Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Ferries & two Camels

As we return on our flight to Seattle, it is time for reflection and an opportunity to relive this trip. It is pretty difficult to remember all of the things we have done, places visited, and the people we have met, but the 5,044 photos we took bring the memories flooding back.

The bare statistics give a glimpse at the physical elements of the trip, but none of the adventures. This trip included four continents, five countries, seven islands, ten time zones, fifteen flights totaling 17,050 air miles, ferries to four separate destinations, two boat excursions, travel on two subway systems, four rental cars that traveled close to two thousand miles in Turkey and Greece, twelve separate hotels, and a ride into the Sahara desert on camels. For those of you who remember Camel cigarettes with the picture of the camel on the front, the pyramids in the background, and the catch phrase “I would walk a mile for a camel” - being on a camel, riding a mile into the desert was like magically being inserted into the cigarette package. Of course riding a camel is not exactly the same as riding in an Aston Martin, both modes of transportation will take you places, but the ride is probably a bit smoother in the Aston.

Will & Kate’s Aston parked in front of our hotel in Athens

While Starbuck’s Coffee is a common in many places around the world, we only saw one closed store on the island of Rhodes at the beginning of our trip, and then one in Athens close to our hotel at the end of the trip. In every Greek village the local taverna is the meeting place for men, and some younger women, who sit for hours drinking Greek coffee, playing backgammon, smoking (always smoking), and talking; it is actually a good place for a light meal at a reasonable price, and with many offering free wifi, a decent place to catch up on the home front.. With many trips to Polichnitos, we got to know some of the locals at the taverna, and throughout our travels frequented many tavernas for lunch.

On our last day in Athens we decided to visit the Starbucks close to the hotel, we were greeted in Greek by George the barista (no idea what his real name is); through our travels we have learned a few basic Greek words along with Turkish and Arabic so I was able to discern some of what he said. Actually he was kidding us; he wanted to know where we were from and of course when we said Seattle, he got quite excited. George wanted to know how long we were in Greece where we had gone and what we saw. This is pretty typical of the Greeks and for that matter anyone we met during our travels, very personable, genuine people who are interested in people they meet. One thing to remember about Greek or Turkish coffee is it served in a cup the size of a large thimble and always with glass of water to wash down the residue of coffee grounds in the bottom. After getting used to coffee served in this manner, it was quite a shock to receive a full cup of Starbucks coffee in a mug the size of a gallon can!

George asked us when we would return to Greece so he could take us to some of the other islands and as we were getting ready to depart he gave us two Starbucks, Athens souvenir demitasse cups as a gift.

‘George’ the Athens barista

As we look back on this trip, the places we visited were spectacular, walking inside the Great Pyramid into the Grand Gallery, or riding a camel into the desert was always something to imagine, not really do! Standing at the entrance to the Parthenon or walking along the same path as Socrates and Plato still seems unreal. In 2012, we will watch the lighting of the Olympic torch in Ancient Olympia, where we stood in 2011, and remember Alkidiviades Siliopoulis who carried the torch in 2004.

But above all, we will remember the kindness of the people we met on this trip; people in the family hotels who were actually concerned about our comfort and well being, not just an employee trained to be considerate. We lived among the Greeks, learned of their culture, participated in their family events and in a way became part of their family. Even in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul where there is great competition to sell their goods, we were taken in by a shop owner who had tea brought in for us, patiently explained the difference between quality and ‘tourist’ merchandise, and taught us to make Turkish coffee.

Unfortunately, not everything was good, being surrounded by revolutions in six Mideast countries, and to watch the final chapter of Osama Bin Laden unfold brought a stark reality to life in 2011.

Before we left the US, many people cautioned us about travel to Turkey and Egypt but what we found was the exact opposite, people who would make sure we were safe and sound. Through all our travels around the world we have experienced the kindness and goodwill of people. The language may be different, but the people are all the same. It is such a shame that countries continue to bring war against others. Starting with Cain and Able, the wars continue and it does not seem possible to stop this behavior, citizens of each country are indoctrinated to believe their country is the best in the world and all other countries are their enemies.

Hate is a potent force and unfortunately tyrants and politicians use it effectively to stay in power while their people suffer and die. None of the people we have ever met want war or harbor hatred, so why is the world always in turmoil with the common man used as a pawn, willing to be sacrificed by their government?

Rodney King said it best “why can’t we all just get along”.

The Parthenon

Tuesday morning, in a light rain, we went for a walk in Athens. Not far from our hotel is the giant stadium built for the 2004 Olympic track and field events and just down the road are the remains of the huge temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. The temple was the largest in Greece, larger than a football field and 80' high; work on the temple took over 650 years to complete, interrupted by tyrants being overthrown, with the Romans eventually completing the task in AD131.

Along the path to the Acropolis is the Greek Parliament Building, the Presidential Palace, Tomb of Unknown Soldier, and National Gardens. The Acropolis, which is visible from many parts of Athens, was in the ancient past simply a walled compound used for defense of the city. As the centuries went by, fortification walls were built to protect Athens and the Acropolis changed to being a sacred place to worship the gods. Numerous temples were built on top of the rock before the Parthenon construction started in 447 BC.

Today, the main structures on top or around the Acropolis are the Beule Gate, Propylia (grand entrance)' Temple of Athena Nike, The Erechtheion, Theatre of Herodes Atticus, Theatre of Dionysos, and of course, the Parthenon along with a number of minor structures. The Parthenon is one of the world's most recognized buildings with 2500 years of history, the fact it remains today after all these centuries is simply amazing. Built on a 9:4 ratio to make the temple completely symmetrical, visual tricks were used to counteract the laws of perspective; the building is slightly arched both in length and width to make the columns look straight. The temple was reasonably intact until the Venetian siege of 1687 when it was bombarded by cannon-fire. The structure is constantly being renovated or repaired to maintain stability of the remaining elements, many of the carvings have been removed for protection and are displayed in various museums.

The view from the Acropolis hill is truly breathtaking, not far away is the Filopappos Hill which is the highest point in Athens at 482', below, the sprawling city of Athens is visible along with numerous ancient monuments, churches and other structures. We were fortunate that it had rained during the night and breeze helped to clear away the haze so we had nice views as we walked up the hill to the Parthenon, and magnificent views all around the city.

After walking back down from the Acropolis, we stopped at the new Acropolis Museum that was recently completed. This museum houses treasures found during excavation work, plus statues and ornamental pieces from the various buildings. During construction of the museum parts of the ancient city were unearthed, now the entire area under the building is being excavated to reveal large sections of ancient buildings. Eventually, this area will be open to the public after the preservation work is complete.

On the north side of the Acropolis are ruins from both ancient Greece and Roman periods, sometimes mixed together. Just below the Acropolis is the ancient Greek Agora (marketplace), in one corner is an unusual octagonal tower built in the 1st century BC, designed as a water clock and weather vane; still in remarkable condition on each side are friezes personifying the eight winds. In another corner of the Agora is the Fethiye Mosque built in the late 15th century to mark the visit of Mehmet The Conqueror to Athens. The library of Hadrian was built in AD132 close to the site of the ancient Greek Agora. This massive library measured 387, X 256' and contained a garden with a pool, and various smaller rooms.

