“Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean Sea.”
– Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek
Let’s start from the very beginning – a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A, B, C….when you travel you begin with Alarm…Baggage…& Camera!
I’m sure all of you are now well versed with the horror Manish and I go thru every time we have an early morning flight or train to catch, so I’m not going to bore you with the details – it was the same as always! Though, I must say, that we were both ready 5 minutes before the cab arrived (and, the cab arrived 5 minutes late!).
A vacation in Greece had been my dream since I had studied ancient history in 10th and read the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer….Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, Aphrodite, Achilles…the amazing Greek mythology…the beautiful Helen of Troy who launched a thousand ships…the Trojan War…the Trojan horse…
– Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek
Let’s start from the very beginning – a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A, B, C….when you travel you begin with Alarm…Baggage…& Camera!
I’m sure all of you are now well versed with the horror Manish and I go thru every time we have an early morning flight or train to catch, so I’m not going to bore you with the details – it was the same as always! Though, I must say, that we were both ready 5 minutes before the cab arrived (and, the cab arrived 5 minutes late!).
A vacation in Greece had been my dream since I had studied ancient history in 10th and read the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer….Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, Aphrodite, Achilles…the amazing Greek mythology…the beautiful Helen of Troy who launched a thousand ships…the Trojan War…the Trojan horse…
We had planned to do only Athens this time around with a one day cruise of the nearby islands. We would not have done justice to the other islands if we had clubbed them with mainland in the 5 days that we had. Santorini…Mykonos…Crete would have to wait for our next trip…until then we would enjoy the beauty of these islands in the Dharma production or Yash Raj production films. Remember the song Chalte Chalte featuring Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee…that was shot in Santorini…
After a relatively uneventful flight except for the fact that there was a one hour delay – we reached Athens International airport at around 3pm their time (Greece is 2hrs ahead of UK). As we were not sure of how to get to our hotel by train and had read horror stories about the taxi drivers in Athens, I had used a relatively new pre-booked taxi service.
Welcome Pickups is a small start-up in Athens and Istanbul – the company has a screening process and only employs and then further trains hand selected people. The taxi drivers employed by Welcome Pickups most importantly speak in English and language is not at all a problem with them…secondly they pick you up from the Arrival door at the airport and on the way to the hotel would give you a mini brief of the city as well…what to do…what not to do…what are the good places to see…eat…etc. It was our taxi driver who mentioned that we were staying on the wrong side of the Archaeological sites, but then the train station was literally 30-40m away from the hotel door and all the sites only 2-3 stops away, so we didn’t really mind.
Athens for me was a city of paradoxes - Beautiful and depressing at the same time. A tapestry of white houses and beautiful monuments from afar, but a sight of dilapidated apartment buildings and houses up close.
We checked into our hotel and immediately headed out. There was a lot to cover and only 4.5 days to do so!
The one stop agenda for Day 1 was Acropolis area. A little on the Etymology – Acropolis literally means ‘Upper City’ in Greek: Akros which means highest and polis which means city. Acropolis of Athens is one of the most prominent landmarks in Greece and has several famous landmarks on it – including the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike.
After a relatively uneventful flight except for the fact that there was a one hour delay – we reached Athens International airport at around 3pm their time (Greece is 2hrs ahead of UK). As we were not sure of how to get to our hotel by train and had read horror stories about the taxi drivers in Athens, I had used a relatively new pre-booked taxi service.
Welcome Pickups is a small start-up in Athens and Istanbul – the company has a screening process and only employs and then further trains hand selected people. The taxi drivers employed by Welcome Pickups most importantly speak in English and language is not at all a problem with them…secondly they pick you up from the Arrival door at the airport and on the way to the hotel would give you a mini brief of the city as well…what to do…what not to do…what are the good places to see…eat…etc. It was our taxi driver who mentioned that we were staying on the wrong side of the Archaeological sites, but then the train station was literally 30-40m away from the hotel door and all the sites only 2-3 stops away, so we didn’t really mind.
