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and we're back!
Jul. 9th, 2007 06:12 pmGreece was amazing. I gloried in the heat and the sun (it hit 38 most days, and got as high as 42 once). In one week, I hopefully got enough heat and sun to last me the rest of an Amsterdam summer (of which today is typical: I've got on jeans and a sweatshirt and it's been thunderstorming most of the day. Grr.). If I haven't, my week in Palermo in September should serve me well.
The house we had was in Lefkakia, about 3km from Nafplio, right on the coast, about 2 hours away from Athens. The five of us (Joel, me, Joel's college friend Nate and his wife Holli, who had one the week in the house in a charity auction, and their friend Bill) rented a car so we had complete freedom -- that is, once we figured out how to drive like the Greeks. What we learned:
Stops signs are optional. Stop lights are nonexistent (until we reached Athens for our final day, we saw a total of three). The speed "limit" is really the speed "minimum" -- if the limit is 80k, it's unsafe to do less than 100k, most people are doing 120-130k, and you may find a few speeding by at 140k. Turn signals generally aren't used, but horns are, in a nice friendly way ("hey, I'm coming!). The unbroken/broken line between lanes in opposite directions means nothing when it comes to passing. You want to pass? Pull out to the left (or the right, if you want) next to the vehicle you want to pass and start going; the oncoming traffic and the vehicle you're passing will both move far enough onto the shoulder to allow you to do so. Shoulders are intended to be driven upon. Double parking is de jour, and you can park anywhere if you put your flashers on. There's no reason to distinguish between places where you parallel park and places where you angle park; it doesn't matter which you do, you'll get double parked in anyway. Find a spot and go for it. One way streets really are one way, but if you find yourself going the wrong direction on one, that's okay, you'll just get some sympathetic smiles. Most importantly, don't hesitate. Hesitation is weakness. If you let one car get in front of you, you'll let in three. If you don't take charge and just go into the five-way uncontrolled intersection, you will never pass. Oh, and when the "hair-pin turn" sign is accompanied by a triangular sign which has just an exlamation point on it, they mean it.
Driving in Greece is fun. :)
And we did a lot. Monday we spent the day in and around Nafplio, but Tuesday we got up early and went to ancient Olympia. Holli's Michelin directions said it would be about 2.5 hours. Well, it was something more like 4. We never did figure out how to navigate through Argos, and the little back highway through the central mountains across the Peloponesse peninsula was definitely an experience. I've never seen so many road-side shrines. Wednesday we stayed relatively close to home: ancient Tiryns, Mycenae, and Epidauros. Thursday was another early morning and long trip, up to Delphi. On the route out, we crossed the peninsula and then took the west coast up past Patra where we took the bridge over the Corinthian Gulf (for a toll of €10.90!). On the way back, we made a big circle around the other direction, driving back around towards Greece and then south from Corinth. We did that so we could stop at Caironea (sp?) where Philip of Macedon had erected a monument to the Theban Sacred Band, whom he basically decimated in the final battle which led to him taking over Greece. We drove down the plains of Boetia, where the battle was fought, and even saw the stream which featured in it. The monument had been lost for many centuries, and then discovered and lost again a few times in the 19th century before being excavated and restored fairly recently. It now stands right on the edge of the road and is incredibly impressive; it's a big stone lion on a plinth, with his head turned to face Thebes.
Friday we tossed around a couple of ideas of things to do (I really wanted to go to Mystras; Joel had suggested a funincular rail trip through one of the deepest gorges in the mountains), but we ended up just bumming around Nafplio and environs, which was probably a good thing, because we'd been walking quite a few miles a day (sometimes unfortunately between 12 and 2, which really is siesta time when everyone is supposed to be sleeping), quite often both up hill and in high elevation, staying up until midnight and getting up around 6am, driving a lot (I'm so glad we ended up with the mini van -- because the car we'd been slated to have had been in an accident!), and generally being very busy, so a day of rest was nice.
Nate, Holli, and Bill's flight back to the US (or rather, Amsterdam, and then to London, and then Atlanta, and then Minneapolis) left Athens at gosh-awful early Sunday morning, so we decided to spend Saturday in Athens. We got to the acropolis to find out that it was closed that day and the next, because the union of archaeological and museum workers was on strike. This was somewhat disappointing, but not as much as it could have been. For one, quite a bit of the acropolis is currently closed to the public as they complete an exhibition, so we wouldn't have been able to see everything anyway. Two, of all the places we went, it's most likely that we'll be back in Athens again someday. Three, much of what was along the foothills of the acropolis wasn't closed, and between that and some of the other hills which encircle it, we found plenty to occupy ourselves. After a late lunch, a short siesta, and then some drinks (I had this wonderful creation of chocolate, ice cream, chocolate syrup, and ice), the three of them decided to just head out to the airport early and see if they could fly standby. That left Joel and I to our devices for the rest of the day, so we took a siesta in earnest and then figured we had enough light left before dinner (dinner is at 9pm in Greece) that we'd walk over to the Roman agora, since it looked both small and close.
