Santorini - 1988

 
I returned to Santorini 20 years after my first visit.  At that time the construction had begun in earnest.  On the left you can see the spire and dome of the Catholic Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist and on the right, the Candlemas Orthodox Cathedral was under reconstruction.

Before my trip to Santorini, we baptised my firstborn son on April 23, the feast day of Saint George, in the little chapel on mount Lycabetus in Athens.  A rare storm had blown by earlier resulting in a crystal clear Spring day with deep blue skies, we thus had a beautiful view of Athens and its nearby islands.

In the evening of our arrival in Santorini, I went out for a walk in the little town of Fira.  It was cold and windy as on my first visit 20 years before. It was after sunset, a light rain had started and I was walking alone.  At one point another person was walking the opposite direction towards me. He was wearing a black raincoat and a hat with a wide flat rim similar to the one of Don Quixote.  He was the Monseigneur of the Catholic Cathedral which was originally built in 1823 and restored in 1970.  The picture above is how the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist looks today.  

Santorini - 1968

 I visited Santorini for the first time in 1968 while I was serving in the Greek Navy.  It was a stormy day something which is not unusual for the Cycladitic islands known for their strong winds.  We anchored by the southernmost cape called Akrotiri.  

At that time tourists had just discovered this unique island and some visited it on mules or donkeys.  

I visited the island on foot.  The most important site then was, as it is now, the Bronze age city Akrotiri.

Akrotiri became known due to the excavations conducted under the supervision of the archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos in 1967.  I was lucky that Professor Marinatos was on the site at the time of my visit and gave me a tour of the ancient city that was covered completely during the volcanic explosion more that three millennia ago.  It is few times in our lives that we meet in person eminent individuals like him. 

The Endurance was found in the Antarctic

 The Endurance, the lost vessel of the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, was found after107 years it sank at the bottom of Weddell Sea.  The ship was crushed by sea-ice and sank on November 21, 1915.

The crew began to haul three lifeboats over the ice but were able to go a short distance.  On January 21, 1916 a blizzard blew the floe north forcing Shackleton and his men to make an astonishing escape.  On April 9, 1916 after 7 harrowing days across ferocious seas they reached the Elephant island.  With the long dark winter days looming, and his men half-starved Shackleton decided to attempt to sail a 22 foot lifeboat to South Georgia.

On April 24, 1916 Shackleton and five men set sail for South Georgia a 750 mile trip. They reached the island after 17 days in stormy seas.

On May 20, 1916 after trekking the mountainous island they reached the whaling station.  Three days later they depart and return to Elephant island to rescue the stranded crew.  After several attempts using different boats, they reached Elephant island on August 30, 1916.  On September 3, 1916 Shackleton and his crew arrived at Punta Arenas, Chile. 

 

All 28 men survived! 

Even though the Endurance has been at a depth of 3000 meters of water, it is preserved in a remarkable condition with its timbers very much together, and the name - Endurance - clearly visible on the stern.

George Marston painting depicting Shackleton and the James Caird landing on South Georgia by Royal Geographic Society.

Long live Ukraine

The world enters the Nuclear age when the U.S. drops two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.

Four years later the USSR tests successfully its nuclear bomb and the nuclear age starts in earnest.

The world came close to nuclear war when the USSR wished to install intercontinental missiles in Cuba the range of which covered the entire U.S.  President Khrushchev asked his fleet to return to Russia when American warships moved to intercept them and thus a nuclear holocaust was averted.

President George Bush of the U.S. and the Secretary General of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev signed the historic nonproliferation treaty in 1991 which was the end of the Cold War between the two superpowers.

On Feb 21,2022 Russia recognises the two break away republics Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine's Dombas region.  Three days later Russia invades Ukraine from the North, East and South.

On Feb 28, 2022 President Putin places Russia's nuclear forces on high alert following a comment by the UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

I hope Ukraine and Russia reach an agreement in the United Nations session to be held soon allowing Ukraine to stay an independent country.  Then the US and EU lift their sanctions against Russia and the world to avoids a nuclear catastrophe.

The Year of the Tiger

February 1, 2022 is the first day of the Chinese New Year which according to the Chinese zodiac in 2022 is the Year of the Tiger.

Before the new year celebration was established, ancient Chinese gathered and celebrated the end of harvest in the autumn. 

Legends tell us that the Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called Nian which would eat villagers and their children and destroy their houses in the middle of the night.  Luck had that an an elderly man put red papers and set off firecrackers in the middle of the night after discovering what Nian was afraid off.  Following that night Nian never return to that village thus the Chinese prospered and multiplied.

The first mention of celebrating the start of a new year was recorded during the Han dynasty (220 BC - 220 AD).  in a book written by Cui Shi, "a celebration is described in which commemoration of ancestors and especially his father". The practice of worshiping ancestors on New Year's Eve is maintained in China to this day.  Also, on the days before the New Year, Chinese families clean their homes thoroughly as it is believed the cleaning sweeps bad luck and makes homes ready for good luck.

Chinese people believe that what you do at the beginning of the new year will affect your luck in the coming year.  Saying good wishes to family and friends when the clock strikes 12 will certainly bring good luck, so

Happy New Year my friends!

James Webb; looking into the Genesis of our Universe

 

The James Webb telescope is on its month-long journey to Lagrange point L2 after its successful launch on December 25, 2021.  Point L2 is almost 1 million miles away from the Earth.

The Webb will look beyond to what the Hubble has already looked at.  As more distant objects are more redshifted and their light is in the near-infrared their observation requires an infrared telescope this is why the Webb was designed for.

The Webb will be able to look at the first galaxies and the first stars after the Big Bang, at the Genesis of our Universe .

View of the Andromeda galaxy taken by the Herschel Space Observatory an infrared telescope built by the European Space Agency.  The primary difference between the Webb and Herschel is their wavelength range and also the diameter of Webb's mirror is 6.5 meters and the Herschel's 3.5 meters.  The Hubble, the Webb and the Herschel will provide information that will allow astronomers to look and understand the early phases of our Universe.

The James Webb on Jan 24, 2022 reached its orbit 1 million miles from Earth and will begin looking back to the time the first starts and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago and provide information about the origin of our Universe. 

                                     Credit to all images is due to NASA and ESA.

The return

 

The city of Columbus and its airport John Glenn International.

On the taxiway.  The control tower is seen on the left.

On the way to New York at dusk.  The curvature of the Earth hopefully will convince the Flat Earth society members to change their minds.

I am now in the land of the blue skies and seas, the land I was born at and I call home.