A Long Travel Day to Crete

Here we go, the final chapters of “Living the Dream”, or LTD as we’ve nicknamed it. I discussed the origin of this abbreviation with my closest friends, since it was with them that I originally coined the phrase. One insisted that he brought it with him from a friend who used to state it back home, the other thinks he may have come up with it... I’ve said it before, damn my twenties and all of the lost memories! I don’t think we’ll ever truly remember exactly where it came from, but one thing stands true: I owned it for myself, this blog being an extension of me, and have now publicized it as my own creation since I was in fact living my dream - whilst before my cohorts and I would just visit it on vacations from our daily grind. What’s amazing is that so many others out there utilize the phrase for themselves, including the abbreviation. Within the Twitter world #LTD has been trending for years, and probably will be forever. Google it and you’ll find it’s not just a popular blog title, people use it to describe their fantasies around the world. The best creations are usually taken which just reiterates how great of an idea it is in the first place, c’est la vie. I’ll never stop living my dreams individually, but I have stopped living it constantly which is why these final chapters have been so hard for me to write. In a way I’m putting my childish obsession to bed for hopefully someday my own son to awaken, and realize he himself can do whatever he puts his heart to. I’m now taking on a new challenge, a purpose other than make money and have fun. I’m living a life that has so far been an adventure, and I think will be one constant state of discovery for the rest of my days; Fatherhood: Our son is due to arrive sometime in May, roughly two months from now, and although I’ve been procrastinating finishing this project since returning from our honeymoon in August it’s time I do so. I don’t foresee myself all that concerned with this former life of mine once Junior arrives, and I’m guessing my inspiration will be towards new goals for self satisfaction.

Returning Scooterini

I left off with our last day on Santorini, it was simply supposed to entail us traveling from our Villa back to the port, jumping on a ferry to Heraklion, Crete, and finding our way to an all-inclusive resort on the Libyan Sea. The day started with my wonderful new wife bringing me breakfast in bed, exactly the motivation I needed to finish our packing. She had enlisted the help of our hotel to get her back to the port, while I strapped on as many bags as I could fit onto the scooter for one final ride, it was time to return it. We bode farewell to our friends and I made my way back down to the islands main harbor. I arrived with time to spare and into the ferry office to confirm our tickets.

The truly disappointing part is, I've done this before. Pretty much every country in the world, except the grand ol' U.S of A works in military time... We'd missed our ferry, apparently it left at 1:25 AM, about 10 hours prior, and since we'd missed it our 60 Euros was wasted. I promptly dropped another 100 Euros on a second pair of tickets which would not be departing till 17:55, about seven hours later. I sat down at a cafe awaiting my wife’s arrival, and wondering how we would kill time till our ferry arrived. When Dorothy met me her only disappointment was the lost savings, she had worked hard to find that discount fare and it was all for naught, we grabbed a few beers to take the edge off and pondered our next move. We decided that staying at the port would be the most financially guilt free option, although this was a honeymoon we were still traveling on a budget, a budget we had already seriously gone over with our first move of the day. Leaving the port would cost money, and then returning would cost more money.

Thira Port

The port was was boring, extremely hot and not very scenic - we did our best to make due. Our scooter rental agent agreed to store our bags while we wandered the area looking for shade and observing the various ferries coming and going. Our main focus was to stay out of the sun, and hydrated - we joked about my prior travel errors, the big one being that missed flight to Korea 18 months earlier... a trip I’d packed for weeks prior to eventually making the same mistake between AM & PM. One would think I’d learned a lesson.

The heat was pretty unbearable, so we went to the ports edge where we found a small cave next to the water, and I jumped in. Rinse, repeat, every hour or so we’d wander back to a shop and fill our water bottles... and then back to the cave to cool off. It was the opposite of the dreamlike state we’d been floating in since arriving in Greece, but we didn’t have a choice, and we knew that once we toughed it out we’d have comfy seats on a pretty quick boat to our next island. At least we were able to swim... finally our ferry, the “Flying Cat IV” arrived and we were able to board. This was our first experience with a hi-speed hydrofoil style ferry, and after waiting all day all we wanted to do was get on with our trip.

