July 21 - 13: Athens and Surrounds

George & Penny

After looking at my photo albums of pictures downloaded to my PC it turns out that most of the activities involved relatives and friends from Athens, Vari, Koropi and other areas.  This may not interest everyone reading this blog, but suffice to say, all of the people I've met are very kind and loving toward me (Dan) and treat me as one of their own, if not a little better!!  I won't go into all the dinners, coffees, lunches and outings, nor publish all the photos of Greeks no one know but Kathy and I.  But, the next time I have the time and have downloaded more photos, I have to tell you about Mani on the Pelloponese peninsula.  There are amazing stories to tell.  Until then, yasu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 13 -: 30: Athens, Vari, Koropi, Plaka, Monostiraki, Mani, etc., etc., etc.

What to say?  The memories are all there and I'll try to be faithful in recording them, but as you all may know, that's easier said than done.  Starting from today, July 30, I'll be working backwards.

We are in Mani, a small village by the sea in the southern part of Greece on the Pelloponese peninsula.  It's cooler than Athens, quiet, quiet, quiet, and windy.  The style of houses is different...we are in Sparta! 

It's very relaxing after the noise and action of the big city.  We spend our days drinking coffee in the morning, swimming at different beaches, having lunch at a seaside taverna (great home made food, fresh fish and octopus, greens, tomatoes, and feta cheese), napping after swimming and then coffee again and finally dinner at 10:00 pm in village restaurants.  If this doesn't sound relaxing I don't know what else does!  The women get the "1000 yard stare" early in the morning before they've had two coffees!!  The gas strike continues, but word is that fuel will be flowing again by tonight, so I guess we won't be stranded...too bad! 

We spent five days at Kathy's parents' house in Vari where we did much the same without the swimming and not as much going out.  Mama cooked great vegetables and roasted chicken or fish.  Papa and I went for walks to the bakery or a kiosk for him to buy cigarettes.  Relatives came and went most days and we napped in the afternoons.  After dinner we would sit in the yard under the stars where there was usually a light breeze to cool us down.  Here is the yard where we sit.

Back in Athens we followed pretty much the same plan except for the added shopping and visiting places in the city.  I took one day by myself and took the Metro (subway) to the Acropolis museum and visited the Acropolis, Philoupapou monument and the plaka and Athens flea market.  The museum was extraordinary.  The collection of statues, friezes and artifacts was amazing.  They have put together a very coherent history of the Acropolis, starting at about 450 B.C. up to the 19th century.  It is a shame what was done to that place; at one time (not in chronological order) it was a Christian church, a military munitions storage depot (during which time part of the building was blown up), a mosque and of course in it's glory days a religious and pagan site of worship.  Vandals knocked down some of the statues and friezes and in the 1800's Lord Elgin from England violently (the Greek description) absconded with several of the most beautiful statues and artifacts that are still in England on display in their museums.

Now comes the Big, Fat, Greek wedding; on Saturday, July 25 we went to the wedding of one of Kathy's nieces.  The service in the Greek Orthodox church near her parents' home was beautiful and thankfully short, only about an hour long.  Then everyone adjourned to a restaurant where all 200 guests were served appetizers, dinner and non-stop beer and wine.  The band was so loud that I and several others spent a good deal of time outside.  I walked home by myself at about 1:30 am to let my head clear, but Kathy and Penny stayed to the very end, about 3:00 am.  Here are pictures of George and Penny doing a traditional Greek dance and Kathy and me, too:

On July 22 we took a fast boat (hydrofoil) to the small island of Agistri near Athens and spent one night there.  We went swimming at a nude beach (bathing suits optional) where we had to climb down a cliff to get there and at another beach where we had to jump off a concrete pier into the water.  There was no beach to walk out on so we had to climb up a ladder to get back on the pier.  The waters were so clear and deep it was deceiving; what appeared to be relatively shallow was in reality probably ten meters deep...I couldn't get to the bottom.  In Agistri where we stayed we had a room overlooking the sea for only $30 Euros a night, including breakfast; it was beautiful.  The place was run by a couple from Wales who came there 28 years ago.  There were many boats in the harbor and moving about on the sea.  Here is one of my favorites.  How would that look on Hood Canal?

Now it's only July 22 and I still have a long ways to go to get back to our previous post!  I'll start again from here on the next post.  Yasas!

July 12 - Athens

Sitting in an internet cafe in the 90 degree heat drinking Greek coffee.  We arrived here last night after a 10 hour train ride from Thessaloniki.  We are staying with Kathy's family and visiting or being visited by all the many relatives.  Although the news tells us that Greece is in bad shape financially, the activity in the city is just as hectic and busy as the last time we were here in 2006.  The public employees have had to take pay cuts and everyone's taxes have gone up, but it was unavoidable since both individuals (via credit cards) and the government (through deficit spending) have been spending more than they earn for a number of years.  But, the Greek spirit is still as free and fun loving as ever.  We will be moving around to different locations and taking day trips to islands nearby for the time being until I leave on August 4th, and Kathy will be here until September 30th, spending most of her time with her family.  Will add more posts when I have time.

