Santorini

A day and a half ago we arrived on the island of Santorini.  Santorini is about 70 miles due north of Crete and is at the bottom of a circular chain of islands known as the Cyclades.  In ancient times, this island was known as Kallisti, the beautiful, for its round shape.  However, around 1600 BC a volcano on the island erupted spectacularly and much of the island collapsed into a caldera.  Imagine Crater Lake in the middle of the Mediterranean and you get the idea.   What remains today as Santorini is a roughly crescent shaped caldera rim that juts 600 to 700 feet out the water.

There are some archeologists who argue that the catastrophe at Santorini in 1600 BC brought an end to the Minoan civilization.  Others say it merely weaked the Minoans, which other civilizations, such as the Myceneans, were able to exploit.  ( It is known that the the written records at Cnossos, by the 12th century BC, were written in Linear B - Mycenean.)

We're staying in a house in Oia ( pronounced ee-aah ) at the north end of the island.  This village is perched on the caldera cliff, and the cliffside dwellings are partially excavated into the rock - cave houses.  This house is quite spacious -- a living room, a bedroom, and the largest bathroom we've seen in Greece.  It remans warm at night ( when it does cool down due to the onshore winds ) and cool in the day ( when it is very hot ).  It did get a bit clammy in there until we dimly realized that we should leave a couple of windows cracked at night to let the stonework breathe.

Oia is also quite famous for its sunsets.  The population of the village about doubles in the hour before sunset, as people come from all over tbe island by bus to snap photos of the sun going down.  (Then there is a rapid exodus to dinner, and then Oia begins to roll up its walkways ( the cliffside neighborhoods do not have roads, only footpaths, having been built up when donkeys and mules were the dominant transport mode. ) 

Fellow Americans:  it IS possible to live life without a car.  Really.  Really.

There are two archeological sites of interest on Santorini.  The first, Akrotiri, is a Minoan settlement, that predates the volcanic catastrophe.  Alas it is closed to restabilize the 3-story walls, buildings, and covering structures, so we are unable to visit there.

The other is Akrothira, which sits high atop a mountain at the south end of the island.  This town was founded by Spartans who were on the outs back home, probably about a thousand years after the catastrophic eruption.  One look from below shows how defensible the site is, which of course, would be the primary concern for any proper Spartan ( read: rigid and highly paranoid ). 

In later times, other Greeks and eventually the Romans, came to live here as well. 

Looking at the 18 or so switchbacks that lead up this old landslide to the saddle below Akrothira, and the nearly 90 degree heat, we decided to take the shuttle bus rather than hike. ( Akrothira is on the left peak in the above photo.)

The site contains a number of ruins -- a temple of Aphrodite, a temple of Artemis, and two temples to Apollo.  Also a typical Greek theatre, although this one has quite the backdrop -- a 1,000 ft sheer cliff to the sea.

It *was* very hot up there, and not so much wind, so we didn't stay long.   We beat a retreat to the town at the base of the mountain, Kamari, famous for its black sand beach and numerous watering holes.  We ate lunch in one while we cooled off, then rode the bus back to Thira town to do a bit of shopping.

Kamari from Akrothira:

Kamari beach from the viewpoint of a shaded watering hole (less spectacular perhaps, but at least 20 degrees cooler):

Our plans for the next couple of days are beginning to focus on an intensive program of sitting on the beach ( Kamari: black sand, Perissa: red sand ), sipping wine, reading, and generally keeping the beach furniture from flying away.

Before I sign off, a couple of more photos of the Santorini caldera from the Oia and Thira cliff towns...

Two more days and then it's back to Athens ... then home.  Waaaaah! :-)

John

In Oia and Still Alive

This morning we left Iraklio via the "Flying Cat IV" hydrofoil.  After a smooth and pleasant two-hour ride we arrived at Santorini.  A driver was waiting for us to take us to the Fotinos Cave House, where we'll stay for the next three and a half days.

Our van driver was what one might describe as a "character".  Cursing mainly in Greek, but with a definite mastery of at least three other languages, he shook his fist and made other somewhat rude gestures in the direction of anyone and everyone he perceived to not be moving quickly enough.
Darting through the narrow streets, when stuck behind hesitant left-turning vehicles, he would frequently roar past them on the left, leaving grumbled curses, possibly the evil eye, and astonished other drivers in his wake.  When not covering our eyes out of fear as we hurtled around blind corners and passed oncoming vehicles with inches to spare, we were howling with laughter at this man's masterful performance.  

