All literature is a geography: in the novel, certainly, La Mancha Don Quixote; in theater, should not be thinking a lot about to anchor in Stratford upon Avon; in poetry, please do not hesitate to stop somewhere in Madrid to read Don's sonnets Francisco de Quevedo and feel, for a moment, dust and ashes love sense. And in order, the homeland of all travel writer can not be other than Ithaca, where the best sea captains was king, the great Ulysses frivolous soul, fine intelligence, calling a liar, irrepressible womanizer and brave heart.
Ithaca is a great little island full of small hills and plains with little, and an excellent natural harbor, Vathy, ideal refuge for ships in stormy weather or as a hideout for pirates, a job that was not far removed from our Ulises. Homer described it as "bad for horses and good for goats" and today we might well say that is good for trekking and horrible for aircraft, it is so steep that it is impossible to build an airport.
if a claimant is not, or king, or a human being ambitious, and not even aspire to a greater or lesser townhouse estate, Ithaca is certainly a good place to stay and live
Therefore, and because no monuments and beaches, tourism has not destroyed. Still a little on the island of Odysseus: mansa, distant, where the best way to spend time knitting and unraveling can be, as did Penelope, in the real del mar. I can not understand how those epic suitors from far insisted on competing for the love of gain Penelope, convinced that Odysseus was dead. The King of Ithaca, also, was poor, and his palace had to be little more than the equivalent of today's semi-detached house, the reach of any middle-class pocket (before the housing boom, course, palaces that put the price of flats).
But if a claimant is not, or king, or a human being ambitious, and not even aspire to a greater or lesser townhouse estate, Ithaca is certainly a good place to stay and live. No wonder you always wanted to go back Ulises ..., but yes, a little late, after getting a few in the world Garbee, few women seduce (Circe, Calypso, Nausicaá, Who knows if the goddess Athena ...) and meet people and faraway lands that had never seen if she remains as the king of his people redneck.
Imagine a place where they can only be reached by ferry a few times a week, where there are restaurants that offer food such design ("Nothing on the plate, all in the mind ", defined by a friend of mine), and yacht clubs, no society "Jet" style Marbella, or new rich who boast of jewels in the sunset stroll along the boardwalk, and good beaches, or Hilton hotel chain (thus save you meet with Paris, the cloying bratty heiress). Imagine a place where there is only sun, blue sea, song of cicadas in summer, some vineyards and a restaurant, Tsiribis, where my friend Dimitris, owner, invites any Spanish it reaches a glass of wine and, dusk, if you like him, recites in the beginning of classical Greek Odyssey. He who does not believe me, prove to be.
The place exists, called Ithaca and Ulysses came to despise eternity offered Calypso provided back to the island of his birth. Do not feel nostalgia for their homeland!…, although it is likely that the poor Penelope had already lost teeth after twenty years of waiting.
JAVIER REVERTE
