I Got Myself Into One Hell of a Sticky Situation

I Got Myself Into One Hell of a Sticky Situation

I got myself into a sticky situation in a white van. Not this van, though. This is Greece. The incident occurred in Madera Island, Portugal. But the van that I was driving at the time looked very similar to this. So, this is a village on the Greek island of Hios, but there is much to explain ahead about what happened in Madera. So, here we go. A day of exploring Hios Island, Greece. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey there, Caliimera. Good morning. I just bonked my head on Whatever that is. Is that a lemon? Lemon or a lime? Anyways, today is Monday, September 15th. Currently, 73° F. That is 23° C. A somewhat unexpectedly hazy, cloudy, coolish day back in Greece. Shios or Hios Island, my 67th Greek island. I flew here from Madera layover in Frankfurt, Germany for the night and then a flight to Athens and another flight here to Hios. So, back in Greece for the 19th time. I know that not everybody will be happy about it and some will, but uh I am continuing with my quest to see as many Greek islands as I can. Getting close to seeing all of the main ones. Really the only main ones left for me to see are Samothraki Forny and I’m going to Forny from here in 3 days and Castellarizo are the only ones I can think of. Of course, there are lots and lots of little Greek islands, including Sara, which is right next to uh Hio’s here. And I looked into going there, but uh for one thing, the fairies were complicated. Not many fairies going there. And also there was zero accommodation on Booking.com. If there’s nothing on Booking.com, I’m not quite sure how to find a place to stay. I’m sure that it is possible because there are 4 or 500 people who live there. Must be some guest houses. It looks fairly nice. But uh anyways, that isn’t happening this time. So, I just uh checked out of uh my place there where I stayed for the past three nights, but didn’t film at all. Just walked around the uh town here and I was focused on editing my videos of Madera. The weather was much nicer the past couple days. It was absolute perfect clear sunny skies. So this is a little bit of a surprise. But uh still it is pleasantly cool, not chilly at all. It will warm up throughout the day. It is 11:00 in the morning. Not sure what the forecast is the next couple of days. I checked the forecast before coming here and it was showing all sun and potter but uh we are getting close to fall so weather is variable. Anyways, it is going to be a good day for exploring. I have a rental car for the next 3 days. €40. That is $47 US. That beats the hell out of €122. on uh Madera Island. 143 bucks for a rental car there. Actually, a van, the cheapest thing that I could find at the airport. And then room price is much better here as well, €65. So, uh I am very glad to be back in Greece. Here is the car and really looking forward to exploring this island. There is a lot to see. It is the fifth largest Greek island and the 10th largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Still, it is not really that big compared to Oh, man. All this stuff is a little heavy. I got uh various things to munch and sip on there. And so it is one of the larger islands in the Mediterranean, but still it isn’t really that big compared to Cit, Sicily, Sardinia, Aia, etc. So it’ll take you an hour to drive to one side and then another hour to drive to another side. And so I have a uh room reserved for the next two nights in the south. And then I am back in the same place where I was the past three nights for my last night before I catch the ferry to Fory in uh 3 days. So uh there you go. That is the situation. I am always glad to come back to Greece and see more, dive deeper into this country with so much to explore. So uh let’s get out of here and uh go see what we can see. Although actually first before getting out of town, let’s go see some more of Chio’s town because uh there is quite a bit to see here. Not going to spend too much time, but I want to show uh the castle and then I will drive up to the windmills. This is a free parking lot, so going to stay parked here, drop the stuff, and then uh get out and explore town. All right. So, here we are at the pedestrian street. I was very curious to see what it was going to be like on a Monday during the day because it has been so variable over the past few days. So, I arrived on Friday evening and checked into my place which is just a few minutes walk up that way and then came down here and it was absolutely jam-packed on a Friday evening and then I came back the next day, Saturday during the day around this time and it was an absolute ghost town. everything closed up. And so I was kind of surprised Saturday afternoon or middle of the day or whatever that it would be so completely dead. And then that evening it was also very quiet. And then it was also completely dead on Sunday. I think later in the evening it got a little bit busier, but it was just interesting the stark contrast. Friday night slammed and then the rest of the weekend just dead quiet. So up ahead is the main square and then that goes into the uh castle. And so I will walk in there. You just walk in. There’s no ticket entrance. Yeah. So, it is really happening today for some reason. Weekends everybody is somewhere else. Apparently, this is a very local island. much much less tourism than uh many of the other Greek islands. So, I’m definitely getting a sense that it’s basically all local people around, especially now being midepptember. We are outside of the uh tourist high season. But