Athens, Peloponnese and the Islands of the Saronic Gulf
Photo's:
http://picasaweb.google.com/RDandLisa/OurSailTripToGreeceJune2008#
Lisa's Journal (RD's to follow)
June 19, 2008
After less than 48 hours back in Qatar (for Lisa anyway) we are off to Athens…it seems like all of our flights out of here are at O’dark thirty. Perfect for “perky in the AM” RD, hell for “you make morning look painful” Lisa, however, it did mean that we were in Athens by noon.
Our taxi ride from the airport to our hotel near the Marina was about 45 minutes and skirted the periphery of the city. It is interesting to see words that start with Mhx… (how on earth do you think that is pronounced?!) Once we checked into the hotel we walked down to the beach for a lunch of Souvlaki (fancy word for pork kebabs) and Ouzo (a Greek liquor that tastes like licorice). After that we laid at the pool on the roof of the hotel for several hours followed by about a 3 hour nap (for me at least, I was still jet lagged from Indonesia, I guess I need more than 47 hours between trips). I got up long enough to have a “Greek” salad for dinner then went back to sleep.
June 20, 2008
This morning we got up early (I guess I got caught up on my sleep) and took a long walk to the next Marina down the beach. This would be the Marina where the smallest “yacht” was about 50 feet…not the Marina we are sailing out of. On the way back I managed to find a cute skirt, some sandals that will be good on the boat and two fabulous bikini’s! At about 1:00 our friends Cheryl & Don from Atlanta arrived (we met them in Jamaica 4 years ago). After throwing on our bikini’s we headed for the roof-top pool for a quick bite to eat but the jet lag got them early and they left us laying on the roof to go to their room for a well deserved nap.
For dinner we walked down to a restaurant near the Marina then walked out onto the pier and took a peak at the boat we will be on for the next week. The name of the boat is NAΪAS, which I believe is related to the Greek female name Naϊa which means “flowing”. It is a 37 foot Jeanneau with three cabins and one head. After a late cocktail at another marina bar we walked back to our hotel for a final night of air-conditioned sleep.
June 21, 2008
Happy Anniversary to us! After breakfast we packed up all our gear and checked out of the hotel in preparation for a 12:00 pick-up to take us and our luggage to the boat. There were vehicles coming and going on the pier which was barely wide enough for 2 cars. Once a car was out there they had to back up to get off, at one point I looked out the window and upon looking down could only see water, lord knows how close our tires were to the edge. Once on board we were told we had to go to the grocery store for our provisions. We thought we had ordered a basic provision package but that was not the case. RD, Cheryl and I climbed into a decrepit little hatch-back and were whisked off (I say that tongue-in-cheek as the traffic getting to the store was abominable) to a little deli/catering store where the aisles were about 2 feet wide, there were about 40 people shopping to supply their boats and everything was in Greek. I actually felt quite at home (it was a lot like Doha) but I think Cheryl was a bit overwhelmed.
Our skipper, Thierry, is quite a “salty” character from Crete with a long ponytail and a beer belly. He was pushing us to get going as soon as possible and by 2:30 PM we were off. Unfortunately the wind was blowing straight at our bow so we chose to motor to our first port rather than tack 600 times and spend 6 hours trying to get there. One of the things you have to keep in mind here is the size of the port you are going to and just how much room there is for docking…if you get there late your options are very limited. We experienced our first Mediterranean style of docking…anchor down about 50 meters from the dock then back in and tie off to the dock, snug up the anchor and you are “locked” in. All the boats carry a “gang-plank” to get from the boat to the dock. First couple of times walking “the plank” were a little “hairy” but once you got used to the movement of the waves underneath you it became easy. Just to show you how small a world this is, the Catamaran next to us at the dock was rented by 6 people from Atlanta!
Our first stop was an amazing little town on the island of Póros. It was beautiful in that Greek “white building with brightly colored shutters kind of way”. Both Cheryl and I went to dinner in our bikini tops and mini-skirts/shorts…it’s just that sort of place. It’s a port town and one of the first stops for many of the boats leaving Athens so they are quite used to casual boaters in a wide array of dress from high heels to bikini’s. We had an amazing meal of Calamari, Shrimp, Grilled Snapper, Greek Salad, Saganaki (a flour dipped cheese that is pan-fried…no calories there), Eggplant salad, Tzatziki sauce and of course Ouzo! Our skipper had two bottles of Champagne on ice for our Anniversary but we were so stuffed we chose to just take it back to the boat for another day.