Not far from this site is the the ancient Greek/Roman Agora which was the political heart of Athens from 600 BC. Democracy was practiced in the Council and law courts, Socrates was indicted and executed here in 399 BC. This huge site has been excavated and the large Stoa of Attalos (roofed arcade) was rebuilt in 1955. While most of the site is foundations from ancient buildings, one of the best preserved temples in Greece (Hephaisteion) built in 449BC is located on the West side of the area. Also well preserved is the Panagia Gorgoepikoos church built in 1000 AD. Our final stop of the day was at Keramekios, an ancient cemetery used since the 12th century BC. On our trek back to the hotel which was about 3 miles away, we walked through the flea market and bazaar areas the streets lined with shops selling everything from hardware to fine clothing.

One of the most difficult aspects of visiting all of these ancient sites is trying to remember all the gods and deities associated with ancient Greece. Unless an avid student of mythology, it is impossible to keep track of all the myths and gods associated with the various buildings, temples, etc. My head is still swimming with all that we have seen and trying to keep track of all the different places is making me tired.

Delphi, Part Two

Our hotel in Delphi (Fedriades) was located on the cliff above the valley below, approximately one-half mile form the ancient site of Delphi. Looking out of the window in the early morning revealed a valley spread below with farms and looking out to the sea, the village of Itea. The air was crisp and clean in this alpine type village close to the center of the ancient world. As the story goes, Zeus released two eagles at opposite ends of the world, when they met it was directly over Delphi which became one of the most important religious ares in the Greek world.

We drove to the archeological site and started our tour with a visit to the museum which houses many important finds excavated from the site. The statures, religious objects, and other artifacts help to paint a picture of what this site was 3000 years ago. Reconstructions of the site and models help to visualize the magnificence of the this ancient religious area. After the museum we walked up the hill into the remains of Delphi, as a religious site, this was truly astounding and in the early centuries was visited by people from all of Greece where they placed offerings, built monuments and thanked the gods for their successes.

Upon leaving Delphi we drove along the coast and into the country toward Athens about 150 km on two lane roads, through small villages, and finally to the toll road toward the airport. The closer we got to Athens, the more traffic increased until finally we found the exit to airport, dropped the car and walked to the metro for the train ride to our hotel. The Metro is an easy way to get to the heart of the city, it is fairly new and the is gradually being expanded, with the new airport located some 20 km from the city center, the metro is a fast, inexpensive way to travel. Tuesday we start to explore the city.

Delphi, Part 1

Sunday morning dawned with a slight overcast and the car was covered with raindrops, but no rain in the forecast for the day. We departed Ancient Olympia on the New National Road to Patra then over the Rio-Antirro bridge which spans the Gulf of Corinth at Patra, on to the Greek mainland from the Peloponnese. On the way we stopped at the Chlemoutsi Castle, the most famous Frankish castle in Greece, built between 1219 and 1223. The road up to the castle wound through the typical narrow streets around curves and up the hill, unfortunately when we arrived, the castle was closed for May 1, a national holiday, even though the sign says the castle is open on holidays. Sigh, so we walked around took pictures of the massive walls and then got back on the road to the mainland.

The road was in fairly good condition, one lane each way with a shoulder in most places; as with all driving in Greece, the locals can not be behind anyone and must pass on curves, in no passing zones, through towns and intersections, normally exceeding the speed limit by at least 40+ kmh. So, along the New National Road most people drive on the shoulder so the impatient drivers can pass in the normal driving lane all the time keeping an eve on upcoming bridge abutments, stopped cars and people on the road. Let's just say, attention is of the utmost importance to stay out of trouble. But then, after all the driving in Greece and Turkey, I am almost Greek; returning to US roads will require some behavior modification.

The Rio-Antirro bridge is not only beautiful but an engineering masterpiece. It is the second longest cable stay bridge in the world, was built under difficult conditions and must withstand tsunamis, seismic events and the tectonic plate expansion between the two shores. I have attached a link and also a photo of the bridge. It was quite windy as we crossed over in the narrow strait, but this bridge significantly reduces the travel time and eliminated the need for ferries.

We drove along the shore toward Delphi, the coastline was indeed stunning with small villages, islands and beaches along the 90 km stretch before reaching Delphi. Of course, the final length of road to Delphi is up the mountain on narrow winding roads which deliver you into the town with even narrower roads. Delphi is literally built on the side of a mountain and was considered the center of the earth to the Greeks. It flourished from the 8th century until the Romans abolished the oracle in AD393 with the Christianization of the Byzantine Empire.

Since the museum and archeological site were closed today, we visited a portion of the site known as the Marmaria precinct and the temple of Athena. On Monday we will take time in the morning to see the rest of Delphi, then drive back to Athens for our final three days in Greece.

The Peloponnese

On Thursday night we departed Lesvos on the Hellenic ferry Nissos Chios for Athens. The ferry departed at 10:00 PM and arrived in Athens at 06:30 AM. As I mentioned in an earlier post, these ferries are very nice with sleeping cabins, staterooms, lounges and airplane type seats. Yiannis took us to the dock and we parted with fond farewells and promises to return to Lesvos. He presented us with a beautiful cup and saucer set from Lesvos as a remembrance. We will certainly miss the family and the nice times we spent on the island.

Upon arrival in Athens, the ship was parallel parked in a tight space at the dock in Piraeus which is pretty amazing when you consider the ship is 462' long, has a capacity for 1715 passengers and 418 vehicles! Piraeus is the largest port in Greece and the third largest in the world servicing approximately 20 million passengers each year, so ships are docked very close together. After our arrival we found the metro, paid our 14 Euros and rode to the airport where we rented a car. We rented the car from the airport to avoid driving through Athens since a major motorway leaves from the airport and goes directly to Corinth on the Peloponnese peninsula.

The Peloponnese peninsula history goes back at least 5,000 years with many major archeological sites including Ancient Corinth, Mycenae, Ancient Nemea, and Ancient Olympia among others. It would be easy to spend weeks exploring these archeological sites and museums. We started at Ancient Corinth which had a population of 750,000 and was very important as a shipping port
for the Romans. The Peloponnese peninsula is connected to the Greece mainland by a strip of land only 4 miles long. In ancient times sailing around the southern tip of the peninsula was dangerous because of frequent storms so ships would often be unloaded and hauled over land along the narrow strip of land. Nero wanted to dig a canal along the strip but it was not until the late1800's that the French dug a canal 75' wide to connect the Aegean and Ionian Seas. Now, the canal is only wide enough for smaller ships.

