Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Greek Islands

No trip to Greece is complete without visiting some of its key islands. The islands are the main characteristic of Greece’s morphology and an integral part of the country’s culture and tradition. Greek sovereign land includes 6,000 islands and islets scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, of which only 227 islands are inhabited.

Most of the islands are found in the Aegean Sea and are divided into seven groups. With the limited time we had, we couldn't possibly visit even the top 10 islands, so we decided on a day cruise to 3 islands in the Argosaronic Gulf - Hydra, Poros and Aegena.

We started with Hydra. This island has one main town, known simply as "Hydra port". It consists of a crescent-shaped harbor, around which is centered a strand of restaurants, shops, markets, and galleries that cater to tourists and locals. Steep stone streets lead up and outward from the harbor area. Most of the local residences, as well as the hostelries on the island, are located on these streets.

Hydra has no cars or motorbikes (by law), garbage trucks are the only motor vehicles on the island. Horses, mules and donkeys, and water taxis provide public transportation. The inhabited area, however, is pretty small and hence mostly walkable
Port of Athens - beginning of the cruise


Hydra Port - as visible from the island

Beautiful white houses, Hydra


Lovely Blue windows, Hydra

Our next stop was Poros - an island with rich vegetation. It has a good road network and adequate tourist infrastructure, which makes it a popular resort for short holidays.


Port of Poros

Port of Poros
 


View of Sea from the base of lighthouse, Poros

Another view from the base of lighthouse, Poros

Lighthouse, Poros


By the time we reached Aegina, we decided to spend more time enjoying the island, rather than clicking pictures, hence no photos to share. Aegina island is know for its pistachios and of course we also bought some. We skipped the optional tour to the Temple of Aphaia and instead just roamed around the island.

On the way back to Athens, we were entertained by local music and dance performances. Those really made our day. Overall the cruise was really worth it - ofcourse we didn't get to spend much time on any of the islands but it was still a great experience and I would highly recommend it if one is short on time and wants a flavor of Greek islands.

Santorini
Next day we flew to Santorini (Thira) - one of the Cyclades. The name “Cyclades” refers to the islands forming a circle (the name in English means: “circular islands”) around the sacred island of Delos. According to the Greek mythology, Poseidon, God of the sea, furious at the Cyclades nymphs turned them into islands.

We took Ryan Air flight from Athens to Santorini and rented a small car there (quite similar to Santro and it was manual transmission). Thira is a small island and car came pretty handy - so if you can drive stick shift, I would definitely suggest renting a car - book it online and someone will meet you at the airport with the paperwork and keys.

With help from google maps, we were able to locate most of the key attractions easily and even managed to find parking in the busy downtown where we had a long leisurely lunch accompanied by some amazing wine.


Oia, Santorini
Oia, Santorini


View from Monastery of Profitis Ilias 


View from Monastery of Profitis Ilias 

It was a nice drive to the Monastery - not really steep as some of the blogs had suggested. I had no issues getting my small car up to the top.






























We had booked 19:45 flight back to Athens and when we reached the airport around 6 pm, we found it closed. Apparently in off season months, the airport is not open whole day. The weather had turned quite cold as it was raining most part of the day and right now we were really grateful for the warm confines of the car where we had decided to wait it out.

To be honest, 2 days simply weren't enough but it did give us a taste of what Greek islands can offer. A vacation just to spend some quality time  on these islands is definitely in the offing.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Greece - A day at the navel of Gaia (earth)

Day 3 of the trip was reserved for a tour of Delphi - there were two key destinations, the museum and the archeological site. As we did with Acropolis, we went to the museum first and then to the site.

