ATHENS, GREECE
SANTORINI, GREECE
I had
given my parents the itinerary with the Athens hotel information just in case
we weren’t able to meet at the airport as planned. They had gone through the process of
obtaining an international loaner phone from Verizon (that they had no idea hwo
to use) but we figured that this was a fool-proof plan for meeting up. I was waiting for my flight in the Vienna
airport when they announced that we would be delayed for 3 hours due to the air
traffic controller strikes in Athens. Let
the games begin!
When I
touched down in Athens I was surprised that I didn’t have any emails from my
parents. I had emailed them several
times on their new fancy phone but still no response. Instead I had one from my brother back in the
USA that read, “Can you send me the hotel information? Mom and Dad forgot their itinerary at
home.” I grabbed my bag and headed for
the airport exit, not one bit surprised to see them waiting for me on the other
side of the gate. They had hung around
the Athens airport for 4 hours because they had no itinerary. And they had been emailing ‘K Sanders’ in
their contact list, which was their own email address back at work. Ho-hum.
We started to walk towards the metro when my dad told me that all the buses, cabs, and subways were on strike today so nothing was running. They had been approached by some scabber cabbies that were offering about $150 for a ride into the city so we weren’t sure what to do! There was a woman with bags following behind us and I asked her about the strikes. Moments later, she offered to drive us to our hotel since she lived close-by. Now I had been traveling for months and even I thought, this isn’t a good idea. I was trying to ask her more questions to figure out if this was a scam but she had already decided that she was going to drive us and that was that. I put my mace in my jacket pocket as we all piled into her car and headed toward what we hoped was the city center.
3 large sleeves of Pringles
1 can of Cheeze Whiz
4 sleeves of ritz crackers
1 sleeve of Oreos
Granola bars
Lindt chocolate
2 packages blue diamond peanuts
1 bottle of whiskey
1 container of Skippy peanut butter
Microwaveable popcorn
Fritos
Package of 6 bread pitas
Just
really try to wrap your head around how much food this is and how much space it
wasted in luggage that traveled over 4700 miles! And almost all of this food is available in a
metropolis such as Athens. We weren’t
going to the African Congo! Some people
really need their comfort food, I suppose.
Therefore, it really shouldn’t have been too surprising when the hotel
bed broke about 25 minutes later. My mom
ended up having to sleep at a 45 degree angle for the night. Haha. Adventures in Greece continue.
I
felt like ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ to Wally World. I feared that my father would start taking
hostages. We were able to take pictures
of the Acropolis from a nearby look-out,
but we wouldn’t be able to visit the ruins until Monday, which was the
day we were leaving. We visited the
Prison of Socrates on the surrounding hill, which wasn’t too spectacular but
the story behind it certainly was.
Socrates was vocal about his distrust of the government and believed
they were gaining too much control over the people. He was extremely influential amongst the
younger generations, which troubled the government when he publicly denounced
democracy. He was charged and convicted when
he was 70 years old! The conviction of
Socrates is considered the biggest blemish on Ancient Athenian democracy and we
got to see its setting. It was very
interesting to think that Socrates’ concerns/ beliefs in 400 BC were very
similar to that of today’s Greeks. More
on that later…
There wasn’t much more to do, thanks to the strikes, so we found our way to the one attraction that was still open- the brand-spanking-new Acropolis Museum. We were stupefied by this amazing building that housed all artifacts that have ever been found on the Acropolis. There were so many impressive marble statues and monuments- how on Earth did they do it? The time and dedication involved in each intricate design was unbelievable. It was also interesting to learn just how difficult it is for Athens to live in a modern age. New construction is extremely slow since they discover something significant each time they break ground. Archaeologists are on sight and must survey every artifact that is found, which can hold up projects for months, years or indefinitely depending on the discovery.
The next day we implemented the new plan that we had worked out with Agnes. We made it atop the Acropolis for our token photos of the Parthenon and Athena Nike! Lots of happy faces! We toured around the grounds with the other anxious tourists and were grateful for viewing one of the earliest forms of civilization. Early settlers were wise when choosing the commanding hill that overlooked the surrounding city and sea. We continued down to the Agora, where I was surprised to see what historians had pieced together as an ancient marketplace. The buildings that once stood in this location were comparably impressive to the Parthenon yet there was nothing to show for it. All of Athens was like a gigantic puzzle. One piece of rubble could be the missing piece from the original Parthenon. The skeptic in me wondered how the heck they could know so much about an ancient civilization. We stopped for hot chocolate and a snack before moving on to the Temple of Zeus where the grand columns continued.