Our flight didn't leave until Sunday evening, so the next morning we went to the Greek agora, and then to the Roman one (to actually go in; it was closed when we went the night before) after lunch. By then it was getting really hot, and we were finally tired of walking around in the heat and the dust, so we got our bags and took the metro out to the airport, where we eventually had a noneventful flight home, soon after which we were greated by some very happy cats.
The food was wonderful; we could usually get 2-3 appetizers, entrees for all, and wine, for about €10 each. The beaches were fun (my first time swimming in salt water! I almost float!) -- though we did have a laugh. There was a warning sign at the first beach we went to: "Avoid rocks into the sea. You may erect your skin". The best we could extract from this is that there may be sharp rocks in the water. Well, Joel and I found out later what it really meant. There were a few large rocks a few meters in to the water (you could go quite some ways out and I could still stand flat-footed; it was really shallow), and on the rocks were sea anemones. Of course, since this was our first time in salt water, neither of us realized that that's what they were until we realized, gosh, wow, those are nasty looking welts on our arms and legs, look at them swell, and gosh! that's fairly painful and stinging. So we came away with some pretty flashy anemone bites (for lack of a better word), but thankfully none of them were particularly severe, and after a day or two the swelling went mostly down (though even now you can still see all the broken blood vessels under the skin).
Of all the places we went (and we have lots of pictures: Joel took probably close to 1000, and Bill is an extremely skilled photographer with all the right equipment, so he'll have lots of fantastic shots), my favorites were Tiryns and Caironea. I liked Tiryns because it was small enough you really got a feel for what it must've been like to live there. That, and it was also the only site that we were the only people at, which really made the entire experience neater. At Caironea, I found the monument to the Thebans really rather emotional. At a lot of the other ruins we'd been at, there had been some pieces which had been partially restored, so that you'd get an idea of what things were like back then (and even one step further: the theatre at Epidauros is fully functional and they have shows there on Fridays and Saturdays, and they're working on restoring the stadium there in hopes to eventually allow high schools to come in and have athletic meets there, which is really cool). But it was different with the monument. It was restored not so we could "see what it was like back then", but it was restored to be a monument to the dead Thebans. The whole point of a monument is to be a testamony to the ages: And this is. You see it, and you think not "Wow, this is some old piece of statue work which has been restored" but "Wow, this is in honor of this band of warriors who fought so well that even though they were on the losing side the victor put up a monument in their memory." It was a strange, touching feeling, seeing that.
But it's good to be done with our traveling (at least for me: Joel has 10 days at home before he's off again). Time to settle down, get back to work, and enjoy our kitties.
The house we had was in Lefkakia, about 3km from Nafplio, right on the coast, about 2 hours away from Athens. The five of us (Joel, me, Joel's college friend Nate and his wife Holli, who had one the week in the house in a charity auction, and their friend Bill) rented a car so we had complete freedom -- that is, once we figured out how to drive like the Greeks. What we learned:
Stops signs are optional. Stop lights are nonexistent (until we reached Athens for our final day, we saw a total of three). The speed "limit" is really the speed "minimum" -- if the limit is 80k, it's unsafe to do less than 100k, most people are doing 120-130k, and you may find a few speeding by at 140k. Turn signals generally aren't used, but horns are, in a nice friendly way ("hey, I'm coming!). The unbroken/broken line between lanes in opposite directions means nothing when it comes to passing. You want to pass? Pull out to the left (or the right, if you want) next to the vehicle you want to pass and start going; the oncoming traffic and the vehicle you're passing will both move far enough onto the shoulder to allow you to do so. Shoulders are intended to be driven upon. Double parking is de jour, and you can park anywhere if you put your flashers on. There's no reason to distinguish between places where you parallel park and places where you angle park; it doesn't matter which you do, you'll get double parked in anyway. Find a spot and go for it. One way streets really are one way, but if you find yourself going the wrong direction on one, that's okay, you'll just get some sympathetic smiles. Most importantly, don't hesitate. Hesitation is weakness. If you let one car get in front of you, you'll let in three. If you don't take charge and just go into the five-way uncontrolled intersection, you will never pass. Oh, and when the "hair-pin turn" sign is accompanied by a triangular sign which has just an exlamation point on it, they mean it.
