Greece is a Riot

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After our experience in Italy, it was time for the third and final leg in our trip: conquering the Aegean Peninsula and the Cyclades. We flew EasyJet which was anything but, and took the new Greek Metro (built for the 2004 Olympics) After a 90 minute ride we searched for our hotel with the help of a cabbie. We could already tell Greece was going to be more friendly than Italy.

We checked into the AVA Hotel and Suites. We were ready for another cramped European hotel. Boy were we mistaken. Our suite had a full kitchen, seating area with sofa, LCD with Blu-Ray player, and balcony. There was also a bottle of “champaign” (sic) waiting for us (that makes 4 free bottles of champagne for our trip. We had reservations for another hotel in Athens for the back end of our Greece trip, but within an hour of arriving we canceled it and rebooked the AVA hotel. The location was right in the heart of the Plaka neighborhood, and the Acropolis was right out the window.

We wanted to give Greek food a try so we walked to the Monstiraki area and looked for a place in our guidebook called Sabas. We couldn’t find it, but there was a restaurant at the same address called Savvas. Apparently Greek writing has pretty interchangeable letters (“E” for “I”, “B” for “V”, “H” for anything) At Savas we ordered 2 lamb gyros and some fried eggplant. It ruined us for Chicago gyros forever. The meat was so well cooked and a little crunchy, the sauce was a mustard tsatsziki, and the waiter was surly. Perfect for our first meal. Chris also had a Mythos which was a step above Italian beers but a whole flight of stairs below a proper IPA. A couple kids came up to play the Greek mini banjo but we brushed them off. Lots of kids peddling their cuteness in this area, but we know better. We are seasoned travelers by now.

We walked around Monstiraki and Plaka that evening and did some window shopping. They had touristy shirts like:

“To Do is To Be” - Socrates
“Do Be Do Be Do” - Sinatra

And Gigi’s favorite: A t-shirt that said Hermes (like the expensive French store) and a picture of Hermes the god under it.

In addition, there were the street salesmen hawking umbrellas, laser pointers, and pirated DVDs. The most common thing that was being sold were these squish balls that splat against the ground then regain their shape. There were dozens of guys selling squish tomatoes and squish pigs all hours of the day. They also had a white demo board where they would toss the squish balls. We calculated they probably did this 200 times an hour, and 1600 times a day.

The next morning we planned on seeing the sites. When we walked out the door of our hotel we saw thousands of people marching down the street. They carried flags and banners and megaphones and chanted together. We walked over to get some pictures and video, then left. A few hours later we would some of the protesters clashing with police and their tear gas. We felt totally safe the whole time we were in Athens, perhaps except the last 30 minutes of our trip when we had to catch a cab and cross over the line of 100 police in riot gear and gas masks. More on that in the next blog…

It was 88 degrees as we climbed the Acropolis. We learned that the Acropolis is the large hill in the middle of Athens and not a building itself. Our 12 Euro ticket allowed us to visit the Parthenon, the Roman and Ancient Agoras, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Theater of Dionysus, and Hadrian’s Library. The Parthenon was truly the top site out of that list, and it is truly impressive. Gigi and Chris ruined the experience by discussing how the Golden Ratio, Phi, is seen in the building’s construction and how it relates to the Fibonacci sequence. Other than that it was a cool building.

On the way down the Acropolis we walked by the ruins of the Theater of Dionysus and were caught by surprise by a family of turtles. These turtles were hiding in the shade of the bushes and were at least the size of footballs (that's soccer to you Yanks). We would later see more “wild” turtles at the Ancient Agora.

At the bottom of the Acropolis we visited the brand new Acropolis Museum. As they were laying the foundation for this new building, they uncovered an ancient city. They decided to build around and on top of this, but leave the floors transparent so you can see the relics. Quite cool. Another feature of this museum was the glass floor on the 3rd level: we saw many young boys on the ground floor looking up and waiting for women in skirts!

As we stopped for pasticcio in Plaka, we saw another vendor coming by. This guy wasn’t selling squish balls or DVDs, but full size violins. He brought one out of its case to show us, then moved on when we ignored him. What a thing to peddle!

We finished our touring of ancient Athens buy looking at the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian capitals (tops) of the pillars of the Ancient Agora. As the capitals go from simple (Doric) to more complex (Corinthian) the name gets more syllables. Thanks Rick Steves!