This was a guided tour, took us abut 3 hours to get to Delphi in a comfortable coach with a breakfast stop in between. Unfortunately it was raining whole morning and we were worried if we will get to really enjoy the day. However, just before we reached Delphi sun came out for some time and I got to witness one of the most beautiful rainbows of my life. (no photograph of same as I spent my time just watching the rainbow rather than clicking it)

Once again I will use photographs to capture this day...first set is from the museum:






Two identical Kouros Statues. They are the oldest monumental votive offerings at Delphi, and one of the earliest examples of monumental archaic sculpture. Early 6th c. B.C. (circa 580 B.C.) Over life size (6.15m) each. Made by Polymedes of Argos.





Chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statues, possibly depicting Artemis (left) and Apollo (Above). 6th c. BCE.









Sphinx - front view







Large Sphinx of Naxos sitting on an Ionic column about 10m tall. Circa 560 B.C.


Sphinx - side view




The pediment and frieze from the east facade of the treasury of Siphnos. The pediment depicts the dispute between Heracles and Apollo for the oracular tripod. 525 BCE.









The omphalos of the earth. This sacred object was located in the Adyton of the Temple of Apollo, and was viewed only by the priests and priestess who had access to the chamber. It is a Hellenistic or Roman copy of the original




White kylix with a drawing of Apollo. 480-470 BCE.
  .


The god is crowned with a myrtle wreath and is seated on a lion-footed stool. He is holding his lyre and pours libations from a phiale, while a crow or a raven watches from a perch
 
The Charioteer of Delphi. 470 BC., 1.80 cm tall (5' 11")

The "Charioteer of Delphi" is one of the best known ancient Greek statues, and one of the best preserved examples of classical bronze casts. It is considered a fine example of the "Severe" style.
 
The sculpture depicts the driver of the chariot race at the moment when he presents his chariot and horses to the spectators in recognition of his victory. 
 
The Charioteer of Delphi is undoubtedly one of the main highlights of the museum, and it is exhibited in its very own hall.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Below are the pictures taken at the archeological site:
 
 
The restored Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi.
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Athenian Treasury was a votive building in the form of a reduced scale temple, designed to hold the multitude of Athenian offerings to the Delphi oracle
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stoa of the Athenians
 
 
 
 
Dedicated by the Athenians after the Persian War, the top step has an Archaic inscription dedicating trophies taken from the Persians.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Temple of Apollo Doric columns
 
 
 
Temple of Apollo was first built around the 7th c. B.C. by the two legendary architects Trophonios and Agamedes. It was rebuilt after a fire in the 6th c. B.C. This temple was destroyed in 373 B.C. by an earthquake and was rebuilt for the third time in 330 B.C.





Delphi Theatre

The theater at Delphi is build further up the hill from the Temple of Apollo and it presented the seated audience with a spectacular view of the entire sanctuary below and the valley beyond. Its 35 rows can accommodate around five thousand spectators who in ancient times enjoyed plays, poetry readings, and musical events during the various festivals that took place periodically at Delphi.

Delphi Theatre with the temple of Apollo in the background.

Delphi Stadium
Mountain-top stadium where the Pythian athletic contests were performed. These were second in importance only to Olympic Games. Its stone seats could sit around 6500 spectators -  its track is 177.55 m long (about 550 ft.), and 25.50 m wide.
 
 
Aegean sea in the distance



We wrapped up the day with a lovely lunch in the village with a view of Aegean sea in the background. By lunch time it had started raining again and temperature dropped close to zero but we still managed to spend some time outside enjoying the beautiful views.






Delphi Village





Post lunch, we got back into the warm cocoon of our bus and started back for Athens. Thus ended our day at the center of earth (navel of Gaia)





 

Monday, May 16, 2016

Greece - A walk through the 2500 year old citadel

Day 2 was spent visiting the Acropolis, Roman Agora and Ancient Agora. Instead of words I will use photos to share the experience at Acropolis:

View at entry/exit to Acropolis. Right hand top is Athena Nike temple. Left is Agrippa and middle is the grand entrance to Acropolis called Propylaea
Agrippa Monument



Propylaea

 







A monument dedicated by the Athenians to Marcus vipsanius Agrippa




















Propylea means is any monumental gateway in Greek architecture
Parthenon - temple dedicated to goddess Athena
 
Erechtheion East End


Erechtheion Caryatids



Erectheion is an ancient temple on the north side of the Acropolis

Parthenon East End
 
Greek flag and a view point

Theatre of Dionysus - as visible from the Acropolis


Temple of Olympian Zeus - as visible from The Acropolis 

No audioguide or map is provided for the Acropolis visit - so either you join a guided tour or download an audioguide from internet - we did the latter.

