Carnival in Greece: Nikki's trip report

Welcome back Nikki!

Honestly you're going to have to stop this back and forth thing. For heaven's sake next time just stay in Europe and wait for the next round of people to show up. You'll be completely acclimated to the time zone, fresh and ready to help the jetlagged people arriving. I'm sure you can find something to do in Europe for a week or two while waiting.

Nikki, great to hear about your trip, and come back, we want more!!

Indy, did I miss your trip report? I saw a post or two of yours from when you were "in route", but didn't think I'd seen an entire report. Did I skip something?

BC

Nikki,

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip, I have 2 trips to Greece planned this year and am always looking for new ideas. I will definatly make note of the Psiri restaurant as I usually spend a night or two at the Attalos.

David, you of course were an inspiration for this trip, and I thought of you often. I do like your idea of staying in Europe between trips, but it wasn't meant to be.

Bookchick, more to follow immediately.

Trish, two trips to Greece! Oh my. I'd be very interested to hear about your trips to Greece, past and future.

Saturday morning we take a taxi to the Acropolis. I want to make sure I get all the way up there, and that means avoiding as much walking as possible before the climbing begins. I feel as though I have waited my whole life to be in this place. The weather is gorgeous (and stays that way all week!) and there are wildflowers poking up on the hillside. As we climb at my very slow pace, stopping for photographs every minute and a half, I feel the weight of all who have climbed before us. It brings tears to my eyes. Even now. We spend a good amount of time at the top, just taking it in. Impossible to take it all in. Then we head back down.

Back down the hill, we wandered a bit in the Plaka, bought some souvenirs, and chatted with a woman who owns a jewelry store. She is English but married a Greek man and has lived in Greece for twenty years. I ask how people keep the late hours they do, and she says they come home from work and have a long siesta before going back out. But in twenty years she has been unable to adjust to this schedule. I think I'd have the same problem.

We stopped at a cafe called Melina, for Melina Mercouri, on a steep hillside. This had been recommended by my neighbor on the plane. Had a chocolate crepe with hazelnuts, quite lovely. All the tables outside this cafe were filled. Across the street there was another cafe at which all the tables were empty. Go figure.

We wandered through the streets and stumbled upon the Roman Agora with its Tower of the Winds. Quite interesting. Here we experienced the first of many whistle blowers. As we sat on a piece of rubble, a guard materialized and blew a whistle at us. There were people sitting on other pieces of rubble across the way, but evidently that was OK. This seemed to be the case at many sites. There were places you were allowed to sit and places you were not, and the only way to determine the difference was to sit down and see if anyone whistled. No signs or other indications of any sort.

After some more wandering, and some purchases of lovely blue pottery (oh no, not more lovely blue pottery!), we headed back to the hotel. It was going to be a late night, and we wanted to be able to stay up for it. My travel companion on the plane had said if we went to the Stoa Athanaton, we should stay until 6 AM. I protested that was impossible, and she relented. She said we had to at least stay until 3 AM; otherwise what would be the point? So 3 AM was our goal. Our reservations were for 10:30 PM, which was when they opened for the evening. There is apparently also an afternoon show. We walked to the club, which is located in a building in the Central meat market, not far from our hotel.

A man outside the door asked if we had reservations, then showed us inside to the elevator, which we took up to the club on the first floor. This was when the trouble began. They had no record of our reservation. They said the fellow at the hotel must have called the wrong place. No way, I say, I gave him the book with the number in it and he called in front of me. He didn't call, they insist. I said I was very disappointed, wasn't there anything they could do. No, they are completely full. Bummed out, we left, sheepishly walked past the man outside the door, returned to the hotel.

The desk clerk was just getting ready to leave, as it was 11 PM, and the night man had arrived. We told him what happened and he became incensed. He called the club and yelled at them in Greek. After a heated conversation, he hung up the phone, wrote a name on our paper, and said there would be a table for us. He said he told them they had made him look bad in front of his American guests and that he wouldn't stand for it. That seemed to do the trick.

Back we go to the club, past the man outside the door, up in the elevator, and we are told to wait. We wait for a while in the entrance way, and then we are showed to a table for two in the corner. There are very few tables for two. Most people are in large groups. The place is set up with long tables, like a function hall. People of all ages are there, from twenties to eighties. There is a stage with a band playing music. A guitar, a bouzouki, a violin, a drum, and a singer with a tambourine. People are singing along, dancing on the small stage. A young woman is walking around selling baskets of flowers for people to throw at the dancers. An old man dances alone. A group of apparent strangers dance a circle dance. Several young couples get up and dance very sexy dances.

It feels like a Greek bar mitzvah.

The band never takes a break. The singers do change every half hour or more, and as the evening progresses, the singers become older. I especially liked the older gentleman with the very deep voice and the formidable moustache. We order dinner and are told we have to order a bottle of wine because the place is licensed as a club, not a restaurant, so it can't sell meals without drinks. The wine is expensive but I figure it's the cost of the entertainment, as the food was priced reasonably enough. I have baked stuffed lamb and taramosalata, which is one of my favorite things. We pour only a glass or two of the wine and then offer it to the people at the next table, but to my astonishment they refuse and then order another bottle themselves. I wonder if we have committed some social gaffe. We try our best to stay until 3 AM, but at 2:00 I find I am having trouble enjoying the music any more, and we are among the first to leave.

