Tuesday, July 19, 2011

7/2 Agamemnon's Castle, Tomb and Ithaka

Canal at Corinth, making the Peloponnese an island
Again on Saturday we feel a need to "get out of Dodge" and leave Athens on a bus tour, this time including the Corinthian Canal - which our cruise was scheduled to navigate, but which was canceled because of the Greek strike. We drive over it twice on the bus, have an opportunity to get out and photograph it, and rue that we had missed both the spectacular canal and the visit to Odysseus' home, Ithaca.

Remember, these posts are in reverse order. This is the end, not the beginning.

No locks, just a long, narrow, deep gouge through the rock. Apparently the Corinthian II is about as wide a ship as can pass through. Larger cruise ships and other vessels have to go around, as we ultimately do, too.

We visit Mycenae, one of the oldest archaeological sites in Greece and primary site of Mycenaen culture on the mainland.
Mountains and flowers everywhere!
Agamemnon's Palace - he ruled during the Trojan War
Agamemnon's tomb?
 Pictures from our last day are here.

We enjoy the short drive to the sea at Nafplio and its stunning views.

How could our tour be complete without ending our odyssey in Ithaca? Homer's (or whomever's?) version has the first four books covering Telemachus' short odyssey, then about the next 8 books on Odysseus' odyssey, then the next 12 are Odysseus' return to Ithaca and the wily warrior's defeat of the suitors who had been eating him out of house and home.

No Ithaca! Our trip cannot not be finished!

As we wander about the Plaka Saturday night casually seeking a restaurant that was neither the ritz of the GB nor the touristy side of the Plaka, a man about our age approaches us and says we look like we need a restaurant (he must be looking at John. I look like I need a gym). Having tired quickly of the restaurant hucksters last night, we follow him suspiciously.  He points to a restaurant in a nearby square, then walks away, so we kind of believe that he wasn't a frontrunner for the restaurant.

It takes me several minutes to decipher (in my biblical Greek from seminary) that the name of our restaurant is "Ithaka"! Not Odysseus' Ithaka, we'll need another trip for that, but a symbolic finish nonetheless. We made it!

7/1 - Delphi and the Temple to Apollo

Athens still feels a little threatening and the international news suggests a violent and disorderly protest, though that is not what we observe, but we nevertheless decide to get out of town. We secure front seats on the bus tour to Delphi and love the ride. Photos ofthe drive are here.

We're amazed at how rocky and mountainous the country is and can hardly imagine how it sustains sufficient agriculture to support its population. It obviously has managed to do so for many centuries, perhaps with greater trade with neighbors than we have imagined.


We tour the site, have a perfectly adequate lunch at a small, roadside resort, but realize how spoiled we have become by the fabulous excursions and tourguides we so enjoyed on the cruise.
The Treasury of the Athenians

During the Mycenaean Period, the female deity of Earth was worshiped in the small settlement of Delphi. The development of the sanctuary and oracle started in the beginning of the 8th century B.C with the establishment of the cult of Apollo. People from all over the Mediterranean would come to the oracle of Delphi to ask for advice from the priestess Pythia. Although many other oracles developed in Greece, this was considered the most accurate of them all.
Delphi and Apollo's temple were enriching and we learn that the oracles were women, high on various things that are no doubt illegal now, but whose visions were invariably "interpreted" by men. Photos of the small museum, temple and theater are here.

In contrast to our tourguides on the cruise tours, this guide understands that we need to sleep on the way back and is silent for the return trip. And doze, we do.

Back in Athens, the protesters are still milling about, but in a friendly way, so we feel comfortable walking around Syntagma from the drop-off point of the bus to our hotel. We wander in the Plaka looking for souvenirs and for a quiet place to dine. We find a lovely little outdoor place to eat and think we might actually be getting real Greek food for the first time. It's delicious!

6/30 Athens Archaeological Museum

Grande Bretagne broken marble steps
We feast at the Hilton's breakfast buffet (how is it that we go on a two-week all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink for free odyssey and John loses three pounds? I love what went into every pound I gained!)

The Grande Bretagne says it is finally okay to come to Syntagma. Our Rocky-bold taxi driver takes us on an extremely roundabout journey (required by many road closures) on lanes so narrow and bursting with parked cars that we're amazed the cab could fit between them. Most outside mirrors are tucked flat against their vehicles. Those that aren't are usually broken.

We eventually arrive at the GB and he drops us off right at the door. We can't  help but notice that their beautiful marble steps are damaged, but otherwise all is calm. We can smell the teargas, but it isn't overwhelming. After settling into our room, we board a hop-on, hop-off tour bus to ride around Athens.

We eventually hop off at the Archaeological Museum of Athens, the older, but nevertheless spectacular, main museum. We can't imagine why they felt that that museum was inadequate, but are  happy they now have two beautiful museums. This is definitely worth another visit!


Photos from Thursday day are here.

The last set of photos in the set above are from the Syntagma metro stop.

Syntagma Square from Grande Bretagne 8th floor terrace
We return to the GB for a cocktail at their stunning rooftop bar. They are quite annoyed at me for taking pictures of the demonstrators - they want my camera solely aimed at the brilliant view of the Acropolis. The view is so astounding that we stay and enjoy dinner there as well. Pricey, but safe.