Athens for me was a city of paradoxes - Beautiful and depressing at the same time. A tapestry of white houses and beautiful monuments from afar, but a sight of dilapidated apartment buildings and houses up close.
We checked into our hotel and immediately headed out. There was a lot to cover and only 4.5 days to do so!
The one stop agenda for Day 1 was Acropolis area. A little on the Etymology – Acropolis literally means ‘Upper City’ in Greek: Akros which means highest and polis which means city. Acropolis of Athens is one of the most prominent landmarks in Greece and has several famous landmarks on it – including the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike.
The Parthenon is an ancient Greek temple which was dedicated to the Goddess Athena who was considered the patron God for Athens. Historians believe that the construction of the Parthenon started in 447 BC and continued till 432 BC.
Interesting fact: The Parthenon is archeologically wise astronomically aligned to the Hyades cluster of stars. From Earth, the Hyades cluster can be identified by its 5 brightest stars that form a ‘V’ shape. In Greek mythology, it is said that the Hyades were the 5 daughters of Atlas (who was said to be holding up the cosmos – you may have seen pictures or statues of man holding up a sphere…it’s there outside the Rockefeller Centre in NY). It is said that after the death of their brother the 5 weeping sisters were transformed to stars and are associated with rain.
Back to Parthenon – it was temple at first…then the Byzantine (East Roman) empire converted it into a church dedicated to Virgin Mary and took all the treasures to Constantinople which was their capital…the Byzantines were taken over by the Ottoman Empire….then the Ottoman Empire converted Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) into their capital and Parthenon it into a Mosque. The Ottomans used to store gunpowder in the Parthenon and during a siege by Venice the Parthenon was severely destroyed. In the 1800’s, Lord Elgin who was the ambassador of the King of England removed the surviving structures and sold it to the British Museum where they are still on display.
Interesting fact: The Parthenon is archeologically wise astronomically aligned to the Hyades cluster of stars. From Earth, the Hyades cluster can be identified by its 5 brightest stars that form a ‘V’ shape. In Greek mythology, it is said that the Hyades were the 5 daughters of Atlas (who was said to be holding up the cosmos – you may have seen pictures or statues of man holding up a sphere…it’s there outside the Rockefeller Centre in NY). It is said that after the death of their brother the 5 weeping sisters were transformed to stars and are associated with rain.
Back to Parthenon – it was temple at first…then the Byzantine (East Roman) empire converted it into a church dedicated to Virgin Mary and took all the treasures to Constantinople which was their capital…the Byzantines were taken over by the Ottoman Empire….then the Ottoman Empire converted Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) into their capital and Parthenon it into a Mosque. The Ottomans used to store gunpowder in the Parthenon and during a siege by Venice the Parthenon was severely destroyed. In the 1800’s, Lord Elgin who was the ambassador of the King of England removed the surviving structures and sold it to the British Museum where they are still on display.
Interesting fact: What makes the Parthenon so fascinating is that to look at it you would think that it is made up of inter-changeable pieces. For example the columns are stones placed on top of each other and you could replace one piece of a column with any of the others. Not true. Each piece of the Parthenon is unique and fits together like the world's biggest and heaviest jigsaw puzzle. Lines that look straight are actually not. The ancient Greeks understood the mechanics of site and that to make a line look straight it had to be tapered or curved.
We hung around the Acropolis for a couple of hours soaking the beauty of Athens and then made our way down the hill to Andrianou Street. This street is like a touristy khao galli. The entire road is lined up with restaurants with outside seating and most of them giving a beautiful view of the Acropolis. After walking literally the entire seat, ended up in one when we could not walk any further. The food was okay…the wine good…and the view Excellent!
We hung around the Acropolis for a couple of hours soaking the beauty of Athens and then made our way down the hill to Andrianou Street. This street is like a touristy khao galli. The entire road is lined up with restaurants with outside seating and most of them giving a beautiful view of the Acropolis. After walking literally the entire seat, ended up in one when we could not walk any further. The food was okay…the wine good…and the view Excellent!
We made our way back to the hotel post dinner and were so tired that crashed as soon as we were in the room.