What a great time unfolding, we all await more.

David, welcome back.

Sunday is the main celebration of Carnival. We get up when we are able and head to the Monastiraki flea market. Lots and lots of people in the streets. Children are dressed in costumes. The princess is the most popular for girls, the pirate for boys. People are selling anything and everything. We emerge from the flea market at Adrianou, which borders the ancient agora on one side and is lined with cafes on the other. The cafes are all filled. Families are out walking and enjoying the sunshine. People are selling balloons.

We walk along the pedestrianized streets, following the ancient agora on our left, and head up hill on Apostolou Pavlou. At the top of the hill, there is a large cafe with a bandstand, and a band is setting up. Dancers are getting ready to perform. While it looks tempting to linger here, we have a mission to accomplish, so we persevere and head into the ancient agora.

Our mission is to locate Socrates' jail cell. I have been inspired by the postings of Walter, Paradise Lost, on the Fodor's message board, to follow his footsteps to the jail cell and see if the directions are still useful. This is a mission close to my heart, as I read the Phaedo (describing the last days of Socrates and his thoughts on drinking the hemlock) when I was a teenager, and that began a lifetime of philosophical musings. I read it again last month, along with much else that had been gathering dust since college.

As we walk through the agora, we hear the music from the band up above us, and it acts as a soundtrack for our adventures. We feel like we are on a treasure hunt.

Walking through the Ancient Agora I keep picturing Socrates surrounded by his students, poking holes in arguments and antagonizing the authorities. We follow the drainage ditch past the Temple of Hephaestos and the tholos and out into the fringes of the agora. And there, just where Walter said it would be (I think) is the jail. In fact, there is now a sign identifying it as such. The sign is placed on the pile of rocks that would be the washroom attached to Socrates' cell, if I understand Walter's directions, although the sign does not mention Socrates. This area of the agora is not very heavily traveled. There is a gentleman with his head in a book, and I believe he is on the same mission.

We walk back to Monastiraki, and we get gyros to go at one of the insanely crowded sidewalk restaurants. Fighting our way through the crowds, we carry our gyros back to the hotel and have lunch. The rest of the afternoon is spent relaxing and we manage to catch up with our e-mail at an internet cafe before heading out for supper.

We went back to Psiri for dinner, to a restaurant we had passed the first night that was filled with people and had music. This was Mandras, located at Ag. Anargyron 8, tel. 210 321 3765. We were early this evening, so the guy out front was escorting people in to the restaurant. Later we figured he'd be keeping them out. We had a spicy eggplant appetizer and saganaki (fried cheese), and I had grilled squid while my daughter had rice with seafood. All very good. Two musicians were playing guitar and keyboard and singing very nicely.

When we left the restaurant, the streets were starting to fill with people. We saw some adults in costume. People were carrying plastic bats. A ten year old boy walked by and smacked my daughter on the bottom with one of them. She was totally shocked. But I guess that's the idea; this is the one night of the year when you can act out those aggressions. The woman I talked to on the plane had told me to be careful to stay away from fights; apparently some people smack back harder when they're bopped with the bats, and fights do break out. I believe the action moved from ten year olds to adults as the night went on, but we didn't stay out late enough to find out. We had to wake up at 7 AM the next morning to begin our tour of classical sites in the countryside, so we headed back to the hotel.

One thing that I found quite refreshing: the music you hear on the streets, in the taxis, in the shops, is mostly Greek. In other European trips to France, Italy, Denmark, and the U.K., I have heard mostly American pop music, which is not unknown in Greece, but it is not the dominant musical idiom. And the amount of live music in restaurants and on the streets is remarkable. A couple of evenings
we watched television and caught "Fame Story", a Greek version of American Idol. While some of the songs being used were American, many were Greek. Music seems to be alive and well there.

Monday morning we woke up early to leave for our tour. I had not been on an organized tour since I was a teenager, and I had some concerns about booking this one. But it was the only practical way for us to get to the sites that we'd visit, and it was only for three nights, so I took a chance and arranged for it with Fantasy Travel in Athens. The tour was operated by G.O. Tours, which had brochures in our hotel lobby and which operates both day tours from Athens and multi-day tours and cruises.

We ended up enjoying the tour very much. There were pluses and minuses, of course, but the minuses were neither as numerous nor as negative as I had feared. Dinners, which were included in the price, were eaten at the hotels where we stayed in each town. Nothing to write home about (although that's what I am doing here, isn't it?). There was no choice of meals, and a picky eater might have had problems. One of the hotels was not within easy walking distance of any town, but on the other two nights there were towns nearby where people could find meals on their own if they wanted to.

