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Monday, May 21, 2001

Were we fussing about not having enough sun/heat? Well we aren't fussing now...we have been experiencing an unseasonable heat wave in Athens - the temperatures have reached 90+ in the last three days and this is only May! Athens experiences humidity - something we are not used to in California, so the 90o seems closer to 100+. But we have found the sun we have craved for a year.

Peg's parents arrived in Athens on Tuesday, May 15th and after 16 months of not seeing one another; we are enjoying being with family. We have spent much time visiting and less time sightseeing. It feels good to catch up on family and national news.

Athens is a bit of a disappointment. Whereas its history is one of unparalleled importance to the western world, the modern city is a hodgepodge of concrete high-rises with no particular architectural style. In 1923 a huge influx of Greeks returned to Athens from Turkey, the result of border realignments, and these concrete high-rises were built almost overnight to accommodate them. And yet, almost anywhere in the city you can look up and see the Acropolis with the magnificent Parthenon crowning it, attesting to the former glory of Athens.

My memory of Greece, and Athens in particular was as one of the cleanest countries I had visited thirty years ago. Either my memory was faulty or this country has changed greatly since I was last here. Trash piles litter the countryside, the city is grimy and, as in many other cities we have visited, people are careless with their discards. However, there are major civic plans going on in preparation for the 2004 Olympic Games to be held here. Massive cleanup projects, additions to the subway system, roadwork development and the like are taking place. Hopefully all this preparation will give the modern Athens a much need facelift.

The Greeks are an astonishingly friendly and handsome nationality. Despite its weary look we feel a sense of security in Athens we have not in some of the other major cities. Many, many people speak English, we found out it is a required subject in their school system and thank the gods, because we are still stumped by the language.

Walking around the city, we find upscale shops next to bargain price storefronts next to greengrocers. Kiosks selling magazines, daily newspapers, cigarettes and worry beads line the streets, paced perhaps 500 feet apart. People of all ages stride along the streets, from young tourists in baggy pants, tank tops, and various piercings carrying backpacks, to business persons of both genders dressed in stylish suits with cell phones stuck to their ears, to tiny old men swinging their worry beads as they dutifully follow their black-dressed wives scurrying about on shopping missions.

Late Wednesday morning we met my parents at the Acropolis. A 1/2 day bus tour of the city was included in their package, which unfortunately for us, included a tour of the Acropolis. Rather than drag them back up the hill to see it with us, we decided to come back another day on our own to visit it. We walked from the Acropolis to Plaka, the oldest and most continuously occupied neighborhood in the city. White, flat-roofed buildings housing tavernas, restaurants, souvenir shops and homes fill the narrow, curvy, pedestrian-only streets. Flower boxes in windows contain geraniums, roses and other colorful plants. It is a charming area. We had gyro sandwiches for lunch, purchased at a food stand that had been cooking them for over fifty years. We saw fifty-year-old photos of the owner and recognized him as the same man serving us! At a souvenir shop in Plaka we were advised he made the best gyros in Athens. And cheap - each sandwich cost us a whopping $1.25 US!

The Plaka led us to the old Roman Forum ruins dating from around 200 AD. Near there was the Tower of Winds; an eight-sided tower built of white marble in the 2nd century BC that was both a weather vane and a water clock. On each side of the tower are reliefs depicting the eight winds, each named for the direction it comes from; N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W and NW.

Figuring that was enough for our first day out, we metro-ed Mom and Dad to their hotel and returned to our home.

Thursday was a national strike day. All forms of transportation were halted leaving us stranded in camp. We caught up on laundry and household chores while Mom and Dad got a bird-side view of the daylong demonstration and march from their hotel room.

Friday we visited the National Archeological Museum, with a collection of artifacts dating from 7,000BC up to the Roman era ending around 300 AD. That's an art collection of gold, pottery, statuary, and the like going back over 7000 years ago. There were some really nice pieces here, among them the gold death mask of Agamemnon from about 3,500 years ago, a magnificent bronze statue of Poseidon, the original Marathon Boy, both dating from around 400BC, only 2,400 years ago (!). As large a collection as it was, we didn't feel the museum lived up to its hype. So many of the original Greek works of art have been pilfered over the centuries that we felt we have seen the best of the Greek art in museums such as the Louvre, Vatican, Naples Museum and the British Museum. This poor country has been raped and pillaged for its masterpieces for centuries.

