Greece - Ελλάδα - II

I: Syros (Σύρος)

Wed, 10 May 2006 17:47:40 -0700

Syros was the first of the five islands in the Cyclades we visited. It is a fairly small picturesque island with narrow cobblestone streets. Syros does not have to rely on tourism for survival, so there are thankfully few tourists and tourist shops around. There are of course many restaurants on the harbor front and it also has the only real Casino in the Cyclades. That one we skipped because there was a rather hefty entrance fee. And we didn’t believe a casino was part of the natural beauty of the islands. Syros is otherwise a nice low-key place with limited tourist diversions.
Our lodgings were at the Palladion Hotel in Ermoupolis, the capital of the island. The city is named after Hermes, who augmented his job as messenger of the gods with the more lucrative position as the god of commerce and trade. The hotel was just a 5 minute walk from the ferry terminal, we were told. In all the island we visited our hotels were only a five minute walk away from the ferry terminal, but five minutes in local Greek parlance may be as much as 30 minutes on my Seiko watch. And in this case the walk to the hotel included negotiating a number of stairs. Which was rather a bother if you also have to lug your luggage up. We could have taken a slightly longer route up where the road would gently slope up, but we did not know, and so we took the shortcut and the stairs. In addition, the hotel had stairs also, because the elevator only started on the second floor for the higher level rooms. I am not sure why the elevator did not start on the ground floor. Later that evening we went for dinner at Taverna Petrino, seated outdoors in the street. They had pretty good and reasonably priced food. Christine had cased the joint earlier that evening.
left: Syros as seen from the harbor. The tower in the middle of the picture is Ano Siros.
The next day after breakfast we caught the local bus going to the top of the island, well, at least to Ano Siros, on top of one of the two hills of the city. It was the catholic quarter of the island, founded by the Venetians in the 13th century. To get there the bus had to negotiate many very narrow streets, some of which the chauffeur had to drive in reverse to get up, because there was no place to turn on the top. I don’t know what will happen if there are more cars in the future. We then had to walk up through cute, narrow, and steep streets to get to the Church of Ayios Yioryios, or the Church of St. George, the one of the dragon’s fame. The church is on top of the left hill in the picture on the right.
right: walking up to Ano Siros.
This ornate and brightly colored church, built in the neoclassical style, was constructed in 1883, but many earlier churches had been built previously on this site. A plaque noted that the first bishop of Ayios Yioryios, Ειρηναιος, was installed here in 343 AD.
We were told we could visit the nearby Monastery of the Capuchins where we would be heartily welcomed, like long-lost brothers perchance. But when we rang the bell, we were told they were not receiving any visitors that day. We needed to get another source of hearsay.
left: The opulent ceiling of the Church of Ayios Yioryos.
On the way down we stopped at a small museum dedicated to Markos Vamvakaris, an innovative local virtuoso player of the bouzouki. He had composed many music and songs, especially in the rebetico style, a musical genre which developed in the urban working class of Greece between the two world wars. Seeing that we were foreigners, the cashier refused our tender for admission fees. That was very nice of them, but it also showed that there were few tourists on this island. Anyway, now we know who Markos Vamvakaris is. We walked down to the harbor and had lunch at Goody’s, one of those chain restaurants, not very good, but at least predictably mediocre.
In the afternoon we caught the local bus going to the other side of the island, to Kini, a small fishing village with just a few hundred inhabitants, and a little beach.
right: The little village of Kini.
There was little to do and we just walked around, sat in a cafe for a drink, and waited for the bus to take us back to Ermoupolis. Some of the group swam. There were a few restaurants and I suppose in high season there would be more people sunning on the beach. But at that time it looked like the epitome of the quiet, sleepy, and relaxed vacation spot.
That evening we took the ferry to Mykonos. The original plan was to go the next day. Djoser had made the change because there was talk of a strike of the ferry system the next day. And we would rather be stuck in Mykonos instead of in Syros. The ferry to Mykonos was quite empty this late in the day and it took us about an hour to get there.
In Greece, the ferry system works on a tight schedule. Before the ferry arrives the departing passengers stream downstairs to get ready to disembark. The ferry arrives, the gangway is lowered and the departing passengers, with their luggage, stream out of the ferry. Then the cars leave. Immediately afterwards the cars coming along drive into the ferry and almost immediately afterwards the passengers on foot board the ferry over the gangway. The gangway goes up and the ferry leaves. The whole operation does not take more than 15 minutes and if you are not ready to move when needed you will be left behind, either on the ship or on shore.