Excavations at Ancient Corinth and Acrocorinth have yielded significant finds from the past 2000 years. Acrocorinth is a fortified citadel perched high above the city, on a mountain contains three miles of walls and has been occupied by successive occupying powers since Roman times.
Excavations at the ancient city of Corinth have revealed the vast extent of the city destroyed by earthquakes in Byzantine times. St. Paul wrote two Epistles to the Corinthians criticizing their licentious living practices.

Our next stop was Ancient Olympia, one of the most important cites in all of ancient Greece where Zeus was worshiped, and for over 3500 years athletic games were practiced. Although the site was inhabited in 3000BC, the establishment of the Olympic Games in 776 BC is traditionally treated as the first certain event in Greek history. The Roman Emperor Nero competed in the events in AD 67 unfairly rescheduling the games and 'won' the most prizes. The modern revival of the games came in 1896 when they were held in Athens, today the Olympic flame is ignited at Olympia and then carried around the world.

The road system in mainland Greece is very modern with high speed toll roads and secondary roads in excellent condition. We took the toll road as far as Tripoli then ventured off on a narrow twisting road over the mountains to Olympia, of course we could have take the major road but would have missed the fun and excitement of driving over roads barely wide enough for two cars to pass. The road travels along the Lousios Gorge which is a popular hiking area with villages hanging on the side of cliffs. Because of the remote mountain setting, this area was one of the strongholds of the revolutionaries during the Greek war of Independence. Medieval monasteries and churches cling to the steep cliffs of the gorge and picturesque villages are scattered along the route.

In Olympia, we stayed at the Hotel Pelops, a nice hotel owned by the Spiliopoulos family in the heart of the city, close to the ancient archeological site and museums. In the dining room are three Olympic torches from Tokyo 1964, Mexico 1968, and Athens 2004. The torches were carried in 1964 and 1968 by Theodoros Spiliopoulos, and in 2004 by his son "Alki" Alkiviades Spiliopoulos. It is not everyday you see an Olympic torch, let alone three, and meet the people who carried them. Quite an honor.

On Sunday we will depart Olympia for Delphi then back to Athens. Maybe the oracle will have good words for us, but first we have more mountainous roads to travel.

"Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah"

For those of you old enough to remember Alan Sherman’s song about the kid at summer camp, “Hello muddah, Hello faddah, here I am at Camp Granada, life is very entertaining, we might even have some fun if it stops raining”! Today it is raining in Vatera, after many nice days, so we are sitting at the hotel thinking about our experiences in the last few weeks.

We have spent the last month in Vatera at the Aphrodite Hotel on Lesvos Island as the only guests. Last week, a few people arrived for the Easter week celebrations so the hotel came alive with people, food, and conversation. May is the official start of the holiday season on this island so more people will be arriving and our own little hotel will become more of a tourist destination. The owners of the hotel were concerned about our staying here for the entire month since there is not much to do, but our plan was to travel extensively to Egypt, Turkey and other islands, then settle in for some down time. We did travel mid-month to Turkey, Santorini and Chios before returning to Lesvos for the last two weeks, so we did not spend an entire month staring at four walls.

Lesvos is the third largest island in Greece; the basic economy is olives, olive oil, sheep, goats and tourism, with worldwide competition, olive production has become less of the economic engine as in the past, so tourism is becoming more of a money maker, but only four months of the year during the summer months; during the rest of the year, Lesvos is still a Greek island with families, traditional culture, events and celebrations based on centuries of life here.

We have been fortunate to experience more of this traditional culture instead of staying at a four star resort on Santorini. During our time here, while we are still the foreigners, we have met and become friends with several people, from the tavernas, to the grocery store, to the people who have cleaned our clothes. In the US, I can not imagine the owners of the dry cleaners inviting us to Easter celebration with their family, or the hotel owners treating us like family. The roads are narrow, clogged with parked cars, yet there is no road rage, no anger at parking your car in the middle of the road to talk with your friends, no desire to become rich and famous, or flout your wealth to less fortunate people. It is a different world, less stress, less anger, more family, more friendship, more taking care of others.

While I would not want to live on this island, I do understand how people can live here and flourish, not with wealth, but with love, concern and honest appreciation for living. We have met the family, the grandparents, brothers, children, grandchildren of the hotel owners as they work together to make staying at the hotel a great experience; we have almost become family as we help to prepare the hotel for the summer guests, enjoy an intimate Easter experience, attempt to converse with the non-English speaking family, and just enjoy being a part of the family.

Thursday evening we depart on the ferry to Athens where we will rent a car and drive through the Peloponnese mainland for three days, to ancient Corinth, Olympia, and Delphi among along with a myriad of other destinations before returning to Athens for three days where we will finish our trip.

Dances With Horses

Monday, is the name day of St George (yes that George, the dragon slayer) in Greece. The saints name days are celebrated more than a person's birthday here, and today was St George's day, although the date is not the real date but celebrated on this Monday after Easter instead of the normal day in mid-April. This has something to do with the date of Easter falling later in the month, but don't ask me to explain why.

We learned of a big celebration at St George's church not far from Vatera, so off we went in a caravan into the hills, up steep rutted, winding, twisted roads to this church in the middle of a million olive trees. The road got so bad that we abandoned the vehicles and walked off through the olive orchards to the church which was still one half mile away. I had wondered how bad the roads must get before the locals could not go any further without a tank type vehicle that is able to go anywhere. We found out after scraping the bottom of the Panda and what sounded like the oil pan being ripped asunder leaving precious engine fluids in the ruts. The ruts were so deep in places the Panda almost disappeared so we backed down the hill a short distance where we could park the car off the road, also being careful not to run over any barbed wire in the process.

We had taken along two small children and their grandmother who are also staying at the hotel so we had plenty of screams as the car tried to overturn in the ditch, but thanks to my skillful driving we parked safely and started the hike through olive groves, fresh horse manure and lots of beautiful wild flowers. I am not sure why there is a church in this remote place, there is literally nothing for miles except olive trees. Olives were still on the trees or liberally scattered all over the ground since the prices were so low for olive oil last year the olives were not picked.

So after a 15 minute walk uphill through dangerous olive groves surrounded by hungry woodland creatures, we arrived at the church where at least 300 people were already gathered eating some kind of bean stew with meat. Did I mention the bull that gets sacrificed for the good of the neighborhood as part of this celebration? It is possible the meat in the stew was from this bull, but we were not sure. At noon a band started to play with sound equipment powered by a gas generator, and it was time for the horse and rider dancing. There were at least 10 horses, two with foals about one or two years old, all were decorated with fancy saddles and tack, and very high spirited. When the music started, the riders started to dance with the horses and attempted to dance standing on the saddle which was only semi-successful since the aforementioned high spirited horses were not that cooperative.

This dancing went on for some time with different riders and horses taking turns in the small road in front of the even smaller church. Yiannis tells me in the past, these festivals, which are very common in May and June, would last for days, traveling from one village to another, I believe large quantities of Ouzo were also involved. But here everyone was having a good time listening to the music, watching the horses and enjoying the food. Basically, your typical community gathering. Yiannis and his family are great musicians who sometimes provide the entertainment at the hotel, his father and brother are very versatile, playing numerous instruments and singing. I think they are all slowing down as they get older.