Saturday we brought my folks out to the campground to show them how we have lived for the past year. They were introduced to Queenie and the rest of the "family": "Bob" the mini-tent, "She" the fuchsia and our bikes "Wendy" and "Scooter" (you can tell we are amusing ourselves and are lonesome for companionship!). We had lunch and passed the afternoon in conversation.

Sunday we made it to the Parliament where, at 11am each Sunday a ceremonial changing of the guard takes place. Here, to the accompaniment of a marching band, a company of Greek soldiers dressed in traditional ceremonial uniforms complete with pompom shoes made a high-stepping show of changing the guard before an appreciative crowd of tourists and citizens.

After the changing of the guard we walked through the adjoining National Gardens, acres and acres of mature manicured gardens lovingly tended. We walked past an aviary containing several breeds of water, exotic and domesticated fowl. We saw our first baby peacocks there, huddling near their protective mother. Cats abound and we wondered how many babies would be around to grow up!

Leaving the National Gardens we walked past Syntagma Square through streets lined with upscale shops - Dad and Bruce were glad it was Sunday and the stores closed. We had lunch at a restaurant nearby; souvlaki (shish kabobs, sorta) pita bread with a delicious yogurt spread, Greek Salad and I tasted my first glass of Retsina, a traditional Greek wine made with grapes and pine resin. Kinda weird, but drinkable!

Then it was onward to the Sunday Flea Market in the Monastiriaki quarters. Blocks and blocks of stuff! Antique junkies would be thrilled here, as would kitsch junkies. From treasures to trash, this was a place to warm the heart of any bargain hunter! We were in search of mosquito netting. For the first time in a year we have been reminded there ARE bugs out there, and they wish to escape the heat by hiding in Queenie! We want none of that so we have been looking for something to screen our door from the bugs. Our mission was accomplished with the purchase of an actual mosquito net for a double bed. We later cut it in half to make two screens for our side and rear doors. Now we can escape the heat at night by leaving our doors open and not be munched on.

Monday, May 21 we took a daytrip along the Attica coast on the peninsula south of Athens. At the most southerly point stands a temple to Poseidon that I wanted to see and was a perfect destination point for our drive. Mom and Dad took a taxi to the campsite and we were on the road by 8:30 am. Mom and Dad got a taste of European city driving since we had to go right through the center of Athens to get to the road we needed. We successfully dodged cars, buses, motor scooters and pedestrians. Bruce is really getting to be an old hand at this traffic stuff!

The drive gave us a welcome break from the city and allowed Mom and Dad to see some of the countryside and the beauty of the Mediterranean. We saw about five or six islands offshore so they can now say they have seen the Greek Isles!

The Temple of Poseidon had only a few columns still standing but the views from the cliffs on which it stands are something else. Since it was at the southernmost end of land, in the past Greek sailors would take heart when they saw the sun reflecting off its white marble because it was a sign that they were almost home. Standing on the grounds and looking about you see beautiful bays, small islands, and then the sea just takes off and seems endless.

Back in Queenie we had one more objective to reach before returning home. Brauron is the ancient site of the Sanctuary of Artemis and plays a part in Greek mythology. The daughter of Agamemnon (of the Iliad) was named Iphigenia. She was sacrificed to Artemis in order for the Greek fleet to be able to set sail for Troy. One version of the story is that Artemis took pity at the last moment and spirited her away to become the leading priestess at the goddess' temple somewhere. The story continues and the bottom line is that Iphigenia ended up back on Greek soil with a statue of Artemis and began a sanctuary at Brauron. We went in search of Brauron and, after finding all sorts of interesting contemporary sights we eventually got to the sanctuary ruins only to find they were closed to the public for the day. Lots of workmen were there excavating who-knows-what and the closest we got to the complex was taking photos through the fence.

