Nicole schreibt...

Greece 2006

This promised to be a trip right after my liking, travelling independently in Greece. Even though it meant getting up at 4.30am to get to the airport on time for the only direct flight from Cologne to Athens courtesy of my favorite bargain airline Germanwings (yes, I WILL collect eight flights within two years to get the free flight!). Athens allowed itself a swanky brand new airport for the Olympic Games 2004, several miles out of town, connected to the city by an express bus. The city, too, got a squeaky clean new public transport system including the metro that should help the eternally congested, smog-filled city. A long-suffering user of public transport all over Europe, I marvelled at the prices in Athens: 80 Cents for the metro, 50 cents for a bus ride, 60 cents for a 45-min-ride on the tram all along the coast. Who needs a car in Athens?

The first thing after checking into the hotel was a trip to the world-famous Archaeological Museum which fortunately happened to be right on our street. I don't know why curators think that people need to see EVERY pot and vase ever made in Ancient Greece or Rome, but there are also some amazing singular pieces on display such as the large bronze statue of Zeus about to throw a lightning bolt or Aphrodite whacking a cheeky Pan with her sandal. After that it was time to meet up with my travel mate Rob and stroll around the Plaka,the old town at the feet of the Acropolis to find dinner. Then it was an early night in before the big sightseeing stuff came on the next day when I was fresh and rested. First stop was of course the Acropolis with the world-famous Parthenon. Much like the sites in Rome I had always worried about getting to see it before modern pollution would make it all fall to pieces. And with me about a million other tourists it seems...

Beside the hill on which the Acropolis was built lies the Ancient Agora where people used to meet (the Acropolis itself as a temple district not every Tom, Dick and Harry could just walk into) and the smaller Aeropagus hill that was the seat of the High Court of Athens where murders and other criminals were tried. The heat was beating down fiercely by then and energy lasted only for a quick peek at the Panathenian Stadium where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896 (and the marathon of the 2004 Olympics ended) before a much-needed rest (and nap) in the Botanical Gardens.A stroll along the main shopping streets followed, though my plan to buy a CD of Greek singer Savina Yannatou was thwarted by the plain stupid fact that I couldn't decipher any names on the CD covers at Virgin Megastore as it was all literally Greek to me (and no, I didn't want to ask a shop assistant in case the CD was too expensive for my liking). Overall I find Athens definitely worth a stop on any tour of Greece or to spend a few days there before heading on to the islands, but it certainly didn't impress me as much as Istanbul, Rome or Barcelona, those other Mediterranean big cities I've visited.

Luckily we were off to the Peleponnes the next morning, taking a bus to Nafplio and then a taxi onwards to the small beach resort town of Tolo. There was a moment of irritation when the nice young lady at the hotel reception informed us she never got any reservation from us and they were fully booked anyway. A phone call to the booking agency solved this, promising to re-send the fax they had supposedly sent earlier and luckily the hotel had a "sister hotel" which still had free rooms. And the new hotel was only a few metres away from the beach, so doubly lucky there. Another big disappointment was the realization that the cruises to Monemvassia (which had me choose Tolo in the first place) took place only once per week and naturally not in the few days we were there. Luckily there's always a Plan B - a rental car. But the rest of Tuesday and all of Wednesday was spent on the beach first to chill and recover from Athens.

I had chosen Monemvassia (which was called Malvasia in Venetian times) as a spot for one of my stories because of its fabulous remote location at the very south-eastern tip of the Peleponnes. This backfired now, because to get there by car took almost four hours on small streets along dusty, barren hills with very little to see. I was quite cranky and exhausted by the time we finally arrived, but luckily the place turned out to be worth the effort - a solitary rock, only accessible over a bridge with cars completely banned from the small medieval and very pretty city at the foot of the rock. A steep climb over many stairs brings you up to what was once the upper town where alternately the Venetian and Turkish rulers lived in their citadel with their own armies, craftsmen and other servants. These days only a few ruins and one old orthodox church are left, so it's quite a stretch for the memory, but I was still very happy to have reached this place at all.

We still had the car all of Friday so after one last morning on the beach we drove to Mycenae first, the hometown of legendary Greeks like Agamemnon who was killed by his wife Clytemnestra when he returned from the Trojan War ("You dare to greet me with 'sorry I'm late' after ten years, hubby?") and their doomed offspring Orestes, Elektra and Iphigenia. Not much is left to see there and what had been found in the round graves by Schliemann has all been carried off to Athens where it is on display at the Archaeological Museum now. But the sight across the fertile plains all the way to the sea on one side and the mountains on the other side was breathtaking - this is truly the Arcadia of the poets. Here's the famous Lion's Gate entrance to the area and one of the graves Schliemann plun- er, excavated.

Next stop was Nafplio, where the Venetian Palamini Fortress perched high above the town had already tickled my fancy when we first arrived in town by bus. It was a long trek uphill via 850 steps, but it was definitely worth the effort. Little-known fact: Nafplio was the first capital of Greece for a short time after gaining independence from the Ottomans and there are still gorgeous buildings to be seen in the lovely old town. It was here, too, where I had the best dinner of the entire trip: Chicken with a terrific rosemary sauce.

Last stop of the day was the ancient theatre of Epidauros, one of the biggest in the world. It is used for plays during the Hellenic Festival and we were lucky enough to catch a performance of the National Theatre of Greece with Aristophanes' comedy The Thesmophoriazusae (yes, that's one for spelling contests). I hadn't considered the fact that it would be performed in Greek and much less the fact that it might not be staged as a classical Greek drama with people wallowing about in white togas. But while the 50's clothing of the cast was a bit weird and I didn't understand a word of what was going on (luckily I had found the English script on the internet earlier, printed and read it, so I had an idea of the plot), it was still good fun and a special experience. And only 20 Euro, too for decent seats in the middle section (45 Euros bought you not only the best seats in the lower section but also cushions... those stone rows might be okay to sit on when you listen to a tourist guide for five minutes, but a two hour-play is a different animal...)

And thus the trip almost came to an end. Since my plane was departing early on Sunday, I wouldn't have made it back on time from Tolo, so we returned to Athens on Saturday already, this time staying in the beach resort town of Glyfada just south of Athens (and the destination of the aforementioned 45-minutes-for-60-cents tram ride). It is mainly a place for the cityfolk to go and chill in the weekends and rather bland and nondescript, but the hotel was nice with a swimming pool on the roof, a great view from the balcony and a mini bus service to the airport. It was a great trip overall and I realized once more how much I love Greece. I can't even tell you why exactly, though alot of it has to do with the extremely friendly, hospitable Greek people who make you feel so welcome to their country (and for whom their 'xenophilia' -hospitability to strangers- isn't merely a word).