Greece Oct. 3-13, 2012

Greek Journal Oct. 3 – 13, 2012

(more photos here)

Getting here turned out to be easier than I anticipated. The flight was fine and the airport in Athens was easy to negotiate, certainly compared to the departure from Istanbul where I got lost trying to find where to check in.

I got a cab right away in the taxi line and when we got into Athens the driver pointed out a few landmarks, including a statue of Harry Truman. He did not know why Truman was honored with a statue, but speculated that it might have had something to do with World War II.

I checked in, organized, handed over some things to be washed and ironed and set out to explore. There were a few places I wanted to visit the following day and thought it would help if I found out where they were.  I did, but only after getting pretty lost. I asked a whole lot of folks to show me on my map where I was and everyone was very helpful.

I had read about a folk arts museum and found that.  It seemed like a nice way to spend a bit of time so I went in and spent a bit less than a half hour looking at old costumes, old weapons, old handcrafts. It wasn't what I had expected, but it was sort of interesting.

After that I was just wandering. The concierge had given me the location of a bookstore, but it was closed. I was sort of trying to head back to the hotel when I saw a shop that had owl and amulet potential. And indeed I found both. I asked the shop owner if there was a bookstore in the area where I might find poetry and she directed me to the one I had read about - literally directed me! She wrote the directions down and walked outside to make sure I headed in the right direction. Eleftheroudakis on Panepistimiou Street just past Syntagma Square. It was about a 20-minute walk away. There were no anthologies and no dual language books, but I bought “Penelope Says” by Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, the god-daughter of Nikos Kazantzakis. The book has a good introduction that defines her a feminist poet in the tradition of Adrienne Rich and talks about her using Greek mythic figures such as Penelope and Helen as filters for her own statements about the role of women.

Then began the adventure of finding my way back to the hotel. By now I was pretty well oriented on the map and starting to recognize a few landmarks - Hadrian's Arch, the guy hanging out on the corner of Amalias and Lyssikratous Streets – things like that. I found my way back onto Makrigianni, the street filled with cafés that leads right to the hotel. I decided I was hungry and set out to find a little snack. But first I found a little jewelry store, and bought a nice pair of Greek key design silver earrings. And I had a snack - a spinach pie and a bottle of mint iced tea. And I found my back to the hotel. So I fulfilled all my souvenir quests on day one - owl, amulet, poetry, earrings.

I went up to the roof restaurant in the hotel for dinner. The restaurant has an amazing view of the Acropolis. While in general I am opposed to the idea of spending time in my hotel when I could be out walking around in a new city, the fact is that I walked around for about 2 or 3 hours Wednesday and for nearly six Thursday, saw a ton of fascinating stuff and I was tired!

The next morning I set out for the Jewish Museum at a little after 9:00 and got there with no trouble thanks to having scouted the route the day before.  The museum is small and wonderful. It is beautifully laid out with excellent information cards in Greek and English at each display point. There is a very moving section on the Shoah with a statue showing a man being crushed between two rocks and number, possibly a concentration camp ID, across the front. There are also lovely displays of ritual items, period clothing and generally what you would expect. They had a very interesting free leaflet on the history of the Jews in Greece dating back to the early 1st century C.E. At the desk, when I stopped to tell someone how much I had enjoyed my visit, the volunteer on duty turned out to be an ex-pat from Chicago, coming to NY at the end of the month before taking an Amazon cruise. Small world!

The museum is small, as I said, and my visit took only a bit over an hour. Since I had seen a bulletin posted in the hotel lobby saying that the Road Scholar group was meeting at 6:00 PM, I had plenty of time for more exploring. The Rick Steves Athens book had what looked like an excellent city walk that would get me to a variety of places I might not get to see with the tour, so I set off.

