Athens to Munich to Krakow, Oct 20-21

October 20 and 21, 2017 Final Day of the cruise, Trip days 19 and 20 Athens to Munich to Krakow

We had breakfast on the boat and then departed about 8:30. Took a cab back to the hotel. Our friends checked in and we checked our bags, we then separated as they went on a food tour (I was not interested in eating anymore) and we went to a tour of the National (formerly Royal) Gardens behind the Parliament. Nice peaceful area in the middle of Athens’ bustle. We then walked to the National Historical Museum. We caught a free day. The museum is housed at Plateia Kolokotroni in the former Parliament building on the steps of which Prime Minister Theodoros Deligiannis was assassinated in 1936 leading to a restoration of the monarchy and the installation of a right-wing military government. However, that government resisted the demands of the Italians for free passage of its troops and defeated them in a short war in 1940. However, the next year the Greeks were overwhelmed by the Germans and experienced a difficult occupation. 

The museum’s exhibits are heavily focused on the War of Independence. It had an entire wind devoted to the British poet Byron who came to Greece to fight for the Christian Greeks against the Muslim Turks. He was killed in 1824 as part of a siege. There was an extensive collection of Greek royalty and heroes’ portraits including one of Laskarina Bouboulina. She was the only one whose name was not under the portrait. It was explained to me that as the only woman in the gallery and given her fame in Greece, it was not necessary to list her name. There was also a model of the ship she financed for the War.

We then walked to the Jewish Museum. The building was nondescript on the outside and locked. We were admitted through an intercom system. Its exhibits traced the history of the Jewish community in Greece back to the 3^rd century BC using a collection documents, religious artifacts, costumes and folk art. The Greeks largely participated in the Nazi roundup and deportation of the Jewish community and only about 10% survived WWII. There was a small reconstruction of a synagogue as well as information on the synagogues throughout Greece.

While there we met the tall man from Montana from the cruise. He greeted me, “so another member of the tribe?” We then walked back to the hotel and picked up our luggage which we dragged a few blocks to the airport bus stop at Plateia Syntagmatos. The bus ride was uneventful, but it provided a daylight view of the non-tourist part of Athens. It did not look bad.

We got to the airport early and went to an airport lounge. It was the worst lounge I have ever visited. The food was limited and mediocre. there were few electrical outlets, and some were broken, and the Internet service was weak.

I did not pay for bags on line, so Lufthansa charged us an excessive amount for the two checked bags. The flight took off on time and was uneventful until we landed in Munich. Then we were told that our connecting and the last flight to Krakow had been canceled. We learned that it was due to a heavy fog in Krakow. Lufthansa customer service booked us into a near airport hotel, arranged for transportation, gave us meal vouchers and rebooked us on an early afternoon flight to Krakow. That wasted a lot of time since we were too far from Munich to go into town, but the earlier flights were connections and would not have gotten us into Krakow much earlier. It was a big contrast to what a US domestic airline would do in a similar situation which would be to say, sorry we are not responsible for weather delays and send us on our way. The hotel was equivalent to a Marriott Courtyard. Had a buffet dinner, with no dessert, but beer was included with the voucher.

The breakfast was very good. I spent most of the morning on the hotel computer printing out the train tickets to Auschwitz and subsequent train trips. It was hard to get to English on the computer and the keyboard layout was different. We went out to the airport early since there was no mid-day transportation to the airport. The airport lounge was in a different terminal that we were able to walk to easily. The lounge was quiet, good food and drink and effective Internet. However, getting to our gate was a trial and we almost missed our flight. We were told that there was a bus to our terminal. We went to the waiting area for the bus indicated by the signs. The door was locked, but when the bus came passengers disembarked form the bus, entered the waiting area and the door quickly shut so we missed the bus. We go on the next bus and as it traveled to several stops we realized that we were locked into our compartment in the bus.  In hindsight I think that was because the bus was passing through secured and unsecured areas of the airport but as we were on it I was wondering if we would be able to get out. When we finally were able to get out of the bus we had a long walk through the terminal past lots of shops and after we got to the gate we had to take a bus to the plane. Just made it.

We arrived in Krakow about 3:30. Poland does not use the euro, so I had to change currency. I took out too much local currency.  I thought that the Airbnb had arranged airport transportation, but when none materialized we took an unlicensed taxi to the Airbnb. I realized that he was unlicensed both when he had me sit in the front seat and when he could not find the place until I gave him my GPS. (it was hard to find, and it was on a 1 block street.)

As promised, we were met at the door by a friend of the Airbnb’s owner/manager. He was on roller blades and helped carry the luggage up to the third floor on them. The apartment was good. It had a separate, spacious bedroom, a loft and separate living and kitchen areas. There were even breakfast foods for us in the refrigerator.  

We left the apartment seeking dinner and intending to walk to the old Main Square. Instead I made a wrong turn and we were walking away from where we wanted to go. We visited the Krakow Opera House, a handsome and modern building. There was a performance that night, but it was sold out. After realizing my mistake, we took a tram back to the central area. It skirted the main square and we got off at Sierra Street. There were lots of upscale shops and restaurants there. We attempted to eat at one, but it is Saturday night and we did not have reservations. We walked up to and around the Main Market Square, Rynek Glówny. It is a very large open space that is the site of the Cloth Hall, a Renaissance-era trading outpost, and St. Mary’s Basilica, a 14th-century Gothic church. We stopped in at the Hard Rock cafe and purchased a tee shirt for my friend who collects such shirts.

We ate at a local restaurant on Florianska Street, a main shopping street. I had perogies. They were very filling.

We walked back to the apartment through an underpass and through a small park.  Tired and went right to sleep.  

Former Greek Parliament Hall

Cloth Hall, Main Market, Krakow

Jewish Museum, Athens

   

October 19 Mykonos

October 19, 2017, Cruise day 7, Trip day 18 Mykonos

We sailed all night and arrived at Mykonos at 7:30. This is the glamor island of the Cyclades area, the island with the parties, reputation and style. Very upscale and touristy.

