There and back again...

Friday we woke up in Santorini again - after breakfast by the pool Allie and I decided to walk the trail in Fira down to the shore.  So - roughly 1200 vertical feet of switchbacks down - with 150 mules along the way - and then a cable car ride back up. 

Friday evening we flew back to Milan.  Santorini has a small airport and were not prepared for 6 jets to go out in 90 minutes.  Eventually we got out and to Milan. 

Yesterday was Milan to NYC to KC - 24 hours awake overall - minor flight delays for weather in the USA - but we are now back in KC. 

From a planning perspective it was all successful.  We made every flight, train, car, tour and hotel.  Everything worked pretty much as expected without any major bumps.   

Greek and Italian people have been warm and generous hosts.  Allie has been a fun and relaxed traveling companion.  Though our trip is coming to a close, the celebration of her life goes on in my heart forever. 

And as promised earlier - there were dogs everywhere.  In restaurants, on boats, trains, planes, and at every tourist attraction...

And now for something completely different...

Yesterday morning we were still in Athens, woke up early, packed, had another great breakfast on the roof and headed to the airport.  From there we flew to Santorini - an island 120 miles southeast of Athens - a very brief flight.   

Santorini is a destination for Europeans, Asians, Australians, etc.  There are lots of people here, speaking every language.  Fira is the central village on the island - and is very congested with tourists.  Fira has a main drag and it has constant traffic.  I was thinking we would be someplace exotic, but this area of the island actually has more of a feel of the Greek version of Branson.  I like Branson and we go there often - it was just not the feeling I expected in Santorini.  

Our hotel is a brief walk out of Fira to the south along the ridge of the caldera.  We are in a quiet spot out of the congestion which is a nice relief.  Yet within a 5 minute walk we are in the midst of everything.   

My inner analyst kicked in and wondered - what's with the name?  Is it Fira or Thira?  A little research:   
* In classic Greek - it all started with Θήρα (theta - eta - rho - alpha), Thera. Over the years this has been modified...
* Fira - is the modern name of the village we are near,
* Santorini - the island we are on - the name comes from Saint Irene in the 1300s, and
* Thira (the official legal current name) is an incorporated  city that includes all the villages of the islands of Santorini and Therasia.
Confused?  Me too, but a bit less so now on this topic. 

So then the science guy in me kicks in.  We are on the ridge of a caldera.  It would just be confusing to describe the components and how this all fits together.  So lets just skip that.  They estimate this was all formed when the volcano erupted 3600 years ago.  This could be the source of the legend of Atlantis. They think Minoan civilization on Crete was wiped out by a resulting tsunami.  Could the volcano here go off again?  Hopefully not in the next few days.

One of the activities here is to explore the island by renting a motorbike, a quad ATV, or a car, which is why there is so much traffic on the main drag in town.  Today we decided to rent a car (a Nissan Micra, not for sale in the USA, quite small but it did the job) and explore the island.
* First south to Akrotiri - a beach / shore of black volcanic rock
* Then up mount Profitis Ilias - the highest point on the island - great views - kind of scary
* Later on we went north to Oia.  This is the area of the more expensive resorts on the island - e.g. over $1000 per night - quite beautiful.     

This evening and last we went into Fira to for dinner - about 1000 feet above the water with a view of the sunset.  An interesting mix: 
*  The cruise ships, the sail boats, the shuttle boats and a tall ship all in the bay,
*  The cliffs and the village,
*  The soft music in the place we were at, a relatively private balcony and attentive yet non-intrusive service,
*  The setting sun on the western islands and the water,
*  The gentle conversation between a father and daughter,
And in a moment you get the place.  A kind of ethereal feeling of God's beauty expressed in His creation and man's ability to enjoy Him, each other and your surroundings - it all at once rushes forward - and you get what people find here and why this place is amazing. 