Lunches were at restaurants clearly set up for tour buses. Lunch was not included, so there was a choice of menu, and I actually found these places to be pretty good. Much better than similar places in the U.S. Rest stops were pretty frequent and photo stops were pretty infrequent. Many times I would have liked to pull over and photograph the scenery while we sped by, but I actually feel that way when my husband is driving too.

I had wondered about the people who would be on the tour with us, and whether we would want to talk to them (or they to us). I needn't have worried. Several families were traveling with teenaged children on school vacations. There were people from all over the world, and the ones with whom I spoke were well informed, interesting people. Eight million stories in the naked city (or was it seven?), and we heard a few fascinating ones. We spoke to a retired politician from Singapore, a Japanese woman who works in London as a BBC translator, a woman who was among the first female graduates of West Point, and a woman who had produced an Oscar-nominated documentary.

When I mentioned to a woman who teaches literature in high school that I had been re-reading Thucydides to prepare for the trip, she pulled out a year-old clipping from the Philadelphia Inquirer analyzing contemporary American foreign policy through the principles of power described by Thucydides. A woman from New Zealand who grew up on a sheep farm was describing how fascinated she was passing the sheep along the roads and seeing the differences in the way they were raised in Greece. I had never heard a New Zealand accent before and I thought I had trouble understanding her until her husband started speaking. I couldn't understand him at all, and had to ask a couple of times if he was saying the words I thought he was. Extremely educational.

The tour guide gave all commentary in both English and French, as there were several Francophones. She also spoke Spanish to a Mexican couple who understood English to some extent and followed the English commentary. At each stop she would tell us how long we would be there, so we could follow her or take our own pace. At only one stop did I feel rushed, and that was because we left unexpectedly early. It is possible that the site was closing early that day because it was a national holiday, however.

There were two stops for souvenir shopping during the four days of the tour. While I am opposed to these in principle, they actually gave us some time to pick up some souvenirs that we didn't feel we would have time for when we returned to Athens, so I can't complain too loudly.

I appreciated having a tour guide to answer the questions that arose about things I would see along the way. When we drive independently, we have the questions but seldom get the answers.

Monday was a holiday in Greece, Clean Monday. This is the day after carnival ends and if I understand correctly the beginning of Lent. Everything is closed. There was virtually no traffic on the streets of Athens. People were sleeping in after their long night out bopping each other with bats on the street. Then people went out to the countryside to fly kites. This is apparently the traditional way to spend Clean Monday. We passed people selling kites on the road leading out of Athens, and saw people flying kites all day, especially in fields and parking lots where there were no overhead wires.

We stopped at the Corinth Canal, then went on to Epidaurus to see the ancient theater there, incredibly well preserved. We then went to Mycenae, which gave me chills. I had been reading the Iliad to gear up for this trip, and it was amazing to stand within the walls which housed Agamemnon's city. I tried to picture Agamemnon returning from the war at Troy, to be greeted (and murdered) by his wife. The city was lost to all knowledge shortly after that, and it was thought to be a mythical place until it was excavated in the 19th century. With myth and history mingling in my mind, I contemplated the old stones and the kites flying down below. Could have spent a long time there, but the drawback of being with a tour was the inability to do that.

While driving along the road near Mycenae, we made a fairly sharp turn in the road, which looked as if we might miss the turn and end up in a driveway. In the driveway a little old lady in black was sweeping the dirt with a broom made of twigs. She didn't seem to notice the big tour bus.

The drive through the mountains of the Peloponnese was stunning. There was a rest stop in Megalopolis, where we sat at a cafe for a while. Not much going on in Megalopolis on Clean Monday, but there were streamers hanging from the lamp posts and confetti on the street from the Carnival celebrations the night before. We ended the day at Olympia, where we had a nice view from the balcony of the Hotel Europa.

Tuesday morning we visited Olympia. It is hard to imagine a more beautiful setting for the ancient Olympics. There is a fantastic museum at the site as well. Wildflowers poking up among the stones. A perfect time of year for a visit. We had plenty of time to enjoy the area. Really really glad we made it here, and I can't really imagine we would have been able to get there easily on our own.

The tour was set up to do the site visits in the morning and the driving in the afternoon, so we were touring before the crowds arrived at most places. The only drawback was that I would become drowsy on the bus in the afternoon, and I had to force myself to keep my eyes open, because I didn't want to miss a thing. The drive from Olympia was fantastic. We spent much of the time in sight of the water. We crossed the beautiful new bridge at Patras and followed the coast toward Delphi. We did make an unscheduled stop in Patras to see the church there and to go to a very nice cafe in a park outside the church which served some lovely local pastry. The weather was gorgeous, the water was sparkling in the background, life is good.

As we neared Delphi, we stopped for a photo of a scenic waterside town with Mount Parnassus rising in the background. My eye was caught however by some stunningly backlit sheep on the hillside across the road, led by a shepherd leaning on his staff. The tour guide (and the shepherd) was (were) amused that I chose that scene to photograph. I told the guide I didn't want the same photos as everyone else. The tour guide went across the street to talk to the shepherd. Then the bus driver joined them. Is Greece just one big family? Does everyone know each other? People just feel comfortable walking up to anyone they meet?

