We left Raleigh-Durham Airport at 0900 Thursday, and flew 5500 miles via Atlanta and NYC, arriving in Athens Greece at 1020 Friday morning. A 25 mile ride from the new airport built for the 2004 Olympics to our hotel in the heart of the old city got us here by 1200 hours.
Since we all were tired, we had a short walk after a Greek Salad lunch, then a nap in the afternoon. Friday dinner was in a dining room on the roof of our hotel.
Saturday, we
walked to the top of the Acropolis (Acropolis comes from two Greek words, acros
which means very high, and polis which means town). Here we saw the many
temples dedicated to the Greek Gods, including the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena.
The long walk up to the top of the Acropolis was complemented by a leisurely walk down to the old city and the tourist shopping area, known as Plaka. We spent an hour visiting the shops, bought the mandatory t-shirts, and then took the Athens Metro subway back to our hotel.
After a two hour nap, we went to dinner at a local Greek restaurant and pub, where we were treated to folk music that could have come from Zorba the Greek, with Greek musicians and dancers, while we dined on a mixed grill, with unlimited wine and beer! Several in our group got up and danced, while the rest of us sat, clapped our hands in time to the music, and shouted "Opa."
We got back to our hotel at 2300 hours, slept till 0700, and after a leisurely breakfast, boarded our bus for the first time for a 180 Km trip to Delphi and Arachova, on the Pelopalean Sea, NW of Athens.
It turned out that today was Sunday and Election Day, so most of the shops were closed, so we had lunch at a Tennis Club, and checked in at our hotel at 1500 hours.
Tonight we will walk around Arachova and have a casual dinner.
We continue our odyssey tomorrow visiting the archeological diggings at Delphi, participate in a Greek cooking class, and after visiting cultural museums, enjoy a late dinner.
A few final
words about Athens and Greeks in general before we leave town. Athens has a
population of about 5 million out of a total Greece population of 11 million.
Most of the city is comprised of commercial buildings and apartments. The few
single family homes that come on the market are bought by companies who convert
the site to an apartment building and give the previous owner one or two
apartments as part payment for the property.
Athens has no city parks, no major sports complexes other than those built for the Olympic Games. Greek men are not very fond of sports; they prefer tavernas, ouzo, wine and discussing politics.
Parking in Athens is a disaster; there are no underground garages, because any excavation turns into an archeological find which could delay construction for 10 years or more. People park where they please and Athenians do not accept parking tickets - forcing them to pay them would be akin to starting WW3. Parking tickets stay on your record for 10 years, and then they are forgiven. People just wait until their record is cleared.
Greece has a coastline of 15,000 km, 2/3 the coastline of Africa, even though the total land area is about the size of Florida. Greece has more than 2000 islands, with 170 of them occupied. Many of these islands, as well as land regions became city states which gradually joined to form a union, forcefully or willingly.
As we traveled to Delphi and Arachova, we went through hilly country, and entered one of two fertile valleys which have more than 3 million olive trees, making Greece the third largest producer of olive oil after Spain and Italy.
In this region, on the side of a mountain is the ancient site of Delphi, home of the God Apollo and the Oracle of Delphi. The word oracle has three meanings: 1. the person that predicts the future, 2. the temple where the prophecy is given, and 3. the prophecy itself.
At Delphi in
about 500 BC, Apollo slew the Python and conquered the area and established the
cult which was based on the oracle of Delphi, which survived over 1000 years
until the Byzantines conquered Greece. Delphi was the most important temple or
oracle, and sh
e was consulted before undertaking any major war or battle. The
prophecies of the oracles were vague and general, which allowed the receiver to
interpret them in a politically expedient way, but the masses would follow these
words as divine prophecy giving strength to the Greek leader.
Also in Delphi, Omphalus (center of earth) was located there. At Delphi, city states competed with each other to donate treasures to Apollo, and they each built treasuries to house these riches, competing with each other to demonstrate their power and importance.
Today, only
the ruins survive, yet archeological digs proceed slowly as each year more and
more artifacts are discovered, an
d the effort is to preserve what is discovered
before uncovering more.
The museum at Delphi houses many of these treasures, and viewing them was a great experience.
