Athens, part one

Our first hotel in Athens was right by the archaeological museum. From our balcony we could see the Parthenon in the distance over the urban sprawl.

We had more time than we expected before our first boat, so we went to the museum. It was great to see things I had learned about in school, like this bronze sculpture of Poseidon.

Other Greek art was a bit more unusual, like this design on a pot. Ancient Greeks loved the swastika.

I loved the pottery, but I'll spare you the enthusiastic ramblings I subjected Sofia to. Still, how can you not dig this?

Most of the sculpture has been worn down and weathered, so it looks austere and classical. When they were new, statues would have been painted and had stones or jewels in their eyes.

Ferries, part one

After a short stay in Athens, we took to the sea on a journey to Patmos. Athens is a big, spread-out city. The Acropolis is on a hill near the center of this picture.

We discovered that overnight ferries can save money on hotels. Sofia says she doesn't care about sunsets, but don't they look good as a backdrop?

But after the sun goes down, sleeping in the economy ("deck") class on a ferry can be a drag, and the smiles disappear.

Patmos

Patmos is an island in the Dodecanese group. It was our first island stop, and I was a bit unsure what to think of it at first. Looking back, I see that it is pretty laid back tourist-wise. Like every island we saw, it is beautiful.

Patmos's biggest claim to fame is that St. John wrote the Apocalypse there. The island is called the Jerusalem of the Aegean, and is heavy with Christian mythology. In this mosaic, St. John is shown in a cave dictating the story of the end of the world.

The actual cave where the Apocalypse was written is part of the white building in the middle of this picture. The monastery atop the hill was built around 1100 AD to honor St. John. It is said to be so fort-like to thwart pirates.

We visited the cave, but picture taking was forbidden. The monastery had some amazing Byzantine art on the walls and ceilings.

The monastery is surrounded by a sprawling, twisting maze of streets with narrow alleys and stairs everywhere. The town is called Hora, but the name is a generic one for a main town. Here, I chill with a donkey. I think this was an actual working, non-tourist-carrying donkey, as we saw hardly any tourists in Hora.

We also saw some drying octopuses. I ate my share of these guys during the trip. Greek seafood is very tasty.

Ferries, part two

More night ferry travel. We didn't board this one until 1:30 AM. Dawn found us in Rhodes.

Rhodes

Rhodes is a bigger island than Patmos, with a number of villages and towns. We started in Rhodes Town, Old Town, to be specific. It is a walled city that retains traces of settlements from ancient times up to the present, with 2500 years of architecture visible.

The fortification is massive and includes a 12-meter thick wall, a moat, and an outer wall: A testament to the years of conflict this place has seen. We could see Turkey from Rhodes.

An Italian palace in the old town is filled with mosaics taken from the near-by island of Kos. Here, you meet the gaze of a Gorgon. Are you turned to stone?

One of the medieval alleys that constitute the bulk of passageways in the old town. It was hard to believe that people actually lived modern lives here, but off the main tourist strip we could peek in windows and see families eating together, watching TV, and somehow managing to be normal. Note the scooters, a preferred mode of transport in Greece and a threat to gawking pedestrians like us.

Mosques in town attest to periods of Turkish rule.

We took a day trip to the village of Lindos. It was the most important Ancient Greek site on Rhodes. The acropolis--a generic term for "high city"--had magnificent views but had been picked clean by archaeologists in the early 1900s. Since the Ottomans were in control and the archaelogists were Danish, the artifacts from Lindos are now mainly in Istanbul and Copenhagen.
Our hotel in old town was very pretty.


On more than one island we saw street performers in some crazy native american costumes, mixing South American pan flutes with North American Plains Indian garb. The tourists ate it up! (The stereotype of the sunburnt Northern European on a Greek beach holiday is not far from the truth; some of the islands had a tacky Florida vibe in parts.)

Ferries, part three

Our modern-day Odysseus continues the Aegean journey. Minus cyclopses. And any real hardships to speak of. Plus his wife.

On the way to Crete, our boat made a stop at Halki. This island had the sinlge prettiest Greek Island Village that I saw. The picture is blurry, I know, but the majesty is still there. Our guide book sets the population of this town at 52. The local sponge industry crashed years ago, and lots of those pretty buildings are empty and crumbling.

So beautiful I'm giving you another dose. Halki.

