Greece – Fall of 2001
Introduction - The concept evolved that some of the old Lockheed gang would do the Greek Islands; Actons, Caravalhos, Caturas, ourselves, and Tim. Various dates and scenarios were considered eventually settling in on early October and a small (45 passengers or so) cruise ship for a week. This was a compromise between a small sailboat and a large cruise ship. The former lost favor when we determined that none of us were real sailors and it would take two boats with a captain and cook on each to handle us; thus splitting up the group. No one was for a big/typical cruise ship either, so the idea of something small that only cruised each morning and you ended up spending the afternoon and dinner/evening on the island of the day had much appeal. Of course, once that aspect got locked in various people added activities to the program on their own. Tim and Caravalhos went a couple days early to acclimate and see Athens; the Caturas spent time in Switzerland on the way and France on the way back; Actons combined it with their annual astronaut deal which this time was in Kazakhstan; and we decided to spend a bit more than a week sightseeing Greece before the sailing trip and a day in Athens afterwards. Our plan for the initial period was to rent a car and bum around in our usual way with some targets predefined but no real agenda.
Then the events of 11 September happened. This temporarily wrecked havoc with all the airlines and also made one unsure of how much enjoyment such a trip might be in light of the disaster that had happened and how it affected everyone's attitude on life. In addition there were concerns of safety and inconvenience and whether one might get stranded somewhere when the likely war broke out. Most of our group had second thoughts and some at one time or another decided to not go; but eventually everyone decided to go for it anyway. For quite a few days it looked like the 1 hour connection we had in London would not be possible due to the new security regulations, but that too got lifted a couple of days before we hit the road.
One last general comment before detailing our diary. Instead of having a big Lonely Planet book/bible on this trip I had a variety of things. First, I had picked up a 3 year old LP at the flea market; and I simply cut out the sections that would be relevant figuring the description of tourist sites wouldn’t be out of date much. Then, I picked up a more current LP at the library and copied out relevant portions for places where I thought we’d end up staying or eating. For my one real book, I then bought Greece – The Rough Guide. I had always wondered how this series of books is. Answer – OK, but not as good as the usual LP. Finally, I had a small Berlitz book on the Greek Islands and then the cruise company gave us a large book on the Greek Islands at the start of our tour. Perhaps too much literature but it was interesting to cross compare. Now for the story.
Tuesday/Wednesday-1:
Our plane was to leave SFO at 4:45 PM, so Dawna and Betty, our driver this time,
picked me up at the lab at about 1:30. The airport was not crowded and check-in
went rather smoothly. We had deliberately packed all no-longer-allowed items
in a bag to check through and then each of us had our usual carry on, packed
in a manner so that we could live without the checked bag until cruise time
(or even then) if it got lost. But ... the person watching the luggage in the
X-ray machine saw something in Dawna's bag he didn't like. The bag was opened
and sure enough, in her dop kit was a cuticle clipper - a no no. Oh, me, we
had put our little Swiss army knives, wine opener, some silverware, and even
my razor in the checked bag along with a cuticle clipper of hers; but she had
forgotten about this one. After some discussion she was allowed to take it back
out to the non-secure part of the airport, found an envelope, bought some stamps,
and mailed it to our house. Thus ended our first encounter with the increased
security. Actually, to some level I'd been interacting with the whole situation
for a week or so because as our plane connection in London became impossible
I had to change car reservation times and also obtained a place to sleep during
the day near the London airport; and then when things went back on the old schedule/rules
a few days before departure I had to undo all that again. Another interesting
aspect of all this was how on the airplane going over the TV channel that usually
has news (CNN & BBC) was disconnected – they clearly wanted the passengers
to not get too involved in worrying. On the return flight it was functional
again.
Boarded
the plane, probably 3/4ths full, and it took off on time. We managed to move
a little so that each of us had two seats to try to rest in and we did rest
a bit but didn’t get much actual sleep. Prior to getting to London they announced
the rule was that one had to pick up checked baggage and recheck it. This was
the rule that would make our connection time impossible. We, and everyone on
the plane, complained that this isn't what they said in SFO and the flight folks
just said they'd find out after we landed. Oh, me. But turns out we were right
and they were wrong so other than a bit of frustration, we moved through the
huge London airport rather well and walked right onto our next plane. It too
was probably 3/4ths full; and the meal was somewhat better than it had been
on the first leg. Rested a bit more, and even typed the first portion of this
trip letter (like to here). The typing was being done on my Palm Pilot with
Keyboard, the new concept for lightweight, long battery life, travel. Time wise
- we had left SFO at 4:45 PM, there was an 8 hour time change so we arrived
London at 11:00 AM local (3 AM Calif); left London at 12:00, had another 2 hour
time change, and arrived Athens at 6:00 PM local - 8 AM California time, but
it’s not good to think of it that way. Amazing what one does to one's body.
