Category: Greece

Greece is a beautiful country and the people are very friendly.  I remembered the Greek debit crisis of 2007-2008 so I was looking to see if the economy had recovered. We asked many people about it and some people said things were getting better and some people said the economy still hadn’t improved.  My take way was that things are getting better but many people are still under employed and many are working multiple jobs to make ends meet.  But I think Greece is doing the right things and their future is bright but it will take some time to realize the improvements.

One thing that surprised me was how arid much of Greece was.  Certainly the southern part of the mainland and the islands.  May was the perfect time to be traveling around the mainland.  The weather was nice, not too hot, and there weren’t too many tourists!  June was great for sailing, it was warm but not too hot and the Meltemi winds were not in full swing yet.

The sailing or really the mooring was challenging and we couldn’t have done it by ourselves.

My favorite place was Meteora which was really amazing.  Other highlights were some of the bays on Corfu, Monemvasia, and of course the Acropolis.  In terms of the islands I really like Tinos, specifically the town of Pirgos, the Kleftiko caves, and sailing through the Santorini caldera.  One piece of advice I would give is see more than just Mykonos and Santorini because they give a very distorted view of the Greek islands.  Three weeks with the boat felt about right although if we had another week we would have made it to Crete and Hydra.

Overview it was a wonderful adventure and very nice to share the sailing part with our friends, Terry and Joanne and Mike and Kay.

We were up early to finalize packing as well as topping off the boat’s water tanks.  We had arranged two taxis, one for Mike and Kay who were going to the airport and one for Terry, Joanne, Rick, and me.  We were going to an apartment in Athens. It was chaotic because there were a lot people leaving the docks simultaneously.  As it turned out someone else took the taxis we’d payed for the night before.  We thought the base manager was resolving the situation, but I think he was busy with other things (there were a lot of boats that were coming in that morning and going out that afternoon).  We waited an hour for another taxi which wasn’t a big deal for the group going to Athens but it was a big deal for Mike and Kay.  They had a plane to catch.  Luckily Mike and Kay had allowed themselves plenty of time so it all worked out OK.  Eventually a van came and it was big enough for all six of us.  We went to the airport, dropped off Mike and Kay and then went to the apartment.  We had a little trouble getting into the apartment because we weren’t supposed to check in until 3 and we were there at noon.  We befriended the staff at the little cafe across the street and used there WiFi to contact the apartment manager.  We were in by 12:30.

Once we were settled we went out for lunch at a restaurant recommended by our cafe friends.  It was quite hot so Terry, Joanne, and Rick went back to the air conditioned apartment to spend the afternoon relaxing.  I tried to do a little shopping but couldn’t find what I wanted.  Here are pictures from my walk.

That evening we went out to dinner at a cute place called 7 Cactus which Rick had found on TripAdvisor.

We had a leisurely morning.  Eventually we got organized and walked around the national garden. It was very pretty but there weren’t a lot of flowers, mostly forested areas and even a few animals, birds and sheep, in cages.

Next Rick wanted to walk by a couple of neoclassical building we had driven by the day before on our city tour with Nina.  Here are some pictures.

At this point we were hungry so we walked over to a cute place we had seen the night before.  We had very nice lunch at a cafe that was on stairs up the hill to the Acropolis.

After lunch I wanted to go to the Ancient Agora and everyone else was feeling jet lagged so they went back to the apartment.  While the Acropolis was the ceremonial showpiece, the Agora was the real heart of ancient Athens.  It was the hub of all commercial, political, and social life in Athens from approximately 600BC until 267AD. Most of it is rubble with the exception of a rebuilt stoa, an ancient shopping mall. I listened to Rick Steves audio tour which really helped create an image of what it would have looked like 2,500 years ago.  Here are some pictures.

I walked back to the apartment and everyone was either napping or relaxing.  That evening we walked to the market bought a couple of pizzas for dinner.  After the pizza we played our first game of dominoes.

