Greece

I often write about my time in Rome but I also spent quite a lot of time in Greece, Athens,traveling by road around the Peloponnese and sailing the Aegean Sea around the Cyclades Islands between 2007-2011. Greece is a wonderful country and I always enjoyed my stay there even during my last visit when I became the victim of a pick-pocket who stole my wallet in the old Plaka. I always stayed at the same hotel The Athens Gate after trying many others which I did not like much, this includes the pretentious and terrible Hilton.

 Hadrian's Gate, near the Athens Gate Hotel

Hellenic Parliament on Syntagma Square

We also had a chance to travel to the islands in different seasons by boat from Athens. We also took a tour by car of the Peloponnese and then to Mount Parnassus along the gulf of Corinth.  There are many beautiful places to visit in Greece and the people are nice and hospitable.

I grew up listening to Melina Mercouri and her 1960 movie Never on Sunday. I also like the music of Mikis Theodorakis and Georges Moustaki both composers who were very popular in the 1950 to 1980 and remain musical icons. The blue of the sky, the sunshine, that certain relax atmosphere you find.
The various monuments of antiquity have by themselves the ability of creating beauty and peace simply by their age and the fact they came to us from such a distant past.



There are seasons to visit Greece and summer is not one of them. Far too hot and the Islands like Mykonos and Santorini are stuffed with tourists, prices are high, it is unpleasant to many crowds and the heat is oppressive. If you need to go in the Summer, choose a lesser known islands, there are hundreds of them, so you do have a choice. Then after end of October the ferry boat schedule from Piraeus is modified and because of winter storms, far fewer boats connect the islands. I recommend the book of Lawrence Durrell, The Greek Islands (1978) where he describes the islands in the 1930's as almost primitive by the simplicity of life on them and then in the 1950's how everything had changed. A very good portrait of Greece.

                                          Delphi

                                         From Delphi a view of Mount Parnassus lost in the clouds

The mainland becomes the place to visit. The premier winter ski station is at 2450 meters above sea level at Mount Parnassus, a place sacred to Apollo and his 9 aunts, the Muses, is wonderful. We stayed at Arachova in a wonderful stone hotel, very rugged with great restaurants of authentic Greek cuisine. This is mostly a resort for wealthy Greeks from Athens. You are also minutes away from ancient Delphi and its sanctuary and breathtaking views.

 Corinth Canal connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea

Corinth, Temple of Apollo, Doric style, built in 540 B.C.

 Mykonos in late afternoon, October

Santorini Island in late October

You can tour the Peloponnese and visit numerous ancient sites and the scenery is always beautiful.
Corinth and the canal is spectacular, Epidaurus with its wonderful ancient theatre still in use today and the sanctuary of Asclepius the Healer, son of Apollo. This is were I learned what the symbol of medicine meant, the snakes had healing powers and the staff is knowledge.

There is also Nafplio, a seaside port and the first capital of independent Greece (1829). We had a lovely lunch there on a terrace facing the sea. An interesting story about the town of Nafplio, this is where the potato was introduced in 1828 into the Greek diet. This tuberous vegetable was unknown in Greece previously and the Governor Ioannis Kapodistria who was the ruler of the then Capital of newly independent Greece, decided that it could help supplement the diet of people. He bought a large shipment of potatoes and offered them free to anyone who might be interested, of course no one was since they had no idea what it was and had never eaten them before. So he devised a strategy by posting guards in daytime only to watch over the shipment and the growing crops. People were curious as to why potatoes which had been given away freely were now guarded carefully in day time only. Like all things, some individual wanted to know and started stealing them at night and eating them. Today the potato is present in almost all Greek dishes, often offered in restaurants as French Fries large cut with a healthy helping of rice, two starches on one plate.

Returning to Athens by the more scenic road instead of the highway is well worth it for the scenery alone of mountains and sea views. Athens is a huge metropolis today but until 1960 it was a relatively small town. I always stay in the Plaka area, at the foot of the Acropolis. The ancient city grew around it and the Plaka is the oldest part of the city.

