But while sex,drugs,rock ‘n’ roll and shopping for shoes might top the lists of most of the people around us as we make our way through Chora,the main town,our little shore excursion group from Celestyal Cruises’ seven-night Idyllic Aegean cruise has something else on its mind:mosaics,the ancient art of sticking tiny bits of stuff together to see the bigger picture.
It’s early afternoon and the air is still and sultry in the labyrinthine alleyways of Chora,famous for its painted streets,whitewashed buildings and the line of photogenic windmills that lord it over the town.
The streets are starting to throng when we are ushered through a modest doorway into the tree-filled,open-air oasis of Cafe Manto. Here,in a calm hush that’s a delightful contrast to the burgeoning bustle outside,a long table is set aside for us.
It’s groaning with small shards of stone,mirrored glass,and ceramics – all sorted on to plates by colour – and at each place setting there’s a picture frame and a series of tools that includes large tweezers and pincers. Welcome to mosaic making 101.
Our teacher is Irene Syrianou,who grew up here and on the nearby island of Delos (itself a huge repository of ancient ruins and beautiful mosaics) and who now has a shop in the town where she sells her own artworks,all cut by hand using old methods.
She has also been teaching the art of mosaics for 20 years,so we are in good hands. Or at least I hope so because the picture frame in front of me,which is filled with a thin layer of wet mortar,is as blank as my mind. It’s only about 20 centimetres square but it might as well be the Sistine Chapel because all my creative juices have drained away faster than an ouzo at a Greek wedding.
Luckily,Syrianou has thought of this and the table is also littered with photographs and drawings of designs to emulate should one’s muse flee back to the ship to get hammered on piña colada.