The duffel
we had checked through arrived (nice to have), we cleared customs easily, exchanged
some money (ATM didn't work so we used cash), and began looking for our rental
car person. He was nearly 30 minutes late, which had us a bit concerned as to
whether there was a problem and it also meant a later start on getting towards
a bed/motel; but given that the plane was a bit early we couldn't complain too
loudly. As we got the car I asked whether one had to drive through Athens to
get to the Peloponnese and the answer was unfortunately yes. I also asked what
he was doing next which was taking a bus back to the city ... so we decided
to let him drive us into Athens to save him the bus activity and us the effort
of figuring out the proper roads, and to have him hand the car over to us at
a spot that was reasonable for continuing through town. This all worked fine
although it put the pressure on Dawna (the driver) when she was handed the car
on a busy street on a hill in the middle of Athens and had to pull into traffic
learning how the clutch worked and all that; but she managed. We had a few key
turns to make in the city and made one of them by my calling over to a cab at
an intersection to ask if turning there was proper (it was); but we got through
the city and out onto the motorway south without a missed turn - in the dark
yet and in heavy Friday evening traffic! Drove to Loutrak which I had picked
because it is a tourist spot due to its spring waters, sea coast, and the largest
casino in Europe (they say, but I wonder). Stayed at a nothing-special hotel
next to the casino and got a good night's sleep after a cleansing shower.
Thursday-1:
Breakfast at the hotel (included and OK). Walked over to the casino just to
see it and after filling out a long form to become members found out that to
enter you had to pay $5 or so. Since we only wanted to look at it a few minutes
and then hit the road, we said No Thanks and just hit the road. A few miles
onward was the Corinth Canal - our first real tourist stop. Neat thing to see
and we took our time (and even a photo), slowly walking over the bridge and
back. This canal makes the Peloponnese technically an island and of course provides
a real shortcut for ships to go between the Aegean and Ionian Sea. It was desired
way back in ancient times but they weren’t up to it so instead they made a sort
of roadway there over which they could drag large ships. Although Nero started
digging a canal in AD 67, he too failed and it was finally 1883 before a French
company accomplished the task. It has very steep sides, is rather deep (90 meters)
down to the water, and neat to see. Unfortunately, no ship went through while
we were there.
Onward,
but not very far, to a more major stop - Mycenae. This was an enormously large
city with great power back in the days of Homer and Troy et al (say 1250 BC
or so) and was initially excavated by Schliemann who also did Troy. A terrific
site to visit even though a lot of its best stuff is now in the National Museum
in Athens. We did it at our typical slow pace, reading about things as we went
and being quite impressed. Besides the ruins we were treated to some atmosphere
by a herd of goats on the hillside with bells ringing around their necks and
a shepherd and a few wild flowers. The bad news was that we left our flashlights
in the car so were not able to go very far down into the secret cistern; we
didn't forget them any more on the trip. As anticipated by the books, we were
quite impressed by the huge rocks that the people had maneuvered into walls
so long ago as well as the workmanship of the stonework thoughout.
The next stop was for our first real meal in Greece, being accomplished at a village prior to getting to tourist attraction-2, Epidaurus. We did OK with the meal by selecting a soup/stew like item after examining options in the kitchen. It had pasta and meat in a soup/sauce. And the cold beer was excellent, it having been rather hot out walking the site at Mycenae. Onward to Epidaurus. What makes this a "must" is the 3rd-century theatre that is in splendid condition in a very nice setting. In addition to the theatre there are quite extensive and nice ruins as well as a small museum. As always, we enjoyed the small museum because being right on the site it emphasized only things related to the site and after walking all around there these things have much more meaning than they would have in a major museum in a major city. From there we drove backward a bit to Nafplion which is considered one of Greece's most alluring/pretty cities by all the guidebooks. It and these two sites and the Cornith canal are all quite close so the amount of car-time this day was pretty small.
Based on information in a couple of books as well as the Internet we parked the car at the edge of town, walked to our hotel of choice, and were able to get a quite nice room there right in the middle of the old/picturesque town. Perfect weather, fun place to walk around, very Venetian. Deliberately went to a spot for dinner that was recommended in the book and had the recommended pork in a rich wine and basil sauce dish (called kolokotroneiko) at an outdoor table. Excellent meal and a fine place to watch the passerbys. Perfect weather as well. Our trip was now on a roll.
Friday-1: Walked more of the village, hoping to visit the Folk Art Museum but it was never opened; neither before nor after we had breakfast. Likewise with a Internet spot that was nearby. Decided to not do the fort that sits above the town but rather hit the road before noon. Drove wonderful mountain roads into the center of the P. Great views of mountains (barren) and seas (on both sides of the "island"). Our destination was the bottom of the P, which is Mani country filled with tower houses; with a possible stop at Mystra. Mystra is an ancient site relatively near Sparta; there is basically nothing to see at Sparta itself. One of our books said Mystra closed at 2 PM and the other said 8 PM. Our timing was such that if it was 2 PM we'd miss it and if it was 8 PM we'd get a room in a nearby village and then spend the late afternoon and early evening at the site. Arrived about 1:30 and found out it closed at 3 PM. Decided we'd just do it in a hurry, so parked and did it. Quite an extensive site in a beautiful location overlooking a valley full of olive trees. It is a more modern spot than some; 1249 AD and Byzantine. We hustled to the Convent and saw various 15th-century frescoes - quite good. The hustle hike up the hill was invigorating as well. Then we more casually did the rest of the site being sure to be far from the car at 3 PM so we could see more of the whole site as we left it. This worked quite nicely for they closed the doors to various places a bit before 3 PM but we were able to take a slow walk out without hardly anyone else around for the next half-hour while we looked at neat things from their exterior. The site had a top and bottom entrance so we next drove the car up to near the top one and had a picnic overlooking the valley - mostly cheese and fruit. This was our routine faire for non-restaurant meals as we were able to procure fine fruit from stands and good cheese from stores; plus either water or wine depending on our mood.