June 22, 2008
Both RD and I were up early today. I made coffee while he went into town and got ham and cheese croissants for breakfast. We took some time to get settled in a bit better before we took off. Yesterday was such a rush, rush to get to the store and then out of the harbor that we really just threw things in the boat and didn’t put them away. Thierry is off buying supplies so he can cook us dinner tonight as we are anchoring in a quiet bay on the island of Spetses tonight.
Our day was spent sailing from Póros to Spetses where we anchored in a deserted bay for lunch and an afternoon swim. We were then dropped off in the main town and came face to face with a bronze statue of Bouboulina…who is Bouboulina you ask? From 1821 to 1832, the island played an important role in the Greek War of Independence in fighting against the Turks (who had occupied Greece for over 400 years), and was the home of celebrated war heroine Bouboulina (the first female war admiral). After a two hour stroll through the town we re-boarded and set off for our anchorage for the night. Our evening was spent swimming and drinking champagne while Thierry cooked us a yummy meal of fish and rice (and of course our favorite…the “fat free” Saganaki that we have all fallen in love with).
I should point out that we were sailing in 35 knot winds…wahoo! We are sailing in the Saronic Gulf rather than out in the Cyclades as we had planned because the winds there are over 45 knots and Thierry pointed out that if we went there we may get trapped in one port for the whole week and not actually get to sail at all. If we had been on a 54 footer he might have risked it but he said a 37 footer was just too small.
June 23, 2008
This morning we pulled up anchor and sailed for the seaside port town of Pláka on the coast of the Peloponnese peninsula. This was an unspoilt little town because the big ferries and hydrofoils carrying tourists does not come here. We spent several hours lying under umbrellas on the beach then took a taxi up to the hillside Monastery of Elonas. It is an amazing structure built into the side of a shear cliff. Of course I got up there and there was a big sign asking people to dress “decently”. I was wearing a halter top and a sarong, which I thought was fine for out in public but not in a monastery so I untied my sarong, pulled it up over my chest and retied it. Not very stylish but I felt “decent” enough to venture into the monastery.
Dinner was on the pier with the anchored boats in the harbor as a back drop. Our host was an apparently “caffeine fueled” restaurant owner who said “please” after everything and seemed to run everywhere he went. Eggplant “please”, tzatziki “please”, Thank you “please”…as you can imagine it became a running joke for the rest of the trip. I had goat in lemon sauce “please” while RD (not being a goat lover) had a pork chop “please” which he claimed was the most flavorful he had ever eaten.
June 24, 2008
We pulled anchor at 7:00 AM in order to get to Idhra (or Hydra if you are speaking English) early. It is an amazing crescent shaped harbor surrounded with restaurants, shops, markets, and galleries. Most of the hotels and private residences are on steep stone streets that lead up the hill from the harbor. As there are no vehicles allowed on the island besides garbage trucks, the bulk of public transportation is left up to horses, donkeys and water taxis. The reason we had to get here early is that it is a very popular tourist destination. The good news is that most of them come by ferries or hydrofoils so are gone by 4:00! However, there are still too many sailboats for the harbor to hold so they are stacked 3 and 4 deep. If you are on the pier (like we were) people from other boats must step through your cockpit to get to the pier. Overall it’s a very friendly system.
We had authentic Greek Gyros for lunch, went shopping for several hours (found a great pair of earrings) then decided to go for a swim to cool off. There is no beach here at Idhra but they do have areas where ladders have been attached to the rocks to ease access to the water. Of course RD couldn’t be bothered with a ladder and just dove in…unfortunately he was wearing his prescription sunglasses when he did it. After a quick trip back to the boat for mask/snorkel and fins we were able to locate them in about 7-9 meters (along with an Octopus), luckily RD has a large lung capacity and could get down to them.
