We took a trip to Greece and Italy in August of 1996. The group included Rick, me, Doris - a co worker of Rick, and Betsy - an English professor friend of Doris. This will be divided into two blog entries since it will be so long. We'll do Greece first, then Italy.
The trip was three weeks. We spent two weeks in Greece, one in Italy. It would be longest time Rick and I had ever spent together due to my travel.
We stayed at the
Hotel Attalos. Everyone there seemed to be named Kostas. At the time, it was a student hotel. A friend of Betsy's arranged the itinerary for us using one she used to take student groups to Greece. The hotel had very comfortable rooms. The elevator was small, but worked. It would hold two people or one with luggage. Rooms were air conditioned, but you needed to insert the plastic tag from the room key to turn it on. This meant the air conditioning wouldn't be running when you were not in the room. It turned out this tag was the size of a credit card. That made it easier to cool the room off.
Just as New York has the garment district, the diamond district, so does Athens. This area turned out to be the hardware district. It was also within walking distance of the Acropolis. An amazing location for such an inexpensive hotel. I recall it was only about fifty dollars per night. Since our trip started in Athens, took us to Rhodes then back to Athens, we stayed at the Attalos twice. The first stay we didn't have a balcony but the second time we had a rather large balcony. Each time, our rooms did adjoin.
The first night we were there, we took time to attend a traditional dance performance at the Acropolis and to see the light show performed nightly on the Parthenon. In a stroke of luck, my college roommate Rolf and his partner Dominic were also going to be there before they started their own vacation in Greece. I hadn't seen them in some time and had to come to Greece to see them. The dance performance was great. We all commented that the light show needed the Disney touch. The light show was set to triumphant music but the light show itself was nothing more than red to white and back again. It needed help.
There was a farmers market around the corner that we would frequent for fresh fruit. Betsy tried to buy a smaller amount than the vendor wanted to sell. His response was "no two, no two". We had to buy more.
Also just down the street was the most amazing bakery. All kinds of baklava and other pastries, but the one we thought most beautiful were birds nests of the shredded wheat type pastry coated with honey and filled with pignoles (pine nuts) that resembled birds eggs. We would often buy pastries to take back to the hotel or take then with us during the day.
Breakfast was provided each morning. We would all gather for the thick, Greek yogurt, honey, olives, feta and bread the hotel provided. We would often supplement with the fruit we would get at the farmers market. The peaches were always the best, but the apricots were very good also. We would also prepare for the day by reviewing our itinerary. Betsy, ever the teacher, would have prepared by checking out the Frommer's Guide. We teased her when we heard her say "Frommer says" but her information was always spot on and helped us better enjoy the day.
One of the best features of the hotel was the rooftop lounge and garden. Each evening, we would return to the hotel, put our card in the air conditioning slot, go to the rooftop and enjoy the view and revisit the day. We could see the Acropolis on one side, Mt. Lycabettus on the other. Mt. Lycabettus is the highest point in Athens.
At the base of the Acropolis is a neighborhood called the Plaka. It is the oldest neighborhood in Athens. Most roads are closed to traffic. It is a residential, restaurant, shopping, cultural and archaeological area all at one time. Some of the stores are quite nice, we bought some wonderful pottery there. There were also a lot of jewelry stores that Doris and Betsy enjoyed frequenting, particularly for silver and amber pieces. There were also enough low end stores that we referred to the area as the "schloka". There were so many cats wandering the area; we called them the "Acropicats"
We had several tours arranged. The first was to Delphi. As we were waiting on the bus, a woman got on the bus dressed in very body fitting clothing and very high espadrilles that laced quite far up her legs. She did not appear to be dressed for a full day of touring. Imagine our surprise when we found out this was our tour guide. It turns out she was certified in eight languages and was the best tour guide we experienced on the entire trip. I guess the old adage truly applies, never judge a book by its cover.
The tour of Delphi took us up multiple levels of the mountainside. We started in an ancient agora or market place. As we went up the mountainside there were more and more levels. There was the treasury building on one, the "navel of the earth" at another, finally concluding with a large amphitheater at the top.
The next tour was a three island tour. The first island stop was Aegina. It features a monastery that started construction in 1904. It is still under construction. It was magnificent. The next island was known for its pistachios. They were wonderful, but the pistachio ice cream was less than tasty. By the third island we were content to stay on board.
All the restaurants where we ate had wonderful food. Vegetables in Athens tasted better than any vegetables we had ever had. One memorable meal in the Plaka was for Doris' birthday. She had a whole snapper prepared Greek style at a restaurant called Miltons. All of our meals were excellent, but we ate and drank to Doris' health that night.