Thankfully, so far, Manish has been pretty okay with the late start that we have to our days during our holidays. I’m generalising here, but most people like to be up and out of their hotel by 9am – the 2 of us on the other hand made our way to breakfast at 9 and out of the hotel the next day only around 10:30!
Our plan for day 2 was to make our way to Lycabettus Hill. This is a limestone hill from where one can get really nice views of Athens. It’s around 300m tall, and thankfully has a funicular railway that can be taken to the top! But, to get to the entrance of the funicular railway – it’s a good 200 steps! On a beautiful but hot day, 200 steps without stopping because we thought we were running late can be quite exhausting – but it was totally worth it. The view from the top was unbelievable! There is a small church upstairs, but most of the area has been converted into a bar where one can enjoy the spectacular view under the sun with a cold beer!
Thankfully, so far, Manish has been pretty okay with the late start that we have to our days during our holidays. I’m generalising here, but most people like to be up and out of their hotel by 9am – the 2 of us on the other hand made our way to breakfast at 9 and out of the hotel the next day only around 10:30!
Our plan for day 2 was to make our way to Lycabettus Hill. This is a limestone hill from where one can get really nice views of Athens. It’s around 300m tall, and thankfully has a funicular railway that can be taken to the top! But, to get to the entrance of the funicular railway – it’s a good 200 steps! On a beautiful but hot day, 200 steps without stopping because we thought we were running late can be quite exhausting – but it was totally worth it. The view from the top was unbelievable! There is a small church upstairs, but most of the area has been converted into a bar where one can enjoy the spectacular view under the sun with a cold beer!
After spending some time at the Lycabettus hill, we took the funicular down and then walked further down the 200 steps and made our way to Panathenaic Stadium. Athens' Panathenaic Stadium or Panathinaiko, is also known as the Kallimarmaro, which literally means "beautifully marbled" and is the world's only stadium made entirely of marble which comes from nearby Mount Pendeli. During older time (around 560 BC) or what the Greeks referred to as ‘Antiquity’ it had wooden seating. It was then rebuilt in marble in 329 BC and expanded to seat close to 60,000 people in 150 BC, and then got ruined over time when the games were banned. I think I heard in the audio guide that we had that the marble from the stadium was taken by the locals and used to decorate their homes.
The stadium was then rebuilt, again entirely in marble, for the 1st Olympics held in Athens in 1896. However, there was not enough time to complete the reconstruction of the stadium and white cushions were instead used. Soon after the Olympics were over, reconstruction restarted and the white marble stadium was completed to its full glory. It is surely a sight to see – against the amazingly blue sky of Athens, the white marble looks stunning!
The stadium was then rebuilt, again entirely in marble, for the 1st Olympics held in Athens in 1896. However, there was not enough time to complete the reconstruction of the stadium and white cushions were instead used. Soon after the Olympics were over, reconstruction restarted and the white marble stadium was completed to its full glory. It is surely a sight to see – against the amazingly blue sky of Athens, the white marble looks stunning!
From the stadium, we made our way thru the National Gardens which among other trees had loads of orange trees filled with oranges ready to eat, and ended up at Syntagma Square. Syntagma means Constitution and right across from the square is the Hellenic Parliament building (which earlier used to be the palace for the emperor!). The palace is guarded by the Evzones who are the elite soldiers chosen for their height and strength. They wear these pleated skirts which was established as the formal court dress in the middle of the 19th century and have these fabulous shoes called the Sarouchi’s. The changing of the guards happens at 6pm and we had reached just in time to enjoy the show!
From Syntagma, we made our way to Strofi – a restaurant with one of the most spectacular view of the Acropolis and the best Moussaka and called it an early night as we had the cruise to go to early the next morning.
Day 3 was one of the most hectic days we had though it was one with the least amount of walking (we had been walking around to 12-15mile in Day 1&2). This was the day we did the cruise around the picturesque islands in the Saronic Gulf. The start to the day was really early as our hotel pickup for the cruise was at 6:50am! This was also the day we realized how laid back the Greeks were and followed Indian standard time! Our pick up finally happened at 7:15 and after several other pick up we made our way to the port at Piraeus where the cruise liner was waiting. It wasn’t a big boat but had 2 enclosed levels along with the open level at the top.