Following breakfast, the independents were put on a small ferry for a ride across the harbor for the bigger ferry to Delos. That “complementary” ride saved us the effort of walking around the harbor. A major effort was made to get us out early so that we could avoid the crowds coming from the big cruise boats in Delos. The boat ride to Delos was a pleasant 15-minute trip. The ferry boast schedules are arranged so that you can only spend a maximum of 4 hours on the island.  There are no residents on the island nor is swimming permitted. Just touring ruins and a small museum.

Delos is the mythical birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. It was inhabited as early as the 3^rd millennium BC, but and for many centuries it was shrine to Apollo. (I never learned why his twin Artemis did not receive as much glory, although she has a big temple in Ephesus.) and the oldest temples on the island dedicated to him date back to the 8^th century BC. Athens gained full control of the island and surrounding region in the 5^th century BC. In 478 BC, following its victory over the Persians, Athens established an alliance known as the Delian League, with it as the leader and its treasury on the island. This established Athens as the leading Greek city state of the time.

During this period Delos reached the height of its powers. Its population swelled to 30,000 (half of whom were slaves) and many of its residents were wealthy merchants, bankers and mariners from lands throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Delos was not only a center of commerce, but also a religious center that welcomed foreign gods, although Apollo remained the leading deity. Athens maintained its control in part by forbidding births or deaths on the island.

Under Roman rule Delos continued to thrive and the Romans made it a duty-free port. Part of the prosperity was based on a thriving slave market in which up to 10,000 slaves were sold daily. Over the next century as Roman power declined and the importance of the ancient religions declined in the face of the growth of Christianity, Delos experienced a slow decline such that by the 3^rd century AD, the only inhabitants of the island were a Christian settlement. For several centuries thereafter, the island’s infrastructure was looted by pirates and others seeking building materials. It wasn’t until the 17th century that the antiquities of Delos were rediscovered.

Our tour took us initially to the Theatre Quarter where he wealthy resided. We walked through several houses including the Houses of Dionysus and Cleopatra where large structures surrounding peristyle courtyards that had elaborate mosaic floors.  The house of Trident was also very large and well preserved. The theatre dated to 300 BC, but was not well preserved. It contained a cistern that supplied most (the wealthy homes had their own cisterns) of the arid town with water. Beyond that on the mountain we could see, but did not go to the Sanctuaries of the Foreign Gods

We retraced our steps and walked along the Stoa of Philip V which lead to the Temple of Apollo. Opposite that is the Terrace of the Lions. The marble originals, all of which have been lost or are in the Athens and British Museums, were offerings from the people of Naxos presented in the 7^th century BC.  We saw plaster cast replacements. We then walked across the dry Sacred Lake, the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis to the Museum. It had an interesting collection of relics.

We took the 12:30 ferry back to Mykonos and were on our own. We walked around and through the Church of Panagis Pareportiani. It is a rocky whitewashed building that consists of four small chapels. That lead us to the Little Venice area which had lots of narrow streets, tourist and jewelry shops and lots of water front restaurants. We continued along the waterfront to the windmills. These are thatched roofed structures which are the mostly now residences. One that was till a functioning windmill was open for a walk through. We then turned inland and stopped for coffee. Finally walked back to the boat by way of the center of the town and then along the waterfront bay. There were several people on the small beach and we viewed several murals near the boat.

We had to be back on the boat at 2:00 for lunch and the return trip to Athens. Do not know why we had to leave that early since we docked in Athens about midnight. During the afternoon we got to go on the bridge with the captain. Lots of gadgets up there. Had a sit-down dinner and then had to settle our accounts. The tours were expensive.

House of Dionysos

Picture of a mural of Little Venice

October 18, Santorini

October 18, 2017 Day 6 of the cruise, day 17 of the trip – Santorini

After our longest sea trip of the cruise we arrived off Santorini island about 11:30. This leg of the trip was about 14 hours across the Aegean Sea and we had been advised to expect strong waves throughout the night. There was a bit of rocking and rolling when we went to sleep, but it was not too bad and after I fell asleep I did not notice it.

Santorini is one of the jewels and most visited of the Greek islands. Even by the time we arrived there were three large cruise ships anchored in the harbor as well as many sea ferries arriving from the mainland and other islands. Cruise boats, even ones as small as ours, cannot dock at the small harbor, Athinios, because it lies on a small shelf of land which lies at the base of tall and steep cliffs. So, there are lots of small boats ferrying cruise ship passengers back and forth.

Santorini’s recorded history goes back a long way. Around 2000 BC the Minoans came over from Crete and their settlement at Akrotiri dates from the peak years of their civilization. Santorini was a round island then. However around 1613 BC there was a huge volcanic eruption that caused the center of the island to sink into the sea (this was the same phenomena that created Crater Lake in Oregon.) breaking the island into 4 islands and leaving a water filled caldera in the middle surrounded by towering cliffs along the east side, which is now Thira. It is these towering, multicolored (to me it looked like a layer cake) cliffs that are topped by white houses which in some areas spill down the cliffs that are the most striking feature of the island. From a distance they looked like icey cornices plunging down a ski mountain.

No one knows what happened to the Minoans after the eruption.  Speculation is that they fled, possibly to Crete, following the earthquake or some other signs that preceded the volcanic eruption, or that the entire population was wiped out. In any event, there have been no human remains found from this civilization. The island was repopulated by the 3rd century BC and was conquered at various times by the Venetians, the Dorians and the Turks, but it did not become a tourist hotspot, along with Mykonos until the 1970s.

The scene in the harbor of the main island, Thira, is a bit chaotic. When we got off our ferry there were lots of buses, taxis and cars jostling for position and lots of people disembarking for the ferries and on to land transportation. There are three ways up the cliffs, donkey ride, cable car or vehicles, which must negotiate the cliffs through a series of switchbacks. (I imagine one could walk up to the top, but no one suggested that and there did not seem to be a trail.) Our guide informed us that they would be offering a “complimentary “bus trip up the cliffs rather than requiring us to take and pay for the donkey or cable car, and a trip to the ancient Akrotiri archelogy site, for which we had to pay the entrance fee.

