There's No Place Like Home

I was in Greece for 9 days.  When I arrived on Sunday, June 16th I hardly knew what to expect, having heard mixed reports.  Most people told me that Athens was hardly worth a visit and to spend as little time there as possible – that it was dirty and nothing much to see.  Only one person raved about it.  She loves the history and the ruins in and around Athens and couldn’t speak more highly of the city. I went with an open mind.  I found a combination of both.

I had rented an apartment through AirBNB for four nights.  As the taxi entered the neighborhood the driver commented that this was a dangerous neighborhood, that I should not be out after dark by myself and to be careful showing signs of being a tourist, such as using a map and a camera.  This started a level of anxiety for the first 36 hours that was indescribable and unshakable.    

The neighborhood was one of many immigrants, primarily from the Middle East, but lacked the beauty and interest of the various ethnicities. With businesses closed on Sunday there was very little activity.   There were, however, plenty of seedy looking men just hanging out on the streets where I had to walk to get to more populated locations.   I couldn’t ignore the comment made by my cab driver and was very, very nervous especially leaving and returning to the apartment for dinner. The next day was Monday and the streets and neighborhoods were hopping, and I felt much better.  I found “the other side” of Athens which was actually quite lovely.  The city had gone through a comprehensive makeover in preparation for the 2004 Olympics, and there were several neighborhoods that had unique and interesting personalities.

One place I went to on Monday was the Athens Central Market. The Greeks are big meat eaters, and there are more meat vendors in this market than every other type added together.  “Butcher Rows” as I’d call them contained easily 20-30 individual meat vendors.  My first vision was of several skinned rabbits hanging on hooks with fur remaining on their tails and paws remaining.  The farther I journeyed into these rows the more I was grossed out by other animals hanging on hooks – with and without their fur.  Yuck!  I not only didn’t take anymore pictures, I deleted the one of the rabbits – poor bunnies.

The rest of the market had similar fare as many others in the Mediterranean, but I had the most fun buying olives – I think the guy in the olive market thought I was crazy when I said I wanted 5 olives of 5 different types, rather than a specific weight of any one type. There were so many to choose from. He was very accommodating and offered his suggestions about the five different types to choose.  He was also very cute.

Many kinds of olives

My patient olive guy

  

 Andrea was arriving at 3:00 AM Tuesday morning.  She has traveled all over the world but this was a country where we didn’t know the language, and she was arriving at night to a neighborhood that was less than desirable.  Additionally, our communication technology was not reliable – so how would I know when she arrived by taxi at the apartment. The cab driver that had originally brought me from the airport was very nice and we arranged that he would pick Andrea up from the airport.  Although I thought that was a good idea originally, I could not get rid of my anxiety around her arrival at the apartment.  I finally decided that I needed to go to the airport with him to meet her.   The driver picked me up at 2:00 AM and once she arrived and  I saw her walk through the gate I finally felt better.    Now I started to enjoy Greece.

We started our day on the little balcony of our apartment with breakfast of tomatoes and cucumbers, cheese and olives I had purchased at the Central Market the previous day.  

The Olympics and Greek flags

    

Where's my king?

Andrea and I are both big sports enthusiasts, hence our mutual selection of the original Olympic Stadium as our favorite among all the sites we visited in Greece.   This stadium was build to host the first “modern” Olympic games in 1896.  As we walked around the stadium that holds 80,000 spectators in seats of marble, we could imagine the king and queen of Greece sitting in the special seats constructed for their “comfort” and clear view of the activities.  The fact that the father of one of Andrea’s co-workers had actually pole vaulted in front of the Greek royalty many years  ago added a little bit of extra excitement to the visit.  

We imagined the events that have occurred in this stadium over the last century with the cheering and celebration by the large crowds. As we walked through the long tunnel from which the athletes enter the stadium we both recalled our participation in the Maccabee Games in Baltimore in 2002 with Andrea as an athlete and me as the delegation head, and the thrill of  proudly marching out onto the field representing our city. 

We started our visit to the top Acropolis late in the afternoon in order to avoid the intense

The Parthenon

heat of the day, and it was still plenty hot.  Armed with our hats and water we trekked up the hills and stairs leading to the plateau.  There was quite a bit of restoration going on throughout the entire site, which we recognize as important, but somehow it made it harder to let our imaginations take us back to the ancient era when there was so much historical activity occurring.  It was a surprise and somewhat of a disappointment to find the Parthenon largely encased in scaffolding for its restoration, which was scheduled to have been completed in 2009.  

The view from the top, however, was spectacular, enabling us to see the expanse of the city of Athens and beyond, including the Temple of Zeus which I had visited the day before.  One tidbit of information we learned was that there is a law in Athens that prevents the construction of any buildings higher than the Acropolis.  

View of the Temple of Zeus from the Acropolis

Close your eyes!

Early Wednesday morning we left Athens and took off for our much-anticipated trip to Santorini    We boarded a high speed ferry which took just under three hours. 

We want to officially give credit to the bus drivers on Santorini for keeping us alive.  Being at sea level, the ports of all of the islands are at the bottom of hills.  In order to get into Fira, the main town the buses drive up very windy, narrow roads during which we were positive we would fall of the edge of the road.  Imagine busses going up these roads, with cars and other busses coming the other direction. These were “eyes closed” rides.

We had many memorable moments and observations in Santorini but what we will remember most is the indescribable beauty of the island and its environs. Santorini is an extremely hilly island and the towns are at the top of the very high hills and extend down the sides toward the volcano.   Lots and lots of steps to get anywhere and everywhere.  Santorini is not the location of choice for people with bad knees – even those who have had knee replacements - but it was worth it!