We were visiting islands called Hydra, Poros, and Aegina with short sightseeing stops in each. Aegina is the island closest to the mainland, followed by Hydra and then Poros. Our cruise was going to Hydra first….followed by Poros…and then we were to make our way back to Aegina. The weather was a slight dampener but it was still amazing.
Day 3 was one of the most hectic days we had though it was one with the least amount of walking (we had been walking around to 12-15mile in Day 1&2). This was the day we did the cruise around the picturesque islands in the Saronic Gulf. The start to the day was really early as our hotel pickup for the cruise was at 6:50am! This was also the day we realized how laid back the Greeks were and followed Indian standard time! Our pick up finally happened at 7:15 and after several other pick up we made our way to the port at Piraeus where the cruise liner was waiting. It wasn’t a big boat but had 2 enclosed levels along with the open level at the top.
We were visiting islands called Hydra, Poros, and Aegina with short sightseeing stops in each. Aegina is the island closest to the mainland, followed by Hydra and then Poros. Our cruise was going to Hydra first….followed by Poros…and then we were to make our way back to Aegina. The weather was a slight dampener but it was still amazing.
Hydra was about a 3 hour journey for us and there was a point in the journey when we were surrounded by blue seas and small uninhabited islands – it was breathtakingly beautiful.
Hydra is a small island with only 1 main town called the Hydra port – it’s a crescent shaped harbour lined with restaurants and shops. The island entirely depends on tourism and considering its only 3 hours away on ferry from Athens, it is frequented a lot by Greeks and others alike.
Hydra is a small island with only 1 main town called the Hydra port – it’s a crescent shaped harbour lined with restaurants and shops. The island entirely depends on tourism and considering its only 3 hours away on ferry from Athens, it is frequented a lot by Greeks and others alike.
Next stop…Poros. This island looked a lot ‘happening’ than Hydra, but unfortunately the tour allocated the least time on this island. Though Poros is also quite dependent on tourism and is a popular resort for short holidays, this island also has agriculture, livestock, fishing and shipping activities.
What we noticed about both the islands was that each had a central ‘Clock Tower’. As soon as our ship docked at Poros, all the passengers made their way to the steps leading up to the clock tower. Manish and I, on the other hand, took a nice stroll along the harbour and made our way into a Gelato store which was serving over 50 varieties of ice cream!
The sun had just come out nice and bright…so with our ice creams in hand we made our way back to the ship and found ourselves a nice place in the sun to enjoy the gelatos.
What we noticed about both the islands was that each had a central ‘Clock Tower’. As soon as our ship docked at Poros, all the passengers made their way to the steps leading up to the clock tower. Manish and I, on the other hand, took a nice stroll along the harbour and made our way into a Gelato store which was serving over 50 varieties of ice cream!
The sun had just come out nice and bright…so with our ice creams in hand we made our way back to the ship and found ourselves a nice place in the sun to enjoy the gelatos.
Last but not the least, the island of Aegina – this was the largest of the islands we visited and the closest to Athens. As this island is quite big in size and not entirely walkable we were taking a separate panoramic tour by bus.
Interesting fact (though I have yet to confirm this!) – Athens is a town that worshipped the Goddess Athena and Athens and Aegina were major rivals during the ‘Antiquity’ days. In the island of Aegina, the Aeginians built a temple dedicated to their Goddess – Aphaea, however they dedicated a part of the temple to Athena – this was their way of making sure that the Athens do no attack them as this was displease the Athena! This is a gorgeous temple, the ruins of which are still available to visit – and upon seeing this temple, the people of Athens became very very jealous. As they could not attack and destroy the temple, it is said, that after 15 or 20 year, the Parthenon was unveiled to show the superiority of the people of Athens!
We visited the church of a saint who apparently is famous for healing people by his touch…and also passed by the hill with 365 churches (1 for each day of the year!)...Once our tour around the island was over, we were then taken to the local fish market at the end of which we were served seafood started and Ouzo (the national drink!). Apart from the Ouzo, I did not like the end of this tour….fishy…fishy…fishy…!!