Akrotiri was unearthed in 1967 and excavations are ongoing. This Minoan city was buried beneath the volcanic ash in 1613 BC. The site is housed within a large protective structure and is cris crossed by wooden walkways that allowed us to view homes, commercial buildings, streets, drainage systems and water works, but no human remains. We spent about 2 hours there.

Next, we were bused to the town of Oia, on the northern tip of the island. This town was rebuilt after the 1956 earthquake and it is very pretty. It flows down the cliff with lots of white houses, many with blue domes on top. The narrow streets were very crowded at spots both with people and shops and we found a restaurant, Kyprida, a Cypriot eatery, a bit off the beaten path for a rushed lunch. Good fish and our friends had a multi course meal of lots of traditional foods.  We departed about 3:30.

Finally, late in the afternoon we were bused to Fira, the island’s main town. The roads on the island are very narrow and in some places adjacent to the cliffs. Our bus driver did a great job navigating the trip. Fira has some terrific views and ultimately the great sunset, but what I saw was a real tourist, albeit high end, town. The edge of the town lies on the caldera and it has layers of expensive hotels, cave apartments, restaurants, and infinity pools. The narrow streets behind that are filled with bars and more shops. We walked through the town to the edge where the Catholic Cathedral was located and walked through its interior. Beyond that the tourist part ended and we were in a working class residential neighborhood. There was a long line at the cable car station even though the cars moved n a pack of 6. Not much to do if you weren’t shopping or eating. We saw a few of our boat mates nursing drinks in bars waiting for the sunset. Looming below were the three large cruise ships. We watched the sunset for about 30 minutes shivering a bit and then met the bus for the drive back to the harbor for the ferry ride back to the boat.  We got on the boat about 7:30 and had dinner on the boat.

There was an overnight cruise to Mykonos.

The cliffs

Whitewashed homes and blue topped domes, Oia

The sunset

October 17 Poros

October 17, 2017 Day 5 of the Cruise, day 16 of the trip – Poros

We spent most of the night in port in Spetses, but set sail in the early morning for Poros. We arrived there about 10:30. This is an island, but it is separated from the Peloponnese mainland by a 200-meter channel. There are lots of ferries regularly crossing the channel all of which are built to carry vehicles. As we sailed through the channel you could see pastel colored houses stacked up the hillside leading up to a clock tower. The harbor had lots of yachts and sailboats, but also working fishing boats.  

Poros, two islands, is made up of a small area, the town and a much larger area covered by forests that is called Kalavaria. The two are connected by a bridge and a tiny isthmus. The latter has many beaches and in its interior, the Temple of Poseidon of which very little is left. (I was told that most of its materials were stolen for use on Hydra to build a monastery.)

Poros was the center of the Amphictyonic League, a political and religious alliance of the city states in the Argosaronic Sea in the 6 and 5^th centuries BC. It was under Byzantine rule for a century and Ottoman rule from 1453 until 1828, interrupted a few times by Venetian conquest. Its mariners and fleet played a role in the Greek War of Independence and in 1828 the Greeks met here to draft their first modern constitution,

We set off to walk to the clock tower at about 11:00. We walked along the harbor and then into town. Lots of restaurants and tourist shops along the harbor, but not crowded. The ferries continued to operate along with lots of other smaller boats for a very busy harbor. Across the channel we could see the mainland, the town of Galatas.

We walked up to the clock tower, a steep but relatively short walk along narrow streets and cobble stoned alleys. We passed lots of whitewashed two-story houses with terracotta-tiled roofs and many with wooden balconies. The clocktower is well maintained and continues to chime on the hour and half hour, but we were not permitted to climb it. I stayed too long and got separated from my little group, so I had to wait at the bottom.

We then began a walk around the main town. Initially we walked along the shoreline which had many shops on one side (There was an ice cream shop featuring 46 flavors.) fishing boats and small boats for hire on the other side. Then the path turned upward and inland. We walked past a gated community and ultimately came down behind a maritime training facility.   We ate lunch in the town. Nothing special.

After lunch I returned to the boat while my friends went shopping. Rested and tried to catch up on blog notes. Before dinner there was Greek dancing on the boat. A nice diversion in which I participated with much energy, but little art. We had dinner on the boat while cruising.

We left about 7:00 for Santorini. We were warned that the trip might be rough, but it was not too bad, and it did not interrupt my sleep.

Poros Harbor

Clock Tower

Harbor stroll

Poros evening  

October 16, 2017 Epidavros and Spetses

October 16, 2017 Cruise day 4 Trip day 15 Epidavros visit and sail to Spetses

Four days into the cruise, we finally reached a Greek island, albeit a small one, but I have jumped ahead.

We again had an early breakfast and departure, just the independents on our tour which meant a smaller group and an arrival at the sites before the crowds. It was a 45-minute drive to Epidavros in a different direction from yesterday, with the same local guide as the prior day.

Come one, come all to experience the healing powers at the Sanctuary of Asclepius. In ancient times this place was revered as far away as Rome for its miraculous healing powers and is now regarded as the birthplace of western medicine. Visitors apparently came from great distances to seek a cure for their ailments. As you were cured it was expected that you would donate to the god for your cure. The donation was given to the Sanctuary, and hence it became very wealthy. The donations were recorded, along with the names of those who failed to donate and the punishment that the god subsequently inflicted upon the “debtor”.

We walked around the ruins of the complex which were well-preserved lead by the tour guide. The sanctuary is named after the son of Apollo and Coronis who was born here. Coronis died right after childbirth when she was struck by lightning. Apollo took Asclepius to Mt. Pelion where he learned the healing arts.  The sick hoped that the healing god would come to them in their sleep and cure them. Failing that, snakes were part of the curative process. There were lots of sculptures of them here, but other treatments used the many hot springs, diet instruction, herbal medicines and occasionally surgery. The place was started around 400 BC and ultimately over 200 medical centers around the Mediterranean were directly linked to Asclepius. After several hundred years it was ravished and sacked by marauding pirates. However, the Romans revived it under their god of healing, Hygieia.

