Goodbye, Greece

After stressing over how to get to Rome, we opted to fly.  Otherwise, we would have had to take a bus, switch to another bus, somehow validate our Eurail pass (which the Eurail authorities told us they thought would be possible in Patras), catch a 24 hour ferry, and finally a 4 hour train to get into Rome about midnight.  All of which would have taken us 2 full days.

Instead, I'm sitting in an airport typing a draft of this post, feeling a bit bummed that the Greece airport security folks confiscated the small jar of honey that the lovely hotel owners gave us as a departure gift.  I was really looking forward to trying that honey, too.  It was over weight (130 when the limit is 100), but I was hoping it would just slip through.  The best part?  They never even checked any photo IDs - not even when we were boarding the plane.

Paul called this the most rigorous security he's been through, since they also wanted all electronics removed, not just computers (although they deemed his cell phone and camera small enough to be okay).  I beg to differ - that would be Japan or China - wherever they made us go through security twice.  The second security check was right before we got on the plane, and they confiscated the drink we'd just purchased in the airport (after we'd gone through the first security check!) so that we could take our malaria meds on time.  They definitely win.

Our flight was delayed 2 hours due to a strike in Rome, which was a bit of a letdown after we'd been telling ourselves how glad we'd be to leave all of Greece's transportation issues behind.  I have my fingers crossed that that was the last hiccup - ha!

Cruisin'

On Monday, we took a day cruise out of Tolo to the islands of Spetses and Hydra.  We enjoyed the sea air:

and the deck seating:

On Hydra, no cars are allowed (and I didn't see any motorcycles or scooters either), so it was nice and quiet.  It's also a quintessential Greek sea town, the kind you see in postcards:  

We managed to time things really well.  We had three hours on the island so we started out with a walk. Then, not long after we sat down to lunch, it poured (weather seems to change quickly near the sea).  It stopped raining just as we were finishing up our delicious meal.  Paul particularly enjoyed the Greek yogurt with honey, which we finally got the chance to try:

You can't tell, but the "spoon" he is using looks more like a little shovel with a flat end.  Considering how fast we shoveled it in, that seems appropriate.

Some more pictures from Hydra:

Bougainvillea taking over a pine tree.

Greece has lots of stray cats, but this was the most we saw in one place!

On Spetses, I was amused by these rather precarious driveways (there is no support):

and the Kraken made out of stones on one of the pedestrian walks:

Rough seas delayed our return to Tolo, so we had a lot of time to kill before the final bus of the day.  While standing around looking pathetic with thunder in the background, one of the boat workers took pity on us and offered us a ride to Nafplio.  We were very grateful, since we weren't confident the bus would even come - given our previous experience at the Sanctuary of Asclepius.

The Kindness of Strangers

Greece likes to ease you in to things.  On our arrival at the Athens airport, we had the fun experience of finding another way to get to our hotel with the metro on strike.  That involved a bus and then a taxi (which overcharged us - pah!), but wasn't horrible.  Today, it was the full whammy - complete abandonment.  More on that after the pictures.

We took a bus to the Sanctuary of Asclepius to see the sites, in particular, the Theater of Epidaurus:

This amphitheater is heralded as one of the best preserved from that era.  It's even back in use today.  Some work has been done on it, but not the extensive work that we've seen on other ancient structures. Paul also liked the sophisticated drainage system.  I decided it was important for me to stick my foot in one of the two drainage tunnels so that you can see how deep it was:

There's also a stadium that a sign says is used by local schools, which I think is awesome:

So, the abandonment.  The Saturday bus schedule is limited, so there's really only one bus for the return trip - at 6:15.  After exploring the ruins for many hours, we made our way to the bus stop by about 6:00.  We waited.  And waited.  And waited.  We met an art historian from San Francisco and chatted about the unreliability of the transportation system in Greece and elsewhere.  6:30 came and went.  Then 7:00.  The already empty parking lot emptied further as we tourists, now seven in total, began to grow anxious about the lack of a bus.  There was one tour bus waiting for its group, so members of our group noticed the bus driver talking on a cell phone and inquired as to whether we could use it to call the transportation folks to see if the city bus was coming.  The nice bus driver called for us (which is probably for the best, since none of us spoke Greek) and informed us that the transportation folks claimed our bus, which was clearly scheduled for 6:15, supposedly came and left at 6:00 (it did not - some of the others were waiting long before that).

At that point it became clear that our only real option was to see if we could get that tour bus to take us back - or at least to somewhere not quite so remote!  After some stumbling through language barriers, waiting for the "boss," (i.e. the person in charge of the tour group), and a smidge of anxiety, we found ourselves on a plush bus full of Austrian academics (both profs and students in archaeology  headed toward Tolo - a city about 10 km from Nafplio.  Two Germans in our group had talked to the bus driver about dropping us off at a crossroads on the way to Tolo where it would be about a 3-4 km walk to Nafplio (totally doable) or just taking us to Tolo where we could catch a bus to Nafplio (there were two more that evening, so it seemed probable).  However, when the turn came for the bus to head toward Tolo, it continued on to Nafplio and dropped us off right in town.  Then, no one, not the tour leader nor the bus driver, would accept any compensation for the inconvenience/additional passengers.  What a wonderful turn of events.  