  

Zombie Acropolis

Several of our recent hotels, Rome, Thessaloniki and Delphi, as well as Milan have really been great.  (With the understanding that I worked hard on TripAdvisor.com to try to cut the cost and find the best value room in each destination.  That site gives good advice.) 
*  In Milan they let us check in 4 hours early for a shower and a nap - that saved the day. 
*  In Rome the B&B owners had put water, pop, cookies, chips, fruit and champagne in our room for free.  Incredible attention to detail. 
*  In Delphi the breakfast was home-made family recipes, served by the owner with gentle conversation.   

So as we were getting in to Athens, I was thinking "now we are going to a real hotel - not just a B&B".  (On my friend Kerry Lannan's advice I spent the $ for an actual hotel here.)  But we had already had some great experiences so far.  We didn't know if they could top it as we are paying a little more here.

They did.  On arrival the hotel had upgraded our room for free.  We have a 5th floor balcony that has this incredible view of the temple of Zeus across the street.  I thought I was out of wows. 

We started the day with breakfast on the roof.  Emmi - you would love to be here.  This is like breakfast in China - with a view - the restaurant is open air on the roof of the hotel.  After breakfast we headed out for the Acropolis / Parthenon / Erectheon to try to beat the crowds and the heat.

So whose idea was it to build this thing on the top of a hill anyway?  I mean, it is like way up.  Regardless, as 2000 year old buildings go, they don't get bigger or better than this one.  The entire archeological site is quite beautiful and impressive.  We thought there were a lot of people going in - but the real crowds were arriving as we were leaving.  And in the heat of the day, they really looked like a bunch of zombies :-)

We came back to rest before going out again in the afternoon - the temple of Zeus, lunch in the Plaka and Syntagma Square. 

For the evening we just walked the Plaka, talking to people, stopping to browse or have dinner.  It was a very relaxed and fun evening. 

Re Athens - Greece and Athens seem like 2 different places, much like Italy and Rome.  The traffic out of the city wasn't ever bad at all, even in Corinth or Thessaloniki.  But here and Rome, man, it's almost like Asian cities.  Not quite as scary though because if the pedestrian has the crosswalk light, the cars and busses stop here.   

Re Italians and Greeks.  They're all individuals so difficult to generalize - but very open, happy, friendly, kind people overall.  Many, many are enthusiastic smokers though - that part is sad. 

Re Europeans in general. They ask "where are you from?" We answer, "USA." They ask, "What part of USA?" We respond, "Right in the middle - Kansas City." Every. Single. One. Replies: "Oh, Kansas!"  Apparently everybody has seen the Wizard of Oz, and nobody has ever heard of Kansas City or Missouri.   

 

The Peleponnese

We left Delphi yesterday heading west along the gulf of Corinth.  The gulf is relatively narrow and gets increasingly narrow.   We had clear blue sky, deep blue water and soaring mountains both to the north and the south.  We crossed the gulf at the beautiful bridge at Patra and headed into the Peloponnese peninsula. 

We drove south along the coast to toward ancient Olympia, off the expressway.  Sometimes the paved shoulders are narrow, sometimes wide.  Everyone is driving on the paved shoulder.  This creates a no-man's land in the center of both lanes, where people pass from both directions.  This can cause a moment of angst if cars are passing from both directions simultaneously, especially in the case of oncoming trucks or busses on blind corners or hills.   

The speed limits are low and change rapidly because there are lots of small villages and you slow for every one of them.  90, 70, 50, 70, 90, 50, kph, etc. = 55 to 30 mph.  Sometimes the speed change is marked, sometimes not.  No cops ever - the speed is enforced by traffic cams.  Fortunately our rented GPS was warning us of the upcoming traffic cams and the current speed limit.  Hopefully it knew them all.  In the back woods it quit talking about traffic cams.     

Our first stop was in ancient Olympia - pronounced O-lym-pi-a - the site of the original Olympic games over 2000 years ago.  It is a large site, tens of acres, with lots of well preserved stones - most of which have tumbled over due to earth quakes.  It was hot but well shaded so we were able to explore pretty much the entire thing.  We had lunch in the small town of Olympia near the site.