After touring the ruins, we went into a museum that was originally the Hestintorion. Sacrificial and ritual meals to the cult of Asclepius took place here. It was partially destroyed by pirates, but rebuilt by the Romans. It had on display some of the medical instruments used here. Much is known about the activities of the complex due to the writings of Pausanias, who as the first travel writer came through here in the 2d century AD.

However, the highlight of the tour was the very well-preserved, very large theatre which remains in use today. It was built during 400 BC and was preserved when an earthquake covered the entire facility. The theatre served as an entertainment facility for the medical sanctuary and hosted dramas, athletic competitions and every four years, the Festival of Asclepius. The climb to the top was an effort, but from there you could appreciate the very good acoustics of the structure. It was not until the 19^th century that a foreign archeologist unearthed it. The local farmers declined payment for the use of their land and sought only the construction of a road to a larger town.

Walking up stairs and ramp to the stadium I noticed that one of the independents, an elderly retired French doctor was having difficulty, even with assistance of his wife, making progress. He had a big heavy camera around his neck that I’m sure did not help his progress. I helped him along, and carried his camera. I and others continued with that assistance throughout the remainder of the trip and it was greatly appreciated.  Also feels good to do something nice for someone else.

I make sure that I got back to the bus at the appointed time, and indeed was not even the last one on.

We arrived back at the boat about 11:30 and were told that the boat would be departing at 1:00. I decided to take a swim in the rocked off harbor area that we had passed yesterday on our walk so I quickly changed into my bathing suit and as I departed the boat, the attendant, to my surprise gave me a bathing towel. Nice touch as this was not a scheduled swim event. It took me about 12 minutes to walk to the swimming area. No one was there, and it was nice to slip into the water. It was warmer than the prior swim, perhaps because I was in shallower water.  I swam 6 laps of the area and saw an older (what does that make me?)  man appear. I was nervous about returning on time and in response to my question he told me the time. and then he swam around slowly. I saw a woman in a hat (it was not getting wet) swimming outside the breakwater. I had a brief conversation with the old man when we got out. He was vacationing from Athens. He brother lives on the island and is a fisherman. He is a retired civil servant. He bitterly protested the “large” reduction in his pension benefits from the state. He said that the wealthy were still not paying taxes and that on his reduced pension he could not live and was forced to rent out his apartment in Athens to tourists to make ends meet. Hence his visit to his brother. He also said that young people were leaving Greece in large numbers and that he saw no future for Greece. His parting words were some very damming statements about Germany (“still Nazis”) and Angela Merkel.

I swam 6 more laps and left the swim area about 12:45 and got back to the boat about 12:55. Minutes to spare. We took off for Spetses about 1:00. They provided a Greek lunch with grilled octopus on board, a grand gesture on their part (“complimentary”), but so far, we had not spent any meaningful time on a Greek island. We were sailing southeast along the coast. After a few hours we stopped for a second swim in the Aegean Sea. Not nearly as many people took advantage of his swimming stop as had done so at the first swimming stop. I spent some time talking to the tall guy from Montana while we were swimming. Very limited opportunity to interact with the non-independents since they eat separately and take separate land tours. As his wife told me on the first day, they had moved around a lot through several major cities, but loved Montana. Very safe and friendly and a great place to have raised their kids. No problem with the weather and it does not get too cold. They live in Missoula and have a cabin on the east side of Flathead Lake. We probably drove by it going to and from Glacier NP this summer.

Shortly before 5 we approached Spetses. Finally, a Greek island on a Greek island cruise. It is a small island and only a few kilometers off the mainland. It has one town Spetses Town and many small coves and good swimming beaches. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to visit them. Most of the island is covered in forests. The island was inhabited for many years by ancient peoples, but for about 600 years starting in the 10^th century it was uninhabited. In the 16^th century Albanians fleeing the fighting in their lands between the Venetians and the Ottomans (I don’t imagine that any reparations were offered by the combatants.) repopulated the island. Some of them grew wealthy as sailors and traders. During the Napoleonic Wars they grew rich running the English blockade and refitted their ships during the Greek War for Independence to fight the Ottomans (payback is sweet).

Our cruise leader grandly announced that they were offering a “complimentary” (the books said admission was 6 euro, but it was nice to have a private tour) visit to the Bouboulina Museum. This was an interesting place, with a very interesting story. The structure, formerly a large mansion, had been in a single-family home for over 400 years. Laskarina Bouboulina married into the family (her second marriage). Her husband died several years later, but she managed the family fortune, mainly in shipping, very well. When the Greek War for Independence occurred, she financed a fleet and built the largest warship of its time, The Agamemnon, to fight the Turks. The effort left her bankrupt and she died a few years later. Her efforts were extremely unusual for a woman during that era.  Her impressive statute stands in the harbor area and now there are many streets and plazas named for her throughout Greece.

Her descendants continued to live in the house, but over time could not maintain it. Hence all but the ground floor has been converted into a museum. Her descendants still live in the ground floor. Our tour guide at the museum was very good and well-spoken with an excellent command of English.

We were then released from the tour in the town square which is almost on the waterfront. We and our friends set out along the meandering waterfront in search of dinner. The road is lined with chic and cheap tourist shops and cafes, most of which were closed for the season. There were also an unending stream of noisy scooters, motorbikes and ATVs zipping perilously close as we walked. We walked a considerable distance, about a mile, around to the Old Harbor which had a yacht anchorage and boatbuilding area. We found a waterfront restaurant that was largely deserted, but which served us a tasty set of appetizers and main dishes. My whole fish was very good.

We then took the long walk back to the boat well after 10:00.  The boat remained in port for much of the night, leaving early in the morning for Poros. 

In the Aegean

Epidavros theatre

Spetses Waterfront

October 15, 2017 Mycenae and Nafplio

October 15, 2017 Cruise 3, Trip day 14 Mycenae and Nafplio

Early start with breakfast at 7:30 and on the bus to tour Mycenae at 8:30. We quickly left the town of Nafplio behind and drove into the countryside. There were 10 of us on the bus, “the independents” minus “Zippy” and the girlfriend. The big tour went separately. More untogetherness, but this was a benefit. It was about a 30-minute ride.