Having to be satisfied with that, we made our way back to Athens where we were lucky enough to repeat our original approach to Athens and passed right by Mom and Dad's hotel where we let them off then continued to our campground. It was a great day and a good break from the city routine.

Tuesday Mom and Dad took the day off.

We used the day to visit the Acropolis.

Starting out early in the morning, walking up the steep back way, we made it there before the tour buses arrived and had some time to visit one of the most famous landmarks in the world without hordes of tourists. The buildings on the Acropolis (which means high city) are the brainchildren of Pericles, the elected leader of Athens from 461 to 429 BC, in what became known as Athens' Golden Age. He began a building program in the city that included the temples on the Acropolis. Not only is the Parthenon here, but also the Propylaia (entrance to the complex), the Temple of Nike and the Erechtheion, the most sacred spot in Athens. All buildings were made of marble and reconstructions show the whole thing to have been magnificent. The ruins, as anyone who has every seen a photo of the Acropolis will attest, are stunning. All have stories connected to them: The Erechtheion is supposed to be the sight where Athena grew an olive tree and Poseidon created a spring in their contest to be patron of Athens. The gods awarded Athena the prize, feeling an olive tree a more valuable gift to the citizens. The Temple of Nike was built on the spot where Theseus' father threw himself over the side of the hill; wrongly believing Theseus was killed in his battle on Crete to kill the Minotaur. As always seems the case in Greece, fact and fiction merge in geographical sites and the Acropolis is no exception.

We went into the Acropolis Museum and were treated to a collection of top-notch art, all from the buildings on the Acropolis. We felt it was a much better museum than the National Museum. We took our time at the site, watching workmen on the massive restoration projects that are probably happening in prep for the Olympics 2004. We saw the Caryatids, the six columns supporting a porch on the Erechtheion, shaped like maidens. We took photos of the olive tree that grows at the supposed site where Athena grew the first olive tree in her contest. We gazed in admiration at the beauty of the Parthenon itself, a geometrically perfect structure built on a 9:4 ratio. Whatever that meant, its result definitely is a wonder to behold.

We walked to the edge and saw the panorama that is Athens, identifying many sights in view. We found Mom and Dad's hotel among other identifiable places.

Finally having our fill of the place we walked downhill and over to the Dionysian Theater, the first theater in the world! The theater was originally made of wood but in 329BC it was reconstructed in stone and marble and that is what remains today. Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes held their tragedy and comedy plays here.

It is a pretty awesome thing to walk through the ancient part of Athens and know you are walking in the footsteps of all the famous Greeks whose names have come down to us: Socrates, Plato and all their fellow philosophers: Solon, who began the democratic process and Pericles who continued it: The great artists like Pheidias and Praxiteles, whose classical statues set standards still compared to today: Places with mythical stories attached to them, this city really is the birthplace of Western European civilization.

We spent the rest of the day walking and gawking. We ate at a Taverna near the Tower of Winds, indulging in souvlaki, Greek salad, rice and Retsina (it is getting better and better!).

We went to the Ancient Agora the meeting place of the city, where among many other things, Socrates was held prisoner and sentenced to drink hemlock upon being found guilty of the crime of defending free speech (!) The Stoa of Attalos, a two-story high double columned building that originally housed expensive shops (perhaps the world's first mall?) has been authentically reconstructed with monies donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr. It houses a museum of items found at the site. The building far outshines the collection it houses.

Eventually we walked to Mom and Dad's hotel where we had dinner on the rooftop watching the night approach and the lights of the city come alive. The views they have are fantastic! We rarely see nighttime cities since our campgrounds are usually outside the cities and we are settled in by dark. This was a rare treat that we thoroughly enjoyed. Around 10pm we called a cab, which took us back to our campground.

Wednesday was a day of shock and disappointment.

The plan was for the four of us to work all three metro lines in order to visit two museums on the northeast side of the city, the War Museum and the Benaki Museum.

