Greece Trip. Sun. 7/24/16 PM (Cruise)

What can I say about Santorini other than it was breathtaking? On official maps its name is Thira, although nobody seems to call it that. It was called Calliste, most beautiful, in ancient times. To get there our cruise ship Celestyal Olympia actually sailed over a caldera, meaning a collapsed volcano. It's still active. Santorini is actually part of a series of five islands, and one of only two that are inhabited.

Oia, a scenic village of Santorini, also known as Thira

This island has no potable water and no irrigation. There are wells, cisterns, and bottled water. Farmers manage carefully-selected and -tended crops that live on morning humidity. White grapes, for example, mostly used for wine-making, are grown very low to the ground and in a basket shape to take advantage of the morning moisture and to protect the vines from high winds. The soil itself is highly fertile and multicolored due to the island's geology. It's also prone to earthquakes. The major source of income is tourism and wine.

View from Santorini

While some friends enjoyed an excursion and swim on the surrounding islands, Don and I took a bus tour with some walking and shopping in a pretty town named Oia (pronounced EEE-ya).

A church on Santorini with its typical blue dome. Blue and white are popular colors

 Little chapels dot the island, mostly private ones from seafaring families. Barrel vaults and domes are common in construction here due to the ability to survive earthquakes. The most expensive apartments and houses are constructed from caves. Ironically, the caves were originally built by inhabitants too poor to live anywhere else, but they happen to overlook the most scenic views on the island and now fetch high prices, replete with decks and even private swimming pools.

Cave-dwellings, highly desirable places to live on Santorini

Joanna, our EF tour director, pointed out that housing, which looks similar (white and tightly packed) at a distance on Greek islands, actually varies quite a bit. Samos is "lucky" because it gets enough rain to be fairly self-supporting, producing what it needs. The roofs there have tiles to fend off rain. Other islands have flat roofs lacking tiles. Rains is scarce, and what little the islands get, inhabitants collect and keep. Santorini favors earthquake-resistant designs, as mentioned above. In some areas of Greece, rebar is fashionable, sticking out of many roofs. Taxes are lower on unfinished buildings, so inhabitants leave rebar sticking out of the concrete buildings to convince inspectors of their lack of completion.

After Oia we rode a cable-car down to the harbor to rendezvous with our ship. The ride was fun, like a slow-motion roller-coaster with splendid views for those intrepid enough to keep their eyes open. Tonight we pack for an early-morning flight back to the U.S.

The best part of this trip has been the quality-time spent with my wonderful husband, Don. We would like to come back, perhaps to go diving, definitely to visit the National Archaeological Museum at Athens, which we heard a lot about but never had the chance to visit. The islands, especially Hydra, Samos, and Santorini, beckon us back, and it would be nice to visit Ephesus in Turkey when the political situation improves there.

Don and I, here on Santorini, thoroughly enjoyed our Greek vacation and our time together

The Greeks are a spiritual people with strong ties to the Greek Orthodox Church. They love life, love fun, a party, fireworks, celebrations, and each other (friends and family). Don and I would be very happy to return there should the opportunity arise.

Speaking of opportunities, I am organizing a tour of Italy in July, 2018. Anyone interested in prices or details can click here for more information. Anyone who wants to see more pictures and videos may visit this photostream on Flickr. Opa!

Greece Trip, Sun. 7/24/16 AM (Cruise)

In the morning we stopped at Heraklion, Crete's capital, named after Heracles (Hercules), the Greek hero and demi-god who slew the beautiful, white Bull of Poseidon as one of his Twelve Labors. This bull fathered the bull-headed monster, the Minotaur, by Queen Pasiphae, the wife of Crete's King Minos, the early ruler of Crete and son of Zeus in Greek myth.

The Minotaur was trapped in a labyrinth, according to myth, until Athens' hero, Theseus, killed him with the help of Minos' daughter, Ariadne. On Crete the labyrinth, originally a word that may have meant a double ax representing the seat of double power, refers to the Palace of Knossos, the seat of a powerful, sophisticated, and influential sea-faring culture that historians call Minoan Civilization. The palace is the site of the oldest theater in Europe. The frescoes decorating the palace itself are reproductions of artwork housed in Heraklion's Archaeological Museum along with other objects and treasures. Its columns are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom and painted, giving them a liveliness lacking from later Greco-Roman columns.

Cretan bull behind typical Minoan painted columns

Model of the Palace of Knossos seems labyrinthine

Double-Axes from Crete (Hubby, Don, to show scale)

Famous artwork at Knossos include ivory snake-goddesses, bulls, bull-dancers, and bulls' horns, double axes, and griffins. Some griffins are winged, others not. The winged griffins are tethered to keep them from flying away. Also in the museum is the Phaistos Disk which contains an inscription the meaning of which is either unknown or highly controversial.

