Hippie Mysteries!

Remember hippies? They dressed in beads and fringes and they painted flowers on their cars and said 'Far out!' and 'Peace, man!' a lot. Well, before there were hippies there were beatniks. Beatniks wore black turtleneck sweaters, and drank espresso and discussed philosophy and read poetry and said 'Cool, Daddy-O!' In the 1950's and 1960's San Francisco was one of the most famous homes of beatniks and hippies.

One of their favourite meeting places was the famous City Lights Bookstore in a part of San Francisco known as North Beach. City Lights Bookstore is still there today – in 2005 – and it's hardly changed. You can still buy beatnik and hippie poetry and even see some beatniks and hippies. Most bookshops have categories like Best Sellers, Mystery & Crime, Children's etc. City Lights Bookstore does have a children's section, down in a musty basement right between Lesbian Literature and Muckraking. And guess what? They had a copy of The Pirates of Pompeii!

Here is a picture of me (in sunglasses and a turtleneck) holding that famous volume of hippie/beatnik literature in front of a door which is labelled I AM THE DOOR. I went with my brother Dan last week and we wandered around for a happy hour. At one point Dan saw a copy of a book called STEAL THIS BOOK by a hippie called Abbie Hoffman (a man). Dan tried to steal it, but the staff got very upset and he had to put it back... (Just joking! *hee*)

Just outside City Lights Bookstore is the famous Transamerica Pyramid. And that interesting green building to the right of it is owned by movie director Francis Ford Coppola. There is an Italian restaurant called Café Zoetrope there. Coppola also owns a vineyard in the Napa Valley.

One day I would like to own a vineyard. Or maybe a bookshop. One day I might even write some Hippie Mysteries.

I love San Francisco (never call it 'Frisco') and I would move there like a shot if it weren't so darned far from Italy and Greece and the British Museum. Also, it has all those pesky hills!

Still, maybe one day...

[The 17+ books in the Roman Mysteries series are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans as a topic in Key Stage 2. I have also written some Western Mysteries (set in the Wild West) and the Roman Quests series, a follow-on from the Roman Mysteries set in Roman Britain.]

Roman Mysteries in San Francisco

I wasn't planning to do any events while on holiday in California last week, but when San Francisco Latin teacher Bill Jennings sent me a cheerful email saying how much he liked my books, I couldn't resist. I offered to come speak at Convent of the Sacred Heart Elementary School and he accepted. He even put up pictures of the school on his great BLOG so that I could find it more easily.

A week of 80 degree heat had just ended and it was raining on the morning of Friday 18 March when my husband Richard and I took BART from Fremont into San Francisco. We found out that Sacred Heart Convent School for Girls is in one of San Francisco's most beautiful areas, the quiet residential area called Pacific Heights. The building is so beautiful and famous that it is listed in most guide books.

The lucky girls who attend have daily stunning views of the San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. When we arrived we were warmly welcomed by Anne Wachter, the gracious head teacher of the school. She let Richard choose a spot at the end of the salon to sit and paint a watercolour. Then she took me across the street to Herbst House where I met Latin teacher Bill Jennings and his charming students.

For about 45 minutes I told them how I came up with the idea for the Roman Mysteries and how I get ideas from Garfield cartoons, my family and the Cambridge Latin Course. The girls were a fab audience and laughed in all the right places. I look forward to hearing from some of them and want to give a special hello to Catherine, who introduced my books to Mr Jennings. As her reward, she will receive a FREE copy of The Colossus of Rhodes, only just out in England and not due out in America for at least a year.

Maximas gratias tibi ago, Magister Jennings!

The Colossus of Rhodes!

FAIL! No straddling!

by Caroline Lawrence (author of The Roman Mysteries)

OK. Let's get one thing straight.

The Colossus of Rhodes DID NOT STRADDLE THE HARBOUR.
Fun though that might have been: sailing underneath and looking up as you entered the harbour. He probably stood in a sanctuary on a hill behind Rhodes Town where he could have been seen for miles.

Before I tell you some TRUE facts, let me correct some common misconceptions about Rhodes and the Colossus. (BTW, Colossus just means a "colossal" or "massive" figure.)

1. He did NOT straddle the harbour.
[They didn't have the technology]
2. He did NOT wear nappies/tunic.
[He would have been nude]
3. He was NOT based on Statue of Liberty.
[It was based on HIM!]
4. He is NOT still standing today.
[He was toppled, & later chopped up for scrap & carried away]
5. He did NOT have a big old beard.
[unlike this early cover version (left) for The Colossus of Rhodes]

Here are some TRUE facts about the massive statue and the island of Rhodes.

FAIL! (too small)

(I get most of these facts from Pliny the Elder, who wrote about the Colossus in his Natural History, book 34, section 18. You can check these facts in the Loeb edition, which has Latin on the left hand page and English on the right.)

I. It represented the Sun god (fuit Solis colossus)
II. It was built c. 292 BC by the sculptor Chares of Lindus
III. It probably had spikes on its head, representing rays of the sun.
IV. It was 105 feet high (LXX cubitorum altitudinis)
[The Statue of Liberty from her heels to the top of her head is 111 feet high. ]
V. It only stood for 66 years...
VI. ...then was toppled by an earthquake.
VII. Even in chunks on the ground it was considered one of the 'Seven Sights'
VIII. Few people were tall enough to circle the thumb with both arms. [Did you know your arms outstretched roughly equals your height?]
IX. People could walk around inside the hollow parts on the ground.
X. There were hundreds of other colossi in Rhodes Town, the capital city of the island.
XI. There was a colossal statue in Rome based on this statue of the sun. [It was originally a statue of Nero but after his death the head was changed!]
XII. The Flavian Amphitheatre was called the Colosseum after the Roman Colossus nearby.