Our first stop was the Treasury of Atreus, or the tomb of Agamemnon. He is one of the principal characters in the Iliad (whose name I mispronounced in a reading in middle school to the delight of the other students) and was a King of Mycenae. He and his brother married sisters who were daughters of the King of Sparta. One of them was Helen, who was spirited away by Paris to Troy. Thus, was launched the 10-year Trojan war which made horses famous and launched 100 movies. Agamemnon returned victorious from the war with a Trojan princess, Cassandra, but his triumph was short lived because shortly after his return he was murdered by his wife and her lover. They were subsequently murdered by Agamemnon’s children. The stuff of legends and if it really occurred, it was a long time ago.

The tomb had a long, walled passageway that lead to an immense beehive chamber.  Then we moved on to the main event, Mycenae.

Mycenae was the greatest city state of the Bronze era, ruler of a large portion of the Peloponnesian peninsula and a featured player in Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey. It was originally settled around 6000 BC, but was jump started around 2000 BC when it was conquered after an invasion by Indo-European tribes who crossed over from Anatolia.

Between 1600 and 1200 BC the Myceneans ruled the area and became very wealthy. The city consisted of a fortified citadel and surrounding farms and settlements. We first toured the museum which had displays of pottery, weapons and lots of gold jewelry. There was a copy of a gold funeral mask of Agamemnon. Lots of good English explanations and good bathrooms.

We then entered the citadel through the massive Lion Gate which is part of the large citadel walls which due to their size the Greeks thought must have been constructed by the Cyclops. We then came to Grave Circle A in which a German archeologist in the 19^th century found lots of gold treasure. It was undoubtedly a royal cemetery. After passing the remains of houses we came to Agamemnon’s Palace. Passing through the Postern Gate I came to the secret cistern. A worker with a flashlight let me go several steps down beyond the chain, but I could not see too much.    

All that caused me I to be 6 minutes late for the bus and got the evil eye from our cruise leader. My lateness was not a proper thing to do holding up the rest and I will not repeat. We returned to the boat around 11:30 and took in the vista of a cruise sailing boat that had docked near our boat the prior evening. It looked nice.

We walked through Nafplio with our friends. A pretty town with lots of narrow streets, restaurants, shops, Venetian homes and a fortress on top. I purchased two double handed pots holders with evil eyes for sons’ housewarming gifts. Also scouted out a seafood restaurant for dinner.   Nafplio according to legend was founded by Nafplios, son of Poseidon. At various times it was ruled by Romans, Franks, Venetians (several times) and the Turks. The Venetians built the large Palamidi Fortress at the top of the town. We did not get there. It was the first capital of the newly independent Greek Republic from 1828 until 1833

After lunch on the boat we walked along the waterfront around the town. We passed a sheltered swimming area behind a rock seawall. I bumped my head against a protruding rock so hard that I drew blood. There was a nice swimming beach at the far end with many bathers. We stopped in a tourist shop and bought a birthday gift of a bicycle backpack for my youngest son and some postcards. We later went back there for stamps and after some discussions with the owner learned that 40 years ago he had been in the honor guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier we had seen a few days earlier in Athens. We then dropped of the postcards at the past office and made our way back to the main square where we hung out at a café for a few hours watching people go by on a Sunday afternoon.

We had dinner at the seafood restaurant Large platters of good seafood. Then had some gelato at the same place we visited the prior evening. I never made it to any of the town’s museums or its fortresses.

Entrance to the tomb

Main Square in Nafplio

Café people watching

Night view of Palamidi fortress

October 14, 2107 Monemvassia to Nafplio

October 14, 2017 Day 2 of the cruise and day 13 of the trip Monemvassia to Nafplio

I awoke early after a pretty good night’s sleep and went up to the top deck as the sun was rising. Nice sunrise and the sight of the boat’s wake behind us.

We arrived at Monemvassia at about 7:30. After breakfast we were escorted down the dock to a road. We waited for a public bus, fare 1.1 euro, to take us to the old town, also called Castle Town.

Monemvassia reminded me of a Greek equivalent of France’s Mont St.-Michel. It is a huge fortress like rock that was part of the mainland until an earthquake in 375 AD made it into an island. A causeway connects it to the modern mainland town of Gefyra, into which we did not go. The name means single entry and the limited access as well as the steep sides of the rock make it a formidable fortress, but a shortage of water is its Achilles heel.

This was a Byzantine commercial center for many centuries and was subsequently successfully invaded by the Franks, Venetians and Turks. During the Greek War of Independence, the Turkish inhabitants were massacred after they surrendered following a three-month siege in retaliation for a Turkish massacre. More recently the communist poet Yiannis Ritsos was born here. As we saw in Dubrovnik, today seemingly only a handful of people live in the old town, most inhabitants having moved to the adjacent modern town and rent out their residences. It is a major vacation spot for Greeks. The entire town is surrounded by a large wall.

Entry to the lower, medieval town is through narrow L shaped tunnel that hides the town until you emerge on the other side into a narrow cobble stone street. It is lined with tourist shops, hotels restaurants and bars, inhabited by lots of cats and has winding staircases that lead down to a walkway along the sea and upward to stone houses with walled gardens and courtyards that were hard to peer into. The architecture has Venetian influences. Historically this was the residential area of the working classes.  

After a short walk we emerged into a central square that is flanked by two churches and a large bell tower. The square afforded a great ocean view. We left the square and began the walk up to the fortress. It was a winding staircase that passed many pretty homes/hotels and lead up to the upper town.  This was historically the residential area of the nobles. Today it is mostly a jumbled cluster of ruins spread across many acres. The Church of Agia Sofia was built in the 13^th century by the Byzantines, and for a period under the Turks was converted into a mosque. It has been restored and is perched on the edge of a cliff. It had several frescoes and expansive views of the lower town and the walls that seem to run into the sea. In the complex at that site there was a ruined Turkish bathhouse and three large cisterns. Many of the house in the upper town were two stories and had their own cistern. Climbing further up you can reach the actual citadel. My spouse seemed to be the only one from our group to climb that far.

The town produces the unique Malvasia grape wine. Overall it is a very visually spectacular town.

