When they say the most amazing places are sometimes the most difficult to get to, they probably didn’t have Greece in mind, but in our case, the travel involved a bus ride to Brussels followed by a three-hour plane ride and then a forty-five minute bus ride from the airport to our hotel in Athens. Oh, did I mention that Mary was the trip liaison for 35 students and that we left at 0630? Also, there were three separate Greece trips, most of whom were on the same flight, and no matter how many times you ask half-awake students if they have their passports, you’ll still wind up on the bus with two who learned the hard way what running up a gangway feels like on three hours sleep.
Hmmm. So, on the first day, we arrive in Athens, advance our clocks an hour, and check into our hotel, meeting our amazing guide, Alexandra. Love her! She and the guides for the other Greece field trips took the whole gang of us, 75 people, to a restaurant in Plaka, an historical district in Athens, bordering the Acropolis. Yes, THAT Acropolis. I learned that Greece has more than one, but this one gets the capital “A” because of the temples built on it, especially, the Parthenon, which was built to honor the goddess Athena. More on that to follow.
To get to Plaka from our hotel, we walked to a Metro stop, on the way to which we passed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Syntagma Square. Everyone in Greece must serve a year in the military, and it’s considered a great honor if you’re chosen from the ranks to become Evzoni, members of the Presidential Guard, who stand in front of the tomb, guarding it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These men wear the traditional dress uniform, even in midday heat. I could never be an Evzone for many reasons, but here is one in particular: you must be a minimum of 6’1” or you might as well hang up your fustanella.
One of our students took the photo op, getting perhaps a little too close to the bayonet. Needless to say, civilians are not allowed to touch or converse with Evzoni. The soldier in fatigues is there to wipe sweat, offer words of encouragement, and otherwise keep the guards at their best.
Dinner at the restaurant was one course after another of fresh, delicious food. The restaurant was at the top of some very steep steps lined on both sides with places to eat. Musicians played throughout the meal, and dancers in traditional Greek costume passed through frequently. I think the second photo is a dancer in motion, but I chose it because that first night in Greece felt like a blur. I remember a surprising amount of detail about it, which is perhaps part of its magical quality. Did I mention the food was amazing?! One of the students had never eaten an olive with a pit in it. We broaden horizons where we can!
In the morning, early, we took a five-hour ride on a powerboat from the Port of Piraeus in Athens to the archipelago of islands known as Santorini, or officially, Thira. Sitting in the powerboat (seen below) is sort of like sitting on an airplane with minor but constant turbulence and no one asking if you want peanuts. Not the best part of the trip, for sure, but better than the trip back to Athens the following night, when the air-conditioner was out for all five hours.
Let me not dwell on that. Remember what I said about places that are hard to reach? Santorini was definitely worth every bead of sweat and bit of discomfort it took to get there. Our faithful guide Alexandra was joined by a local guide, Maria, who informed us that there are actually six islands that make up Santorini, but only two of them are populated by human beings. Actually, Maria told us that one of the other islands has a man living on it, and they do include him when they tally the population.
Santorini used to be one large island, but a series of huge volcanic eruptions several millennia ago formed what’s known as a caldera, meaning that so much magma erupted that the chamber beneath it was unable to support its weight, and the volcano essentially collapsed in on itself. The six islands that resulted are spectacular.
The main island slopes down to the Aegean Sea, and when we arrived at the Port of Fira, the bus immediately drove us to the highest point along a series of narrow switchbacks. At the top there is a monastery with six Greek Orthodox monks, but before you arrive, the bus has to turn around. I hope the bus in the photo looks like it’s driving off the cliff because that’s what it felt like. I had a front-row seat for this excursion, and let me tell you, I can see why it’s good to have praying monks at the top. They sell olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and other items they grow themselves, as well as praying for tourist buses. Not a bad spot for spiritual contemplation.
I just want to share all the shades of blue on this trip, and I know it’s impossible, but here are two more attempts: sky and sea.
We had lunch in the small town of Oia (pronounced “ee-ah”), where Angelina Jolie has a home, which is actually the least interesting part of what I learned about the place. Oia actually encompasses all of the island of Therasia and part of the island of Santorini. We stopped for lunch, and most of us headed down the main street, which broke in two directions in front of a church, to find the restaurant with the best views.
Restaurant Skala is where I landed, and I ordered moussaka, a dish that consists of three or more layers. Mine had potato on the bottom, then eggplant, then ground lamb cooked with onion, garlic, tomatoes, and amazing spices, not all of which I could identify. Definitely cinnamon. The top layer is a béchamel sauce, and the whole thing is baked until the top browns. The photo to the right was my view. Good for digestion.
I just realized that like the trip itself, I’ve got to speed this along. After lunch, it was off to El Greco, our hotel in Fira, which is the capital of Santorini. Here’s the view from my room and the front lobby. For obvious reasons, everyone wanted to be there more than one night.
We had a beautiful walk up the road--and I do mean UP the road--but here’s what we got in exchange for our efforts.
Now I’ll have to give you the really quick version of the next day. In the morning, we boarded a kaiki, a traditional Greek fishing boat. Ours was named Hermes. First stop, the island of Nea Kameni, a still-active volcano, where we climbed a gravel path to the top and walked around the rim. There were even sulfur vents letting out steam, which we stuck our hands into--not for long--to feel the heat rising from the earth underneath.
After we had our fill of lava, it was time to feel a different kind of heat. Hermes carried about 80 people, and one by one, we jumped off the side of the boat, swam about 50 feet in the Aegean Sea to thermal springs, which are warmer than the sea itself and warmer than body temperature. There was a herd of mountain goats high above us, watching us. You can see two of them in this photo if you look closely. A thank-you to our guide, Alexandra, who watched our belongings while we soaked in the Aegean.
As a result of volcanic activity, the cliffs in Santorini rise nearly 1,000 feet. In some places, it’s a sheer drop, and people either take a funicular (cable car), a donkey, or walk the 566 steps to the top. After swimming, the boat dropped some of us off at a dock where most of the students rode donkeys to the top. I climbed the 566 steps and beat the donkeys, who stopped often along the way. A tough life being a donkey in Santorini!
Now I’m going to rush through history, my own and the Greeks. We arrived back in Athens that night, and the next day we went to the Acropolis, where we saw the amazing Parthenon and the Erechtheion, both of which were dedicated to the goddess Athena, although I believe the latter was also dedicated to Poseidon. I took a bunch of touristy photos, but check out the second, which is of the Erechtheion. It may be hard to see, but as I was taking the shot, a bird flew out of the rafters and my camera locked focus on it.
To me, setting foot in Greece was an incredible opportunity. The blue of the Aegean Sea is only the first thing you see. I hope some of you get to experience it for yourself one of these days. Nothing I say is even going to come close.
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