The walk started at Syntagma Square facing the Parliament Building. I had passed that on my way to the bookstore so I knew the way and felt very much like an old pro as I strolled up Amalias Street without needing to consult my map. :-)

I got there at 10:30 and saw in the book that, although the big changing of the guard takes place at five minutes before the hour, there is a crossing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the half hour. There were Evzone guards in traditional uniforms - caps with long tassels, pompoms on the shoes, pleated skirt-like tunics - standing at guard posts on either side of the tomb and a soldier in camo fatigues standing around in front. When it was time for the crossing the soldier in fatigues shooed everyone out of a rectangular area marked off in the pavement in front of the tomb. He came to attention with a snappy stamp of his right foot and saluted the tomb for several seconds. Then first one guard and then the other banged his rifle butt on the ground and they turned to face each other. The crossing is a fancy, tightly choreographed event with high kicks, raised left arms and a tricky walking pattern that has them cross face to face, circle back to the wall, circle again to cross back to back and then return to their posts. The whole thing took several minutes.  At one point the soldier in fatigues stopped them to adjust the cap and tassel of one of the guards and then they continued. I suspect he was in for a tongue lashing at least and maybe some punishment duty.

The rest of the walk took me along shopping streets and narrow alleys, past churches and ruins and modern hotels, up and down hills and step streets. For a while I walked and chatted with a young woman from the Philippines who was traveling alone (her friend was supposed to come with her but couldn't make the trip) and who seemed to have an amazing sense of direction. Without the book and its clear directions I would have been hopelessly lost.

Eventually I got back to Syntagma and sat on a bench to eat the salad I had left over from last night’s dinner. It was a little soggy and pretty messy to eat with my fingers, but still tasty.  Since I had a smallish breakfast and just the salad for lunch I felt I deserved some dessert so I stopped at one of the cafés on Makrigianni Street for baklava and iced tea. It was the biggest piece of baklava I've ever been served – the equivalent of about five portions and I ate it all! It was delicious. :-)

I still had an hour and three quarters before the group orientation meeting and I felt rested after my morning hike. I thought I might spend a little time in the National Garden.  I walked out to a stretch of the main street I hadn't been on before and crossed over right near Hadrian's Arch. I had a nice view of the arch from behind and also a view of the columns in the area behind the arch. As I continued to walk up toward the garden I passed an excavation of a Roman bath.  It was discovered fairly recently when they were digging for a new Metro station. Like in Israel, Turkey, Egypt and so many places in the Middle East especially, this must happen all the time.

I did continue to walk along the National Garden, although I didn't go in. It looked like a place I could get lost. However, further up, there was a big, broad promenade leading in. I saw the Zappeion (a large exhibition hall) and some lovely trees and other plants. I also saw homeless men sleeping on benches. On my walk earlier today I was struck by the fact that Athens looks run down. There is graffiti everywhere, lots of places are in disrepair, lots of store fronts are empty and in many cases it looks as if that happened recently. Sad.

On Friday, the first official day of the tour, we started with a talk outlining the various ages of Greek civilization from the 6th millennium BCE through to the Ottoman Empire. Then, in answer to a question from one of the men, our tour leader Loula shared some information about how Greece found itself in the economic crisis it faces now. She was very emotional when talking about the lack of opportunities for young people like her 28 year old daughter with excellent educations but no prospects. There are more Greeks living in other countries than in Greece!

Our excursion started at the Acropolis Museum. It is fairly new and built on pillars.  There are excavations going on underneath and you can see them as you enter and also at certain places inside where there is a glass floor. The collection is very interesting, but Loula kept making the point that the best and most beautiful pieces are in the British Museum and other foreign museums. I know the Met has an excellent Greek collection. We heard this in Turkey as well. I know some of the people who took antiquities thought they were protecting them, but too many were just collecting goodies and now they have been elsewhere for so long that it is difficult to arrange repatriation.

After the museum we climbed up to the Acropolis. It was a difficult walk. Some of the exposed marble stones are very slippery and at times the height made me quite uncomfortable, but the views of the city and the ability to get so close to the temples made it worthwhile. It is pretty amazing to be at a place I've seen pictured so many times. It is like being at the pyramids, Masada, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China...you can't quite believe you are really there. Since I was such a mythology buff in my childhood, this place is very special.

We ate a quick lunch before going to the Agora as the Agora and Agora Museum close at 3. When we finished lunch it was about 2:15 or so and we hadn't even started yet. We did a quick walk through while Loula pointed put some highlights and a very quick – 10 minutes – in the small, but interesting museum displaying articles found in graves. The guard tried to kick us out and Loula argued a bit, but then they started turning out the lights so we had to leave. Since we had done a lot of walking and climbing, Loula bought us metro tickets for the return to the hotel. The stations were bright and clean and the trains were comfortable. It was nice to get the chance to try out the metro system.

