Taking for Granted Our Local Treasures - Athens, Greece

I’m not sure what sparked the idea for this article.  It may have been when a friend of mine mentioned that he was going to Yosemite National Park, and I realized I’ve still never been there.  I have lived in northern California all of my life and, on at least three occasions, driven my motorcycle right past one of the park’s entrances, but never went in.  That started me thinking that, during our upcoming trip to Greece, I would conduct an impromptu survey.

I wanted to ask local Athenians who have lived in the shadow of the Acropolis their entire lives, how many times they have visited this world famous monument.  (Actually, I had Helen ask, because my Greek is still pretty weak.)  I made a prediction before we left and it turned out to be pretty accurate.

We started with Helen’s cousin and his wife, who live in Piraeus, just south of Athens.  Her cousin Illias had visited the Parthenon once while in school on a field-trip.  His wife, Julia, had never been there.

At our hotel, with a fantastic view of the Acropolis and Parthenon from the rooftop bar, I asked the bartender how many times she had visited the Parthenon.  She told me she had been several times, but she was from Poland and had only lived in Greece for the last five years.  Each time members of her family would come to visit, she would take them on the walk up to the Parthenon.  She did, however, tell me that on more than a couple of occasions, actual Greeks, visiting Athens from one of the islands, had asked her what that “building” on the hill was.  Wow.

During a stroll around the Plaka, I wanted to get in a few more queries.  There were two police officers on the corner.  They didn’t really look too busy so, I thought, what the heck?  Besides, Helen would have to do the talking.  They were younger men, maybe in their late twenties, and quite friendly.  Helen went ahead and asked each of them how many times they had been up to the Acropolis.  The first replied that he had been there many times because it was on part of his patrol.  The second officer said he had only been there “maybe five times,” to which the first officer replied “What? Only five times?”  Then the first officer confirmed what I had a hard time believing before.  He said that, on more than one occasion, a Greek citizen has asked him, pointing to the Parthenon, “what’s that big castle on the hill?”  Honestly, I really would have thought that pretty much everyone on the planet has, on at least one occasion, seen a picture of the Parthenon.  Apparently, I’m wrong.

A little further down the street, we met a pair of police female officers, about the same age as the first two officers.  They were also willing to participate in my completely unscientific survey.  The first officer said she had only been up to the Parthenon once on a school field trip.  The second said she had been there many times as, like the first male officer, the Acropolis was sometimes on her patrol.

That was the extent of my survey.  I know it wasn’t very scientific and the sampling was fairly small, but it confirmed the prediction I mentioned earlier.  So what does Athenians not visiting the Parthenon have to do with me never having been to Yosemite?  Everything.  It’s exactly the same thing.  This leads me to think that people do this all over the world, which is sad.  It’s sad because life is too short and people don’t get out and take advantage of what’s in their own backyard.  And it’s not because people don’t care about the monuments or parks around them.  I think it’s more a case of thinking that “we’ll do it later.  It will always be there.  We’ll go next week.”  But next week comes, then next year, and before you know it, ten years have gone by and you still haven’t done it.

I live quite close to San Francisco, a beautiful, world-class city.  The last time I went was last year when some friends from Belgium came to visit.  Before that, it had been years.  I actually live in the Tahoe National Forest, but do I go to Lake Tahoe?  No.  Not since last year, again with the Belgians.  So, I’m just as guilty of this and this experience has made me see that I need to stop.  Everyone does.  We need to get out and learn about our local history and culture.  Explore what is near.  Now, even more, with the economy in the shape it has been lately, trips to local treasures are the way to go.

It seems to me that, instead of spending your entire life trying to make a living, you should just take some time to actually live.

Reaching Greece by Sailing Slow From Italy

Aphrodite and the skeletal remains of her love Temples were painted in neon and hung prominently on the broad beige wall across the lounge. These were just part of a series of paintings adorning the ferry’s restaurant lounges. All paid homage to ancient Greek art. They displayed the classics remixed, and acted as just a subtle reminder of where this boat was headed and why we should be happy we were on board.

The paintings were only one of the many beautiful and surprising details to be experienced aboard this ferry heading east to Greece. In my campout on the deck, I witnessed many of them - the inky night, the playful but skilled crew, the comfortably plush deck chairs, and the sound of gusting wind. This journey was the final leg of a long European adventure where I headquartered in Rome.