uh in general, EOS is just not such a popular uh tourist destination. [Music] So here the main square, nice square. There’s a whole construction zone going on out there, which looks like it’s a project that will make it very nice once it’s completed. But, uh, for now, it’s just all [Music] dug up and off limits. But, uh, a bunch of statues. I would be very curious to come back here again when that is completed and see what it’s like. and the sun coming out. All right, so uh let’s head for the old city castle walls. So big ship there. That is the port right there. very convenient for uh when I uh need to get on the ferry in three days, then I will just walk from my room down to the port. Here we go into the old town. And so you just walk in and then it is a cool scene right here. There are restaurants and I guess homes that are still lived in. [Music] So it is a uh living castle quite uh unique that they have made it [Music] a lively place and then it just kind of goes into a regular neighborhood here. And it just keeps on going streets and buildings like that and then here a break in the wall and then more of the wall that way. But uh I am going to uh wrap around and make a loop back to the uh parking lots and show a little bit more along the way. So when I was first inquiring about rental cars, I stopped here. Tons of uh rental car companies there right near the port. I stopped into two different places and they both quoted around 70 or 80 and I knew that I should be able to get uh a car for cheaper than that. So then I was walking back this way, stopped at another place and got the €40 deal. So uh let’s now go show the water. Sara glory. So, I guess that is probably going to Sara Island. Kind of a medium-sized ferry, which looks very small compared to this one. Whoa. So, is this a ferry or a cruise ship? SH Diana. It’s not showing the uh ferry company on the side, which usually they do. So, I’m wondering if it’s a cruise ship. That definitely looks a lot more like a cruise ship welcome than a ferry. And it’s not docked for vehicles to get off. So, I guess it must be a cruise ship. And so then you have this uh street and uh sidewalk along here with lots of restaurants. And so these restaurants were busy on Saturday and Sunday evening. So this was where the action was on the weekend. And out there is Turkey. We are very very close. You can take a ferry over to Turkey from here. A nice sailboat here. Pangia. And then here is where I will head back to the parking lot and get cruising out of town. And so here is quite an interesting mural. I’m not sure what it is depicting. [Music] A big uh sailing ship. Man and a woman. The sea. [Music] Very interesting design. Who is this guy? Maybe this explains [Music] [Music] and then a priest. [Music] Huh. [Music] Okay, I’m going to walk back to the car and then let’s go check out these Kios windmills. [Music] Aios, Menace, Calamotei, Pygi, Mesta, Karas. Lots of places to see on the island. There is a fair amount of traffic here, which is one of the reasons why I don’t tend to prefer the larger islands, but it should get a lot at the roundabout. Take the first exit. It should get a lot easier once I get out of town. Here on the right there, more of the old city walls. putting some gas in the tank. As I mentioned in my last video on Madera Island where I was referencing filling up the uh gas tank on the Azors and I ran into a situation with the uh payments. I will finish this in a second. So in Portugal on both the Azors and Madera then I had to pump my own gas. Now it’s not a huge deal. I don’t mind doing it, but given the choice, I much prefer the fact that they pump your gas uh for you here in Greece. Everywhere you go in Greece, you just pull up and they deal with it because there can be some complications with sometimes just trying to figure out how to open the little, you know, hatch to access the gas tank can be an issue. And then paying can definitely be an issue. as I discussed uh with that situation in the Azors and various other things can come up when you’re dealing with foreign cars, foreign gas station, foreign payment situations, etc. So, I like the fact that uh they pump it for you here in Greece. All right, we are at the windmills and some other old ruins. I guess part of the windmills there as well. So it looks like these are definitely old windmills as well. They date back to the 14th century, 1300s when the Genoies arrived and so that would be Italians and introduced this technology to the island. So, these ones falling apart, but those ones in much better shape. Now, I’m sure that those aren’t from the uh 14th century, but I guess the original ones out there, a couple of fairies. And beyond once again, Turkey. And so the sky is looking nice and clear out that way west across the island. The clouds are hovering just right along the eastern edge of the island and out to Turkey. But uh looks like we should have some nice uh weather for the day. It would be nice to take a swim. So here the uh windmills that have been restored and are in very good condition, including the uh what do you call the sails? quite impressive. So, are those the original things? I mean, they aren’t actually the original. Oh, I’m just realizing. Okay. Cuz I was thinking, well, they’re very small, but now I can see they’re partially wrapped up and so they can be unfurled and then uh they would be bigger to catch the wind. So, I’m now somewhere very historical. But first, got some munchies to munch on for brunch. We have some tomato olive crackers. This is really a random assortment. Bought at different times. So, I just wanted