Summer day in Greece
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2008
1
23
Trip End
Oct 14, 2008
Athens,
Attica,
Greece
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
To be honest, summer is not the best time for Greece.On top of the unrelenting sun, entire countries of Northern Europeans seem to move down south to get their annual tan on the Greek beach. I've been warned of the British, but the greek islands appeared equally popular with Germans, French, even the Americans who were surprisingly absent for much of the rest of my trip. It does not hurt the beaty of Santorini, or the grandeur of the Acropolis. But acommodation does get harder to find, and way more expensive. In 4 days, I had stayed in hostel, beach front bunglow, and a rented tent.
You can't really do justice to Greece in 4 days. But since I am not a ruin person, too lazy to read all the background materials and too cheap to hire a guide, a compact itinery of Acropolis, National Museum, then Santorini was rather satisfactory. Seeing Acropolis with one's own eyes is of course a privilege, even when half of the high city is covered with scaffolds. Beyond Parthenon, the largest of the surviving and the most photographed temple, there are several others including a small temple devoted to the Athena Nike- she was godess of victory for 3000 years before symbolzing trendy sneakers. It is somewhat a pity though that in most places you cannot walk up close to the marble walls and columns, nor accessing the interior of the buildings.
The national museum is where you can have a up and close look at things, many things. Ancient sculture astonishingly well preserved, golden burial masks, beautiful vases depicting gods and men entangled in fate, gold coins excavated from greek colonies sang in ancient mythology. Idealized human beings and society depicted by citizens who first invented democracy. Enough said.
The current day Greece is of course much more chaotic than its optimistic ancestors would expect. To boarding the high speed boat to Santorini, I had to book ticket online 2 weeks in advance, visit 3 ferry company office in Athens and then Pirius Harbor for ticket issue, then it was a long wait under burning sun to get on board. The ferry was completely full. A large group of greek men gathered at the front bar drinking beers during the 4 hour plus journey. Kids ran around and screamed. Luggage filled cabinets and overflowed to fill front and end of the cabin. We rolled into Santorini harbor in darkness after 9pm. This being the height of high season, all the pension owners must have filled their rooms with passegers from eariler boats, no one was there on the dock offering rooms. Luckily one of the tourist information offices was still open and directed me to a campsite on one of the black sand beaches. The so called waterfront bungalow is really a row of simple rooms built with thin wood boards. But hey, you got to stay 50 meter front beach in an airconed room.
Santorini is a half moon shaped volcano island. Entire villages hang on top of cliffs overlooking the gorgerous Agean sea. The buildings are adorably candybox like. Round windows, round steps, round arches over entrance, round yard walls, everything plasted white with a lime hue. A few jewel blue church roofs stand out. The houses are built on steep rising ground and rise in height accordingly, as a result you could easily step onto someone's roof on the lower side the street. Quite a few cats and dogs take the opportunity for some leisurely roof napping. But home owners place plenty of no stepping signs to caution off passing by humans.
Many guide books recommend rented scooters as the vehicle of choice. Smart considering the Manhattan magnitude traffic congestion, when the whole world chose to show up at the same time, and the island prepared answers with frequent sections of one lane roads. Renting your own vehicle would also have allowed more freedom for exploration, like following one of the wine roads. The peculiar Greek grapes grow without the propping of trelices rather like yams. If you do take the local bus like I did, be patient and give yourself plenty of time. I almost missed the boat back to Athens when our bus to the harbor took over an hour rather than the supposed 20 minutes, and that is with the best effort of our cursing, sweating driver. You can also hop on and off the buses to visit villages along the road. The bus schedule is hectic, but the Greeks are known for their hospitality, sometimes described as an agressive one. If one person you asked does not speak English, he/she will find someone who does to help you figure out how to get home. With no shopping street and few English speaking locals, these off-the-map places often cater to tourists in more subtle ways. Walk around the quiet village, you will find arrows pointing to coffee house painted over a small road or someone's wall. My favorite business was advertised on a paperboard hung over a big tree, 'ride my donkey Maria, pay what you like'. At sunset head towards the village church invariably perched on the highest part of the village. The quiet, vibrant fireball falling into blue sea among floating islands is mesmerizing.