As five of us were walking back to our hotels together and chatting, Paul suggested that we all get dinner together.  Everyone else agreed, so we had an entertaining dinner with a couple from Moscow (the wife was actually from Spain) and the art historian.  

A Tube with a View

View from atop the Fortress of Palamidi

On Friday, we climbed 999 steps up the side of a large hill to the Fortress of Palamidi.  For anyone that knows me, this is quite the feat since I'm not the fondest of heights.  One of my goals for this trip is to work on that, so I'm going to take this opportunity to pat myself on the back and reward myself with gelato for making it both up and down those 999 steps.  (I like to reward myself with gelato on just about any occasion I can.)  Also, as I'm sure you can guess, I did not "cleap over."  Neither did Paul, although he may have wanted to at one point while I had his hand in a serious death grip.

The Fortress of Palamidi sits on a hill above Nafplio. Built in the 1710s, it's a sprawling fortress full of barracks, food storage areas, a church, and my favorite (because I like saying it), "murder holes."  Barring the occasional fear-inducing precipice, it's a fun place to wander around.

That's the church behind the tree.

At one point, I ducked through a tunnel and then noticed another tunnel right next to it.  Curious to see where that one lead, I peeked in and promptly announced to Paul that it was "just a tube with a view."  Since he couldn't stop laughing, I thought it might make a good post title.  

I'm standing next to the tube with a view.

Also neat about this fortress is that you can really explore quite a lot of it - not much is roped off. There's a small area that was called a prison at one point even though it was just a secondary gunpowder magazine.  I can see why one would call it a prison though - we had to duck through a tiny entrance to get into this small, cave-like space (I have no idea why we look so happy.  Seriously, it was like a scary dungeon in there!):

Just a few more cool photos:

Don't look now but I think there's a creeper (the Minecraft variety) in that building!

Food, Glorious Food!

We are enjoying a mix of eating out and hunting for local grocery stores for eating in.  One thing that seems to be common in Greece are outdoor restaurant areas featuring comfy couches and chairs:

This isn't the greatest picture of the seating, but Paul is on a couch with lots of pillows, which is surrounded by more cushy furniture ideal for lounging.  The only drawback is the smoking.  It feels like more people smoke in Europe (at least in Ireland and Greece, anyway).  We can't quite decide if it's the bans on smoking in public areas in the U.S. warping our views, or if it really is more common here.  Either way, while these restaurant areas are super-comfy, it's not as fun to linger with all the smoke.

We also enjoyed a tasty meal indoors on a rainy day.  We were trying to find a more authentic Greek restaurant, and I think we may have partially succeeded (it's hard to really know in popular tourist areas).  They even invited us into the kitchen to see all our food options, which was pretty fun!

Some R&R in Nafpllio

After Athens, we headed to Nafplio (also known as Nafplion and Navplion, making Google searches for buses rather confusing) for some much needed rest and relaxation.

The small family run pension at which we are staying (Pension Isabo, if you're ever in Nafplio!) is nearly perfect (minus the fact that we seem to be near the late night hangout district - nothing some earplugs can't solve):

It has two balconies.  A smaller one with a great view down a street chalk full of stores and people, and a larger one that is great for mealtime or relaxing with a cup of tea:

Also, the bougainvillea is truly lovely here:

In fact, we like Nafplio so much that we're staying a couple extra days.  It has nothing to do with the fact that we couldn't bear the thought of trying to coordinate buses to get to Kalamata and then more buses to get back to Patra to ferry over to Italy.  Nothing at all.  We certainly aren't eagerly anticipating the day we can actually start using our Eurail pass either....

All the Ruins in Athens

The Short Version
Since this is a ridiculously long post, here is the short version.  We visited a nice selection of ruins and ancient sites in Athens: the Panathenaic Stadium, the Acropolis, the Greek Agora, and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  Feel free to just scroll through and look at the pictures in the rest of this post.  If you want more details, there's plenty of description to go along with each.

The Long Version

Panathenaic Stadium - by Kate

Unlike many of the cool things to do in Athens, the Panathenaic Stadium was actually open on Easter Sunday, so we spent quite a bit of time there.  They had a free audio tour (included in the admission price, I guess), which was definitely worth a listen.  Along with a wealth of fascinating information, we learned that they created special throne-like seats for the King and Queen:

You may also have noticed that this stadium appears to be particularly well preserved.  That's because it was rebuilt in the late 1800s in order to host the first modern Olympic games in 1896.  Here's a picture of what it might have looked like when the medals were awarded:

Oh, and bonus, when the lady who sold us our tickets asked what language we wanted our brochure in, she first guessed French - guess we must look classy.  Or, as Paul points out, if she guesses wrong in the other direction, she might have some pretty angry French folks on her hands.

The Acropolis: The Parthenon - by Paul

The Parthenon is worthy of its fame. It's truly an amazing site, both for its structure and history as well as its impressive location perched atop a huge hill in the heart of urban Athens.