YAY! Ben Lloyd-Hughes is "Floppy"

Here are some more surprising facts about Rhodes.
I. It was a base of slave trading in Roman times
2. It had a population of small deer...
3. ...imported upon the advice of an oracle...
4. ...to rid Rhodes of an infestation of snakes!
5. A Greek poet called Apollonius came from Rhodes
6. He wrote an epic poem about Jason called the Argonautica
7. The walking bronze giant Talus in this poem might be based on the colossus in the Argonautica
8. In the 1st century AD a young Roman began to write his own Argonautica in Latin verse
9. His name was Gaius Valerius Flaccus (Flaccus means "Floppy")
10. He appears in the Roman Mysteries TV series and books

You can enjoy an exciting mystery involving a trip to Rhodes, the slave-trade and a thrilling fight atop the Colossus if you read The Colossus of Rhodes or watch season 2 of the Roman Mysteries TV series.

Marco Polo Mansion in Old Rhodes Town, where I stayed during my 2003 research trip

[Roman Mystery 9 - The Colossus of Rhodes - and Roman Mystery 10 - The Fugitive from Corinth - are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Greeks as a topic in Key Stage 2. The glossy BBC Roman Mysteries TV series did adaptations of both these books.]

Read a Classicist's review of The Colossus of Rhodes book/TV and The Fugitive from Corinth TV episode.

A visit to Amphora Wines

Early one Thursday morning we leave an icy apartment (broken boiler) and a cold grey city (London mid-March). Twelve hours later we are banking over the San Francisco Bay where the temperature is in the high 80's and dry. Hallelujah!

The weather is still beautiful for a weekend trip up to Cloverdale, where my sister Jennifer and her husband Dave have a weekend 'cottage'. Surrounded by ancient oaks, pines and redwoods, the house is a work-in-progress but has a guest barn, pool, patio and hot-tub. It also has stunning views over the Alexander Valley.

My brother Dan and his wife Meredith join us and on Saturday we do an impromptu wine tour of the nearby Dry Creek Valley. In the course of a perfect afternoon we visit seven fabulous vineyards: Fritz, Lake Sonoma Winery, Ferrari-Carano Vineyards, Preston, Bella, Raymond Burr Vineyards, and Amphora. Each of these wineries has something special to offer. Fritz gives us a warm welcome and a stunning ruby Carignane. Lake Sonoma Winery has amazing views over vineyards and olive trees on the surrounding hills, startlingly green after last month's rains. Here we eat a picnic lunch under a white canvas parasol. Ferrari-Carano looks like a villa in the middle of Tuscany; it also has stunning cellars and formal gardens. Preston Winery has its own home-grown olives for sale, also a great Barbera. The tasting at Bella Vineyards takes place in a smooth, hobbit-like cave blasted deep into Lily Hill, whose grapes (growing overhead) contribute to a memorable Zinfandel.

Raymond Burr was a famous actor. He appeared in an American TV show called Perry Mason. Europeans might know him better from the classic Hitchcock film, Rear Window, in which he played the baddie! We get the warmest welcome so far at his winery, Raymond Burr Vineyards, where we are encouraged to sit at a table in the shade and drink our wines as we read about his life. Here is one of my favourite quotes from the info sheet about him. 'By some coincidence, and not a little skill, the Raymond Burr Cabernets are very like the man: big, full of gusto, complex and jubliantly alive.' We are very 'mellow' by this time and I buy a 1999 Cabernet described as sleek and focused, black cherry, black currant, vanilla and chocolate... Who could resist?

It is late by now, after 4.00 pm, but I really want to go to a Winery called Amphora. Why? Because of the name, of course! We have no clue what it will be like.

The sun is sinking in the west and the light is golden as we turn off the main road and take an unpaved, straight road which dips and then rises like a roller coaster. There are vineyards on either side, bare and twisted, like tiny charred scare-crows. Later I have a close look and see the first pale green grape leaves blossoming in the blackened vines.

As we approach a ramshackle white building with several outbuildings and tanks, I remark that it doesn't look very impressive. 'Don't worry,' says my brother Dan. 'A lot of the best wineries in Napa look like this.' He hops out of the car to see if it's open and a few moments later beckons us down.

We find two other couples sitting at a wooden picnic table covered with a white cloth. They are enjoying wine so dark it's almost black in the warmth of the late afternoon.

The owner of the winery, Rick Hutchinson, appears. He is a round-headed man with an indelible grin. He wears glasses and a baseball cap with the name AMPHORA on it. Rick is of indeterminate age; could be anywhere from 30 to 60 years old. At one point he jokingly claims to be 86 but later shows us his driver's license; he's not quite 50.

'Why did you call your winery Amphora,' I ask, as he guides us into his tiny cellar. 'Did you study Latin at school?'

'I barely finished high school,' he laughs. 'A few years ago I took some pottery clases. One of our assignments was to copy an ancient form of vase. I saw some amphoras in a book and fell in love with their shapes.' Rick gestures towards a wall covered with photos, mostly of pretty young girls in shorts treading grapes, their legs stained pink. (You can read a fun article about the female treading HERE)

Among the photos of pink-thighed girls are some photos of various amphoras he's made. I can see now they're not ancient because they are finished with an attractive marbled glaze. Ancient amphoras were never glazed, as far as I know, because they had to breathe.

His cellar or cave (say it with a French accent) is a cramped space with a wooden counter on one side and dozens of oak barrels the other. Each barrel seems to have a different provenance; I notice one from Hungary. Crowded along the wooden counter are his five wines: a spicy, purple Zinfandel, a beefy Cabernet Sauvignon, an indecently earthy Merlot, a seductive Syrah and an irresistable Petite Sirah. You are supposed to just sip a little of the wine when you are tasting, and then toss the rest into a 'spit bucket'. At Amphora Winery we see no spit bucket. Rick is drinking along with the rest of us. When he wants to try another wine he just chucks his dregs out the doorway, towards the couples sitting at the picnic table.