We were on our own Saturday morning and Loula had suggested a couple of museums we might want to visit. I got off to a nice early start and arrived at the Benaki Museum a little after 9:00. The museum is small, beautifully laid out, with clear, helpful information about each item exhibited. I spent about a half hour looking at pottery, jewelry and other items. There was a decent collection of Byzantine icons that looked very nice, but I skimmed over those and still felt I had done the place justice.

From there I walked to the nearby Museum of Byzantine and Christian Art. It is much larger and also very nicely done. The museum rooms are laid out chronologically which was interesting because it made it possible to compare the art of one millennium or century with the next.  It is also beautifully lit. As you approach some of the displays, especially some of the icons that have a lot of red and gold, they seem to glow.

As I was returning to the hotel I spotted three guards in the uniforms of the Evzones guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was a few minutes before 11 so I knew where they were headed. I walked a little faster and got there just in time to see the changing of the guard. It's impressive. The two being relieved and the two coming on duty do a very complex pattern of walking with kicks, and stamps along with raised fists and slide steps to bring the feet together. It is similar to what I saw a couple of days earlier when the guards just crossed, but It was even more impressive to see four of them doing. To add to the enjoyment of the ceremony, there was a little boy, maybe 4 years old, imitating every move and calling out commands after the officer in charge. It reminded me of my poem about reciting the manual of arms in the living room with a ladle for a weapon when I was four.

Back at the hotel, we gathered in the lobby, saw our luggage loaded onto the bus for our drive to Piraeus, then set off for the National Archaeological Museum. En route we stopped at the stadium where the 1896 Olympic Games took place, and had some interesting buildings pointed out. We also some passed some political graffiti in English, one supporting immigrants and one that seemed to be condemning both capitalism and fascism.

At the museum Loula took us around and pointed put the pieces she felt were the most important and, in a couple of cases, the ones she liked best. I was particularly struck by a succession of three large, male figures. The first was fairly primitive with long hair that also served to support the head, fully attached arms and little anatomical detail. The next, only 600 years more recent, was considerably more sophisticated and the third, only two hundred years later, was quite realistic looking with clearly defined muscles and other details that made it very lifelike. It was interesting and surprising to me to see so much development over a relatively short time span.

We then headed for the port, boarded the Star Clipper, found our cabins and settled in before reporting for our first lifeboat drill. It was the longest and most detailed drill I have ever experienced. We were told there would be a second drill the next day.  

After a very nice dinner we went up on deck to watch them raise the sails. I was pleasantly surprised that they did that since I expected the whole trip to be by motor and not by sail at all. In fact, most of the trip was by sail.

The next morning I found a place for tai chi but it was still too early for breakfast, so I explored a little and chatted with one of the men in the group for a while until it was time. After breakfast we had the first part of our lecture on early Greek history - 8th or 9th millennium BCE to 5th or 6th century BCE. It was interesting and I did take notes, but I'm not sure how much of it will stay with me after this trip is over. I’ve come to the conclusion that some of the information I get on these trips sinks into my brain and will reappear when needed, while the rest of it floats out of my head as soon as I’m home.

At 10:00 we had a second safety drill. We didn't need life jackets, but we did all have to report to the Tropical Bar for a bit more Information and a quick quiz to see if we remembered what we were told yesterday.  The main points seemed to be that you should not return to your cabin unless it is very close, but should report directly to your station. You should await instruction and assistance before getting into the lifeboats. You should jump straight down into water with one hand holding down the life vest and the other protecting your face. Peter, the cruise director, did a good job of switching back and forth between English and German, although his French made my ears hurt.

He reminded us of the Costa Concordia disaster and explained that it resulted in the rules being changed, so that now there is the usual pre-embarkation life vest drill and a second drill after embarkation. Then we met the captain, who is Swedish and the various senior crew who are German, Filipino, Montenegran, Argentinean, Russian, British, and a few other nationalities I missed. The passenger list also represented 17 different countries.