II: Mykonos (Μύκονος)

Tue, 9 May 2006 20:47:20 -0700

Mykonos is the most visited and expensive of the Greek islands and was once the rendezvous for the world’s rich and famous, aristocrats, film stars and the usual Eurotrash. It has a population of 6000 in winter. But come the summer, especially in August, and this number swells to 70-80,000. We arrived there late in the evening in the merry month of May, so the rush was not there yet. The proprietor of hotel Aeolos was there with his van to pick us up. He had to, because the hotel was definitely much more than 5 minutes away from the ferry port.
left: Hotel Aeolos built in the typical Mykonos style.
The next day was sunny and rather windy. The light was strong and bright. After breakfast we piled in the hotel van for a half-day tour of the island, which the proprietor had offered us for €9/per person. The island is about 25 km wide from the East to the West and 15 km from the North to the South. All of the houses in Mykonos have to abide with strict building codes; they have to be whitewashed block houses with trims in blue or red his makes everything in the landscape uniform and pretty. Even our hotel was built in this style.
We stopped at Ano Mera, a town right in the middle of the island to visit the church of the Panaga Tourliani Monastery, built in 1767 and adorned with a wealth of frescoes and paintings from that period. From there we drove south to visit some of the beaches. The prevailing winds are from north to south, so the north of Mykonos is good for windsurfing but too cold and/or windy for swimming and/or sunbathing. For that you go to the south of the island, where there is an abundance of nice beaches. The most well-known are Paradise Beach and Super Paradise Beach.
right: Paradise Beach at low occupancy.
At this time of the year the beaches are not crowded yet. Just wait till July and August. Nudity on these beaches is quite common. In the old days Greeks would come by with binoculars in their caïques to ogle the nude sunbathers, most of them foreign tourists, but by now it has become rather old hat, and also because nudity is not as blatant as it was then.

left: A few bathers on Paradise Beach.
In the afternoon we walked to the town of Mykonos which was a 10 minute walk away. That is what they say, anyway. Mykonos town is at the level of the harbor. The town is surrounded by a high hilly plateau. On this high plateau is where Hotel Aeolos was located. So to get to town you have to walk a quarter mile and then down an elevation difference of 300-400 feet. So maybe it was a 15 minutes to walk to town and twice as long to climb back up to the hotel; longer if you lose your way.
The town of Mykones is really cute, a warren of narrow flagstone alleys lined with chic boutiques, tourist shops, little restaurants and cafes. Surprisingly, there were still quite a number of private houses. The houses are painted brightly white, often adorned with geraniums, clematis, and bougainvillea. All the doors are navy blue. No vehicular traffic is allowed in town and in many places the street is no more than 5 feet wide. As soon as it gets a bit wider a restaurant nearby is bound to plop a table and couple of seats on the sidewalk.
A street in Mykonos in the early evening
The street shown here is unusual, because there is almost nobody on it. Just wait till summer. Then the streets will be packed wall-to-wall with tourists.
Mykonos is especially well-known for its windmills and the best place to view them is from an area called Little Venice. That is also a nice place to view the sunset and if you sit there in a café to do so, a soft drink will set you back €6. Or you could have a seafood dinner with lobster and/or some other marine delicacy and your bill will be €60 - 100 per person. It is just money, and there are lots of wealthy tourists around.

left: Windmills in Mykonos as seen from Little Venice.
There are also other local denizens in Mykonos besides humans. Occasionally you will still see donkeys which are being used to carry produce. I suspect they are kept there for the tourists. The owner graciously posed for us to take pictures of him and his donkey. For free. And these two pelicans are fixtures in the area, allowing themselves to be petted and photographed by the tourists. Also for free. I suspect their wings have been clipped.
right: The resident pelicans of Mykonos.
We had dinner at the taverna Nikos, where Christine had worked her wily charm to get the proprietor to give us a separate room. Good dinner, very uproarious, with lots and lots of wine to drink. The tab was €22/per person. Good thing we had a separate dining room. Then we wobbled and walked up the hill back to the hotel and four of us got lost and took a long roundabout way. We actually had dinner in the Taverna Nikos two nights in a row because, with Christine around, the food and the service were very good. And the second night she even got the owner of hotel Aeolos to come down with his van to pick us up. This he did grudgingly, because he would miss the beginning of the final of the European soccer club championships. But who can resist Christine’s when she worked her charms on him?
Luckily it was still 0 - 0 when we returned and ensconced ourselves in front of the TV in the lounge. Arsenal scored first but then their goalie grabbed the foot of an opposing player as he jumped over him with the ball and the empty net in front of him. So he was ejected and Arsenal had to play with 10 men the rest of the match. At the end FC Barcelona scored two quick goals in succession and won the European championship.
Soccer is important in Europe.

III: Delos (Δήλος)

