Greece

I knew that sooner or later I would travel to Greece, to see the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and all of the amazing statues in the Archeological Museum in Athens. I also wanted to travel to some of the Greek islands to swim in the clear turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. Since I was going to Turkey, it only made sense to start out in Greece. In Athens, I wandered around the Acropolis and saw the majestic Parthenon and all the other amazing ruins that are in that area. I really enjoyed, however, the Ancient Agora, downhill from the Acropolis, the public area that has a number of ruins and also a reconstructed covered shopping arcade, the Stoa of Attalos. The Temple of Hephaestus, the best-preserved Doric temple in Greece, is also in this area, an amazing temple where Socrates often walked and lectured. There were fewer people and it was much calmer. I also enjoyed the Acropolis Museum because it was small and much more manageable than the Archeological Museum. It was easy to get around in Athens with the wonderful subway system, and everyone said that since the 2004 Olympics Athens has become much cleaner and easier to navigate. I ate a lot of Greek salads, chicken gyros, and spinach pies, and the yogurt was delicious.

Temple of Hephaestus

 I took a day to go to Delphi, which is high in the mountains, with the ruins even higher. It was important during Mycenaean times, 14^th to 11^th century BC, but was at it’s height during the 6th century BC.  The Greeks believed it was the center of the universe, a place where heaven and earth met. The Temple of Apollo is most important because it was here that Apollo spoke through his oracle, the priestess of the Oracle of Delphi. I climbed higher and higher up the hillside, to see the theater and then at the top of the mountain was a huge stadium for chariot races and athletic events, one of the best preserved in the country.

I was soon off to the island of Mykonos on an early morning ferry. I enjoyed the white town with narrow winding streets and nice shops, but mostly I enjoyed the ruins of Delos on a small nearby island. After two nights on Mykonos I went to Santorini with the white villages on the cliffs, from a distance they looked like snow. I took a boat trip to a volcanic Island,  Nea Kameni, and the next day I explored the ruins of ancient Thira, 8^th century BC, again on top of a hill. 

Oia, Santorini

After two nights of sunset watching I was off on another ferry to Crete, which was my favorite island because people were especially friendly and relaxed. I started off in Iraklio, the largest city on the island and visited the Knossos Palace, an amazing palace complex built from 1700-1400 BC, the ceremonial and political center of Minoan civilization. At one time there were 1,300 rooms. Much of it has been rebuilt, and there are copies of beautiful frescoes from Minoan culture. 

I decided to rent a car so that I could make the most of my five days on the island. I couldn’t get the car until late afternoon, but I drove on winding mountain roads with everyone passing me in no passing zones. I was not intimidated, but enjoyed the golden hour with vineyards and olive trees covering the hills under a shimmering golden sunset. My destination was the small beach town of Matala on the southern coast. I took a wrong turn, of course, but enjoyed a beautiful sunset. It was dark by the time I got to Matala; I barely got out of my car before a hotel room from Niki was secured for me. I was exhausted, but before I knew it I had been invited to sit down with some Belgiums and partake in the highly alcoholic drink, raki, and have fruit and veggie snacks. After the raki we went on to wine, all from the owner’s vineyards. I enjoyed talking to the Belgiums. One man had been coming to the same town, the same hotel and the same room for 37 years; he couldn’t believe I was only staying one night.  Matala used to be a hippy hangout in the 70’s with caves by the beach where the hippies would stay. Later I went off to have dinner in town, the best mousaka of the trip. On Crete at the end of the meal one gets a shot of raki and dessert. The following day after a morning swim, I visited two other archeological sites of Minoan ruins. Then I headed to the beach town of Plakias where it was windy and wavy, but I got in a short swim before a delicious dinner of swordfish near the sea. The following day I had a great plan of following secondary roads to Chania. That lasted the first half hour on a horrendous road straight up a mountainside, after that I quickly found the main highway. Everyone said Chania was the nicest town of the larger ones, and it was, very picturesque by the harbor with a Venetian fort and fortifications from 1538. 

The next day I joined a tour to hike the 16 kilometer long Samaria Gorge; we rode on a bus up the mountainside then took stairs down to the bottom of the gorge. I met a young woman from DC and we hiked and kept each other company. The gorge was beautiful, extremely narrow, only three meters wide at the narrowest point. Sheer rock cliffs rose above us with colorful layers of rock, and there were trees growing out of the steep mountains sides. We crossed a river many times, sometimes with stepping-stones and other times on wooden bridges. I’m sure it would be beautiful in spring with wild flowers. After about five hours, we ended up on the southern coast at Agia Roumeli, a resort town with a pebbly beach, but gorgeous clear water and a great temperature. The water felt good on my sore feet and knees. We spent the afternoon there, then took a ferry to the bus and traversed the mountains back to Chania. The next day I returned on the coastal road stopping at the 2^nd largest town of Rethymno. Besides the large 16^th century fortress, I visited a folk art museum with very nice handicrafts, embroidery on towels, lace, woven goods, pottery, and baskets. Returning to Iraklio, I stopped at a beach for my last swim on Crete.

 That evening I took an overnight ferry back to Athens where the next day I saw a few more ruins and met up with a volunteer who walked around with me. My last day I planned to see the Temple of Poseidon. Unfortunately that was the day of the general strike and the archeological site was closed, so I only saw it from a distance and couldn’t see Byron’s name written on a column.  It was however, a beautiful ride along the coast, and there was a cove nearby where I swam. I didn’t actually see people demonstrating in Athens, but I saw several groups of riot police. I asked people about the economic situation and was told it was difficult in Athens, but the islands were doing well. My hotel was in an area of town where there were lots of apparently unemployed young men hanging out. Greece was definitely more expensive than Turkey.

The last island I visited was Rhodes when I took a ferry from Marmaris in Turkey. The old mediaeval town is beautiful, a fortified city with Byzantine walls, 12 meters thick. I walked up the majestic, but austere, Avenue of the Knights to the Palace of the Grand Masters, first built in the 14th century. The Italians rebuilt it in the mid 1800’s and brought in furnishings, angels and lighting. Tourists could see 24 of the 158 rooms. There were beautiful mosaics floors from the island of Kos. Rhodes Town is a lovely city and it was a pleasant day of wandering.

Another thing I found interesting was that so many colossal statues have been lost, in the Parthenon, a 12-meter high gold plated statue of Athena with ivory and jewels, 33-meter high bronze statue of Helios in the harbor of Rhodes, and an11-meter high marble statue of Apollo on Delos.  All of these statues were carried off. There are so many ancient ruins in Greece, almost everywhere one turns; I found the ancient history fascinating.

Delos