That evening we went to get some Mesedes (Greek Tapas) at a place called Filiostron. We sat on the roof deck and had a beautiful nighttime view of the Acropolis. At night they do a great job lighting the monuments and they are a sight. As we dined on cheese pie and eggplants we witnessed the full moon setting right through the middle of the Parthenon. We took a slow walk back to the AVA to pack for Mykonos.

Our ferry left at 7 AM, so we grabbed a cab at 5:30 to get to the port city of Piraeus. Our cab driver made pleasantries and asked where we were from. When he found out about Chicago he said that “Blues Brothers” was his favorite movie. It all sounded like a shill for a tip until he put in the Blues Brothers CD and cranked up “Sweet Home Chicago”. It made us miss home a little bit more. After a few discussions about the Bulls and Michael Jordan we were at the port. It was extra chaotic due to the port strike the day before.

The ferry to Mykonos was 3 hours long, and the boat was a high speed catamaran. There was a restaurant, a shop, and a second level for business class. We knocked out a few episodes of “Sex in the City” on the way there.

When we arrived at the port at Mykonos, there were dozens of vans picking people up for a hotel transfer. Apparently we overlooked reserving this, so we got in the taxi line. We later came to find out that there are only 34 taxis on the entire island. We heard the raspy voice of an old man offering “Transport!” and asked him for a rate: 10 Euros. Fair enough we said and followed him. When he pointed to his moped with an attached cart we glanced at each other and thought the guy was crazy. In the back of the cart went two suitcases, two backpacks, and two terrified travelers. The 2 stroke engine sounded like an egg-beater, and barely made it up the Mykonos hills. Many people in cars slowed to take our picture. 15 exhilarating minutes later and we were at Hotel Andronikos.

Hotel Andronikos has the feel of a beach club. It had a very nice and large pool and fancy loungers. Unfortunately it also has drink prices to match. Two strawberry mojitos set us back $35 US. Guess we’ll have to drink up the sun instead. One of our favorite parts was the included breakfast. There was Greek yogurt and honey, traditional Greek pastries, and egg and meat dishes. They also served “sausage” which were really mini hot dogs. Hey, it was pretty close to the 4th of July anyways…

That night we asked how to get to town. Apparently to everyone in Mykonos everything is 10 minutes away. We walked down steep hills, some with sidewalks, some without, and finally got to Mykonos. We had our map ready, but quickly abandoned it and relied on hunches to get around. After searching unsuccessfully we chose Catherine’s, a Greek-French fusion restaurant, and apparently Mykonos City’s most elegant. We got another dose of the Mykonos economy after opening the menu. We shared 4 appetizers including stuffed tomatoes, octopus in wine sauce, and moussaka. As we awaited our food, the waiter brought a cake and candle to a woman who was celebrating a birthday. Instead of singing, they played some hip-hop birthday song that felt totally out of place from the ambiance of the restaurant. The song was 5 minutes long and they played the entire song. Someone needs to teach the Greeks the fade-out. As we were leaving we saw some jars with hand-planted vegetables in them. As we looked closer to the sweet potato, we saw a large inch work making his way up the stalk. Cute.

The preferred method of transport on the island is moped, then after that a 4x4. We weren’t brave enough to do either, so the next morning we rented a car. We took it to 4 beaches and crossed the entire island. It was an easy way to see the island and get good samples of the beach sands. On Paradise beach, where the parties begin in the evening, there was a man cutting open a giant eel right on the beach. He gutted and cleaned it, then took it back with him. Yummy.

The rest of our time on Mykonos was spent lounging poolside and going to town for Greek food. We finally learned how to order and eat cheaply: street food take away. A gyro wrap went for around 2 Euro and we enjoyed them fully. At every place in Greece they are served with fries in the middle. We tried lamb, beef, pork, and chicken gyros throughout our trip, but no eel.

The last night, after enjoying the pool all day, we were ready for some Mykonos nightlife. We got table reservations at Paradise Beach. The club owner himself brought out our bottles of Dom Perignon and Grey Goose. Gigi danced on the table in her bikini. Kid Cudi was DJing and Kanye West stopped by our table for a drink. We partied until 6 AM when the sun came up and we awoke on the deck of Harrison Ford’s megayacht. We took his helicopter back to the hotel.*

*Note: Please substitute this paragraph with: “We were so tired from the sun that we fell asleep watching Law and Order: SVU with Greek subtitles”

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Comments

[aunt mary schieffer]

Fibonacci Sequence
Nice reference to this at the Parthenon! Greece sounds wonderful!