A small part of Athens as seen from the Acropolis

The guide material focuses a lot on its age, early history, and restoration, but while we were there I kept wondering how and when it went from "building" to "ruin" in the middle of such a busy and populous area. Looking at the Parthenon alone, you might imagine it off in a desert, abandoned for a thousand years (ignore the fact that it's currently swimming in tourists, scaffolding,  and cranes).  In the context of the city, this doesn't make sense.

Wikipedia came to the rescue. I suspect it's not discussed much because the reality is sad and detracts from the image of an ancient building long in ruins. In fact it was in active use until 1687, when it was used as a gunpowder magazine in a fight between the Venetians and the Ottoman Turks.  It is speculated that the Turks hoped the Venetians wouldn't attack such an important building.  No dice.  Not exactly the romantic demise I had envisioned for the famous building. 

Of course by this point it had been fought over, looted, and re-purposed many times.

The Acropolis: Other Stuff - by Kate

Also worth mentioning is the famous Caryatid porch of the Erechtheion:

None of the Caryatids you see in the picture are the originals (five of them are housed in the Acropolis museum, which we did not  visit).  I found this to be rather frustrating about the ruins.  Sometimes it was completely obvious where they had patched the original work (the marble looked completely new, for example), and sometimes it was impossible to tell unless you read one of the many lengthy descriptions.

Temple of the Olympian Zeus - by Paul

Photo taken from the Acropolis

Only a cluster of columns remains for this temple, once the largest of its kind in all of Greece. Like the Parthenon, this building also has an interesting history. It was begun around 520 BC, and it took nearly 700 years to complete (most of that time not under active construction). Think about the number of human generations that is. Think about finishing a building today that was started 700 years ago. Even the Sagrada Familia pales in comparison. It was only in use for a "brief" time before it started being dismantled and reused for other construction projects.

Ancient Agora of Athens - by Kate

There were two really cool things about the Greek Agora.  One, it contains one of the best-preserved Greek temples: The Temple of Hephaestus:

It was still in use until 1834 as a Greek Orthodox church!

The second cool thing about the Agora was the museum.  It is housed in the gleaming Stoa of Attalos, which has been completely rebuilt as close to the original as possible, giving you some sense of what this fabulous city center must have looked like in ancient times:

Antikythera Mechanism

We stumbled upon the Antikythera Mechanism while visiting the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. It is a device that calculates eclipses and other events using mechanical calculation. It was found in a ship wreck and is believed to be from approximately 100 BCE. Wikipedia has a thorough article for anyone interested.

For tech geeks this artifact ranks up there with the difference engine for its historical significance in our attempts to automate calculation.

Communing with the Oracle

On Monday, Paul and I made the intimidating trek to Delphi.  It involved figuring out which bus station we needed, where the bus station was located (harder than it sounds), how to get to that bus station, and how to buy tickets. And also getting up ridiculously early since all the sites close at 3:00pm during the holidays, and it's a 3 hour bus ride with only a few time slots.

Luckily, we succeeded.  My boss is a huge Greek history buff and had loaned me The Oracle, and she and I both agreed that this is a must see site.  And it was - from the building housing the treasures given by the Athenians:

Where you can see writing and images carved on many of the marble stones in the walls:

To the stadium where the Pythian games were held to commemorate Apollo's defeat of the Python:

To the main attraction itself - the Temple of Apollo.  There, worshippers from all over the ancient world sought the Oracle's advice as to the will of Apollo.

And, as a bonus, the land around Delphi is beautiful!

Acropolis at Night

Tonight, Paul and I spent a fair bit of time trying to get the perfect picture of the Acropolis all lit up (mostly waiting for the sun to set).  What do you think?

Easter in Greece

We arrived in Greece late in the evening (after some fun navigating with a metro strike), and upon checking into the Marble House Hotel, we were informed that at midnight there would be quite the event due to Easter.  All we needed to do to see it was to head toward Plaka (the old part of town), so we did.

As we followed the directions given to us, we began to see people carrying candles, as well as many streets vendors with tall slender candles for sale.  Soon, we could hear a deep voice singing, and as we neared a church, we realized a service was being held.  Continuing on to Plaka, we passed more churches and many more people with candles.

Then, at midnight, the church bells began to ring and fireworks were set off.  As the bells faded, hundreds of people slowly left the churches headed in various directions.  Many paused on occasion to shield their candles from the wind with their hands or their cell phones.  As the candles bobbed into the night and the people faded away towards home or one of the many open restaurants, our attention was caught by some of the awesome ancient monuments, well-lit against the night sky:

After some research, I now know that this was the big Easter event - Resurrection Night.  According to About.com, there is a special service at 11pm, at the end of which everyone lights their candles from the priest's candle.   The candles would be carried, still lit, all the way home.  The restaurants were open to help everyone to break their Lenten fast.  It is a night of feasting and celebration.  The food looked so amazing that Paul and I resolved to return the next day (having already gorged ourselves on take out gyros) for a full meal.