GREECE – April 28 to May 26, 2001
INCLUDING AN ELDERHOSTEL--- “ESSENCE OF THE GREEK ISLANDS”
Connie’s Journal:
CHAPTER 1 – Athens to Paros (Delos)
Early Sat. a.m. AA flight from OAK to DFW, then on a new 777 for the overnight to Zurich. This was the most comfortable I have ever been in a plane! Business class because of the mileage upgrade—lots of “gimmicks” such as adjustable foot rest that really fit me for a change; all the comforts on the seat such as personal reading lights on flexible tubes, good recline and lumbar support, personal video player, gourmet menu to select from. Took off at 3 pm Texas time—I set my watch to 10 pm Zurich time. I ordered a glass of milk and the cheese manicotti (best I’ve ever eaten, from Alice Waters’ menu); took a sleeping pill, and went to sleep with my earplugs and face mask and inflatable neck pillow, ignoring the wine and fancy dinner being served to everyone else. Dozed until almost 5, had a good breakfast, arrived at Zurich at 7:15 am.
After 2 hours in the “Oasis” lounge caught the Swissair 9:30 flight to Athens. Set my watch another hour ahead and arrived there at 2:30 Sunday afternoon. We had had to check our rollaboard carry-ons as we entered this plane. Did not know why until we saw that the new airport (Eleftherios Venezelos) is not yet finished and we had to deplane down portable stairs. Glad we did not have to schlep the bags there, although having them as carry-ons worked fine on the first 2 legs of the trip. Our bags were almost the first on the carousel; no one checked customs; Cristos, our taxi driver was waiting right outside with our name on a sign. (We had heard on the internet what confusion there can be getting in to Athens from the new airport, opened less than a month, so we had chartered this transfer by e-mail before we left home.) It only took 45 min. to the Hotel Parthenon, with the Sunday traffic. We had heard it can sometimes take and hour or two.
After a short nap we took a walk near the hotel. We are right at the edge of the Plaka, the oldest district of Athens and at the very base of the Acropolis. Decided to eat at an outdoor table at a Taverna up on the slope of the Acropolis rock, the Taverna Spilia tis Acropoleos and watch the tourists wander by as evening came. Also entertaining was watching the “maitre d’ “ talk to everyone in a multitude of languages and try to get them to stop! Ken had had his heart set on spanikopita (spinach pie) for weeks, so we had that and a Greek salad with a big slab of feta cheese on top and lots of olive oil. Tasty. Found out later that this was actually one of the tavernas on a “recommended” list I had brought with me. They didn’t have wine by the glass so I had to order a small carafe. Only finished half, but the “show” was worth it. Afterwards, wandered down in the Plaka with all the tourists and even bought “soft cornettos”—a new concept. A special machine—the ice cream is pre-packed in a frozen tube that is inserted and pressed out soft into a waffle cone.
Took a melatonin and slept until almost 4 am. Pretty good considering we had just crossed 10 time zones. Our room has a little balcony on a back courtyard with big trees and every morning the birds start to sing exactly at 6! Pigeons roost on the end of our balcony and I got to recognize the mother’s cooing song as she fed the baby, a different sound from the other pigeon noises.
The hotel provides a huge buffet breakfast, even including dolmas (grape leaf rolls) with all the other usual fare. I especially liked the incredibly thick yogurt with some meusli and then I would stir in honey or jam! Today we meandered up through the Plaka to the downtown center. Found the tourist office and picked up some good maps. Then to a bookstore nearby which had an Internet café on their 6th floor. Fun to read and send e-mail so easily.
Watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament Building at Syntagma Square. Interesting costume/uniforms and a strange high-swinging-leg-and-arm slow march, precisely choreographed. Glad Ken could capture that on video.
Our return walk took us through the Plaka and up through Anafiotika—a cluster of homes on the slope of the Acropolis built by stonemasons from the island of Anafi 150 years ago. Quaint, with colorful flower planters. Then found a spot to buy souvlaki (classic pita) and a beer. Sat at an outdoor table to eat and relax before heading back to the hotel for a “siesta”.
The Elderhostel group assembled in the hotel at 5:30 for refreshments and an orientation meeting with our leader/guide Stratos Georgakarakos. Afterwards a bus took us all to dinner at a restaurant called “Saloon”! The meal was delicious—meat dolmas, cheese croquettes, Greek salad, wine, papoutraki (“little shoes”—small eggplants stuffed with meat and cheese), roast potatoes, and fresh fruit for dessert. On the way back to the hotel we had to crawl through traffic diversions because some streets were blocked by demonstrators. The Pope will be coming to Athens Friday, and some Orthodox priests object to his visit.
May 1 is “Labor Day”! A big Greek holiday. Everything is closed. Elderhostel planned our educational lectures for this day, to get us into the “feel” of Greece and to begin to prepare us for what we are going to see. In the morning, Prof. Fafalios explained how to read and pronounce Greek. We learned a few important phrases, as well as the upper case letters (which are on most signs) and the names of the numbers, but we still cannot read some of the lower case letters. It is amazing, though, that now we can sound out words and street names and often a little “aha!” light bulb will come on in my head.
Hotel lunches are pretty heavy affairs, several salads, hot meat and vegetables, ice cream. Not easy to stay awake through an afternoon of lectures. Prof. Steven Diamant, PhD., with degrees in Classical Archaeology and History with specialties in Aegean History and Art was a superb lecturer. One hour was an introduction to Aegean Civilizations (Geography and the role of the sea), and after a coffee break he talked on early Cycladic Civilization—especially Cycladic art and the beginnings of Western Sculpture. These are the subjects we will be experiencing for the next several weeks. It gave us a great foundation.