Next we
proceeded on down the P to the tower country area; a peninsula at the bottom
of Greece. This took a bit longer than expected due to the roads being curvy
(and scenic) but wasn’t too bad. Along the way we came upon a chap selling honey
at a small stall with his hives right behind him. He gave Dawna a taste of several
types and then she made a purchase. Earlier that day we had also bought some
honey at the grocery store where we stocked up on other items, but what the
heck. Pulled into Areopoli and went to a tower house that is basically a small
hotel. Got a room, relaxed on a porch looking at a garden that had some fun
cacti. A bit latter we strolled the tiny village and had a snack, grilled meat
on a skewer, at a very small spot. Peaceful evening and the weather continued
to be beautiful. And boy was it quiet for sleeping.
Saturday-1:
Got up at our typical 7-8 AM time and no one was there to pay for the room.
Strolled into the village, had a coffee, came back, paid our (very small) bill,
and hit the road. Headed south down the Mani Peninsula. Fun country, neat villages
on the hillsides, and nice sea shore. Really remote Looked for coffee but not
much around. Stopped at a tiny church to see it and they were having some sort
of service. A lady motioned us to come in but then decided Dawna shouldn't because
her toes were showing out of the sandals - at least that's what we think. Got
to see the inside of this very tiny church, however, and also didn’t get "stuck"
there for the service. Bummed our way to the very bottom of the peninsula. Only
very small villages so couldn't even find a fish place for "brunch"
so had a picnic at one of the villages. After we reached the bottom we came
back up the other (east) side. By mid afternoon we were back (north) opposite
of where we had started. Had a meal at a seafood place on the water and the
fish was good but not great. Then crossed the peninsula back to where we had
started "early" that morning. It had been a fun day going nowhere with great
mountains, seashores, small villages, cacti, rocks, etc. And really neat miniature
olive trees. We then moved out a bit heading toward Pylos for sleeping. Went
through Kalamata, famous for olives, and took a wrong road so ended up going
about 15 miles in the wrong direction and then had to retrace it. This meant
we got to Pylos later than planned. The hotel of choice in the books turned
out to be closed and Dawna lobbied for staying at house that rented rooms; which
we did once we located the old lady who was running it. Turned out to be very
noisy so not a great choice even though it certainly was cheap. Probably plenty
of other "rooms to let" would have been the same price but quieter but also
would have taken longer to find. Pylos is said to be a small unspoiled Nafplio
but I think that is a stretch. Nice enough however and we walked around and
eventually settled into an outdoor cafe "for a beer" but ended up
having a small meal - Dawna had stuffed squid and I had a sausage thing. OK,
and the beautiful weather for eating out doors continued. We actually sleep
relatively well considering all the traffic noise.
Sunday–1:
Went down to the main drag for a coffee and then headed out towards Nestor's
Palace. I actually had been looking at Nester's Castle on the map and then discovered
this was different. As we got towards it (the Castle not the Palace) it looked
neat - an old, non-maintained, castle up on a hill on a piece of land that was
only connected to the mainland by a causeway. Part of the attraction was also
Nestor's Cave that was said to have bats. Anyway, we drove out to as far as
you can go and then ended up doing a fair hike up to the castle, walked through
it, and then hiked down the other end to Nestor's Cave. No bats but a real neat
cave which we had all to ourselves; this time with our flashlights of course.
We then either had to retrace this 1.5 hour hike or try to go back in a way
that might be blocked by a lagoon coming all the way up to the mountain. Of
course we choose (gambled on) the latter and it worked out quite well. All in
all a very nice hike/outing with peaceful views of the area all around from
up on top where the castle was. From there we continued on to Nestor's Palace.
This site is under very active archeological work and "the best preserved of
all the Mycenaen Palaces" according to the book. Excellently marked, and fun
to see as a work in process; but not spectacular. As such, no tour buses were
there which added to our enjoyment. The parking lot was under olive trees with
a nice cool breeze and a drinking fountain next to which we had a fine fruit
salad. There is also an excellent tholos (beehive) tomb there, albeit not as
sensational as the one at Mycenae. A few miles down the road is the village
of Chora with a small but excellent museum with basically only items from Nestor's
Palace. Again, a neat and relaxed experience after having just been there, it
not being crowded, etc. Oh, yes, somewhere along about this day, I realized
in the back of my book there was a translation sheet between Greek characters
and English and that by sitting long enough at a road junction which was signed
only in Greek, I could figure out which road went to which town, the names for
them on the map being in English.