Meanwhile, there were some goats gathering on the far side of the road, further down. I went to get some photos there as well. There was a man standing among the goats, all seemed very calm, until suddenly they all started running across the road. So now I have the photo of the goats running across the highway with the scenic town and Mount Parnassus rising in the background. If you wait long enough, you get the shot. Sadly, there's a prominent green recycling bin in the foreground.

The trip up to Delphi was spectacular, and I kept imagining the many pilgrims who had traveled this route over the millennia to get advice from the oracle. First there are the bauxite mines down at the base of the mountain, by the sea. Then you drive across the "olive ocean", a long, wide valley planted with olive trees. Then the road zigzags up the mountain, crossing the aqueduct which brings water from the still-snowcapped summit of Mount Parnassus to Athens, crossing the slopes covered in flowering almond and cherry trees, to the village of Delphi. We arrived at sunset. The view from the Hotel Xenia took in the entire route down to the water and across to snow capped peaks on the other side of the valley.

I can see why the ancients thought this was a holy site. It felt like hallowed ground.

Delphi is a small village. Our hotel was owned by the mayor of Delphi, who served us dinner. My daughter and I wandered into a small antique shop where I bought a sheep bell , a goat bell (oh no, not more lovely old copper things!), and an old pottery wine pitcher. My daughter had to drag me out of there because there was no more room in my carry-on luggage to bring things home. I took pictures of the things I wanted to buy but didn't, as well as of the owner in his shop. Now I wish I had bought more stuff. Not much chance of getting back there.

In the morning we toured the archeological site and museum at Delphi. This was the highlight of the trip for me. I spent three blissful hours taking my time on the many steps, photographing every misty mountain view and dusty column surrounded by flowering trees, remembering every prophecy gone wrong (or right) that I could access in my memory.

Nikki, I'm glad your tour worked out and that you loved Delphi. It really is a special place.

I never saw a taxi drop off at the Acropolis in Athens. Where did the taxi let you out? Was it by the entrance where they take tickets? Or further down the hill?

David, the taxi let us off at Dionysiou Areopagitou, where the tour buses were dropping people off. We still had to walk up to the ticket office.

Glad you're still reading. This is becoming awfully long, and it isn't getting the responses that my Paris report generated. However it is doing me good to write it all down to crystallize the memories.

Thanks Nikki, that's what I wanted to know.

I can't wait to see the beautiful photo albums I know you'll create.

If a trip report isn't London, Paris, Rome or Venice it just doesn't get much play. A reflection of travel destination popularity I guess.

As usual, Nikki, your report is wonderful and congratulations to your daughter.

Absolutely GREAT report and so glad you decided to take the so-called "classical tour" which is such a nice change from the hustle and bustle (and exhaust fumes???) of Athens..your recount brought back many good memories.

Nikki, I'm so glad you wrote your report, I'll make a note of Stoa Athanaton too, I'm surprised there wasn't a hefty cover charge, often in Grrece you pay a heavy cover 100 euros or more and they give you a table and a bottle of scotch or vodka.

I usually travel to Greece in August/September and by that time the landscape is quite parched I can only imagine how beautiful it is when it's green. I too thought Olympia was stunning I did not expect the natural sceanery to be so breathtaking. I also enjoyed Epidavros it was so much larger than I expected but the site that you liked so much that underwhelmed me was Mycenae I thought the view was really pretty but the ruins didn't grab me I probably just don't know the history of the site enough to make it come alive.

This year on my first trip I'll stop quickly in Spetses to see family, Patras for family the I'm planning on Delphi because in four trips to Greece I have yet to make it there yet then off to Meteora before going to Athens for a wedding. Second trip is the end of August and I'm taking two friends and my Dad with me and my husband and we'll spend most of our time in the islands. Planning on seeing Sifnos, Samos and haven't decided on the rest yet we'll probably just decide once we're in Greece.

Hi Nikki!

Great trip report, loving every minute of it

What was the name of the hotel in Delphi? Also, do you remember the name of the antiques shop there?

Thanks!
Jill

Nikki, I am really enjoying your report, too. Olympia was so peaceful, but Delphi was my favorite ancient site and you have brought back the memories. I also had that goosebumpy feeling of how many, many seekers had walked up those steps.

David, Mimi, and Intrepid, thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep plodding along to the finish.

Jill, the hotel was the Xenia Delphi, tel. 22650-82701. I can't find the card from the antique dealer, but it is easy to find on the higher of the two streets in Delphi. If you are at the Xenia hotel, head down the hill toward the town and it is on the left after a block or two. Can't miss it, there are all sorts of old things hanging up, lots of sheep bells, not the tourist beads and pottery of the other shops.