We found
the Greek countryside simply beautiful.
And it’s a good thing because every site we drove to was closed. Disappointment after disappointment as we
learned that the strikes continued to reach ancient sites throughout the
Southern region called the Peloponnes. We
stopped for some good photo opportunities in Korinthos before arriving in our
final destination of Nafplio. Nafplio was
an adorable vacation spot for Greeks and our hotel was a great surprise. We had dinner at a restaurant that Agnes had
recommended and poked around the many shops on the narrow street that went
through town. Uptick for Greece.
The next
day, my mom and I granted my dad’s biggest wish of visiting ancient
Sparta. Even though all the tour guide
books warned him that there was nothing there, he still wanted to see it. So we drove through it in about 10 seconds.
…well actually 20 because he made us turn around and drive through it a second
time just to make sure that was it. The
whole town looked like it had been evacuated.
Little did we know that this was another sign of the strikes that were
still going on. Almost all businesses
were shut down for the day…maybe two days if they felt like it. All of Greece was starting to look like a
third world country to me- dirty, abandoned, graffiti-filled, with death-defying-moped-drivers,
surrounding swindlers and stray cats and dogs.
We continued to the ruins of Mystras and those were also closed. Are you seeing a theme here?? We started to become concerned about gas stations shutting down for the strikes so we began filling up the tank at every opportunity. An added stress to the pile of other stressful things. A couple hours later, we stopped in Monemvasia, which turned out to be a very lovely surprise. It was a beautiful medieval fortress located on a strip of land about 1.8km long, which attached to the mainland by a causeway. It was considered the chief commercial port of the Despotate of the Morea in Byzantine era and had a population of over 60000 at its peak. We hiked to the top around sunset and were impressed with the many shops and bars built right into the rocky cliff. The atmosphere was certainly enticing even though it is often described as haunting. J
SANTORINI, GREECE
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| Me at Temple of Zeus |
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| Athena |
Oh the Greek tragedy!
Sure there were lots of talk about how terrible things were in Greece
but I figured I could just plow through it and have a good story by the end. My parents had decided 10 days beforehand
that they would like to join me so I knew I had to be more organized than
usual! We had planned to arrive on
Friday, spend the weekend in Athens, then fly to the island of Crete on Monday,
then take a catamaran across to Santorini on Thursday and fly out of Santorini
the following Monday. Simple, right?
 |
| Acropolis |
We started to walk towards the metro when my dad told me that all the buses, cabs, and subways were on strike today so nothing was running. They had been approached by some scabber cabbies that were offering about $150 for a ride into the city so we weren’t sure what to do! There was a woman with bags following behind us and I asked her about the strikes. Moments later, she offered to drive us to our hotel since she lived close-by. Now I had been traveling for months and even I thought, this isn’t a good idea. I was trying to ask her more questions to figure out if this was a scam but she had already decided that she was going to drive us and that was that. I put my mace in my jacket pocket as we all piled into her car and headed toward what we hoped was the city center.
My dad
sat in the front seat and began a lengthy political discussion with our new
friend, Agnes. Agnes had been from all
over- born in Greece, lived in Canada, came back to Greece, worked in Bulgaria,
and had family all over the world. She
was a very intelligent woman (and business-owner) and gave us a great
introduction to Athens. Even as she
dropped us off at our hotel, I was still waiting for her to steal our luggage
or threaten our life but it never came.
She was an absolute angel! She
wouldn’t even dream of accepting any money for driving us. She genuinely felt terrible that we were so
poorly received in her country. She
wanted us to have a wonderful visit and offered her business card so we could
call her if we had any problems at all.
What an amazing woman! We had no
idea that we’d be seeing plenty more of her in the near future. I
breathed a sigh of relief as we checked into the Marble Hotel- the reception
had left for the night but we were able to enter our room with no drama. Phew!
I had secretly been worried about that for the past few days. Finally we settled in and exchanged more
laughs and hugs to make up for the last 2 months that I had been on the
road. It had been so long!! So we decided to unpack and catch up over a
couple snacks that my dad had brought.
Now if you know my parents, this story won’t be one bit surprising. If you don’t know my parents, you’ll be
sending me names and numbers for psychiatrists.