Rick's wines really are fabulous. They have something different about them. Later on we discover what the secret ingredient is: Rick Hutchinson. When we move up a dusty slope to another shed to taste from the barrels of wine from the 2004 harvest, Rick dips a hollow glass tube into the barrel, sucks on it until it is full of purple wine, then siphons a little off into each of our glasses. He sips from his own glass before pouring the extra back into the barrel! 'Never mind,' he grins. 'Human pathogens don't survive fermenting wine.' He is telling us stories and flirting with some pretty girls who have just arrived and he has us in stitches. 'This 2004 Zinfandel,' he says, 'is like a high-school student who has just graduated but hasn't yet decided where to go to University. It still has its whole life ahead of it and it's not quite sure how it will develop.'

This naturally brings us to a discussion of the film Sideways which is bound to come up. 'I didn't particularly like the film,' admits Rick, 'but I loved the seduction scene on the porch, where Miles and Maya are discussing wine. I've played both parts. I especially like what Maya says about how wine is always developing and changing...'

Then Rick leaves us to attend to some very pretty women, one of whom has a chihuahua in her purse. He really reminds me of a satyr, a grinning cheerful bon vivant who especially loves women and wine. Earlier, he had told us about seven beautiful undergraduates from Berkeley who came to tread grapes for him one afternoon and became so enthusiastic that they shed every stitch of clothing. Later, as a thank-you present to Rick, they painted their naked bodies and rolled on giant sheets of artist's paper. This image will become the label for Rick's latest wine, Seven Sisters, under his new Kylix trademark. I can't wait to see that one.

Believe it or not, I haven't told you the best bits about Rick Hutchinson; he's definitely going to be a character in a future book and I wouldn't want to spoil it for you!

P.S. You can find out more about Amphora Winery at amphorawines.com

California here we come!

Hmmmn. The life of a writer is pretty dull. Outside that is.

Lots of exciting stuff is happening early every morning between me and my keyboard. I haven't enjoyed writing a book so much since I was working on The Pirates of Pompeii. And coincidentally this book (The Sirens of Surrentum) is also set at the Villa Limona and has one of my fave characters: Felix!

We are off to California tomorrow for two weeks holiday with my family. Of course I will take my laptop and continue to disappear to Sorrento for a few hours every morning.


One of my fans (you know who you are) has requested an... erm... baby picture... so here is a very exciting photo of me and my little sister Jennifer and my brother Dan! We were a bit younger then.

I just realised that I have always been a bit bossy like Flavia and that Dan is easy-going and likeable like Jonathan and my sister is cute and good with plants and animals just like Nubia.

So where did Lupus come from?

Answer: we all have a little Lupus inside us!

On the BBC

Last Saturday I took the train and tube to Oxford Circus and walked from there to Broadcasting House. It took me half an hour door to door, one of the many benefits of living in central London.

Sometimes you will see a little group of autograph hunters waiting outside Broadcasting House to get the autographs of famous people. I walked past them unnoticed.

Inside you tell the security people that you're there to do a show. They give you a badge and someone comes to get you. I was taken down to the basement and met Sandi Toksvig (the presenter) and Kevin Dawson (the producer). If you've ever seen the TV series Frasier, then Sandi is like Frasier and Kevin is like Ros. He tells Sandi what do do and who to address questions to and how much time she's got left. He speaks to her through a little earpiece.

I was a bit disappointed because Sandi had just got back from South Africa and was very excited and got someone on at the last minute to talk about that. This meant that Tim Severin, a Viking expert, and I, the Roman expert, only had half the time to talk about Ancient Travel.

Also, Tim was speaking from a studio in Ireland and they kept losing him. Poor Sandi was trying to interview while in her ear Kevin was saying stuff like: 'We've got Tim in the studio but the line isn't working... OK, he's on the phone...No, wait! He isn't ... he's going to another studio... he's not there yet... OK, NOW he's there! You can ask him question 6...' Poor Sandi was frantically but quietly flipping through her pages trying to find question 6 while making intelligent replies about South Africa.

For those of us being interviewed it is quite nerve-wracking because we are going out LIVE to thousands of people and if you say something stupid then everybody hears it and you can't take it back. I have a special trick which I use against nerves. I hold some saliva in the front of my mouth. It works because when you are afraid your mouth goes dry so if you have a wet mouth your body thinks you are relaxed. Also, it makes me concentrate on not spitting on Sandi Toksvig which keeps my mind off being nervous.

It went well and I only make one mistake. I said 'Petronicus' instead of 'Petronius'. Still I don't think he'll sue. He's been dead 2000 years. After the broadcast Sandi said how hard it had been and did she have any new grey hairs? We said we never guessed how chaotic things were in her earpiece. She took the lift with me up to the lobby and said, 'I'm going to take the back entrance; there are some autograph-hunters out there.'

I said goodbye to her and went out the front. A few of the autograph-hunters gave me a keen look but then they turned away, bored. I passed by unmolested.

A Writer's Life

Sometimes people ask me what its like being a writer.

The room where I write

I am really blessed because about five years ago my husband Richard and I moved to a riverside flat here in London. It has been a lifetime dream of mine to live by the River Thames. To quote the actress Joanna Lumley, 'If I wasn't married to my husband, I might be married to the river Thames.'