We arrived without a scratch.

John

Iraklion, Crete - Knossos

We flew out of Athens southward towards Crete, passing a different island every few minutes. 
Santorini below!

Someone told us that there are over 5,000 islands in Greece ( most not inhabited ).  The water was a very deep azure colored blue.  The water along the coast is so clear.  Quite a contrast to the beaches of Oregon, which although beautiful in their own way, are not good places to swim or work on a tan.

We touched down in the city of Iraklion ( Heraklion ).  Here we noticed some differences from mainland Greece.  It's more relaxed, less frenetic here.  It's also sunnier but paradoxically cooler due to a steady ocean breeze. 

We rode a bus from the airport into town.  Due to a miscommunication with the driver, we got off in the wrong spot.  We pulled out the map and started making some educated guesses about how to get to our hotel.  Alas street name markings are sparse in Greece.  We made our best guess and wandered up a hill until we came to a small bookstore specializing in poetry.  I stepped inside to ask directions.  Inside were Nikos, the proprietor, a kindly yet somewhat intense Greek; Noah, an american comedian traveling through Europe on a quest of self-discovery, and a Brazilian scholar who had come to take an intensive course in the Greek language.  Two minutes later, raki ( raki: deadly local drink ) in hand, we were sharing stories, reading poems, and pondering the deep questions of life: what do we love, are their limits to imagination, is there a God, and what will happen when I reach the bottom of this glass?  (The glasses were small, but Nikos had an apparently inexhaustible supply. )  Two hours later we had directions to our hotel, and we set off refreshed and lighter in heart, having experienced some very genuine Greek hospitality.  Io Nikos!  May your heart always be light.

Our hotel was right next to the harbor.  Yet another Venetian fortress on the left, backing a small marina.  The ferries pull in to the right.  We're on the fifth floor, in a room half the size of our house, with a large wraparound balcony that overlooks the harbor.  We immediately set about festooning it with freshly hand-washed laundry.   The hotel restaurant is just one floor up, with an equally great view, and we watched the ferries come and go while we ate.

We came to Iraklio to see two things:  the Minoan palace of Knossos and the Archeological Museum of Crete.

The Knossos site is about 5 kilometers south of Iraklio's city center -- really, just past the edge of town.  (The University of Crete is about 500 yards up the road.)  The palace ruins sit in a small bowl formed by small hills.  In ancient times, two rivers ran past either side of the palace complex, although both have dried up over the centuries.

We joined a guided party for a one hour tour of the ruins.  Irena, our guide, led us through the palace, showing us columns ( which although tapered had the thickest diameter at the top ), frescoes of religious rituals and processions, the king and queen's quarters, the clever plumbing and drainage system.  

The Minoans made heavy use of alabaster in the palace.  Thus, as Arthur Evans excavated, he had a problem on his hands.  Alabaster is very soft, relative to marble, and erodes ( nay, disintegrates ) when wet.  Now that it was exposed, it had to be protected and quickly.   His solution was to shore
up structures with modern concrete and build simulated wooden roofs to protect the alabaster surfaces and frescoes from the rain.  Evans has been criticized for these moves, but I think perhaps a bit unfairly.  Who among us hasn't had to make tough choices with limited time and more limited budgets?  I can say that Evans' preservations and reconstructions make it much easier to imagine what the palace looked like in its heydey.

There was never a place where we could get a clear view over the palace ruin as a whole.  The building(s) span a couple of acres.  Perhaps from the air?  But here are a few photos than will give you the flavor.

Some reconstructed frescoes.

Evans thought this was the Throne Room.  Now this is a matter of debate:

Wall decorations in the Queen's Quarters:

Later that afternoon we visited  the Archeological Museum of Crete, which is where the artifacts from Knossos and other Minoan sites like Phaistos, and Gournia are exhibited.  The Museum is undergoing a major renovation, which will be Done Real Soon Now, according to the government.  ( Scheduled for reopening in 2009, it shows no sign of being ready ... such is the way of government projects. )  In the mean time, the highlights of museum collection are on exhibit in a small corner of the basement.