Trish, you want Mycenae to come alive? Think about Helen of Troy, who was married to Agamemnon's brother. Her half sister, Clytemnestra, was married to Agamemnon. For ten years Agamemnon was off leading the battles of the Trojan War and Helen was in Troy where he was fighting to get her back. Clytemnestra stayed home in the palace at Mycenae for the same ten years, biding her time for Agamemnon to return so she could murder him. Check out the stories of the House of Atreus in Edith Hamilton's Mythology.

Helen's conception (by Zeus in the form of a swan) is described vividly in Leda and the Swan, by Yeats, which I have been carrying around in my purse:

A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?

A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

Thanks so much Nikki! We are planning a spring 2006 trip to Greece, my husband's dream trip. We are both reading your trip report as you post it
What did you think of Attalos Hotel in Athens?

The Attalos Hotel has a wonderful location. We could walk everywhere we wanted, and there is a metro station very nearby for the trip to Piraeus, if you want to take a boat for a day trip to an island (as we did on our last day). Our room had a balcony with a view of the Acropolis and of Likavittos Hill. The hotel is not fancy in any way, but it is very clean and the people at the desk were helpful.

Nikki, thank you for another amazing read. I didn't think you could top your Paris report but this is brilliant: I'm saving it in my Greece file.

I was interested to read about the Greeks flying kites on Clean Monday to start Lent as we were in Bermuda this weekend and learned that Bermudians celebrate Good Friday by making and flying kites throughout the islands.

After lunch at a seaside restaurant below Delphi, we headed up through Central Greece toward Meteora. We crossed the cotton fields of the plain of Thessaly, which went on for a great distance. We passed gypsy encampments and were told by the guide that the gypsies work essentially as migrant farm labor, moving from planting to planting and harvest to harvest throughout the area. They are paid in kind: in potatoes, or in cotton, or in olive oil. They then sell the produce out of trucks around Greece. Back near Mycenae I had seen people selling oranges out of trucks and wished we could have stopped to buy some. The ones they served that day at lunch were the best oranges I have ever tasted. Well, except for the ones grown by my father's friend in California in the back yard. Long time since I tasted those, so these might have been better.

Here and there we passed sheep drinking from the irrigation ditches, tended by shepherds leaning on staffs. We passed a village where the church had an enormous stork's nest on the roof and were told that the storks arrive every year on March 25. So we were a little early, but we had to wonder about the birds' calendar.

There were places where I saw rows of boxes on the ground in the middle of fields, looking very much like mailboxes, and I asked the guide what they were. Learned they were beehives. We did see honey for sale along the roadside.

Another question answered by the guide: there are shrines along the roadside which mark the site of car accidents. These are sometimes shaped like small churches on pedestals but are always some type of enclosure containing icons and oil. If someone dies in an accident, the family will erect these as a memorial. If someone survives an accident, he or she will erect one as thanks for saving them. These are apparently an ancient tradition in Greece. Before Christianity, the memorials were erected to Hermes, the protector of travelers. Now the religion has changed, but the tradition is maintained.

The plain is flat and covered with farmland, and then the huge and strange rock formations of the Meteora appeared. Some trick of erosion has left them standing among the cotton fields. At the base, there is the town of Kalambaka, where we spent the night at the Divani Meteora Hotel. We walked into town and found an internet cafe overrun with hyperactive 13 year old Greek boys and checked our e-mail amidst the chaos. Then we stepped into a souvenir shop where an elderly couple were seated around a wood stove eating boiled eggs for supper and watching the news on the television. The gentleman followed us around and pointed to everything in the store for us to look at, to the point where it made us uncomfortable and we left. I hope he was able to get back to his supper in peace.

The next morning we toured two of the monasteries of the Meteora, one involving a substantial number of steps down to the bridge and up to the monastery. This was the Grand Meteoron. We also visited one which is currently a convent and I believe we were told that it was used in the James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only", which I suppose I must now rent. This one involved minimal stair climbing. The natural setting of these pinnacle topping constructions is one of the most amazing things I have seen. The chapels were decorated with golden frescoes that made them look like jewel boxes inside.

The drive back to Athens was long and uneventful, mostly along the highway. We were dropped off at the Attalos Hotel and went to dinner at the Hermion Restaurant at 7 Pandrossou, not far from the Monastiraki metro. This had been recommended by my companion on the plane. Tel. 210 32.47.148. They have a web site at www.hermion.gr. There were people arriving after work dressed in business suits, and once again we were the only visible non-Greeks. We had a platter of assorted appetizers and then I had rabbit stifado with onions. There were musicians singing and playing bouzouki and guitar to add to the atmosphere. After a nice dinner we headed back to the hotel and were grateful that there would be no 7 AM wakeup call the next morning.

Trish, I got so carried away by thinking about Leda and the swan that I forgot to tell you earlier that our evening at the Stoa Athanaton came to about one hundred euros, including dinner. The check was entirely in Greek, so I couldn't factor out what was food and what was wine and what, if anything, was a cover charge. It just seemed fair to me for a fascinating evening's entertainment.