Flying Cat IV

Getting off of Santorini was just the beginning, we still had some complicated traveling to do since public transportation was not very active at night on Crete. Three hours later we arrived in the capitol city of Heraklion, hustled a few block to the bus station and sorted out our next move. We had to wait just under an hour to catch a bus to Rethymno, an hour ride to the east and only half of the way to Plakias, the closest village to our final destination. We found out some more disappointing news, the next bus servicing that area wasn’t till morning - if we were going to make it to our already paid for resort that night our only hope was to find a taxi. Awesome. We got dropped off at the Rethymno Bus Depot and made our way to what seemed like a cab stand, unfortunately the only taxi we saw was already taken but we still asked him if he could call us another.

Now the story turns around - I knew you were waiting.

He could not in fact enlist the help of a fellow cab driver, we were apparently going way off the beaten path. After a short conversation with his current passengers they obliged that the American honeymooners could join them to their drop-off point which was a short distance, and on the way to ours. We found out our co-passengers were Germans, and after a brief exchange of pleasantries they were dropped off at their hotel and we turned south starting up the ancient volcano/mountain that is Crete. Our driver was taking an obscure path, and we started to realize this guy seemed a little nuts. He was chain smoking cigarettes and driving as fast as possible, I just kept my eyes on my compass verifying we were heading in the right direction. He was taking back roads, which I’m usually a fan of but not necessarily this late at night in completely unfamiliar territory. But whatever, we were getting an OK deal, 30 euros for the one hour ride - and honestly we didn’t have much choice. Twisting, turning, zipping through the smallest villages past countless monasteries and farms, it really was an amazing ride. After 45 minutes he found a few “friends” we guess, hanging out on a porch, so we stopped. He gestured for us to get out, which was shady as hell but we didn’t want to offend and so far, other than some crazy driving, he hadn’t steared us wrong yet.

After Shot #1

His friends had set us up with some chairs, and immediately he retrieved a clear bottle of what we found out was “Especial” - a Greek Liquor, and several shot glasses. The Greeks, as we’re finding out, are tremendous romantics, and celebrate love at any opportunity. So we toasted to our new marriage and did our first of several shots. Our taxi driver then disappeared, and drove the cab out of sight? This freaked me out since our luggage was in the trunk, but apparently he was blocking the road and needed to keep it clear. All of this was getting explained to us by a man name Stafylos, the proprietor of this establishment who spoke near perfect English having attended NYU in his youth. Our driver returned and we probably did three more shots each emptying the “Especial” having toasting to everything from this serendipity, to the weather. And then, just like that, after handshakes from each of the older men, we were off back into the night with our driver bummin’ more smokes from me and seemingly re-energized after the shots.

I know what you’re thinking, and trust me we were too, but we were at his mercy praying that our karma would carry us through this one. He made one more stop, apparently looking for another place to celebrate, this place was almost dark and from what we could tell the inhabitant had recently broken a leg, so we did NOT do any more shots. (We were already pretty buzzed, and sure our driver didn’t need any more) Our ride crested the mountain and began its descent down to the north side of the island towards Plakias. (from this vantage we could see the African coast twinkling in the distance) More winding down crazy guard-rail-less roads high over deep what appeared to be bottomless ravines. About an hour later we took a quick run through the village where his mother ran a gyro shop hoping for some food, but sadly everything was closed for the night, so we went over one more hill finally passing through the gate of the “Kalypso Creten Village” - our home for the next seven days. We paid our driver and thanked him for the perfect end to a long day, checked in, scarfed down our courtesy plate of food (the kitchen had prepared for us knowing we would be arriving after it was closed) and collapsed onto our bed. It was time to end this day, we would explore our first all-inclusive manana.

I’ve opted to share this as it’s own blog post, and apologies for the lack of pictures. As you can guess pulling out the camera was the last thing on our mind most times, we were moving too fast and more concerned with protecting our electronics than actually using them. More to Come!

Santorini Beaches & Wine With the Cooks

Boarding the ferries in Greece is crazy, there isn't much organization. 

They just keep everyone back till the boat is almost tied to the dock and eventually the sea of oncoming people collides with the stream of passengers and vehicles exiting the vessel. Somewhere along the way we showed our ticket and were directed to a concierge that provided our key, and showed us to cabin #157. It was much nicer than we had expected, on the front corner with windows facing fore and port, we immediately discovered even the shower was awesome and washed Athens off of our weary bodies.

