It was a tough walk easily compensated by having splendid views and challenges that were overcome satisfactorily. What became interesting viewing for us was that we began above the town and looked down into the canyon and across at the other peak. As we went down, the village above the cliff (behind us) gave us terrific views. Then, once we began to climb on the other side, the views of the village across the way changed and more so as we rose until we reached heights above it. We then went through the top part of a gorge and ended on the other side of the mountain. At that time, we were a little weary in hot weather. The issue was that although we were heading down for 2,400 feet, we'd finish with an 1,800 climb plus the stairs to our second floor apartment. By that time, the water bottles were empty, the feet were sore again but fortunately, a recovering editor was a lioness. I salute her on a successful tough hike.
We'll show the pictures in a format to try to capture the sequence. At the end is a summation of a few observations, mostly of Athens, after a month in the country.
Delphi, across the canyon, from where we commenced.
The target, the mountain across the canyon, the other side from Delphi.
A point low down but not in the canyon, looking up toward Delphi. The previous hike took us beyond the peak above the town.
Jenni returning from the mountain across the way.
Having turned the 'corner', we find ourselves at the top of a gorge, olive trees aplenty, at ground level.
At a high point before we cut into the mountain and lose sight of Delphi.
Weary as we go down into the canyon and have to climb back up again.
A different view: From our patio toward building clouds and the apartment next door.
Our last view of Delphi from a position seldom visited.
A little of our Greek experience with focus on Athens.
A tiny view of the sprawling city of Athens.
How does one describe Athens? We’re asking; help us, please. It’s certainly not Rome and actually, not like any other city we have visited. So why don’t we walk part of the city together and decide for ourselves. In that way, we won’t color your thinking and you can absorb the sights yourself and do with them as you wish. Remember too that we have become small town seekers, eschewing cities whenever possible. Why were we in the city in the first place? That’s an easy one. We wanted to see Athina as well as be in a place where we could attend synagogue for the New Year. One other point, we arrived from a two-week hiking trip in Crete so the contrasts were likely to be dramatic. Also, the city would be an intermission before we set off on the next leg, hiking interruptus, for want of a better term.
We suggest you get ready for a train ride rather than a taxi from the airport. In our youth, we utilized the public transport infrequently so we now try make up for the deficiency. Besides, it is a good way to experience the people, attain a feel for the place, get around efficiently and build confidence. Don’t expect to sit, though—it’s mostly standing room only. Also, we understand that pickpockets operate throughout so find a safe place for your valuables, out of reach of long fingers. Try not to bring too much luggage with you; no one is going to help you board, disembark or carry it up steps. And while on the train, expect beggars to pass the hat around and salesmen to try and raise capital by offering you tissues at discounted prices. The trains were clean, punctual and efficient. An enjoyable aspect is when the monitor at the station displays "One minute before next train". All seems quiet on the platform. Then a rumbling follows. It grows louder. A light appears in the tunnel. Then the train comes thundering down the tracks, powerful and majestic.
In retrospect, maybe you should take a cab to-and-from the airport. Having settled that, let’s get to the hotel.
We should mention our first insult in Athina, which was actually a show of courtesy, was when the ticket vendor inquired whether the editor was sixty-five. Heck, I don’t think she looks so old but I’m biased. He wished to give her a discount. I put on a rather fierce face so he probably decided against asking me anything. At the hotel, should you have a room at higher levels, you may have spectacular views of the city. So let’s get out and explore a tiny aspect unless you’re hungry. The main business of Greece is obviously tourism and shipping. The main activity seems to be eating at restaurants that usually begin inside the building and extend onto the sidewalk with someone from the business trying to entice passersby. Coffee is sold everywhere—it is one of the staples as in many parts of the world. Many male employees/owners seem to spend an awful amount of time smoking, sitting and waiting for customers, talking, conversing, talking and... Athens is a very sociable place. Spain is not much different in this regard either.