Going back down we met our friends for lunch at a restaurant that had a rooftop balcony overlooking the ocean.  After lunch some went shopping and I walked along the sea wall and through the town wall until I reached the lighthouse. It is still operating and had a small museum.

We caught the 1:30 bus back to the boat and starting sailing about 2:30. We cruised along the coastline affording a nice view of the lower town and its wall.

We were sailing northwest to Nafplio at the top of the gulf. At about 5:30 we stopped for an ocean swim. We jumped off the back of the boat and many of the passengers enjoyed the swim. The water temperature was pleasant and very clear.

We had dinner on the boat and arrived at Nafplio about 10:00 pm. Towering over us when we docked was the lit up Palamidi fortress, which looked like a giant dragon. My friend and I took a night walk in the town. We stopped for gelato at Antica Gelateria, which we were assured was the best gelato not only in town, but anywhere outside of Italy. There were lots of open and busy restaurants in the areas we walked with lots of good smells.

We got back to the boat about 11:30 and overnighted in port.

Sunrise form the boat

Monemvassia

Main Square and bell tower

Cliff view

Agia Sofia

Monemvassia Cliff

Lower Town and its wall

October 13, 2017 Departing Athens and crusing to Hydra

October 13, 2017 Day 12 (Day one of Cruise) Athens in the morning and Departure to Hydra

We took a break and got up later, breakfast at 8:00. Usual good stuff, the waitress now even knows to bring me hot chocolate rather than offering coffee, and while I was eating too much there, I was sorry to depart from the friendly confines of the Electra Palace Hotel.

After breakfast we set out on foot for the Roman and Ancient Agoras, the last sites on our monument ticket from two days ago. Out to the left and then another left, but before we got to the Agora we stopped at the Athens Cathedral, a large and relatively new church. Built in 1862 it is the seat of the archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Athens. Very impressive and ornate inside. Not at all like the austere churches in western Europe. We ducked into a small market to pick up some bottled water. I thought that the prices were significantly bigger that I experienced at home. We passed through Kalogrionl Plateia Arbaia Agoras, a large plaza which had stands piled high with fruit.  

The Roman Agora was the roman market. It had a lot of ruins at the side we entered, columns of varying size lining the sides and at the other end the well-preserved Gate of Athens Archegetis flanked by 4 columns and built during the regime of Julius Ceaser. The well-preserved Tower of the Winds was built in the first century BC by a Syrian astronomer. Its octagonal shape functioned as a sundial, weather vane, (no longer present) water clock and compass. Each side had a picture associated with the wind at that point.  When the Turks occupied Athens, this site was a temple for the Dervishes. Off in a corner was the ruins of the 1^st century public latrines.

We then walked to the Ancient Agora. This was the administrative, commercial and political center of Athens when it was a world superpower. Socrates expounded here, and St Paul preached here. Today it has some well-preserved ruins in a lush, peaceful garden setting which also includes a museum. It was first developed as a public site in the 6^th century BC, but was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. It was rebuilt and flourished during Pericles’ time and continued to exist until 267 AD when it was destroyed by a marauding tribe from Scandinavia.

We entered at the southern entrance and immediately came upon the Church of the Holy Apostles, although that was not immediately apparent at the time since we had great difficultly determining where we were. We there passed some former government buildings and the jail before coming to the Temple of Hephaestus. This was the most impressive structure in the Agora. It was the highest point in the site, very well preserved with lots of columns and a roof. We were not permitted to enter the temple which was dedicated to the god of forge. As we made our way down the hill form the temple we passed the foundation for the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios which was one of the places where Socrates expounded his philosophy. Sort of like the Speakers Corner of Athens.

We then went to the Agora Museum. The Stoa of Attalos is a two-storied walkway built in 139 BC that served as a shopping arcade and people gathered here every four years to watch the Panathenaic Procession, a festival honoring Athena. Now its many well-preserved columns serve as a facade for the museum. Inside there was a model of the Agora and lots of busts and sculptures of famous Athenians. We got in trouble with a guard for attempting to take a picture embracing, without touching, one of the statutes.   

On the way back, we stopped off at Hadrian’s Library. This vast 2d century complex had a central courtyard that originally consisted of 100 columns. Few remain today.     

Arriving back at the hotel at about 12:30 we checked out by 1 and loaded our luggage (it was a tight squeeze for the four of us) into the waiting taxi. We had a drive through business and commercial Athens before the driver got us to the “small” port. Athens is a frequent stop for the major cruise lines and their large (and getting larger) cruise boats, but we pulled up to a small dock. Perhaps I should not have been, I had looked at the pictures, but I was surprised at how small our boat was. Some of the yachts I saw in San Troupue, France were bigger.  We were early so after downing a welcome drink and checking out our cabin, we walked around the port area.

The boat departed about 3. After the safety talk and welcome by the Captain, we were told that there were unspecified weather issues and that cruise would essentially be done in reverse, so we would be going first to the island of Hydra. We arrived at the island about 5 and took a walk around Hydra Town. There are no motorized vehicles and the cobble stone streets are very clean. While during the early part of the 18^th century Hydra was a major Mediterranean maritime power with 130 battleships and 28,000 people, now it is a quiet town with less than 4,000 inhabitants.  Its sailors and ships made lots of money running the British blockade during the Napoleonic Wars and its fleet dominated the sea during the Greek War for Independence.  Now it has lots of yachts and is just chic.

After our stroll around town we had dinner on the boat. It was a sit-down dinner, but the food was not very good. The passengers who had booked the tour through a tourist agency sat at reserved tables. The remaining 12 passengers, “the independents” were segregated at 2 tables. After dinner I and my friend returned to the now darkened town and took another walk. We were referred to the “best” ice cream shop and sampled its offerings. We also strolled up some small back streets and envied the aroma from the many patio restaurants.

We were back on the boat by 11 and the boat remained in port until about 3:00 am when it took off for Monemvassia.

Hydra Town

Temple of Hephaestus

Tower of the WindsThe crusie boat

October 12, 2017 Delphi

October 12, 2017 Day 11 Delphi

Another early (for retirees) morning, albeit only 15 minutes earlier to accommodate the long drive to Delphi. The breakfast again was terrific as I sampled items I had to pass on the prior morning.