The guys went to get croissants so we had a great start to the day.  We decided the best way to get a good introduction to the city was to do Rick Steves’ city walk. We walked by walking through Syntagma Square, the main square of Athens and then by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where there was a changing of the guard.  I didn’t take a video but here  is one from YouTube.

Then we went on to see several famous churches and several famous streets.  We saw Hadrian’s Gate from the first century AD which was the transition from the old Greek Athens to the “new” city, Hadrianpolis, which was built by, you guessed it, Hadrian.

We continued the tour until we ended up in a nice courtyard where we decided to have a coffee.  Here are pictures from our walk.

The next stop on the Rick Steves tour was the Acropolis. We had a tour scheduled that afternoon for the Acropolis so we decided to stop the tour and go back to the apartment.  I took a nap because I’m still fighting my cold.  We went out for a late lunch and then came back to our apartment to be picked up for our tour.

Our tour guide, Nina, was waiting for us  in front of the building.  Our first stop was the Acropolis.  We learned how Athens got its name.

Cecrops, a strange creature, half-man half-snake, was the founder of a city. Cecrops had named his city after himself, Cecropia. However, the gods of Olympus saw this lovely piece of land and wanted to name it after themselves and become its patron. The most persistent rivals were Poseidon, the sea god, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom.  To solve their dispute, Zeus decided that each of them would make a gift to the city and king Cecrops would decide which gift was the best and therefore which god would be the patron of the city. One sunny day, Cecrops and the residents of the city went up to a high hill to watch the gods giving their gifts. Poseidon was the first to present his gift. He struck a rock with his trident and caused a spring of water to gush forth from the ground. This signified that he was assuring the citizens would always have water and therefore they wouldn’t face any droughts. However, the people were not enchanted with his gift because the water from the spring tasted salty, just like the waters of the sea over which Poseidon ruled. Next was the goddess Athena’s turn.  She planted a seed in the ground, which grew up to be a lovely olive tree. The citizens liked this gift better because it would give them food, oil and firewood. With one voice they loudly acclaimed Athena as their benefactress.

We went up to the Acropolis which means a fortification on a hill.  Over the years the Acropolis had many different functions but it started off as temples to the goddess Athena.  The Parthenon is one of the temples.  It was very impressive.  Here are pictures of the Acropolis and from the Acropolis.

Then we went to the Acropolis museum and Nina showed us around.  Many of the sculptures are in the British museum and Greece has been trying to get them back but haven’t yet been successful.  Our driver then picked us up and Nina gave us a driving tour of the Athens.  Many of the sites we had seen during our wandering.  After awhile we said goodbye to our driver and Nina give us a walking tour through the city.  She was very knowledgeable and gave us a lot of information but by now it was about 9:00 in the evening and we were all very tired.  We thanked her and said goodbye when we arrived at our apartment.  Everyone fell into bed after a long day.

We had kind of a lazy day.  I think I am fighting a cold and Rick has had a sore shoulder for a couple of days so we decided to take it easy.  Also we have our friends joining us and we didn’t want to do something they would want to do.

So we wandered around a bit.

We went to Mars Hill where Apostle Paul preached to the Athenians.  It had great views of the Acropolis and of Athens, but the rocks were very slippery from centuries of pedestrians.

Then we tried to see the Theater of Dionysus but you needed a ticket.  We have a guide scheduled for tomorrow and she will be taking us to the Acropolis so hopefully we will see it then.

We wandered over to the Arch of Hadrian.  We also walked by Hadrian’s library.

Here are photos from our walk.

We returned to the apartment for a little while before going out to lunch.

After lunch we walked back and sat outside at the cafe in front of our apartment to wait for our friends.  They arrived at about 4:30.  They got settled and we visited for a little while before going out to dinner.  After dinner we walked around the Acropolis before returning to the apartment where everyone fell into bed.

 

Today was a travel day.  We left our mountain retreat this morning and drove three hours to the marina, just outside of Athens, where we will pick up our boat on Saturday. We dropped off a suitcase and a backpack there.  They will hold them for us until Saturday.  Since we’re dropping off the car at the airport we didn’t want to drag the stuff into the city and then back out to the boat.