Olympian Zeus Temple, Athens

For years I had been travelling to Athens, I think that the first time was in the 1990's this means that I was able to see the renovation and reconstruction of the temples of the Acropolis including the Parthenon. I was anxious to travel to Athens in November 2009 to see the new Acropolis Museum designed by Bernard Tschumi, a masterpiece of architecture http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en. This is an absolute must, if you go to Athens. The one artifact in the museum I was fascinated with where the original statues of the Cariatides from the Temple of the Erechthion on the Acropolis. They are displayed in such a way that you can walk around them and see their incredibly complicated hairstyle, each very different from the other, no two women would want to be coiffed like her neighbour. The statues you see on the Acropolis are copies.

Other great museums are the Benaki http://www.benaki.gr  near the Parliament and the Byzantine and Christian Museum http://www.byzantinemuseum.gr just a few blocks away and the Museum of Archeology with its magnificent marbles from the great masters of the Golden age of Greece, http://www.namuseum.gr/wellcome-en.html  it will celebrate 125 years of existence in 2014.

There is also the neighbourhood of Psiri a gentrified area on the other side of the Acropolis known for its restaurants and bars and Monasteraki which is part of old Athens and known for its shopping and various specialty shops. Athens is a place for walking exploring the old streets. The Agora at the end of the Plaka has many beautiful ruins and some of the oldest roads of the city. Not to be missed is the Stoa. The Agora (city centre) dates from the 7 century B.C., today it is a beautiful, peaceful Park.

One of my best souvenir of Athens is of having breakfast in the morning on the roof top of the Athens Gate Hotel watching the sun rise over the city and its rays hitting the acropolis and the Parthenon, the pentelic marble changes colour as the light increases, a wonderful way to start the day, looking at the birth place of Western Civilization, always gave me a good feeling.

View from the Hotel rooftop restaurant

Through are friends in Athens we also discovered the neighbourhood of Gazi, until 20 years ago it was heavily industrial and not a place you would visit. Today the old gaz works are gone, the area is a lively open air museum, with restaurants, bars, music and parks.

We still have friends in Greece and I do hope to go back one day.

Temple of Poseidon, Cap Sounion, Attica, near Athens in late afternoon at Sunset. The little Olive tree is a sacred symbol to Poseidon and Athena.

food Mykonos

Here are some photos of the many dishes we had for lunch and dinner in Mykonos at Kapari restaurant (Greek for Capers).

Pork fillet rolls stuffed with dried tomatoes and capers and purée of potatoes

Spaghetti with tomato and seafood

Giant Prawns with a sauce of tomatoes, Greek cheese and green onions

Cycladic fritters of tomatoes, zucchini and fennel with a dip of Greek yogurt and capers

fresh grilled sardines with a purée of Fava beans and capers

Mix green salad with Greek cheese made in Mykonos and a dressing of olive oil and Balsamic vinegar

Reading on vacation

I brought several books to read on this vacation, two by José Saramago, the Portuguese Nobel Prize for Litterature winner 1998 who died about 3 weeks ago. He had a long and fruitful career as a writer and his books are interesting read.

He also took a different look at life and I am currently reading The Gospel according to Jesus Christ, a book written in 1991.

Aegean Sea off Mykonos Island, 08 October. 

There are no Gospel by Jesus and this book at first is a difficult read by the third chapter you see where Saramago is taking the story and it becomes interesting.

In this book Jesus is not the Son of God but that of Joseph, he leaves home at 13. Mary Magdalene is not a convert by his lover, and God is a fallible, power hungry autocrat. Saramago writes a dark parable, a secular gospel, fitting for our time, at least this is my take on it.

The other one is also by Jose Saramago, The year of the death of Ricardo Reis, published in 1984. I just started reading this one, the story is set in 1936 in Portugal, when the clouds of Fascism are gathering. Salazar is about to become the long time dictator of this small nation, while Spain next door is going through its Civil War, Italy has also fallen to Fascism as Germany. Ricardo Reis has returned from Brazil after 16 years and engages into a rambling discourse on art, truth, philosophy and destiny.

In Saramago’s books I find that destiny appears as a constant, what is our destiny or the subject cannot escape his destiny.