I spent the day at sea reading, chatting with fellow passengers and generally killing time. I understand that cruises involve time sailing from one place to another, but I would have preferred an excursion to a full day sailing. I think I’m not really cut out for cruises. J

At 6:00 Peter gave a talk about the ship, about clippers in general and somehow segued into geography and a little mythology. When I knew that Daedelus was the father of Icarus everyone was very impressed. And I got a good laugh when he asked why was Icarus flying so close to sun and I answered, "Because he was a teenager and didn't listen to anything his father said."

The following day, Monday, we visited Ephesus.  I had missed the chance to see it when I was in Turkey because I was sick, so I was excited to finally be there. And it is amazing. The temple building is gorgeous and very well reconstructed/ refurbished/reassembled or whatever is the proper term. We also walked though an excavation/ restoration in progress of the terrace houses. It was fascinating to see the areas that were covered with tumbled down rubble, the long tables where the jigsaw puzzle of pieces were being fitted together, the remains of frescoes with colors still pretty vibrant.  I can't imagine the skill and patience it takes to put this back together again after earthquakes and years of just falling down or having pieces taken by stone masons to use in other buildings and so on.

After Ephesus we were taken as a captive audience to a rug place. I don't know if anyone in our group bought a rug, but a few people seemed to be looking seriously. Since I already had bought a Turkish rug, I started back to the ship with one of the couples. I stopped to buy a bottle of water and promptly got lost until I found two others from the group who knew where they were going. The route back to the ship took us through markets and the duty free shops with salespeople trying to entice us every step of the way. We managed to escape unscathed, however.

The night before the captain had joined part of our group at dinner and they all said he was reticent, gave one word answers to direct questions and didn't volunteer much about himself.  This night he sat at my table and I expected the same thing. One of the men in our group did an excellent job of drawing him out, though.  He told us a lot about himself, starting with the fact that he went to sea when he was 16 years old, talked about sailing, about Sweden and generally was very nice to dine with and talk with.

After dinner we had a folkloric music and dance show.  There were four girls, three young men and a belly dancer. The girls and two of the guys were adequate technicians, but nothing special. One of the guys was special. He made eye contact, he moved beyond his extremities and he was a pleasure to watch.  If the performance had been an audition I would have hired him in a heartbeat. The belly dancer was not young but had an incredible body and moved it in impressive ways.

The next day we left the ship early to take tenders to Patmos and spent the rest of the morning into the early afternoon visiting the Grotto and the Monastery of St. John. Both were small and very lovely with beautiful icons. The church of the monastery has a gorgeous gold leaf altar. I'm not that crazy about icons and religious art, but the work here was quite beautiful and in very good condition, dating from the 11th century through the 16th or 17th.

After that we took a long drive for some reason to a little place on the beach where we had a cold drink.  I had a lovely glass of mint iced tea, but I have no idea why we went all that way just for a ten minute stop and a drink. The scenery along the way was pretty spectacular, though, so I didn't mind the drive too much although it seemed like a waste of time we could have spent exploring. And since the place was right on the beach I got a chance to walk down to the water and touch the Aegean. So now I can add that to my list of oceans, seas and major lakes.

Our bus driver recommended a couple of places for lunch for those of us who wanted to stay on Patmos for a while. Most of us stayed and we all went to lunch. I ordered taramasalata and octopus. Both were delicious and I shared the taramasalata with everyone else. Some people ordered fish and other main courses that took a very long time to arrive. We kept asking when the food would be ready and kept hearing “soon.”  That led to some discussion about the American definition of “soon” versus the Mediterranean definition. By the time we were done it was after 3 PM and we were aiming to catch the tender back to the ship no later than 4:30. I wanted to look for some art so I set off with one of the other women to explore the back streets. I found a very cute pottery plate enameled in red with a whimsical owl on it. Perfect! This was the kind of day I like best when I am traveling - a fairly early start, some interesting guided visits and the free time to roam around for a while and see what there is to see.

The next day we visited the small island of Amorgos. Loula had been talking about 300 steps to get to the monastery and I don't know what I was visualizing, but when we got there, having driven a narrow road filled with hairpin switchbacks and steep drops along the side, I could see that the steps, while broad and low at least near the bottom,  wound up to a very high spot and had a wall next to them on the outside that was not even up to my waist. I went a very short way up and realized that this was not for me. I had plenty of company at the bottom since four others chose not to make the climb, and the view was lovely once I got comfortable enough to appreciate it.