We're on the second floor so the Thames is right there, flowing back and forth, two tides a day, always different. There is also a huge sky and my arched window faces northwest so I can see the sunset in summer. Sometimes in the winter when I get up early to write, there is a huge full moon sinking down towards the apartments over on the other side, it makes a silver path in the inky water. There's also a disused docking platform outside our window, from when these flats were warehouses receiving goods from the East Indies. This wooden platform is abandoned by people, but not by birds. At any one time I can see cormorants, ducks, geese, swans, coots and usually a heron.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings the skiffs and eights slide by, a coach with a megaphone urging his oarsmen on up the river. I also see tugboats carrying London's garbage up and down, and the occasional river cruise boat. But usually it's very peaceful and unbelievably quiet. At the moment all I can hear is a goose calling to his friends on the foreshore; it's low tide.

The river is on my left. At first I couldn't take my eyes off it but now I'm content to glance over and reassure myself that it's still there. I sit at a table with my iMac facing a wall covered with images.

I am a very visual person so I need to SEE what I'm writing about. I have images of things like a Roman ship, a calendar of the year 80 AD showing phases of the moon on each day, frescoes, mosaics, film posters and portraits of people I base my characters on. I often use jazz musicians rather than actors to inspire me. I don't know what they're like so I have to deduce it from their faces. For example, in my fourth book The Assassins of Rome, I base a character called Simeon on a jazz bass player called Slim Man. Actually I did see him play in a jazz club and that informed his character as it appears in the book.

I never listen to music or the radio while I'm writing but when I'm not writing music is a huge source of inspiration. I like smooth jazz, chill, lounge, whatever you want to call it. I usually don't like songs with words because that gets in the way of the picture that music alone can create. One of my favourite musicians is Larry Carlton. I've based songs in my books on some songs of his from the album Fingerprints, in particular a song called Slave Song which is Nubia's theme.


On either side of my chair is a stool with papers, letters and reference books in piles. On the wicker coffee table behind me are more piles of papers, at the moment they are mixed with postcards and receipts from a recent research trip to Athens.

Richard's map of Ostia Antica

My husband is a non-fiction writer and graphic designer and he works out of the living room next door. He does all the little maps and diagrams at the front of my books. We have a game where he brings me what he's done in his mouth – like a dog – and drops it on my desk. I mark up the changes and tell him to 'fetch!' A moment later he is back, wagging his tail, with the latest version in his mouth.

The one thing a writer must have is self-discipline. You have to fashion a routine that works for you and this can take years. Over the five years I've been writing full-time, this is the routine I've developed.

I get up between 5.00am and 6.00am, go straight to the computer and write until 10.30, 11.00 or 12.00 noon at the latest. Of course I get up to make a cup of coffee or get some toast and an apple, and I dress in phases (preferring to stay in comfy track trousers and sweatshirt as long as possible), but by the time Richard is up and the post arrives and the phone starts ringing, I have put in five or six hours. Then I'm done with the creative, focussed part of the day.

I have made a rule, which I occasionally break, never to look at my emails until after noon. Once I'm online I'm caught up in the demands and business there.

Late mornings I either go out to the gym or go for a long walk. Writers sit around all day so you have to be self-disciplined to keep fit. Walking is one of my best ways of getting ideas or solving problems. I'll put on a jazz tape or John Truby story structure tapes and walk and ideas just come to me. I have a circuit I do along the river, over Battersea Bridge, back along the river and over Wandsworth Bridge. It takes me about an hour and a quarter and usually I come back with my problem solved or a great idea for a future book.

"Vespasian" at the BM

I have been paid an advance for ten more books in the series and I have little folders on my computer for each one. I don't know exactly what each book will be about but I have a working title and setting and at least one idea for each. If I get a good idea while I'm walking I'll decide which of the books it would fit best with and put it on my ideas document for that book. If I can't decide which of the books it would be best for, I have one hold-all document called Ideas for the Future. Every time I get a good idea or come across a great turn of phrase or see a fascinating character I type it into this document, which is now 144 pages long. Running out of ideas is NOT one of my worries.

Want an example? Here's just one of the hundreds of quotes I've jotted down in this document. It's a quote by Buffy creator Joss Whedon: 'What's your favourite movie? What's one of your most memorable experiences? Now mix them...'

After my walk I have lunch, usually a cheese sandwich and apple, or a salad.

Then, in the afternoon I maintain my website, and answer emails. They're usually either from fans or requests by schools for me to visit. I limit my months for UK school events to two per year. It's really hard work and I can't write when I'm doing promotion.

A couple of afternoons per week, during my writing period, I go to the cinema. I love movies and all my writing methods are based on screenwriting techniques and story structure used in films. Here in London we have the NFT, the National Film Theatre, so I can go see classics like Nashville and La Dolce Vita on a big screen with lots of other film buffs. On Valentine's Day I'm taking my husband Richard to see Casablanca. I love the fact that in London you can see hundreds of good films, and for a reasonable price, if you go before 4.00pm.

replica wax tablet

Another thing I love about London are the Roman re-enactment events. The British Museum and Museum of London are both great for these. I've made many friends and now can order anything from a gladiator pen-knife to a wax-tablet.


When I am doing UK promotion (usually March and October) or overseas promotion (Spanish international schools in May) my day is completely different and I have to abandon writing, though I do jot down thoughts in my little notebook. I usually can't wait to get back to my riverside flat and my writing and my movies.

My holidays are spent doing research. In the past few years I've been to Rome, Ostia, Pompeii, Sorrento, Naples, Rhodes, the Turkish coast and Athens. My holidays are devoted to my writing, but my writing is like being on holiday. So that's OK.

P.S. The Roman Mysteries books are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans as a topic in Key Stage 2. There are DVDs of some of the books as well as an interactive game. I am also writing a series called The Roman Mystery Scrolls for kids aged 7+ and the P.K. Pinkerton Mysteries... 