All of this
Nestoring around meant that we would now skip Olympia. Most information says
it isn't all that great and is super crowded. Would have been interesting, however,
since we are Olympics fans but these other items seemed more enjoyable. So,
we raced up the west coast of the P, and partially around the north end. The
target was a village named Diakofto. Why? Well because from this village on
the sea there is a narrow gauge train that goes into the mountains by going
up a steep canyon part of the time using a rack and pinion system to deal with
the incline. Sounded neat in the books, so what the heck. Pulled into town and
went to the number one ranked place but it was full so we went to a second choice.
Just fine, and the proprietor was an interesting and friendly chap. To begin
with he noted Cupertino on our passports and asked if we were near Silicon Valley;
to which we said Yes and actually at the center of it and was he into computers,
etc. The results of this exchange were he let me use his office computer to
connect to the internet and we stayed at his place for dinner - as always outside
and relaxing - I forget what we had. The chap also called and found out that
there was space available on the 8 AM train but not on the 10 AM one.
Monday-1:
Got up earlish and went to the train station. Bought tickets and then had a
coffee. Train was on time and we had a front seat so excellent views. Spectacular/neat
although the Sun on the canyon/gorge would have been better later. About an
hour and 15 minutes into the 1.5 hour trip the train stops at the small village
of Zahlorou. The book says the bit beyond this isn't so spectacular so we got
out and had a stroll up into the hills near the village, returning in time (about
45 minutes) for another coffee and then caught our train on its way back down.
Speaking of walks, a thing one can do is take the train to this village and
then walk all the way back down along the railway bed .... being careful not
to be in one of the many many tunnels at the same time the train is. Would be
fun and would enable even more enjoyment of the great scenery but (a) we didn't
have the time and (b) I really enjoyed seeing the steep slopes as we approached
them to go downward on the train - almost a roller coaster feeling but without
the speed. The Sun was more on the canyon walls now too. Got to the bottom and
went back to the hotel and paid our bill as when we had left quite early in
the morning there was no one there to pay.
It was time
to leave the Peloponnese and we did so by taking a ferry over to the mainland;
from Rio if you are into looking at maps. This is a very active ferry point
with one running every 15 minutes or so. In fact, they are in the process of
building a bridge here. Of note was how everyone backs their car or truck onto
the ferry - and Dawna had a bit of a time getting our car positioned where the
ferry people wanted it. Nice views during the short (less than 30 minute ride).
After arriving on the mainland the sensible thing to do was to go a bit east
and then north towards our next target. But since that would mean coming back
a day or two later on many of the same roads, we elected to go west and then
north. First some seashore with the mountains to our right and then into the
mountains. Had a picnic lunch at a spectacular gorge. This time it was some
very salty fish that Dawna had purchased that morning. Not as good as it looked.
Onward through many many miles of twisty and beautiful mountain roads out in
nowhere. At one place we lost a bit of time trying to find the right road (which
we did) so eventually we were racing the clock to get out of the mountains before
it go dark. And we did, enjoying spectacular wilderness-quality sights along
the way. Then it was a run through farm land (cotton, cotton, and more cotton)
and a bed in the town of Trikala. Nothing special but an OK hotel and it was
time to be stopping.
Tuesday-2:
Less than an hour north of our hotel was the real goal - the monasteries that
sit atop pinnacles in the area of Meteora. Drove to the village that is there
(Kastraki) and had a coffee, and then did the monasteries. Good fun with variation
between them and all interesting. Some had a lot of tourists (tour buses) but
those which took walking up a large number of steps to get to didn't. By early
afternoon we had done most of them and went back to K for a very relaxing lunch.
It was good as was sitting in the still perfect weather with a jug of local
wine. Then we did a reasonable hike from town up to one of the monasteries -
actually one that was used in the James Bond film of For Your Eyes Only. As
it was a hot 45 minute hike with more than 700' elevation change, there were
very few people at this spectacular site and the monk even served us coffee.
We did not get to do the relatively nearby Pelion peninsula - maybe some other day although I doubt we'll actually be back to mainland Greece again.
The hike meant we'd be getting to our next destination, Delphi, after dark but we figured so be it. Got on the motorway and made good time but then it was time to take off across some rather steep (and famous) mountains. Much to our surprise this road was excellent so we continued to move rapidly. Plus, although it was dark we were able to keep our speed up by following a rapidly moving dump truck who clearly knew the road well and thus knew when the curves were serious and when they were just curves. Arrived Delphi around 8:30 and went to our first choice hotel - full. Second choice wasn’t, however, and we got a nice room with a great view, so all was well. We weren't very hungry since we had had a large lunch so we just snacked on our patio while looking at the view and then hit the hay.
