Who was Alison?

Gulf of Corinth, Island of Trizonia, Greece--- It was mysterious. In one small paragraph in the “Bible of Sailing the Med”: Rod Heikell’s Greek Waters Pilot it was written: “Lizzie’s Yacht Club---The Y. C. was built and started in 1980…and has offered food and drink and good cheer to yachts stopping here. The club has been owned and run by Alison Fraser for the last 15 years. Sadly Alison died in the spring of 2007 at the tragically young age of 42. At the time of writing the future of the Yacht Club is uncertain.”

“Strange,” I thought to be included in this book, and went about exploring the Island. Then a few days ago, on a hike, by chance, we happened to pass a royal blue gate with rock steps rising steeply leading up. And there it was, with piles of trashed paperbacks collected around the front gate and a big “CLOSED” sign hanging from the fence: Lizzie’s Yacht Club. I peered up the overgrown steps leading to the building high on the hilltop. More curious, we continued but I started wondering more and more: “Who was Allison? How did she die? Who was Lizzie? What happened? Why is it so trashed and vacant?”

From the boat’s dockage I could look up at the hill and see the old wooden building overlooking the harbor and the bay. The word “Club” had fallen down and only “Lizzie’s Yacht” was hanging from the roof.

Then the next afternoon, on another hike, a point in the road stopped me. The gate was identical from Lizzie’s but without signs. This was the back gate and the building stood below us. I wanted a closer look so I gingerly moved the unhinged gate and crept down the natural stone steps steeply curving down to the building. “She was only 42,” I kept thinking as I reached a patio in front of the wrap-around porch. There were Travel Magazines dated 2001 and other items heaped in a pile. Although it was a mess, little details remained: someone had taken great care here at one time. Neglected potted plants in terracotta bowls and little nautical decor items decorated the porch. The building was surrounded by windows and peeking through I saw a small dining area overlooking the large outdoor porch with the most amazing 180 degree view of the harbor, the bay and the islands all around us. Bar stools and chairs were in piles and a wall with short shelves that once held the bar’s bottles, stood empty. It didn’t feel haunted, it felt sad.

I decided to ask around the Island and found out that Allison (Ali) was from England, cheerful and tried hard to get along with the towns people, learn Greek and serve the travelers. They reported that for the final 2 years she didn’t look good and they could tell she was ill. No one knew for sure what she died from, but all said that it had something to do with her liver. They reported that she was not seen for 3 days and missed a call from her mother so some of the locals went up to find her dead. Everyone I asked said she had been a friend.

Later I found out that it was her Mother that was “Lizzie”. And it was her Mom that was diagnosed with breast cancer and wanted a house to get away from England and fight the cancer. She ended up buying the restaurant/house and found her way through the cancer this way. It was Ali that had come to be with her mom and decided to stay. For 15 years Ali ran the Yacht Club that was known for a large collection of paperback books, there for trading among sea goers. But for three years it had sat empty and for sale. Rumor had it that it was just purchased.

Someone showed me an interview with her on YouTube. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYD5TeCOoS4) Then it got weird, in many ways she reminded me of myself. In many ways I could relate to her: coming to Greece, changing her life…

But for her, a life cut short, a building standing vacant, and somewhere, a mother named Lizzie missing her daughter and the times they shared in Trizonia.