I leave this discussion with the doctrine of Apollo, which can be summarized in two statements: 1. Know thyself, and 2. everything in moderation.
On Tuesday we drove over the mountains, north to the Thessalian Plain, to Kalambaka, which is adjacent to the Meteora complex located north of the town. We arrived in late afternoon, and had a Greek language lesson and a quiet dinner at our hotel.
At Meteora, which comes from the Greek word for "to hang in midair," There are strangely shaped rock pinnacles that rise almost a thousand feet above the valley, on which are perched a number of monasteries which were inaccessible except by climbing up the steep rocks.
There, in the ninth century, ascetic hermits inhabited the rocks crevices, where they eventually formed religious communities. In 1336, when Byzantine power was on the wane and the monks were persecuted by foreigners, a number of monks retreated to the inaccessible rocks and there built a monastery, using ropes and pulleys to haul construction materials, and the monks themselves had to endure a harrowing ride in a swinging net to reach the top. By the 16th century there were 24 monasteries, of which 6 remain to this day, two nunneries and 4 monasteries for male monks.
We visited two of these monasteries, Varlaam which sits atop a ravine and is reached by a climb of 195 steps, and Ayios Stephanos, a convent where nuns spend their time painting Byzantine icons and writing or studying music. We also stopped for pictures near the Ayia Triada, which was used in the James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only."
Visiting these monasteries required the ladies to wear long skirts which covered the knees down to the lower calf.
On Wednesday afternoon we went to an icon workshop where Orthodox priests were painting icons using the old methods, with the pigment mixed with egg yolk and vinegar. Judy and BJ bought a small icon of the Holy Family, which was signed for us personally by the priest who crafted it. An interesting feature of the Byzantine icons is that all the facial features are the same stylized long thin face. In the churches, the same icons are painted on the walls and domes, telling the same story of the Greek Orthodox faith, from the life and passion of Christ to the last judgment.
Wednesday evening we had dinner at a small restaurant at which the owner and his sons were the chefs and musicians. One musician is also the chief icon painter in the Megalo Meteoro, the highest and most powerful monastery, which contains the Church of the Metamorphosis (Transfiguration).
After dancing for hours to traditional Greek music, we were shown photographs of the icons painted by this gifted artisan, musician, and cook.
Thursday we will take a seven hour bus ride southeast to the port of Piraeus, near Athens, where we board our small sailing vessel, the Galileo for a seven day sail in the Aegean Sea, island hopping in the Cyclades.
We left Meteora at 0830 and motored for seven hours arriving at the port of Piraeus at 1530 in the afternoon. The Galileo is berthed at the Marina Zeas, a megayacht marina, along with boats of the rich and famous up to 150 feet in length. Piraeus is located about 20 Km from Athens, and the road between the two was built by the Athenians in the 5th century BC to facilitate an escape route by sea when the Persians attacked and conquered Athens. From this port you can see the city of Athens, with the Olympic stadiums.
We left port at about 1630 hour after the mandatory lifeboat drill and the optional Captain's welcome cocktail party. We had a short sail (and motor) to Poros on the north side of the Peloponese about 32 nm from Piraeus. After docking, we had a great dinner of swordfish baked with capers, and then disembarked and went for a short walk along the waterfront which is lined with restaurants and quays where tour boats and yachts were berthed. Towering above the city is a beautiful clock tower which is lit at night and provides a beacon of light over the town. We reboarded the Galileo and set sail for Tinos at 0100 Friday morning and we hope to arrive around 1100 hours.
Our tour guide and chaperone Sophia provided us with an insight into Greek weddings, and she stated that the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is not an exaggeration, a wedding does involve the entire extended family and friends of the bride and groom participate in the four day affair. On the first day the family and friends of the bride go to the bride's home and help her pack her belongings into a sack, tossing coins and gifts into the sack as well. Next the groom and his family take wine to the homes of all of the prospective attendees, making them feel welcome. The third day, the day of the marriage itself, includes the ceremony and reception, at which the bride's dance is performed in the manner described in "Zorba the Greek" and on the fourth day the bride and groom escape on their honeymoon. The present day couples do not always want such a big, expensive affair, and a common wish given to a girl nowadays is, "I wish your future husband will be an orphan."