Wednesday-2:
Had a relaxing breakfast in the hotel with a splendid view. Then did the ruins
at famous Delphi. They are excellent and we took plenty of time there (avoided
competing for particular sights with tour groups by being out of phase with
them). Our next target was an old Byzantine monastery down the road aways. Since
we didn't know when it would close in the PM (different statements in different
pieces of information) we decided to go there directly and then come back to
the museum at Delphi if we wanted to. Rolled out through nice countryside stopping
in one town to procure their well known local wine. Got to the Moni Ossiou Louka
Monastery, that really is out in the country, and enjoyed it thoroughly; including
a new small museum. It is a "glorious symphony of marble and mosaics along with
frescoes" and "perhaps the most important monument of the Middle Byzantine
period in Greece" with a fine setting on a hill overlooking yet another
valley of olive trees. Spent enough time here that we decided to not back track
to Delphi to see the museum but instead head for Athens; albeit not in the most
direct way because we had read about another stop that sounded interesting.
It was the ruins of a huge Maycenaen Palace (Gla) just outside the village of
Kastro. It has had no archeological work done to it so is just a bunch of walls
and ruins out in a field. Rather neat to find, and walk around all alone. Just
amazing how much stuff has never been worked on. But now it was really time
to get to on to Athens. We had originally only committed to staying at the hotel
there on Thursday evening so we stopped at spot on the motorway and made a call
to see if we could stay this night as well. Did the call by first buying a phone
card and then actually managing to make it work.
But the
hotel was full. I asked them about a nearby option and with me on hold they
booked us into their sister hotel a couple blocks away. A worthwhile phone call.
Flew down the motorway into Athens and then stumbled around awhile and found
our hotel(s). Even found a parking place nearby. Checked in, called the car
folks to tell them to come get the car (which they did the next morning), cleaned
up a bit and called the gang who were at the other hotel - everyone but the
Actons who would be arriving on the next day. Went over there, had some drinks
and chats with them, and then we all went out for dinner. Good socializing but
not a very good meal.
Thursday-2: A fairly elaborate breakfast at the hotel and then did the Acropolis, which was only a 10 minute walk from the hotels. Certainly is spectacular, albeit crowed with tourists and impossible to often tell what is really old and what has been reconstructed. The museum up there is excellent as well. Didn't spend quite as much time on top as we would have liked because we needed to change hotels at around noon. The change went well and we were now in the same hotel as everyone else. Took a walk through the Plaka area with all its stores, cafes, nice old buildings, etc. as well as around some adjoining areas. That night we had a better dinner with the gang and even did a bit of connecting with the world at an Internet cafe. Had the gang not been there we would have gone to a performance at the old theater within the Acropolis because we noted that day there were tickets available, but we were being sociable (for a change).
Friday-2: The schedule was to go by bus to the port at 12:30, so we spent the morning circling the bottom of the Akropolis, seeing more of tourist Athens with various ruins, churches, stores, and nice views. Then a nearly two hour bus ride with our tour group followed by a two hour hydrofoil ride to the island of Tinos where our ship was berthed. This fast boat only has seats inside with little viewing so it was like riding in a 747 - just a way to get there. Boarded our ship. It could hold 42 or so but there were only 22 of us; various folks having cancelled out due to the events of 11 September. This, of course meant we had more room to roam and more service, since the crew size didn't shrink accordingly. Learned the game plans and rules from the tour leader and ship's captain and then had a dinner on board. Lots of food, good chicken and plenty of wine. Prior to dinner, the Actons and ourselves did a short hike to a point that one could see from the boat - a monument out on a point of land. After dinner, Tim and I walked into the village a bit to buy some bottled water and a couple of other things. We didn't do any real village exploring since the same port would be on our agenda on the return trip as would be a tour of the island itself. Slept quite well in our cabin.
Saturday-2:
I got up a bit early and went to the top deck to watch the Sun rise and also
see us pull out of port. Then, breakfast at 8 AM. Fried eggs and bacon and toast
and other stuff plus all the coffee one wanted. Nice way to start the day and
we eventually learned that breakfast oscillated between fried eggs and bacon
one day and scrambled eggs and sausage the next. Then a couple hour "sail" to
the island of Delos. Delos was an extremely major (and religious) city, being
basically at the center of the Cyclades, back in 7th century BC. The main town
there once had a population of 30,000. Now it is basically an outdoor museum
with extensive grounds, fine mosaics, excellent views, and a good museum on
site. No one is allowed to be there overnight, for example, since it is all
a preserve with no active/present day city. Excellent spot. We didn't have as
much time as we would have liked - the anticipated negative aspect of being
on a tour - but did have 2-3 hours. The ship then went on to the island of Naxos
where it stayed for the night.
