Fri-Sat, July 9-10--Athens and home

We flew back to Athens on Friday morning and spent the rest of the day puttering around buying gifts for people and then walking up Philopappou hill. Regretfully, we did not take the camera, for when we arrived at the top, the views of the acropolis and the city of Athens in all directions were unparalleled by anything we had seen. There are some nice photos taken from this hill here: http://www.vgreece.com/index.php?category=1121
Friday night we had a delicious dinner (complete with begging cat) at a restaurant also recommended by our friends at the hotel (Antonis & Giota). Saturday morning we had a harrowing time getting to the airport as the taxi did not show up when scheduled, in spite of Hal making several phone calls. Then the taxi driver decided to take surface streets instead of the state highway and I was about to have a stroke. At the airport, they checked everything I carried multiple times, possibly because I had a temporary passport. But finally we got on a plane to Newark and headed back to the USA. The fun wasn't over, however, as once we had moved to our connecting gate, I realized that my travel journal with all my postcards was still on the plane. In spite of waiting an hour to talk to a Continental agent, the journal was not retrieved and I lost my detailed account of our trip along with the postcards I had purchased at each place we stopped. It was almost as upsetting as having my purse stolen. Then there were mechanical problems with our flight so we waited and waited. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as Hal took off to find a sandwich, they started boarding the flight. I was frantically trying to find him so we wouldn't miss the flight home. Obviously we made it and Anne retrieved us, good friend that she is. It's been really good reconstructing the trip through the blog--getting to relive it in a small way. I'm really glad we went, since it's been on my "to do" list for over 40 years :-) Next...we will be taking Hal's trip of a lifetime--New Zealand.

Tues-Thurs, July 6-8--downtime on Crete

We did spend one day going into town (Hersonissos) on the bus and wandering around and then buying groceries to last us for the remainder of our time at the condo. We didn't go swimming, but obviously lots of people braved the water at the beaches there.

Having been on the go for well over two weeks, we were pretty lazy, although we did try to start our morning with a swim in the resort's pool before it got crowded. Often we were the only ones there at 8:30 in morning and it was really pleasant to have the water to ourselves. We raided the communal library for books, fixed our meals in the condo, rented a couple of movies. Hal was ambitious and went for a couple of walks, but I mostly read. You can see my book blog for reports on reading choices.
(http://paulamc-randomreading.blogspot.com/ )

Monday, July 5--Crete, Day 4

We planned to explore the museums at Irakleio (Heraklion) today and, once again, Brian bravely took the wheel to chauffeur us into the heart of town and somehow find parking with lots of back-seat driving advice on offer. We first found our way to the harbor, where the remains of a Venetian fort still predominate.

We visited two museums. The main archaeological museum was closed for rennovation but they had opened an annex with many of their best artifacts on display. We had a nice lunch--fresh Greek salad of course--and then wandered through the main shopping district until we reached the fountain of the lions-- this Venetian fountain near the center of town was completed in 1628 under the auspices of Francesco Morasini who wanted to bring water from the hilltown area of Archanes (15 km away) to the town's citizens.

This evening, we were the dinner guests of Di & Brian at their lovely resort.

It was so amazing to see them again after too many years and still effortlessly enjoy one another's company. It was sad to say goodbye when we finally took a taxi back to our resort.

Sunday, July 4--Crete, Day 3

We had decided to explore Knossos today so got started mid-morning, but it was still extraordinarily hot walking around the site. Knossos is deceptive since it has been partially reconstructed  by Sir Arthur Evans, who conducted the first extensive excavations in 1900. He had purchased the entire site and, although not a traditionally trained archaeologist, he undertook to recreate it as he imagined it would be. Later archaeologists have been vocally upset by the methods he used. Nevertheless, it is a popular tourist destination because it offers more concrete (all puns intended) representations of the previous structures than a lot of the other archaeological sites do.
There are replicas of some friezes found there; the originals have been moved to other museums--oftentimes out of the country.

Massive reconstructed storage jars are pictured here as is the royal road that connected the palace to the coast.
Hal, Di and Brian seek out some shade before we head out to find a hill town called Archanes, where we planned to get lunch. Notice the snazzy matching chapeaux worn by the Gowers!
We came back to our respective abodes for a rest, a shower and then we treated Di & Bri to dinner at the nice roof-top restaurant at our resort.

Saturday, July 3--Crete, Day 2

Di & Bri showed up after lunch and we decided to head towards Agios Nikolaos eastward along the coast. The maps and directions turned out to be incredibly confusing so we did a fair amount of backtracking. Brian was an absolute brick about going where we directed, even when it meant we went through the same town several times trying to find our way. We did eventually get to the monastery of Agios Giorgios in the Selinari Gorge. We didn't go in, but did spend some time in the courtyard soaking up the relative peace and nice view of the sea.

The cliffs of the gorge are home to the Lammergeyer falcon, the largest birds of prey on the island with a wingspan of 7-9 feet. We actually got to see several soaring, although you can imagine that it was tricky getting a decent shot.