The third book is by Jan Morris, titled Venice. Morris has written many books, I’ve read the one on Trieste, after visiting the city last year. His trilogy on British power,

Heaven’Command, Pax Britanica and Farewell the Trumpets are all very interesting. In Heaven’s Command I discovered parts of the history of Canada I had either forgotten or had never heard of. Morris also explains how it was Christian missionaries who pushed and lobbied for the creation of an Empire, not business or military interests. The little people had to be brought to civilization through Christ’s message.  The same thing happened in Canada. Our foreign policy towards China was developed through the advocacy of  Canadians who were missionaries in China. Some had children who were born in China and had become Canadian diplomats. This led our then Prime Minister Trudeau to open up to Mao and company in 1969, years before Kissinger or Nixon had thought about it and years before China could ever be thought of as a potential commercial market, being caught at the time in what can be described as a Civil war aptly called the Cultural Revolution.

So as I sit here on my patio in  Mykonos looking out at the Aegean sea, I read on enjoying the quiet.

  

Mykonos sunny and quiet day

Our hotel is located on St-Stephan’s beach in Mykonos, away from town and above it all. I can see from the hotel terrace the town and the cruise ships, I do not want to get any closer to it. Mykonos does have that reputation for being vapid, easy drugs and superficiality, sort of a Greek St-Tropez, nouveaux riches. Why are people attracted to this scene, I will never understand.

Early morning in Mykonos, a 4 masted schooner sails into port.

We had a lovely dinner at our hotel, very good sword fish and grilled vegetables and a nice dessert for my Dad. George and Poppy are great and friendly hosts.

Laurent at St-Stephan's Beach, Mykonos. (This is what 74kg looks like, sexy!)

I call old age a thief, it robs you of what you were and serves you all manner of indignities. I look at my Dad and I see a anxious, scared old man, who worries about nothing and everything, who depends on me to make this trip safe. He is in a foreign land but he wants to be reassured. He gets lost in his story telling and does not know why, he has become forgetful, confused and tired. I have been reassuring with him, telling him little jokes to make him laugh and feel better. The roles are reversed, he was the parent and me the kid, now I am the one with the authority and he is the dependent, as a child you do not want to see your parents in that position, but old age makes it so in a cruel way, I feel like Aeneas with his father Anchises, this is why I call old age a thief.

**Aeneas was the son of Anchises and Venus. He was a cousin of King Priam of Troy, and was the leader of Troy's Dardanian allies during the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, he led a band of Trojan refugees to Italy and became the founder of Roman culture 

On the Blue Star Ithaki

So this morning we sailed from the Port of Pireaus to Mykonos on the Blue Star ferry, Athens was cloudy and rainy when we left, there’s a huge weather system over the Greek Peninsula at this time and for the next 3 days. Meaning that the weather may not be ideal for Mykonos or Santorini but we are here to get away from it all. This was how this package was presented to me and that is what I wanted for me and Dad.

The Blue Star line are huge boats, carrying up to 900 cars and have 6 decks of passengers, business class and first class, restaurants and shops and television. At this time of the year, the boat is half full, we are entering the low tourist season. Everyone on staff is nice and things are quiet.

Mykonos port, Blue Star Ithaki

Greek television showing news, talk shows, weather, looks like rain everywhere. We had to get up pretty early this morning but this is the last early morning of this trip. Every other day will be at leisure. So far things are going well.

We made stops of a few minutes in two other islands before we arrive in Mykonos. Finally here we are, the weather is grey and because we are off season the place is deserted, most hotels have shut down for the winter and only one big cruise ship is in port.

Our hotel is quite nice on St-Stephan beach, a white and blue building with little cottages, a pool and a nice view of the bay.

We had lunch at Kapari, the restaurant of the hotel, Dad had fresh grilled sardines with a puree of fava beans and capers.

Grilled Fresh Sardines with white Fava bean purée and capers.

I do hope the weather improves in the next day or so, the sky looks uncertain, but what is nice, is the calm and quiet of this place. Now is the tranquil part of the vacation, nothing to do but read and write up on the computer.