A walk along Poseidon Road
read time: 3 mins
Moving equally through worlds of paint, sculpture and words
There are no house numbers, or even road names, in Agios Dimitrios in the Mani where I live. It is one of the many things I like about living here. It gives me the impression that I am untraceable, hidden away from the world. Having said that, someone has painted, not far from my house, in bright blue and in bold Greek characters, Oδός Ποσειδώνας—Poseidon’s Road—on the rock wall along the coastal road that leads to Trahila.
It is a fitting name.
Cut into a 100-metre-high vertical wall of rock that plunges into a deep blue sea below, it is the only road to the tiny fishing village of Trahila, where it abruptly finishes. It is undoubtedly one of the most stunning roads I have ever seen and, I admit, one of the reasons I decided to stay here, in this remote corner of Greece. As you meander slowly along Poseidon’s Road that stretches several kilometres along a rocky, virgin coastline, the views are breathtaking. Nature at its very best. In the spring the borders of the road are a mass of multi-coloured flowers: red poppies, purple vicia villosa, swirls of white daucus carota that form tight nest‑like bowls and tiny mountain orchids that sprout from the cracks of the rocks. The round, dome‑shaped bushes of Euphorbia dendroides soften the landscape, giving the hillsides a deceptively gentle look. But like much of the peninsula’s vegetation, the surrounding thorns and spines scratch your legs to shreds the moment you try to cross the terrain. Ten metres or so below the road, numerous small inlets are carved into the jagged, lava‑like rockface giving it an almost sculpted appearance. Some are no wider than a doorway, others stretch back far enough to hint at hidden caves and places to explore. The aquamarine sea is incredibly beautiful and inviting, a pity the coves are only reachable by boat, so there is no possibility of diving in for a swim. High up above there are many caves too, once used by the pirates that inhabited these seas, their entrances semi-covered by huge Indian fig prickly pears that hang from the rockface over the road, clinging to the stone, defying the laws of gravity. I try to walk the road, or at least a part of it, as often as I can. Every time I see this rugged stretch of paradise, I’m struck by the same sense of awe, there’s something unmistakably magical about this road.
So, when I finally decided to publish my first book, a collection of short stories written during my time living here, the title Poseidon Road felt inevitable. The name captures not only the place itself, but the spirit that has helped shape every page. I initially considered using a photograph of the graffiti name painted on the rock face for the book cover. Then just before publishing, I decided that one of my oil paintings portrayed the essence of the book far more powerfully. The painting depicts man’s struggle in weaving his dreams into the reality that surrounds him: both a metaphor for how I have always interpreted life, and a reflection of the stories themselves.
The stories that I selected for the book were all written whist living here in the Mani and so were undeniably influenced by the stark beauty of this remote landscape. The places I narrate, however, have been moulded and changed into somewhere else. I have tried to merge the real with the imaginary, fold memory into myth. I let my imagination take flight, so that the ordinary becomes extraordinary. In each story I try to reveal how a life is shaped by place, by longing, and by the narratives we all carry within us. I wanted to capture the fleeting fragments of existence, moments where solitude, desire, and the wildness of the land intertwine, exposing the fragile, universal threads that define what it means to be human.
“Alongside my writing, I’ve always had a deep love for painting and sculpture.”
Alongside my writing, I’ve always had a deep love for painting and sculpture. In fact, you could say they have always been somewhat of an obsession. I spend all my free time thinking about a story, or a painting or something I want to create. When I first moved to the Mani, I spent a lot of time collecting driftwood and other interesting things that the sea washed up, or rummaging by the bins. Luckily my husband is a tolerant man, as our shed is full of this debris. When you have a strong imagination, everything is of interest. I even turned a broken piece of a canoe into a giant leaf. Art is a type of meditation. It totally absorbs me. To illustrate the point, I remember one episode in particular. When I was expecting my first child, my husband had to literally drag me away from the canvas, my waters had broken, not dramatically but enough for him to insist we go to the hospital.
Unfortunately, I still work, so never have enough free time to be able to fully immerse myself in creation as I would like to. My fault entirely. After school I was offered a place at the Winchester School of Art but, in a moment of acute self-doubt, I changed the course of my life and chose to study engineering instead. As one does, of course. How many choices have we made that quietly pull us away from the path we truly long to follow? After university I lived in Italy for 25 years. Although working as an engineer, I joined a group of local artists near Monza, where I learnt a great deal under my maestro, and friend, Casma. My paintings grow out of an inner search for meaning, even though many of them begin as dreams. I’ve always had vivid, unusual dreams, and they’ve found their way into my writing as well. I’m drawn to mixing symbols with realism, trying to give shape to emotions that resist simple explanation. In the end, perhaps all art is a quiet attempt at immortality — a way of leaving something of ourselves behind.
Please contact me if you would like a copy of Poseidon Road, via email at andreakimroach@hotmail.com. The book is also available on Amazon:
Born in the United Kingdom, I lived in Italy for twenty five years before settling in Greece in 2020, where I now reside with my husband. By profession I am an engineer, but since childhood I have moved equally through worlds of paint, sculpture and words. This is my first book to be published.
You write beautifully Andrea..