We watched for a while then hiked back to the car, checked the oil pan for leaks and returned to the hotel along the twisting, rutted dirt and gravel road.

Orthodox Easter in Greece

Easter week in the Greek Orthodox Church is very important, full of rituals and ancient celebrations. We have been fortunate to be here this week as the faithful prepare for Easter Sunday after observing 40 days of fasting without meat. Saturday night at about 11:30 PM we met at the hotel and journeyed to Vrisia for the midnight celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

All week on television, numerous old movies and live programs from the churches have been airing. While Christmas is a big celebration, Easter is equally important if not more joyous since spring is in the air and families come together for feasting, music and dancing. We drove to Vrisia with family and other guests from the hotel to a viewpoint above the village to witness the Easter service and fireworks after midnight. Of course we had to drive down the narrow twisting lanes, sharp right turn then up a very steep hill on a road full of ruts, potholes and large rocks, in the dark! At least it was not raining.

We brought with us the red dyed eggs for cracking after midnight. The red dyed eggs represent the tomb of Christ which has to be broken open. Mrs Maritsa prepared the eggs for dyeing by carefully placing a variety of small leaves on top of each egg then wrapping them in thin nylon; when the eggs are colored the outline of the leaves remains. The cracking ritual is for two people to crack their eggs end to end, whichever egg is cracked eliminates the person from the competition, the object is to remain in the game until everyone's eggs are cracked except one person who is declared the winner, yours truly won this contest beating out all the little children. This means I have good luck, which I need driving back down the hill to Vatera in the dark on the rutted steep lane. At midnight the young folk from the village set off fireworks in celebration, actually they started about 30 minutes early before the church bells tolled. It was really a lovely sight, on top of a dark hill with millions of stars overhead, the bells pealing and fireworks exploding in the night sky.

Sunday morning, Yiannis was busy preparing the lamb for roasting on a spit, using charcoal he made from olive branches; the lamb roasts for about three hours, in addition they roast the liver wrapped in other parts of the sheep, and probably do other things I don't want to know. While the lamb is roasting Yiannis organized an Easter egg hunt for all the children, both family and guests at the hotel. He hid about 100 chocolate eggs, playing cards and other chocolate goodies for the kids to find around the property. The winner is the child who finds the most eggs, who is then rewarded with a large chocolate egg, all of the children were winners and walked away with large chocolate eggs in addition to the eggs they found.

When the lamb was done, the family and guests gathered for a communal dinner that included the roast lamb, fish roe salad, green salad, tzatziki sauce, cheese sauce along with stewed lamb and potatoes, cheese made in Mytillini, olives, wine, bread and two desserts. They prepared a special dish of roast vegetables for us since they did not have tofu lamb.

The people who did our laundry in Mytilinni asked us to stop by their house in Vatera, so we left the party with dancing and singing going on at the hotel, drove about one half mile to the house of these friends, and met all of their relatives enjoying a similar feast. Of course we had to stay for dessert and more dancing. Mz Barbara got into the spirit of things and danced up quite a Greek storm, I was not invited to dance, probably because they knew I had watched Zorba The Greek movie, and would probably do something foolish like dancing on the tables.

A nice way to spend Easter with family and friends. These people know how to throw a party!

Plomari (Ouzo Capital)

Since we had not visited Plomari, the largest resort area on Lesvos located about 30 km from Mytillini, we took off early Saturday to visit the capital of Ouzo production. According to the map, Plomari is accessible via a road from Vatera; although the road is shown as a secondary road so with caution in mind, we decided to take the main road between Polichnitos and Mytillini then turn off the main road at the appropriate intersection to Plomari.

We turned at the road marked 'Plomai' and drove through the mountains for about 15 km on a fairly decent road but then ended up in a small village called Amplikon where the road deteriorated to a single lane road winding through the mountains. After checking the map, we discovered this was an alternate road to Plomari and not one of the main roads. So, we backtracked to the main road, drove another 10 km to the turnoff marked Agiosos (the most beautiful hillside village on Lesvos) and Plomari. We had been to Agiosos earlier so we were familiar with the area, the streets are narrow and steep with cars parked everywhere and access limited. Just at the entrance to the village a sign indicated the route to Plomari which bypassed the village by driving around and above the town. Off we went with little trepidation, however the road was indeed steep and we ended up in the typical one-way narrow cobblestone lane with the locals staring and probably wondering what the foreigners were up to. At this point, the wisdom of taking this short cut are questioned, but after a few sharp turns we ended back on the main road and found a sign in Greek indicating we were on the right road to Plomari, so we chugged on.

The paved road continued higher and higher until we were almost level with the tallest peak in Lesvos, Mt. Olympus. The views were spectacular with Agiosos lower on the mountain, and beautiful views of Mt Olympus directly to the West. However, the road was getting much narrower as we progressed deeper into the countryside until it turned into a single lane heavily rutted dirt and gravel lane that only faintly resembled a real road. Washouts and ruts from recent rainfalls were abundant and at some places the road was barely wide enough for the small Panda to pass without going off the cliff, never to be found again. Again, the wisdom of selecting this route became a lively topic of discussion, particularly since it appeared to be taking us on a coarse of no return into "Deliverance" territory. But we perservered on, since this was not many other options, Barb nervously fingered her komboloi (worry) beads and occasionally hit me with great force in an effort to calm her nerves. As I recall, the beads are used to calm the nerves and keep the hands busy, not to be used as a weapon.

But, we soldiered on and eventually started downhill, which was promising, I remember my Boy Scout training; if lost in the woods find a stream and follow it downhill, eventually civilization will be found! So continuing down the road over bumps, dodging washouts, avoiding the occaasional goat, we finally came to the village of Meglachori and a paved road! Salvation! Then it dawned on us that had we continued our original journey, we would have ended up at this exact spot on a paved road. But, with much less adventure! The paved road continued downhill for another 10 km until we entered the narrow, one way, but really two way, steep streets of Plomari. Plomari was very busy, tour buses, lots of people on the quay and in the tavernas and Ouzoeries. During Easter time many people return to the islands for the traditional Easter services and feasting, so many people were in the village.

We stopped at a taverna for lunch where we ate mezedes, which are small dishes of appetizers, and watched the locals drink Ouzo while we had a Coca Cola. Since we had enough excitement for the day we decided to take the long route home on a main road along Gera Bay. On the way, we stopped in a small village to visit a beautifully restored olive oil factory built in 1888, which is now a museum. This factory operated for 90 years with the main source of power a steam engine. Olive pits were used to provide the fuel source and all of the machine equipment has been restored to working condition. Olive oil production has fallen in recent years since so many other countries including Eastern Europeans are now producing olive oil with cheaper labor, and with cheaper results. There are actually 10 categories of "Virgin" oil, Lesvos produces olive oil from their 11 million trees lower in acidity since it has a drier climate; the hotel owners still have olive orchards where they produce and bottle oil in smaller quantities for sale locally.