After the marina we went to the airport, dropped off the car, and took a taxi to our apartment.  Terri and Joanne and Mike and Kay are flying in tomorrow so we need a three bedroom apartment.  Our apartment is very spacious and well appointed. It’s in the Plaka district, which is at the foot of the Acropolis.  According to Rick Steves, it is “one of the only parts of town that has a vibrant atmosphere and an Old World feel.”

We dropped off our stuff in the apartment and went out for a late lunch/early dinner.  We found a place not too far from the apartment.  After eating we wandered a little so that we could see the Acropolis.  It was hard to really get a sense of it but it looked majestic up on the hill.

Then we came back to the apartment to do some laundry.  It took us a while to figure out using google translate which bottle, of many, was laundry detergent and how to work the washing machine.  I haven’t mentioned the Greek letters but, of course, everything is written in Greek.  Rick has memorized most of the letters and he can sound things out, but I’m not so good at it.  Only problem is sounding things out only helps if you know the Greek word.

After starting the laundry we went back out to find a supermarket.  The first one we tried to go to was not where google said it was so we found another one much closer to the apartment.

There were lots of people out and the city seems quite alive.  Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of homeless people, a fair share of poor people begging and a number of refugees that have arrived from afar.   Rick bought some apricots and a little girl came over to ask for one.  We gave her three, one for her, one for her sister, and one for her mother. We also saw the row of bedding in the picture below. A sad reflection of the economic hardship the country is suffering through and the immigrant crisis.

By now it was 8:00 so we returned to the apartment and relaxed a little.

Here is a map from today.

 

 

Today our friend Stephie wasn’t around in the morning to advise about things to do today so we trusted Rick Steves and headed north to Nafplion and Mycenae after breakfast.

Rick Steves describes Nafplion as a “charming port town,” “small, cozy, and strollable,” and places it on his must-see list. Nafplion changed hands between the Venetians and the Ottomans repeatedly from the 14th through the 19th century, so the city and its architecture have been influenced by a number of different cultures.  It became the capital of Greece for thirteen years after Greece received its independence from the Ottoman Empire after the Revolution of 1821.

It took us about two hours to get there.  It was overcast and rained a little on and off during our ride.  We parked and, of course, the first order of business was coffee.  Once Rick had his caffeine fix we set off following Rick Steves’ walk through town which took us by all the main sites.  Luckily we had our raincoats because we had some rain during our walk. The harbor was protected by three castles which we saw in the distance but didn’t visit.  We definitely could see the mix of Greek, Venetian, and Turkish architecture.

At the end of tour we found a nice restaurant to have lunch. Overall Nafplion was nice, but we wouldn’t have put it on the must-see list.

After lunch, we headed to Mycenae which is a fortress city that was the hub of a mighty civilization that dominated the Greek world between 1600 and 1200 BC. Not much is known about Mycenaeans including who they were, where they came from, or what happened to them.   Rick had had enough of ruins so I went in by myself.  Again I followed Rick Steves walking tour.  It was mostly just rock ruins but it was interesting to think about the people living there 3,500 years ago.

 

Then we drove back to our mountain home.   We didn’t get back to our hotel until about 7.  Here is a map of our travels today.

We spent the evening rearranging our stuff so that we could drop off a suitcase at the marina rather than drag it into Athens.

This morning we consulted with Stephie, our hotel friend, about where to go today.  We decided to explore the Mani Peninsula.  There are three peninsulas at the bottom tip of the Peloponnese and the Mani is the peninsula in the middle.  Until recent years many Mani villages could be reached only by sea.

Our day started with an hours drive to the Caves of Diros (A on map below). We took a boat ride through the underground river Vlychada.  The cave water system is believed to be at least 43 miles long, with more than 2,800 waterways.  The cave was beautiful.  we really enjoyed seeing it.

 

After the boat ride we enjoyed a coffee with a Dutch couple that we met. They are touring Greece in a camper, which seems very popular based on the number of campers  we’ve seen.