As I write this note we are on our way to Tinos in the Cyclades, with calm seas and overcast skies.
We landed in Tinos Town, the capitol of Tinos Island, and docked stern in, with an anchor off the bow. This island is known for its white and green marble, the pigeon lofts, and the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, which is the most important pilgrimage in Greece, as sick people come from all over Greece to this church in the hope of a miracle.
We visited this church, and were amazed at the thousand of gifts of gold, silver and precious jewels adorning the famous icon and hanging from the walls and timbers in the form of sensors (incense burners) draped from chains. Although Greece is over 90 percent Greek Orthodox and that is the state religion, the island of Tinos is about 1/3 Roman Catholic, due to the 500 year Venetian occupation, which began after the fourth Crusade (1204-1715). There is a carpet runner going from the quay to the Church of the Annunciation, and penitents crawl from the dock up the hill to the church, a distance of about a half a mile.
Returning to the Galileo, we enjoyed lunch on board, and then took a bus to the village of Pyrgos, which is the home of artisans and marble sculptors. On the way, we passed by hundreds of pigeon-lofts. Because the island was so poor before tourism, pigeons were one of the main sources of meat for the islanders. The pigeon lofts are crafted from ornate marble, and are a contrast to the poor limestone homes and hovels where the natives lived.
Almost all of the hills are terraced so that almost every inch was cultivated at one time. Now, since tourism is the main source of income, all terraces are now lying fallow.
The streets, buildings, and even the bus station in Pyros are crafted from white marble, and there is a cemetery with ornate marble tombs and a marble museum.
The girls visited the one jewelry store that was open, and most of them bought dangling earrings which contained tiny figures of boats, turtles, wine bottles and other cute objects.
The rest rooms her had unique signs on the doors too.
In the evening we had a Greek night dinner on board, followed by an evening of Greek dancing, with the Galileo crew dragging the passenger on the dance floor, while crew and passengers threw paper napkins and plastic cups onto the dance floor to add to the ambiance.
Today, Saturday, we take a short sail to Delos, and then to Mykonos.
Delos is a small rocky island, not more than 4 miles wide and one mile wide, yet for the ancient Greeks was the most sacred place, because Apollo and Artimis, two of the most important Greek gods were born there. Delos reached the peak of its importance in the 7th to 5th century BC when Greeks from all over the Greek world gathered here to worship Apollo. The town of Delos developed after 167 BC when Delos was declared a free port, and commercial activity and trading from Egypt, Persia, and all over the world congregated here. Rich merchants, bankers, and ship-owners from all over the world settled here and built luxurious houses, decorated with tiles, frescoes, and mosaic floors. Delos became the greatest commercial center of the world, and at the beginning of the 1st century BC, about 30,000 people were living on this little island. During this period, more than 750,000 tons of merchandise moved through its ports, and as many as 5000 slaves could have been bought and sold on a single day, and transferred from one ship to another in port. Temples and places of worship dedicated to Egyptian and Persian gods stood adjacent to Greek temples and even a Jewish synagogue.
By 69 BC this rich island had been attacked and looted by the Persians, Romans and pirates, and the island was gradually abandoned and fell rapidly into decline. Later, the island was totally abandoned and it was decreed by the Greeks that no human could be born or die there, so that no individual could declare Delos as his or her birthplace.
Delos remained unexplored until the 19th century, when the French began excavations which are still continuing to this day.
We anchored offshore from the ancient port, and tendered to the quay where we began our exploration of this island. We passed through the Roman markets, and then climbed past many home sites replete with original frescoes and mosaic tile floors.
Climbing higher, we passed by temples and the theatre, and then past temples standing side by side which were built to honor the Gods by city states vying with each other to demonstrate their wealth and importance.
Standing next to the temples were treasuries, built to house the gifts which were brought to honor the gods.
After spending two hours walking the island, we visited the museum which houses marble statues, frescoes, and mosaics which have been collected and brought here for preservation and protection.
Three hours after arriving, we tendered back to the Galileo and motored for just under two hours to Mikonos, which is one of the most visited of all the Greek islands and one of the most photographed. We docked stern in, and walked the streets where the rich and famous gather during the summer months to shop and be seen.