Sunday is Easter, lots of activities planned!

Police!

Generally speaking, it is not a good thing when the police come looking for you in a foreign country.

On Wednesday, we drove into Mytillini to take care of our laundry; we left our clothes at the local laundry and dry cleaners, then drove up the East coast of Lesvos to Mandamatos, stopping at Moria along the way to investigate the ancient Roman aqueduct. Moria is another small village on the side of the mountain with a maze of narrow streets. We were able to find the aqueduct without too much effort toward the end a narrow road that kept deteriorating from semi paved to cobblestones, and finally dirt and gravel. It is always an experience to go down these paths always hoping there is a way out, or at least a place to turn the car around; the movie ‘Deliverance’ usually comes to mind at these times. But we found the aqueduct took a few photos and then with only one wrong turn into a dead end road, found our way back to the main highway.

The east coast of Lesvos is quite lovely with long stretches of rocky beaches, olive trees and the occasional small resort hotel, lots of sheep and goats, and a few cows. Only eight miles away is the Turkish coast which is constantly watched by the Greek military, we have seen numerous military bases dotted throughout the island from the top of mountains to the seashore, and even in the town of Polichnitos. Just outside of Polichnitos there is a paved landing strip intersecting the road to Mytillini. At times in the past when the tensions have been higher, a fighter jet was stationed in Lesvos.

Mantamados is known for ceramics, and since we arrived about lunch time we parked the car and went looking for something to eat. The tavernas are usually a good place for inexpensive food, it is a gathering place for the local men who sit there for hours drinking coffee, playing backgammon and visiting. Surprisingly, most of these feature modern furniture, nice decorations, plus free internet. The only negative is the smoking which of course is illegal but nonetheless allowed.

We checked out one taverna but their food selection was very limited so we walked across the street to the other taverna where they could make sandwiches.

The free internet code was supplied and we were happy people just waiting for something to eat. Typical of these small towns are the narrow streets, cars parked wherever there is a spot, and the locals sitting on the benches watching the world go by, which is a somewhat limited view in a small town, on a small island in the Aegean Sea.

We initially drove through the town and then returned via the back road; these villages are pretty small so it is easy to be out of the town before realizing there is nothing but open road. As we returned to the center of the village (you can always tell the town center since it has the Greek Orthodox church there) looked for a parking place, but the center was crowded so we drove a bit further and parked on the street behind a parked car. We sat for a minute to make sure other vehicles could pass, and then walked to the taverna. Parking in Greece is pretty simple; you just stop the car get out and walk off; this includes double parking, triple parking, stopping in the middle of a road, or just being creative.

But back to the taverna, our lunch arrived and was pretty tasty although the sandwich was a little more than we expected, on the menu the sandwich was ham and cheese, something else, plus mustard, mayo or whatever you might want for condiments. We explained that we are vegetarians so no ham, no problem. When the sandwich arrived it had a hamburger patty but no ham……..Okay, hamburger patty off the Panini and life is okay.

I decided to use the WC, as the toilet is called here in Greece, so off I went to the small room in the back of the taverna, meanwhile back in the taverna, a policeman walks in and goes directly to Barb (how did he know we were the only foreigners), meanwhile the owner of the place comes looking for me and says our car is blocking the road and it needs to be moved, so out the door I go into the main square which is full of cars and the road as far as the eye can see is backed up with cars. Now I see the problem, a very large truck which needs the entire road to pass, is sitting with our little Panda blocking the path out of town. The policeman is talking to the driver, nervously caressing his 9mm Glock pistol as I make haste to move the cute little orange Panda out of the way. Since the truck is also blocking the police vehicle, I toyed with the idea of making my escape out of town before he could catch me; this of course would have left Barb in a Taverna with about 20 guys, she probably would have ratted me out anyway, so I parked the car in a very wide open spot further away, and headed back to rescue Barb.

Apparently all was forgiven, and there was some laughter, mostly from Barb about my predicament, she of course had not seen the cop and his desire to shoot someone like me for parking like the Greeks do. According to Barb the policemen was very nice to her, (of course) now the orange Panda has another incident on the rap sheet; why could we not get a silver or white car (much easier to remain incognito), but the orange Panda is the only orange car on the island so we are easy to track.

Greece & Turkey

Monday night we left Chios on a Hellenic ferry that is taking us to Lesvos. The ferry is really very nice, capacity of 1,000 passengers plus 100 or so cars, very modern airplane type seats, free wifi and television for the fast, two hour cruise; although Barb tells me this does not count as a real cruise, this ship rivals some aspects of the cruise ships with shopping, restaurants, lounges and nice décor.

Monday morning we visited the monastery at Nea Moni, on top of the island, we actually were up in the clouds to a point we could only see about 20’ in front of the car. The monastery was constructed in the 12^th century and tells a brutal history of past conflicts between the Ottoman Turks and the Greeks. In 1822, the Turks killed over 25,000 Greeks living on the island in reprisal for an uprising of the Greeks against the Turks as they sought independence from the Turks; including 3600 men, women, and children taking refuge in the monastery. Another 70,000 people were sold in the slave markets of Cairo and Smyrna (modern Izmir). After this massacre, the monks gathered up the bones and kept them in the monastery as a remembrance of the atrocity and DISPLAYED THEM! But, this is only one side of the centuries old, twisted, sordid story, the Greeks committed atrocities in Asia Minor and were promised land in Asia Minor by the British in WW I if Greece joined the war on the side of the Allies, of course the British did not honor the promise which led to another war between the Turks and the Greeks, so the animosity continues with ugly history from the time of the Crusades. In recent years, the two governments have tried to forge closer relationships and get beyond the past but the hatred, and mistrust runs deep on both sides.

Chios (pronounced (Hios) is the third largest island in the North Aegean group with about 12,500 inhabitants, it is a large commercial center and for centuries was known for the production of mastic, a gum made from the resin of mastic trees, for years the resin was used for a variety of products including chewing gum. Now it is sold in a variety of health type products promising a whole range of benefits.

We drove from the main town of Chios South to three smaller villages, Pirgi, Polimbi, and Mesta, all medieval villages with narrow streets, and maze like paths designed to keep pirates from easily reaching the center of the towns. The houses were built next to each other with the outside walls forming a defensive wall; each house is built of stone approximately 10’ wide, but several stories tall. Pirgi is a unique village with geometric patterns in black and grey covering the exteriors of the buildings. Upon close examination, I discovered the buildings are first coated with stucco, painted white, and then the designs are scratched into the surface by removing the white coating, leaving a grey contrast, really quite striking but looks like a lot of work. We drove through the town of Mesta which is the closest village to the Southern port of Chios, and continued driving along the coast and back inland towards the town of Chios’ over the never ending twisting, narrow mountain roads.