At the back of the boat there was a shower nozzle with fresh water. Cheryl and I both decided this was the best place to wash our hair, although sitting on the toilet in the little tiny “head” was definitely the preferred location for shaving our legs. Tonight was the first night we actually “dressed up”, i.e. did our hair, put on make-up, jewelry and sun dresses. Thierry hardly recognized us. Having a local skipper (even if you know how to sail) really has it’s benefits. He knew everyone in every port, the best stores, the best bars, and the best restaurants. We were never disappointed and tonight was no exception. We went to a Cliffside bar, overlooking the sea to watch the sunset for pre-dinner cocktails. After the sun went down we walked about half way to the moon (well not quite but after several cocktails walking uphill on polished marble stone was not an easy feat) to the home of a Greek couple who had 4 tables set out and were serving a home cooked meal. No choice, you just ate what they were cooking that night but it was excellent…eggplant salad, tzatziki, feta, bread, greek salad, meat balls (so good we had two plates), potatoes baked in lemon, swordfish and white wine, followed by fresh fruit and Grappa.
Thierry has decided I am his sister…I don’t like Catamarans, I eat goat and octopus, and I drink Ouzo and Grappa.
After dinner we wandered down the hill to a bar that was playing music, danced to a few reggae tunes then wandered down the pier to bed. I could really get used to this lifestyle.
June 25, 2008
I woke up this morning to an empty boat. After throwing on my bathing suit of the day (I have five with me) and a mini-skirt, I walked around the harbor to see if I could find anyone. No luck, so I ended up buying an iced coffee and a Spanikopita (phyllo, spinach and feta pie) for breakfast and sat eating it until Don and Cheryl showed up. It was only a matter of time because the harbor is not that big!
Once back at the boat the drama began. Thierry told the two boats tied up to our bow that we wanted to leave in an hour. An hour passed and neither of them made any indication that they were moving, as a matter of fact one refused and the other said their captain had just left to get coffee. Thierry got a bit hot under the collar at those responses and basically told them “move or I’ll drive through you”. Actually if the boat that refused to move had backed out it would have been a simple matter for us to get out but as it turned out the other boat finally backed out and promptly got their anchor tangled in about three other anchor lines. It was probably another hour before we finally got out of there. From there we sailed to Epidavros (important center for the worship of Aesculapius the god of medicine) on the coast of the mainland. Once docked, we took a taxi to the best preserved theater in Greece which was built during the last quarter of the Fourth century B.C. It has seating for 15,000 and the acoustics are superb. A festival of ancient drama is performed here every summer by the Royal Theatre Company. Don and Cheryl stood in the middle and sang three or four songs including Amazing Grace and Edelweiss. They got a round of applause from everyone. A tour group wanted to kidnap them to sing for them on their bus! It was amazing, they both have incredible voices and it sounded like they were standing right next to us yet we were at least 50 meters away.
June 26, 2008
This morning we decided to go for a dive. We had seen a dive shop and decided we couldn’t leave Greece without at least “going down” once. It was a French run dive shop with a French brand of dive gear (which I will not mention but will never buy). It’s been a long time since I’ve worn a wet-suit so it felt very weird to be wearing a 5 ml (I’m spoiled by warm water and only wearing a dive-skin). Now I remember why I don’t like cold water diving…there is really nothing to see! None of the corals or beautiful colorful tropical fish I’ve grown used to… everything seems gray.
We sailed to a little tiny bay called Pérdika for lunch. There was only space for one boat to dock and it was occupied so we anchored and swam in (with a ziplock bag of Euro’s in my bikini top). After lunch (tomato/cucumber salad, grilled octopus, crab salad, and eggplant salad) we sailed to Peninda on the island of Aegina, and anchored in a small harbor. According to Thierry this island is famous for pistachio’s.
Thierry ordered us a small fish for dinner that is indigenous to this island only, quite tasty. Mostly we have let him do the ordering because we like most everything and he knows what is best at each restaurant. We have not been disappointed yet.
