From Athens, With Love

“Are you serious?” was my initial response. For the past few months the person speaking through the mobile from San Diego had been warning me about the civil unrest occurring in Greece. He continued to explain that this is, “A planned strike amongst the air-traffic controllers and other transportation workers. It will be going on for four hours.”

It began exactly when we were supposed to take-off, therefore delaying our departure from Toronto. The Grecian economy was a mess, and it seems this labor dispute had to do with their retirement, or lack thereof. Once we had a beer & a shot to settle the nerves inspired this time by our hold-up, we collected our courtesy credit of $10 Canadian to cover our bar bill, found the gate and settled in... perhaps a nap was in order.

That morning had started early in San Diego, the last few days hadn’t quite been relaxing, there were a lot of loose ends to tie up before we leave for 22 days. The flight from SD was easy but when we exited that planes jet way into the terminal and found “Athens, Greece” on the Departures Board, I was glad I’d remembered to bring plenty of music and a good book. I’ve grown to expect the word DELAYED, it’s a part of travel, it's part of life.


We took turns watching the stuff and lazed around in our corner for hours people watching, eventually boarding probably the oldest plane I’ve flown on since the eighties. Air Canada is really turning out to be a winner (sarcasm) complete with bad air-conditioning, ash-trays & projection screens with double-pronged headphones for the movie. “Man I’ve gotten used to that screen in the back of the seat” I thought as we settled in. My response was to make friends with the flight attendants, and after an un-disclosed amount of vino and a movie or two I woke up still flying but with Grecian Isles below.


Customs was easy, almost too much so, apparently they let anyone into Greece and a short time later we were buying tickets for the metro for the hour ride into Monastriaki, and the Attalos Hotel. Navigating so far was easy, as was communicating since everyone speaks English. Some entertainment passed us by during our commute and eventually we popped out of the tunnels onto the streets of Athens, we had a short walk to check-in to our room & deposit our luggage.

Train Performer

My wife was beckoning for me, “Honey come out here quick!” I had fallen onto the bed, it had been a long travel day but I knew from her tone I didn’t have a choice. I stood, joined her and there it was, one of the most famous and ancient structures in the world, the Parthenon was in perfect sight from our patio. Awesome, we held each other taking in the romantic atmosphere finally where we’re been looking forward to for so long. We decided to rest and clean-up during this hot part if the day before heading out to explore.

View from our Patio

Our next move was outside but not until evening, when the incredible hot wore off a bit. It was pushing 100 Fahrenheit, we knew pretty much all mainland was like this which is why we had planned our July adventure around the sea. I reluctantly vacated our air conditioned home base and dove into humidity once we were back out in front of our Hotel. We made our way downhill towards the Parthenon, everything seemed to revolve around that landmark, it was time to explore and find some food!

We took our time snapping pics with our new Canon Rebel along the way, browsing the shops and admiring the ruins which seemed to be everywhere. After some time we found ourselves in Plaka, the word for "Old Town" - and picked an average looking cafe in a shady spot for our first Greek meal. It came with fresh bread, oil & vinegar, and we ordered tzatziki & olives along with the "Greek" salad. These items became our staple throughout our tour, I wish Feta was as abundant in the states, the way they serve a thick slice of it resting on top is the absolute best way to enjoy a green salad. 

Once finished we hustled up the hill towards the Acropolis for the best vantage of the setting sun, and I sat down while she snapped pics during her favorite part of the day.

Acropolis

I'm an explorer, I like to know what I'm up against and this area having been occupied by people spanning so many generations, seemed pretty straightforward, so we continued up to see what the "gate" to this massive complex looked like. What we discovered was not really a gate, as much as a lobby, there were vendors, bathrooms & a ticket booth... I inquired as to what was going on and was handed a book, she folded the corner of a certain page. Turned out it was a pocket program for the "Athens & Epidaurus Festival 2010" - I know what you're thinking, which is what I was thinking, "what the f*** is that?"

Somehow we got caught up in this moment, the show was almost sold out, people were excited about it and the chance to see anything inside such an ancient venue, seemed exotic. The Odeion of Herrodes Atticus was one of the main Parthenon attractions, just below the Acropolis and only recently began hosting performances again. We purchased tickets and after a quick bathroom stop found seats in the enormous amphitheater. The crowd was buzzing, I read and re-read the program hoping for more explanation, the opening line for the description of "Rimini Protokoll, Prometheus in Athens" read like this: "Dissolving the boundaries between reality and myth..." I took out my camera, a DJ was approaching some turntables. Awesome, this was turning into something I could get into.

What happened next is hard to describe, but it wasn't anything I could understand. They had 100 Greeks of all walks of life, sometimes individually, sometimes together, declaring their beliefs on stage accompanied by video & music. The DJ was the soundtrack, a few characters wore costumes, others were either really old, or really young. It was interesting to watch the performers choreographed appearances but the language barrier added a challenge. We could only react to their inflections and energy, rather than their message, so after an hour we decided it was time to move on. The Festival focused primarily on contemporary art goes on daily in the summertime. This particular show was put on by a pair of rising artists using ordinary people on stage mixed with technology to bring their message to life... as you can guess theatre & art are a huge part of Greek culture and this festival was created to keep it alive in the most authentic atmosphere.

