Thursday 20 October 2016

another greek wedding on another greek island

Another Greek wedding, this time on the island of Lefkada, a car journey 6 hours north.  Our accomodation and most of the food and drink were paid for by the families so it was our pleasure to join in the celebrations!  Lefkada is another island which is just minutes away from the mainland, joined in fact by a floating bridge.  

It was a 6 hour drive up along the wonderful sounding road systems called Olympia and Ionion Highway, both under construction and with endless detours and one way lanes lined with orange and white traffic cones.  One day, sometime, in the future, when these motorways are open Greece will have a magnificent network of roads from north to south.



Αποτέλεσμα εικόνας για rio antirio bridge

Half way up we 'sailed' over this impressive bridge which joins one half of Greece with the other.  It is called the Rio-Antirio bridge and besides being impressive to look at it also has an impressive toll of 13.30 euros.  Coming back we took the car ferry which crosses right under the bridge and is half the price.

We continued up past the wetlands of Messalonghi where Lord Byron died of fever in 1824 while fighting for the independence of the Greeks from the Turks, stopping only for a half litre of wine and a quick meze. 

Lefkada is one of the islands of the Ionian sea, along with Corfu and Ithaki.  It is also the closest island to Skorpios, the once private island of Aristotle Onasis, now owned by a Russian billionaire.  You can cruise around the island but landing is prohibitied unless you want to be 'shown off' by  a kalashnikov .



My photos are a bit blurry but you will have some idea of the atmosphere.  The church was very small and most of us once again stood outside, socialising, while the ceremony took place inside with the family and bridal couple  in attendance. This photo is of the chandelier but also the image of Christ on the ceiling.  The icon oddly seemed 'back-to-front' for the congregation.  To see it properly you had to be standing where the priest stands.








The old lady in black is dressed in traditional costume.  The skirt was long and black with hundreds of tiny pleats and her head was covered in a black veil like scarf.  I saw quite a few of these elderly ladies dressed in the costume of days gone by.  It is not often that you see this local dress nowadays.



Tuille bags of rice given out towards the end of the service.  Once upon a time rice was thrown at the couple as they did 'the dance of Isaiah', led by the priest three times around the altar.  Rice is a symbol of prosperity and fertility.  If you were in the front of the crowd when the rice was thrown you got a head full of rice grains to take home with you too.  Nowadays rice is only thrown outside the church because it is such a nuisance to sweep up.







The very happy couple

They had a  full moon on their wedding day, a full moon closer than usual to the earth, very bright and clear over the island of Lefkada.  At around 11pm  we were also shaken by a 5.5 earthquake.  It was centred around the town of Ioannina about an hour north.  Music was really ear splitting loud as it is always at greek weddings and many of the guests were dancing when the quake hit. The earth shook and the Greeks danced on. 

At the last wedding we were drenched by a summer downpour, this time it was an earthquake. Our Greek weddings are always ones to be remembered.













15 comments:

  1. Greece. One day I will make my way down there.
    Hope the quake didn't do serious damage.

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  2. It was quite a shallow quake and did a little damage. Nothing major.

    Greece in may..the best time for a visit, or late September. Nice temps. Locals relaxed, a little bit of green. Hope you make it.

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  3. Nice photos.. and I came to know little about Greek wedding.. thanks for sharing..

    Please visit: http://from-a-girls-mind.blogspot.com

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  4. What fabulous pictures. Such a good looking couple. The earthquake is like the one at the start of the film Lara Croft.

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    1. Haven't seen Lara croft. This one certainly didn't dampen anyone's spirits....but that would be hard here after a few glasses of wine and the zorba type music

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    2. sorry this isnt very big on the screen but you can just make it out

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPP8LShY0ik

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    3. See what you mean Sol. Classic wedding! Glad we don't live on Santorini

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  5. I so enjoy the sunshine, detail and humour of your posts! They definitely brighten these cold and dark mornings. I also love your line "the earth shook and the Greeks danced on"!

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    1. Ahhhh Elaine. Your comments are sunshine to my ears! I love writing this blog. The Greeks will ALWAYS dance on . Don't think you could stop them! These family interludes are always enjoyablr

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  6. Was it a Greek Orthodox wedding? I once stood at the back of a Ukranian Orthodox church in Warsaw. Everybody stood up and the priest sang the service. Incredibly beautiful.

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    1. Greek orthodox it was and must be very similar to the Ukraine. It is all very casual. Sometimes the congregation talk too loudly and the priest will stop the service and remind them they are in church and to keep the noise down! The chanting can be beautiful....or down right grating depending on the voice. But everyone enjoys the ritual and the socialising!!

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  7. Hello! You came and visited my blog, so I'm having a look at yours. I am going to be reading back over the next while because Greece is one place I am determined to visit! Those weddings sound like quite the events. -Jenn

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  8. Hi there. Thanks for visiting my blog. I enjoyed reading about your sights and sounds. I love reading about life elsewhere!!

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  9. We drove over that bridge when we visited Greece five years ago!
    We saw it on snow called mega structures I think. So it was on the to do list.
    Yup no matter what. Greeks will dance through it. I'm sure if there were any Greeks on the titanic they were dancing while it sank!

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