July 8 - Thassos Island

I found a mermaid on the island of Thassos!

Anyway, we made it to Greece after an aborted cruise that nonetheless turned out fine for us.  Between June 24, our last post, and now, we visited several cities and villages by bus since the ship was unable to pass under a bridge.  Landing in Bucharest we stayed for three nights before taking the train to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.  After a hot nine hour train ride (we won't go into the details of the WC, other passengers, cleanliness, etc.) we arrived in Sofia at about 10:00 pm not knowing where our hotel was or how to get there.  Fortunately for us, we made a friend on the train.  Eva is a young woman who works for Sony and Microsoft as a contractor responsible for business development in Bulgaria and Serbia.  She told us what to expect regarding taxi cheaters and helped us negotiate a cab.  Got to the hotel uneventfully and then went out for a bite to eat.

Our hotel was right downtown so we were able to walk everywhere to take in the sights.  Since Sofia is the capital there was a lot to see.  Here is the government palace where every hour they have two guards that march around with rifles.

Between Budapest and Sofia we went to Kalocsa, Vukovar, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sremski Karlovski, the Iron Gate on the Danube, and Bucharest.  While in Bucharest I rented a car and with another couple from the ship (Bob and Ethel Story from Seattle) and drove to Sinaia which is up in the mountains.  It was a beautiful village that is a ski resort in the winter.  We visited a monastery and the castle of King Carlos I before eating some of the best local food and beer.  We had a GPS to help us find our way, but on the way it quit and we had to navigate with maps and windage.  Not knowing exactly where we were when returning to the city (Bucharest), we stopped for a beer and asked for directions.  The waiter said to go to the end of the street, turn right and go 30 meters and we would be at the hotel!  What a pleasant surprise!!  Here is something from the castle in Sinaia. 

There was a stained glass skylight that was retractable and a hunting armory with weapons dating back several hundred years.  The opulence was over the top, but beautiful.  The original plan was to drive on from Sinaia to Bram and Brasov where we could have seen the "famous" castle of Dracula, but without the GPS we decided "seen one castle, seen them all".  We had a great day with our friends but were glad to get safely back to the hotel.

After all the excitement of driving over 250 km in a foreign country the next day was spent saying goodbye to new friends and moving to a new hotel for one night.  This one was booked on the Lonely Planet website and proved to be a good choice, inexpensive, breakfast and free wireless internet included.

In Kalocsa we saw traditional horsemen perform, drank their local distilled plum schnapps and enjoyed ourselves.  These horsemen are the Romanian equivalent of the cowboys of the western USA and were very accomplished.  Of course, it was a show for tourists, but the authenticity of the equipment and dress was impressive, as was their good humor.

So, from Kalocsa we went to Vukovar, which was bombed to smithereens by the UN "Peace-Keeping" forces during the war with Serbia.  The town is in the process of rebuilding itself and they are understandably obsessed with their plight and the rebuilding process.  We were given a tour of the new town hall and the town church, along with speeches by the "mayor" about the troubles they've had and the city pride.  Some of the pictures I took were of bombed out buildings and incomplete reconstruction projects.  It was heartbreaking to see what had been done to this town; the effort they are making to rebuild the town is immense and inspiring, but there is still a lot of negative propaganda concerning the Serbians.  The bullet-ridden wall above reminds one of how fortunate we are, but the flowers someone has planted in an abandoned building show the spirit of renewal.

Now we are off to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.  The contrast between here and Vukovar iwas  striking, but of course Vukovar is a small village and Belgrade is a large city.  Exerpt from Wikipedia:  Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia.  It lies at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans.  With a 2007 estimated population of 1,630,000 Belgrade is the third largest city in Southeastern Europe, after Istanbul and Athens. Its name in Serbian translates to White City.  

Belgrade's wider city area was the birthplace of the largest prehistoric culture of Europe, the Vinča culture, as early as the 6th millennium BC.  In antiquity, the area of Belgrade was inhabited by the Thraco-Dacian tribe of Singi who would give the name to the city after a fortress was founded in the 3rd century BC by the Celts, who named it Singidun (dun, fortress). It was awarded city rights by the Romans before it was permanently settled by Serbs from the 7th century onwards. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times since the ancient period by countless armies of the East and West.  In medieval times, it was in the possession of Byzantine, Frankish, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Serbian rulers.  In 1521 Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Pashaluk of Belgrade, as the principal city of Ottoman Europe and among the largest European cities. Frequently passing from Ottoman to Austrian rule which saw destruction of most of the city, the status of Serbian capital would be regained only in 1841, after the Serbian revolution.  Northern Belgrade, though, remained a Habsburg outpost until the breakup of Austria-Hungary in 1918.  The united city then became the capital of several incarnations of Yugoslavia, up to 2006, when Serbia became an independent state again.

We experienced Belgrade and Serbia as tourists, but the major impressions were of a country responding to new freedoms after the fall of Yugoslavia and Tito.  In all the Balkans we found that most people missed the stability that Tito provided.  After nearly 50 years of communist rule under him people now have more freedoms, but agree that life is not only different, but harder is many ways.