Mon, 8 May 2006 20:43:47 -0700

Delos, sometimes also called Dilos, is one of the smaller islands in the Cyclades. But it is one of the most important archeological sites in all of Greece. It is only about 5 km long and not more than 1300 meter wide. The Cyclades are so named because they form a circle (kyklos) around Delos. Lying just a few km from Mykonos, it is a sacred island because it is the birthplace of nobody less than both Apollo and Artemis. Delos was an ancient sanctuary; now the whole island is an archeological site full of ruins, no trees, and only open to the public between 8;00 a.m. and 3 p.m. The ferry from Mykonos take you there in about 40 minutes.
The Sanctuary was established around the 9th century BC and reached its apex during the Archaic (7th and 6th century BC) and Classical (5th and 4th century BC) periods. Greeks came from everywhere to worship Apollo and Artemis and to trade. Delos also became a flourishing center of commerce. The city became populated by wealthy merchants, mariners, and bankers from as far away as Egypt and Syria. The Romans made Delos a free port in 167 BC, which brought even greater prosperity. It was then the center of commerce of the Eastern Mediterranean and the island became known as maximum emporium totius orbis terrarum - the greatest commercial center of the world. But in 88 BC, it was sacked by Mithridates, king of Pontus and after that the island became prey to pirates and looters.
There is a small museum, important because it was also the location of the public restrooms on the island.
left: One of the rooms in the museum.
In the museum are stored the original lions from the Terrace of the Lions, some sculpture and some mosaics from the more wealthier houses on the island. The best pieces, including the one of Aphrodite, with Eros around, being seduced by the god Pan, is in the National Archeological Museum in Athens. A picture of this very beautiful sculpture is in section 1 of Greece. We then walked to the Agora of the Italians, and had a glimpse of the location of the sacred lake, where Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis. We looked at the Institution of the Poseidoniasts, where a few columns were still standing. It was here that the sculpture of Aphrodite and Pan was found. We passed the Terrace of the Lions. In those days lions were unknown in these parts, and the marble beasts were supposed to instill awe in the visitors to the island.
I also climbed up Mt Kythnos, 113 m above the sea. I needed a lot of huffing and puffing to get there, but from there, I had an excellent view of the whole site.
right: The Theater Quarter with our ferry in the background.
Going back to the ferry we passed the Theatre quarter, because it was located close to the ancient amphitheater. Here the houses were more patrician and here the wealthiest of the Delians used to live.
left; Columns in one of the patrician houses in the Theater Quarter. Note the mosaic on the floor between the columns.
We came on the 9:15 a.m. ferry; we took the 1:30 p.m. ferry back. It was a very interesting site, giving us a glimpse of the distant past when here a civilization had bloomed. But unless you are a diehard archeologist, it becomes, after a while, rather tiring to imagine how the original structures would have looked like.
And honestly, everything begins to look like just so much rubble and ruins. Maybe we should have utilized the services of a guide and then compare what he said to what has been published in printed sources.

IV: Naxos (Νάξος)

