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.