My dad opened up his luggage and exposed the 25 lbs of snacks he had
brought for the trip, which included:
2 boxes Cheez-its |
| SHNACKS! |
1 can of Cheeze Whiz
4 sleeves of ritz crackers
1 sleeve of Oreos
Granola bars
Lindt chocolate
2 packages blue diamond peanuts
1 bottle of whiskey
1 container of Skippy peanut butter
Microwaveable popcorn
Fritos
Package of 6 bread pitas
 |
| Broken bed |
We
were eager to set out in Athens the following day since the strikes were
over. Apparently they announce their
strike days the week beforehand and everyone just adapts to the inconveniences
that are caused. We hiked up the
Acropolis in search of the ticket booth but quickly found guards at the gate
who were notifying tourists that the Acropolis was closed due to a ‘surprise’
strike. Oh joy! One of the most sought after sites in the
entire world that has been around for about 2500 years was CLOSED the day we
came to visit. We were completely
deflated.
 |
| Acropolis with no one on it- VERY rare photo! |
There wasn’t much more to do, thanks to the strikes, so we found our way to the one attraction that was still open- the brand-spanking-new Acropolis Museum. We were stupefied by this amazing building that housed all artifacts that have ever been found on the Acropolis. There were so many impressive marble statues and monuments- how on Earth did they do it? The time and dedication involved in each intricate design was unbelievable. It was also interesting to learn just how difficult it is for Athens to live in a modern age. New construction is extremely slow since they discover something significant each time they break ground. Archaeologists are on sight and must survey every artifact that is found, which can hold up projects for months, years or indefinitely depending on the discovery.
While
marveling at the Acropolis Museum, my mom discovered that she was missing her
wallet. Now my mom tends to freak out
often that her pocket book is missing so I wasn’t extremely alarmed. We made it back to the hotel and she calmly
searched for it for 30 minutes. Then my
dad and I calmly searched for it for another 20 minutes. Finally I started making calls to her bank in
Massachusetts and discovered that someone in Greece had tried to use it several
times to extract cash from an ATM! I found
this to actually be good news because at least we knew to stop looking for
it. We immediately cancelled her cards,
mentally bid farewell to the cash she had been carrying, and tried to enjoy
dinner near the Acropolis, which was particularly spectacular lit up at night. I still can’t say for sure whether the wallet
was lost or stolen but I can attest that my mother did her part in trying to
stimulate the Greek economy.
The next
morning I decided to reach out to our old friend, Agnes, for some advice. Considering the severity of the strikes,
should we stay on mainland Greece or try to get to the islands? Would we get caught in Crete and miss our
flight out of Santorini? Would the
catamaran still operate between the islands in the event of a strike or
inclement weather? After explaining our
mishaps to Agnes and insisting that she was the best part about our trip thus
far, she felt terrible! Her husband and
she decided to meet us for coffee and we would figure it out together.
Sure
enough, Agnes made it all better. After
a quick coffee in the freezing cold rain, her husband, Christos, and she
INSISTED that we come back to their home for the day. My parents were reluctant since they didn’t
want to inconvenience them but I was beginning to realize that this was exactly
what we needed. And exactly what my
parents and I would have done if the situation were reversed. There are so many wonderful people in this
world despite what the daily headlines might make you think. I was happy that my parents were getting a
taste of what kind of kindness I encountered on my trip. I was glad that they were getting treated as
they would treat others. We accepted
their invitation and had an outstanding time at Agnes and Christos’ apartment
where they served us a wonderful lunch and housed us during the cold and wet
conditions outside.The next day we implemented the new plan that we had worked out with Agnes. We made it atop the Acropolis for our token photos of the Parthenon and Athena Nike! Lots of happy faces! We toured around the grounds with the other anxious tourists and were grateful for viewing one of the earliest forms of civilization. Early settlers were wise when choosing the commanding hill that overlooked the surrounding city and sea. We continued down to the Agora, where I was surprised to see what historians had pieced together as an ancient marketplace. The buildings that once stood in this location were comparably impressive to the Parthenon yet there was nothing to show for it. All of Athens was like a gigantic puzzle. One piece of rubble could be the missing piece from the original Parthenon. The skeptic in me wondered how the heck they could know so much about an ancient civilization. We stopped for hot chocolate and a snack before moving on to the Temple of Zeus where the grand columns continued.
 |
| Acropolis in background |
 |
| Parthenon |
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| Parthenon |
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| Mom and me with Acropolis |
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| Mom, Me, Dad with Parthenon |
My dad
couldn’t get over the columns. He had
always thought the Romans had created the columns but history certainly suggested
that the Romans stole the idea from the Greeks when Caesar invaded in 48 BC. As for the Pegarazzi, she was in full force! My mom
may have developed arthritis in her pointer finger from snapping so many
pictures. Greece was finally starting to
turn around and we had a lot to show for our productive day without any
strikes. We met Agnes, Christos and
their son, Alex, for dinner that night and they continued to be our
angels. I can’t tell you how happy (and
lucky) we were to have met them. They
were amazing.
