GARRY MARCHANT

PUBLISHED IN: Islands Magazine; International Herald Tribune; Asian Business Travel; Holiday Asia; Martell Elite; Skyward (JAL inflight); Vogue China; Westworld; Morning Calm; The Australian; Winds; Where (Paris); Hong Kong Business; Discovery; Silkroad; Sawasdee; Dynasty; HolidayMaker; The Correspondent; SpaChina.

BOOKS: Contributed to Away From Home, Canadian Writers in Exotic Places, 1985; Our American Cousins, 1987; That Reminds Me...Canadian authors relive their most embarrassing moments, 1990; Traveler's Tales Hong Kong, 1996; Voyages, the Romance of Cruising, 1999; Paris City Spots 1996; and numerous guidebooks.

AWARDS: 1993 Pacific Area Travel Association Journalist Award; 2001 ASEANTA Award for Excellence, Best ASEAN Article.

Phone: 33146643310
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» word_merchant@compuserve.com

Mythical Origins and Ouzo Murmurs

by GARRY MARCHANT, The Weekend Australian

Standing on the mountainside where the Greek Olympian gods summered, all we can see is a dense, wet fog, and soggy trees. Then a fortuitous wind blows away the wreaths of mist, and far below us stretches the lush Pelion Peninsula. It is a striking vista of traditional fishing villages set in small bays, ancient cliffside monasteries, orchards, forests, and, just below, sprawling Volos, home port of the mythical seafarers Jason and the Argonauts.

Most tourists to Greece head for the sunny islands for the beach resorts and the nightlife. Many Greeks, instead, spend their summers in these mountains and on these rugged shores north of Athens. So following a Greek friend's advice, I head for central Greece with my traveling companion, a lady with a vivid imagination. Our timing may be wrong; it is mid-winter, with the only other tourists skiers heading for the snowy peaks.

This is the Greece of myth and mystery, of the Argonauts, the nymphs, Zeus, Poseidon and other Greek gods. In mythological times, centaurs, with a man's upper body and a horse's lower body, roamed these wild mountains. Lecherous inebriates, these hybrids terrorized mortals, abducting women and harassing men.

For full article contact Garry Marchant at word_merchant@compuserve.com