Tarpon Springs

Earlier in the week, Bob vetoed my proposal to visit Tarpon Springs, about 40 miles north of St. Pete Beach -- too much traffic, too many stoplights. I had been doing a soft sell job during the week (original Greek community, sponge fishing), leaving out my real reason for wanting to visit. I had read that St. Nicholas Cathedral is modeled on Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, now a museum, originally a cathedral and a mosque between 1453 until secularized by Turkey in 1931. The icons and mosaics in Hagia Sophia are beautiful, and the space itself is a cool respite from the heat of Istanbul.

By this morning, Bob was eager to do something different so the Tarpon Springs proposal was acceptable. The ride was not, however, very pleasant. Fortunately, my fear of being delayed by this weekend's Transitions Golf Tournament was not realized. We arrived in Tarpon Springs at about 11, and were almost immediately accosted near the "sponge docks" by a sales representative for a sponge diving exhibition. I didn't then know that Tarpon Springs is the "sponge capital of the world". The boat ride would not take more than an hour so it seemed like a good way to learn something about sponge diving and the history of this Greek enclave in central Florida.

Turns out commercial diving is done at least 10 miles offshore. Our exhibition was the traditional method of sponge diving. The diver wears ancient looking equipment weighing 172 pounds, and the dive is in shallow water very close to shore. The diver, Travis Jewel, was very handsome, a commercial diver when he is not working this tourist gig. He and the crew all looked stereotypically Greek, not a bad thing. "Just call me George", the narrator, was very knowledgeable about the area and the history of sponge diving. Very articulate too, using a conversational and friendly tone, without the bored, strident voice that is so often characteristic of the scripted speech for tourists.

The diver jumped into the water with all his gear and promptly retrieved a sponge that was passed around to the passengers. It was slippery to the feel, and I was surprised to learn that there are five grades of natural sponge. When we got off the boat, Bob bought a "wool" sponge (a pricey $12) to use on his car.

We had lunch at Mama's, splitting a "combination plate" that included my favorite moussaka and Greek salad. I confess that I liked the $3 margaritas best, so much that I had two of them. On to St. Nicholas Cathedral. Workers were working on dome restoration and I was disappointed in the exterior yellow brick structure. The interior didn't remind me of Hagia Sophia either, but it was a house of prayer and I did appreciate the serenity of the interior space.

The stained glass windows are lovely. I love Eastern icons, and was very happy to see  a replica of my favorite Lady of Czestochowa. I said a prayer for all my Polish friends, especially Judy and her husband, Jim, who gave me my own Black Madonna icon a number of years ago. The mosaics reminded me of some of the churches in Rome, especially Santa Maria Maggiore. I missed the presence of a gift shop: I know they are often too much in evidence but I would have liked to bring home an icon of St. Nicholas.

Our ride home was uneventful and we were ahead of rush hour traffic.