Archive for the ‘Greece’ Category

Christos Anesti!

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

It may sound silly to say that Tommy and I needed a vacation from vacation, but that’s really exactly what we intended when we booked four days in Santorini, Greece. While being in big cities filled with museums and ruins means rushing around to see everything and walking constantly everyday, a small island filled with nothing but wineries and beaches ensures a few days to sleep in and take it slowly.

How we found Santorini is a bit of a story in itself. It’s actually a very typical tourist destination in Greece, perhaps the most commonly visited of all the Greek isles, but we did not know that until we arrived. At home, when deciding where to go in Greece other than Athens, I asked Tommy, “You know those pictures you always see of blue-domed, white churches against the sea? Can we go where those are taken?” A quick Google search located Santorini, and our decision was made.

We arrived early in the morning by ferry, and our hostel picked us up from the dock. It was run by an extremely friendly couple. Since we were so early, we didn’t have beds yet, so we left our luggage and went out walking.

Santorini is a small island with a few little towns. It’s shaped like a crescent, the result of a massive volcanic eruption around 1600 BC. It left a steep cliff face on the inside of the crescent, called the caldera. It displays lovely layers of different sediments, revealed when the eruption cut away the island rock. We stayed in Fira, the largest town on the island. It is positioned on the caldera’s edge, with beautiful views and many homes and resorts perched precariously on the cliff. We walked along a path that hugged the side of he caldera, looking down into the porches and swimming pools of the hotels steeply below. The streets were quiet, almost deserted. Spring is not as touristy as summer for the island, but cruise ships frequently dock in Fira and drop off loads of vacationers. It’s worth noting that unlike the dock at Athinios where we arrived, the only ways up to the island proper from the Fira dock are by foot, by cable car, and by donkey.

Still, it was too early in the morning for cruise passengers or other tourists to be roaming the streets, and no souvenir shops had yet opened their doors. We enjoyed the quiet, narrow paths around the town. We spotted some of the famous blue-domed churches and managed to find vantage points from which we could snap some good photos. And we had what we understand to be a typical Greek breakfast of cheese pies.

Once our room was ready, we basically collapsed and slept for a good bit of the afternoon. We ventured back out in the evening for a dinner of souvlaki, a vegetarian pita, and tsatziki, to buy some groceries, and to see a little more of Fira.

The next day, we rented a 4-wheeler to get around the island in, as do lots of younger tourists. It was a great way to go. We set off to see some of the island’s many beaches. First we drove down to Kamari, a black sand beach. Unfortunately it was a little cloudy and chilly, certainly not warm enough to enjoy a beach properly. On our way out we paused at a winery and tasted some of their wines. Apparently most of the grapes grown on Santorini are varieties that will not grow anywhere else. Santorini has a unique soil and climate. The grapes are grown close to the ground, not supported by any kind of trellis. They weave the vines in a ring to protect the fruit from the wind, and most of the water comes from fog and not rainfall. They mostly produce whites, both dry and sweet. For the sweet wines, they leave the grapes out in the sun for weeks before juicing them. At the wineries we visited, they still stomp grapes the old-fashioned way for some of their wines, with bare feet! They don’t export much because the vineyards are small operations. Our favorite white at this winery was the Santorini, and we bought a small bottle.

Next we drove to Pyrgos and up to the highest point on the island. It’s occupied by a monastery and a military base. The view was nice but not extremely photogenic, as the day was growing cloudier. We were unfortunate enough to catch Spain and Greece during an unusually cold and rainy bout of weather. Still, we could see both tips of the island’s crescent shape, and the in-between of vineyards, fields, and terraced hills, graced by charming little homes and buildings.

Unable to find a cheap take-away sort of place like the day before, we stopped at a bakery and bought a huge loaf of piping hot bread for lunch. Then we headed for beach number 2, Perissa, an even lovelier black sand beach in the south. We rode its length, and on the way out find a great little fish tavern tucked away from the road called Paradisio. We went for dinner, but unfortunately they didn’t have most of what was on their menu (one of the downsides of being on the island during a non-touristy time).We made a good meal out of assorted Greek appetizers and really enjoyed it. Santorini has some culinary specialties, including fava, and fried tomato balls seasoned with mint. They were especially good.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to the Catholic church in Fira. Outside, a paper was posted with mass times that said that it was Easter Sunday. This was a little confusing or us. We knew it was Greek Orthodox Easter (usually held the week after Roman Catholic Easter, but on some years for astronomical reasons it is nearly a month later) because there were a lot of Greeks vacationing on the island for the holiday. But we both distinctly remembered being soaked to the skin at the Vatican on Catholic Easter Sunday. Before mass started, the priests came around to all the tourists, handing out some papers about this canonical inconsistency. Because the majority of Christians in Greece are Greek Orthodox, all of the secular calendars follow their schedule as far as work holidays, etc. Because of this and the fact that many families are mixed Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic, the Catholic church in Greece obtained special permission to celebrate Easter on the same day as the Greek Orthodox Church. So, as the priest put it, “Two Easters for you!”