Upon getting to Naxos, D& I walked the village - very neat what with all the white houses (and churches) on a steep hillside up from the harbor and a labyrinth of twisty streets often with covers on them making them almost tunnels rather than streets. It was somewhat hot and muggy, however, and most of the stores were closed for mid day. Oh, yes, we must have had a large lunch in here somewhere since that was the ship's pattern/obligation. Showered, cleaned up, and then the whole gang walked out to a point with a famous arch (Temple of Appolo) to watch the sunset. That was followed up by a quite nice dinner; both D&I had swordfish. The general pattern for dinner was to share various hors d’oeuvres, have our own main course, drink lots of wine, have too much food, enjoy the weather and scenery, and find it all to be very inexpensive. A lot more eating then we would have been doing if we weren't with the group!
Sunday-2: Sunrise from top deck, breakfast, and then the whole bunch of us headed off on a land tour led by our tour guide, Dimetri; via bus. First stop was at a spot where a giant figure had been carved from the local granite but never moved to wherever it was intended so now just out in a field and a tourist attraction run by the folks who own that land - of course they also had drinks and stuff to sell. Then to a potter's workshop in a village. Fun to watch him make a pot, and amazing how much stuff people purchased. Another village and more stores; and then back to the ship for lunch - quite good fish and lots of food "of course." After lunch we had about 2.5 hours of cruising over to the island of Paros. This was really the first cruise period wherein one could just sit up top and watch the water and various islands, read a bit of a book (Zorba the Greek for me), etc. Quite enjoyable and not rough seas.
Oh, yes, one of Dawna's eyes was quite dilated compared to the other/normal one and thus sensitive to the sun so she wore a patch over it. Our eventual theory on why this happened was that she had overdosed on the sopolani (for sea sickness and I’m too lazy to look up the real spelling) because she had thought the first patch fell off and thus put on a second one but really the first one had just shifted position, so she had too much mediation flowing. It cleared up in a day or so (after also finding and removing the one/first patch).
At Paros
we had a half hour walking tour with Dimetri and then wandered around a bit
by ourselves. Tried to get a bus to a fishing village (Naoussa) on the north
side of the island but the schedule didn't make sense so we took cabs - there
were we 9 plus another couple. Had an excellent dinner what with the usual batch
of different hdos; Dawna had shrimp while I had a local/fresh fish - you select
it off the ice and then pay for it by the kilo. Cabs back to the ship and then
to sleep. During the cab ride back we learned that the US had bombed Afghanistan
but got no details and we had no English TV channel on board. Some folks tried
to learn more via the internet in town, but failed.
Monday-2: Usual leisurely breakfast and then the Actons, Dick, and ourselves caught a local bus to a village (Lefkes) in the interior of the island. It used to be the capital of the Island and is now a very pretty and relaxed village. We walked around, including a bit of a walk on the ancient Byzantine Road, but couldn't bum as much as we would have liked since we were to be back to the ship at 1 PM, wanted to see a marble mine on the way, and the bus heading in the right direction left at just a bit more than an hour after we got to town. Nice outing though. Caught the bus, went to the marble area. Explored a bit including going part way down the major mine shaft (with flashlights); but again we had a schedule to meet and had to leave time to walk the rest of the way (5 km) down the mountain to the ship since we had gotten off the bus out in the middle of nowhere to see the mine. Turned out that after a half hour or so a taxi came by, we grabbed it, and thus got back to the port village early. Early enough in fact for the Actons to do some banking and then we four (Dick hadn’t participated in the mine adventure) had a beer prior to showing up at the ship on time. Another big lunch on-board and then a "serious" discussion about what to do next. The situation was that the winds/sea were high/rough enough that the captain and Dimetri felt everyone would get very sick on the long run to Santorini and that we probably wouldn’t be able to dock there but rather would have to dock at the island of Ios and ferry over. The conditions weren’t so bad that it was illegal to go however – there are rules of when different sorts of ships can or cannot sail and it was one level below where there would be no option. The alternative plan was to take a ferry to Santorini (with some luggage) and spend the night there at a hotel. There was much debate as to how to proceed but eventually everyone agreed on this plan. Just deciding this took awhile plus the ferry wouldn’t be leaving until the next morning. Too bad we hadn’t know all this earlier and could have not rushed our time in the interior – but so it be when weather is a factor. People did various afternoon activities ranging from resting/reading on the boat to shopping (Dawna and Evelyn but most of the stores were closed) to swimming - me and only me but darn it I wanted to get in the Aegean some time and had time to kill. It was nice, actually, and I wasn’t alone but with Tim and Sharon both who stuck their toes in the water. We three also checked out a spot for dinner that night and had an after-swim beer. After a bit of cleaning up at the boat we 9 went back there for dinner which was good but not great – both D & I had the specialty (lamb stew).
Tuesday-3:
Breakfast, D&I walked the town extensively, an early lunch, and then onto
the ferry. The weather had not gotten better but those big ferries are quite
stable; no one got even close to sick. It was a pretty long trip and Dawna (and
some others) spent it in soft chairs on the interior (with naps) while I (and
some others) spent it out on the deck where the air was fresher, one could see
more, but the seat was hard and the wind/salt spray wore you out. Managed to
read a whole lot of pages of my book and to see some scenery. Arrived Santorini
and a bus picked us up and took us to the hotel (one of many perched on the
steep hillside city/village of Fira). Santorini is truly spectacular as it frames
the earth’s largest volcanic caldera – the explosion having taken place in 1500
BC and perhaps being responsible for creating the city of Atlantis (if such
exists). The patios of our hotel looked out nicely on the sea-filled caldera;
another nice sunset as we all had a drink or two. That night we ate at a place
that had rather good (but different) pizza; plus the usual assortment of hdovers
and alcohol. D & I had walked part of the main town before dinner and then
we all went through it to get to and from dinner; an amazing number of (especially
jewelry) high-class stores.
