Staring at the sea

It can be the same on an island, especially a small one far from the mainland. Except the islands aren't going anywhere. Ferries are like islands that move.

Horizon from the ferry Agios Georgios.

Speedrunner, a fast boat that goes to one particular small Greek island, is full today. I had to take the slower one, a ferry named Agios Georgios. Instead of two and a half hours, I'm travelling for almost five. Just like the locals mostly do.

The sea is calm and fishing boats are out.

It's beautiful, warm late spring. I sit on the deck and count the waves, islands, people and boats passing by... And I forget the numbers. I remember only – one. That is the number of lighthouse keepers on Serifos. And the number of lighthouses. And the number of hills I have to walk over to get there.

If islands are lonely, lighthouses take loneliness to the next level.

People who live on lighthouses on Croatian and Greek islands are central to my story.

Fishing boat and seagulls off the Croatian coast.

When I was in Athens, just after a visit to the Acropolis, I saw a trailer for a movie called Two Faces of January, which was filmed around its temples. It's a symbolic title, referring to Janus, the Roman two-faced god who looks to the future and the past.

Islands also have two faces – a summer face, when everyone loves them and comes to visit, and a winter face, cold and grey, empty.

Dawn breaks over Croatian islands.

Ten days later I am on Zadar, a beautiful ferry named after my hometown. It takes me back from a trip to Italy. The dawn is breaking as we head home.

The sea is calm and fishing boats are out.

When the sea is calm, people on Croatian islands say it's bonaca. So do people on Greek islands, who also call their boats barka or kaiki. On Croatian islands people say barka or kaić.

And that’s only the beginning of the things they have in common.

Marija Knezevic is deputy editor-in-chief at the newspaper Zadarski List, where she covers politics, society and culture. Her fellowship story explores the lives of island dwellers in Croatia and Greece, particularly lighthouse keepers and their families.