When we emerged from mass, it was raining. We groaned, because we had already renewed our ATV for a second day, and it was clearly now going to be pretty useless. It was late afternoon before the clouds finally cleared. We hopped eagerly on the 4-wheeler and drove north to Ia, one of the most picturesque towns on the island, known for having one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. We bought some tsatziki and bread and went out to watch it. The sky turned a lovely pale pink color, but the sun and the rest of the show were unfortunately hidden behind the remnants of rainclouds. We resolved to go back the next day.

We started the day with a trip down to one last beach, the Red Beach. It was really unique and lovely. We stopped at another winery, but weren’t nearly as impressed with their wines as with he first place we visited. After lunch in Fira, we went back to Ia to see it during the day. There are two roads that will take you there from Fira, one low along the coast and one high in the hills. They both offer spectacular views. We spent some time in an internet cafe, mostly looking at Boston apartments and calling realtors, before returning to Ia one last time for dinner. Most of the restaurants overlooking the caldera are overpriced because you are paying for the view, but we somehow stumbled across the perfect one in Ia. The food was spectacular, the view was perfect, and the price was affordable. Full and happy, we finished the day with another sunset, this time with barely a cloud in the sky to block the view, and it really was gorgeous. A crowd gathered to watch it, and applauded after the last sliver of the glowing orange disk slipped below the horizon.

We had to pack up and move out of our room the next morning, but had a few more minutes to walk around Fira before heading to the airport. It’s a tiny little place on the island. We took a prop plane to Athens, where we had a four-hour layover before our flight to Istanbul. We spent it browsing the duty free shops, which put out free samples of some of their Greek products, including olive pate, cake, wine, and chocolates. The stores should know better than to put these things out when there are hungry backpackers around with time to kill. We even got to try some ouzo, a Greek liquor made from anis. We had been meaning to get some our entire time in the country and had never done it until then. Some folk may remember them drinking it in My Big Fat Greek Wedding… we tried to avoid references to that movie, even though it was the full extent of our knowledge of Greek culture prior to this trip, but it came on Greek TV on Easter Sunday so we figure they must have liked it too.

Our Big Fat Greek Blog

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Though we had to rush a bit to catch the Athens flight from Madrid, we were relieved that the flight itself went by very smoothly. In fact, we even got a meal on board the plane, a treat that we had admittedly begun to miss after having flown almost exclusively on budget airlines in the past 2 months.  We were a little bit surprised, however, to discover what great lengths the airline took to keep us from getting upgraded to first class. When we boarded the aircraft, we got excited when we realized our seats were in the last row of the first class section. Our excitement quickly faded to bitter defeat when soon after an airport technician boarded the plane, disassembled the dividing curtain between first and second class and then reassembled it right in front of us. The arrival to our hostel went well, too. In preparation for the 2004 Olympics, the city improved a lot of its infrastructure so just like in Madrid, we were able to take a subway from the airport all the way to our hostel without really having to walk really at all.

Though a little bit pricey, our hostel’s location can not be beat. When we finally arrived at the subway stop that was nearest to our hostel, the first thing we saw was the Acropolis and the Parthenon looming above us! Once we had settled into our room, we decided to go for a night walk around the Acropolis and the Placa district, since it wasn’t too late and we had after all spent most of the day in airports and airplanes. We were constantly being reminded that we really are sleeping in the center of the ancient city. In Athens, much like in certain sections of Rome, archaeological sites are cordoned in empty spaces amongst a mess of chaotic buildings. On the edge of the ruins of the Ancient Agora lay a McDonald’s and rows of shops selling nearly identical tourist merchandise. We ended the night with some baklava in our room and turned in early in preparation for a fantastic two days of visiting ruins.

A few years ago, a law was passed in Greece that forbade travel agencies from earning commission from the sale of ferry tickets. One of the many net results of this policy was the decline of the ferries’ websites. When we tried buying tickets over the computer, literally every company we tried gave us some error. So we had to spend about an hour during our first morning visiting with a travel agent to get an overnight ferry to the isle of Santorini. Once we had taken care of that, however, we went to go visit the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch. Much like in Madrid, sites here were pretty inexpensive for students: $9 for a multiday pass to all of Athens’ ancient sites, and completely free for EU student citizens.