Our next stop was a walk through some narrow, twisty streets in Chora. Chora seems to be a generic name for the largest town or village on the island. We saw it before on Patmos and I had seen it in Turkey. The houses are all bright white, many with blue or green doors and shutters, many with large pots of geraniums or Bougainvillea adding splashes of red to the white of the houses. It was very lovely, very picturesque.

On Thursday we visited Delos and Mykonos, very different not only from each other, but also from the other two islands we had visited earlier in the week. Delos, birthplace of Artemis and Apollo, is entirely an historical site. No one lives there except for archaeologists in temporary quarters during digs or research. The island, at least the side we visited, is covered with ruins in varying conditions, covering several centuries of habitation by various groups. We saw remains of shops and residences, a couple of mosaic floors in good condition, faint traces of frescoes, a few standing columns and lots of tumbled down marble chunks. The museum has some lovely pieces in decent condition that were found on the site. There is a very funny statue of Priapis flashing his genitals at whoever passes by, although his penis has broken off.

Ephesus has things that have been restored or reconstructed to better condition, but this site is just as amazing when you think about the many, many different groups of people who lived and worked here over so many centuries and so many centuries ago. How many hands have touched these stones? How many feet have walked these narrow alleyways between blocks of homes or stores?

Legend says that no one was allowed to be born or to die on Delos during a period that began around 3000 years ago. I have to wonder what happened if someone died suddenly. Were they not declared dead until the body was transported to the nearby island of Rinia or was there some sort of purification ritual that had to be performed.

After a few hours in Delos we took a ferry to Mykonos. It could not be more different! Mykonos is totally commercial and touristic. It's a very pretty island, with bright white buildings and bright blue doors and shutters.  Occasionally there is a touch of red or green, but mostly one sees blue and white. Although I had a good idea what the answer would be, I asked Loula what would happen if someone wanted to paint their house pink or yellow. She laughed and said the fine would be more than the house was worth. We had lunch, strolled around for a bit, and snapped some pictures of Petros the Pelican, a sort of mascot for the island. (In fact, we saw two different pelicans.)

On Friday we had two special activities. The first was that they raised all the sails on the ship and took us out on the tenders so that we could take pictures. It was really quite a beautiful and thrilling sight. The lines of the ship under full sail are majestic and graceful at the same time and we were given lots of time to take lots of shots from many different angles.

The second was our excursion was to Monemvasia, a medieval town on a rocky promontory. One can only enter by one gate (hence the name, which means "one entrance") and no cars can enter. The houses and shops, unlike the buildings we saw elsewhere, are natural stone with red tile roofs. The only buildings that are plastered and white are the churches.

We visited one church and got to see an 11th century icon of the crucifixion that was stolen in the 1980s and subsequently recovered. It is kept in a special, climate controlled room but we were allowed in to see it.  After that Loula led us through some narrow alleys, up and down some rocky steps until we came to the town plaza, a large open area bounded on one side by the sea wall. We heard a bit about various invasions and various groups that occupied the area and then had a chance to wander on our own.  I set out with two of the women from the group and we found a cafe with a great view of the sea and a very limited selection of cold drinks. We relaxed for a while before heading for the main street and the shops.

This was our final day of touring.  The next day we gathered our belongings and were taken to the airport.  I had a lot of time to kill before my flight to Frankfurt and passed some of it chatting with others from the group who were also making connections.  The flight was uneventful, although when I landed in Frankfurt it turned out that the gate for my flight to JFK was about as far away as it could be and still be in the same airport! But I got to the gate just as boarding was starting and got home again, safe and sound after having been away for almost a month. The thing I had missed most during my travels wasn’t my bed – it was my shower and it was as good as I remembered. J

All in all it was another wonderful experience. I really enjoy seeing ancient sites and marveling at the skill – both technical and artistic – that created these buildings, monuments and statues. This trip was particularly exciting because I had devoured so much Greek and Roman mythology when I was young and had taught it as an adult. Somehow, despite the fact that places like the Acropolis, Ephesus and Delos are now in ruins, seeing them in person made them come alive.