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.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When in Rome...

The people of Rome give new meaning to the phrase "double parking".  The traffic and the way it snarls around Termini station and our hotel is just incredible.  Wow. 

We started the day by getting up early and crossing the city by subway for a 3 hour tour of the Vatican, including the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.  More on those in a moment. 

The tour started with the Vatican museums. 
*  Lots of great artwork focused on the Trinity - expected and amazing
*  Lots of great artwork on Biblical figures and stories - expected and amazing
*  Lots of great artwork on the Catholic saints and church history - expected and amazing
*  Paintings where the saint's face was actually that of the commissioning Pope - not so expected, but not so surprising. 
*  Statues of pagan gods - not so expected
*  Raphael's works (the size of a full wall) that include religious leaders, political leaders, and Raphael's mistress - whoa, no so expected
*  One official was critical of the nudity in Michelangelo's paintings, so his image landed naked in hell in the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.  Surprise - don't hack off the artist.

The idea that Catholic church leaders over 2 thousand years are imperfect people who are trying to find God and meaning in their lives just like the rest of us comes as no surprise.  That so much gritty detail is captured on the walls and in the statues in its most important building comes as a bit more unexpected.  I guess I've forgotten some detail from my college humanities class. 

As for the Sistine Chapel, the ceiling.  The room could probably comfortably hold 2000 people, and there were probably an extra 2000 in there.  That the ceiling is 68 feet above you and you are reminded that it was painted 500 years ago on fresco (which requires speed as the plaster dries) - the entire thing is a masterpiece of astonishing scope, scale and difficulty. 

In the cavernous St. Peter's Basilica, is Michelangelo's Pieta.  He made 4, but this is the one everyone thinks of.  Sadly now behind glass, I remember in 1972 when it was attacked.  So also I remember thinking at the time I would never see any great work of art such as this (you don't imagine going there when you live in the U.P - at least I didn't).  So seeing it so close was quite overwhelming. 

In the afternoon we went to the Colosseum.  I found it to be a bit like going to Mount Vernon - not like a museum - an opportunity to be immersed in history.        

In the evening we walked from the Forum (which had closed) to the Trevi fountain (which was under scaffolding being restored).  It was a beautiful evening for a walk - and we happened upon lots of cool ruins along the way. 

           

Galileo was right...

On Thursday we drove from Cinque Terre to Rome, stopping in Pisa. 

So as the story goes, to show that acceleration due to gravity is independent of mass, Galileo dropped 2 balls of different weights from the leaning tower of Pisa.  We saw the very McDonald's that Galileo likely ate at when in Pisa - such a sense of history. 

Yesterday was our longest drive in Italy, so not a lot of pics of the day.  My friend Mike Larma asked me to take some pics of unexpected local culture.  Some observations of the day and past few days:
*  This part of Italy seems like California.   Ocean, mountains, somewhat arid, very few domestic cars, and we don't speak their language. 
*  We could have brought Nick.  Europeans take their dogs with them everywhere.  I wish the States was more dog-friendly like this. (We'll post pics later)
*  The common themes of any stop (convenience store, gas station) is pastry (unexpected), wine and gelato. 
*  Large sections of the autostrada have no posted speed limit.  I read today that 130 kph (80 mph) is implied.   We did not drive a little Fiat more than 80mph.  Much of yesterday we were not on the autostrada. 
*  If we had not been to China, I would think that Italian drivers are completely crazy.   As it is, they are just partly crazy.  No one even knows what a turn signal is or where the lanes are.  And one lane gets 2 cars and a motorcycle.  But they are much better then USA drivers with respect to returning to the right lane after passing - no just hanging out in the left lane. 

The oh-so-famous tower...

Also, allow us to show you the perfectly upright Pisa Baptistry...

 
 

Five lands

We started the day on the rooftop of our hotel in Florence, just to take in the beautiful view.  Then checked out and went back to the car.   We drove some through town, some cross country and some autostrada through Tuscany (very mountainous here - back to flat valley floors close and close-by snow covered peaks) (no wrong turns today - a new theme) to Cinque Terre - which translates to five lands. 

For Cinque I keep wanting to say sink, because of the Spanish Cinco de mayo.  But it's Chink - weh Terr - eh.

As different as Milan, Venice and Florence are from each other, Cinque Terre is a big change in pace and setting.  It is five unbelievably picturesque villages on the Italian Riviera - the Mediterranean coastline on the west side of Italy.  Our hotel is outside the southernmost, Riomaggiore.  We checked in and ate lunch at the hotel - with a fantastic view from about 1000 ft above the Mediterranean.  It was a clear, calm, blue day. 

After lunch we drove down to the top of Riomaggiore, parked and walked down in.  The street is narrow and steep, with buildings about five stories tall on both sides.  The bottom floor of each has shops, hotels, and restaurants or bars.  As you get closer to the water the theme changes to water activities - e.g. boat tour, boat rental. 

There are 4 ways to get around in Cinque Terre - trail, boat, train and car.  We found a boat leaving for the other villages in 10 minutes, so we took the trip.  Without getting the blog confused in the village names, we travelled among the villages by boat and train, and explored four of the five, missing the middle one because it is way up on a cliff - a big hike even from the train.  We enjoyed dinner, wine and gelato along the way.  In each place people were swimming, diving from the cliffs, shopping, eating, laughing and taking pictures. 

The pictures never capture the beauty of the cliffs, the steepness of the walks, the friendliness of the people.  It was a magical day in a beautiful land.   

Autostrada to Firenza

We rented a car in Venice (a Fiat 500L diesel with a stick, which has only become available in the States recently - spacious but not as cute as the original 500 - which Italy is covered with).  I digress.  We took our first wrong turn in Venice - getting on the right highway but in the wrong direction - OK - we needed gas anyway. 

The Italian autostrada is a comfortable place to be because it seems familiar - much like a toll road in the US.  Venice to Bologna is across the Venician plain - so pretty flat and straight.  The only surprise is the vast difference in speeds between the slow cars and the fast ones.  Bologna to Florence is up a spectacular valley, through some pass tunnels, and then back down another spectacular valley.  Higher than the Ozarks, not as high as Colorado - more like the Smokies - but with the trees you would see in a painting of Italy. 

Another wrong turn in (correct highway, wrong direction - we have a theme) and we eventually found our intended parking spot and took the tram into Florence.  Our hotel is near the train station.  We checked in and headed out immediately to pick up our vouchers for the Accademia Galleria.  Our hotel is on the west side, vouchers on the south side, Accademia on the north side.  Florence is a beautiful old town with narrow streets for blocks in every direction - the Duomo at the center.  Exactly 1 billion people decided to tour here today, or so it seemed - but through the crowds we got our vouchers, found the museum, picked up our audio guides and proceeded on the tour. (The "reserved line" into the museum was hundreds of people long - but we got in in about 30 minutes - no reservations?  5 hours, if at all).   

Of course, the focal point of this tour is the original statue of David by Michelangelo.   Two impressions - at 17 ft tall this is a huge work of art.  Secondly, how did anyone carve so much realism into a piece of marble?  The tension in the muscles is just amazing. 

After the Accademia we returned to the Duomo and just wandered the streets - eventually returning to our hotel for a nap.  In the late evening we went out for dinner.  Florence has dozens of outdoor restaurants, and we chose one in the Palazo della Signoria, where David was originally placed before being moved indoors to the Galleria.  There is a replica there now as well as replicas of several other amazing works. 

It all took me back to a year of Wester Civ humanities at LSSC.  We're back at the hotel watching USA vs Belgium.