We had heard that the view from Mt. Lycabettus (one of the 8 hills of Athens) was spectacular, so we headed there next via the city’s gardens. We also passed by the Greek tomb of the unknown soldier. The guards in front of it wear traditional costumes and do a very elaborate (and actually a little goofy) march. Once we arrived at the base of the very steep Mt. Lycabettus, we rode a funicular to the top of the hill. We spent about 30 minutes at the top taking in the view of the city’s many ruins and the Mediterranean.

We decided that before we entered the National Archaeological Museum, we’d fare better if we first got a quick lunch. We had been craving some spinach pies so that was precisely what we got, along with two frappes, another Greek invention of frothed Nescafe and milk, to drink on our way from the mountain to the Museum.

It is worth mentioning at this point that adjacent to the National Archaeological Museum is the Polytechnic Institute. Katie and I planned to scour this area in the hope of finding a cheaper restaurant that we could dine at when dinner came. As we drew closer to the Museum, we were dismayed by how much expletive graffiti we saw on one particular marble building. About as high as one could reach with a can of spray paint, the wall was covered with symbols and mottoes of fascists, socialists, anarchists, racists, and xenophobes. We soon realized that this building was the university.

After passing its length, we turned north because our map seemed to suggest that the entrance to the museum was located at its east side. After walking no less than 10 yards or so, we knew we must have made a wrong turn– the street was filled with dozens of individuals, some staggering drunk, others leaning against the university building drooling, and others sitting asleep with vomit pooled on their shirts. We’re pretty sure that amongst the 30 or so people on this street, we could have counted on one hand the number of people who weren’t high. We also noticed a statue in the center that had been defaced with graffiti. We later learned that it was a statue dedicated to students who led the protest against the military junta that ruled Greece in the mid 70s. We walked as quickly as we could back to the main road. Once we got back, we then saw the official sign marking the entrance to the National Museum. Entering the museum complex, however, we were a bit surprised once more. There were dozens of homeless people asleep in the weed-filled grassy courtyard of the museum and like on the nearby street, lots of men drinking and smoking in the shade. To make matters worse, we learned that the museum had closed at 3:00 PM. Since it already half past four, we decided to go instead and visit the Ancient Agora.

Though much of it was classic “ruins,” ie piles of rubble, we were very impressed with the Temple of Hephaestus. Though we could not actually enter it, it was the best preserved of all the ones we saw in Athens and really lent an evocative perspective into what all of these temples really looked like. When the complex closed at six, we headed back to the hostel for a quick nap before going to a laundromat to make our clothes fresh once again. For dinner that night, we returned again to the heart of the gritty downtown and got quick carryout portions of gyros and fried goat cheese. After consuming it at the subway entrance, we returned once more to the hostel and retired for the night. Unfortunately, we both woke up quite a bit through out the night feeling very itchy and although we had had a few mosquito-looking bites the first morning, on the second morning we were all but covered in them. We later realized that they were due to sand flies, which are unfortunately ubiquitous to all of Greece.

We started the next day a bit earlier so that we could get a head start on the Acropolis. We had been told that amongst the marble ruins it could be quite hot; all the warnings we received ended up being quite true. Though the temperatures were pretty cool and crisp in the city, as soon as we ascended onto the top of the mountain we couldn’t believe how steamy it felt. In addition to seeing the Parthenon, we also got to see the Theatre of Dionysus. Visitors are even allowed to enter the theatre itself, sit in it, and imagine what it must have been like 2000 years ago. Another theatre nearby had recently been “restored” and apparently performances are put on there frequently.

After we had exhausted the archaeological sites, we decided to go to the Museum once more. This time, however, the museum was open and we were able to see its extensive, though somewhat esoteric, collection of ancient artifacts. On our walk home, we stopped by an English bookstore that we had briefly been in the day prior and bought a couple of books, as it seems that we will both be out of reading material before the trip is over. Our night ferry was leaving at 8:00 PM from the port of Athens, and following our lesson in Madrid when we had to rush to make it on board, we returned to the hostel around 4:00 so that we could cook dinner and eat it in comfort.

Our ferry ride over to Santorini was unremarkable except to say that it was quite underbooked, so even though Katie and I were supposed to stay in separate single-sex couchettes for the ride over, both our rooms were empty so we were able to switch early in the night and get a fair amount of sleep before we arrived the next morning at 6 in the port of Santorini!

Photos from Athens