Christmas in Athens - the Ports of Corinth

Monday 27 December 2004

The Isthmus of Corinth

My husband Richard and I are spending the last day of our Christmas research trip in Athens. I so wish we could have another week. In May. To really get a feel for these sites in the warmth. But my due date for The Fugitive from Corinth is late Feb and there are fans waiting to read it.

In the late morning we go to the National Archaeological Museum. It is full of the Greek masterpieces I studied at Cambridge when I was doing my degree in Classical Archaeology. Again I am struck by how many of these beautiful white sculptures or grave steles had traces of bright paint on them! We have arranged for an English-speaking taxi driver to pick us up outside the Museum at a certain time and he is there. His name is Stavros. His family comes from Crete but he is now an Athenian.

Sanctuary of Corinth

We set off on the quick highway for Corinth. I know exactly where I want to go and we don't have much time so this will have to be a fast tour. We do have time to stop and look at the canal. I know I've been here before but I can't remember stopping. Probably because I was about 22 years old and driving a rented Fiat and in fear of my life. Now you can go bungy jumping from here.

At Corinth we whizz through the site in 15 minutes and skip the Acrocorinth. I was there many years ago and will never forget the magic of the place. You hear nothing but the wind and bees and maybe the clank of a flock of goats moving down the hill. And I still remember hearing the distant braying of a donkey from miles away on the plain. I'd love to take Richard there but we don't have time. It will have to wait.

Stavros in Lechaeum, Corinth

Stavros has never been to the remains of the western port of Lechaeum and has to ask a local taxi driver. Clutching a scrap of paper with complicated instructions we finally get there... after a few wrong turns. It would have taken me hours to find this place without a native. Lechaeum is just as I expected it: barren, flat, windswept. The meagre site is fenced off with no access but the remains of a terracotta Roman flue confirm that this is the place.

Helen's Bath?

We drive back towards the eastern harbour of Cenchrea, passing along a flat plain of vines and olives beneath the shadow of the Acrocorinth. We go via the little village of Examilia to Loutro Elenis. This means Helen's Baths and Pausanias talks about a hot springs here.

It is my idea that Flavia and her friends are staying here a mile or two from Cenchrea in a luxury guest house called Helen's Hospitium. Helen is a beautiful Greek widow who owns the hospitium and has designs on Flavia's father, Captain Geminus. As my husband Richard says, Captain Geminus isn't so much a babe-magnet as a matron-magnet. Well, he does still have all his teeth!

ruins of Cenchrea, Corinth

Helen's Bath turns out to be the highlight of this trip. It is beautiful in the golden sun of late afternoon. Mount Onia ends in a spur here so you have olive clad slopes rising behind, a blue sea and bright green pine trees down by the water. With Stavros' help we even find the warm springs, still bubbling out of the hill into the transparent seawater a few feet away.

After Helen's Baths we find the site of Cenchrea. A marble pillar and some clay tiles are fenced off and when I climb a brambly hillock I can see the remains of stone piers going out into the water.

We are an hour behind schedule and I want to take the coast road along the Isthmus – the road Theseus travelled when he first went to Athens to claim his birthright. We find Sciron's Rock but not the Evil Stairs. Later I read in the Blue Guide that the ancient road was much higher.

shrine on the Isthmus of Corinth

We pass Megara, and I can't for the life of my make out the twin "breast-shaped" hills Pausanias speaks of. I convince Stavros to stay on the old two-lane coast road, rather than the fast new motorway. He has never been on this road before. We pass through villages, traverse dry river beds, stop to photograph views. All the time I am scribbling furiously in my little notebook. At one point near Eleusis we see a ship capsized and half-submerged in the bay!

Finally at dusk we reach Eleusis. All the guide books say it's an ugly industrial area and yes, there are too many huge factories and refineries on this lovely stretch of coast, but Eleusis itself has some charming seaside cafes by the ruins. I didn't realise it was this close to the water. I didn't realise that conical needle of rock was so dramatic. Of course it's not open but I can peer through the fence and see the columns and blocks of marble and even the Cave of Pluto. There is always a cave.

Eleusis was of course the sanctuary of Demeter and site of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries. The Mysteries were so mysterious that nobody to this day knows exactly what went on there. It's getting dark now and so we turn back onto the motorway and go home.

Fagopoteion in Athens Kolonaki

On the way back to Athens, Stavros tells us some of his favourite restaurants, places he goes with his own wife. One of them is on a street not far from the hotel. Next door, it turns out, to the zacharoplasteio, Despina, where we bought our Christmas confections. It's called Fagopoteion, which roughly means Food and Drink and it's wonderful. It's full of Athenians – a good sign – and you can just point to the food you want. For the first time we see the wine being drawn from a barrel into copper beakers. We've used up almost all our money but when I ask the handsome owner if he takes cards he says, 'You don't need cards. We're very cheap.' And indeed they are. The whole meal with wine costs only E 20 and it's one of the best we had. If only we'd found it at the beginning of our visit!

[The 17+ books in the Roman Mysteries series, including The Fugitive from Corinth, are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans and/or Greeks as a topic in Key Stages 2 and 3. There are DVDs of some of the books.]

Christmas in Athens - the Areopagus

Sunday 26 December 2004

Evzones changing guard

Up early and off to explore the Areopagus and look for the Cave of the Furies.

It's beautiful morning and I pass the Parliament and am the only one to witness the changing of the guard. The Evzones manage to look dignified despite their pleated mini-skirts and big pom-pom slippers.

Near the acropolis I hear a priest intoning the service in Greek and realise they broadcast it on a loudspeaker. I hear other services from other churches as I start to climb the areopagus and explore it. Some of this rocky hill is walled off and I can see tantalizing Roman ruins but I can't get at them.

Cave of the Furies? Maybe?