At the first metro station, Victoria, Dad got pick pocketed. Bruce and I think a very clever thief made use of the confusing time when people are loading and unloading onto the trains and lifted Dad of his money and credit cards. We didn't discover it until we reach our first stop and Dad reached in for his metro tickets. Shit! Knowing we had to cancel the cards, we got back on the metro returning to Victoria and damned if Bruce didn't catch another pickpocket preparing to victimize Dad a second time! Bruce put a quick end to that, looking the fellow in the eye and saying, "Leave him alone!" foiling the dude's plans. We stared the potential thief down until our stop, making sure he had no room to bother anyone else in the process. He and his accomplice leaped off the train and melted into the crowd.

We got back to my parent's hotel room and began the agonizing process of trying to track down Visa and MasterCard from Europe. They use 800 phone numbers, which is no problem in the U.S., but are not recognized in Europe. After a couple of hours patiently (and sometimes not) working the phones we figured out the combination to reach Visa but it took Mom's idea of calling the U.S. Embassy to get a phone number for MasterCard that worked. (I have often wondered when a regular citizen would make use of their embassy and now I know an instance.)

Bruce and I had heard horror stories from other travelers who had lost their credit cards and know the importance of getting them cancelled as soon as possible. After a lot of stress, the project was successfully completed, but not before the thieves had rung up $3000 on one card and $2000 on another, with five other attempts to purchase items at jewelry stores, all within - get this - 20 minutes of the theft! Fortunately for my parents, they lost only the equivalent in cash of $35 US and the inconvenience of having to get their cards and Dad's drivers license replaced once they return to the States. Dad was not hurt, and they have enough cash to complete their trip. But it goes to show you MUST be alert to your surroundings, especially when you are in unfamiliar territory. You needn't (and shouldn't) be paranoid, but awareness is the name of the game.

Well, that put a serious damper on Wednesday. We tried going to the museums but the War Museum closed at 2pm (and that had passed) and my folks were so blown out by the whole incident that they could not enjoy the rest of the day. We made a short visit to the Benaki Museum (very worthwhile) and then they took a taxi back to their hotel while Bruce and I searched out an internet site where we unsuccessfully tried sending this diary and uploading photos for the web page. Have patience - we are almost 2/3 through with the new photo entries!

Greece seems to be a little behind in internet services - they are here but not very quick, so we appear to be back to farther spaced internet visits and diary send offs.

Thursday, May 24, 2001

Another day trip. This time only Bruce and I went, Mom called in the morning and said Daddy wasn't feeling well so they would pass on the trip. And we are sad that happened. We had a beautiful day. The weather was beautiful - sunny and clear but not too hot. Our destination was to be the sanctuary of Epidaurus on the Peloponnese. Epidaurus is another ancient site that at one time was a healing center dedicated to the god Asklepios. The sanctuary is reknowned for the near-perfect acoustics of it's theater. Walk up the 56 tiers to the top of the theater and listen to demonstrators drop coins, crackle newspaper and breathe heavily while standing in the center of the stage - it is remarkable how clearly every sound comes across.

After Mom's call we decided to go ahead and make the trip, Queenie was already off her leveling blocks and in the parking lot outside. For one of the very few times on our trip we took the pay road towards Corinth, a 60 mile drive and 800drachmas (about $3.00) that zipped us past refineries and industrial ports filled with big tankers.

Corinth is on the isthmus that connects the Peloponnese with the mainland by a 4 mile wide strip. In the past Corinth's location and control of the isthmus made it a wealthy and powerful city. Transporting goods across the isthmus was the fastest and safest route from the eastern Med to Italy. Several plans in the past were put together to built a canal across the isthmus, but it didn't happen until 1882 when a 75 foot wide, 4 mile long, 1 or 200 foot deep ditch was dug. Smaller cruise ships are towed through it still, the larger tankers being too big to fit the 75 foot width. When we got to the canal, of course we stopped for a peek: it was awesome. About three bridges cross it, at least one has a pedestrian access and we used it. You almost have a sense of vertigo looking down, the sides of the canal are earthen, at a 90o angle and deep! The length and depth give one a sense of super narrowness - of course 75 feet is narrow. We missed seeing any ships towed through it, earlier this week (or month, or something) a worker's strike was begun and we wondered if it was still in progress. At the end of the canal we could see a barrier restricting access, so perhaps it was out of commission at the moment. Even without any ships the canal was very impressive.

