My love for the air – I mean in the air-travel – is not great. But I agreed to go on this journey by helicopter in Peloponnesus. Half work, half curiosity and much of concern.

Once the helicopter rose smoothly (no airplane can rise smoother!) the picture made me forget all my fears. The awe is clearly greater than the fear…

So for the first time I had the chance to look the places I have traveled countless times from above and discover a different kind of geography, playing an original trivia «find what village is it?” Trying to combine landscapes, streets, beaches and islands seen for the first aloft from there. From the perspective of a bird. A picture which only by helicopter you can feel and enjoy.

 

Undoubtedly the most beautiful pictures are the coastal ones. I especially enjoyed flying over the coasts of Argolis and Spetses (from where the few photos posted are taken). It was evening and the light was gorgeous. The breeze refreshed us coming from the open windows.

“What are you thinking now that fly over the Argolis?” asked Fokion, my co-traveller.

“Perseus …” I replied, bringing the microphone close to the mouth and explained why I was thinking of Perseus, the mythological hero of Serifos island as I was flying over the Argolis region.

But it was because Perseus was flying too… (after wearing the winged sandals of Hermes of course). He could even fly like an invisible helicopter, like a stealth (after wearing the helmet of Athena)!

 

 

“And why winged Perseus came my in mind, as I was flying over Argolis?” you may ask. But it was just because Perseus was born in Argos at the palace of King Akrisios. His mom was Danae and his dad was the great God Zeus himself. Zeus, in order to make love with Danae, was transformed into golden rain and sneaked into the basement of the palace where the bad king Acrisius (Danae’s father) had locked his daughter (not to make him a grandson, who, according to prophecy, would kill him and would take the throne). Poor Danae got pregnant from Zeus and eventually gave birth to Perseus in Argos. Then Acrisius took the mother and the infant and put them in a chest – Perseus was just … three months old- and dropped them in the sea, in the bay of Argolis. The same bay which we were staring at high from our helicopter. The chest with Danae and Perseus came floating in Serifos island, where Perseus grew … and the rest is another story.

When I finished the story in the helicopter no one talked. Everyone was watching the panorama of the colorful fields and the coasts of Argolis over which Palamidi and Akronafplia castles appeared, in the rose and purple colors of the sunset. On those castles it is where we landed at Nafplion. And left our helicopter…

Our winged “Perseus”, in aluminum and with a shinning single engine, turned  the rotor in a shrilling sound and greeted us as it was flying high…

What can we do? Birds we are not alas …