Delphi is about 180 km northwest of Athens and is perched like an eagle’s nest on a cliff that overlooks a valley of cypress and olive trees which flows into the coast of the Gulf of Corinth. It was about a 2-hour drive along toll roads and winding mountain roads.

It seems to be that the whole Delphi experience was a giant scam that all willingly participated in. Pilgrims came in droves to seek advice and receive prophecies from the oracle who was believed to speak for Apollo. In the flesh, the oracle was a woman from a local town who sat in a tripod in the Temple of Apollo over a chasm that emitted intoxicating vapors. The oracle (woman) inhaled the vapors and, went into a trance and when asked questions, responded with answers that were so unintelligible they had to be translated into verse by priest. Those answers were usually terminally vague and could be interpreted in many ways.

For this the pilgrims paid large sums. Indeed, many of the larger cities maintained small buildings, treasuries, at the site in which financial and other valuable offerings to the Delphi were stored. If you did not like the response you could pay more and get a modified response. Alternatively, as Alexander did, you could take matters into your own hands.  When Alexander the Great (although he was not Great yet) asked for a prophecy that he would conquer the ancient world, he received the usual vague response. Enraged, he dragged the woman out of the chamber by her hair until she screamed, “Let me go, you are unbeatable”. Armed with his answer he went on to conquer a good chunk of the world.

The Delphi got into the oracle business around 800 BC. It reached its peak between the 6 and 4th centuries when it was protected by the Amphictyonic League, a federation of 12 states. As a mark of its power and financial acumen, it conquered the port city through which most of the pilgrims arrived to gain the revenue from these pilgrims.  

The sanctuary survived fire, earthquake and conquest and plunder by the Romans. But subsequent Roman emperors were fascinated by the oracle’s reputation and kept it going into the second century AD. The Byzantine Emperor Theodosius abolished it in the 4^th century and by the 7th century it was covered over by a small village. The writings of the 2d century Athenian historian Pausanias gives us much of what we know today about Delphi.

Before walking through the main entrance, we passed several “treasuries” of city states where the offerings were stored showing their gratitude to Apollo. There were more of these throughout the site. We began our walk on the winding Sacred Way passing the Voltive Offering of Lacedaemon which commemorated a battle victory. The restored Athenian Treasury was impressive.

We then came to the Temple of Apollo, site of the oracle. A big building with a statute of Apollo and an eternal flame, only the floor and 6 columns currently remain. Above the Temple is a well preserved 4^th century theatre.  There were good views of the valley and the Gulf from here. Continuing up on the winding path we made it to the Stadium, supposedly the best preserved in Greece. The track is a narrow oval and most of the races were run back and forth rather than around the oval.    

After walking back down we toured the Delphi Museum. Its contents reflected the considerable treasure trove that the oracle collected for its prophesies. The life-sized Bronze Charioteer was impressive. We then had a very pleasant lunch of traditional Greek food in Delphi Town in a restaurant with a terrific view of the valley. Complimentary dessert was provided. On the way back, we stopped at the Moni Osios Loukas Monastery.  The complex has two churches and lots of mosaics and frescos. There is a great view from the grassy terrace and a coffee shop for those who cannot be long separated for sweets or an espresso machine.

The drive back seemed longer, and we did not return to the hotel until after 7.     

Stadium

Theatre

Athens Treasury

Temple of Apollo

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Museum Exhibit

October 11, 2017 Day 10 Athens 1

October 11, 2017 Day 10 Tour of Athens’ antiquity and recent history

Got up early and went to breakfast at 7:00. This hotel has a fabulous breakfast buffet, one of the best I have experienced during our travels. Good hot eggs, lots of meats, fresh salmon fresh fruit, and wonderful hot chocolate. More good stuff than one could even sample.

Athens has a very interesting, and even unique history for a major city. Its origins are intermingled with methodology. Indeed, as the myth goes, Athena won the contest of being Athens’ namesake in a contest with Poseidon. After Kekrops, a Phoenician founded the city on a huge rock that became the Acropolis, the gods proclaimed that it should be named after the deity who could provide the greatest benefit for the lowly mortals, Poseidon, god of the sea struck a rock with his trident and a saltwater spring emerged. Athena, goddess of wisdom produced an olive tree, symbol of peace and prosperity (tell that to the Israelis and Palestinians). The gods gave the nod to Athena’s gift since it would produce food, oil and wood for the mortals and so to this day it appears that Athena dominates Athens’ mythology and its monuments.   

Athens rose to a powerful entity over 1000 years before Christ and then fell into dark ages. Yet it rose again, with the help of Sparta, to defeat the Persians in 490 BC, the western world’s greatest empire of the time and enjoy a Golden Age that saw it dominate the Greek city states and give rise to democracy and heights in drama and literature. Following endless wars with Sparta it fell into decline and was conquered by Phillip II of Macedonia in 338 BC. Alexander the Great favored Athens over the other Greek city states but after his death it picked the wrong side in Macedonia’s losing war against an ascendant Rome. (Who did not see that happening?) However, Rome’s conquest lead to another resurgence of Athens as it became the cultural guidepost for the expanding Roman empire. It was a major center of learning and philosophy and its emperors and elite lavished money on Athens, sent their children to school there and considered Greek language, drama and literature to be the cultural pinnacle. Even after the subdivision of the Roman empire into east and west, Athens fell under the jurisdiction of the former and continued to prosper until 529 when Emperor Justinian abruptly (I never heard the reason why, perhaps it was due to his many expansionist wars and the building of the gigantic St. Johns temple in Ephisises.) closed its schools and cut off cultural funding. That began a. long decline that was accelerated by attacks from European states intent on picking up chunks on the crumbling Byzantine Empire. However, in 1456 Athens was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and became a regional political and economic center as the Parthenon was converted into a mosque and the Acropolis became the home of the Turkish governor. By the 17^th century as the Ottoman’s fortunes declined, so did Athens’, and by the beginning of the 19^th century it was little more than a village, although it witnessed fierce fighting during the Greek War for Independence.  Initially Nafplio, a thriving Peloponnesian town, was the capital of the newly independent Greek state. However, after the elected President was assassinated, England, France and Russia, fearing chaos, stepped in and imposed a monarchy on Greece. Since none of them wanted the other to gain an upper hand, they selected 17-year-old Otto, the second son of the King of the province of Bavaria as the King of Greece. He did not speak Greek. Seeking to make his mark, Otto transferred the capital to Athens and brought in Bavarian architects to rebuild the city.  In the 20^th century Athens has seen several waves of immigrants starting with those Greeks evicted from Turkey flowing Greece’s disastrous attempt to implement the Great Idea, a revival of the old Hellenist empire under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne to the recent wave of third world immigrants. One third of all Greeks now live in the Athens metropolitan area.    