cheese, but they didn’t have just cheese at the market that I was at this morning. And so, this is cheese with I guess ham to go with the crackers. Let’s see. Oat bites. That is from the airplane. Kit Kat from the airplane. This goes along with what’s in the box. Some pastries that I bought a couple of days ago. A fruit tart and a cherry cheesecake. Another little thing from the plane. Some peanuts left over from last night where I had a drink. And some milk. All right. So, we are at Dascalo Petra, which translates to Homer’s stone. So Homer of course was the 8th century BC Greek poet who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad and the Odyssey describe the Trojan War, the final year of the Trojan War, and then the 10-year journey from Troy back to Greece. And so, it is a foundational work of literature in Greek history. And the reason why we know about the Trojan War, which is not 100% confirmed to have actually occurred, but very likely did. I visited the ancient city of Troy, which is in Turkey. I think that was last year. So, they confirmed the city does in fact exist. And so Homer’s stone is where Homer would apparently sit and recite his written works or rather he orally recited what later became written works. But I think it is not 100% certain whether they were actually written down during his lifetime or only recited orally and then written down later. But uh anyways, he was here and reciting those very works that we know so well and which have shaped our understanding of uh the history of the region. So there is also a shrine of Cybo, a mother goddess having Friian origins and associated with wildlife, the creative forces of the earth and fertility worship mainly in the Greek cities of Asia Minor, Ephesus, Mirina, Militus. So Ephesus also in Turkey, but that region was Greek. Cibbo was worshiped at an outdoor shrine of the 6th century BC at Dascalo Petra site at the foot of Mount Apos near a water spring gushing from a cavernous opening on the rock. Okay, so I guess this is it. And this circle was the uh sanctuary, the sacred site and then the uh stone Okay. But we haven’t seen the Homer’s stone yet, which is apparently one that looks like it would be good for sitting in. Okay, maybe it’s up these stairs here. Okay, this isn’t it either. This is the Pasha’s fountain. According to references, in the 15th century, a Genoies scholar founded Villa Home inside a forest of pine trees nearby, a spring of crystal clear water. So, Hios Island along with much of uh this part of Greece was occupied by the Ottomans and a very tragic massacre occurred here on Hios Island in the early 1800s as the Greeks were trying to uprise and claim back their uh freedom from the uh Ottoman occupation. And so I think tens of thousands of local Greeks were killed in that massacre. Okay, but where is the Homer’s stone? We missed it somehow. Well, I am confused about where the uh Homer’s stone is. There was clear signage for the sanctuary of Cybo and then Pasha’s fountain, but seeing nothing for Homer’s stone, unless it’s further up here. Well, doesn’t seem like this could be it. So, as I walk back and poke around a little bit more and try to find it, I’m going to tell a story from my last day on Madera Island when I got myself into a sticky situation. So, as I uh discussed in that video, then there was a little confusion with the parking situation because the parking meter would only take €170 exactly or less. It wouldn’t take more than that. And I had four euro coins and 30 cents in smaller coins. And so I was trying to put in €3 and it kept spitting it out and eventually asked somebody and they explained and so then I put in the €130 and had kind of limited time. So I go walking around Funch and then conclude the video and uh head back to my rental van and fortunately no parking ticket. So it is a 22inut drive from Funchaw the capital and Maine city of Madera to the Madera airport. Fortunately I had extra time. So I plug the airport into Google and start uh driving through the winding streets. Now, I have to say Madera is definitely one of the most challenging places I’ve ever driven. A lot of very uh narrow winding roads all over the island and Funchal, the capital city, is especially confusing. So, I’m following the directions and then I get to a point where I think that I need to turn right onto this uh narrow street. And so, I turn in and to the best of my recollection, I saw no sign saying do not enter one way. I turn in, it is so narrow that there are no cars parked. It is literally like, you know, 6 in a foot maximum on either side of the van is uh these buildings just straight all the way down and it is a long long block. So, I turn in and then I am partway down the block and I see another car coming towards me and realize, “Oh crap, this is a one-way street.” And how the hell am I going to turn the van around here? I uh see the car coming and then I can see another one behind it. And so there is a small little pullout spot just on the right side. I think that it was in front of a garage with a door, but uh the door is closed, but there is like 3 ft or something like that extra compared to the rest of the alley. Okay, I’m going to uh walk down and check out the beach. So, I uh quickly kind of jet forwards in order to get to that wider spot and start trying to turn the van around. It doesn’t take long before I realize, oh crap, this is not going to work. There is not enough room. I mean, you can turn a vehicle around in a space that is barely larger than the vehicle. I’ve been in that situation before once when I also ended up on a one-way