I do see several caves. One on the north slope and one on the south. I also find a cistern. Whether one of these caves was the famous Cave of the Furies or not, it shows that caves could easily be carved into the rock.

Over on the Pnyx, I find a cave with bars called 'Socrates' Prison'. It almost certainly wasn't Socrates' prison but the information board confirms my realisation: 'The cutting of groundwork and even whole rooms into the rocky hills west of the Acropolis, including the Areopagus, is especially characteristic of this area...'

"Socrates' prison"

Nearby, a service is just finishing at the little Byzantine Church of St Demetrios Loubardiaris. At a nearby cafe a group of grey-haired English are discussing the service. They are obviously residents rather than tourists and as they leave I ask one if he knows where the Cave of the Furies was. He thinks on the south slope but he has to go catch up with his friends who are disappearing. I wish I'd asked them sooner.

sokolatina

I order an espresso and croissant but they don't have the latter. So I let the waiter bring me a 'sokolatina'. It turns out to be one of those sculpted pieces of chocolate cake too sweet to eat. And he charges me a whopping E 6.40. I guess it's because this place has a view of the acropolis. Later the waiter runs after me to thrust some euros in my hand and tell me he charged me for two not one, but the damage has been done. I ain't going back there!

Richard's acropolis watercolour

Back at the hotel, Richard has been doing a watercolour of the Acropolis. It's getting windy and cold, but we brave the weather and walk to Monastiraki. Surprise: everybody is eating at some meat restaurants here. It is only 1.00 and yet whole families are crammed round tables at two restaurants between the flea market and the metro. Later a Greek taxi driver tells us these two places are famous for their giro and souvlaki.

We settle for mezedhes with a view of the Temple of Hephaestos. The plate of goodies include rosemary flavoured burgers, grilled pepper, spicy sausages, cheese, olives, chicken, and delicious chunks of cooked but cold potatoes marinated in vinagrette. Absolutely delicious, and much better than leftover turkey. In case you're interested, the place is called Paradosiako Kafeneio.

Richard's getting a runny nose and it's quite cold so we retreat to the warmth of our hotel room for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is our last day and another busy one. We have hired a taxi driver to take us to Corinth and its surrounding sites!

[The 17+ books in the Roman Mysteries series, including The Fugitive from Corinth, are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans and/or Greeks as a topic in Key Stages 2 & 3. There are DVDs of some of the books as well as an interactive game.]

Christmas in Athens - Brandy in Salamis

Richard's watercolour of Salamis

Saturday 25 December 2004 
Christmas Day

Breakfast at Flocafe at 9.00, just as doors open. It's one of the few places open on Christmas Day and there is soon as steady stream of Athenians coming in. Elegant young women in sunglasses, fathers and sons, young couples... If only it had been this lively at the restaurant last night. A croissant and cafetiere sets us up for the day. In Greece they call cafetiere coffee gallika which means 'French'.

It's a beautiful morning so we walk through the National Gardens to the Anglican Church but decide at the last minute not to attend the service. Instead I suggest going to the island of Salamis. This turns out to be quite an adventure, involving tram, train, bus, taxi and ferry and all the modern Greek I can muster.

We see a new stadium built for the Olympics, and also Piraeus the port of Athens. Piraeus appears in the opening sentence of one of my favourite books, Zorba the Greek. 'I first met him in Piraeus.' I have stolen... er... I am paying tribute to this famous first line by making the first line of book ten very similar: 'I first met him in Corinth' Apparently Kazantzakis wrote this first line in Salamis. Yay!

Piraeus is not pretty, but Perama is downright ugly. Such a shame. It is is in a superb setting. We catch the ferry from here. The big boats run every 15 minutes and a ticket costs less than E 2. Dirt cheap. The port where we disembark isn't much better. We run to the only taverna which seems to be open. Richard has a beer and I have an oily choriatiki. Hey! Christmas lunch! I ask the owner where the cars off the ferries are going. He says many Athenians have villas on this island or go to lunch in pretty villages. He suggests Selinia and points out the bus that will be going there shortly.

Selinia is sublime. Blue transparent water, a blue and white church, and a kiosk that sells batteries. But apart from kiosk man, it's totally deserted. At that moment a businesslike brown dog come up to us and tells us where to go: a little hippy restaurant on the seaside. He hangs around to keep an eye on things while we have our Christmas pudding: big Greek coffees and brandy and a ginger biscuit.

As soon as the sun goes it gets chilly so we move inside and watch a hilarious Greek soap opera for a while.

As the ferry chugs back into Perama a huge almost full moon is rising behind the hills where once Xerxes sat on his throne and watched the Greeks massacre his men at the Battle of Salamis.

We get back to Athens at dusk and wander into Plaka where we find a lively restaurant called Ydria. It's in the Palea Agora square, next to the Roman Agora. All the trees are lit up and it's packed with Athenians. Although the night is chilly all those umbrella heaters make it very toasty. We have one of the best meals yet and I'm surprised by how reasonable the bill is. The waiter brings us a complementary digestif and Christmas sweet. The digestif is clear and it a tiny shot glass so at first I think it's grappa. But as soon as I taste it I know it is mastiha! This is the liquid version of ancient chewing gum made from resin which only grows on the island of Chios. The waiter says I'm the first tourist to guess what it was. However, I should know. One of my main characters in book nine, The Colossus of Rhodes, is always chewing mastic gum like an annoying American tourist.

A great ending to a very different Christmas. We've already decided to make this a regular thing. Next year Christmas in Morocco, to research The Beggar of Volubilis and the year after in Egypt for The Scribes from Alexandria.

[The 17+ books in the Roman Mysteries series, including The Fugitive from Corinth, are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans and/or Greeks as a topic in Key Stages 2 & 3. There are DVDs of some of the books as well as an interactive game.]