I hadn't traveled like this, my bag was not my backpack, we were both rolling luggage and checking in as tourists before doing anything else. Of course I still perceived everything as a backpacker, so I was curious how all the backpacks with sleeping pads that boarded the ferry with us were spending their night. When we explored our floating hotel I realized it was really more of a floating Hostel, the backpackers had rolled out their sleep systems in the hallways, under stairways, pretty much everywhere hoping for a night in AC. These ferries had only topside outdoor amenities and focused on accommodating indoors, very cool that they encourage this type of passenger, they paid about a third what we did for a ticket. (I was still pretty happy about that shower.) We familiarized ourselves with the ship's layout and made our way back to the cabin, it was time for a little sleep.

According to the intercom, the boat had docked briefly in Milos and we were departing again. The color streaming through our thin curtains was enough to roust us out of bed, and onto the deck. We took pictures of the rising sun and our approach to "Thira" (the ancient volcano now known as Santorini, the Jewel of the Mediterranean) - the views were amazing and knowing we would be above these bright red cliffs most of our stay we milked our vantage for the maybe once in a lifetime brilliance. Our ship motored into the huge crescent that is the Santorini group of isles, between the northern tip of the main island, and Thirasia, one of the smaller members. The white buildings of Oia seemed surreal perched on the cliffs reflecting the early golden light. We continued to experiment with our camera snapping shots in every direction as we trolled past the center of the caldera, it's hot springs and steam vents evidence that this only erupted 3500 years ago.

Eventually we made our way back below deck for some tea and packing, it was time to vacate our quarters and make our way through the disembarkation chaos onto our home for the next three nights. We rolled our bags down the gangway and I immediately knew what I wanted to do for transportation: Scooter! This island had mass transit but not frequent enough, for 15 Euro/day I could have my own wheels, Budget Backpacker Jason had departed with the ferry! It was time for some practical fun, our only challenge was getting our luggage up the steep hill, into the main town and delivered to our Villas. Rena's Villas to be precise, we obtained an island map from our rental agent and found a cafe for my baby to wait - our plan: she would enjoy a coffee while I took the first load up the hill.

Ferry Port

She blew me a kiss as I putted away, I was feeling weighed down wearing a 50 pound duffel on my back and a backpack on my front, yet the little red scooter kept on truckin' up the switchbacks. Sometimes larger vehicles having an even harder time climbing would pull over for me to go around and after ten minutes we (the scooter & I) were looking at the amazing view from the top. It made me think of Dorothy, Shit, Dorothy! I verified on the map that I needed to keep going north, made it into the town and started looking for signs. I continued to look for signs and ask around with no luck, after almost an hour away from my love I gave up and found an abandoned house to stash the luggage in, I needed to bring her up the hill so we could figure out where this place was together.


Once reunited with each other, and our gear, we (Dorothy, the scooter & I) made our way into the center of town. Trying to navigate safely with all the luggage was impossible, Dorothy chilled with the bags under a tree while I continued to look around with no luck. I searched the village of Fira up and down several times, hit back roads and asked every taxi driver and concierge I could find during the "siesta" portion of the day. I had lost the paperwork I'd printed stateside that contained the contact info, so an internet cafe gave me some sight, but not a tangible address!

When we finally found an attendant that understood our English she contacted Rena's to come get us, she shared that they usually instruct their guests to call when they get to town, they don't usually direct people to them as it's so difficult to find. Right, we had gotten the reservation from the friends we were meeting, and had never corresponded directly with the Villa's figuring "How hard could it be?" About three hours from arriving on Santorini we were picked up & ferried to our Villa's, checked in with a glass of white by the pool waiting for Nora & Roy who were arriving from Paros - Dorothy's college roommate and her new husband were touring Europe for their honeymoon and we'd coincided our Santorini time.

Our Villa

I was really starting to appreciate a certain part of college, a part I rarely remember, pledging Phi Kappa Theta. My Junior year I became a Fraternity Brother, and that membership required I know the Greek alphabet. 