Sun, 7 May 2006 20:21:59 -0700

The winds had abated when the proprietor of Hotel Aeolos drove us to the new port, considerably further than the old harbor, for us to catch the ferry to Naxos. The ferry came, a red catamaran named Highspeed 2, with a huge Vodafone ad on its side. Passengers disembarked and immediately afterwards we embarked. The ferry doesn’t wait. The surface of the sea was like glass and in less than 2 hours we were ready to disembark as the vessel arrived in Naxos. Even from a distance we could see the signature 21 ft high Portara of Naxos, out on an island jutting in the sea.
A bus was there to take us to the hotel Barbouni, where we were going to stay for the next two nights. It was a rather long ride, because there were a lot of one-way streets in town and the bus had to make a huge detour. From the hotel you could actually walk to the harbor in 10-15 minutes. Rooms in the hotel Barbouni were small and it was impossible to take a shower without drenching the toilet seat. Oh, well, minor inconveniences. We just had to remember drying the seat before using it. Our room had a small balcony overlooking the inner courtyard. We could even sit there. That was nice.
It was in Naxos that Theseus abandoned Ariadne, after she helped him in this efforts to slay the minotaur in Crete. But soon afterwards she met Dionysos, the god of Wine, and she became his wife. Hesiod writes that :”And golden-haired Dionysos made blonde-haired Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, his buxom wife; and Zeus, the son of Kronos, made her deathless and unaging for him”. And according to Apollodorus, they had 4 children. But Homer, in the Odyssey (Book XI) , wrote that “the lovely Ariadne, that daughter of subtle Minos whom Theseus bore off from Crete towards the hill of sacred Athens; yet he had no joy of her, since, before that could be, she was slain by Artemis in the isle of Dia (Naxos), as witnessed by Dionysos.”
As you sail into the harbor of Naxos you see on the distant left, on a peninsula sticking out to sea, a huge marble portal. This is the 21 ft high Portara on Palatia Island, the remains of a temple dedicated either to Apollo or to Dionysos. The 6th century BC temple was apparently never finished. The temple, based on the size of the Portara, would have been huge. Legend has it that if Constantinople is ever returned to Greece, the door to temple will miraculously appear. So far the chances for that look slim.
left: From the Portara on the peninsula, there is a nice view of the city of Naxos.
From the hotel we walked to the harbor and then to the fort. All these islands have a fort, surrounded by a walled city. It would be constructed on a hill for obvious defensive reasons. The fort is called the Kastro, and the walled city has narrow winding streets, many of them going up. Naxos was no exception. The Kastro here is well preserved, with its high walls and two remaining towers from the original seven. The streets are narrow, paved with flagstones with cement in between; no soil was visible. Many streets are vaulted or covered with low ceilings, because the houses are built over them. On the streets are cute little restaurants,as the one shown on the right.
right: A restaurant at the foot of the Kastro.
Up on the top of the Kastro we visited the Venetian museum, once the abode of the house of the Della Roca family, built during the 13th century from stone, granite, and marble. The Venetians ruled here from 1207 - 1566, at which time the Turks conquered the island. The house had several stories in which were several bedrooms, a chapel, a kitchen, a gallery, a library, servants’ quarters, and even a quarantine area, which is now used for intimate concerts and recitals.
The ancestor was a leader of a regiment during the infamous Fourth Crusade. These Crusaders, together with the Venetians, sailed to the Aegean Sea from Venice, but instead of going further east to liberate Jerusalem from the Moors and gain eternal salvation, they went north to attack Constantinople for loot and earn eternal damnation. Well, Constantinople was actually closer by and the Crusaders were in deep hock to the Venetians and needed the loot to pay their debts. And that was when the Great Fire of Constantinople occurred, destroying a.o., the statue of Zeus by Phidias, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.
A bit further away was the Archeological Museum where entrance, surprisingly, was free. They had a good collection of ancient Cycladic pottery and marble figurines, some of them 5000 years old. I noticed that all the figurines are shown with their hands folded in front of the body, the left hand above the right. I saw this on both male and female figurines, even on a pregnant woman, and this seems to be the trademark pose.
left: The trademark pose of the cycladic figurines.
We had dinner at Meze2 on the boulevard on the harbor, where we ordered a huge selection of mezes, which are small dishes of about almost everything in that region. Christine charmed the pants of the proprietor and the result was that they did not charge us for the copious amounts of wine we had imbibed, the desserts, and the after-dinner drinks.
We insisted on paying for Christine, but even then the bill was only €15 per person. Graciously we each donated €17 to the pot. We were just cheapskates at heart.
Friday, May 19, 2006. Christine found a tour company who would supply an 8-passenger van + one car + one driver for €260 for one day. So 8 of us piled into the bus and Marianne drove the smaller car with 3 passengers. Our first stop was the archeological site of Yiroulas Sangri, on a hill in a valley surrounded by mountains, the ideal place to build a sanctuary for a god.
right: the sanctuary at Yiroulas Sangri.
This one was from 500 BC and already partially restored. The temple was built completely of marble --there is a lot of marble on this island-- and did not have a ceiling. The sloping roof was supported by pillars of different lengths. It must have been a gorgeous jewel of a temple in its days. Next to it was a pathetic looking small Christian church from the 8th century.
Our next stop was Damalas, where we saw an ancient olive press. The olives are first ground on a mill with a large wooden wheel, just like in an old flour mill. The paste is then placed in jute bags and then pressed real hard in the screw press shown. The very long homemade auxiliary handle is to exert the necessary force to expel as much oil as possible from the seeds.
left: an ancient olive press
From there across the street to a pottery factory where a man demonstrated how a pot is thrown on a potter’s wheel. Ingrid bought a lot of stuff, but the rest left without buying anything. That was nice of Ingrid, because the rest of us just used the restroom.
In Haliki we tried to look for the castle, but could not find anything closely resembling one. So we stopped at a café for a drink and then went to the Vallendras distillery for a tour. They were established in 1896 and they are still using the same copper distillation still to produce Kitron, which is a liqueur made from citron leaves. The leaves are harvested between October and February, dried, and distilled with alcohol and water. The distillate is then further jazzed up with sugar and spices. The distillery pointed that Naxos is the home of Bacchus, the merry god of wine, which we already know because he was mentioned earlier in this chapter as Dionysos.
From Haliki we drove north on narrow winding roads through very mountainous terrain. We were able to see Filoti, the second largest city on the island, in a valley at much lower elevation. We drove by Apiranthos, where all the houses are made of marble, before reaching our destination, the quaint little seaside resort town of Apollonas on the shores of the dark blue Aegean Sea. I am always reminded that Homer called the Aegean Sea the wine-red sea. We had lunch there, right at the water and some of the group went for a swim.
right: The seaside town of Apollonas.
We drove back to Naxos via the spectacular northern road. There were high cliffs and mountains with the road winding in between. There are ruins of castles on the promontories overlooking the ocean and everywhere were outcroppings of marble. We stopped to see an unfinished kouro hewn out of the living marble. The project was started more than 20 centuries ago, but the work was never completed. A crack had developed in the statue and the carving was discontinued.

left: An unfinished kouro (a naked youth) carved in the marble rocks.
In the evening we had dinner at the Manolis Garden Taverna. It was rather hard to find the restaurant in the warren of narrow streets and low covered passageways in the old city of Naxos. But it was well away from the main tourist area and our waitress was from New Zealand spending a few months here trying to pick up some money.
Octopus is almost a staple food here. They are prepared in many different ways, all of them very appetizing and good.
right: Octopus drying out in the sun in front of a restaurant.