In the evening our bus took us for a home visit with a family who live in Loutsa, on the Aegean coast not far from Spata. George and Youli Karamolegos, with her mother and their children Maximus 12, Natalie 10, and Zoe 3. They had prepared spanikopita, Greek salad (always pieces of tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and olives, with lots of oil and the feta cheese on top), tsadziki (yogurt sauce with lots of garlic and chopped cucumber), bread (great with the tsadziki on it), their local retsina wine, roast lamb, peas, potatoes, grandma’s baklava and fresh fruit. Unfortunately, the drive back into town that evening took over an hour. Solid traffic returning after the long holiday weekend.
On Wed., May 2, we walked as a group to the Acropolis. The advantage of it being windy was that we had clear views from the top. Stratos gave us a complete guided tour and then left us to explore the museum on our own and walk back any way we chose. We circled around the other side, so had views in all directions.
After another huge hotel lunch—salad, hearty fish soup, then a platter of fried fish and veggies—a bus took our group to the National Archeological Museum. On the way we stopped at the Olympic Stadium built in 1896 on the site of the original one from 300 BC. It is still beautiful, of marble. The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Olympics will be held here. We also toured past the National Gardens and the Presidential Palace. We spent 2 ½ hours in the museum. The basis of the collection was Schliemann’s excavation of Mycenaea—hammered gold masks, carved stone seals, clay tablets, gold jewelry, pottery, etc. The sculpture is arranged chronologically. Figures from the Archaic period (700-500 BC) although fairly stylized with rigid postures, showed that people then were relatively happy (before the Persian invasion). The same “archaic smile” on all faces. The ideal 21-year-old male (always nude) and the ideal 17-year-old virgin (always in a beautiful gown.)
The figures from the Classic period were interesting by contrast in that they showed both motion and emotion. (The beautiful “Poseidon” and the “boy jockey on a horse.”)
For dinner that evening we were taken to the port town of Piraeus to a restaurant called Arxaion (ΑΡΧΑΙΩΝ)—“Tastes of Ancient Greece.” We were seated outside in a garden and ate with only a large spoon and our fingers. The menu was all well researched and delicious! Aperitif was a small clay cup of honeyed wine. We had a semi-sweet red wine with the meal. One salad was cabbage, “bulbs” (shallots?), asparagus, pine nuts, and rockette. The other was a mixture of chickpeas, beets and garlic. Each group of 4 was served a huge platter with roast leg of goat, mashed chickpeas, garlic and leeks and also a platter of chicken in a bed of thick barley. Fresh fruit was the dessert. A fun experience!
The next morning our wake up call was 4:30! By six we had had breakfast and were on the bus to Piraeus to board our luxury ferry, the Blue Star Line “Ithaki” for a 7:30 departure for the Cycladic Islands. Calm, no clouds, a perfect day! Stratos herded us all directly to the non-smoking area with “Pullman” seats. He said most Greeks would be in the smoking area! I don’t think anyone of us 30 Elderhostelers smokes, which is nice. Also, everyone is absolutely prompt for all gathering times, which can be unusual in a tour group of this size. This ship is bigger than some cruise ships we have been on. After “staking out” our seats we went out on deck and enjoyed the view as we sailed. The ship is really full and many passengers are in all areas—chairs in hallways, benches on deck, tables in the café area, etc., so we really appreciated Strato’s efficiency in getting us in early enough for comfortable seating. We will be on for 5+ hours.
One stop at the island of Siros. Fellows immediately came on board hawking “traditional Siros sweets.” I bought a box—it was really those sweet Turkish Delight fruit jellies and mostly powdered sugar! Cut them up and shared with the group. We decided mine was pistachio and Ruth’s was guava. I also bought some of their almond nougat, which was good.
The ferry was late arriving in Paroikiá, the main port town on Paros so we walked directly to the taverna on the harbor for lunch, Algyaria. Octopus strung along a line overhead to dry. Salad, tsadziki, fava or gigante beans in a sauce, and tsouzoukakia (ground meat & lamb patty in tomato sauce and garlic.) The bus then took us to the Hotel Aegeon, with just enough time to unpack before our lectures, 4:00 to 6:30 with a coffee break in the middle. Prof. Jeffrey Carson talked and showed slides on the history of ancient Greek art—Aegean prehistoric and the Cycladic cultures and a brief review of Minoan civilization. He is a native of NY but has lived on Paros for over 30 years where he teaches literature, music, publishes poetry, and writes for many magazines and guide books. His wife, Elizabeth Carson, is a photographer, also with published books.
We had to walk about ¼ mile to a local taverna for dinner (upstairs). Menu was surprisingly similar to lunches, but their cooked carrots were in an herb and spice sauce that I couldn’t identify. It was delicious. Their local carafe wines were not special. Both the red and the white seemed to have some retsin.
Friday’s outing was by bus to the other main town on the island, Naoussa. It is a summer “resort” for well-off Athenians. Many of the homes are still closed up. We got a small ferry from there to Delos, the “Sacred Island”—uninhabited, one of the most important archeological sites in Greece. The French Archeological School is working there and has a fine museum. This is where Artemis and Apollo were supposedly born and was a major religious center for 1000 years before Christ. Stratos again gave us a very informative guided tour of the important sites and then let us explore on our own for an hour. Karoline and Eric Doberenz and I decided we wanted to climb the highest point on the island, Mt. Kynthos, about 400 ft. Kynthos was another name for Artemis and is the origin of our name Cynthia. It was lucky I had the green Michelin guidebook with me and we followed its’ map and completed the tour on our own and met the group at the bottom before boarding the ferry again. Ken had found a new dessert in the museum café—kataifi (almonds, walnuts, raisins, and of course honey.) I think it has become his favorite Greek sweet.