street that was in Greece and a car was coming. I had to turn around and you have to do like a lot of uh you know like this. But with a few inches on either side, you can actually turn it around. But I eventually realized this is impossible. It cannot happen. Now sometimes when you are in a high pressure situation, you get so focused on the thing you’re trying to do that you forget about other options. And so I forgot about just trying to back up, which would have been the most direct way to do it. Now, this would have been certainly challenging in a van down a alley that is barely wider than the van. No uh window through the uh van in the back, but there was a backup camera, so it certainly could have been uh done. And then once I got to the other street, backing up there would have certainly been quite uh difficult, but I could have done it. But I was so focused on trying to figure out how to turn the van around that uh I didn’t think to just back up. And so that car stops, the car behind it stops. More cars start coming up. People are walking along and trying to get by me because I’m now like, you know, wedged in basically between these walls and trying to figure out, okay, what’s the way out of this because this is almost looking impossible. And then I came up with a solution, which was to pull into that slightly wider spot, let all of the cars pass, and then zoom out of there before another car could come down the uh street towards me. And so it was a bit of a uh challenge getting back straightened out and then getting into that spot because there was so little room to work with. And so cars are backing up. Fortunately, nobody honking. They were doing their best to uh be patient there. And so I managed to pull into that uh little space there. The van is still out in the lane, but there is enough room for cars to pass. So, seven, eight cars had backed up by that point. They pass. I go to pull out and then I see a car coming down. I wait for it. I go to pull out. Another car starts coming down. I wait for it. And then that one passes and then I have free clearance. I go for it. Jet down. Get out of there and uh get out of that situation. But uh this is one reason why I figured it was best to leave a little bit early just uh in case because I knew that getting out of that town could be challenging. And then I end up going a wrong direction at one point that takes me a few more minutes out of my way. But uh eventually I get uh out of town, hit a gas station, fill up the tank, get to the airport, and I am like 30 minutes earlier than I needed to be or something like that. Okay, so I saw some people at that restaurant and asked them about the Homer’s stone, and he said it’s right up there with the other things. So, let’s give it one more try to try to see it. Okay, there’s a woman here. I’m going to see if she might have seen the uh Homer stone. I don’t know. Okay. Not sure which. I have. Yes, there was a sign for for it. Cyel Cyel Sanctuary up there. English. Yes. It’s okay. It’s okay. From here and uh read and somewhere up there. Yeah. From here. Okay. Okay. So, uh right and right. Okay. So, she’s pointing me back at the uh civil sanctuary. It should be a rock that has a seed in it. So, I wonder if maybe this is the Homer stone because that is a seat right there, I guess. But, uh I thought this sign didn’t mention it all. It just says shrine of Cybo. According to some interpretations, the name Dascalopetra comes from the Italian word skolio, synonym of rock. Now notice Petra petrified. Petrified wood is like rock. So from the Greek and so it’s sounding like maybe it’s actually a mistransation. According to some interpretations, the name dascalopetro comes from the Italian word skoglio, synonym of rock, which sounded like and therefore was erroneously translated to dascalio meaning school or teacher in Greek. The latter being a commonly used place name at the innumerable eyelets and rocky coastal sites in Hios and elsewhere. Due to this fallacy, the outcropping throne-like rocky formation in the center of the shrine and the surrounding low benches were accordingly mistaken and eventually subsumed in the local folk tradition identified as the school of Homer. Hence, an extremely strong myth was created which appealed to many travelers who visited the island in the medieval and modern times in search of Homer. Okay, I see. So, maybe he wasn’t actually here. Now he died on Eos Island which is in the AGNC but when I was on Ithaca Island or Ethaki then there was the school of Homer there and that is the exact opposite side of Greece. So I guess maybe it isn’t actually confirmed that he was here. [Music]

While exploring the Greek island of Chios I tell the story of getting into a difficult situation with my rental car on the island of Madeira, Portugal. You can watch Part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II-ylWEAI8M
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Music during the video (in order):

“7th Floor Tango” by Silent Partner
&
“Mount Olympus” & “Heraklion” by Trabant 33
&
“West Coast Trip” by Gunnar Olsen

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Video created by Gabriel Morris, who is the owner of all video or photo content. Filmed with a DJI Osmo Action: https://amzn.to/3gSi8rA

Gabriel is a budget traveler, outdoors enthusiast and travel writer who has been adventuring around the world since his first trip to Europe in the summer of 1990 when he was 18 years old. He is author of “Following My Thumb”, “Gabe’s Guide to Budget Travel” and several other books.

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