In order to qualify as a true Greek, you have to learn to smoke at an early age. It seems that everyone smokes in the country. However, we did learn that they have cottoned onto the latest marketing techniques and advertise the tobacco as being organically grown. That solves everything, of course, although the smoke blown in our faces was still obnoxious. We forgot to mention you should bring a smoke mask with you because there are few prohibitions as to where smoking may occur. Remember not to inhale, something we learned a few years back from a politician. Sixty odd years of not smoking has gone up in…smoke. We think our health was affected by the smoke, fumes and seeing a yellow cab every second, often charging at us. So we had to deal with pollution and then it got worse. Nevertheless, Athina is fascinating and one should not be put off by what may seem exaggerations. To put you at ease, should I feel I’m about to exaggerate, I’ll raise my left arm and that will be a warning.
Bring along a very dark pair of sunglasses with you. Of course, if you like graffiti then don’t. We spent six days looking for a wall which had a blank space but unfortunately, were unsuccessful. We think it’s a tragedy, perhaps the original Greek tragedy. We cannot understand the disrespect for property, their city and fellow citizens. Come to think of it, we don’t understand many things nowadays, generally. Much of Greece is covered with graffiti, unfortunately.
Anyway, let’s try to cross a road at the traffic light. This is not easy so please concentrate. Before the pedestrian green light displays, begin your first prayer. Thus far, this is what we’ve determined. The driver has no interest in the green light. His ideal is to make the turn before the pedestrian gets in his way. It becomes a game of ‘chicken’. Remember, however, cars may not be as solid as they used to be but they are still stronger than most of your body parts, maybe not some of our heads. Should you be able to cross in a group, so much the better. It’s not easy. There’s real danger for the unwary.
We do not wish to sound negative because there’s much to like and enjoy and anyway, half the population of Greece lives in the city. Of course, the more intelligent half lives somewhere else. Generally, the Greek people seem very nice and most speak reasonable English. It’s a plus for dumb tourists such as ourselves. For those interested in women, not me of course, the Greek women are most attractive. This is not something I noticed but rather, I gleaned the information on Google in order to be a little more informative. When the editor was in the bathroom, I verified it because I don’t trust Google fully. In fact, I was correct about Google. I think it understates their beauty.
The Temple of Zeus, a view from the Acropolis. (Rumor has it that they could not find the original building permits so it has been condemned and is being dismantled, hence, little remains.)
We forgot to mention that there are many motorcyclists on the road, too. In fact, the number seems to equal automobiles if you exclude cabs. I was fascinated to see the bikes being used to transport all sorts of wares, some of them looking dangerously overloaded. It amused me to see women behind the rider carrying their handbags (purses). As we progress through the various sectors, it’s clear there are Chinese shops, Muslim places, the original locals and others. During the day, besides the permanence of the graffiti, the streets are sort of clean. However, each night on our return home, we always came across many overturned garbage cans and large skips emptied into the streets. It was ugly. Nevertheless, the city works and provides a person with many interesting facets of current life and historic perspectives.
The language is difficult commencing with the alphabet. Because of mathematics, finance and perhaps other things, we know a little about alphas, betas, loved the thetas, the odd gamma we welcomed and so forth. But string them together and it's all Greek to us.
We are aware of the financial problems bestowed upon Greece. The number of empty stores and derelict properties attests to this. Outside of Athens, the situation appears much worse as we viewed many abandoned buildings, gas stations, partly built structures and other signs of hopelessness. There are a fortune of beggars, panhandlers and even women sleeping on pavements, some with mattresses and bedding, in Athens. As an aside, the recession does not seem to have affected food prices—in our opinion, they remain high. We suppose tourism continues to prop up much in the city. It’s hard to gauge what’s normal traffic but the city seems enormously busy. At some of the antiquity sites, busloads brought in the people from ships and hotels. There were long lines and to us, business looked brisk. We loved it when we met some American couples at the Parthenon and asked, “Did you just get off the boat?” Maybe silly, but we like the phrase.