Dang.  I guess we'll just have to come back when the museum reopens ... and we did get to see the artworks we wanted to see  Note that everything you see here is at least 3,500 years old and some of it is 500 years older than that.  .First, some frescoes ...

A depiction of a male figure ( in red ) leaping over a bull's back.  The two white figures are females, on the right, one has completed her jump; on the left, another woman is preparing to jump.  Bull leaping, we were told, was the major sport of the Minoans, and one that was quite deadly, just as modern bullfighting is.

A fresco entitled "La Parisienne", thought to be the depiction of a priestess:

The mysterious Phaistos Disk ( uncovered at the Minoan city of Phaistos ).  The inscriptions have never been deciphered and greatly puzzle archeologists.

The very famous Bee Pendant:

The very, very famous Minoan Snake Goddess:

The Bull rhyton ( libation vessel ):

Today we decided to kick back in an internet cafe because our internet connection at the hotel was highly unreliable.  And honestly, we've done an enormous amout of monument crawling and site visiting in the last 10 days ... time to sit, sip, and watch the world go by.  As we type, there's a Greek soap opera playing on the telly.  It's the hot part of the day and folks are starting to wander in for the mid-day break.

Our plans for the evening are to walk along the sea wall at the harbor, possibly check out the fortress.  In the morning, we're taking the hyrdofoil to Santorini.  Santorini has a couple of very interesting archeological sites, but it's also got some great beaches and great tavernas.  Looking forward to some swimming, sunning, and relaxation over the next few days.

John & Carrie





This, That and The Other

Along the roadways here in Greece I am noticing little shrines.  They are unique and elaborate and I had been wondering about their meaning.  We traveled by taxi from Napflio to Mycenae and I took the opportunity to ask our driver what was the meaning.  He explained that at every point where a shrine is located that is the place where someone had died.  He said the roads were very dangerous in Greece and that Greek drivers will do any and everything.  I was not very comforted to hear this as we were zooming down the rural Greek road.  The little churches are beautiful but now sad to me when I see them.  I liked them better when I did not know what they represented.  (We made it to our destination safe and sound)

Gasoline in Greece is very expensive.  We have seen as low as 1.60 euro per liter and up to 1.895 per liter.  That translates into between $8 and $10 per gallon!  People use the metro and buses heavily here and I can certainly understand it but there are plenty of cars on the road.  I just love the buses here because they remind me of giant insects moving along the roads.  The drivers just amaze me with their talent for negotiating the narrow roadways and streets and doing it without hitting anything along the way.  Some of the bus driver seating areas are adorned with religous items, good luck charms and gifts from loved ones which I have found touching and unsettling at the same time.

Speaking of good luck charms, protection against the Evil Eye is on sale everywhere in Greece.   It comes in the form of a simple round blue glass charm with an eye painted on it to elaborate bracelets and other jewelry.  I learned today that it is considered an appropriate first gift to give to a newborn baby.  You can bet that I have bought one.

One can't help but notice the little beads on a string that you see Greek men playing with.  They are called worry beads or Komboloi and they are used for relaxation and concentration.  (Think beads on a rosary)  The beads come in all sizes and many types of materials but the most prized are the amber beads because of their light weight.  We saw many shops that specialize in selling only worry beads.  One shop in Napflio even had a Komboloi museum.  If one pays attention you can start to recognize the sounds of the beads clicking in shops and in the streets as you pass by men who use them.  I am told that women are starting to use them also. 

There are many, many cats here in Greece and a fair number of dogs and they are just roaming freely. 
Our innkeeper in Napflio explained the reason that town had so many and I expect it is the reason other towns have so many also.  She said that a few years ago Napflio was over run by snakes.  The town council decided to bring in some cats.  The cats have proliferated and the snakes inthe town are gone and so are the mice.  They love their cats and I expect that is the reason they are allowed to roam in other towns and cities as well. 