I got carried away too by Leda and the swan!!!!!!!!!!!on my fainting couch..lol !

can you tell us about the divani meteora hotel? thanks

What a fun post to read! My husband and I will be in Greece and the islands for 18 days this summer (June and July).

We are taking notes of where you have been...especially the restaurants!

The Divani Meteora Hotel is right at the entrance to the town of Kalambaka, so it is very convenient for walking into town. Some people on our tour were at the Amalia, which is much farther out of town, and less convenient if you have no car. Public areas were among the nicer ones we encountered. The room was fine. If I remember, it had a slight peculiarity in that the bathroom door didn't have room to open all the way, but that is a minor quibble. I wouldn't eat in the restaurant unless I were on a package tour and it was included.

There is a gym and indoor swimming pool downstairs, which we didn't use, but which would be nice.

thanks nikki - great report

Hi Nikki,

Sorry, one more question. Did you feel pretty rushed through the sites on the 3 day tour, or did you feel like you had ample time to explore them?

I am so happy to see a report on the mainland and archaeology sites, thansk again for posting!!!

Hi Nikki. Thank you so much for sharing your trip report. Do you have a list of URLs and books which you found helpful while planning your Greek trip? One of my friends has been planning a Greece trip and I know she'd appreciate such a list.

Keep on writing! You do a magnificent job. I, for one, prefer lengthier trip reports which give a good sense of place. Consequently I'm so glad I found your report.

Sharon

I was trying to decide between Sicily, Greece and Turkey for my next trip to Europe (at least a year away), and I think you just sold me on Greece.
Enjoying your report very much. Thank you.

Jill, I only felt rushed once: at Mycenae. The guide had told us we had a certain amount of time, and then midway through, she announced that we had to be back at the bus earlier. No reason was given. At all the other sites I felt as though I had ample time to explore.

Could I have spent more time if I had been on my own? Certainly. Was it necessary? No, and I did not feel deprived.

Sharon, I got a lot of information from Matt Barrett's website at www.greektravel.com.

I also found the following guidebooks particularly useful:

Time Out, Athens
Eyewitness Travel Guides, Greece Athens and the Mainland
Let's Go, Greece

For background on the myths I read quite a bit of Edith Hamilton's Mythology. Also dipped into Homer's Iliad.

The Oxford History of Classical Art was interesting.

And I am a sucker for Plato, have been all my life, so I read the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo. Highly recommended for those who want to feel the ghosts of the foundations of critical thinking while walking through the foundations of the buildings in the ancient agora of Athens.

Friday was our last full day in Greece. I woke up early and walked to the Central Market, just a few blocks from the hotel, to take pictures. There is an enclosed fish market and meat market and an open vegetable market across the street. The butchers were out in the aisles chopping up meat, and every part of every animal was displayed in the stalls. Not for the squeamish. I used up a couple of rolls of film. Looking now at the pictures of colorful spice bins and exotic candies and multi-hued olives, I wish I had bought some. I did stop at a stand selling pastries on the way back to the hotel and bought a delicious breakfast pastry containing bacon and cheese. I wished I had discovered these earlier in the week.

For our last day in Greece, we had hoped for good weather to take a day trip to the island of Aegina. It was beautiful and sunny and the warmest day of the trip, so we headed out on the metro to the port at Piraeus. We bought tickets at a ticket agency on the street and walked to the gate from which we were told the ferry would depart. We waited at a cafe and when no boat had showed up at the place we expected to see it fifteen minutes before the scheduled departure, we scrambled to find it. Turns out each gate has several piers, and the one with our boat was further away in a direction we hadn't been looking. Hopped on the boat with five minutes to spare. The trip was beautiful, we got a little sunburned on our arms and our faces, and we arrived at Aegina ready for lunch.

I had read that there were good fish tavernas behind the fish market, and had remembered the name of one from a guide book, so we followed the harbor until we came to the fishing boats. There across the street was the fish market, somewhat smaller than the one I had visited that morning in Athens. We walked to the rear and found the tiny restaurant called Agora. Nothing but fish, and the waitress brought us to the kitchen to show us what they had. I ordered octopus, which was grilled out front. The family which ran the restaurant had a stall in the fish market, so we were pretty sure everything was fresh. A colorful local crowd filled the tables indoors and out (although the smell of the fish market was less noticeable at the inside tables where we sat).

After lunch we took a taxi across the island to the Temple of Aphaia, located high on a hill. The driver waited while we explored the temple, which is beautiful and extremely well preserved, and while we admired the views of the sea in two directions. Then we returned to the town and spent the rest of the afternoon in a cafe on the waterfront eating ice cream and watching the boats and the motor scooters come and go. Took the ferry back to Piraeus and the metro back to Athens, grabbed a farewell gyro to eat in the room, and went back to the hotel to pack for our very early departure the next morning.

Packed up all my purchases in my carry-on bag, finding room for everything from the blue pottery to the sheep bell to the horseshoe I bought at the antique store in Delphi to bring my husband better luck at horses. Remembered my very first impression arriving in Greece at the airport, where I was taken aback by the sign in the terminal as we came off the plane. "Exit", it said. Simple enough in English, but there was a complicated looking Greek word underneath it. I figured this would be a tough country to navigate if I couldn't even read a simple word like exit. But sounding out the Greek letters, I realized that I knew the word after all. Exodus.

