Santorini, Greece

Greece Days Two and Three

Good afternoon and greetings from Santorini.  It's a been a few days so I want to catch you up with what we've been doing. After my last entry on Sunday afternoon, we walked to a neighborhood that Kirk had read about that was off the beaten path called the Gazi, not to be confused with Gaza which is something completely different.  We got drinks at a cafe called Soho and seemed to be the only tourists there so it was nice to see how the modern Athenians spend their evenings.  We had dinner at a restaurant across the street and also appeared to be the only tourists there, even though they had English menus.  As we ate, we watched a man next to us play with worry beads.  Greek men like to hold these in there hands and toss them around to pass the time.  They are kind of like the beads on a rosary but they carry no religious significance.  We have seen them just about everywhere and they seem to be used by young and old men alike.  Kirk and I have decided we want some, but we haven't bought them yet.  I personally don't want to spend too much on them, but I don't want to get them at a mere souvenir stand either.  I could certainly use them though as I am a bit of a worrier myself.

Yesterday was our second day in Athens and we spent the day seeing more ruins and visiting the Acropoliis Museum.  We started the day at the Ancient Agora, just downhill from the Acropolis.  This was the marketplace of ancient Athens and today is basically a large field filled with ruins, most of which are foundations and some columns from old buildings.  This is where Socrates and other Greek philosophers taught.  One of the old buildings, the Stoa of Attalos, has been completely restored thanks to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and is now the museum of the Agora.  The museum is full of vases and other antiquities from Ancient Greece.  We saw an ancient machine that the Athenians used to pick juries for criminal trials which I found particularly interesting.  Most impressive, perhaps, was an exhibit on the practice of Ostracism used by the ancient Athenians to protect democracy from despotic tendencies.  With a quorum of at least 6000, those assembled would use pottery shards to write down the name of someone they found most unpleasant.  The "winner" would be banished from the city for ten years.  When Tom, Kirk, and I read this, we all thought of writing the same person's name who will go unmentioned as this is a nonpartisan blog.

We ate lunch at a sidewalk cafe near the Agora.  These cafes are everywhere in Athens as in much of Europe.  After lunch, we made our way to the new Acroppolis Museum.  Built on top of ruins from the ancient city of Athens, much of the floor of the museum is clear and so one can view the excavations below which admiring the artifiact above.  On the top floor of the museum, they have assembled all the artifacts that they have collected from the Parthenon's doorways and the freeze.  These are arranged around the top floor in the same manner that they would have been on the building.  In some places they have have filled in missing pieces based on previous drawings.  But they never seem to assume what anything might of looked like, so there are plenty of gaps.  This exhibit is surrounded on all sides by glass overlooking the Acropolis and the Parthenon.  Well done, Greece!  The museum closed at 4pm so we spent the rest of the afternoon meandering through the narrow alley ways and shops of the Plaka district.  Later, I went back to the room and changed into long pants so that I could visit the Orthodox Cathedral.  Like the Vatican, you can't go in in shorts.  I wanted to see this church mainly because it is where King Juan Carlos of Spain married Sofia of Greece sometime in the 1950s.  The church was more elaborate than the Catholic cathedrals I have seen but much smaller.  There were a lot of mosaics and frescos of Christ and the apostles.  I wish I knew more about the Orthodox tradition.

We ate dinner at a restaurant we had spotted in the Plaka, but then got back early enough to pack and go to bed.  This morning we got up a little before 5am in order to get ready and catch a 5:30am taxi to the port of Piraeus for our ferry to Santorini.  We stopped at Mikonos and Naxos on the way and repeatedly went outside to take pictures.  We arrived at the main port in Santorini about 12:30.  Fortunately, we had arranged our "transfer" to our hotel, as the Europeans call it, and so did not have to find a driver.  It seemed to take an hour to only go a few miles as the roads are narrow and there are a lot of cars and a lot of tourists.  The main town, Fira, was a bottleneck and swarmed with tourists.  But just a mile or so north is the village of Imperiovigli which is more isolated and quiet.  There was wine and cheese awaiting our arrival and we spent the day lounging on our balcony and at the pool which overlook the caldera of Santorini.  The island is the rim of an ancient volcano which erupted thousands of years ago.  When it erupted the center caved in and filled with water creating the harbor that is before us.  The island has almost no trees and is covered by several villages of typical Greek white washed houses.  I will write more about Santorini tomorrow.  Amazingly, there is almost no one at our hotel and so it is quiet and peaceful.  Nice to be away from the tourists.  We're looking forward to dinner and the sunset and possibly hiking a little bit tomorrow.  Until then...