Bull-dancing fresco

Throne-room of Palace of Knossos

Wingless Griffin from Knossos

Winged Griffin is tethered so it won't fly away

Fresco of Dolphins

Female fresco from the Palace of Knossos

Gold and ivory snake-goddesses from Knossos

Europe's earliest theater

Looking for an adult group tour for July, 2018? Click here for more information.

Greece Trip, Sat. 7/23/16 (Cruise)

One nice thing about EF Tours is the ease with which it rearranges or reschedules in light of world events and U.S. State Department recommendations. We were originally scheduled to stop in Kusadasi in Turkey to visit Ephesus, but the State Department has issued travel warnings for U.S. citizens in Turkey since at least March, so EF arranged for an unadvertised stop on the lovely island of Samos, instead. It's located close to Turkey, where Greece defeated the Turks to gain independence in the 1800s. We were impressed that EF could influence the cruise line to make this adjustment for us.

EF Groups skipped Kusadasi in Turkey due to State Department travel advisories

Highlights of our visit to Samos included a tour of the ancient temple of Hera, a tour of a winery museum which included a wine tasting, and ample time on the beach. Samos is the birthplace of the influential Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, so Don was thrilled to be there and to spend time with the island's Pythagoras-monument. Prices were great on the island for those of us who went shopping, and merchants and restaurants were very welcoming. Apparently, business is down due to the migrant crisis that peaked several months ago. We saw no problems when we were there.

Monument to Pythagoras of Samos

A sailor treats his pet goats on Samos

The wine-tasting was the most popular part of the museum tour. Samos makes some famous wines, including the official communion wine of the Greek Orthodox Church

The Celestyal Olympia picked ups up on its way back from Ephesus in the afternoon. Apparently there were no problems for the passengers who disembarked there, but better safe than sorry. It took us to the island of Patmos, where St. John wrote the Book of Revelations. Don and I ate ice cream and strolled around the town before returning to the ship for supper.

Patmos is a sacred place with a beautiful harbor and a monastery up on the hill

Greece Trip, Wednesday, 7/20/16

 Today we headed to Delphi, the seat of the famous temple and oracle of Pythian Apollo, named for his slaying there of the snake-monster, Python. His priestess, Pythia, gave forth oracles that were interpreted by his priests. These were famous for always being right, because Apollo was not only the Sun, but also all-seeing Truth (and Medicine and Music and other things). Of course, the ever-correct oracles, like modern horoscopes, could be quite vague, as proven by the example of Themistocles' famous prophecy about Athens' wooden walls. Pythian games, like the Olympics but more cerebral due to the addition of poetry and music competitions, were celebrated in his honor there. Delphi was amazingly wealthy at its height, a repository not only for votive offerings but  the treasuries of various Greek city-states.

Altar and temple of Pythian Apollo in the background; the bronze spiral in the foreground is a copy of one relocated to Constantinople by the Roman Emperor Constantine

The restored "Treasury of the Athenians," for example, commemorated Athens' victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, the same event from which the racing-term "marathon" comes. Hopefully modern marathoners don't drop dead like the original runner did. Near the treasury grows some laurel, a tree sacred to Apollo. The leaves of the laurel are the familiar bay leaves found in many kitchens. Pythia may have chewed its leaves as part of the process of getting high to produce her prophecies. The metopes of this treasury featured the exploits of the famous Athenian hero, Theseus.

Restored Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi; the metope on the right shows Theseus killing the Minotaur

Laurel trees (left) grow near the Sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi, Greece

Until this visit I never knew that Delphi closed down for three months in the winter time, at least as far as Apollo was concerned. Instead, worshipers took to the local wilderness to worship Bacchus or Dionysus, the god of grapes, wine, liquid nourishment, wild animals, etc. An important relationship between the two gods is implied by Praxiteles' statue in my previous post. Our guide says their complementary worship shows the Greek love for balance between mind and body, with Apollo representing the needs of the mind, and Dionysus, those of the body. It's an interesting idea. The region today is thickly dotted by olive trees, sacred to Athena, the remains of whose temple is visible near them. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Remains of the Temple of Athena near her sacred olive trees in Delphi, Greece

Under the sacred road leading to Apollo's temple, a burial site was found. Hidden inside were treasures that corroborate ancient tales of Delphi's treasures and wealth. We found them displayed in the splendid little museum nearby. We also found a reproduction of the omphalos there, the famous bronze charioteer, and, of course, the original kylix cup, a reproduction of which I bought yesterday.