Acropolis/Parthenon

Our guide picked us up at 8:00 am at the hotel. We had a driver and a guide and were quickly driven to the Acropolis parking lot. (The guides were expensive, but got us around to the sites efficiently and had a wealth of knowledge.)  We walked up a series of zigzagging (better to slow down invaders) ramps and stairs and purchased a ticket for six sites. We got there before the crowds, but we dissipated that advantage by stopping too often to take pictures.

The Acropolis arguably represents the important ancient site in western civilization. With the Parthenon as its crown jewel, overlooking and standing sentinel over Athens, it reflects the arc of Athens and Greek development.  It was first inhabited around 4000 BC. and continued to be inhabited until 510BC when the Delphic oracle decreed that it should be the province of the gods. The humans were banished to the lands below the rock.  During the during the Mycenaean era, about 1500 BC, the first temples were built in honor of Athena. However, the reign of the gods was not long since the Persians burned the Acropolis to the ground, along with most of the rest of Athens prior to being defeated in the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.  

However, that lead to the Acropolis’ Golden Age. Pericles, who introduced a measure of democracy to Athens, rebuilt Acropolis into a city of Temples in which priests and pilgrims worshipped. It has come to be regarded as the zenith of classical Greek achievement. As Athens declined in importance so di Acropolis. It was ravaged by foreign occupation, the worst blow of which was the shelling by the Venetians in 1687 who while attacking the Turks scored a direct hit on the Parthenon in which the Turks were storing gunpowder. The resulting explosions damaged most of the buildings.

We entered through the Beule Gate and then went through the monumental Propylaia, which has been reduced to a lot of columns. To the right was the Temple of Athena Nike (Athena as Victory). It is one of the best and painstakingly restored buildings. We walked along the grandly named Panathenaic Way past the foundations of missing statutes, one of which, the 9-meter-high Athena Promachos (champion), was carted off to Constantinople and was ultimately smashed to pieces by locals in 1204 who believed that it guided the Crusaders into the city.   

The we arrived at the granddaddy of them all, the Parthenon. It means virgin’s apartment and was dedicated to Athena. It was the largest Doric (lots of columns) temple built in Greece, exceeded in size only by the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus’s (of course that one has only one column standing). Many of the pieces of the Parthenon are in the nearby museum, but the biggest existing part, the Parthenon Marbles, is housed in the British Museum in London. I imagine that no British government is willing to agree to the Greeks demands that it be returned.

Next, we encountered the Erechtheion which is the real sanctuary in the Acropolis since it sits on the spot where Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and Athena produced the olive tree. The western side has an olive tree. It has 6 larger than life maiden columns which are plaster cats. All but one original is in the Acropolis Museum. The British Museum has the other one. By this time the place was getting crowded. We circled around to the entrance, but before we left we went off to the right, and viewed outside the walls of the Parthenon on its south slope the Theatre of Dionysos. It is a large theatre made of marble (Seats for the wealthy and VIPs,) and limestone, for the public, that could seat 17,000. Only 20 of its 64 tiers of seats remain.  On top of it is a small temple, Asclepion, named after Asclepius, who was the medicine man son of Apollo.  

Getting down the stairs back to the Beule Gate was done against a tide of people surging in. Our guide drove a path for us.

The car met us at the base of the stairs and we drove off to Syntama Square. In front of the Parliament Building (previously the royal palace) we witnessed the changing of the guard. This is a highly ritualistic ceremony in which the two guards are replaced on the hour. They move their legs as if they were horses and scrape their metal clad feet along the ground. Their uniforms are replicas of those worn during the War for Independence and feature, short kilts, leggings and shoes are topped off by little pompoms. This is done in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and listings of the many battles and wars fought by the Greeks. We got there before the crowds gathered and were told to stand behind a line. I stood on the line, but over time other visitors got in front of me, OVER the line, so I had to do some elbowing to get unobstructed pictures.

Next, we drove by,(the car was always ready and present when we were ready to depart) briefly exited the car for photos, but we could not go in, the Panathenaic Stadium. This was built in the 4^th century BC, and then rebuilt for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. It was also used in the 2004 Olympics. It had a narrow oval track that cannot be used for modern races.

Back in the car we headed off to the Temple of Zeus. This enormous structure took over 700 years to build and was not completed until the Roman Emperor Hadrian intervened in 131 AD. He got an arch located just off the Temple for his efforts. The Temple had 104 Corinthian columns, of which 15 remain, one fallen over.

Sometime prior to lunch we drove up Lykavittos Hill, ("Hill of Wolves") almost to the summit. The hill is the tallest point in Athens and rises out of a sea of concrete to offer a panoramic view of the city, the mountains, the harbor and some islands in the sea. We did not climb the short trail to the summit. Driving on the way down we were stopped when the taxi in front of us stopped. Its driver had spotted a turtle crossing the road and he not only stopped for it, he got out and carried the turtle across the road.

We then went to lunch, about 2:00. I do not remember the restaurant, but it was in the shadow of the Acropolis Museum, which after lunch was our final stop of the day. It is a new, modern building. Lots of statutes, many offerings to Athena, and pieces for the Acropolis.  The top floor has a Parthenon Gallery with a replica of the cella of the Temple.

By 6 we left the museum and were returned to our hotel. Pretty tired. After a rest we went out and walked to a restaurant for dinner. I cannot recall the details other than we had a lot to eat.