Wednesday-3: Breakfast on our patios and then the Actons and us hustled down the steep path (some 600 large steps) to the older harbor. The "in" way of doing this is by mule or gondola. In fact, we took the gondola back up because we were running late for today’s tour. The tour first went to the museum (absolutely excellent but the 20 minutes or so we had there was not enough), then to the archeological site of Akrotiri. This was a very major city in 2,000 BC that got covered with ash when the volcano erupted in 1500 BC, and they only found it and began the excavations in 1967. Thus it is being done properly, is a world heritage site, etc. We had an excellent guide so got a lot out of her descriptions. In reality there isn’t a lot to see yet since they keep you on a path wherein you don’t cause any damage. Eventually, one will be able to go into many of the houses, etc and that should be super. Good experience, however. The next stop was at a local winery – the island is well know for its grapes. Had tastings, bought stuff, nice views, generally fine stop except it would have been neater to have gone back to the museum. After that the bus went a half hour or so to the village of Ia. It too is perched on the steep slope of the Caldera and extremely picturesque. The houses had more color than the stark white ones on most of the island. The whole gang did a short walk with Dimitri and then broke up into our own activities – lunch for many and walking slowly around for D & I. More, and even perhaps more arty, high-class stores. We did get a quick lunch – an excellent gyro at a spot near where we got back on our bus to go back to Fira and the ferry. The ferry trip back to Paros took quite awhile, what with 2 or 3 stops along the way; but those stops provided good entertainment as some of us hung over the back end of the boat and watched the captain back it into port against waves, wind, and currents and then watched the loading and unloading processes. This also gave nice views of the port villages too. By the time we got back to our ship/bed, however, it was late and we’d had plenty of ferry riding. But everyone was certainly glad to have gone to spectacular Santorini.
Thursday-3: Heck, the weather was so bad this morning that the ship couldn’t even legally sail. After much debating, all but three of the tour group (Sharon, Dick, and Tim) elected to take another ferry option – that being to go by ferry to the island of Mykonos. We had a rather nice ride there, checked into our hotel, and then walked the village. Again, each village was different from the next and interesting accordingly. But, boy was in windy. That night we wandered around town, watched the waves crash on "little Venice", and had dinner at a rather nice spot (actually our second choice since after finally finding our first choice it was closed for the season). Both D & I had goat while
(I think) Evelyn and Jeannie had the ugly-looking monk fish that were displayed on ice under glass.
Friday-3:
After a good, and quiet, night's sleep we got up, had breakfast at the
hotel (included), and joined with the C's and A's to wonder around the
area a bit more. The wind was still quite high. Walked over to where the
trademark series of 5 windmills sit on a hill next to the sea. Picturesque,
but would be more so if they had their sails up. Seems like they only
do this a few times a year for special festivals. Three or four of the
windmills have people living in them now; probably also responsible for
keeping them in good shape. Then we wandered into the main part of town,
through stores, etc; generally looking a everything. By now, I was looking
for a particular pot (museum reproduction of a Mycenaen one), Dawna was
looking for a diamond bracelet, Evelyn/Loren were looking for a gold necklace,
J&B were looking for some worry beads; etc – so everyone had something
to keep them busy while really just bumming around and seeing the appropriate
local sites. Some place along about now. Dawna only came close to buying
her bracelet; I got my pot back in Athens on the last day, E&A got
a gold necklace and J&B got some beads although probably not what
they would like to have found.
At the Maritime museum, Jeannie and I went in, Bob went back to the hotel, and Dawna did some more store looking. The museum had a quite outstanding collection of model ships through the ages and nice explanations in English. Pretty amazing how sophisticated the ships were so long, long ago in this part of the world. Of course, Greek ships have always been a big deal. There was even the top portion of a lighthouse out in a garden behind the museum. A good stop on a do-nothing-special morning. All in all we were glad that we had gone to the extra effort of seeing Mykonos because in spite of its reputation as the hedonist island it is quite pretty, what with little Venice; and like each island we visited rather unique. Sometime around here (or was it the prior day) we checked out a folk art museum that was rather interested although not wonderful; really more of a junk collection.