The food here in Greece has been just wonderful and I have personally taste tested the olives in every place we have been.  So far, the olives on Crete are the most outstanding and I understand that the olive oil here has very low acid so it is delicate.  So far my favorite dishes were the stuffed cabbages and zucchini in Delphi, a dish of pork cooked in a lemon sauce in Athens and just today I had stuffed tomatoes and green peppers for lunch that were amazing.  I probably should have been keeping a food diary on this trip.  Some of the best meals we have had here have been the breakfasts served by our hotels.  I have learned to enjoy cucumbers, tomatoes and olives for breakfast and Greek yoghurt is amazing.  They don;t do a bad job with ice cream either:)





                                                     A Taverna Lined Street in Nafplio                                                

I have more to say and more photos to share but this software is driving me crazy.  I can't seem to make it do what I want. 

Carrie

Three Fortresses and a (ancient) Hospital

We spent three days in Nafplio, which is a small seaside town in the Peloponnese about a two hour drive from Athens.  Situated at one edge of the Argolid plain, it makes a convenient base for excursions to Mycenae, Epidauros, Argos, Tiryns, etc.

EPIDAUROS

The rainstorm that dumped on us on our first day continued into the second.  The storm began to break up into more scattered showers the second day, though, and we were able to make commando-style runs to eat, do a little shopping, and visit Epidauros.  ( Some of the downpours were so intense they could soak you to the skin before you could pull a rainshell out of your pack. )

Epidauros is about 30 miles up lonely country lanes from Nafplio.  It is set in a verdant, wide valley surrounded by hills and olive groves.  Henry Miller wrote that "Until I came to Epidauros, I did not know the meaning of the word 'peace'."  It is a very tranquil place.

Most people come to Epidauros to see its magnificent amphitheater and experience its remarkable accoustics.

But in the classical period, Epidauros was home to the Sanctuary of Asklepios, the god of healing and cures.  So in addition to the theater, there were hotels, gymnasiums, baths, etc, and of course a temple of Asklepios.

Right next to it was the Abaton or Incubatio.  Patients who sought a cure would sleep in this building, and if they were lucky, would have a dream in which Asklepios would appear, and would awake cured.  ( It is also written that snakes were let loose inside the building while the patients slept, as these creatures were sacred to Asklepios ... I don't know how well I'd sleep myself. )

In contrast to the large majority of archeological sites, where building interiors are roped off and touching anything will get you a whistle blast and stern talking-to, here we were able to go inside the Abaton and sit down on the marble benches where in ancient times patients slept.  We seized the opportunity, because (assuming we ever get back here) the next time we come this probably will not be possible.

As a (now-non-practicing) psychotherapist, I was intrigued by the notion of patients, so very long ago,  healing themselves by carefully attending their dreams.

The site at Epidauros is huge; the ruins span several dozen acres.  It sounds terrible to say it, but much of what is there consists only of foundations and would interest only professional archeologists with a deep knowledge of the excavation history.  So we wandered around a bit and caught the bus back to Nafplio.

BOUTRI FORTRESS

The Boutri fortress sits on a small island in the harbor of Nafplio.  We were walking along the waterfront at around eight PM, and saw the small taxi boat that shuttles tourists to and from the island fortress. 

We assumed that the pilot was at the end of his day, but after he unloaded his passengers, he gestured us aboard.  "One more run, I'll come back in 30 minutes."   So we rode out to the deserted fortress -- yes, we had it entirely to ourselves for half an hour as the sun set. 

Carrie and began darting about through the fortifications, between the cannons, and looking at the views of the Peloponnesian mountains and the town of Nafplio.  Suddenly we were both 10 years old again -- running around as fast as we could in a Venetian fortress -- way better than anything at Disneyland!

Atop the battlements we watched the sun setting and tried to imagine what it was like to have been a Venetian posted here.

PALAMIDI FORTRESS

The Palamidi fortress sits on a 600ft high hill immediately behind old Nafplio.  An amusing game
played by the locals is to give a different answer as to how many steps there are in the stairway that
leads from harbor level to the top of the fortress.  You will get a different answer no matter who you ask, but the real count is near 1,000.

On our third day in Nafplio, Carrie and I started up the steps at about 7:45am in order to beat the heat on what promised to be a clear ( YES! ) and warm day.   It took us about half an hour to clamber up
the steps and enter the fortress, which consists of about six large bastions connected by defensive walls.  This fortress dates from the early 1700s, and was built by the Venetians in about five years.
It was overrun by the Turks, who held it until about 1830.  ( The interesting thing is the Turks captured the fortress by charging its weak point, the "Achilles Bastion" where the walls were only
20ft high ... but did nothing to strengthen the defenses, so a hundred years or so later, the Greeks
took the fortress back in exactly the same way. )

The views from the fortress were stunning.  We could see across the waters to the rest of the peninsula and across the harbor we could see, in the distance, another Venetian fortress at the acropolis of Argos.   Somewhere out there in the distance was Mycenae.

We really wanted to visit Mycenae in the afternoon, so we explored the fortress for half an hour, visiting two of the six bastions.  (The fortress was big enough that it would take a whole day to thoroughly see it.)  Then we clambered down the (870?  994?  922? ) steps back down to the
hotel.  After cleaning up,  we snagged a taxi to drive us to ...

MYCENAE

Yet another hilltop fortress! - although assuredly much easier to reach than the Palamidi.
Also much older. 

This site dates back to 1700 BC and figures in Greek legend as the
home town of King Agamenon, commander of the Greek host that beseiged Troy.  In
retaliation for nearly sacrificing his daughter to obtain favorable winds for the attack
(Agamemnon was willing but chance saved his daughter ) his wife Clytemnestra and
her lover murdered him when he returned.  So Orestes, Agamenon's son, was duty bound
to murder his mother to avenge his father, but this made him a matricide, the worst possible
thing that one could do, so he was pursued by the furies ... but Athina intervened, there was
a court hearing in Athens, Orestes got off the hook by claiming double jeopardy, and the
Furies became "The Kindly Ones".  

Interpetation a) an interesting allegory of how the Greeks moved from clan/vendetta style justice to the rule of law;

Interpretation b) the patriarchy once again shows its true nature;

Interpretation c), the exciting resolution to the soap opera, "Who shot J.R. Agamemnon?"
It is famous for its Lion Gate entrance ...

Note how large the stones (particularly the lintel) are.  The art of building walls with such large
stones was lost by the classical period, and so the Greeks of Socrates' time assumed the walls
had been built by Cyclopean giants.  To this day, this form is called "Cyclopean" construction and whenever you see it, you can assume it's Bronze Age Mycenean.

And Grave Circle A, excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in the 19th century.  He found a treasure trove of golden death masks, jewelry, swords, spears, bows, arrows, clubs in shaft graves here ( possibly the most heavily armed bronze age dead guys the world has ever seen ).

The megaron, or palace, lies at the top of the hill.  From the palace the views of the Argolid
plain are stunning, although I suspect the very warlike Mycenaeans were more interested
in being able to spot invaders than in enjoying the scenery.   You can see directly across to
the hillside fortress of Argos, just a few miles to the right.  In the other direction was the
citadel of Tiryns.

One of the secrets to the fortress's strength was a concealed pipe that runs from a spring
on a nearby hill into a cistern inside the walls: a hidden water supply.

The palace was surrounded by workshops, granaries, and huts where the commoners worked,
and paid very high taxes to support the war machine of their noble masters. In other words,
very much like today.

Across the road from the fortress was a so-called Beehive Tomb, the largest of about two
dozen that are scattered through the hills around Mycenae.  A beehive tomb is so named because
it consists of a rectangular horizontal shaft that plunges into a hillside, leading to a hemispherical
chamber that has the (rough) shape of a beehive.  This one is about 45 ft in diameter and 45ft
high.

Schliemann, who truly had a deep love for all things ancient Greek, but also quite the flair for
public relations ( think: Barnum with a purer heart ), dubbed it -- completely without justification --
"The Treasury of Atreus".   In today's academic, grant-seeking world, Schliemann would be the
champion grant-getter.

We have many more pictures of these sights, and we have of course left a few things out: the thrill of realizing that Tiryns is literally just a kilometer out of Nafplio, the sight of a young Greek touristo panting his way up the Palimidi steps, paper cups of espresso in each hand; the "city cats" disclaimed by our hotel owners, but nonetheless seemed to hang around, perhaps encouraged by the very same owners' continual feeding; watching Greek school children on their last-day-before-summer-outings to the local archeological sites, and last not least, our taxi driver's explanations about Greek lawlessness as he barreled down the highway at least half again the speed limit ...

John