We're off to Rhodes next. When we boarded the Olympic Airlines flight to Rhodes, we reached cruising altitude. This was a smoking flight and most of the people on board not only smoked, they also had those very loud lighters. It sounded like everyone was lighting up with the old fashioned Zippo lighters at one time.
When we got to the hotel, we were about an hour late. The front desk person looked up our reservation and said "you're late". We thought it odd they cared about one hour. It turns out either Sue made an error or the hotel did. They had been expecting us on another day. Luckily they were able to squeeze us in that night and then moved us to better rooms the next night. The bathrooms in the better rooms always seemed to flood, but we dealt with it.
The ancient city of Rhodes dates from the time of the Crusades. The Crusaders Palace is one of the key historical sites here. The city walls are ancient. Imagine our surprise to find a hole cut into one of the walls and an ATM machine inserted into the wall. I don't think that would happen in the U.S.
At the waters edge there were lots of windmills. This always reminded me of the Walt Disney movie called "The Moonspinners". There were also lots of pastry shops with seating that ran almost to the edge of the water. There must have been ten of them in a row. It was fashionable to go in the evening for dessert, coffee or a drink. We soon discovered that most of the offerings from each place tasted the same.
One evening we ate at a restaurant that was on a second level. As we looked down on the town square below, it appeared as if we were sitting in an Epcot showcase of nations for Greece if one existed. Everything was so representative of Greece it looked perfectly suited for that. That evening was also the first and last time I ate smoked octopus.
We took a tour of Lindos, known for butterflies, pebbled floors and donkeys. The only way to the Acropolis in Lindos is by foot or donkey taxi service. Rick and Doris rode the donkeys, Betsy and I walked. We were constantly approached by elderly women selling laces and linens on the sidewalk. It was often difficult to walk without stepping on them. Most people walk back down as the donkeys know they will be fed and they sometimes move a little faster than people care for.
The oldest synagogue in Greece is in Lindos. We did take the opportunity to visit it. It was worth the time.
One evening as we were walking the shopping district, some china caught our eyes. To this day, Doris and Betsy say it took us until midnight to select our plates as they are all different. We still use them on special occasions.
As we explored the ancient city one day, we discovered a dressmaker that was a favorite of Dame Margot Fonteyn, the great ballerina. Doris bought a beautiful evening garment from the dressmaker. She still wears it still.
One of the interesting options at one of the restaurants we enjoyed was the chance to pick out the fish you wanted to eat that night. Talk about fresh.
At one point, Betsy purchased something where she made the comment that when she got home she would have to rearrange. Rick and I pointed out that we don't rearrange, we redecorate.
Rick and I took a day trip to Marmaris, Turkey while Doris and Betsy went to the Valley of the Butterflies. Upon our arrival in Marmaris, Rick and I went to the Turkish Baths. What an experience. Hot baths with a rubdown, sitting in the steamroom ending with a massage. Talk about being pampered.
Next we went to the street market and purchased spices, especially saffron. Rick's mom had requested a red leather purse and we found the perfect one for her. She loved it when we gave it to her.
Next, we went to look at carpets. We happened upon a carpet store run by someone with the name Attila. He invited us to sit down, enjoy sweet apple tea and then proceeded to show us hundreds of carpets. They were even bringing them in from his other store for us to review. We finally selected two, both still in our living room. Our previous cocker spaniel, Dulcie, enjoyed the tassles a bit too much as has Margo.
As we took a taxi back to the port to return to Rhodes, we ran into difficulty with the taxi driver. There was a torn corner on the U.S. five dollar bill we used to pay the fare. We finally convinced him it was ok to accept.
The mode of transportation to get from Rhodes to Marmaris is hydrofoil. The trip over was uneventful. The return trip was quite rough. The seas were difficult and the ride quite bumpy. I rather enjoyed it, but since most of the other passengers did not I kept my enjoyment to myself.
It was good we didn't spend too much time in Turkey. We would have never been able to figure out how much anything cost. The exchange was one U.S. dollar to 80,000,000 Turkish lira.
We returned to Athens and went to the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was a moving experience.
Our last tour was to the Temple of Poseiden. This temple is perched on high on a hill perched above the Aegean Sea. The view is spectacular. On the back of the temple, Lord Byron has carved his name. Not a good example for the graffiti artists.
This completed our trip to Greece. I know this was quite a long entry, but hope you enjoyed it. Perhaps a trip to Greece may be in your future.
The garden at St. John's United Church of Christ in Catonsville, Maryland
The garden plaque at St. John's