Back to the hotel, checked out, boarded our bus and down to the harbor. We were almost an hour early but the Ferry was already in so not too much later we were able to board. Huge ferry and rather empty - tis the end of the tourist season for sure. Dawna took up residence inside on a soft chair, where we also put the luggage, and I moved to a spot outside where I could see and feel more of the trip. Did just that, plus a lot more reading of my Zorba book. We left the harbor at 1:30 and it was a long trip what with stops at Tinos and Andros and the fact that this was a huge lumbering ferry rather than a fast hydrofoil. But the good news was being able to be outside rather than stuck in rows on the interior like we were on the ride over to Tinos originally. Good fun at the two stops watching the captain and crew berth the ferry (backwards), cars/trucks get off and on, people do likewise, etc. At one stop, we watched a whole drama of a lady getting on and off the boat many times as she was clearly watching for someone to show up and then after part of the ramps were already up there was a car racing into the parking lot, a fellow hoping out and running, the crew holding the ferry a few extra minutes, and we all on-board clapping for him when he finally just made it on. The last leg of the Ferry did get rather painfully long, however, and when combined with a bus ride back to the hotel in Athens it was after 7:30 PM when we got there. Turned out Caturas and Tim were not going to arrive until midnight so we did not have a final group dinner as planned, but we 6 went to a nice place in the Plaka and had an enjoyable meal at an outside table with a great view of the lit up Acropolis. Dawna had musaka and I had the specialty that the LP book had mentioned - a beef in a special sauce (the book had called it out). Just OK, actually. Actons walked the town a bit, the Caravalohs retreated to the hotel to pack and be ready to head the airport at 5 AM the next day and we went to bed as well.
Saturday-3: Breakfast at the hotel with the Actons and then we four headed off to see the National Archaeological Museum. Got there via a local trolley. Great Museum and we could well have used more than the 2.5 hours we allotted ourselves, although one does saturate on such things. The very early (millennium not centuries BC) stuff was perhaps my favorite although maybe I enjoyed the extensive displays from Mycenae even more since having visited there a week earlier it had special significance/familiarity. We then headed back toward the Akropolis on foot looking for a place for a gyro lunch. Found a rather dumpy one but they were excellent, along with large beers at our streetside table. Since the Agora closed at 3 PM, we grabbed a cab to get there before 2. Walked around it and enjoyed the ruins, the beautifully reconstructed Stoa of Attolos, the museum within it being excellent, etc. We then separated, with Actons getting a coffee and wandering "home" and ourselves wandering with special emphasis on going to a leather shop to look at some purses Dawna had examined a week earlier. But she still didn't buy one. Stopped at an arty store we had liked once before and I ended up buying my museum-replica, Mycenanen jug.
At the hotel, we did our packing for the return flights, cleaned up, rested a bit, and then the Actons joined us for drinks - managed to finish off a bottle of lemon-flavored alcohol, sure didn't want to have to carry it home. The Actons had arranged to have dinner with an acquaintance of theirs at his club, so D&I headed out by ourselves. First stop was to see if there would be a performance at the outdoor theater of the Akropolis that night; answer was No. So, we mainly walked the Plaka, which was steaming with people, and then had a small and not very interesting dinner at a location that was good for continuing to watch the swarming masses. Got to be relatively early.
Sunday-3: Up at 4:30 AM, cab at 5:10, fast (and inexpensive) ride to the airport. Had some coffee, checked in (being early enough to change our seats to two together with me at the window for both the flight to London and the one to SFO); and soon we were on a quite nice plane heading generally towards home. I'd say the plane was 80% full; high for what one reads in the paper but I imagine Sunday is a busy travel day. The flight to London was nice, had some time to kill at the airport, and then left on time for the US. Our seats turned out to be at the back of the plane so there was lots of wiggle and noise so not as great as I had planned; plus the couple in front of us leaned all the way back. However, we did have some spectacular views of Iceland at one point in the trip and some acceptable views of the Canadian Rockies and the series of volcano mountains as one comes down the west coast of the US. Arrived a bit early, cleared customs, called Fridel but only got her answering machine, but a bit later she pulled up and home we went. After the usual reading of the mail and unpacking I watched the last portions of two Niner games that I had recorded (we won both of them) but I hadn’t recorded the game (they also won and in overtime) that day because my information three weeks earlier had the wrong channel assigned to it.
Summary: We definitely had a good time and it was fun to do this outing with the old gang. Given my choice, however, I’d recommend Turkey over Greece as the ruins are better, the people are more friendly, and the landscapes are nicer (less bleak). The small museums in Greek win out, however. The villages on the Greek islands are neat/pretty but the islands as seen from the water aren’t very special. The food was better than we had expected and both it and hotels were inexpensive. The weather was perfect in terms of temperature but the winds at the end of the trip goofed up our cruise and in turn that gobbled up a lot of time; one result was that we never did the inland tour on Tinos where there is a marble sculpture school that would have been interesting. I imagine had we done the islands by ferry from the start and spent enough time (often two nights) on fewer islands to bum their interior we’d have a better feel/like for them. Maybe when we go back to this area to see Crete (which sounds like the most interesting island of all) we’ll do something like that on Santorini (or somewhere).
And – right at this minute we do not have another trip firmly planned nor any airplane tickets sitting on the desk ….. a rather unusual situation of late. But we do have a variety of concepts!
[note: photos courtesy of Tim Roethig]