We did finally make it to Agios Nikolaos after a detour to do a hike into the hills--how Di ever covered the ground she did in her fashionable little shoes is beyond me! The town is right on the coast with a lake in center, connected to the harbor and sea by a narrow channel.

We wandered around, admired the windows of the jewelry stores, perused the menus of the restaurants along the lake, had some ice cream and found a pharmacy to get Brian some allergy tablets. We had a nice fish dinner, complete with begging cats, and then headed home.

Friday, July 1--On to Crete

With lots of advice from our two friends on the desk at the hotel, we decided to take the subway to the airport and it went really well. We were able to store one bag at the hotel, so each had a wheelie bag and a backpack--oh and Hal's boogie board. We arrived at Heraklion airport and took a cab to the resort, which turned out to be a good distance away, about a 40 minute ride. Our cab driver, it turns out, also owned olive trees on the island in addition to his taxi so didn't really care much about the proposed changes for government workers. Seems lots of people outside the cities didn't care that much about all the uproar. We drove toward the town of Hersonissos but turned away from the coast and into the hills. Not much else was in the vicinity. There was bus service from the resort to the town, but we decided to just hang out and explore the resort. Nice room with a deck and a bit of a view of the Mediterranean. Called Di & Brian and arranged to meet the following day. They were planning to get a rental car and would drive up to meet us.

Thursday, July 1--Still Athens

We spent the morning getting my passport replaced. Took a taxi to the embassy--it was like a fortress to get in. Fortunately we went early and so there wasn't a crowd. The passport pictures we had paid for the night before turned out to be too small, so we paid for a second set right there. Hal said I looked like a terrorist in the pics taken the night before anyway. It took most of the morning and then we worked our way through a couple of museums, had lunch, and eventually came back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and the folk dance theatre.
Fortunately, the raincheck tickets we had for the Dora Strattou theatre were not in my stolen purse and so we walked up the Philopappou hill and watched the dances. Hal managed to capture some short videos on his camera, one of which is included here.  The woman you can see standing to the left in one of the videos was one of two singers who performed that night. She was apparently quite elderly and blind as she was led out onto the stage by one of the musicians and stayed seated in a chair except when she stood to sing.

The costumes were beautiful.

Weds, June 30--Athens, again

This was an eventful. day. We got up bright and early to see our colleagues off to the airport at 7:30. Ron and Sharon--our California couple--had left in the wee hours of the morning. Hal and I went to get tickets for a concert that night and planned to join Wendy at Herodes theatre at the foot of the Acropolis for the performance. Then we came back to pack up our things and move to a less expensive hotel, the Parthenon, which was just off the Plaka. The pictures make it look quite a bit more luxurious than it was, but the room was pleasant (another airshaft view) and the desk staff were really helpful. We would definitely recommend a stay there. We basically puttered around and did some shopping, had lunch at a nice outdoor cafe, where a little of young cats kept us entertained.

When we headed out for the evening we stopped at a sandwich shop on our way to the symphony concern and that was when my purse was stolen. The rest of the evening was taken up with calling credit card companies, going online to try and stop activity on my debit card, and filing a police report. It took forever to find this hole in the wall of a police station--no signs, nothing to indicate that it was tucked away in a dingy office on the 4th floor of a dark office building. And there we filled out a piece of paper with our names and they stamped it and made a copy for their files. And that, I'm sure was the last bit of activity the police ever took on our behalf. The hotel staff, on the other hand, couldn't have been kinder. They found phone numbers, let us use the reception desk phone, the computer (with no charge) and then bought us a drink in the bar. They even checked the embassy schedule so we knew when we could go the next morning to try and get a passport replacement. Needless to say, I was just distraught. We had gone to the cash machine that morning so they got a lot of money and apparently tried to use my credit card for a cash withdrawal within the hour. In addition to my money, credit cards, driver's license, and passport, I lost my new travel purse, our symphony tickets, my makeup kit and my prescription sunglasses. Ugh. Normally, all our valuables would be carried in a money belt, but since we were going out, I had on a dress and transferred everything to my purse. The man--I know exactly who it was and when it happened--just slid my purse off the back of my chair when he leaned over my shoulder to put out a cigarette in the ashtray on our table. I hope he rots in a hot place.

Tuesday, June 29--Meteora Monasteries and return to Athens

The sandstone pillars on which stand the monasteries are located on the northwestern edge of the plain of Thessaly and are a UNESCO World Heritage site. There is a list of the monasteries functioning today and more pictures of them here. Built in the 1500's for the most part, only one of them is inhabited by nuns, St. Stephen.  This is the approach to St. Stephen, our first stop.

And this is a little garden tucked below the causeway entrance to the monastery.


There was also a small vineyard maintained here.

As with all the monasteries we visited, there was such a sense of peacefulness to these places--in spite of the tourists tramping all over.

Next we went to the monstery of St. Varlaam, the first one built and the 2nd largest.

Today, all of the monasteries are now accessible by steps cut into the rocks...