Driving in Greece is fun. :)
And we did a lot. Monday we spent the day in and around Nafplio, but Tuesday we got up early and went to ancient Olympia. Holli's Michelin directions said it would be about 2.5 hours. Well, it was something more like 4. We never did figure out how to navigate through Argos, and the little back highway through the central mountains across the Peloponesse peninsula was definitely an experience. I've never seen so many road-side shrines. Wednesday we stayed relatively close to home: ancient Tiryns, Mycenae, and Epidauros. Thursday was another early morning and long trip, up to Delphi. On the route out, we crossed the peninsula and then took the west coast up past Patra where we took the bridge over the Corinthian Gulf (for a toll of €10.90!). On the way back, we made a big circle around the other direction, driving back around towards Greece and then south from Corinth. We did that so we could stop at Caironea (sp?) where Philip of Macedon had erected a monument to the Theban Sacred Band, whom he basically decimated in the final battle which led to him taking over Greece. We drove down the plains of Boetia, where the battle was fought, and even saw the stream which featured in it. The monument had been lost for many centuries, and then discovered and lost again a few times in the 19th century before being excavated and restored fairly recently. It now stands right on the edge of the road and is incredibly impressive; it's a big stone lion on a plinth, with his head turned to face Thebes.
Friday we tossed around a couple of ideas of things to do (I really wanted to go to Mystras; Joel had suggested a funincular rail trip through one of the deepest gorges in the mountains), but we ended up just bumming around Nafplio and environs, which was probably a good thing, because we'd been walking quite a few miles a day (sometimes unfortunately between 12 and 2, which really is siesta time when everyone is supposed to be sleeping), quite often both up hill and in high elevation, staying up until midnight and getting up around 6am, driving a lot (I'm so glad we ended up with the mini van -- because the car we'd been slated to have had been in an accident!), and generally being very busy, so a day of rest was nice.
Nate, Holli, and Bill's flight back to the US (or rather, Amsterdam, and then to London, and then Atlanta, and then Minneapolis) left Athens at gosh-awful early Sunday morning, so we decided to spend Saturday in Athens. We got to the acropolis to find out that it was closed that day and the next, because the union of archaeological and museum workers was on strike. This was somewhat disappointing, but not as much as it could have been. For one, quite a bit of the acropolis is currently closed to the public as they complete an exhibition, so we wouldn't have been able to see everything anyway. Two, of all the places we went, it's most likely that we'll be back in Athens again someday. Three, much of what was along the foothills of the acropolis wasn't closed, and between that and some of the other hills which encircle it, we found plenty to occupy ourselves. After a late lunch, a short siesta, and then some drinks (I had this wonderful creation of chocolate, ice cream, chocolate syrup, and ice), the three of them decided to just head out to the airport early and see if they could fly standby. That left Joel and I to our devices for the rest of the day, so we took a siesta in earnest and then figured we had enough light left before dinner (dinner is at 9pm in Greece) that we'd walk over to the Roman agora, since it looked both small and close.
Our flight didn't leave until Sunday evening, so the next morning we went to the Greek agora, and then to the Roman one (to actually go in; it was closed when we went the night before) after lunch. By then it was getting really hot, and we were finally tired of walking around in the heat and the dust, so we got our bags and took the metro out to the airport, where we eventually had a noneventful flight home, soon after which we were greated by some very happy cats.
The food was wonderful; we could usually get 2-3 appetizers, entrees for all, and wine, for about €10 each. The beaches were fun (my first time swimming in salt water! I almost float!) -- though we did have a laugh. There was a warning sign at the first beach we went to: "Avoid rocks into the sea. You may erect your skin". The best we could extract from this is that there may be sharp rocks in the water. Well, Joel and I found out later what it really meant. There were a few large rocks a few meters in to the water (you could go quite some ways out and I could still stand flat-footed; it was really shallow), and on the rocks were sea anemones. Of course, since this was our first time in salt water, neither of us realized that that's what they were until we realized, gosh, wow, those are nasty looking welts on our arms and legs, look at them swell, and gosh! that's fairly painful and stinging. So we came away with some pretty flashy anemone bites (for lack of a better word), but thankfully none of them were particularly severe, and after a day or two the swelling went mostly down (though even now you can still see all the broken blood vessels under the skin).
Of all the places we went (and we have lots of pictures: Joel took probably close to 1000, and Bill is an extremely skilled photographer with all the right equipment, so he'll have lots of fantastic shots), my favorites were Tiryns and Caironea. I liked Tiryns because it was small enough you really got a feel for what it must've been like to live there. That, and it was also the only site that we were the only people at, which really made the entire experience neater. At Caironea, I found the monument to the Thebans really rather emotional. At a lot of the other ruins we'd been at, there had been some pieces which had been partially restored, so that you'd get an idea of what things were like back then (and even one step further: the theatre at Epidauros is fully functional and they have shows there on Fridays and Saturdays, and they're working on restoring the stadium there in hopes to eventually allow high schools to come in and have athletic meets there, which is really cool). But it was different with the monument. It was restored not so we could "see what it was like back then", but it was restored to be a monument to the dead Thebans. The whole point of a monument is to be a testamony to the ages: And this is. You see it, and you think not "Wow, this is some old piece of statue work which has been restored" but "Wow, this is in honor of this band of warriors who fought so well that even though they were on the losing side the victor put up a monument in their memory." It was a strange, touching feeling, seeing that.
But it's good to be done with our traveling (at least for me: Joel has 10 days at home before he's off again). Time to settle down, get back to work, and enjoy our kitties.
