Stavrohori (Σταυροχώρι). A place that I had driven through many times but had never stopped. Turned out to be a great place, full of empty buildings. You could tell that it was once a thriving village but many of the shops and houses were now empty and the village didn't seem to have much life. I must say I was attracted to the place, you could see the sea and yet it was far enough away so as not to be bothered by too many tourists. If you fancy a wander around here is an aerial view of the area.
The tune today is Giant Of Illinois by The Handsome Family. A song about Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940) At 8 feet 11.1 inches, Robert Wadlow is the world's tallest man in medical history. He died at the young age of 22. He weighed 490 pounds at the time of his death.
The Alton Giant's size, as he was also called, was due to hypertrophy of his pituitary gland which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone. He showed no indication of an end to his growth even at the time of his death. On July 4, 1940, while making a professional appearance at the National Forest Festival, a faulty brace irritated his ankle, causing a blister and subsequent infection. Doctors treated him with a blood transfusion and emergency surgery, but his condition worsened and on July 15, 1940, he died in his sleep.
An estimated 40,000 people attended Wadlow's funeral on July 19. He was buried in a half-ton coffin that required 12 pallbearers to carry, which was interred within a vault of solid concrete. It was believed that Wadlow's family were concerned for the sanctity of his body after his death, and went to these lengths of security to ensure it would never be disturbed or stolen.
The giant of Illinois
Died from a blister on his toe
After walking all day through the first winter's snow
Throwing bits of stale bread to the last speckled doves
He never even felt his shoe full of blood
Delirious with pain, his bedroom walls began to glow
And he felt himself soaring up through falling snow
And the sky was a woman's arms
The sky was a woman's arms
A boy with a club foot
Had sat next to him in school
Once upon a summer's day they went wandering through the woods
They spotted a sleeping swan
On the banks of a muddy stream
And they stormed it with rocks till it collapsed in the reeds
They lay out on a green lawn full of chocolate and lemonade
But under the blue bowl the giant was afraid
Because the sky was a woman's arms
The sky was a woman's arms
Listening to: "Giant Of Illinois" (Through The Trees) - The Handsome Family
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