Chios has numerous excellent beaches so in the summer many tourists come to this island for the sun and fun, not just to drive over the mountain roads.

Greece has over 1,200 islands of which 227 are inhabited, 80% of Greece is mountains so the farming is difficult and done on the side of mountains by building terraces using the local, abundant field stones. Driving through the winding mountainous roads, it is hard to believe all the work necessary to build the miles of stone walls high up the sides of the mountains. Obviously the life of a farmer must have been full of back breaking, never ending work just to provide small parcels of land for crops.

In both Turkey and Greece the basic construction of dwellings is either stone mostly used in older structures, with concrete or brick used for newer buildings. The most common method today is to build the floors and structural columns using concrete, then infill the walls with brick, finally applying stucco and paint to finish the work. Beautiful varieties of stone are used for floors and for other decorative uses. Looking back into the past not a lot has changed over the centuries. The only difference is the gas powered cement mixers which are almost as common as sheep in the islands, it seems like everyone has at least one mixer, if not two. Another common structure is the defensive castle built on the top of a mountain or to protect the port; it is not an exaggeration to say they are more common than Starbucks coffee stores in the States! Every major town has at least one if not two, and any location of strategic importance has a huge stone structure built over the decades to protect whatever valuable piece of property was important to someone. It is hard to imagine the manpower, time and effort required to construct all of these castles. Now they are tourist attractions, some partially restored or in some cases used for museums.

One of the most interesting aspects of travel is the experience of eating different foods, so far we have not found any country better at producing bread and croissants than the French, the Italians have a wide variety of diverse and marvelous foods, British food (if you can call it that) is tasteless, without any imagination, and the Turkish seem to fall short in the really good food category. While similar to Greek food, the Turks seem to overcook everything so the vegetables are kind of mushy and all the food tastes rather bland. For breakfast, the hotels provide a nice buffet style spread with several varieties of olives (WHICH Barb will serve me every morning when we return!) cheeses, tomatoes, porridge, dry cereal, juice, hard boiled eggs, crepes, or scrambled eggs, and several varieties of bread, what appears to be sweet type breads, but they have no sugar flavor. In Izmir we found a large kettle of thin tomato soup base with Vienna sausages. More tea is served than coffee. Overall Turkish food is good but again very bland.

Greece offers an endless variety of cheese, lots of different meats and wonderful vegetables. Breakfast is similar with a variety of breads, cheeses, different kinds of olives, sliced meats, fruit and bread including toast and croissants, but of course they are a poor imitation of the French. We have tried to find a decent baguette in Greece but for some reason the majority of bread is in the form of hard pieces of toast made from baguettes and some other types of bread that might have been quite good at one time. My goal is to find out why the bread is intentionally designed to be impossible to eat. Easter is the big feast day in Greece with roast lamb on a spit, sweet bread, lots of ouzo and dancing, so maybe we will have an opportunity to experience really good food. Or, maybe the ouzo helps to improve the taste of food, we shall find out!

Right now, we are back in Lesvos, it was raining when we arrived so the one hour drive from Mytillini was slower than normal over the rain slicked, twisting, hairpin curve mountain roads. About 10:00 the baker from Vrissa arrives selling fresh bread from his truck, so I am waiting to hear music from his PA system so I can purchase fresh bread; he actually makes a nice loaf of bread, but it is not a French baguette; sigh.

I (Barb) purchased from Chios authentic worry beads….everyone has them…….love it…Be happy, don’t worry!!! :-)

Turkey, again!

After a rough night with a fierce storm on Lesvos; howling winds, waves crashing on the beach - sleep was hard to find. We were on the Northern end of a storm blowing through Africa and Saudi Arabia which produced sand storms, so I guess we were lucky to just have waves crashing on the beach.

On Thursday morning, we departed Mytillini on a smaller ferry boat to Turkey, about a 1 ½ hour ride through the turbulent seas; before boarding we were pelted with heavy rain as we walked to the ferry from Passport Control at the docks. The weather did not abate until we reached our destination at Avyalik, Turkey, where the rain let up and bits of blue sky appeared. We planned to rent a car and drive through the country from Ayvalik to Bergama, Izmir, Heirapolis, Effesus and Cesme, then take a ferry to the Greek island of Chios.

In Avyalik we located the Avis office, made the necessary arrangements and took off in our 5-speed manual transmission, diesel powered, Ford Focus. White in color so we could travel incognito through the countryside instead of being branded as foreigners in an Orange Fiat Panda. We had a large fan fold map of Turkey that included some city maps. (Barb really loves these large maps that are easy to handle in a small car). The travel from Ayvalik to Izmir is mostly country, Bergama is one of the larger cities about half way there that was known as Pergamon, another ancient city sharing Greek and Roman roots. Recorded history in Turkey goes back 3000 years and is a mixture of many cultures, lots of wars, with many important ancient cities and events.

Turkey is surprising, it is very clean, in the countryside, the farms are well organized and productive. The soil is very dark and rick looking with large flat tracks of land. (In the Greek Islands the land very hilly and full of rocks). We saw large fruit stands along the road with beautiful citrus fruits, honey and other fresh items, the climate along the West coast of the Aegean Sea seems to be warmer than the Greek islands; the fruit trees were in full bloom, green vegetables fully developed even corn ready to bear.

The main divided roads are in excellent condition, well signed and posted for 100 kmh (62 mph) while the toll roads are posted at a maximum speed of 120 kph (75 mph). Toll roads are three lanes wide including a passing lane, and although the max speed is 120, that seems to be only a ‘suggested’ limit since cars regularly pass and disappear in short order. We have seen virtually every mode of transportation used, from fast cars to donkey carts, to farm tractors, three wheel scooters, motor cycles and pedestrians, which are all allowed on the toll way and other roads including the main city streets. It was not unusual to see a farmer driving a tractor with his wife and family in a wagon hooked to the tractor.

After a stop in Bergama, we arrived in Izmir, a city of some 2,500,000 people living in old parts of the city and newer areas of high density apartment buildings. The streets are packed with cars, buses, taxis and the occasional farm tractor, roads so narrow only a single, small car can pass. We had a small city map showing the location of the hotel within a particular area of the city, but no reference to where this area was within the overall city, so we did have great difficulty finding the hotel. We tried locating the hotel on the map but discovered the street signs are hard to find and not always indicated on the map. We finally broke down and called the hotel for directions but the best they could do was tell us the Ismira Hotel is directly across from the Hilton, not knowing where the Hilton was located made this a bit difficult; so after driving through most major areas of the city, we turned on the iPhone and keyed in the location of the hotel. Now the iPhone is truly amazing since it showed us the current location, and the location of the Ismira Hotel. Of course, this does not take into account one way streets, any street signs, or difficult traffic. We finally found the general area of the hotel but could not find it! We called the hotel again and got the same answer, next to the Hilton. After driving around and around the one ways streets clogged with traffic, traffic circles full of buses, streets where a trench was cut in the middle of the street and left full of dirt, merging from three lanes to one, we finally found the Hilton! But, no Ismira hotel. The iPhone clearly showed the location, but no hotel!!! A couple more turns around the neighborhood and we finally saw the hotel about one-half block from the iPhone indicated location, on the corner disguised as a large pink faced hotel.