The next
morning my parents and I rented a car to drove an hour south to the Temple of
Poseidon in Sounio. These ruins may have
seemed like the same old columns we had already seen but it was interesting to
see the more rapid decay due to the sea salt.
Mother Nature was much harsher on these ruins than those atop the
Acropolis. It was also interesting to
realize the great lengths mankind had (and still has) gone to in order to
appease the Gods. We have always
questioned our existence and what lies ahead in the afterlife. Love,
admiration, fear, devotion, respect, desperation….whatever the reason may
be. We have created some of the most
beautiful art in the world in our pursuit to reach the divine. |
| Temple of Poseidon |
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| Greek God Wayne |
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| Temple of Poseidon |
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| Peloponnes Region |
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| near Korinthos |
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| Korinthos ruins |
We continued to the ruins of Mystras and those were also closed. Are you seeing a theme here?? We started to become concerned about gas stations shutting down for the strikes so we began filling up the tank at every opportunity. An added stress to the pile of other stressful things. A couple hours later, we stopped in Monemvasia, which turned out to be a very lovely surprise. It was a beautiful medieval fortress located on a strip of land about 1.8km long, which attached to the mainland by a causeway. It was considered the chief commercial port of the Despotate of the Morea in Byzantine era and had a population of over 60000 at its peak. We hiked to the top around sunset and were impressed with the many shops and bars built right into the rocky cliff. The atmosphere was certainly enticing even though it is often described as haunting. J
 |
| Monemvasia hike |
Just
when things started going well again, I got some news that my credit card had
been hacked into (somewhere around Prague) and my information had been sold all
over Europe. Thieves had racked up about
$5000 in charges in two weeks and I hadn’t even noticed. I’d have to deal with that headache when I
got home to the States but I certainly wasn’t in the best of moods that day. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.
We eventually made it back to Athens
and boarded our flight to the island of Santorini. And that’s when life got good again! After so much disappointment in mainland
Greece, we found real beauty on the island.
Our STUNNING hotel was located between Thira (capital of Santorini) and
Oia (known for its incredible sunsets) was located inside the caldera and was
breathtaking. It absolutely made the
trip! We witnessed two amazing sunsets,
four-wheeled around the entire island, took a day trip on a ship that brought
us to the volcano and hot springs, and enjoyed plenty of good food. I’ll let the pictures speak for me. |
| Ahhh Santorini Alas! |
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| Sunset from hotel |
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| Dad and me sunset |
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| Sunset with mom. |
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| Santorini sunset |
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| Lunch stop on boat trip |
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| Eenie, Meenie, Miney, MO! |
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| Boat trip to Volcano and Hot Springs |
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| Red Sands Beach |
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| 4 wheelin' baby! |
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| Peg 4 wheeling and posing |
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| Gassing up. |
Soo…how
I do even conclude this amazing, yet nightmarish, trip? I’m not going back to Greece for another 10
years and neither should you. We were
able to still make the most of our vacation but were severely inconvenienced….which
is too bad because tourism is what the country relies on. I know the Greeks want to make a point but
they are taking it out on the wrong people.
Some tourists save up their entire lives for a trip like that. It’s really not being targeted at the correct
crowd and they’re doing themselves an injustice by deterring tourists. I felt like everyone was peddling and pushing
something- I was being hounded for money constantly. That’s not how vacation is supposed to
feel. Obviously the Greeks are going
through tough times and not many were about to put on a good face for
tourists. They were bitter- no one
trusted the corrupted government and they all demanded an entire
overthrow. Interestingly, all non-greeks
we encountered would argue the other side- they said that Greeks were lazy and
felt entitled to everything. They
reasoned that the Greeks created their own black market to avoid taxes, which
put them in their current predicament.
The government wasn’t receiving enough tax revenues, so, of course, they
continued to increase taxes. It’s never
a good situation when there is little incentive to stay honest. I’m glad that I got to see it under its
current condition because I’m sure it will be a different place when I
return. The one thing I do know is that
Greece will be back. They symbolize the
beginning of civilization and it won’t be ending any time soon. History repeats itself. Here we go again.
More pics here:
More pics here:
