22 March, Sparta

The ruins of Mystras, constructed during the 13th and 14th  centuries AD, were our first stop this morning. Through most of its history, Mystras was a Byzantine city, but it was also populated by Greek and Jewish communities. The people who lived here over all those centuries must have been mountain goats. We scrambled up steep, rough, stony paths and hundreds of steps to the very top of the ruins, all the time dreading the inevitable descent, because we much prefer the up path over rough terrain, to the down. Near the top, we noticed signs to another exit, which would allow us to avoid the horrors of the downward path. What we hadn’t realised, was that it was, to quote the Beatles, “a long and winding road.” We figured it was at least 2.5 km, but still a better option to the alternative.

The ruins of Ancient Sparta are nowhere near as extensive as other city-states that have created the history of Greece. The culture itself has given the English language the word “spartan,” meaning living  very basically. Spartan boys were raised in harsh communal conditions from the age of seven, living in camps, training to be soldiers, until the age of 30. With such a strong military focus, it is not a mystery that the Spartan civilization has not left as much behind as others have.

Today we drove for more than an hour, following Google Maps and covering no more than 20 kms, up narrow, country roads and dirt tracks, seeking the Acropolis of Ancient Sparta. At 400m from what we thought was our goal, we met a car coming down the track the GPS had guided us to. Waving us down, the group of fellow Acropolis seekers told us our goal was not up the rutted goat track they had just negotiated, so we abandoned our quest. 

Later in the day, roaming around the modern town of Sparta, we noticed a sign, just around the corner from our accommodation, directing us to the Acropolis. It was 400m away! But, just as we arrived, the gates were locked. Maybe tomorrow.

24 March, Galaxidi

Got to roam about the Acropolis of Sparta this morning before hitting the road. There was no entry fee and next to no people about, so we had the site to ourselves. This is a mostly undeveloped archaeological site, which we enjoy, in some ways more than restored or renovated sites. General shapes of buildings can fairly easily be identified, with a bit of imagination and some knowledge of history. Here, as with many sites in Greece, layers of civilizations, Spartan, Roman, Christian, Jewish and Byzantine, have left their mark here. The theatre is currently in the early stages of restoration and/or reconstruction and some of the original seating has been exposed.

We first visited Ancient Olympia in 1976, then again, with our kids, in 1987. We have a posed picture of the three of them lined up on the blocks preparing for a “race.” We took a similar shot today, but were cautious about standing on the actual blocks as there was a guard loitering and preparing to blow his warning whistle. The massive Temple of Zeus has had only limited restoration and several of the massive outer columns lie in pieces where they originally fell. This site was fairly crowded and we were grateful that we had chosen to visit outside the peak tourist season, which doesn't commence for almost three months.

Today we planned a visit to Delphi, not realising that this weekend was a long weekend for Greece's Independence Day. Unbelievable traffic snags forced us to abandon our plan and head off for Galixidi.

Spending most of the day today on a variety of roads has sharpened our awareness of Greek drivers. Firstly, we have to say that Greek roads have improved significantly since our first visit. What is still a shock for us is the insanity of the majority of Greek drivers.

The picture on the left is of European standard speed limit signs. On the right are the Greek speed limit signs. We thought they were the same. Wrong. Those on the right, we now realise, are minimum limits, not maximums. The Greek speed signs state the minimum speed a driver is permitted to do in that area. Travelling at or just below these limits will enrage fellow drivers, who will sit millimeters off the non- compliant motorist's back left bumper until they can use the twin speed limit signs to identify the highest risk location to pass. These signs are predominantly for 50 km and 60 km limits, produced in enormous numbers and distributed randomly along roads, sometimes within metres  of the far rarer 70 km and 90 km signs. The execution of this manoeuvre is terrifying to witness!  

In a serious attempt to curtail Greece's horrific road toll, a new system has been instituted along a 60-80 km stretch of the E55. Dividing poles run up the centre of the highway, preventing passing except in defined passing lanes. The frustration is palpable. As a section of divided road looms, the pack tightens up, motors rev loudly and then, off they go, creating a two lane Le Mans. The vast forecourts that front toll booths are likewise informal raceways as drivers jockey for lanes. More thrills are generated as there seems to be a rule that maximum speed must be maintained right up to the barrier.

Early start tomorrow. Back to Athens to return the car and then take the Metro to Piraeus for the ferry to Mykonos.

25 March, Gallery Suites, Piraeus

Greek Independence Day today. Last night after dinner portside in Galaxidi, we walked for a while with a children’s “Light Parade.” Children and their parents walked from house to house with the kids holding flaming torches, stopping below balconies, where resident children addressed the crowd with short, patriotic speeches. We couldn’t understand it of course, but judging by the crowd reaction, it was stirring stuff.

Up at 5am today to drive back to Athens and return our hire car. We had covered some of the road yesterday and knew it was winding and would probably be slow going. As it turned out, we had the road and, later in the morning, the motorway, fairly much to ourselves, so our little Suzuki Swift flew along, getting us to the terminal an hour before return time. Not the most high tech car we have driven, but it was a hybrid and clocked a respectable 4.4 lt/100 km which, even though fuel was 2 euro, (AUD $3.4/lt) worked out well overall. 

There was another major parade in Piraeus today and various other ceremonies throughout the city. A fly-by with helicopters and a very out-of-tune band, thrilled the local crowd. We heard, as we left the Metro, after our trip from the airport, that trains and trams were not stopping at Syntagma Square, so we imagined there were more celebrations there as well.

We are in a very nice hotel just a couple of hundred metres from the ferry terminal, making our 7:30am departure for Mykonos tomorrow easy.

 20 March 2024 90 Degrees Apartment, Nafplion

Off before 9am to catch the metro to the airport. Over the past few days, the trains haven't been too crowded. Today, Tokyo-level numbers of people packed every train that came through the station while we waited for the Airport Special that runs every 30 minutes. It’s a long haul to the airport but, luckily for us, the crowds thinned out as we reached the outer suburbs, so we managed to get seats for a time.

At the airport, we picked up our Europcar vehicle for our road-trip through the Peloponnesus. The first 30 minutes driving left-hand drive cars is always the most difficult, but the proximity of the motorway we had to take made it fairly easy to get into the swing.

The Corinth Canal was our first stop. Over 2000 years have gone into the construction of this amazing piece of engineering. Construction of the canal  began with King Periander of Corinth, in the 7th century BC. Daunted by the enormity of the project, he chose to implement the Diolkos, a land trackway for transporting ships. Construction of the canal was continued under Emperor Nero in 67 AD,   However, the project ceased shortly after his death. The modern canal’s construction finally recommenced in 1881, but was hampered by geological and financial problems that bankrupted the original builders. It was completed in 1893, but, due to the canal's narrowness, navigational problems, and periodic closures to repair landslides from its steep walls, it failed to attract the level of traffic expected by its operators. Today it is home to a bungy jumping business and several tourist malls.

Ancient Corinth was our next stop. Complacency soon evaporated as, off the main roads, Google Maps was near to useless. Local signs were no help. Finally, after some valuable learning experiences on driving on narrow village roads, we found the site. Most people would remember Corinth and the Corinthians because of St. Paul's letters to them. St. Paul lived amongst the locals here for several years  and established a Christian community. When he left, he continued to support the community through letters. Mind you, we never found the post box.

You will have to be a history buff to follow our journey around the Peloponnesus , but we will do the best we can make it big picture and interesting. So, with that in mind, the big thing at our next stop in Mycenae was the famous Lion Gate. Frankly, the rest is just a pile of rocks. However, the archaeological finds here are among the most important records of life in ancient times. They aren’t stored here anymore, but in museums in Athens.

Motorway tolls in Greece are not as high as in France or Italy, but we did about 110 kilometers on tollways and racked up 17 euro. This was a justifiable expense for us on the first day driving on the other side of the road as motorway driving is much easier than on surface roads. Traffic on the motorways was not terribly heavy and Greek drivers stick strictly to the rule of overtaking only on the left and slower vehicles stay in the right lanes. These are conventions that Australian drivers could do well to emulate.

Our apartment for the next two nights is simply spectacular - two bedrooms, full kitchen, large lounge, huge balcony with a view of the fort on the edge of town and, best of all, a washing machine.

21 March 2024, Nafplion

The Theatre of Epidaurus was constructed at the end of the 4th century BC. Built for a maximum capacity of 13,000 to 14,000 spectators, the theatre hosted music, singing and drama. Surrounding the theatre are extensive ruins of a complex established for the worship of the god Asclepius. Significant work has been done to reconstruct some parts of the site, providing visitors with a reasonable feel of what this large complex would have looked like.

It was sunny and mild today and our drive through extensive olive groves and villages of brilliant white  in the bright sunlight was a little stressful because of the need that Greek drivers have to pass any vehicle in front of them, irrespective of how fast that vehicle is going, the speed limit or if it is safe to pass. In some cases, we are sure vehicles passing us waited until there was a tight corner coming up.

Up a steep, winding road on the edge of Nafplion is the Fortress of Palamidi. Visible from our balcony in the morning sunlight, it demanded a visit. Unlike other sites in the Peloponnesus, the fortress is of more recent origin. Construction began in the 18th century by the Venetians, but before completion, Greece was overrun by the Ottoman Turks and so, the final buildings have characteristics of both cultures.

After Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830, Nafplion was proposed as the new nation's capital. It was never to be, but today, the small city of 14,000 people proudly maintains some of the grand public buildings that may have initially supported its claim to predominance.

A stroll through the old Venetian waterfront district of the city was a very pleasant end to our stay here. Narrow streets, alleyways and squares, framed by buildings more commonly seen in Italy, ended our stay in this charming city. 

Athens

 18 March 2024, Athens

Despite getting moving early, we hit a queue at the Acropolis Museum this morning, 10 minutes after opening time. It moved reasonably quickly, but the fact that there was a line-up that early was a portend of strife to come later in the day. The museum opened in 2009, replacing a small, totally inadequate museum on the Acropolis site. Large, uncluttered galleries with excellent descriptions in Greek and English, now provide a far more suitable environment for the display of the thousands of artefacts collected from the site.

Visiting the Acropolis itself is a breeze as the museum is right at the foot of the complex. We followed the growing crowds up the lower slopes heading to what we thought was the ticket booth, only to discover that we were, in fact, on the line for those with pre-purchased tickets. So off to the ticket booths we scuttled as the crowds grew and grew. It was a public holiday in Greece and the start of the college spring break in the US, but it is months off peak tourist season in Europe, so as we shuffled up the paths to the top of the site, we wondered what it will be like in July, when the temperature is likely to be in the 30s and the crowds peak. Even the annoying tour touts were out and about and as with their ilk all over the world, they have difficulty understanding the word “NO!”

Today it was a comfortable 19C and even with the crowds, there were still a few areas around the Parthenon where there was space to stop and enjoy the views.

Keeping with our history theme, we headed for the Archaeological Museum. Electing to walk the 2km, we stopped in a quiet street to eat our home-prepared sandwiches. We soon regretted being so organised because, just around the corner, we came to an extremely pleasant little neighbourhood with alfresco dining on terraces surrounded by colourful little houses. With bouzouki buskers playing in the background, it would have provided a perfect backing for a very pleasant lunch in the warm, early afternoon sunshine.   

The rest of our long walk was not through a similarly pleasant environment. There are still some parts of Athens that have not been able to benefit from the new strength of the economy. Closed up, shuttered businesses and graffiti covering every surface left us convinced that we would not venture through these areas at night. 

We only realised that we had visited the Archaeological Museum before when we recognised a few pieces, of the thousands on display. One such exhibit was the Philosopher’s Head, a particularly scary piece that, once studied up close, could easily become the source of many a nightmare. There is a very interesting back story to the Philosopher. He, along with hundreds of other important artefacts, was found on a shipwreck off the island of Antikythera by sponge divers in 1900. It is believed that the items retrieved from the wreck were looted by the Romans from Athens and were on their way back to Rome in 86 BC, before some tragedy sent the ship to the bottom of the sea.

Another oddity we discovered by chance was a funereal sculpture of a young man lying a top of a large sarcophagus. We noticed that there was something strange about his head. It was obviously reattached, but that isn't unusual in reconstructions. On reading the description, all was revealed. The original sculpture was the grave of a woman, but sometime after the original interment, the female body was removed and a young man placed in the same sarcophagus. The heads were exchanged. Job done!

19 March 2024,  Athens

This has been our fourth visit to Athens, Our first was in 1976, almost 50 years ago. Looking back on the Athens of that first visit, many of the things we came to see then have changed very little, naturally enough, because they have remained basically unchanged for many thousands of years. What has changed is the nature of the city itself. Athens is now a far more modern European city. No longer the poor cousin to London, Paris or Rome, the city has developed its own specifically Greek sophistication. People, particularly the women, are more formally and well-dressed than we travellers. People we have dealt with have been very pleasant and welcoming. The only exception was yesterday at the Archaeological Museum where the security and ticketing staff must have got up on the wrong side of the bed.

For our last day, we planned a tram trip down the coast, known locally as the Athens Riviera. It was a nice warm day, though a little cloudy and everything went swimmingly until we reached the terminal of the first tram T6, where we were to make a connection to the T7, for the run along the coast. We had our seniors single 90 minute tickets (.50 euro AUD$.80) and knew where to make the connection. All well and good, except the T7 line closed down a couple of weeks ago for repairs. 

On the theme of transport, Athens has a great public transport network that allows easy access to all important sights. There are two Metro lines, tram and bus routes, local rail and even trolley buses. The Airport is served by Metro and Local Rail. Sadly, the Airport Metro line is notorious for petty theft, so watch your gear. There are a range of transport cards that travellers can access, but we found it easy to just use ticket machines or, in our case, ticket offices at the station, which allowed us to buy seniors half price tickets for the princely sum of 0.50 Euro. Dealing with staff at the ticket offices is a breeze. They all speak English and are very helpful. The machines and the ticket offices both take credit cards.

Our last stop for the day was the Museum of Contemporary Art. Despite the fact that modern art is not really our “thing,” we almost always end up at these sorts of galleries, mostly just to giggle at what some people see as art. However, we often go away with memories and experiences that are as much part of the attraction as the “giggle" factor. Today was no exception. Yes, there was some truly weird stuff, like the matching “his and hers” guillotines. But what impressed the most was a short movie titled “Two Minutes to Midnight,” a well-crafted examination of what would happen if women ran a major world power through a potential nuclear war crisis.

Tomorrow we will use the Metro to get back to the Airport to pick up a hire car for a short road trip through the Peloponnesus. Last time we drove in Greece we were in a large motorhome. Hopefully, a very small car will be a lot easier to manage.

Over the Pole and London

 16 March 2024, Central Bright Apartment, Athens

We arrived in London two days ago after a long flight with Japan Airlines, The first leg, from Brisbane to Singapore, was a code share with Qantas and the other two, through to Haneda, Japan and on to Heathrow, with JAL. Seems like a crazy route, but at a price 70% of the Qantas return fare, it was worth the trouble. 

The final leg from Tokyo was 14 hrs 30 mins, arriving at Heathrow at 3:30pm. By then, our poor addled minds were spinning. A good dose of European beer and a couple of very average burgers from the Airport Bowling Alley next door to our favourite Heathrow Ibis Hotel, however, gave us a reasonable night's sleep.

JAL uses the Polar Route, probably because of the war in Ukraine and problems in the Middle East. We flew this route in 1987 with our kids, at night. This time we caught up with the sun just over half way into the flight. The views over the Arctic and Greenland were spectacular.

Travelling from the Heathrow to local hotels used to be free. Now, the London Transport buses charge a standard fee of  £1.75. This is a flat rate for anywhere in Greater London, so the buses are a very cheap way of getting about. The hotel "Hoppa" bus charges £6.80 for the same service. As always, it is  worthwhile looking at public transport options.

Our single day in London was mainly to allow Janita to attend a show, a birthday present from our children. In the city well before the show started, we had a couple of hours to wander about. 

We were last in London about 2018 and several times before that, so we thought we were a bit over the usual tourist sites. But once we had found the theatre where the show was staged, we sauntered up Charing Cross Road into Trafalgar Square and played tourist for a while among the small crowds of off- season sightseers.

The non-theatre goer then had a few hours to explore, which he did following his favoured tourist trick of just strolling about. In doing so, he ticked off:  the Tower of London; the London Eye; Tower Bridge; St Paul's; The Monument; views of Big Ben the Globe and the Thames at a particularly low tide. The latter isn't as gross as it might seem, because areas of long-abandoned wharves emerge from the mud and courageous people venture out, looking for treasures that might have been exposed by the retreating waters.

A long haul home on the tube and a local bus had us ready for a good sleep before we hit the deck at 4.00am to grab the 423 bus to Terminal 5 for our flight to Athens.

Athens Airport is way different to what we encountered here on our first European trip in 1976. Yes that long ago! In those days, there was no seat allocation on flights leaving Greece. The locals were pressed against the gates, waiting for them to open, so they could run to claim the best seats. What a change. The airport was smoothly-run and well-signed, with a fast metro connection to the city.

We have driven in Athens on a couple of occasions, not in little sedans, but in large motorhomes. We survived both visits, just! From our observations today, it is still a little crazy, but now lane markings operate at least as "guidance" rather than puzzling lines on the road. In a few days, we will see, when we pick up a hire car and head off onto the Peloponnesus, how much things have changed.

17 March 2024, Athens

Hiked up over 200 steps this morning to the funicular to Mt Lycabettus to meet up with Paul's sister Barbara and our brother-in-law Costas, to enjoy fantastic 360 degree views of the city on a clear and mild morning. It’s a holiday long weekend in Athens and, though many businesses are closed, the locals and tourists flocked to the alleyways and streets around the city. Crowds increased around the middle of the day, with restaurants and cafes doing a brisk trade. While it was busy, the crowds were not overwhelming, in fact they added to the atmosphere. Sadly, the weather took a short turn for the worse as a thundery storm dropped light rain down for most of the rest of the day. We took shelter in the National Gallery which was on our way home. Three floors of interesting art from artists, mostly unknown outside Greece, kept us busy for the remainder of the afternoon.

Athens has changed a lot since our last visit in 2000. Since then, Greece has gone through some tough economic times. The 2008/9 Global Financial Crisis all but destroyed the economy, with Greece having to be bailed out by the EU, essentially Germany. But over the last few years, she has turned a corner, performing well as measured against her peers. These changes are reflected in better infrastructure and simple things like cleaner streets and vastly improved public transport.

Today, even though there were a lot of people about, they were mostly locals enjoying a holiday weekend. We are already appreciating our decision to come to Greece in what is the tourist off-season. We can only imagine the chaos around some of the areas we strolled through today once the tourist hordes arrive.