Interesting fact (though I have yet to confirm this!) – Athens is a town that worshipped the Goddess Athena and Athens and Aegina were major rivals during the ‘Antiquity’ days. In the island of Aegina, the Aeginians built a temple dedicated to their Goddess – Aphaea, however they dedicated a part of the temple to Athena – this was their way of making sure that the Athens do no attack them as this was displease the Athena! This is a gorgeous temple, the ruins of which are still available to visit – and upon seeing this temple, the people of Athens became very very jealous. As they could not attack and destroy the temple, it is said, that after 15 or 20 year, the Parthenon was unveiled to show the superiority of the people of Athens!
We visited the church of a saint who apparently is famous for healing people by his touch…and also passed by the hill with 365 churches (1 for each day of the year!)...Once our tour around the island was over, we were then taken to the local fish market at the end of which we were served seafood started and Ouzo (the national drink!). Apart from the Ouzo, I did not like the end of this tour….fishy…fishy…fishy…!!
Day 4 – Our final day in Athens, was spent travelling and exploring the beautiful Temple of Poseidon at the Cape of Sounion. We daringly decided to travel to Sounion by the local buses – I must say they were decent for the cost though the journey was way too long. Something that would have taken us 45 mins…took instead close to 2 hours! We did enjoy the view of the coast thru out the journey though.
Sounion is in the southeast of Athens and at the southernmost tip of the Athens peninsula. Poseidon was the god of the sea in classic mythology and the temple was the last sign of civilization the Athenians saw as they sailed away from home and the first as they returned – praying for a good journey and thanking the God for their safe return. It is hard to imagine a more perfect setting for an ancient temple, in particular one dedicated to the god of the sea.
The view from the temple as well as the hill was breath taking and if only we could have spent the sunset there, but alas, we had to take the last bus back!
Sounion is in the southeast of Athens and at the southernmost tip of the Athens peninsula. Poseidon was the god of the sea in classic mythology and the temple was the last sign of civilization the Athenians saw as they sailed away from home and the first as they returned – praying for a good journey and thanking the God for their safe return. It is hard to imagine a more perfect setting for an ancient temple, in particular one dedicated to the god of the sea.
The view from the temple as well as the hill was breath taking and if only we could have spent the sunset there, but alas, we had to take the last bus back!
Day 5 – time to go home! Though the depression of getting back to work the next day, a part of me wanted to get back home. By this time, I had had enough of the hotel beds, and the walking, and the restaurant foods….all I wanted was to get back home and have some daal rice and sleep on my own bed.
Nikos, our driver from Welcome Pickups, picked us up at our hotel. While Manish sat in the front, I relaxed in the back of the car taking the in the sights for one last time during the trip. I knew the car was going fast, but there were other cars that were overtaking us, so I figured he must be driving within the speed limit. It was only once we reached the airport and I saw Manish’s face and then my watch that I realized we were going REALLY fast!
Our journey back was never ever ending – with the bank holiday weekend…there were loads of trains not working…buses not working….roads closed. I breathed the biggest sigh of relief the moment we entered the house and I kicked off my shoes!
But all’s well that ends well….this trip to Athens was a wonderful experience. I really want to travel to Greece again, but this time maybe just to the islands…
Nikos, our driver from Welcome Pickups, picked us up at our hotel. While Manish sat in the front, I relaxed in the back of the car taking the in the sights for one last time during the trip. I knew the car was going fast, but there were other cars that were overtaking us, so I figured he must be driving within the speed limit. It was only once we reached the airport and I saw Manish’s face and then my watch that I realized we were going REALLY fast!
Our journey back was never ever ending – with the bank holiday weekend…there were loads of trains not working…buses not working….roads closed. I breathed the biggest sigh of relief the moment we entered the house and I kicked off my shoes!
But all’s well that ends well….this trip to Athens was a wonderful experience. I really want to travel to Greece again, but this time maybe just to the islands…