Lesvos or Lesbos

Nine hours in the Dublin airport and another 11 hours in the Athens airport,  and I finally made it to the island of Lesvos.  Or Lesbos.  And the capital is Mytilene or Mitilini or Mytilini.  Apparently they like to spell things many ways here just to confuse those of us who are not from here.  Given the chaos of the Athens airport and all of the gate changes, along with the fact that the name of the island was written in Greek and didn't match any of the spellings above, I was just happy I made it on the right plane. 

I walked out of the airport and the Aegean Sea was across the street.  One big wave and it could flood the airport.   And directly across from the airport and over the Aegean, lies the cliffs of Turkey.  The air smells heavenly and the water is the same beautiful blue you see in the Mediterranean. George met me at the airport for the drive to Molyvos on the north side of the island where the retreat center is located. 

The drive is approximately 70 minutes and most of it reminded me of driving in the mountains of Colorado.  Steep, narrow, and winding roads  over mountain passes and through the pine trees.   Not the same elevation as the mountains of Colorado, but the scenery is very similar.  Swap out the olive trees, which are everywhere as there are 11 million of them on the island, for some scrub oak, aspens,  and pinion and you might believe you were in the Rockies.  We drove past towns with churches perched on top of rocks and Molyvos has a beautiful castle on the hill that dominates the town, which is spectacularly lit up at night.  I can’t wait to see it all in the daylight.

I was the last to arrive, everyone else got here this morning, and they all generously waited up to greet me.  We will have longer conversations tomorrow as I had been up since 6:30 am yesterday morning and I am not sure I can string two sentences together.  Sleep should come easily, not only because I am tired, but because it is beautifully dark and quiet here.  Almost too quiet.  The only exception is the cats fighting outside my door, staking claim to their spot for the evening. 

The adventure begins in the morning.  I can't wait to see what the next three weeks bring.  ❤️