V: Santorini (Σαντορίνη)

Sat, 6 May 2006 19:30:04 -0700

The Blue Star ferry “Naxos: arrived in Naxos harbor at 12:50 p.m. and left promptly at 13:00 p.m. They don’t fool around. We arrived in Santorini about 2.5 hours later.
Santorini, officially known as Thira (Θήρα) is undoubtedly the most spectacular of all the Greek islands. There is this huge submerged crater, some 84 sq km large, the remains of the tremendous volcanic eruption at around 1450 BC. The result is a caldera with geologically marvelous and dramatically high cliffs. As the ferry approaches the island one can see, 250 meters up, on the lip of the caldera, the whitewashed houses of Fira, the capital. From the port, on a very small piece of land, at the level of the watr, the road zigzags at least 10 times before it reaches the plateau where the city is built. In the picture the small port is in the lower middle of the picture. There is a cruise ship anchored in the water.
left: Fira on the lip of the caldera. A cruise ship is moored at the small port.
The hotel bus took us to Hotel Maistros in Karterados, which is located about 2 miles from Fira. To compensate for the distance from the city center we were assigned a huge room, a two-room suite with loft and kitchen, big enough for 5 persons in high season. Since it was outside of town, the place was spacious and it even had a nice swimming pool. But to get to town you need to hike for 20 minutes. A taxi, if you can find one, will do the distance for €3-4. The weather was very nice, but the sun was blazing hot; they say that in the summer, temperatures at the port can reach 45°C or 113°F. That place does get hot..
We had dinner in Taverna Skaramagos in Karterados, just two blocks from the hotel. The house special for two was a large Greek salad, 6 deep-fried sardines, each about 6” long, French fries, and half a liter of wine for €12.
right: We ate a lot of deep-fried sardines in Santorini.
After dinner Christine managed to get the owner of hotel to drive us to Fira, where we found a bar with a wonderful view of the caldera. But it was dark already and nothing much was visible. But there was a small alcove with a TV where we watched the finals of the Eurovision Song Festival. We liked Ireland, but the winners were Finland, where the singers were dressed as monsters and trolls. We found a taxi to take us back. Christine negotiated the fare. We were in bed by 1 a.m.
The next day, for €40/person, we had purchased an all-day tour of the highlights of Santorini. The first stop was the archeological museum in Fira, which has extensive information on Akrotiri, the town south of Fira which was engulfed by pumice and ashes during the great volcanic eruption of 1640 BC. Excavations of Akrotiri showed it to be a modern town inhabited by rich merchants in multistoried buildings and with an extensive sewer system to remove waste. Recovered artifacts showed them to be highly skilled artisans; there were a huge number of beautiful Minoan pottery from 1400-1700 BC and I saw a 22” diameter decorated marble plate dating to 2200 BC. But the most well-known works of art are the well-preserved frescoes, the originals of which are now in the Archeological Museum in Athens.
left: Fresco of boxing youths from Akrotiri from about 1700 BC.
From the museum we were driven to the old harbor to board the “Galileo” a small wooden ship designed for the tourist trade, and sailed to the volcano in the middle of the caldera. It is a small island, some 3 miles in diameter, called Nea Kameni. In the blazing sun I walked to the top of this dormant volcano, which was still emitting sulfurous gases and/or hot steam through vents on the surface. The oldest rocks on this island are just 450 years old and the youngest only about 50 years. She was surely a very young baby volcano.
Galileo then sailed to the other side of the island, close to another island named Palea Kameni, where there were hot springs in the water. But because of the shallow bottom, prospective swimmers had to negotiate some 40 meters of pretty cold water before getting to the springs. Norma jumped in the water and the first thing she chattered out to us was: “It’s cold”.
right: The small dormant volcano Nea Kameni in the middle of the caldera.
Lunch was on the island of Thirassia, which is still a pretty big island about 2 miles wide and 4 miles long. In the dock area were a couple of restaurants and not too many wanted to brave the sun and trudge up the several hundred feet high cliffs to get to the town of Hora above. We had a fleeting urge to walk up to view the town, but decided very fast, that it was too much trouble.
From there we sailed to Oia, a town on the northern part of the main island to watch the sun set, together with a couple of hundred of other tourists. But Oia is also on the lip of the caldera, high up above the waters. So to get to Oia we had to climb up many steps from the harbor to get to the town, some 200 meters above. The other choice would be on a donkey for €4 per person. I walked; Norma took a donkey. It was quite a stiff climb, also for the donkeys, and you still had to climb the last steep 50’ or so section before you are able to set foot in Oia, one of the prettiest towns I have seen. White-washed block houses, colored in soft pastel tones, small churches with blue domes, cafes with inviting terraces with wonderful views, all on a steep hill with far below the dark-blue waters of the Aegean Sea. There are narrow cobblestone streets, flanked by chic boutiques, artist outlets, cafes, restaurants, vacation homes, and the usual surfeit of tourist shops.
It reminded me of St Paul de Vence in France. And almost from everywhere you can see the sea below. The weather was balmy and the skies were clear. There are cafes perched right on the side of a precipice, where they will charge you €5-10 for a simple drink to go with the view.
left: Christine on a path down in Oia.
The main idea in Oia was to watch the sunset; Norma from the top of a rooftop restaurant (€6 for an Ouzo) and I for free from the ruins of an old castle on a promontory. Her view was better although, as sunsets go, we have seen better.
right: More of Oia.
We went back to Fira by bus over the rim road and even though it was dusk, we could still see the sea. In Fira we went to Restaurant Selene for dinner. The place was very highly recommended by Frommers and we were not disappointed. They served superb haute cuisine food at reasonably prices for the area. We shared two appetizers, one main dish and one dessert. With the wine, coffee, and tip our bill was €95. But the amazing thing was that when we entered the restaurant, there were the Ericksons again. We have been bumping into this very nice couple all the time we were in Greece, starting in Ancient Olympia. We must have been using the same tour books.
The next day we were planning to rent a car and drive to ancient Thera, but we were told the archeological site, as most other archeological sites in Greece, was closed on Mondays. So we walked to Fira to take some more pictures. We took the teleferique down to the port and then up again, because there was almost nothing in the port area. In the harbor were three cruise ships at anchor, the Crystal Harmony, the Windstar, and an older cruise ship called the Golden Prince. By noon we took the bus back to Carterados. Lunch was at Skaramagos again and we were joined by Ingrid who had walked back because she could not get a taxi. Pretty soon more people from our group came by and joined us for lunch. The proprietor remembered us and welcomed us heartily.
left: Another view of Oia.
In the afternoon the proprietor of our hotel drove us to the old port, where we caught the super ferry to Crete. And as we drove by Skaramagos, the proprietor saw us and waved heartily goodbye to us.
The catamaran flew over the waters and in 2 hours and 20 minutes we landed in Iraklio in Crete. The ferry was full; we had reserved seats on this ferry; but in Greece nobody bothered.