Greece, and a brief dip into Istanbul, was my final trip before heading home to the United States. I selected the ferry as my transportation for this holiday jaunt from Rome to Greece for two reasons. One, the practical reason, was my sincere anxiety about flying. The second, more imaginative reason was that the ferry offered the aroma of adventure and romance. The passage lasted just under a day. It was a mini-cruise, a brief reenactment of the Odyssey, and a popular plot development in Italian romantic comedies.

Since mid-morning I sat in the nearly empty lounge on the elegant upholstered sofas, pox marked by stray hot ashes, reading and nursing cappuccinos. I enjoyed the paintings, puttering waiters, and view of the expansive Mediterranean. Tranquility presided until noontime heightened the buzz in the ferry’s lounge. On the lunch menu: conversation and cigarettes.

As if called by a silent alarm, elderly men slipped out of their hiding places and congregated to settle in for a mid-day meal. With lit cigarettes, small tables merged with each other in an energetic possession of the restaurant. Puffing out clouds of dense smoke, men lifted chairs carefully over other’s heads to add them around tables and greeted latecomers with kisses and audible slaps on the back.

With the room in order, dominoes materialized. Clusters sunk into the game, cheering and jeering with their progress. Waiters stopped by to take note of who was winning. Intense with concentration, the games continued without stop. As soon as a round finished, a new game commenced. Pieces changed hands and new winners were revealed. The gaming tables created a current in the lounge, pulling stray men into a drifting loop around the domino matches.

Elsewhere in the restaurant, men leaned back in their chairs and spoke genially in Greek. They conversed with booming voices, hoping to be heard by their deaf friends over the din of two televisions broadcasting different Greek programming from opposite ends of the restaurant. Speaking, they shimmied and swayed to emphasize a point. Those who listened sat serenely with their hands folded atop plump bellies, occasionally offering a nod or a grunt as encouragement. Others, usually the oldest of a group, attentively followed the thread of conversation, swinging rosary beads absentmindedly in their wrinkled hands.

Waiters with firmly pressed black aprons waltzed between tables like honeybees over a flower field, delivering meals and endless little cups of strong black coffee. They chatted amiably with passengers, speaking without haste before going on to fetch a check or bring change.

At one table, a younger crowd feasted. They were truck drivers, regulars of this particular route, their trucks and cargo sitting below in the parking garage. It was a reunion of friends. Resting from hours of solitary driving, they treated each other to pitchers of frothy beer and ate freshly tossed greens and substantial sandwiches. Eating enthusiastically, they swapped stories and laughed heartily. When a waiter brought them their bill, they protested the fee a bit, but after realizing just how many pitchers they had finished off, pulled a thick wad of bills from their wallets and acquiesced with a chuckle.

As plate began to empty, a new face appeared. Switching off the televisions, the crewmember announced he would demonstrate safety procedures in case of emergency. Amid the hum of dominoes, smacking lips, clattering flatware, clacking prayer beads, and giggling waiters, he proceeded methodically through the presentation. Here is how we wear a life vest. Here is how we leave the boat. Follow the posted escape routes and take note of alarms.

Finished and having flipped the televisions back on, the crewmember slipped out with minimal acknowledgment. After his departure a new crowd began to arrive in the lounge. A few gray-haired women scooted into clusters of old men. Several families took their seats at cushioned booths. Little children pulled out decks of cards that they thumbed through and shuffled pointlessly. Games subdued, voices softened. Again, the scene of the ferry’s lounge shifted into something new, this time something more familial. I ordered a slice of chocolate cake and settled in to watch.

In Italy, the clean, glittering seaside town of Ancona sent us into winter waters after significant delay, but we had long ago abandoned the shallow, lacy waters of coastline. Sometime in the night the seawater morphed into a dense, gelatinous mass. Our mammoth iron tank of a boat inched along over the white-capped waves, held up like a fork in a wobbling plate of gray Jell-O. The windows framed sea and only sea. Deliberately, our ferry swam across undulating waters, cruising at a sluggish pace, but without great angst.

This ferry hardly provided the scene I imagined, rooted in frothy Italian films. In summertime, a steady stream of ferries and boats connect Italy to Greece, toting natives and foreigners to their sunny getaways on the Greek Isles. I envisioned each of them overflowing with sunbathers - sunbathers on the deck, sunbathers in the lifeboats — and smashing into one another because the sea is so crowded with boats. In the off-season, when I traveled, ferry service across this thin strip of the Mediterranean slims down to a few giant vessels occasionally cruising into select Greek ports. In the middle of December, the scenery was not beautiful exactly, but stunningly wind-whipped and stark. The passengers were not tourists or sunbathers, just plain folk headed home for the holidays, their company transforming this ferry into a movable Greek island.

photo by scrapygraphics on Flickr

5 Travel Tips for Your Summer Vacation in Greece

The summer season is in fully swing and that means it’s time to head to Greece. But before you start packing your bags, take some time to read some of my favorite tips for traveling to Greece during summer.

