Our Greek Adventures

All,

What a time warp Greece is!  We had a fabulous time and will try to capture the essence of our trip - in other words, we'll try to be brief!  We joined our travel group in Kusadasi, Turkey and boarded Artemis, our ship. 

 Very nice cabin.

First island was Mykonos.  The village is a maze of alleys with homes and shops all mingled together.  Good thing we had a guide!  After a few turns, we were completely lost within the village.  The alleys are not straight; they twist and turn then dead end! 

 After our short visit on Mykonos, our ship headed to Naxos.  

The captain wanted to get to a deep harbor to wait out a storm.  The wind had picked up considerably.  When we dropped anchor in Naxos, we went ashore for a short walk in the town of Hora.  

In Greece, all the shops have an interesting custom. They close from 2 to 6 pm and then re-open from 6 to 8 or 9 pm. 

           Visited the citadel.

The author of "Zorba The Greek" attended school on this island.  The weather had calmed, so the captain let us go ashore for the morning.  We took a hike of maybe 2 miles.  The wildflowers were just beginning to bloom, saw goats and the landscape was just breath taking.  It started raining, then hailed, and then the heavens turned on the firehoses! 

 The wind picked up by the time we returned to the ship. 

Next morning, the captain decided that no one was leaving the ship.  During the captain's talk, we learned that the wind measure (buford scale, maybe) goes from 1 to 12 and the morning's measurement was at 10!  Also, the ship lost 5 huge mooring cables during the night - they snapped! 

 After 3 days, the weather calmed down enough for us to visit Naxos one more time.  We visited the village of Iria; it is the ancient site of the temple of Dionysus.  We quickly learned that "old" has a different meaning in Greece.  Our guide, Maria, explained that "this is new, it was built by the Romans."  Took the brain several minutes to comprehend her statement!

Celebrated Easter (again) on the island of Santorini.  This is the most photographed island as the village is actually way up high on the cliffs.  One of the tourist things to do is to ride a donkey up the stairs.  We took the stairs up - needed the exercise! 

Tinos Island was our next stop.  This island has a population of 8, 500 people and about 1,000 churches!  One of the more interesting buildings on this island was the bus stop - it was all marble!  Even the window screens were marble!  

Bus Stop

Syros Island has the fabulous church of the Virgin Mary.  People come here on pilgrimage and crawl on their hands and knees from the harbor up to the church.  The street has a thin carpet and is roped off so cars keep clear of the lane. 

We say farewell to Artemis and climb aboard our bus for the land portion of our Greek tour.  Stopped at Thermopolie battlefield - experienced a sense of awe that this is where the Spartans and Thesbians managed to stop the Persians.

Learned that Greek warriors carried about 80 pounds of gear and would run about 200 meters in full gear!  In Meteora, there are about 60 towering rocks that used to house 64 monasteries.  Today only 6 are still in use.  Took a photo of Holy Trinity; the exterior was used for a James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only.  The monasteries were first built in the 14th Century; some have fallen into disrepair and some are being modernized.

  In Itea, we dipped our toes in the Corinthian Gulf! 

 At Delphi, we were overwhelmed with the rich history and the remains of the Greek and Roman culture.  Those pesky Romans - they built over the Greek buildings!  We walked up to the stadium and it was well worth the huffing and puffing!  It is very large and mostly intact! 

 Had our minds blown again by looking at the Corinthian Canal.  What an engineering feat!  Learned that the Ancient Greeks believed that theater was for healing the soul.  Maria stood in the center of the theater and we sat about 50 yards away from her.  We could hear her breathe in and out!  This theater is still used today!  

Took an evening stroll in Nafplion, along the ocean and wildflowers.  From Nafplion, we went to Olympia.  We learned more Greek mythology while admiring the statues in the Museum of Olympia.  The games started here in about 776 BC and were held consecutively for 1,004 years.  Steve and Rick decided they needed to do the 200 meter run.  They're both running so fast; Rick lost his hat!

On the grounds of Olympia, we saw a crew working on a new excavation.  They are searching for the theater - they know its approximate location from the records of ancient travelers.  

Back to Athens and modern Greece!  Overloaded our brains at the National Archaeological Museum.  Not only our brains were full but Rick's camera decided to stop functioning!  Had to take pictures of the Acropolis with the cell phone - what a tragedy!  However, the Acropolis was on the last day of our Greek adventure.  Maria suggested we pick up another camera at the Duty Free shop before landing in Prague.  Excellent suggestion for the next part of our journey in Europe.  Also, our group has made a date to meet in the year 2055 on St. George's Day and see the Acropolis without scaffolding!  Some of us may be viewing it from the Pearly Gates!