The Runner

On my second day in Athens, all of the "Fulbrighters" packed our bags (I never got time to actually unpack my bags after arriving from Philadelphia the day before) and took a ferry ride for a little over an hour to the island of Aegina.  We had a two day orientation there that consisted, at least in part, of getting to hear two local experts lecture on antiquities in the area.  This was followed up with tours of two temples on the island dating from the B.C. era.  I will discuss these in a later posting and provide some pictures of the temples.

However, for this posting I want to focus on a dinner that we were all invited to on the Thursday evening of the orientation.  The dinner was at the home of Costas Varotsos, a world-renowned sculptor, who lives with his family on the island.  His home is on top of a mountain that overlooks the Aegean Sea.  The topmost picture is the view from his patio.  It is breathtaking.  If you look real close, you will notice tiny fiber optic lights in the patio itself that give the patio the appearance of having stars.

The photo below is of Costa's sculpture, The Runner, which is in Athens near the Hilton Hotel.  He specializes in working with plates of glass.  Again, if you look closely you will notice that the sculpture is made up of hundreds of sheets of cut glass layered on top of each other.  This medium does give the appearance of the "runner" breaking the wind.

Costas was a former Fulbright recipient to the United States several years ago.  We had a wonderful dinner and then he gave us a tour of his studio, which was in the basement, again with a great view of the sea.  There were many sheets of glass ready to be shaped.  The visit to Aegina was memorable, but this was the most memorable.  If you are interested in visiting his website, it is www.costasvarotsos.gr.