We continued along and started to notice tower houses.  They are fortified  stone houses, the oldest of which date back to the 15th century.  The Mani Peninsula is very desolate, based on our guidebook it seems that historically the people were extremely fierce and fought for every inch of “the precious land in this barren landscape.” The book also describes Mani as “a land of bandits and blood feuds.” “The object in battle [feud] was to annihilate the enemy’s tower house as well as its entire male population.” So I guess tower houses were essentially a necessity — to protect yourself from your neighbors.

We stopped briefly to take pictures in Gerolimenas (B on the map below), a little village on the water with lots of tower houses.

We continued our drive to Vathia (C on the map below) which is virtually a ghost town of tower houses. All the houses had very small windows and openings over doors through which they poured boiling oil on unwelcome guests.  We explored the town and there were a few homes that looked like someone was living in them, but most were deserted.  As we traveled around the peninsula we saw a lot of homes that were clearly deserted, not just in Vathia.  We wondered how these shrinking towns survived (I guess they didn’t).

We continued our drive along the coast.  It’s a very mountainous region and all the roads are  a series of continuous switchbacks.  We stopped to take a picture and looked over a cliff to see a beautiful harbor with a little town.  A perfect spot for lunch (D on the map below).  We enjoyed a nice lunch right on the edge of the water.

Here are some other pictures from our Mani tour.

We took the scenic route back to the hotel and spent the evening blogging and making plans for tomorrow.

Here’s a map of our travels today.

 

We started out our day with breakfast.  The hotel offers a free buffet breakfast which was lovely.  Here are a couple of pictures of the hotel.

After breakfast we talked to a hotel employee, Stephie, who we had spoken with on the phone and who had helped us book our reservation.  She gave us some suggestions on how to spend our day.

After our conversation with her we decided to go to Monemvasia which was about an hour and half drive. The town is located on a small island off the east coast of the Peloponnese peninsula and is linked to the mainland by a short causeway.  Monemvasia is the site of a medieval fortress and it has a rich history of repeatedly being conquered by the Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans. The town walls and many Byzantine churches remain from the medieval period. It has a really charming town.  There is a lower town where people still live (no cars allowed) and an upper town/fortress that is just ruins.  Here are some pictures.

Then based on Stephie’s recommendation we went to Plitra for a very late lunch.  Plitra had a beautiful beach but not much of a town.  We had a good lunch at a restaurant overlooking the sea.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to the hotel and got back around 6:30 and had a quiet evening.

Here is a map of our adventures today.

 

 

We left Arachova today and drove down to the Peloponnese peninsula, the next stop on our Greek adventure.  We took the long route because we wanted to avoid the Athens traffic and since we plan to travel a portion of the shorter route when we head to Athens next week.

We drove along the coast for most of our journey.  As noted the other day most of it is undeveloped.

We stopped only once for coffee at a fantastic little bakery.

We crossed the Gulf of Corinth via a very impressive bridge.

Before going to our apartment in Sparta we stopped in Mystras for lunch.  According to Rick Steves Mystras is the most important Byzantine site in Greece.  It was a cute town but we didn’t explore, we just ate lunch and headed out.  Here are a couple of pictures.

We arrived at the apartment and were very confused.  The pictures of the apartment’s living room turned out to be a common area shared by guests residing in the associated “town houses.” The apartment itself was very bland and a far cry from impressions we had gotten from the website photos.  Rick really didn’t like it and couldn’t imagine living there for four days, so we got online and found an alternate place on booking.com.  We called our host and told her that her listing was very misleading. She agreed to give us a full refund (hopefully she does that without a fight).  We drove to our new place, a mountain retreat about 850m up on a mountain side.  It’s just beautiful.  Swimming pools, onsite restaurant serving until 10:30 nightly, breakfast included in a nice dinning room, a 10% discount and a room upgrade to the luxury suite, all for approx. $150 less than the less than desirable accommodations we’d just left. We really lucked out!

Tonight we’ll do a little planning for the next few days and hopefully get a well deserved good nights sleep.