But originally, many of them were only accessible via ladders or rope baskets. Here, our tour leader Joy shows off one such rope basket.

And this is the cliff up which the basket, with people or cargo inside, was hauled.

After Meteora, we headed back to Athens for a final meal together as a group before everyone, except us and one other group member (Wendy), would leave the following morning.

Monday, June 28--Delphi & Kalambaka

Delphi was also a marvelous archaeological site. There was actually a smaller site, down the mountain from the main one, that included a gymnasium for training and several temples. This picture was taken there.

This is our intrepid tour leader, Ihla, standing next to the "naval" stone on the main archaeological site, which I got to rub before being whistled at by a site monitor. That act is supposed to guarantee me long and healthy life, I think.

This is looking down on the temple of Apollo, which is where the oracle sniffed her herbs and gases and muttered mysterious words, that were then translated for the common folk by temple officials.

There was also a fairly sizable theatre on site.

This is Hal with Anne (from our group) and Marilyn (a woman we met on the bus from Seattle) when we had finally made it to the stadium at the top of the hill--whew! This stadium, unlike Olympia, actually had rows of seating along the sides.

It was hard going up the hill and hard coming down because the stones were so worn and slippery. Guess that's what happen over thousands of years with untold generations treading the steps. 
There was an amazing aquedict that apparently carries water from the surrounding mountains all the way back to Athens. The valley below Delphi, with a small fire going on the hill, and the sea of Corinth is in the background.

There are more pictures of the town, the museum and the archaeological site of Delphi here.

Next we headed to Meteora and on the way stopped briefly at the site of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC). Here, an alliance of Greek city states (Spartans, Thebans and Thespains) held off an infinitely larger invading army for several days (approximately a few hundred Greeks and over a million Persians) until they were betrayed by a local resident who showed the Perians another path through the mountains. The heroic efforts of the Greeks are honored at this site.

The setting of the town of Kalambaka and the remaining seven monasteries at Meteora is just stunning, with pinnacles of rock rising up from fertile farmland. The bus made a short stop in town Monday evening and then went on to our hotel--which was pink--to settle in and wait for dinner.

As was the case on most of the bus tour, we were pretty much the only guests in the hotel.

Sunday, June 27--Olympia and beyond

Early Sunday morning we made a brief tour into the town of Olympia before heading to the archaeological site.


The site of the games was impressive, with ruins from gymnasia and other training facilities, temples and places for people to stay, in addition to the stadium.

Athletes could not practice in the stadium itself since that was sacred, so the gymnasium was laid out with a practice track of equivalent length.
Here's a picture of our tour guide, Joy, showing members of our group a photo recreation of the site. Trained as an archaeologist and then an additonal 3 years to become a licensed tour guide, she was full of information about history and mythology as well as architecture. Anytime you see bricks (like the background here) that is an indication of Roman era work.

Originally, Greek columns were made of one large piece of stone or marble, but in later years they were built in sections and fitted together with dowel-like pieces in the center. You can see the fallen columns in sections very clearly here.
The arch marks the entrance to the stadium. Joy told us that athletes who cheated were forever shamed by having statues place along the walkway...not sure if that's true.

The start and finish line for the races, were lines of stone. You can see there were no seats, just hillsides where people sat to watch the games.to get a wonderful fictionalized but historically grounded story of how the games were carried out, read Mary Renault's The Last of the Wine.

We then went to the museum where they have preserved substantial portions of the friezes from the buildings on the site.

The statuary conveys not only their reverence for the human form, but also the high level of artisanship.

After having lunch, we headed north, back across the canal to the mainland. Next stop, the museum at Delphi (pronounced DEL-fee) since it wouldn't be open Monday morning. The drive up to the mountain town of Delphi was gorgeous; the valley below supposedly is home to over 1 million olive trees.

Delphi was considered the "naval of the earth" (aka Omphalos) supposedly because Zeus sent his two eagles to fly from opposite ends of the earth and this is where they met.
Delphi was also the seat of the most revered oracle in ancient Greece and home to Panhellenic games called the Pythian games. Apollo supposedly defeated the god Python, who originally guarded the site, because Python had tormented Apollo's mother while she was giving birth to him and his sister (on Delos). It's very complicated, no? These statues of the "Twins of Argos" in the museum fascinated me because they reveal very strong Egyptian influence on the art of the time. Greece was such a cross-roads for trade and culture and was constantly fought over and conquered by multiple groups from around the Mediterranean and Europe.

Another Egyptian derived creature fueled the myth of  the Sphinx who posed questions to travellers and ate them if they didn't get the right answer. The Sphinx of Naxos is also housed in the museum
The last memorable sculpture at the museum is The Charioteer, a life-sized bronze statue whose eyes seem to follow you.
This was our favorite hotel on the trip because it had a stunning view from the lobby and was close enough to town to allow an evening ramble and some shopping.( Yes, that's me reading on the balcony--what a surprise!)

We tasted homemade olives, bought ceramics, and a birthday present to myself, a small gold "meander" pendant. We saw a herd of goats being shepherded only by a hard-working dog.