Roman Agora was not that impressive, so we cut the tour short and decided to grab lunch instead before entering the Ancient Agora.

Ancient Agora visit turned out to be great thanks to the audio guide given at the site. Ancient Agora is the best known example of an ancient Greek Agora - the literal meaning of the word Agora is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora used to be the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the city. This site is huge and requires atleast 3 hours to do justice to it - there is also a museum inside the complex that has some interesting information and artifacts.

We had an awesome day visiting the two main archeological sites in Athens. It was a warm and sunny day and a gelato provided a perfect way to wrap it up :)



Sunday, May 15, 2016

Greece - the birthplace of Western Civilization

During my visit to Italy, I couldn't help but notice the Greek influence in architecture and some cultural similarities as well. And then after reading how Greek influenced Romans beyond the architecture, I decided that I must visit Greece as well. Having been on a 10 day multi country trip to Europe in peak season of July, I decided to choose December for my Greece vacation - one the crowds would be less and two Greece doesn't get much colder than Delhi in winters - something I can easily handle.

Hence I planned a 7 day trip to Athens. Delphi and Santorini - later on we also added a day cruise to smaller islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina. We took Air France from Bangalore to Paris to Athens, with about 10 hours layover in Paris that we spent walking down Champs-Elysees and enjoying a long leisurely lunch in sunny though cold Paris.

We landed in Athens around 11 pm and were picked up by our pre-booked taxi. This time we were staying in an apartment booked through Airbnb - primarily because this was Christmas/new year eve time and good hotels were very expensive and there wasn't any Marriott property that I liked enough to book. My decision to use Airbnb turned out extremely positive - we reached the apartment around midnight and had the caretaker waiting for us to hand over the keys and give a basic tour of the apartment and its amenities.

This one BHK (Bedroom Hall Kitchen) apartment was in an access controlled building (hence very safe) and was every bit as listed & as shown in photos. It was very clean, done beautifully, very comfortable and had everything that one might need. The kitchen was complete with all utensils and appliances and the hosts had also stocked all key essentials. Location wise also this place was perfect - a mini market just 200 meters away and a super market about 500m away. Plus Acropolis and other key archeological sites, Syntagma square were within 1-1.5 km radius. We couldn't have asked for a better start to our holiday.

Next day we woke up late as we were jet lagged and had slept only around 1 am. Keeping in mind the late arrival into Athens I hadn't planned anything for the first day. After having some coffee, we decided to step out for a brunch, we didn't know where to go so we just started walking towards the Acropolis and about 5 minutes later we saw a restaurant that looked promising - we were starving and hence didn't want to shop around a lot so we entered the place.

Greek coffee
The food was amazing and the prices were reasonable. Service was also fast yet courteous...overall a great experience. Later on we discovered that the place has great reviews on Trip Advisor.


A model reconstruction of Acropolis Pediment
Next we decided to visit the Acropolis Museum - its suggested that visiting the museum provides a good background for the actual visit to Acropolis and I agree with it. Museum is very well laid out, there is no audio guide and honestly there isn't a need for one. The information provided along side the displays is enough. The map given at the time of entry suggests a route one should take, we stuck to that and really enjoyed the 3 hours that we spent here.





Notice the ruins below the ground level















We spent the rest of the evening walking to Syntagma Square to buy a local sim card with data (Vodafone worked out well for us) and wrapped up the day early with some wine and dinner.