Gold burial-offerings from Delphi, Greece

Griffin gold burial-offering from Delphi, Greece

Famous bronze charioteer at Delphi

Kylix cup at Delphi illustrates the pouring of a libation (liquid offering)

Roman reproduction of the omphalos or navel-stone found at Delphi, Olympia, considered the center of the universe

On our way to Delphi we stopped at the Rion-Antirion Bridge, an engineering achievement of which the Greeks are very proud. Officially known as the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge after the statesman who advocated for its construction, it is the world's longest cable-stayed bridge. They completed it ahead of schedule and in time for the 2004 Olympics. We saw video about the effort it took to build this bridge and were rightly impressed. The fireworks the Greeks celebrated its completion with were more impressive than anything I've ever seen. Joanna told us she knows the man in charge of those fireworks, the same man who supervised the fireworks at the Olympic Games. As Joanna says, the Greeks know how to celebrate. Opa!

Rion-Antirion or Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge, the longest cable-stay bridge in the world, is in Greece

I am organizing an Italy tour in the summer of 2018.

Greece Trip, Tuesday, 7/19/16

Today we headed for Olympia on Greece's western coast. On the way we stopped at a store, Padelina, owned and operated by a Greek family that grows and processes olives. We enjoyed a highly educational olive-tasting there. Even virgin olive oils taste different, we learned, depending on the type of olive, location, and details of processing. Consumer Reports has found many imported olive oils lacking, so I wanted to take the time to find out what a fine-quality olive oil can and should taste like. There's a fusti bar, Experience Olive and Grapes, near home in Chesapeake, Virginia, so hopefully we can continue to find high-quality olive oils after we return home.

By the look on my face, I found an olive oil that tastes "just right"

Our next stop was the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, also called the Archimedes' Museum and the Museum of Ancient Greek Musical Instruments and Toys in Katakolo Port. There we saw reproductions of an assortment of amazing inventions, including the automatic theater of Philon and the robot-servant of Philon (3rd Century B.C), the hydraulic clock of Ktesibios (also 3rd Century B.C.), Hero's "aeolosphere" or steam engine, a type of ancient calculator, a couple of advanced catapults, and the world's first door alarm. The museum is privately built and owned and well worth our time. Some of the exhibits were hands-on, an aspect many of us thoroughly enjoyed. Don, who likes to tinker with gadgets and inventions, was in heaven.

The robot-servant of Philon served wine (mixed with water, of course) at dinner-parties

We checked into our hotel in Olympia, then headed for a tour of the Olympia Museum and Olympia itself, the site of the original Pan-Hellenic Games in honor of Zeus Olympios, and the inspiration for the modern Olympic Games. All the city-states of Greece ceased war and held these games to honor the gods and to compete to see who was the best at various athletic events.

Highlight of the small museum in Olympia were the Hermes of Praxitiles and clay molds with glass and other evidence of Phidias' workshop. Phidias built not only the statue of Zeus Olympios at his temple in Olympia but the statue of Athena in the Parthenon. Both of the statues are long gone, but they were well-described and famous in their day. In fact, the statue of Zeus was one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World." Hera's temple at Olympia is actually older and possibly a sign of a more matriarchal society that was later supplanted. The altar in front of the remains of Hera's temple is the site where the modern-day Olympic torch is lit even today.

Don and Zoe, a member of our group, race in the original Olympic stadium. The heat was stifling. Zoe won, but I thought Don gave it a pretty good effort for a man who's nearing sixty years of age.

Praxitiles' Hermes at Olympia. He teases baby Dionysus, probably with grapes

Clay mold and evidence of glass-making for Phidias' statue(s)

In the evening we walked around Olympia, a pleasant village with lots of shopping for us tourists. I bought a nice reproduction of a kylix, a type of ancient Greek wine-cup. Sakis Doylas made the reproduction with exquisite colors. He is very proud of his work. The original was found in a burial site and is now housed in the museum at Delphi, which we will visit tomorrow. We also visited Apollo Jewellery, whose owners were proud of the fact that a member of the family carried the Olympic torch for the 1996 games held in Atlanta. They still have the torch and like to show it off to visitors from the U.S.

Don and I pose with the Olympic torch. The owners insist Americans do this (seriously)

I am not sure of the timeline, but somewhere up to this point in the trip we visited the ancient theater of Epidaurus, famed for its perfect acoustics and careful mathematical proportions.

The Theater of Epidaurus. We tested the acoustics by clapping and by dropping a coin in the center. Amazing!

For those who are considering travel to Greece, and, indeed, to much of Europe, keep in mind the bathrooms are generally small. Very small. I worry that many Americans, who tend toward plus-sized, might not even fit in many of the showers we used on this trip. I will post some pictures so readers can see what I mean. Don kindly stands in the showers to give us a sense of size and proportion.

