Αθήνα και Ελλάδα (Athens and Greece)

Dinner at the Divani Palace Hotel

For our trip to Greece, Shari invested seven months of weekly two-hour Greek lessons. She can read Greek letters, she knows polite phrases that bring smiles to Greek faces, and we made a good friend in her Greek teacher.

Shari did a lot of preparation, planning and organizing. We both enjoy reading history. But when you come down to the fundamentals of traveling to a famous part of the world for the first time, it's different. One can read about Attica, Lacedaemonia, Argos, and the rugged Aegean coastline, but until actually seen, their reality is not fully realized.

The Corinth Canal

Shari had been to Greece before. As a seven year old she cruised on the San Marco through the Corinth canal on the way from Naples to Istanbul. As a nine year old she and her younger brother made connections for Libya at the old Athens airport near Glyfada. So she had some actual memories on which to hang a sense of Greece. The only connection to Greece I had was knowing my dad left my sister and me twice in 1967 in order to drive to Athens and visit his girlfriend.

We travel not just to vacate, sight-see, shop, eat and visit girlfriends, but to sense what it is really like in a different part of the world.

The Acropolis of Athens is amazing, especially seeing it for the first time from your hotel room balcony. That evening we dined at the hotel's rooftop restaurant, a full moon rising and the Parthenon is all lit up. It was a short walk away.

Greek honor guards

The next morning, we walked the few blocks, many paved with smooth marble, to be ready at the Acropolis entrance when it opened. Our reward, in addition to a smaller crowd, was to witness the Greek army honor guard ceremonially marching down the steep slope.

Greeks take independence and their history seriously. The following day we walked to Syntagma (Independence) Square and witnessed the changing of the guard before the monument to the unknown soldier. These are the guards wearing skirts and pom-poms on their shoes, but if you ever see them march, you will be greatly humbled before their severe discipline — and love of country. I was fighting back tears. My father was in an army. He was one of the few who survived. Boys and young men have willingly fought wars for millennia. Old men are more apt to think of the human destruction.

Syntagma (Independence) Square, Naflpio

Turns out that many Greek towns have a Syntagma Square. In Nafplio, a former capital of Greece where we stayed five nights to explore the Peloponese, Independence Square and some of the narrow streets leading to it are paved with polished marble and all reserved for pedestrians only. Locals and tourists came out in the evenings to spend time or celebrate birthdays in the outdoor restaurants, or just promenade in the huge open space, or window-shop in the narrow streets. Local children played games in the Square as parent generations watched, and a few vendors displayed battery-powered toys that they sold. An older man played a small piano for tips.

Turns out music is popular in Greece. The benefits of a mild Mediterranean climate include street music. By the time we walked down from the Athens Acropolis, there were several musicians along the marble street. One woman was folk-dancing with her young daughter to the sound of a bouzouki player. He was handsomely rewarded. As was another man playing traditional tunes on a violin. Later, as we lunched outside on Athens' main pedestrian concourse, Dionysiou Areopagitou, a band of some six college-aged musicians and singers toured the various outdoor cafes for tips.

We did not see much evidence of the failing Greek economy, but I did think it would be good for a Greek to learn to play a musical instrument and some songs, just in case.

Mycenae

Turns out many Greek towns have an acropolis. It simply refers to the highest place in a town. Understandably, the highest place is often fortified. Athens, owing to its wealth and hubris of its classical grandeur, adorned its acropolis with temples (and a treasury). From Nafplio, we could see Argos and its acropolis, a castle used by Geeks, Byzantines, and Venetians.

The old Byzantine city of Mystras

Mystras itself is an acropolis of sorts. According to the tour guides, the Byzantines liked to build their cities on heights. Mystras overlooks the fertile valley (a rare commodity in the rugged and sometimes mountainous Greek geography) once dominated by ancient Sparta. Unlike the Byzantines, the Spartans built their city brazenly in the open plain. Their protection was brawn and discipline, not fortified heights. Seeing the verdant plains of the Eurotas River is to understand why Sparta existed where it did.

View of  Sparta from Mystras

Ancient Sparta has reincarnated as the modern city of Isparta and the Eurotas valley today is still rich in agriculture. Argos, home of Jason and his Argonauts, and ancient Mycenae are also situated near plains that, even today, are green with farmlands, olive groves, and orchards. Time has been less kind to a bucolic Attica. The megapolis of Athens sprawls all over the plains, limited only by hills too rugged to develop or the protection of designated parks.

The ancient agora (marketplace) of Athens is only about 10 km. from its harbor at Pireas. By comparison, it is about 45 km. from ancient Sparta to its port at Githio. No wonder Athens traded far and wide across the Mediterranean and Black Seas while the Spartans pretty much kept to themselves.

No wonder Western civilizations are rooted in ancient Greece. It has a mild climate, rugged terrain sheltering the occasional fertile plains, and a long coastline on a sea once abundant with fish; and excellent yogurt.

Your basic Greek salad

Dinner at Mani Mani
in Athens

Which brings me to the subject of Greek food. Turns out it lives up to its reputation. Flavorful olives and olive oil, excellent produce, thick and mild yogurt, generous portions of feta cheese, pork, chicken, seafood, and wine, all laced with generous helpings of Mediterranean influences, make food in Greece a pleasure. As for the ouzo, despite daily doses before dinner, I confess I cannot distinguish between good, bad or, for that matter, between Greek ouzo and Turkish rakı.

Oh, it also turned out that driving in Greece was not as bad as we had feared. Slow drivers were much more common than the insane risk takers. The roads are generally good, albeit with little in the way of shoulders. Shari's ability to read Greek letters proved invaluable on side roads. Rugged areas have their switchbacks. Driving from Argos over the mountains to Tripoli was particularly rugged and scenic, if a little tough on the stomach.

The Greek motorways (freeways) are well maintained. Driving on them from the Athens airport to get to Nafplio, or from Isparta to get back to Nafplio, involves stopping at five or six toll booths that together collect about ten euros. But stay in the right lane or you will see the driver of a BMW up close in your rear vision mirror.