Nikki

LOVED, LOVED , LOVED your report!

We are headed for Greece in May, husband and me and 15 of our friends we travel with annually all over the world. Greece is one of the last European destinations we have not been to and we are so excited.Now I am more excited after reading your fab report!!

Two questions:

1. My husband and I will go out on the the town while in Athens ( we love our friends dearly, but nightlifers, they are not!). After much research, we will go to Psiri for the nightlife. In addition to your experience at Stoa, if we were to wander the area, do you recommend a particular street(s) and other favorites? We are jazz lovers, but any kind of music is fine. We are 44( me) and 65( he, with the energy I swear of a 30 yr old and I'm not kidding); would you recommend a place(s) that are lively but not too overwrought with really young kids. Smoke and loudness don't bother us much. Should we just wander and soak up the street life?

Second question: As a group we have already arranged a private touring of Delphi on our third day in Athens. In addition to your most lovely description, any hints or tips to make our visit there even more special. With our guide, we can stay as long as we want, ask him anything,; it so flexible since it is just us. This place hold a special fascination for us; imagine a Pythian priestess reciting predictions in this very beautiful location!

Again, beautiful report and thanks a mil........

Nikki, thank you so much for the resource list!

Sharon

Tripgirl, I only know about the places we went to that I mentioned in the report. Didn't get to any jazz places; the restaurants we went to all had Greek music of various sorts. Wandering and soaking up the street life was fun for us, but we didn't stay out late enough to go from place to place.

Stoa Athanaton is not in Psiri, but it is quite near. However, it is not a place that can be experienced by just dropping in. At least on the night we were there (which was admittedly a Saturday night during Carnival) reservations were essential.

If you are going to Delphi on a day trip from Athens, you probably will not be driving the same route up or down Mount Parnassus that we took. That was a very beautiful drive, and I don't know what the drive is like approaching from the other direction. Lovely too, I'm sure, but you might want to ask your guide if he recommends driving one direction on the road between Delphi and the port town of Itea on the Gulf of Corinth. I'm sure your guide knows the area quite well and can recommend the best routes, however.

For enjoying Delphi itself, I think I would have liked to be more recently familiar with some of the famous prophecies of antiquity. It would have been nice to sit in front of the Temple of Apollo (you can not go inside) and picture the specific people who made the pilgrimage to consult the oracle and think about the consequences of their actions. A little reading ahead of time might pay great atmospheric dividends.

Nikki, I was glad to see that you went to the Temple of Aphaia. Somehow, that temple gave me more of the feeling of a civilization "gone with the wind" than any other site we visited in Greece. It is so beautiful.

A long time ago, a tour guide told me not to try to tell people my feelings about a place that particularly spoke to me, saying that it was just for me and indescribable to others. I have found that to be true, but on the other hand it's hard not to try!

Carolyn, perhaps I should have followed that advice, but then I wouldn't have written this report.

Thanks to all who have stuck through it with me to the end and given me the encouragement to share my experiences.

Hi Nikki--so glad to read your report--just what we needed--you visited many of the spots we are considering--with a Sporades Tour led by Dick Caldwell, a classics professor--waiting to see if I get some feedback on that although my question hasn't yet appeared.

So glad u had a great time--I can't imagine staying out until the wee hours--I am embarassed to be such an early to bedder--but you are inspiring. Loved hearing about the blue/white pottery, although my husband is delighted that the tour has "no organized shopping"--which actually suits me too. But I do enjoy picking up a few things on the way.

Will print off your trip--if u encountered any info on Sporades Tours, would u please fill me in.

Many thanks.

Take care,
Robyn France

And should we go to Greece, expect a phone call!

Robyn, I haven't heard anything about the Sporades tour, but it does sound intriguing on the web site. I'll be eager to read your report if you go.

Mimi, I'd love to talk about it any time. I don't seem to be able to stop.

Thank you for posting a wonderful trip report on Greece. I was in Athens at the same time you were and it's interesting to see what sites (other than Athens) you picked to see. I went with 5 other ladies and we took 2 day tours. One to Delphi and the other to Poros, Hydra and Aegina. When I asked them for feedback on the tours, they said it was like comparing apples to oranges.

What I am interested in knowing, is what is the tradition with the plastic bats? I tried to find it on line but haven't had any luck (maybe I'm not looking in the right place). My friends had thought I planned our trip around their Carnival, but it really was just luck and we had a wonderful time.

Nikki:
I relished every word of your report. I am a crazed Hellenophile who has been to Greece four times. Unfortunately, the last time was way back in 1997, and I'm dying of homesickness right now. (Never homesick for the place I live--just for Greece.)
You captured my feelings the first time I saw each of the places you mentioned. And I also applaud your grit for getting to those late night dinners in Athens. Try as we might, my husband and I always flake out before the party really begins!
I always advise people to start with the Peloponnese (plus Delphi). Now, for your next trip, try renting a sail boat and captain with a few friends and cruising the Cyclades. It is no more expensive than a land trip and we felt like millionaires!