Crete

Room with an ocean view. In Iraklio, the biggest city on Crete, we were literally across the road from the sea.

A view into Iraklio's harbor from our room's balcony. Note the rough surf. This is foreshadowing.

The main reason we went to Crete was to see the Minoan ruins at Knossos. Reconstructions show the characteristic tapering columns of the Minoans.

Much of the site is in ruin, and even the broken walls are rebuilt. The main archaeologist who worked here in the early 1900s, Sir Arthur Evans, is credited with some fanciful interpretations of what the place looked like in its prime.

Despite uncertainty about Knossos, experiencing the Minoan history was worth the trip. This is the setting for the Greek myth of the minotaur and the labyrinth. As far as we could tell, there was no evidence of a labyrinth, but the Minoans did venerate the bull. A sculpture in the Iraklio museum.

A Minoan vase. I really like ancient pottery. You should ask Sofia about it.

Excursion planning. We took a day trip to a town in western Crete called Rethymno (or Rethimno, the latinate spellings are not standardized). Crete was one of my favorite places we went. It is so big--the biggest of the Greek Isles--and has such a big population that it has a functioning economy independent of tourism. It felt more real that way.

It is also fabulously beautiful. All the islands we saw were quite mountainous, but the Cretan mountains were among the most impressive. From the bus window.

Rethymno has a lot of Venetian architecture. One of the most impressive things about Greece was the depth of the history. Some places on Crete, for example, had remnants of neolithic settlements covered by Cycladic settlements covered by Ancient Greek, then Roman, then Byzantine, then Venetian, then Ottoman settlements.

The Venetian streets were crumbling, giving the place a kind of creepy Don't-Look-Now vibe, especially off of the tourist strips. But I guess you can't get too creepy with blue skies and a blazing sun.

Back in Iraklio, we had more time to spare than we expected, so we walked around the city some more. Greek food was usually good. Here in a butcher's display you can see sheep's heads, rabbits, and some goat testicles. Yummmm!

We also saw some street life. Some conflicts in Greece have even deeper roots than the Greek v. Turk rivalry.

All this walking was starting to wear us down. Sofia's feet reacted in a most freakish manner. Such veins!

But we found ways to soothe OUR dogs.

Ferries, part four

Remember those rough seas outside our Crete Hotel? Well, the reason we had extra time in Crete was that our boat to our next stop was cancelled. We were supposed to take one of the high-speed catamarans that cruise the Aegean, but they can't tolerate too many big waves. We should have made offerings to Poseidon when we saw him in the museum in Athens.

So instead we had to rush and find another way to travel. Don't believe the claims on the side of the boat. These giant ferries, which we used for all our travel, are reliable even in higher seas, but they are universally called "slow boats." The trip that should have taken 1 hour and 45 minutes took 19 hours! We had to take a crazy route: back to Athens and then out to Santorini.

The ferry to Santorini was nice but the Deck Class, which provided a reclining Pullman seat on other ferry lines, was really deck class on annoying Blue Star ferries. On the Minoan Line ferry, by contrast, we could lay down and sleep on a row of reclining, cushioned seats.

At least on our long ferry trip we got to see islands that weren't on our itinerary. Here is lovely Naxos. This is the island where Theseus, slayer of the minotaur, allegedly abandoned Ariadne after she betrayed her father, King Minos, and helped Theseus escape. Ouch!

Santorini and Oia

We made it to Santorini a day late, but this island is so spectacular that almost any hardship would be worth enduring to get here. The town where we were staying is called Oia. Like a number of towns on Santorini, it is perched on a cliff's edge.

The view from Oia. Those white parts on the distant cliffs are other villages.

Santorini is a huge volcano that exploded around 1600 BC. Some people say it gave rise to the Atlantis legend. The explosion blew the center of the island away, leaving a partial ring. It was the biggest volcanic eruption in recorded history. It caused tidal waves that slammed into Crete, perhaps part of the reason the Minoan civilization there collapsed.

Oia is simply picture-postcard beautiful. Day...

...and night.

This is the veranda of our villa in Oia. The apartment was built into a cave in the hillside. (A shout-out to Leo and Christina for turning us on to this place!)

Perhaps the best view from any kitchen window in the world. It certainly beats the oil change place behind our apartment in Queens.