Greece

2005-07-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

The Acropolis

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After a ten hour plane ride on Air Transat (don’t fly it), here we are at the Acropolis in Athens. This picture is taken from The Plaka, an area of shops and restaurants open until very late at night and even into the morning hours. We are told that Greeks like to eat late. The Plaka was built in the 19th century by immigrants from the Cycladic island of Anafi. (Myknos, Paros and Santorini are also Cycladic islands).

The Parthenon

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People lived on the Acropolis as early as 5000 BC but the Parthenon, as we know it today, was re-built in 448 BC after the Persian invasions by Pericles.

Delivering the Burlington Post

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Our local newspaper, the Burlington Post, will print a picture of anyone travelling that shows the paper in a picture. We had one published when we sent them one of Elle and I in Hiroshima.
This one was taken behind the Parthenon. You can see some of the scaffolding as it is in a state of constant preservation.

Byzantine Church in the Ancient Agora

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This church dates roughly from 1453 and stands in the Roman Agora or marketplace.

The Odeion

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The Odeum (Odeion / Music Hall) was a monument built in the 2nd century BC by Herodes Atticus. It was reconstructed in the 19th century and hosts summer festivals to this day. Perhaps you remember the televised performance of the Three Tenors here.

Temple of Hephaistos (The Theseion)

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Looking out from this Temple you could imagine the Agora teaming with merchants and the likes of both Socrates and his disciple Plato. The Temple dates from the 5th century BC.

Guards

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This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The guards wear a uniform which has frilly skirts and pom-pommed red shoes. The evzone (uniform) was worn by their ancestors who fought to gain Greece’s freedom in the War of Independence (1821-1828). Guards are posted twenty-four hours per day and are changed once per hour. A formal changing of the Guard occurs on Sundays.

The Theatre of Dionysos

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The Theatre was built in the 4th century BC. It seated 17,000 spectators in 64 rows of limestone seats, 20 of which survive. 67 marble seats were provided for the most important people including the Priest of Dionysos, god of wine. The works of Aescylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes were performed here.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

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Also known as the Kolonnes (the columns) this was originally one of the largest temples in the world at 108m long and 43m wide. Inside were statues of Zeus and Hadrian, the builder of the temple in the 6th century BC.

Our Hotel Room

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Eleanor is sitting on our patio at Hotel Acrogiali in Mykonos.

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Hotel Acrogiali

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The front of Hotel Acrogiali on the Aegean Sea.

Everywhere But!

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The sign states they take you everywhere but, not to the two places we wanted to go to!

The Windmills of Mykonos (Kato Myli)

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Catholic Church

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Catholic Churches have a blue roof whereas Greek Orthodox churches have rust coloured roofs. There are over 800 churches on an island with only a popuation of 15K. Many are privately owned.

Greek Orthodox

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Mykonos Town (Hora)

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Mykonos Town, or Hora, is a village of many narrow streets and shops. Vehicular traffic is not allowed, however, you do see many scooters running up and down the streets on deliveries.

Tavera Paraportiani near the Famous Church

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We had lunch here just before a crowd of "tourists" came. Damn tourists. Anyway, we lunched here twice. No riff-raff the second time around. The food was always good in Greece but a bit on the expensive side sometimes. We used a Greek Salad as our guide. In a place like this Taverna it would be around $5.00 CDN but, if you have a view of the sunset, sometimes as high as $20.00 CDN.

Friendly Nicolas and Petros

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Mykonos Town is said to have three Pelicans. We didn't see any others and these three were always there. Irini is in the next photo. The third bird in this picture is a duck of course.

Mean Spirited Irini

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Greek Man

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Narrow walkway

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Although a bit hard to see, this alley was only about 20 inches wide.

Little Venice in Mykonos

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Mykonos was highly influenced by the Venetians. This area is also called the Alefkandra quarter and is made up of many bars that have a view of the sea and the beautiful sunsets.

The Beach at Hotel Acrogiali

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J

Just down from our Hotel was a shop that sold anything from souvenirs to beach towels and wine.

The Delos Lions

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Just two miles off the coast of Mykonos lies Delos, considered by ancient Greeks to be the holiest of sanctuaries. Frommer's states that "It (Delos) is unquestionably one of the most remarkable archaelogical preserves in the world."

These are the Naxion Lions made of marble from Naxos in the 7th century BC. There were originally nine and perhaps more, but only five remain.

Mosaics

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These types of Mosaics are found in the open and in many places in Delos.

In the Sanctuary of Apollo

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This is one of the finer statues on the island. During Roman times, many heads were destroyed as well as some other parts of the male body. Note the small statue on the right.

Atop Mt. Kinthos

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At 112 meters this is the highest point on the island. It was quite a job to climb up the staircase leading to it. A temple dedicated to Zeus and Athena once stood here and the mountain was the most sacred part of Delos.

A 7th century BC Aqueduct

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Delos was a sanctuary since the Mycenaean period (circa 1400 BC) and became organized in the 7th century BC. The Odyssey, written about 700 BC, refers to Delos as a famous religious center of the Ionians. It grew to about 30,000 inhabitants and was destroyed in 88 BC by Mithridates, King of Pontus. During this time, the people of Delos built aqueducts that brought fresh water to their houses.

Eleanor plays Shirley Valentine at the Sunset

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Back on Mykonos, Eleanor reminisces about the movie Shirley Valentine which was filmed at this location in 1989.