With relief, we checked in and went to our room to unwind!

On Friday morning, we took off in the car for Hierapolis and Pamakkule about 224 km from Ismir. The hotel provided rudimentary instructions on how to get out of Izmir, which was helpful, and off we went on a new adventure. We have learned that the best way to navigate in Europe is to look for a city or town that is either the final destination or at least a city in the same direction. Since the normal street signs or road signs are sometime not adequate, at least finding a destination sign is the next best way.

Some 224 km later, after flying along the toll highways, and slowly winding through country roads we ended our journey at Hierapolis and Pamakkule. Hierapolis is an ancient Greek/Roman city situated next to the mineral springs of Pamakkule that was known for textiles, particularly wool. It is reportedly the site of the martyrdom of Saint Phillip in AD 80. Today the ruins and the mineral springs are one of the most photographed sites in Turkey. Many tourists visit these sites and one of the favorite activities is to bathe in the mineral pools, even in the cooler seasons, on the day we visited many tourists from Germany, France and Italy were there by the busload.

After a nice walk through the ruins and a visit to the impressive mineral springs which cover several acres, and are visible from twenty miles away, we drove back to Izmir, locating our hotel with no trouble!

After an uneventful trip back to the hotel, we decided to go for a walk looking for bargains near the hotel. Having lost her $1 pair of sunglasses on Lesvos, we found a small store with a variety of merchandise including racks of sunglasses in the latest European fashion. After a little haggling with the Arab trader she became the proud owner of a very nifty pair of sunglasses, they even look good in the dark! Next was the shoe store with fantastic sandals for a mere 5 TL, the biggest problem was trying to convert metric size shoes to US sizes, but no problem and we are now in possession of the best pair of sandals ever.

On Saturday morning we left Izmir for the last time and drove to Ephesus, one of the greatest ruined cities in the western world. with over 3,000 years of history starting with the Greeks and then taken over by the Romans in the 4^th century BC. The ruins today are extensive and still give a perspective of the size of the city that was once the main Aegean port for the Romans. The most recognized ruin is the Library of Celsus built in AD 114, along with the theater which seated 24,000 people, the largest theater constructed by the Romans. The site is being excavated and restored by several

Groups including the Austrians in cooperation with Turkey. It is an incredible site and one of the largest sites we have ever seen. Part of the restoration includes homes of the wealthy built on the side of a mountain, what we call view property today. The remains of these houses include beautiful wall frescoes, marble walls and mosaic floors, large banquet halls, and reception rooms, water and drainage systems.

Ephesus was one of the major cities in the early Christian world hosting two councils, and reputed to be the home of the mother of Christ in her last years. There is a shrine about seven kilometers from the main town on top of Mount BulBul with a house advertised as the last dwelling place of the Virgin Mary, however, the rock structure was built in the early 1900’s. Many tourists visit this site especially on August 15, Mary’s feast day.

With time growing short we departed for Cesme, on the Turkish coast opposite the Greek Island of Chios. The 100 km drive was uneventful, even as we approached Izmir on the bypass road. We had made arrangement to drop the car in Cesme with the rental agency in Ayvalik; there is no Avis agency in Cesme but they said we could drop the car with one of their associate agencies near the Port, of course they were not really explicit about the exact location, probably because they were not sure themselves. So after driving through the village looking for rental car agencies, with the usual ending up in narrow one-way streets, trying to find a way back to our starting point, we double parked the car in the street outside a rental agency , went in to ask about Avis; ‘no, there is no Avis agency in this town’, yes I know that but do you know anyone that would handle Avis, no! Okay, so down the street to another agency, no, no Avis in this town. With one more place to try, we were getting a bit apprehensive since the ferry would be departing in about one hour. The final agency gave us the same story (did I mention we tried calling Avis in Ayvalik)? We did but the person who answered said in broken English that the Avis guy was out not sure when he might return, at least that is what I thought he said. So, back to the final place, did they handle Avis, no, do you know who might, no. I explained we had to catch a ferry; oh, which ferry? The San Nicholas to Chios, and I showed him our travel voucher for the tickets. Why this is our agency and we will give you the tickets, just go to the dock at 5:00. Excellent, but what about the car? After a conversation in Turkish with one of the other people in the office; no problem ‘we will take care of the car, leave it at the dock and no problem, everything is taken care of’. Hmm, so what did he really say in Turkish? ‘These stupid Americanos are about to lose their rental car because they trust us?’ Stupid or not, we took photos of the rental agency, the car, odometer, full fuel indicator and the location at the dock. But before we could leave the car at the dock we had to fill it with diesel. One of the amazing things about Turkey was the abundance of service stations, even in the small villages, there were at least two if not three gas stations, so no problem, we go to find a gas station. However, the city of Cesme has no visible gas stations, more questions and finally we locate a gas stations about 7 km outside of town that has diesel.

Back to the dock where we left the car, obtained our ferry tickets, went through Turkish Customs and waited for our ship to come in. Of course once inside the waiting area the Duty Free shop opens and I have 100 Turkish Lira that needs to be spent since we are not returning to Turkey anytime soon. The Duty Free shop is full of liquor, cigarettes, perfume and watches. Cigarettes and perfume are not on our list, so all that was left is liquor, or a watch that costs more than 100 TL. The booze was pretty cheap, so I bought two bottles of wine, a small bottle of Absenthe, and one liter of J&B Scotch for the hotel owner. With the bag in hand and two small coins left we boarded the ferry for the 40 minute ride to Chios. Upon arrival, we went through Immigration and then had our luggage searched where we learned that our allowance was only one liter for each traveler…… Well, we played dumb as the customs guy explained we could only have one each, then, he just let us go. We wondered if the Turks did this, (knowing the limits) as a cruel hoax on the Greeks, and unsuspecting Americans.

In Turkey, we drove about 800 km (500 miles) with no problems, no scratches on the car, actually doing remarkably well even ins difficult situations, so I figure we could just about drive anywhere, except maybe Cairo!

Turkey

We are -back in Lesvos on Wednesday before departing on a ferry to Turkey. We plan to drive along the Aegean coast in Turkey, staying in Izmir for two nights, visiting Bergama, Pamakkule, Ephesus, and Bodrum among other places. On Saturday we take a ferry to the island of Chios for a couple of days returning to Lesvos on Monday. We will have internet so the best way to contact us is through email.