We shopped (window shopped mainly because the prices are high) as we walked through the maze of streets intended to confuse pirates. These streets are lined with designer boutiques and trendy bars, and Mikonos is said to be the gathering point for lesbians and gay men, referred to as "birds" by the locals. Cars are forbidden in the center city, so the only way to explore the town is by walking and getting lost.
We had dinner on board and left Mikonos in the late evening, and headed for Santorini, the most southern and largest island we will visit, for shopping and sightseeing.
Santorini is an extraordinary island which has its current beauty the result of a catastrophic volcanic eruption which occurred in the 17th century BC and changed the island's almost round shape to a crescent shaped island with outlying islands which surround a center crater with depths of up to 3000 feet and a center island created by subsequent eruptions in about 1650 BC. The volcanic bay of Santorini is the deepest in the world, and most cruise ships that now visit here have to keep their engines running to hold their position, as anchoring is not possible.
The Galileo docked at the quay and we took the cable car up to the top of the steep cliff, choosing this method of transportation rather than riding the donkeys or walking up the steep staircase to the mesa which housed the capital town.
A serious 1956 earthquake destroyed almost all ancient structures on this island, but the spectacular beauty resulted in a rapid rebuilding of the capital area, though it is overtaken by bars and restaurants which now line the terraces which overlook the bay and caldera.
On our way into town, we stopped for a visit to the Greek Orthodox Church, where the priest and four cantors were chanting prayers prior to Sunday Mass. The service started around 7 am, and would continue until around 11 am with high mass. Women stood and sat on the left side of the aisle while men were on the right side. Mostly elderly women were in attendance.
We walked around the capital town of Thira, the girls made their mandatory jewelry purchases while BJ got his mandatory t-shirt purchase. We had gyros made of pork, cucumbers in a yoghurt sauce with tomatoes, french fries and red onions, all wrapped in a pita bread for lunch, and capped off the lunch with cappuccino in a cafe overlooking the caldera.
Later in the morning we took a bus ride to Oia (pronounced ee-a), the most beautiful place on the island, which has beautiful white houses with blue doors and windows which are built virtually on top of one another.
On our way back to Thira, we passed by little cliffside villages with steep paths down the cliff to fishing harbors at sea level.
In the afternoon we went to a local winery and tasted the wines that were produced there from grapes grown in the vineyard contiguous with the winery. We returned to the Galileo for a Greek night dinner with dancing to Greek folk music which lasted long into the night. We cast off all lines at around 1800 hours, and raced the Golden Princess, a Princess cruise lines megaship, past Oia to the Aegean Sea as we started a calm massage to our next stop, Naxos.
Although we
arrived at Naxos late at night, we left ship at 0900 hours and boarded buses for
a nature hike in the interior of this island which is located in the center of
the Cyclades and is one of the largest of the group. 
Because of the fertility of the soil and frequent rains, this island is self sufficient and grows vegetables, grain, potatoes, fruits such as melons and figs, and, of course, grapes for its own unique wines.
Our nature walk of about two hours took us up and down hills, past small groups of homes and chapels arranged in hamlets, and farms with sheep, goats and donkeys grazing in verdant pastures. At some places you almost felt that you were walking through the hills of the lake district of Cumbria in England.
On our walk, we passed by a 2500 year old partially finished marble statue lying on its back in a cave like rock area, and finished off the walk at a small cafe located near the 20 foot recumbent statue.
As we gazed up to the top of Mount Za, the tallest peak in the Cyclades at 1004 meters, the results of quarrying the pure white translucent marble can be seen as the left face of the mountain has been shaved vertically from the more than 3000 years of marble quarrying. The grave of President John F. Kennedy has been crafted from the pure white marble of Naxos. Myths abound that the statues carved from this marble glow from the sunlight shining through them giving them life.
Waiting to board our buses for dinner in a private home, we happened to sit with a couple from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Introducing ourselves, we commented that Judy's collage roommate and sorority sister at the University of Michigan still lives in Ann Arbor. When we mentioned her name, the other couple blurted out that this couple was their neighbors and best friends for the past 30 years. Small world!.. We exchanged e-mail addresses and now Judy will have the ability to send messages to her sorority sister in addition to the Christmas cards we have faithfully exchanged for the past 45 years.