Our next destination was Mycenae.   The GPS and google maps were disagreeing, so we went with the GPS route because it predicted an hour less time.  The Peloponnese is very mountainous, so different routes can be very different in time.  For this leg, we really hit the backwoods of Greece - olive groves, rivers, what looked like sugar cane and lots of palm trees.  It was quite the explore. 

Mycenae - pronounced Mike-en-ee - is the oldest archeological site in Greece  It is thought to be the dominant civilization of the area about 1200 BC, before Athens rose.  The site is a hill top acropolis overlooking a valley and the Aegean, just south of Corinth.  The most interesting part is the Lion Gate, which is thought to be the oldest relief sculpture in Greece.  Most of the Lion sculpture is still there - only the heads are missing.   

We continued up to Corinth for dinner - happening upon a downtown square with fountains by the gulf - and finding a place for gyros.  Corinth is strategically located where the Aegean and the gulf are close together.  They have cut a shipping channel between them so there was lots of freighter traffic on the water.   

After dinner we dropped the car at the Athens airport.  It was late so we caught a cab into town, an extravagance - but I was tired.  (I know, the whole thing is an extravagance - but we are trying to keep the cost down.)  Our young adult driver was like a one man tour guide and ambassador for Greece.  He talked about the town, the politics, the economy, his job, what he does on vacation, what he does with his friends.  He was much fun. 

We arrived at our hotel in Athens and slept well. 

The bridge

Ancient Olympia

Mycenae

Corinth

Greece is the word

Saturday was a travel day - so no post yesterday.  We thanked Italy for a wonderful time and flew from Rome to Thessaloniki, in north east Greece on the Aegean Sea. 

We rented another car (this time a Ford Focus, the last gen European model - this model was never sold in the states - another stick) and went looking for the hotel.  We rented a GPS with the car. 

In Italy we found our way with printed Google maps. A friend had loaned me a GPS with maps of Italy on it, but we never got it out of Arizona - not that we tried that hard.  In Italy, at least you can read the words as the letters were in the Roman alphabet - so we were able to find our way.  Greece is a little more challenging to understand the road signs. 

The hotel in Thessaloniki was not expensive but really nice.  A place like this would be hundreds more in the states.  And the service was wonderful.  At dinner they gave us wine and dessert (a wonderful chocolate soufflé) no charge - we only paid 8 euros for dinner, splitting a meal.  So hey, all is well in Greece.  From our room's balcony we had a great view of the bay and the city.  We wondered if the apostle Paul saw these very hills. 

Today we started the day at breakfast in Thessaloniki.  From there we drove west 200 miles to Meteora.  (Along the way crossing a mountain range and happening upon a herd of goats, their dog and their herder.  How cool was that.)  We came into Meteora from the back.  Meteora means middle of the sky, or mid air.  It is six remaining monasteries that were built up on rocks - the monks started living there in 9th century - and by the 1300s they started building way up on the cliffs.  The monasteries were easy to survive in when political upheaval arose.  They are quite stunning. 

We then drove another 200 miles south to Delphi (pronounced del fee), crossing several more quite beautiful mountain ranges.  Greece is 80% mountains.  We stopped along the way to chat with folks as we went.  They were all very friendly and kind, and would teach us a little Greek. 

The Delphi ruin is the site of Apollo's oracle Pythia or the center of the earth to Zeus, take your pick.  If I were to pick a site as the center of the earth, I would not go so far up the side of a mountain.  It is quite a large ruin, including a theater and a stadium and a lot of climbing to get to each.  Really, you're going to climb up here and then perform or have races?  And we wonder why this place didn't survive? :-) It was very cool.

We came back into the very-nearby, modern town of Delphi (a small mountain-side place) to check in to our hotel and have dinner.  Once again the hotel owners are so accommodating and welcoming.  We found this in Italy and as well here in Greece. 

We went across the street to have dinner - crepes while overlooking the gulf of Corinth from almost 2000 feet up.  A very fun day overall.