Amerisus Hotel

Our hotel in on Santorini is a small hotel with 14 rooms built on a hairpin turn in the road from the airport. The entrance is on the ground level, with three floors above and a parking garage in the basement. Our room is on the second level which is really the third floor and is accessed via steps from the lobby, or you can walk up the road as it curves around the hotel and enter our room from the road level. Walking from one side of our room to the other is pretty much the width of the hotel if you consider the exterior balcony/courtyard outside the room. So it is easy to see the road as it comes up from below by looking over the balcony, then walk to the other side of the room, open a window and see the street as it winds up the hill. It is actually a very nice hotel, our suite is large and spacious, with a very high barrel ceiling that is common here, outside our room is the pool area and a nice view of the island and surrounding islands. Directly across the street from our room is a series of private dwellings and above are more hotels.

With all this in mind, yesterday as we left our room to walk to the main square, we noticed one of the neighbor women with a length of stiff wire apparently trying to unclog the drain system in front of her house. Everything considered it did not appear to be a pleasant experience. Upon our return later in the day, she was still working on the drain as two men watched, I believe she was uttering some type of expletives, and it appeared a solution to the drain problem had not been found. We wasted no time entering our room.

About 6:00 PM one or two plumbers appeared and tried to unclog everything with industrial type rooters. I think that failed because at 8:00 PM, in the dark, they brought out the jackhammers which continued until 1:30 AM. Keeping in mind the hairpin curve, the proximity to the street and the jackhammering, it was a bit difficult to sleep. The windows in the newer hotels are very nice, they have the ability to open as a normal door or window, open from the top for air like a casement, and each is fitted with an internal hard shutter which helps reduce the sound, but, alas they do not keep out the sounds of a jackhammer at 1:30AM.

Sometime about 2:30 AM amidst loud conversations the drone of a portable generator and shovels, everything was quiet and the street was empty. This morning the street is clean, a hole about two feet in diameter covered with gravel is all that remains of the night's activities. I have to applaud the hard work of these Greek people to take care of this problem in a relatively short time frame, I can't complain because this was obviously a situation that needed quick attention, and was not an international conspiracy to keep me awake.

Back to Lesvos this morning where we have a day to rest before the next adventure in Turkey.

Santorini

How to describe the Greek island of Santorini? Blustery, beautiful, billions of tourists? Santorini is what is left of a volcano that erupted about 3600 years ago destroying the majority of the island. Think of Mt Rainier with the top 10,000 feet blown off and in the middle a huge caldera full of water; only two thirds of the lower slopes would remain, cities such as Eatonville, Ashford, and Orting would be buried in ash. Since this volcano was in the middle of the Aegean, the resulting 200' tidal wave (tsunami) would have been the largest tsunami in history.


Fast forward a few thousand years and you will see buildings perched on the top of the cliffs clinging to the very edges of the crater, and in the middle of the caldera a volcano that only emerged from the sea in 1700. In the satellite image above you can see the outline of the original island, the large land mass is Thiria where most of the population lives, although there are communities living on the largest island Thirasia, mostly poor villages supporting farming, sheep herding and fishing. Only about 13,000 people live here with the majority of the population supported by the tourist industry. In the center of the caldera is Nea Kamena, the volcano that emerged from the ocean in 1700, it has been occasionally erupting with the last event in 1954.

Santorini is best known for the white buildings built precariously on the sides of the cliffs, the churches with blue painted roofs and spectacular sunsets. As a major world tourist destination people arrive by ferry, cruise ship, and by air from all over the world. It is still off season here but the streets and tourist activities are crowded with people form Japan, Europe, hoards of students from Greece on the last trip of their senior year. I can only imagine what it must be like in summer.

Yesterday we took a six hour cruise around the caldera, stops included the Nea Kamena volcano where we climbed to the top and looked in the crater, a stop at one of the uninhabited islands to go swimming in the hot springs that bubble up from the volcano, then lunch on Thirasia, and a stop at the harbor of Oia, and back to Thira. The harbor is at the base of the cliffs accessible by cable car or 1000 steps that can be walked or on mules. The cable car was only 4 Euro so we rode it down to the harbor and then back up, the ride is about 2 1/2 minutes to climb the 1300 feet up the cliff. On the way up we watched the people walking up the steps which takes about one hour, and a few people getting sore butts riding the mules.

The climb up the volcano was very interesting, it was a pretty good hike up to the top on rough pumice and lava walkways, the temperature increased as we got closer to the crater, along with the sulfur odor. Since this is still an active volcano, there are steam vents and the heat at the bottom of the crater is about 147 degrees. In areas around the islands and volcano the sea is greenish in color from the iron oxide and sulfur being emitted.

We took the first boat in the morning so there were only about 30 people on the boat, some Americnas, Canadians, a few Greeks and several Japanese. When we stopped at the volcano for the walk, it soon became obvious that flip flops are not the best choice of foot apparel for walking in the lava fields, I suspect this was a good life lesson for some of the younger people as they struggled to walk uphill though jagged rocks and slippery pumice. The walk to the top of the volcano took about one half hour, the guide was a native from Santorini whose father and grandfather had witnessed previous eruptions, so she had a a lot of history.

Although still early in the season, one of the stops is to swim off one of the islands in an area of hot springs, the boat has to anchor about 100 feet offshore and the intrepid swimmers dive off the boat and swim to the island so they can get warm from swimming in the cool Aegean sea. Of course since the hot springs are full of sulfur and iron oxide, the expensive white batching suit bought to impress everyone is now forever stained a dark brown from the iron. Needless to say, none of the passengers over 30 jumped in the water, but several of the younger crowd jumped in and immediately regretted their actions as they gasped for air in the frigid waters.

We had a very nice lunch at Thirasia, not much on this island which has a population of 300, mostly farmers and fisherman, the only way on and off is the ferry or private boat, pretty much a hard existence. I have become quite the Greek salad connoisseur, as I discussed earlier the traditional Greek salad varies by area, gthe Greek salad at Thirasia was pretty basic, tomatoes, red onion, green peppers and green olives with a slab of feta on top, no spices or dressing, overall not one of the better salads. However they did have stuffed tomatoes with rice and tomato balls which are a local delicacy. The tomatoes are deep fried in a batter and have almost a spaghetti sauce taste. The also offered BBQ skewers of fish and meat, not sure what kind of fish or meat, plus fresh octopus. Many of th people ate the skewers and survived the rest of the boat trip so it must have been okay. One of the Japanese girls looked pretty green but I think that was from the boat ride which was a little rough at times.

This morning we witnessed an overflight by Turkish jets, the Turks and Greeks are not the best of friends and on occasion Turkish military jets will enter Greek airspace just to thumb their nose at the Greeks, about fifteen minutes later the Greeks sent a jet to overfly Turkey, next the diplomats will complain, and life goes on. In some place the two countries are only 8 miles apart; on Lesvos there is a military presence and even a military airstrip that intersects the main road, from what we read at the highest levels there is great effort for the countries to be friendly, but with centuries of fighting, they just can't seem to get along.

We leave Santorini on Tuesday morning back to Lesvos where we are going to rest one day before the next trip to Turkey.