Athens, Greece

Greece Day One

I arrived here in Athens with my friends Tom and Kirk last night after a long day of travel.  We left Atlanta at 10:45 on Friday night, flying Turkish Airlines first to Istanbul on an 11 hour plane ride and then on another flight here to Athens last night.  We enjoyed the brief time we had in the Istanbul airport sampling Turkish Delight, but were happy to finally arrive here safely late last night.  Because of jet lag, we were not tired and so walked around a bit, got a bite to eat and some wine at a small cafe near our hotel, and finished it off with ice cream.  We were out past 1am which would normally be very unusual for me, but we hadn't quite adjusted yet.  During our stroll we saw several cars getting parking tickets, but not only did they get a fine, but their license plates were removed by the police; we assumed this was to make sure they paid.  Ouch.

Today we took a walking tour of the city center of Athens and the Acropolis.  The tour included sites of both modern and ancient Athens, such as Sintagma Square, the Temple of Zeus, the Plaka district, and of course the Parthenon.  Our first stop was Sintagma Square where our guide gave us an overview of modern Greek history from the fall of Constantinople (about 500 years ago today, actually) to the fall of the monarchy in the 1970s.  The guide basically told a tragic story of the Greeks being dominated by outsiders, such as the Turks, and then by the great powers of Europe since their independence in the 19th century.  You could hear a little resentment in his voice, especially when he mentioned that while the Greeks are mourning the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, today in Turkey, it is a national holiday.  Anyway, we watched the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier and then made our way through the public gardens, designed by the first Queen of modern Greece, past the Zappeon hall, to the temple of Olympian Zeus.  Not much of the temple is left, only 16 Corinthian columns, but it was still an impressive site.  Our guide also spoke with us of some of the inventions of the ancient Greeks, including a machine that some consider to be the world's first computer.  He was obviously very proud of his country's history and heritage.

After visiting the temple, we made our way to the Acropolis.  Perhaps the most famous archeological site in the world, the Acropolis was the center of ancient Athens and contains several temple to the goddess Athena, for whom the city was named.  Surrounding the hill are many other ancient sites, such as the Theatre of Dionysius, where the dramatic arts were born.  This was where Thespis stepped forward from the chorus and spoke independently, becoming the first actor.  It is from him that we get the word Thespian.  The climb to the top of the Acropolis is a steep and somewhat treacherous walk.  The rocks have been stepped on for 1000s of years and are therefore smooth and slippery.  There are very few handrails and no handicap access.  They must not have as many lawsuits  as we do, because surely someone over the years has gotten seriously hurt.  At the top are three temples dedicated to Athena: the temple of Athena Nike (victory), the Parthenon, and the Erechtheion, the Parthenon, or just "Parthenon" as our guide called it, being the most famous.  Here too was another story of Greek tragedy.  When the city was occupied by the Turks, the temples were actually in good shape, so much so that the Turks decided they would be a good place to store gunpowder.  During a war with the the Venetians, there were several explosions which destroyed much of the monuments.  After that, the temples were looted for several hundred years, most famously by a British Lord who wanted statuary for his villa in Scotland.  Today, the British refuse to return the artifacts, a very sore point for the Greeks, and our guide.

Following the tour of the Acropolis, we stopped at a large rocky hill where Paul is said to have preached to the Athenians.  Although it was neat to be able to stand where Paul once stood, this was another treacherous site and I slipped several times, but fortunately, did not get hurt.  I figure that Paul couldn't have preached for too long, since he would have surely lost his balance at some point, wearing only sanders.  We then made our way into the Plaka, the old district of Athens on the side of the Acropolis where we stopped for lunch.  The Plaka is characterized by winding streets, tourists shops, and numerous outdoor cafes and restaurants.  We had gyros for lunch and Greek Coffee, which appeared to be Turkish coffee, but obviously not called that here.  It came with what looked like Turkish Delight, but they had a different name for that too, which I can't remember.  We talked with a mother and daughter next to us who were traveling from Colorado.  The daughter is about to begin law school and I told her to get out of it while there's still time left.  

After lunch we wandered through the Plaka district back to our hotel where we are now resting.  We plan to go back that way for drinks and dinner later.  It is wonderful to be back in Europe again and so far, I like Athens.  We had heard a lot of negative things about Athens, and although it is obvious that the Greeks have fallen on hard times, the city has its charms.   I'm looking forward to spending another day here.  Until then...