Wine Run

Learning that meant I could read here, and I couldn't help myself, I felt like I was six trying to sound out every character I could decipher. Dorothy had no idea, surprising since English is her second language - the character names usually were how they sound so I could take what was described to me and hopefully find it on a map, or a menu.

Share the Road

I was explaining this to Nora & Roy at dinner, we were pretty fired up having intercepted each other so far from home. They had arrived earlier and after briefly catching up, Donia & I checked out the sunset while they unpacked and got cleaned up. Before dinner the four of us downed some incredibly cheap wine and made our way to Dionysus, a traditional taverna, and after a few more carafe's of Santorini White we were plotting our next move. We wandered the narrow streets during the high part of the night and eventually got spit out on the western edge looking down and across the caldera & the Aegean Sea, mostly entranced by the lights up this side of the cliff.

This place was all color & energy, everyone was so enthusiastic and happy, usually eager to answer your curiosities and helpful if you were confused - really in Vacation... actally Honeymoon-land were we expecting something else? They coupled things like the historic Donkey rides & hand-made crafts with fresh fish & veggies to create the traditional Mediteranean ambiance that we had come here for.

We strolled back towards our Villa stopping by the crowded Murphy's Pub before returning home, a few more hours of sillyness and what will always be remembered as "The Hat Party," we finally called it a night promising to get up early for our self-guided island tour.

Today is July 18, 8 days married, 4 days in Greece, 2nd day in Santorini, we woke up and the Cook's had already handled their transportation by renting a 4-wheeler, awesome. We stopped by a market to grab supplies for lunch, you know, basics like feta, salami, tzatziki, olives, a few beers :) We were livin' Greek. I was the navigator, a job I enjoy, utilizing my map, compass & road signs to get us to "Kokkini Paralia," one of the unique beaches we planned to see today. We parked our rides and found an interesting sun-dried tomato vendor in the lot, for like 2 euro we could have a bag of these tasty treats I'd never seen sold fresh before. I bought a bag and added it to our lunch menu.

A short hike later the beautiful contrast of red cliffs over blue sea was our reward, we made our way down through the forest of umbrellas and found a comfy spot for the four of us. We'd found the only red beach on the island, and so had most everybody else. The water was refreshingly cool and the red pebble beach was hot, the girls sunned themselves in European fashion beneath the magenta walls. About two hours later we packed our bags and made our way north towards Perivolos Beach, reputed as Santorini's "Best." Frozen cocktails were in order, and would feel better than more time in the sun. Our decision: the "Best" beach could do better, and continued north towards the last village on this side of the island, Perissa.


"Best" referred to the size & population, the beaches on the south-facing shores were all connected creating miles of black-sandy coastline, naturally drawing an attractive Bohemian crowd. We motored slowly past the afternoon dance party eventually coming to the end where a mountain dropped down dividing this side of the island from Kamari. Road end, time to turn around. Our party was going back to the villas, the sun was getting to be too much, an hour at a time in bathing suits on a scooter had worn us out and it was time for a nap by the pool. Some down time was in order since we planned on hitting Oia tonight for dinner.

Navigating the island had been easy so far, so once freshened up we looked at the map and decided back roads would be our best route to the northern tip, things moved a little faster than we liked on the main road. We wound our way north on the outside apron of the ancient volcano keeping an eye out for a nice restaurant. Soon the road was ascending towards a village which didn’t offer much hope so we continued through and began dropping into the crater towards “Ammoudi Bay”. We rounded the corner and discovered several restaurants at the base of a switch backing stairway, we had found Oia’s waterfront and the dining opportunity we’d been hoping for.

“Excuse me sir.. Sir!” A woman was beckoning for me in English, I glanced beyond her up the steep hill noticing a Peugeot perpendicular to the retaining wall across the road. “Can you help us?” She continued to explain that none of her party were very experienced with stick-shifts and they hoped to find help before something bad happened. One wrong move and they could have ended up over the edge, they were between a rock and a drop, not 10 feet behind their bumper the cliff fell into the sea. I obliged and maneuvered their vehicle into a safer circumstance, understanding their paranoia when it comes to driving alien vehicles.

We wandered through the restaurants noticing “reserved” signs on each of the waterfront tables, you see, the sunset was the primary draw at these establishments and we were lucky to find a spot with such short notice. We settled on a tapas place, the cats were mellow on the rocks in front of it. The fable says if the cats, an inevitable sight in Greece, seem well behaved the kitchen cooks have treated those strays with respect, therefore hopefully prepare their food with that same compassion. 