VI: Crete (Κρήτη)

Fri, 5 May 2006 04:06:09 -0700

The bus from Hotel Ideon in Hania was there waiting for us at the port of Iraklio, the fifth largest city in Greece. It is an important commercial and trading center, but as a city it is a wasteland without much character. That is why Djoser had put us up in Hania, 120 kms to the West and 2.5 hours driving away. With 11 guests, and not in the high season, the hotel was happy to send their bus that far to pick us up.
Hotel Ideon was in suburbia about a mile away from the old city. We thought we had seen small rooms in Greece before, but this one was super small; there was hardly enough place to even put down our bags. And two steps brings you from the side of the bed into the bathroom. But the proprietor, Antonios, was very nice. That was also a reason why we saw many repeat guests from abroad in his hotel. They get the better rooms. We stayed there a few days longer than originally planned and he moved us to a much larger room on the ground floor later on.
Hania (Χανιά)
We decided to take it easy today, and after a late and leisurely breakfast we walked to the old city of Hania, also called Chania to correspond more closely to the Greek spelling. Inside the walled city the Venetian quarter is cute. In some sections the streets are old and narrow but the main activity in Hania takes place around the inner harbor, where restaurants line the space facing the harbor.
left: The inner harbor of Hania
At the back from where this picture is taken is a small center square, with more restaurants, some of them offering very tempting seafood. It is also a place where you will see lots and lots of tourists.
right: The seafood restaurants on the harbor have these nice display cases with seafood.
On the other side of the inner harbor are the pleasure boats, the private yachts, and small fishing vessels. Adjacent to this is the outer harbor and the city walls, where the Naval Museum is located. There was not much in the museum except for a small room full of seashells. But in that area are also a lot of picturesque alleyways and fine Venetian houses.
We just ambled around the friendly city, visited the large Public Market, as well as the Archeological Museum, housed in the 16th-century Venetian Church of San Francisco. Outside, the walls of the museum are braced with flying buttresses on ground level. Very unusual. On the grounds of the museum is also a Turkish fountain from the days when the church was a mosque. We had lunch in a little sidewalk cafe close to the market.
As we walked further we saw the church shown below. It has a campanile on one side and a minaret on the other side, attesting to the periods of occupation by the Venetians and by the Ottoman empire. We saw many Dutch tourists and also many young Americans who, by their behavior were probably there for R&R from their base in Iraq. They were generally very low key and were brought there and away in large buses.
right: A church with a campanile on one side and a minaret on the other side.
To the west of the city are the beaches, where most of the tourists head to. There we had a nice dinner in the Taverna Akrogiali, actually across the street from them on the sidewalk of the beach. At the end of the dinner they served us dessert and raki (a strong local drink) on the house. Actually, many places serve raki on the house and after a few tries you will be able to distinguish the good, smooth product from the raw cheap trash.
The Samaria Gorge (Φαράγγι της Σαμαριάς)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006. Today we decided to walk the Samaria Gorge. It seems that the two most important attractions in Crete are the Palace in Knossos and the Samaria gorge, which is the deepest and longest gorge in Europe. When the Germans invaded Crete during WW II, the Cretan resistance helped thousand of Australian soldiers through the gorge to the rugged south coast where evacuation vessels took them to Australia.
At 5:30 a.m. Antonios prepared breakfast for the 6 of us (he actually didn’t have to) who were walking through the gorge, i.e., the two of us, Mieke, Truida, Ingrid and Berry. It was to be the hottest day of the year so far. A bus took us to the entrance of the gorge at Xiloskala, a bit more than an hour’s drive away from the hotel. At 8:00 we entered the gorge, about 4000 feet above sea level. You want to start early because of the heat and of the distance to be traveled.
left: Entering the gorge; another 11 miles to go.
The gorge is 11.2 miles long with a drop of some 4000 feet from the entrance to the end of the gorge at sea level. The path drops down some 3000 feet in the first two miles. At the narrower parts of the gorge the steep walls go up an astounding 2000 feet on each side. The landscape is spectacular as we walked down through shady forests, past cool pools and cross river beds. We also saw a Kri Kri, a wild mountain goat indigenous to the area.
Walking was not that easy because the road keeps going down and because the stones on the mountain paths become slippery because of the thousands of people who make the trek. If this was in the US, most people would assume you are crazy to walk this distance. But here, thousands of people walk the gorge and in summer it can be very crowded on the narrow path. Unfortunately, you have to keep your eyes glued to the ground to watch the stones and the footing, so you do have to stop occasionally if you wish to admire the landscape. Every km or so there is a spring with cool mountain water where you can refill your water bottles. There a few toilets along the road. Nothing else. There are no cafes, restaurants, or commercial rest stops on the way. But we had our umbrellas with us and we made good use of them, much to the envy of others, in the treeless stretches where the hot sun beats on your head.
right: A Kri Kri, a wild goat indigenous to the area.
About one third down there is a small chapel of Agios Nikolaos, nestled amongst pines and cypresses. By that time you are getting tired and already start wondering whether we had almost reached the end of the trail. The map tells you that you have barely traversed one-third of the trail.
Halfway the route is the old hamlet of Samaria, with shady benches, more springs and toilet, but nothing else. We stopped there to have our lunch we had taken along and after a short rest started walking again. There was not much time to dawdle, especially if you cannot move fast. The brochures state that it would take 4-6 hours to traverse the gorge; it took us 7 hours to accomplish the feat, also because we slowed down to accompany Ingrid who was in pain because a few weeks ago she twisted her ankle and it had not quite healed.
Near the Sideroportes (Iron Gates), the narrowest part of the Samaria gorge.
Occasionally we would pass a somewhat official looking person with a donkey. That was the evacuation system for those who could not finish the trek. The last few miles we walked as if in a dream, putting one foot in front of the other again and again and again.
Finally we came to the end of the gorge. There were a few cafes, where we stopped for food and rest. We were dead-tired, but quite exhilarated when we finally arrived there, after having walked these 11 miles through rugged terrain. But we still had to walk another mile to get to the port of Agia Roumeli. From Agia Roumeli, you have to take the ferry or you walk back 12 miles through the gorge to get out. No other way in or out.
It took the ferry about an hour to get from Agia Roumeli to Hora Sfakion. Many people just zonked out on the ferry. At Hora Sfakion there is a road and a bus, which took us back to our hotel in Hania. We did have to wait some time before we departed, because there were the bus driver expected two more persons, who never showed up. We surmised these people must have fallen asleep in the ferry and missed the stop. Our legs were sore the next few days. We felt it was a great and unforgettable achievement, especially for Norma, who did not have good walking shoes, nor a walking stick that day, but did have her arthritis and fibromyalgia instead. There is always tylenol.
That night we had dinner at Mirobolos, on Zabelion street. The restaurant was located in a large open courtyard and there was musical entertainment; rather sad-sounding songs by two persons playing a guitar and a bouzouki.

