feeling for colour, composition and especially with warm feelings. Tzeli presents a piece of the timeless life of the island. Who does not know the small coffee houses on the island? There is no village without a kafenion and for a lot of Greeks there is no life without a kafenion. For many old men these coffee houses are like a living room. They love to sit whole days long on the front step in order to see the village life passing by, commenting on it and feeling their life fading into eternity.

Kafenions are coffee houses and no place to booze, although that may pass once in a while because of course you can get ouzo there. A kafenion is a common living room where you can dwell for hours with one drink, where commentating on the television programs is a national sport, where you can take all your time to spell out the papers, where politics are discussed with the other villagers but where first of all you can get all the hot gossip about the village.

Tzeli did not photograph the usual clients, but she immortalized the interiors of many old kafenion. Maybe at first sight these drinking quarters all look the same from the outside, on the inside you will see that all of them have their own characters.

They have sparkling blue, rose or other bright colors. They have walls full of old fading pictures of family or old Greek historical people. Some walls have shelves full of bottles from exotic brands. They have wooden counters which look like Turkish doors or showcases with articles that are not touched for ages. Their tables can have fine embroidery or just have funny plastic cloths. As well as some barbershops which can look like small museums.

Lesvos is known for its' ouzo, not for its' kafenions. Those you will find all over Greece. Lesvos has something else which is not that typically, but certainly very special for the island. They are the hot springs you will find in several places on the island.

Do not think that these are luxurious spa-centers, or big health resorts, because in Greece still nobody got the idea to commercially exploit the hot baths. In the pictures from the photo book 'Sacred Water, The Mineral Springs of Lesvos' by Tzeli you can see how picturesque these springs still are. Some are in decline, some may not look that attractive, but they all are warm and when you have been enjoying their hot mineral water you certainly come out purified and healthy. And that is the idea of a hot bath.

Funnily enough these baths are not too popular with the islanders. Maybe that is due to the old life when going to the springs was part of the Turkish life, a life that most Greeks want to forget. So only a few Greek people take advantage of these hot springs and that is maybe why they are still not only a blessing for your physical health but also a heaven for the mind because it is always quiet and peaceful there.

Tzeli's website has the name 'odoiporikon' what means 'always on the move'. Tzeli is always travelling. She moved from the island to the big city of Athens where she made a living with photographs of modern architecture. She went abroad to Italy where she studied and she travels to countries like India, Egypt and Korea. In between she returns to her island where she gets inspiration from the quietness, the stillness and the places where time seems to have stopped.

Tzeli's photo books reveal a part of the secret life of the island and not many people notice that these are so characteristic for Lesvos. When you open her books you will immediately recognize the atmosphere, even when you do not know the kafenion or the hot spring she captured on her photographs. Tzeli's pictures are as food for the soul. Check it out on her website: http://www.odoiporikon.com

Copyright © Smitaki 2005