Best Feta Stuffed Pepper EVER!

So many cats in Greece, we quickly learned to appraise their appearance when deciding on a taverna.
 Sunset, Vino, a short hike by the water and we were back on the scooters. (That sunset, by the way, is the image at the top of this blog) We could see Fira, its lights twinking in the distance seemed to spill into the sea. The wind was cool but not cold as we glided through the night along the craters rim, we were heading back for some gelato before stocking up on supplies and heading home. We were living the dream on a Grecian isle, once the scooter was safely parked we drank some Retsina, a traditional Greek drink, and celebrated. 

Aphrodite & Zeus acting
out some tragedy

Our evening ended with the four of us in togas having adopted Greek nick-names, I was Poseidon, my wife Athena. Good times.


The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. — Marcel Proust


I had been day-dreaming, everything today up until this point had been auto-pilot, if one could actually engage that feature on a scooter, or their mind. I was going about 40 mph and the first thing I noticed was the stop sign, it was located about 30 feet to my right.


Time slowed down, I thought "Why is that sign so far off the road?"
And then I thought, "How did the street get so wide all of a sudden?"
And then, "I hope nothing is coming on my left..." as I shifted my eyesight there it was, an enormous "Limo" bus was bearing down at approximately the same speed.
The driver and I noticed each other at the same time and maintained eye contact as we braked, I could hear that squeaky stutter sound large vehicles make when stopping all of a sudden, Dorothy's grip tightened around my waist as I leaned forward and placed my hand on the bus.
We had both come to a complete stop one inch from each other.


Time sped back up, all of a sudden the bus had pulled forward and the door was open, I was getting yelled at in Greek. The bus driver had every right to let me have it in front of 50 passengers, I had made a very serious mistake. Almost throwing us in front of a moving bus had scared my wife as well, as we started back up she enforced the "slower" rule I've become used to on my motorcycles in San Diego, all the way up the switchbacking road to Ancient Thira.


The day had been great so far, we had breakfast by the pool & found a mellow sandy beach down the hill from our place to hang out. The days agenda was simple, check out the sights on this side of the island, seafood lunch, and maybe find a winery. While we were enjoying "Monolithos Beach" it looked like Roy had fallen asleep, and a masseuse offered me her services by showing a sign. I pointed to the cartoon "Foot" and indicated that she should work her magic on my buddy. The "Sneak Attack Foot Massage" was born, and a minute later after his initial surprise, Roy relaxed and enjoyed the entire leg rub she provided.

And then lunch, Santorini style fish are grilled over coals and served whole, what we had yet to discover was the prices were per kilo - which is why everything seemed so expensive, usually Greeks order fish for their whole table and its served on a platter. We were at Mario's, a beachside establishment and ordered the "fish for two", it was seasoned up and fell right off the bone, I was finally tasting this traditional preparation I'd heard about and it was worth the wait. Yeah Greek Food!

Ah yes, we're on top at Ancient Thira looking down at the road we took here after the bus had almost made us memories, or at least very tan vegetables. That was our day so far, beach, food, bus event, now were were here, Santorinis outer high point.

Towards Kamari

I could see back down to yesterdays beaches, Perissa through Perivolos, we had just climbed this mountain on the scooter. We could see where we had come from, the restaurant, the sight of the "event", the airport, and one more beach we hadn't explored, Kamari. We coasted back down the hill and made camp in the shade, the sun has been blazing so I welcomed the break and took advantage of the cliff jumping for an afternoon dip.

We rested here during the hot part of the day but when the sun started to dip jumped on our rides seeking a vineyard with a view. We found the Santo Wines Winery and promptly ordered a flight with cheese to sample as the sun went down, still pretty full from our afternoon fish. The view of the caldera from this sight was incredible, and we over documented it with our Rebel, I think there were 150 shots of this single sunset before I edited down.

We eventually made our way back for a relaxing night in, we'd been going pretty strong and it was time to relax, our boat to Crete was the next day, or so we thought...

Click Here for the Entire Photo Album

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!

Click Here for the Full Photo Album