Christmas in Athens - Kerameikos & Sounion

Friday 24 December 2004 
Christmas Eve

I wake up early as usual, around 7.30. It's going to be a beautiful day so I decide to walk up Lycabettus to get some exercise. I have it all to myself. There's a church up here, built into a cave, but sadly it's closed today. The view from the top is breathtaking and another church – the church of St George – is stunning, too. Those lovely white plaster domes and arches that make such pleasing lines...

At breakfast later with Richard I get a nasty surprise. Breakfast is NOT included in the price of a room. So all my haggling for an upgrade has been nullified by the fact that we unknowingly paid E 17 each for three mornings. From now on we breakfast at Flocafe down the hill.

young street musician in Athens

After breakfast Richard and I walk from Syntagma Square along Ermou Street towards towards Monastiraki. It's Christmas Eve and the place is packed with Athenians shopping, begging, busking and talking on mobile phones. Athenian women must have the 'uniform': pointy boots, black leather jacket, any top that reveals some midriff, tight jeans or miniskirt and the three essential accessories of mobile phone, sunglasses and cigarettes. I see a boy about Lupus's age playing a scaled-down bouzouki. And what is it with people dressed like Native Americans and playing pan pipes?

tomb in Kerameikos

At Monastiraki – just past the Plaka – we sip another espresso before visiting the Kerameikos, the ancient cemetary of Athens. Mary Renault has a lovely passage to do with this in my favourite book of hers, The Last of the Wine:

Our house stood in the Inner Kerameikos, not far from the Dipylon Gate. The courtyard had a little colonnade of painted columns, a fig-tree and a vine... The roof had a border of acanthus tiles and was not very steep. If one straddled the ridge, one could see right over the City wall, past the gate-towers of the Dipylon to the Sacred Way... In summer-time, I could pick out the funeral stele of my uncle Alexias and his friend, by a white oleander that grew there. Then I would turn south, to where the High City stands like a great stone altar against the sky, and search between the winged roofs of the temples for the point of gold, where tall Athene of the Vanguard lifts her spear to the ships at sea.

Tassos Bougas - Greek heart-throb

I spend some time trying to get my bearings. For some reason I find it strange that the Sacred Way comes into Athens from the north. But once I accept that fact, everything falls into place. After the peaceful Kerameikos we wander in the busy flea market and buy a Tasos Bougas CD for one of my friends who has a poster of him in her loo. *hee*

Sounion, Xmas Eve 2004

Then we go to the Amalia Hotel and catch the 2.30 tour to Cape Sounion. The drive there is beautiful as is the site. I get a photo of the nearly full moon caught between two of the massive Doric columns. The drive back takes about 90 minutes and the sunset lasts the whole time. Unforgettable.

We told Joanna, the nice customer relations person at the St George Hotel, that we wanted to do what the Athenians did on Christmas Eve, so she booked us a table at a restaurant called Evripos in the fasionable Psiri district near the Plaka. Not fashionable enough, apparently. We arrive at 10.00pm and for a long time are the only ones there. But even by 11.30 there are only half a dozen other couples. There is no choice in the menu, the musicians are not as good as the Plaka guys on Tuesday and there is a power cut half way through so we can't see what we're eating. Just to top it all off the restaurant does not accept credit cards, and this is the most expensive meal we've had so far.

Never mind. Back at the hotel there is a view of the Acropolis. Yay.

[The 17+ books in the Roman Mysteries series, including The Fugitive from Corinth, are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans and/or Greeks as a topic in Key Stages 2 & 3. There are DVDs of some of the books as well as an interactive game.]

Christmas in Athens - the Acropolis

Richard & puppy in agora

Thursday 23 December 2004

Breakfast on the 6th floor of the hotel with the most magnificent view of all Athens and especially the acropolis, the St George Hotel. One of the surreal aspects of travelling is the music you hear. As we eat our breakfast and watch patches of sun and shadow sweep over Athens and the Saronic Gulf, the soundtrack is the worst of Led Zepplin.

After breakfast we wander towards Plaka and end up in the Roman Agora with its famous temple of the winds. Every site has its watchdogs but this one has puppies! We at the Roman Mysteries support puppies and think they are A Good Thing.

By mid-morning, when we reach the Athenian Agora, the sun is out and it's almost springlike. This is the most amazing site, with the Stoa of Attalos restored by the American School in Athens at a cost of $1.5 million in the mid 50's, when a million was a lot.

Caroline & Richard

Taking advantage of the weather we climb up towards the areopagus, where the climax of my book will take place. I'm thrilled by the boulders and pine trees and the caves. It's really dramatic. And the view down over the Athenian agora is stunning.

Up onto the Acropolis, which is practically deserted. This is great, too, because another dramatic chase will take place here. And the layout of a certain part of the citadel needs to be just right. It is. I buy a fantastic map of the acropolis for only E 2, about £1.40.

A woman guide takes our photo and then tells us all sorts of things we already know. We finally shake her off and go to the museum. It's mid afternoon and getting cold.

Down in the Plaka we have a late lunch. I am starving and really crave a choriatiki, the classic Greek peasant salad, made with cucumber, tomatoes, olives, onions and feta cheese. There is a vegetarian restaurant called Eden and it's nice and warm and welcoming. We have tsadziki and salad and hummus and all are the best I've ever had. Especially the tsadziki, which has tons of garlic. *yum!* Plus a half bottle of retsina; it's very light.

Back at the hotel, we upgrade our cheap Expedia room to one with a tiny balcony and view. Instead of dessert after dinner that night we go to a zacharoplasteio – a sweet shop – and buy some Christmas sweets and a slab of baklava. It goes very well with Metaxa (Greek brandy) back in the hotel room on our balcony with a view of the acropolis lit up at night.

