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!