Sunset Taverna

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Agio Ioannis (Shirley Valentine Beach)

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This is the area where Shirley (Pauline Collins) meets with her husband at the end of the film. Tom Conti played Shirley's love interest as Costas Caldes.

Dad

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Not really, but it looks a little like him. This is a Greek Orthodox Priest at a litlle town called Ano Mera.

By the Infinity Pool

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This is overlooking the pool at the Yria Beach Hotel in Paros. Yria is listed as one of the Small Luxery Hotels of the World and we would certainly agree. Rooms in the summer here run well over $600 per night CDN. Just look at some of the pictures of the grounds.

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The Entrance to the Yria Bungalows in Paros

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Carol and Bill

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About 200 yards or so from the Hotel, we found this little Taverna. Good prices and tasty food. This is Bill and Carol from Dorset, friends whom we met, who were on the same itinerary.

Flowers at the Hotel

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In the lobby looking towards the pool

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The Band

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One night we went on our only excursion. This was a band that played for us. For 19 Euros each ($30) you got all the wine you could drink and a tiny plate of appetizers. Anyway, it was fun. The band was great and we saw some Greek dancing to boot.

Naoussa

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This is the small fishing village of Naoussa. It is not yet spoiled by tourism but it will come. All the fisherman were at work the day we arrived fixing their nets and boats.

Naoussa Fisherman

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The New Marble Mine

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Paros is famous for its Marble. The translucent marble found here was used for the Venus de Milo and for Napoleon's tomb before the original mine was abandoned in the late 1800's. This mine is still in production.

Santorini

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The High Speed Ferry

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This ferry brought us from Paros to Santorini. It took about two hours but would have taken about four on a standard ferry. This was included in our package and we had reserved seats on board. The boat is very fast! Note the cliff we are to climb by bus behind the ferry.

Santorini Palace Hotel

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This is the Santorini Palace Hotel. Our room is the door on the left and you can see our balcony in about the center of the picture.

Fishing Village at the Hot Springs

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On a trip to the volcano in Santorini, we stopped to swim here at the hot springs.

The Volcano

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The entire island of Santorini is the result of a catastrophic eruption of this volcano in 1450 BC. The harbour is an enormous caldera or crater. Some scholars surmise that the destruction gave birth to the myth of Atlantis. The volcano is still active and last erupted, albeit less catastrophicly, in the 1950's.

Santorini Lunch

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Eleanor is having a great sandwich and a beer while overlooking the village of Fira. Santorini is also known as Thira. The names get a bit confusing as the Greeks often spell the names differently too. More on that later.

On the way to Ia

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We heard a great deal about the sunsets in a small village north of Fira named Ia, also Oia, which is confusing. We are on our way to the bus (1 Euro or $1.60) that will take us up some high roads with little protection if the bus plunged over. The buses are quite good, very comfortable if you can get a seat, and cheap. This trip was about thirty minutes.

Ia

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Ia is beautiful and the colours spectacular.

All the Home entrances in Ia are this beautiful

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Looking out on the Volcano and Fira

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A House in Ia

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Dinner at Kastros

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The sun sets, the music lowers, the food and wine flow. It's a great life.

Sunset from Kastros

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Sunset at Ia

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Overlooking Fira

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Red Beach

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We rented a car most places with Bill and Carol. Here we are at Red Beach. These are actually volcanic pebbles according to Mr. Frommer.

A Hotel in Ia

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We liked Ia so much, we returned here with the car a second evening to look around and take more pictures. If I could choose any place I have been that I would say is "picture perfect", it would be Ia.

Guess who?

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Fira at Twilight

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A young Greek Lady

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This young lady worked at our Hotel and showed us the way to a location we were looking for. I like taking pictures of people as well as scenery. When I asked her, she was reluctant but consented, then refused to look at them. I have no idea why.

Hotel Hersonissos Maris

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Located on the Sea of Crete, this hotel has two outdoor and one indoor pool as well as the sea. You will note later that there are actually more than three pools. All of our breakfasts on this vacation were included as well as our dinners on Crete.

Crete

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Chania

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This is the village of Chania which is pronounced Hania. It was bombed heavilly in WWII but managed to survive. Some buildings were not reconstructed, which adds to the charm. It's architecture was infuenced by the Ventians in 1210 and the Turks in 1898.

Room with a Pool of your own

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Want to rent a room with your own pool. Here you are.

Knossos

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Crete is a large island about 300 miles long and 100 miles across. You really need a car here and six of us rented a six-seater Fiat. It was interesting in that it has three large seats in front and three in back .. bucket seats, not bench. It was nothing like I had seen before, but very comfortable.

This is Knossos which was excavated by Arthur Evans, a British amateur archeologist in the early 1900's. There are two palaces here dating from 2000 BC and 1250 BC built by the Minoans. Truly an impressive site. Many of the artifacts and wall mosaics are in the museum in Iraklion which is also called Heraklion .. adding to the confusion in some Greek names.

Diver

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The Minoans participated in sports demonstartions much like the Olympics only a bit more violent at times. This diver is an example of the art that came from that era some 3000 to 4000 years ago.

Phaestos Disc

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The Phaestos Disc was found by Evans at Knossos. It is still undeciphered.

Wall Mosaics

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Evans used a great deal of guessing in some of his interpretations. Only a few pieces found at Knossos actually make up this Mosaic. This is an original taken from the site. A copy was produced for Knossos.

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From left to right .. Eleanor, Carol, Dana and Derryn. Dana and Derryn are sisters who were on the same itinerary and who travelled with us, Bill and Carol to various places in Crete by car.

Sunset in Crete

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