One good thing, we learned some Greek pleasantries, Yassas & Ehfareestoh, Hello (& goodbye) & thank you, listening to children pronunciate can sometimes be the easiest way to learn. We exited and continued around the hill knowing we would end up back in Plaka, the streets in this part of town were easy to navigate, and the Acropolis was lit up as our beacon, one always knows where they are in Athens when in sight of this wonder. The narrow streets were crowded and we strolled past a few bustling tavernas, my baby wanted something sweet so we stopped into one of the many gelato stands and had a frosty nightcap before wandering back to our hotel for a long nights rest. We planned on seeing everything tomorrow and needed an early start, we were checking out in the morning since we had booked a cabin on the overnight ferry to Santorini late into the following evening.

We didn't have our entire trip planned out yet, we'd gotten so overwhelmed with wedding planning that wrapping up our last week in Greece had taken the back burner. Once we had some continental breakfast, the first place we discovered Greeks enjoy their milk warm over cereal, I met my love in the computer center where she was researching. I had heard of a place, Meteora, that I would like to check out if time permitted. It was known for its ancient monasteries in precarious places, I had found out about it because it was known for climbing as well, but before the rock jocks posted their conquests on the internet ancient Greek monks built their houses of worship on top of these huge monoliths rising from the earth. our first stop of the day was the regional train station where we figured out this adventure would have to wait till next time, coordinating that journey without a rental car was impossible within our time frame, someday. We were now 100% going for the island trifecta, once we left Santorini we would spend seven days on Crete, fly back to Athens and take a bus north towards our 3rd island in the Sporades. Since the hotel printer wouldn't work we could only see available tickets, purchasing would have to wait for another time.

Athens in a day

I'm sure this isn't the preferred method, but we had island fever and our hopes were for bluer surroundings, this gray on gray action wasn't turning us on - but we knew that this one day of inland trekking for history's sake had the happiest longest ending, and it would be easier than trying to squeeze it in at the end, time I had specifically allotted for Not rushing around in humidity. Shooting off of Monastriaki's main square was a crowded alley, we browsed and discovered a flea market on our way to our first stop, Ancient Agora. Statues and tombs, preserved amongst the olive trees indicating their obsession with marble & mythology, we took pics of a mini-acropolis, the Temple of Hephaestos, found a museum and discussed our day in some shade. Our goal was to fill time with sights and finish our tour near sunset at the Acropolis, pick up our bags from Hotel storage and make our way to the wharf a little early for our departure.

Temple of Hephaestos

We wandered back through the central square and found an air conditioned gyro place, it was time to get greasy! The sandwich was good enough, but it was here we discovered traditionally Greeks don't cut the gristle from the pork, and lamb gyros were hard to find. So as I glanced around the room observing others eating the same, I noticed even the classiest looking women reaching into their mouth, once and a while, removing clumps of fat. That's how it is, Dorota discovered ordering chicken was almost as good, and much more graceful, I now had a hunger for the perfect gyro that wouldn't be quenched till Skopelos almost three weeks later. We paid our tab and moved on, through Plaka and it's central square to Parliament, where the changing of the guard ended up being the funniest part of my day.  

It was obvious by the bullet holes on the guard house that I wasn't the only one having a hard time taking these officials seriously.

Donia under middle Bullet Hole

From Parliament we entered the National Garden, a perfect spot for our afternoon siesta. Basically Athens Central Park, people wandered and congregated amongst the trees while gardeners kept up the arrangements surrounding each of the hundreds of bronze sculptures.

We found a lawn and napped during the hottest part of the day mapping out the rest of our afternoon, using our dated guidebook to determine what couldn't be missed.

The next goal would be exiting through the southern end of the park towards the "Temple of Zeus." We lounged on the cool grass until Donia jumped up antsy to learn more about the camera, she was determined to take the best pictures on this vacation.


We made our way south out of the park into another fenced in area containing more ruins. What impresses me the most about these structures is their ability to withstand earthquakes & erosion. I understand that it took quite a few people, mostly slaves, to build such enormous stone buildings but the fact that they're still standing, somewhat, after so much time, is awesome. I also understood why they regulated the grounds and asked for an entrance fee, many empires had attacked this city throughout the years, they not only needed maintained, but also protected & revitalized.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

This particular spot was in honor of Olympian Zeus and was mainly columns, one of which we got a close-up look at showing the individual blocks that had originally been stacked 20 meters tall. We were closing in on the crescendo, the backside of the Parthenon was above us, so we stocked up on some fluids from a vendor and made our way across the busy streets towards the main attraction.

The first stop, another item on our 12 Euro all-inclusive ruins pass, was the "Theater of Dionysos."  Another amphitheatre on the Parthenon grounds that was more open and less refurbished, complete with a stone throne at its center. 

Acropolis Wall

Odeion of Herrodes Atticus

We continued past up the hill towards the Acropolis walls, there was a back trail that would take us by more ruins of an ancient smithery, a bathhouse, a grain silo, all while gaining elevation. Our vistas were getting better as we climbed and the waning sun promised to be around when we needed it most. Our path took us above last nights venue, we snapped some pics and proceeded through the guard house onto the entry way and joined the people.

Foyer

We weren't the only tourists anticipating that golden light only available when the sun approaches the horizon.

We made our rounds taking in the sea over the hill to our south, snapped some shots and caught the light at that perfect moment.

Sea in the Background

As darkness approached we made our way back down the enormous marble foyer - it had been a long day and we weren't done yet, it was time to re-join our luggage and head towards Piraeus, Athens' Port, and the Preveli, our transportation and accommodations for our journey to Santorini.

To Be Continued...

ON A BOAT!

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