We went to the home of a commercial builder and his journalist wife for dinner, along with 14 other guests.
Their home,
located in a village in the interior of the island, has its own vineyards and
makes its own table wine, as well as being decorated in an eclectic manner with
a mixture of Turkish tapestry from the family of the wife, to modern
Mediterranean furnishings in the spacious living room, family room,
kitchen and bathroom which was replete with marble floors, walls, tub, sink,
toilet and bidet. This couple have two sons, one 23 and the other 20, and both
are studying to be engineers at Greek universities. Handsome young men 
from
their pictures, they will make a good catch for some lucky Greek lasses.
Dinner consisted of an array of Greek salads, pork in a cumin spiced sauce, pasta baked in a moussaka type casserole, baked cheese, and nut cake, all served family style with as much home made wine as we could consume.
Returning to our ship, we were treated to a musical heritage music and dance performance by local musicians and dancers, and they had the ships guest join in for Naxos folk dancing at the end of the performance.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, we make our final scheduled stop at Syros, before we head back to our home port near Athens.
On Tuesday, our 13th day, we stopped for a swim near shore, and then made our last scheduled stop at the island of Syros, the capital of the Cycladic islands. This island and its harbor were the most important port of the Aegean in ancient times. Although it developed early (2700 BC), Syros came under the influence of the Venetian Catholics, and the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches grew side by side, and they even celebrate the feasts of Christmas and Easter on the same dates in both churches, the only place in Greece that this is so. We visited two churches, the first being the Greek Orthodox church of St. Nicholas, and then the Catholic church of the Assumption, in which is displayed an icon of the Virgin Mary at her assumption, an early work of the 20 year old Domenikos Theotokopoulos, the famous El Greco, who painted this icon in the mid 1500s.
We walked by private mansions of the prosperous merchants and bankers, along with the Municipal Theater (a miniature of LaScala in Milan) and the neoclassical government buildings clad in white marble.
This island is in decline since 1930, and not many tourists visit here so it is now a port for cruising sailors, and a place where natives come from all over the Cyclades which have government or private business to transact.
Since we are pretty well "shopped out," we just walked around town, then relaxed on and near the Galileo, had the Captain's reception and dinner in the evening, and watched the movie "Zorba the Greek" before turning in around 0030 Wednesday morning.
Our last day in Greece included a surprise stop at Aegina in the Saronic Gulf on the way to the Galileo home port of Piraeus near Athens. Mythology tells us that this island was where Aegina was carried by Zeus in 3500 BC, and Zeus then populated the island by transforming the ants of the island into people.
This island, just 16.5 nm from Piraeus, is a favorite day trip and weekend stop for working class Athenians and the waterfront is lined with cafes and restaurants, and the side streets have all sorts of fresh fish and vegetable markets, as well as moderately priced boutiques and jewelry shops.
One last stop for the girls to part with their last euros before heading home. Judy was able to obtain a necklace which has a replica of a turtle on an ancient coin, the first coin minted in ancient Greece, and here in Aegina. We then spent our last hour ashore at a waterfront cafe, enjoying ice cream (Judy) and cappuccino (BJ). We bought a bag of pistachio nuts, the most important export of the island, as well as some tasty goat and sheep cheese, which we will enjoy when we get home.
We had just a 3 hour port stay, and then sailed the remaining leg to Piraeus, arriving at 1600 hours. The weather during our 7 days at sea has been the best that this ship and crew have seen this entire year - sunny every day, calm seas and temperatures in the low 80's.
When we
docked, we read and played games until it was time for our last dinner on board
at 1900 hours, and then we were tr
eated to a final concert by professional
musicians and male dancers who performed traditional Greek dances to the strains
of the bouzouki and guitar.
Thursday morning we said goodbye to Sophia, our guide and companion, and thanked her for all the extra efforts she made to make our Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) Greek cultural and educational experience just perfect and fun and enjoyable.
We left Athens airport at 1300 hours for an 11 hour 30 minute flight to Atlanta, and then home. This closes another log of the crew of the Seaowl, as we continue to enjoy life to the fullest while our health allows.