The acropolis at night from our balcony at Hotel St George Lycabettus

[The 17+ books in the Roman Mysteries series, including The Fugitive from Corinth, are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans and/or Greeks as a topic in Key Stages 2 & 3. There are DVDs of some of the books as well as an interactive game.]

Christmas in Athens - Day Trip to Delphi

Wednesday 22 December 2004

Misty Delphi

Up early for the Delphi coach tour. Booked this through Expedia and it seems to have worked. Only one hitch. We arrive at the Amalia Hotel in Syntagma Square as requested at 7.15am only to be told the bus doesn't go till 8.15. It would have been nice to have that extra hour of sleep, especially as 7.15 Athens time equals 5.15 London time.

Seems to take a very long time to get out of Athens. Marathon somewhere to the north. Thebes over to the right is an unremarkable cluster of buildings on a flat plain. We stop at an ugly cafeteria called Friendly Stop in Levadia. Clouds are gathering and spots of rain dot the window of the coach.

The Charioteer of Delphi

We can't really see Parnassus range of mountains because of low cloud. Three hours after we set out we are finally there, passing through the village just before Delphi. It's called Arachova and I remember it from the book My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart. The heroine is driving a big car and gets stuck in one of the narrow roads when a Greek driver comes the other way. Same thing happens to our coach. What must it be like in high summer when there are dozens of coaches going up and down?

Our guide, Doreen, is great. Articulate and well educated. She gives the tour in English and then French, even though only four of the 18 members of the tour are French. 'It never rains in Delphi,' she says. 'It's Apollo there; the god of light.'

It is raining when we get to Delphi, so we go to the museum. Light, airy, well-labelled. All the museums we will visit will be up to this excellent standard. The masterpiece of this museum is of course the Charioteer of Delphi. I've been to Greece a couple of times before but never to Delphi. I have waited many years to see him and he's worth the wait.

dripping Delphi

God has heard our prayers and Apollo acknowledged our libation. It's stopped raining when we start to tour to the site. It's wonderful. Completely deserted and all the stone and mosaics and walls rinsed clean. Colours are saturated. Water still drips from leaves and the birds of Delphi sing their hearts out.

Doreen provides some useful facts. I've been trying to find out which days the Pythia prophesied. She provides the answer: the seventh day of every month. A one-eyed cat comes up to say hello. You should never pet them. I have a flea bite the next day.

After an hour exploring the site we pile on the coach for lunch at the Amalia Hotel in Delphi. It's unremarkable food but nice to meet some of the other tourists, especially an art teacher from the International School in Istanbul.

This is the book with Delphi in it!

After lunch we pass back through Delphi and stop 20 minutes later in Arachova to 'see how flokati rugs are made'. For those of us who opt NOT to go for the obvious sales pitch, there is nothing to do. No coffee shops open and it's freezing. (This village is 3000 feet above sea level.) I don't think Arachova is all that special. It looks Swiss not Greek.

It takes a good three and a half hours to get back. It's dark and threatening rain in Athens so we go to an Italian restaurant on Loukianou very close to the St George. It's called Codice Blu and it's very cool. The clients are mostly men with grey hair in ponytails wearing black and brandishing mobile phones. The kind of men who aren't afraid to send a bottle of wine back. The music is chill. The food is great. We pay E 17 for a bottle of rose. We would never dream of eating at a place like this in London, but hey! we're on holiday.

[The 17+ books in the Roman Mysteries series, including The Fugitive from Corinth, are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans and/or Greeks as a topic in Key Stages 2 & 3. There are DVDs of some of the books as well as an interactive game.]

Christmas in Athens - Kolonaki Lights

Tuesday 21 December 2004

My husband Richard and I arrive at Athens airport after the most exciting and prolonged approach I've experienced in some time. It's dusk on the shortest day of the year, and it's been raining, so we opt for a taxi rather than the new metro. It costs E 30 which we discover later is the standard fare. Traffic is very slow, nose-to-nose, but I like the way Athenians have lights everywhere, even coiled around lampposts and the trunks of trees.

I'm here to do "research" for my tenth book, The Fugitive from Corinth, set in May of AD 80. I've already written a rough first draft but this is a "road story" and I want to make sure I've got settings and distance and mood correct before I start my rewrites. The places I need to visit are Corinth, Lechaeum, Cenchrea, Isthmia, Megara, Delphi, Eleusis and Athens.

Our hotel, the St George Lycabettus, is at the foot of a conical hill called Lycabettus in the fashionable wealthy area called Kolonaki. It's a five star hotel I booked through Expedia and very nice. Our room is luxurious but no Athens view. I begin negotiations for an upgrade. (My sister-in-law has given me some tips: 'Be nice. Ask for an upgrade.')


That night we go out without any fixed plan and we end up, of course, in Plaka, the touristy area at the foot of the acropolis. We are lured into a taverna and start with mezedhes (snack) outdoors.

Soon it gets pretty chilly so we move inside. We are about to leave when two musicians turn up and start playing at the almost unheard of hour of 8.30pm. Usually things don't get started until 10.00pm.

The only other people in the restaurant are half a dozen girls in their late teens plus the owner and his wife and a couple of waiters. The musicians are excellent and pretty soon the girls get up to dance. One of them is very good at wolf-whistles and using a lighted cigarette on the floor as a prop. The wife joins the musicians on stage and starts to sing. Not since old footage of Dean Martin have I seen someone singing between puffs of cigarettes!

[The 17+ books in the Roman Mysteries series, including The Fugitive from Corinth, are perfect for children aged 9+, especially those studying Romans and/or Greeks as a topic in Key Stages 2 & 3. There are DVDs of some of the books as well as an interactive game.]