We understand at least half the population of Greece lives in the city. When a person stands at a high vantage point, such as at the Acropolis, one sees buildings and nothing else stretching for miles and miles. There are a mass of apartments covering the land as far as the eye can see. Even in such massive cities, coincidences occur. We were resting on a bench, watching a great number of people passing. One couple stood out as the man, talking with an English accent but quite distinctive, explained to his wife why he took them on a particular route. She seemed bored, he animated and I was fascinated. Hold on to this for a while, we’ll get back to it.
There are a number of squares in the city, besides us, where people congregate and much action takes place. On a couple of occasions, we seated ourselves, after suffering tired feet, and took in the sights. The flow of people was staggering. Every nationality visits the city and of all ages. It truly is international with the dominant foreign languages being English, French and of course, German. We even heard Afrikaans but just on one occasion. The young Orientals continue to dominate with their ‘selfie-sticks’ and practiced smiles which for one, irritates me. However, I need to exercise restraint and be more accepting. I might buy one of those sticks myself should it come with a built-in smile.
A shot of the theater of Herod Atticus taken from the Parthenon.
Earlier in our travels, we mentioned how we were alert for Greeks bearing gifts. People thought we had lost it. People are probably correct. Well, it turns out that Vassie brought Jenni a gift, when we met with her and Jenny Lev for dinner. Jenni, the editor, met Vassie through the internet via another new friend, Josette. The other Jenny is a school friend of the editor’s so we are going back a few years. Jenny of Greece was most gracious towards us and we appreciate her hospitality very much. Jumping ahead, when we left Delphi the other day, the owner’s wife came running after us with a gift of two bottles of water for our trip. Once again, we were touched by the gift and the spirit in which it was given. The strange thing is that each day when we passed the reception desk, she wanted to know whether we were departing that day. We were puzzled by her inquiries and still are. Perhaps the water was an apology or a show of glee that the day had arrived finally. By the way, I don’t believe I’ve stayed in a nicer town or village than Delphi—it’s a gem. Outside of the parts of Athens we walked, we found the land to be most attractive. It requires an awful lot of time and traveling to see the country and absorb its many facets. It’s our intention to revisit Greece and its neigbors. At time of writing, we are loving it.
Let’s go to the synagogue together…why should we have all the fun? Along the way and on other days too, we noticed many policemen standing at street corners; some even looked paramilitary. We saw a few citizens being searched and questioned. We loved the comment from Vassie when she spoke of the demonstrations and riots. She nonchalantly asked Jenny Lev when the next riot was scheduled, mentioning the venue too. We believe it occurred the day before our departure. We were questioned before being allowed into the shul but copies of our passports did the trick. The service was very different from many we have attended but it was over soon and we headed to the dinner arranged by Chabad. This involved a fifteen-minute walk to their restaurant—it’s operated by the synagogue personnel. We did not know the way so we asked someone who looked like he knew where he and his family were heading. “Do you speak English?” We asked.
“I certainly do,” he answered in a South African accent. Mark and Karen Chasen and their twins now live in Australia. Mark went to the same schools as the editor.
When we were assigned our seats, we found ourselves sitting next to Jenny and Aaron. Another Jenny and who is Aaron you may ask? Obviously, the couple whom we noticed in the busy square, mentioned a couple of paragraphs earlier. They are from Liverpool and try to visit foreign lands for the High Holy days. A couple of days later, we bumped into them again near the Acropolis. We saw thousands of people in the square that day and the couple who stood out, sat next to us. Moving around the table were Jeremy and Jason, two Americans living in Israel, a couple of young Australian women and a very young Israeli couple. We also met Norman Pless from Johannesburg who lives on one of the islands. Ten days later, we were sitting in a synagogue in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in the country, on Yom Kippur. A young fellow walked up to me and said ‘Hello’. At first, I thought he mistook me for a local. He reminded me of our visit to Athens. “You’ve cut your hair and beard, Jeremy,” I exclaimed, recognizing him. Wow! This year, there have been many such coincidences. By the way, the spirit and the food at the dinner were superb and communicating with the different nationals was terrific—a unique occasion. We really got a 'kick' being in a different location to celebrate an annual holy day.