Don in a typical shower in Greece. Bathrooms and showers are tiny by U.S. standards

This bathroom seems small even by Greek standards, but we managed.

Want to visit Italy in July, 2018? I am organizing a tour.

Greece Trip, Monday, 7/18/16

As we checked out of our hotel in Piraeus, Don and I reflected about Greece. It seems backward to us due to a lack of potable drinking water. Perhaps because of this, the Greeks are conscious about the need to conserve and to develop clean energy sources. They conserve water out of necessity, of course, but we also saw many windmills generating clean power and solar hot water heaters on roofs almost everywhere we looked.

Windmills to generate electricity are common on windy Greek mountains and islands. These are on Samos.

My recollection of nearby Italy is of many a cool or even cold shower due to a lack of hot water, but that was never a problem for us in Greece. In fact, the shower could easily scald us if we weren't careful. Another interesting conservation device was a gadget in the hotel room that required either the hotel key or key-card to turn on the room electricity. This prevented guests from wasting electricity when out and about. Our group also had a positive encounter with Greece's socialized medicine when one member of our group briefly needed medical attention. It was efficient, effective, and free of charge.

Examples of solar hot-water system with solar panels and tanks, ubiquitous in Greece

One example of the use of a key to control and conserve electricity in a Greek hotel room.

After we checked out of our hotel in Piraeus, we traveled to the Peloponnese. It's technically still considered a peninsula, even though it has been separated from mainland Greece by the Corinth Canal. This short-cut for ships through the Isthmus of Corinth, dreamed-of since ancient times, was completed in the 1800s. Our group stopped along our journey to visit the canal and take pictures.

The Corinth Canal

Our next stop was Mycenae, the home city of King Agamemnon, famed Greek king and leader of the Greek army in the Trojan War. Like Troy, Mycenae was excavated by a German archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann. This once-mighty fortress now lies in ruins, but we took time to pause beneath the famed Lion's Gate and admire the so-called Cyclopean Rocks, so huge that legends developed that only Cyclopes, one-eyed giants, could have built Mycenae's walls.

Mycenae's Lions' Gate

We also examined burial places where treasures such as the so-called "Mask of Agamemnon" were found.

This region is famous for its clay pottery, so we stopped for a pottery lesson to create a doll inspired by an ancient bell that looks like a distant cousin of E.T.

Our clay dolls made near Mycenae

At the nearby gift shop I splurged on a silver and opal necklace that combines two traditional designs, the Greek meander with an older, Mycenean circular pattern.

My one splurge from the trip, a silver and opal necklace. Pretty!

 Don didn't buy much, but did ask the goddess, Athena, for a spin at West Coast Swing.

Don invites the goddess, Athena, for a turn at West Coast Swing

We spent our afternoon and evening in the Hotel Soleil in a village called Tolo, which sported a swimming-pool and was a short walk to a lovely beach. It was one of our favorite spots.

View from our balcony at the Hotel Soleil in Tolo, Greece

View from our hotel room at the Hotel Soleil in Tolo, Greece

I hope the beaches in Sorrento are as nice. I am organizing an Italy tour in July, 2018.

Greece Trip, Sunday, 7/17/16

Today others in our group took a free day in Athens, but our group signed up for an optional excursion, a day cruise to three Greek islands just off the coast: Hydra, the smallest and furthest away, Poros, a medium-sized island, and Aegina, the largest and closest to the city. All three are popular tourist destinations. Athenians often travel to them for getaway weekends.

The water and scenery were beautiful on our way to the islands. Here is an example.

Scenery on our day-cruise near Athens. The water really is this beautiful blue.

Hydra, the first island, was charming. No automobiles are allowed, so people travel on foot or on donkeys.

Two friends ride donkeys on Hydra

It was fun to sit in the shade and watch vacationers swim in the crystal-clear, blue water below.

Swimmers enjoy the water off the Greek island of Hydra

Poros, the medium-sized island, had more opportunities for shopping than Hydra and hotel-rooms close to the waterfront. I think Poros is where Don stopped for ice cream, which he seemed to enjoy.

Don enjoys ice cream while I sip on fresh-squeezed orange juice. Delicious!

Aegina is famous for pistachios, but Don and I didn't get to see the main island. We paid for a trip by speedboat to a smaller island and private beach which had a little bar and restaurant and secluded cove for swimming. The water was perfect. The boat trip was fun, especially on the way back when the wind picked up. Our return to the main ship was an adventure in itself.

Our secluded cove near Aegina

We all agreed this excursion was just what we needed to cool off, rest and relax after our sweltering day yesterday on Athens' Acropolis.