June 27, 2008
Our last day on the boat is unfortunately spent motoring to Athens. We have a strong headwind and are on a time crunch…we have to be back in port by 4:00 PM. We did stop for one last swim in the Saronic Gulf and Thierry cooked us a Niciose salad for lunch. Once back in Athens Thierry has to leave because he is skippering a boat in Turkey tomorrow so we are left on our own for our last night on the boat here in the marina. After a big dinner at a local restaurant we come back to the boat to find not a breath of air stirring (it’s really hot) and an incredibly loud (and bad) band playing just down the road. It was a very uncomfortable night.
June 28, 2008
We couldn’t check in to our hotel until after 1:00 but had to be off the boat by 8:00. We ended up on the beach (like homeless people), renting lounge chairs for 8 Euros each (unlike homeless people) and lying under umbrellas to get away from the heat. I’m pretty sure we all fell asleep since none of us got a good night’s sleep last night. After finally checking in we ate a lunch of roasted chicken, bread, potatoes and Hagan Das ice cream while sitting on our bed picnic style. Cheryl and Don went back to their room and we all took showers and full-fledged naps.
Once we felt human again we went to a restaurant that Thierry had recommended and had a feast of Greek food (although at this point I think we are all getting sick of Greek food with the exception of tomato and cucumber salad).
June 29, 2008
Cheryl had arranged a private 8 hour city tour by taxi (cheaper than 4 tickets on a bus tour and a lot more flexible). Our driver was Christos and he spoke great English (we are so lucky that the world chose English as the International language). As he drove us from our hotel out by the marina into the heart of Athens he carefully pointed out important government building, universities and ruins that could be seen in the distance. Our first stop was The Panathenaic (or Olympic) Stadium (built of marble and holding 70,000 spectators) where the first Olympics were held in 1896 and where the Marathon from the most recent Olympics in 2004 was completed. From there he drove us to the highest point in Athens, Mount Lycabettus, for a panoramic view of this city of 5,000,000 people. As he dropped us off he said it was 50 steps to the top…Don counted…it was 505…but it was well worth it. After that he took us to the Presidential palace (apparently he is just a figure head and the country is run by Parliament) where we took pictures of the guards. We then drove to an area just below the Acroplolis that offered a good opportunity for photographs, Freddo (Greek iced coffee) and a much needed “WC” break. We then drove to the Parliament building because they have a changing of the guards (called Evzones) at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier every hour on the hour. As luck would have it at 11:00 on Sundays only they have a parade with the national band and all of the guards in attendance for the ceremony…dressed in the national costume…it was quite a spectacle.
From there we went to the Acropolis (which literally means “high city”) where incredible temples were built to honor the goddess Athena. On the way up the hill to the entrance we passed by the Odeon of Herodes Atticus which was built in 161 A.D., it is a theatre and concert hall with 32 rows that can hold 5,000 spectators and is still used to this day during the Athens Festival of music and drama. The Propylaea (or entrance) is on the west side, the only accessible side. A small temple stands to the right on a high platform with 8 Ionic columns, the temple of Athena Nike (Wingless Victory) was built in the 5th century B.C. Once you pass through the Propylaea the Erectheion is on the left. This is where Poseidon struck the ground with his Trident and brought forth water and the sacred olive tree of Athena is planted. Up the hill and to the right is the Parthenon which really needs no description. It is an awe inspiring work of architecture. Work continues to this day to reconstruct as much of the Acropolis as possible. It is like a giant shattered jig-saw puzzle. They will only reconstruct if they have at least 70% original, if they meet that criteria they will fill in with marble taken from the original quarry it was mined from.
After the Acropolis we went to the Plaka (or square) in the center of the old city for lunch. Of course Cheryl and I had to stop and buy these wonderful handmade leather sandals for 12 Euro before finding an air-conditioned but highly recommended restaurant. We sat for an hour eating Spanikopita, tomato/cucumber salad and drinking water (it was hot, hot, hot up on the Acropolis, 36°C or 97°F, with minimal shade).