We drove another 40 miles or so along the Peloponnese coast towards Epidaurus and were very favorably impressed with the peninsula. Everyone we've talked to says we will love the Peloponnese and we think they just might be right. We saw lots of pine trees, covering the mountains in green, cliffs plunging into the sea, many small coves with the sea lapping at sandy beaches, tiny coastal villages with small wooden fishing boats floating in the protective arms of harbors. After visiting the Sanctuary we stopped at the town of Ancient Epidaurus where we had lunch on the beach and were enchanted by the cleanliness, beauty, wholesomeness and peacefulness of the town. We could get lost in a similar village for a while, perhaps to wake up one morning to discover we passed a month or two without realizing it?

The day was lovely and we are really sorry my parents missed the chance to see some more of the prettier parts of Greece.

As soon as we leave Athens we will be taking a vacation from our vacation, somewhere on Peloponnesian beach and will be incommunicado for perhaps up to two weeks. We suspect that internet availability may be limited in the smaller towns of Greece but will get back in contact as soon as we have the opportunity.

Monday, May 28, 2001

For thirteen months and some 140,000 words (I love Microsoft Word's word count) we've bent your ears with our adventures. We have explored twelve countries of Europe and tried to share with you some of what we have experienced. Every country we visited I loved, I kept telling Bruce "This is my favorite country" until we would reached the next which would then become my favorite.

Holland with it's waterways so enticing to the mariner in us and the flatlands where we could indulge in our new-found love of bicycle riding; the farmlands and windmills and handsome homes and the beautiful, tall, Dutch people who, with their tolerant manner and familiarity with our language helped us adjust to the inevitable culture shock we experienced upon arrival.

The British Isles - land of our roots. Brimming with history, narrow laned roads, lush greenery, tiny villages and funny, friendly inhabitants. If only they could learn to drive on the right side of the road! In Ireland we found Bruce's ancestry, a family of nobility whose bloodlines run true to this generation.

Germany held the Mosel Valley, Rhine River, Munich and the Black Forest. We were feted in Bernkastel-Kues, searched for Hansel and Gretel in the Black Forest and marveled at Mad King Ludwig's architectural tastes. Munich was a delightful cosmopolitan city with little pretensions that we truly enjoyed.

France and Paris. La belle ville! I moved my heart from San Francisco to Paris! Do not believe the "press" that the French are arrogant. Learn a few basic words in French (do that in any country you visit!): "Good Day, Please, Thank you, Excuse me, (Where are the toilets?)" and the French will open up to you. When Queenie needed her heart transplant we were helped by complete strangers who went out of their way to assist us. The countryside is beautiful, the food fantastic and if you love wine, this is a Mecca.

Spain: A country we visited only to pass the winter and found the land where, if we ever were to move to Europe permanently, we could live reasonably, enjoyably and on the beautiful Mediterranean. The people are happy and friendly, (but it would help to learn Spanish). We visited beautiful cities: Seville, Granada and Barcelona and saw the results of the blending of two cultures, Moorish and Catholic. It was in Spain that we fell in love with the Mediterranean.

Italy - what a lush and vibrant country. Beautiful people, countryside and cities. There is nothing I can think of that is wrong with Italy. Even the driving habits were fun! Florence and Rome had enough culture, art and history to satisfy the most discriminating taste. Then there was the food: The pastas! The sauces! The pizzas! The gelato! We got fat in Italy and didn't regret a single bite! What a glorious, vital, alive country!

We had hoped to spend eighteen months in Europe, about as long as our money and the forebearance of our loved ones would allow. Sadly, an unexpected and untimely death in our family necessitates an immediate return to the States.

The past 13 months have held more experiences and adventures than we have had in the past 13 years and even though we cannot continue our traveling at this time, we have so many memories it will take months for us to absorb and assimilate them all.

If you had a fourth of the fun reading our adventures as we had living them, we have all had a marvelous time!

Love, 

Peggy and Bruce

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