View from the top of the volcano

One day we took a sailboat to the volcano where we hiked to the top over paths of black lava, then sailed to hot springs where we swam in water heated by the internal energy of the volcano which is close to 1000 degrees centigrade. The view from the top of the crater across the water to Santorini island was breathtaking.

Black sand beach

Due to the volcano’s influence the island is not well known for its beaches - they are very rocky and gravelly.  We did go to the black sand beach where we found find that we could still enjoy the sunshine, beautiful scenery and clear, bright blue water, despite the rocky entrance required before finding the flat sandy surface 10-12 feet into the water from the shore.

The island is also known for its sunsets.  It was hard to imagine anything more beautiful than the sunset in the main town of Fira, where we ate our first dinner and had our first sunset siting.  We went to the town of Oia (pronounced “ee-a”) one evening to see the more famous sunset and found the colors to be even more spectacular.  The pinks and orange hues continued well beyond the completion of its descent for at least an hour.  We figured out that we’d seen sunsets in every city we visited, but the one in Oia was by far the best.

One of the many beautiful sunsets

Oia is also the location of the white buildings and blue domed churches that represent Santorini in Web sites, tour books and travel brochures.  It looks just like the pictures.  Another tidbit - reasons for the colors.  In addition to white reflecting the heat, white is the color of lime, and when mixed with water it naturally disinfects the rainwater that was collected on the rooftops.  Also during the 400 year Ottoman occupation Greeks were not allowed to fly their blue and white flag.  Painting the domes blue was the way that the village demonstrated their defiance and showed their colors.  (We still haven't figured out why the domes in Mykonos are red!)

Oia, Santorini - this is a real photograph

Our final two days were spent in Mykonos, which is quite different from Santorini.  The topography is much different – it’s much less hilly, has sandy, beautiful beaches and there less to see and do than Santorini.  

The beach at Mykonos

The beach is life and we had no problem with this.  We stayed in Mykonos town for the two days and had the choice of many different beaches, all connected by frequent bus service.  We tried two very different beaches, both having comfortable lounge chairs, sunshine and warm,  clear blue water.  The differing shades of blue were fascinating and made the vision even more stunning.

Bus service to the beaches from the main town of Mykonos starts very early in the morning and doesn’t end until after midnight.  This is a party island.  Paradise is the party beach, but now there’s a new beach called “Super Paradise” that seems to be the place to go, and it’s only accessible by boat.   I appreciated that Andrea was willing to have a late dinner, walk around the town and save the partying for her friends.  After all, no one handed ME any party brochures!

Evening quiet in Mykonos - no parties here

Oh – can't forget the food.  Every meal was simple, nothing fancy, and so fresh. Choices of mezas were extensive everywhere and there was no problem finding meat-free options. The new foods that we tried and loved included tomato croquettes, fava spread (on one menu called “mushed fava ), fresh yogurt with quince preserves, and a beet, garlic and yogurt dip that was served in several different restaurants, each in a different form.  Santorini is known for its produce, including the tiniest little tomatoes in the same shape as our usual grocery store tomatoes – but much smaller, much redder and much sweeter.   We had a fish dish in Mykonos that was so fantastic that I asked for and received the recipe – sea bass with tehini, stuffed with spinach.  Another amazing sea bass preparation was with a very thin mashed potato crust, and mashed potatoes pureed with celery. No restaurant food pictures – you’ll have to just wait to taste.

I found Greece to be a difficult place walk around in. Short of the beauty of the islands, the beaches and the food, it was a scary place.  Roads are narrow and drivers are crazy!!!  Really. There is no such thing as right of way, slowing down or stopping for pedestrians, particularly on the islands, but also in the city.  We saw no stop signs on Santorini or Mykonos; the drivers just go.  They don’t stop for anything.  Rental ATV’s and mopeds are everywhere, so you never know when either of these or a car might be coming down the road or around the corner.  We were very surprised that we didn’t see or weren't the victims of any pedestrian / motor vehicle accidents while we were there. 

Our final journey in Greece other than our ride to the airport was our return from Mykonos to Athens by overnight ferry. Little had we known that Monday was a holiday in Greece – the best explanation we got was that it was celebrating “spirit” in Greece – so we tried to be happy.   However, all of the ferries were sold out on Monday and we had flights on Tuesday afternoon and evening.  Our ferry left Mykonos at 1:10 AM.  Or I should say it was scheduled to leave at 1:10 AM.  Life is loose in Greece.  Everything is “on or about”.  This was true with busses, ferries, and other forms of transportation.  So we weren’t surprised that the ferry didn’t leave on time.  By 1:10 AM there was still no ferry to be seen.  There were many people waiting, including a lot of kids between 18-25.  I told Andrea it reminded me of the days of traveling through Europe on a Eur-rail pass (1972) with only a back pack, traveling at night to avoid spending precious days on trains. Here we were, sitting on the curb, waiting for the ferry to arrive.

Greece is also not very organized. If you know me at all, you know that I prefer order to chaos.  This was a big adjustment.  When the ferry arrived, the entire crowd rushed to the gangplank.  Every ticket needed to be checked and each person directed - and everyone in the crowd pushes to get ahead.  A second entrance was finally opened, but we had to carry our luggage up several flights of stairs in order to go to the “reception” desk to be directed to our cabin – we and hundreds of other people. 

We did finally get to our cabin which with two beds was pretty comfortable. We both slept for 5-6 hours, arriving in Piraeus (the Athens port) at 8:00 AM.  The same several hundred people crowded the stairwells to get down the steps and off the ferry.

I finished writing this post from the Aegean Airlines lounge at the airport where I had food, drink, Internet and relative quiet, waiting for my flight back to Israel.  I went to the airport early with Andrea.  I'm now back in Israel, where despite still not understanding the language very well, I do feel at home.