Next was the Roman Agora (or market) containing the “Tower of the Winds” which was built in the 1st century B.C. It contained a clock that ran on water and was decorated with relief carvings of the eight winds. We looked for the original Greek Agora (we could see it from the Acropolis) but couldn’t seem to track it down in the narrow twisting streets of old Athens. From there we went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, we took some great pictures but by this time we were running out of steam. We had been going for 7 ½ hrs in 90+ heat and were slowing down. We decided to have our driver drop us off at the shopping area of the Plaka with instructions on how to get back to our hotel either via tram or taxi. We just didn’t have the energy needed to do the National Archeological Museum which was supposed to be our last stop. Several hours later we ended up flagging down a taxi as none of us were up to a 40 minute tram ride.
Back at the hotel we took showers and naps and then jumped on a tram at 10:00 to go to a nice restaurant RD and I had spotted at the “big boat” Marina while on our walk that first morning in Athens.
June 30, 2008
Don & Cheryl left at 9:30 this morning. We will miss them. When you plan a vacation with another couple you never know if things will run smoothly, people always have different ideas on how to spend their time, but with them it was easy.
RD and I then jumped a tram into town to Syntagma Square where we grabbed a taxi to The National Archeological Museum. After several hours in the museum (and about 200 photos) we walked back to the Plaka for a final “cruise” through the old city. We found our way back to Syntagma Square (thanks to RD’s amazing internal compass) and caught the tram back to our hotel. After a quick shower we walked down to a restaurant on the beach and watched a beautiful sunset (we forgot the camera in the room) while I savored my gin & tonic (I’ve had enough Ouzo and Grappa thank you) and we had a final Greek meal.
July 1, 2008
All-in-all it was a wonderful trip. The small port villages on the islands are idyllic and I would come back here to sail in a minute. We spent our last morning packing up and drinking our last bottle of Champagne (couldn’t let it go to waste now could we?). We talked the front desk into letting us stay in the room until 1:00 but still ended up sitting in the lobby area for several hours before catching a taxi to the airport. We thought about going to the beach one last time but decided the lack of shower facilities afterwards would make us decidedly unpopular on the flight back to Doha. Our flight was uneventful and we landed in Doha at 10:30 PM. Our luggage was among the first to come out and we were home by 11:00.
June 19, 2008
RD’s thoughts and memories of our Greece Trip
I had spent the last several weeks batching it in Doha while Lisa was involved in her dive master’s training in the relatively nice locale of Gili Trawangan in Indonesia.
As one might suspect, I had other plans upon her arrival than packing for a sailing trip. In fact, since all my gear was ready and packed, it would be whoopee time until we embarked for Athens…..Hmmm, obviously a male pattern of piss poor planning. Despite the inappropriate XY behavior, we got out of Doha happy and wil use her for crew on the yacht rather than as ballast.
Getting out of Doha is getting to be more of a pleasure each time. It is so parochial in an Arabic sense. The same things, in the same spot, day after day, with the malls becoming the social centers as the weather warms so that outdoors is unpleasant. Also, we had been having about a week of sand storms so while it was hot it was also blustery and very dusty. While I knew that Greece wasn’t going to be lush and green, it would be a welcome time away.
The summer Olympics in Athens in 2004 did a lot to really help the city get its infrastructure into the 21st century. The airport, while small for a city of 5 million was efficient and well managed. The roads from the airport to the city were improved to an interstate type of highway with 4 lanes each way and a nice bypass for those people not going to the city center. They developed a nice subway system from the airport to the city center and a great narrow gauge “tram” that covered most of the west side of the city.
It was an enchanting ride into the city seeing the Greek alphabet and realizing that it was the foundation of our current English system and seeing all the historic structures in the background and on the horizons made one realize that this is the definition of “old”. Many of the stone remnants that one sees go back 2500 years….that was even before the IRS. (But our history lessons while we were there reminded us that the idea of taxation is nothing new and as archaic as we see our system, they were even more arbitrary and punitive with regard to policy and collection than is our own system.)
After spending time in the Middle East, the traffic of Athens though somewhat infamous for being crazy, was very organized and felt safe. Our taxi driver explained that the Olympic organizers spent a good deal of time teaching them how to be honest, safe and courteous and those lessons have caught hold since then.