Veera

Sassy27, I hope you let your companions think the wonderful timing of your vacation in Athens was no coincidence but a carefully thought out plan. I have no idea what the origin of the bat thing is (and apparently it extends also to plastic hammers). What did you think of the day cruise to the three islands? We considered taking that but decided it would be more fun (not to mention less expensive) to take a ferry to Aegina on our own.

Vera, is that really true about a sailboat with captain being less expensive than a land trip? Sounds wonderful.

Nikki- I told my travel companions that I'm lucky that way, but they didn't believe me. I did the same thing without knowing it when I took a day trip to Venice, Italy 2 years ago and it happened to be their final day of carnival. I think someone out there just likes me .

The day trip to the islands I felt was a little rushed. We only had 45 mins on Poros. I'm assuming there wasn't much there, although I found a jewelry shop at the port that was within my price range (Athens was too expensive and I prefer white gold over yellow). On Hydra, we had maybe an hour to an hour and 15 mins. That was enough time to go up to their fort (there was a statue and some canons) and then wander through their shops. On Aegina, we opted for the additional excursion to the Temple of Aphaia and a monastery, this was pretty rushed. We were on the island for about 2 hours and had 10 mins at the monastery and maybe 10 mins back at the port. This was only enough time to buy some pistachios when we got back to the port. We did get lunch ( which was ok) and entertainment on the boat. My friends enjoyed the entertainment because it was about their Greek dances and two of them got to participate. The reason I chose this excursion was to get a taste of the islands and if we wanted to return, we could do so on one of our free days.

Nikki, that was just me being wistful about my inability to express my feelings in words. Your report is wonderful.

Hi Nikki et al--

Your report is so exciting--we have signed on for the Sporades Tour trip starting September 1--I found Dick Caldwell to be very responsive (I am particularly interested in icons) and got several notes from people who had been on the trips recently--said they were wonderful--couldn't figure out how he made any money the prices were so reasonable for high quality--so we are excited--doing some reading now and really digging deep in the Spiritual Icon class I am taking at the Divinity School here--giving me lots of early exposure to the Greek culture.

Thanks for getting us focused on some where other than France--we will still go there in May/June--but am really excited about our new adventure.

Take care,
Robyn France

Goodee! More exciting bedtime reading! Havent looked at the photos yet but the printer is labouring away again on the trip report. Wasnt expecting another quite so soon.

I havent yet been to Greece so will see whether you can whet my apetite!!

It's after 11.30 pm here so better go and make the cuppa to accompany my nightly Bedtime Travel Tales from Nikki.

I can't believe that I missed reading this absolutely fabulous trip report about Greece before I went there at the end of May. (so much for Fodor's search function...) Thank you Nikki, for a reminder of what a truly remarkable place Greece is. I'm now going to look up all your other trip reports!

Nikki, what a wonderful trip report.

It is great to accompany your footsteps in a journey of passion and understanding through a land you already knew so well through your studies!

You have a great way with words. I will be filing this report too for future travel.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the lovely comments.

I have posted photos from this trip, quite belatedly, at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=he0tnm3.a26xzjgr&x=0&y=-b9k6sz

What an absolutely wonderful trip report - with pictures and all. Hard to find Greece off-season reports. Leaving in three weeks. Greece will be our third leg of our month long tour of Paris, Venice, Athens, and two Greek Islands. Loved your writing style and personal demo life experience. A+ !! Thank you Nikki

Nikki

This is too funny - I clicked on this because I was confused! You just got back from France!

Then I saw the original posting date but read it anyway since I missed it the first time round. Wonderful trip report.

Where's the latest Your audience is waiting

Thank you, OneEyeOpen, and bon voyage. A month in Paris, Venice and Greece sounds like heaven.

Alya, I'm thinking about the next trip report, hopefully coming soon.

Nikki - I accidently came across this older trip report of yours. As many other readers have said, you brought back such wonderful memories.

While studying in Paris in 1969-1970, my roommate and I spent Easter break in Greece. We did a 5-day trip of the Peloponnese similar to yours and I've never forgotten the thrill of standing in Corinth maybe on the same spot St. Paul stood preaching to the Corinthians so so long ago. I also can still hear the loud crackling noise at the Theater of Epidaurus as someone struck a match at the center of the stage. And all this almost 40 years later!!

We spent a few days on Mykonos and my memories include the many windmills, cats and women whitewashing the walls in the streets every morning.

Also enjoyed your wonderful photos.

Thanks again for sharing.

Carmenr

Chloer, at Epidaurus it was impossible to get all the people to be quiet at once. The tour guides were all trying to demonstrate the acoustics but there were too many uncooperative folks up in the stands. So keep that forty year old memory of the loud crackling match; you might not be able to repeat it.