Argyropolis (Αργηρωπολις)
The next day we got a small rental car, a Citroen C-3, for 2 days for €83, full insurance included. We made a dry run to the airport, which took us 40 minutes, because a big bus got stuck in traffic in front of us in the city. The we drove to Argyropolis, a small town in the mountains of central Crete, built on the site of the old Roman town of Lappa. There are ancient ruins but the greatest attraction are the many springs in the area. In the lower town there is water everywhere as well as little waterfalls. The largest source is a stream coming out of a natural cave in the rocks. And right there, where the water comes out, is a tiny chapel, maybe just big enough for two persons. It was almost 100℉ that day, but it was dry heat and not too uncomfortable.
right: The little chapel in the rocks of Argyropolis.
Lunch was in the “Old Mill” restaurant, or Taverna Archaia Lappa, with a waterfall on the side of the courtyard dining area. Their specialty is Tsigariasto, which is lamb, which is first stewed, then grilled. No spices, just salt. They served it with french fries.
After lunch we made a detour through the mountains, some of them as high as 6000 - 8000 feet, through narrow winding and twisting roads. There was almost no other traffic around. The whole landscape was drenched in sun and mostly green. There were many outcroppings of chalk and a few cultivated plots with grape vines and lots of oranges.
left: The “Old Mill” restaurant in Argyropolis. Note the waterfall in the background. It is actually a wall with a trough on top.
We were back in Hania by 7:30 p.m., just in time to say goodbye to the group, who was taking the night ferry back to Athens. We had elected to stay another two nights. Antonios was probably a bit embarrassed for having given us such a tiny room in the beginning, so he said that room was not available anymore but he could give us a much larger room at only €45/night, including breakfast. That was how much we had to pay for breakfast alone in the more fancier places in Europe. The room also had a kitchen sink, a stove, and a refrigerator, none of which we actually needed, but which conveyed a homely decorative touch.
We had dinner in the waterfront of the old town at Remezza. Notwithstanding Frommer’s recommendations, the place was a culinary bust. We were served a dried-out omelette and a rather tasteless pastichio. Gypsy families milled around, trying to hawk a variety of cheap merchandise. There was also a Chinese guy, carrying a huge box around with all kinds of inexpensive trinkets for sale. But the restaurant kept the hawkers away from the diners, so at least we were not bothered trying to eat the minimum so we would not starve.