While the history of Athens and Greece was of interest, I was there to sail. While Lisa and Don and Cheryl (our friends from Atlanta who were making this their anniversary present for 25 years) caught up on sleep from their relatively long travels, I scouted out the marina and learned that our skipper was to be a fat old greek guy rather than the young Grecian lass that I had hoped for. Theirry was great however and we soon developed a team effort in getting things done. It’s always tough on someone in his shoes who is skippering someone who knows (or thinks he knows) something about sailing. I was all hot to work on refreshing my sailing skills and he was interested in making sure that things didn’t get too exciting. Actually his knowledge of the waters, history of the area, and the local areas that should be visited was well worth his presence. Without him we would have sailed south into the Cyclades (kē-claw-dēs) where real wind was coming from the North and would have made the trip more work than fun. As it was, we had some very good winds in the 35 to 40 knot range and it was good experience for me to practice reefing sails and finding the correct balance between sail trim and helm. The experience of docking Mediterranean style was new to me and I was glad that he was along for that. While I had studied the technique, in actual practice it was a lot different. I may still do it a bit different if I were to do it my way but it was a learning experience. It was a team effort with the guy who dropped and set the anchor having to let out chain as fast as the skipper was backing into his spot at the pier…and that has to be fairly quick since if you back too slowly you lose your steerage. The goal was for the anchor man to stop letting out line and the skipper to put it into forward just at the same time so that you settle against the pier with a tight anchor chain and no crashes of the stern into the concrete of the pier. It all worked very well after our first attempt which was accompanied by a deaf American anchorman yelling at the Greek skipper to scream louder in English.
I did take note that while I am not greatly experienced at sailing, there are some really dumb people who charter sailboats and do some real stupid things. So, as long as I think a bit and plan ahead, I will likely not appear to be the stupidest rookie sailor in a harbor.
I won’t spend a lot of time talking about the things we saw or where we visited because I am sure Lisa will do that and she certainly has a special way with words that make things come alive and be less clinical than I do. Instead I will talk about a couple special things that caught my eye, mind, or conscious.
My first observation is that on a 37 foot 3 cabin, 1 head boat, romance is just about as luxurious as a honeymoon on a back packing trip in the desert….except there are more people in close proximity. I made strong recommendations to the charter company, The Moorings, that they needed to invest in more and better fans for the cabins. Greece gets hot in the summer and without a good breeze, which tends to during the day only, there is very little ventilation from the one fan in each cabin. So, when two hot, slightly sunburned, little bit intoxicated people jump under the sheets, amorous behavior is substituted with techniques that maximize airflow and minimize skin contact. Lest you wonder, I am coming around to see some of Lisa’s logic about needing AC on our future sailboat.
My second observation (maybe I should call it “another observation” since it was likely not second) was the Greek women. They do a great job of keeping up with the Rubinesque matronly shapes made familiar by the Greek statues. Young and old alike tend to these proportions but the statues fail to do justice to the great structure wonders of the push up bra. Greece is definitely a country of great cleavage. Combine that with high heels and the fanny that goes with those statues and you will realize why this was an observation that I appreciated and respected…..mostly due to the fact that I wore very dark reflective sunglasses.
As we traveled through the country, I was appalled by the graffiti everywhere, including on some of the very old statues and structures. We assumed that this was gang activity but our guide informed us that it was youthful rebellion against the police and much of it the work of immigrants who were unhappy that Greece was not providing for them as they expected. Where have I heard/seen this story unfold before?
Listening to our guides and to our skipper tell stories about the history of Greece and recount the tales of the gods and goddesses, it reminded me of how redundant history is. The same foibles that caused havoc and unrest 3000 years ago are alive and well today. Misplaced trust, abused trust, corrupt government, and a failure to learn from history…..and rebellion, change for the sake of change due to frustration with a system that became unresponsive to the needs of the common man. And then while the locals worked for change some foreign power stepped in and took it all out of their hands. What was it Yogi Berra said, “Its déjà vue all over again”? Welcome to the campaign of 2008 America.
It was overall an awesome trip. The fellowship of our friends, the friendliness of the other sailors (dumb though some of them be), the hospitality of the locals and the beauty of the rough tough islands of Greece will remain fond memories. As my mind wanders, I am wondering where our next anniversary will find us. I hope that it is sailing somewhere new with friends in warm waters.
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