The men are extremely friendly toward one another. They kiss, not once but twice. In America, Britain and South Africa to name a few countries, men shake hands but when a person has a cold, they even avoid a handshake. I’m not one for kissing men, beards or otherwise, so I developed a strategy. I found the Greek translation for ‘cheek fungus’ and attached the sign to my lapel. It worked well and I became adept at removing it each time I passed a woman. That did not work too well, though. The etiquette in the synagogue was much like anywhere else. Jews like to talk in shul (synagogue) for whatever reason. In Athens, the rabbi was relaxed and rather aloof but in the latter shul, the Ladino community, this rabbi would have nothing of it. He was a tough guy and stressed decorum.
It’s always a little odd listening to a sermon in a foreign language—a person sits there clueless—mind you, what’s different? Finally, dress seems to be casual in most parts of the world these days, even in houses of worship. Denims are smart outfits, it seems. My tie was a quaint relic of an earlier period. A few people, perhaps tourists, arrived dressed in hiking gear with backpacks—that was a first for us. One guy took the cake, so to speak. It looked like he had just run 26 miles and 385 yards.
We’ve often seen pictures of Greek women, particularly the elderly, dressed in black. Half-expectantly, we thought women would be dressed according to this perception. It appears that widows dress in a form of mourning for the rest of their lives. It was enlightening but it got me hoping that Jenni wouldn’t be buying many black outfits—post Jeffrey, she deserves a good life, too. I now have a better understanding of ‘black widows’.
What have Italy, Spain, South Africa and Greece in common? For one, they are all on the extreme south side of their continents which may or may not mean anything. However, if you draw a line or paint it in the middle of the road, the drivers in those countries, generally, attach little importance to it. Once again, it seems clear that many drivers consider that not overtaking or passing over solid lines is merely a suggestion or a hint. It makes driving more dangerous in those countries, requiring extra concentration and less trust of fellow motorists.
It's not surprising that religious artifacts and other symbols are well spread over the country, memorials with 'sacrifices' adorning houses, buildings and mostly points on roads. One presumes they memorialize lost loved-ones through car crashes. It appears to the outsider, although only a perception: Christianity, with an enormous number of churches and symbols, plays a dominant role in the society.
Driving along roads in small towns is a challenge, at times but sure makes life interesting. The freeways we've traveled have been of a high standard. The Greek authorities are obviously impressed with the toll system. Provided one passes the bank and fills the wallet before undertaking a long trip, it's the way to go. The signage is bilingual so for English speakers, it's a treat.
The communication with the locals has been most enjoyable. Because of having lived many years in South Africa which enjoys a large Greek population, it seems we have a better understanding of the locals than in many other countries. We just returned from an hour in the main square of the town of Skotinas. We are staying on the beach side of the town as we prepare for an attempt on Mount Olympus, the highest in Greece. It’s a biggie because unlike many other mountains, the climb begins at the base. Anyway, the town organized an evening of traditional dancing and music. The attendance looked rather high from our perspective and gave us an insight into small-town locals. It was enjoyable to view and particularly, to see youngsters sharing in their heritage.
The accommodation has been comfortable and at times quite spectacular because of great views. In a few places, we've had challenges in the shower. On one occasion, it was necessary to lose a quick ten pounds to gain entrance to the stall. With others, not being in a cubicle or having a curtain, caused excessive 'flooding'. Sometimes hot water has been sparse but the issues were always resolved often by, as one proprietor said, "I'll push (the button) and wait ten minutes." The magic button worked. The best is having wash lines on the balcony with pegs. The other day, with a lot of clothes needing to dry, we stretched across to our neighbor, a little climbing involved, and borrowed pegs. These improvisations occur frequently and create much amusement and fun. Perhaps not for the neighbor.
We've only touched Greece with a tiny finger and are fascinated by its beauty, its myriad of mountains, islands, modern culture contrasted with antiquities, conflicts and so much more. It seems the more we experience, the bigger the world becomes.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
A little of an old city and nighttime antiquities.
Closing with 'zebra pants' at the Acropolis, on the Rock of Areopagos.
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