While many of these tips are specifically geared towards the peak season, some can be applied to visiting Greece during the off-season (spring and autumn) as well. An informed traveler will always know how to handle even the not-so-enjoyable situations.

1 - Get the train passes, airplane tickets and ferry tickets in advance

Greece has been a popular vacation destination for years and although the economy has been giving everyone a hard time, it doesn’t seem to affect Greece that much. So expect the trains to be crowded and ferry tickets to be sold out weeks in advance.

Especially if you traveling to Greece in July and August, make sure to book you flight and train tickets/passes in advance. The majority of international travelers will book a flight to Athens. The capital is very well connected to the rest of the country by planes, buses, trains and ferries.

More and more travelers choose the train to travel to Greece. There are a lot of rail passes which include Greece and all are very popular so make sure to get yours about 90 days in advance.

If you plan to take the ferry in Greece and the popular islands - such as Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes or Crete - are on your itinerary, it’s a good idea to book your ticket online, in advance. Some of the routes are sold out weeks in advance, especially if there’s a high speed ferry available.

2 - Pack the appropriate clothes

Greeks might not be as fashion-conscious as Italians and French, but that doesn’t mean you can walk in your flip-flops in the middle of downtown Athens. Of course you can always throw a pair of jeans, some t-shirts and a pair of walking shoes in your backpack and enjoy every single moment of your vacation in Greece, but if you want to attempt to fit in (at least some) and avoid looking like a tourist, it’s a good idea to know what you should pack.

Needless to say that the fashion changes each season but some of the advices regarding what to wear in Greece during summer can be applied each year. Make sure to pack at a pair of light-colored jeans and some shirts and t-shirts to go with them. If you are a lady and the idea of packing light for Greece scares you, then you should know that miracles can be done with a pair of nice Capri pants, some stylish tops and elegant shoes.

Remember that if you want to visit the churches or monasteries, you should have the shoulders and knees covered. So if you like the spaghetti-strap dresses, throw a sarong or a shirt on your shoulders. And guys, shorts are not allowed either.

3 - Expect summer to be hot

The weather in Greece is much like everywhere else: unpredictable. While you can expect some scorching hot days in May, there’s also the possibility to run into some colder spells in September.

But during the summer, expect the weather to be hot. Over the past years, the annual temperature has been rising all over Greece (and the forest fires are good proof) therefore you can leave the wet gear at home. So be prepared for the high temperatures. Bring sun screen with high sun protection factor and wear it even when you go out for a walk, not only when you spend time on the beach. Make sure to have bottled water with you all the time.

And if you need to cool down, the (cold) orthodox churches are an excellent place to catch your breath. You can always check out the (air conditioned) stores when it gets too hot to walk outside.

4 - Know when the attractions are closed

There’s nothing worse than arriving in a city and finding out that the place you really wanted to see is closed. So in order to avoid such a drama, make sure to do the search in advance.

Many museums in Athens have their own websites and they always list the days when the museums are closed. The same thing is valid for the museums in Thessaloniki. You can find the same information from some good guidebooks. Do remember that all public museums are closed on national holidays.

5 - Learn some common phrases in Greek

Greek is not an easy language to learn. But no one expects you to know how to spell the words. Although many Greek speak English enough to be able to help with directions and what to order at a taverna, being able to great, thank and ask for simple stuff in Greek is a good idea.

The first phrases to tackle are:

• Kalimera (good morning)
• Kalipera (good evening)
• Kalinihta (good night)
• Yia sou (hello)
• Adio (bye)
• Efharisto (thank you)
• Parakalo (please)
• Endaxi (OK)

While figuring out your daily food budget, you can also learn how to ask for the menu, how to order the dishes and thank for the service.

Have any questions?

By no means have I tried to create the most comprehensive guide to your Greek vacation – that would probably take a lifetime. But the advices above are meant to help you through the planning and packing process without felling too overwhelmed.

For more details about Greece and planning your vacation here, make sure to read what I’ve already written on WhyGo Greece and if you have any questions drop me a line greece@logueit.com .

Have a lovely time in Greece and don’t forget to bring a souvenir back home!

Photo credits:
1 & 3 – WhyGo Greece, 2 - princess toadie on Flickr, 4 – ebaycoach on Flickr, 5 – dragonfiregrill on Flickr