Knossos (Κνωσσός)
The next day was was another hot and cloudless day. We left the hotel at 10:30 a.m. for Knossos, which is located close to Iraklion and some 150 km away on the major highway running east to west on the island. At Iraklion the turnoff to Knossos is not clearly marked but we managed to find the place anyway. We even found a semi-shady parking place not more than 50 feet from the entrance. The summer crowds have not come yet.
Professional guides await you at the entrance and for the standard fee of €10/person you can tag along with them as they explain the site. The Palace at Knossos covers an area of 200,000 square feet and is the largest and most spectacular structure from the Minoan civilization. The first palace was built probably around 1900 BC, but it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1700 BC. A more highly sophisticated palace was then built and a highly developed community lived there until the fateful volcanic eruption in 1450 BC in Thera. In the basement, jars holding olive oil toppled and caught fire from the falling oil lamps. There was a lot of wood in the palace and pretty soon fire engulfed the place. After that ash poured down on them from the volcanic eruption and covered the site for the next 3000 years. The ensuing tsunami wiped out their fleet and after that the Minoans declined into oblivion.
The first excavations were conducted in 1878 by a Cretan merchant, but in 1898, when Crete became an independent state, a law was passed whereby all antiquities became property of the state. Most archeologists did not have the funds to purchase the property until Lord Evans came and bought the land for £750,000, a huge sum in those days, and then started systematic excavations of the site. In many places he had to remove as much as 18 meters of ash to uncover the ruins of the palace. He rebuilt sections of the palace.
right: A partially reconstructed inner courtyard of the Palace at Knossos.
The buildings are constructed around a central, rectangular court, the nucleus of the whole complex. The religious area, four stories high, are to one side. Next to it are the 5-story Government or political quarters. On another side are the royal domestic quarters. And thanks to the reconstructive work of Lord Evans, you are not confronted with rubble as in many other sites, trying to determine what stood there before, but you are almost immediately able to determine what it was. And because of his work, Knossos is really special. The building had some 1400-1500 rooms and feels like a labyrinth to an outside primitive world. This may be the source of the myth of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur. Because the Minoans did worship the bull. In many places we see engraved the double axe, a sacred symbol for the Minoans. The Minoan word for double axe is “labrys”, from which the word labyrinth is derived.
left: This is a cobble-stoned area in Knossos, which may be the oldest theater in the world, and the Royal Road to the west, the first road (cobble-stoned) in Europe, flanked by workshops and the houses of ordinary citizens.
The Minoans apparently did not have slaves.
The palace had a sophisticated plumbing system. Drinking water came through terracotta pipes from the hills 7 km away. Rainwater was collected through a system of gutters into large pithois, or ceramic storage jars, for utility purposes, such as laundry. These pithois can be as high as 6 feet and it is amazing to envision how these ancients already perfected the technique to make these huge ceramic storage jars. They are used for the storage of water, grain, olive oil, and wine, and decorations outside tell you what is inside. Then there was the sewer system through which waste was transported through pipes to the sea in the north. The Minoans used alabaster extensively, a material consisting of 30 % marble and 70 % gypsum. The material could be polished to a high sheen, but over the centuries the gypsum corrodes away. The pillars in the building, painted a deep and bright brown-red, are larger in diameter on the top than on the bottom. The are made from tree trunks and mounted upside down. But the most amazing discovery are of the frescoes, painted in vivid colors showing the male Minoans to be lithe, handsome and brown-skinned. The women were beautiful and lightly skinned. They already painted their toenails and trimmed their eyebrows. They looked proud, graceful, uninhibited, had hourglass figures and were dressed in stylish gowns. The frescoes seem to convey a sense of a joyful and optimistic society.
right: a fresco of a Minoan youth.
The drive back to Hania took only two hours. The miles effortlessly flew by in the waning day. We saw Antonios at the bar and he offered us a very smooth raki on the house before we went to bed. He was a really nice guy and when I had to settle the bill he only charged us €7 for 2 internet accesses, 2 orange juices, and one tea.
The next day we woke up at 7:00 had breakfast at 8:00 and left the hotel at 8:40 for the airport. We had arranged to leave the car in the airport parking lot and we were well in time for the 30 minute Aegean Airlines flight to Athens. The fare for the flight was, including taxes, €50 per person, because we bought them through the internet several months ago. In Athens we had to wait a few hours before we caught our KLM flight to Amsterdam. The rest of the Djoser group was there in the plane with us. They were as rowdy as usual. Unfortunately, we were not able to say goodbye to Christine.
Ευχαριστώ, Καληνύχτα, Efcharisto, Kalinichta, Thank you. Good Night.