People in Syntagma Square milling about - no violence or even excitement



GB evening pics.

Friday, July 15, 2011

6/29 Athens Acropolis and New Acropolos Museum


We dock in Athens sometime in the middle of the night, apparently very lucky to find (no doubt generously paid!) deck hands to help us dock. Every time we had docked (or de-docked) there were four men on shore who caught the little lines with monkey knots (solid knots about the size of a fist, so you can throw the rope).  Those slim lines are attached to much larger ropes that are then pulled to shore and secured on giant cleats.

Some last pictures of our boat are here.

By the time we wake, all that work is finished and the port area is completely deserted. The strike, in its second day, seems to have stopped everything. The schedule of stoppages at the airport is that all is to stop between 8 and 12 am and again 8 and 12 pm. The dock workers may be on a similar schedule. No wonder we went so fast! Cruise Director John and the other cruise personnel regularly give us updates on the situation, especially for those planning to fly home today.

We feel more relaxed, knowing we have four days in Athens. Of course, the main demonstrations are in Syntagma  (“constitution” in Greek) Square, exactly where our hotel is, but we aren't worried. We board a bus with about 10 other boat passengers who will be staying in downtown Athens and are eventually delivered to a Divani Hotel with Barbara and Joe. They're staying at a different Divani hotel, but will make the transfer later in the day. Our guide, Smaro of the beautiful voice, calls our hotel and gives us specific instructions about how to have our taxi driver call the hotel and arrange a meeting place where a hotel person will meet us to transport our luggage, the streets around the hotel being closed.

Other Acropolis pictures are here.

Parthenon - always being rebuilt
Temple of Athena on the Acropolis
We're  fine with that, check our luggage at the hotel where we were dropped off, and walk up the hill to the Acropolis. Yet again, I have no words to describe how wonderful it is to see such beautiful structures built more than 2600 years ago! There is much re-construction going on (apparently there always is) and in some places you can easily see the new, white marble that replaces missing pieces. According to an international treaty signed in Venice, they can only reconstruct parts where they have 70% of the original pieces. For those pieces on the ground, it’s like trying to put together a 3-D jigsaw puzzle.

The Parthenon is the main building on the Acropolis, but not the only one. We circle the Temple to Athena (neither building interior is accessible to tourists) and see several other buildings in the distance, including two theaters.

I hadn’t realized that during the Ottoman occupation of Athens, ending in about 1830, the Turks used the Parthenon to store explosives. At some point, it was accidentally lit, and much of the Parthenon exploded!

New Acropolis Museum
We visit the New Acropolis Museum, built, some say, to show the British that they could, indeed, house those pieces that Britain has refused to return to Greece, in a style appropriate to their majesty. No photos are allowed inside, but the floor, both inside and outside, is clear material, permitting one to view the excavations going on below.

The top floor of the building is oriented spacially, and is sized exactly the same, as the Parthenon just a few hundred feet above it. They display, where they have them, the pieces from around the top of the Parthenon. It's splendid! You really get a feel of the immensity of the work.

View from our balcony at the Athens Hilton - Acropolis and Syntagma smoke
By the time we return to the hotel where we left our luggage, the Grande Bretagne says "don't come." Teargas apparently is very strong in Syntagma so they arrange for us to stay at the Hilton, actually within about a mile of the center, but far enough away not to be bothered by the gas. Our taxi ride to the Hilton is roundabout, but still relatively quick. We settle in for a quiet evening with lovely, but distant, views of the Acropolis.

Hilton pictures are here.

In the photo above, you can see the Acropolis, smoke from Syntagma Square, and police lining the street waiting for action. Periodically a large band of police on wailing motorcycles circles past the hotel, presumably just in warning, but we never feel threatened in any way.

6/27 Messina and Taormina


 We go through the Strait of Messina during the night, presumably passing the Island of Stromboli, a sparking volcanic cone. We didn’t get up at 3 am to see it, but a few people did. Some say they saw sparks, others say they didn’t. 


We have an early departure, at 7:30, for the tour to Taormina. After going through 36 tunnels, we arrive at this charming town on the edge of the sea. Do see the pictures or google it! It's spectacular!

We walk to the Greek/Roman amphitheater, a structure that at one point could seat 5000, and learn the differences between how the Greeks used theater and how the Romans used the space for gladiator fights and spectacle.

Ancient Greece was a democracy and required an educated citizenry and at least its voters - free men - needed to be educated. Every man who was not a slave had a single vote. The theater provided that education. Comedy, tragedy, it all was used to educate its citizens. Women seemed to have been allowed, but I don't recall where their seats were. The era of Greek dominance was approximately from the 7th century to about 150 bc. Romans took over but were significantly “hellenized,” that is "Greek-ified."

Rome, on the other hand, ruled by brute force. It amended the ancient Greek theaters to use them for gladiator fights and the persecution of people it deemed worthy of death. Also an education, the example shown was a fight to the death. Apparently, the gladiators always began as slaves, but those who continued to win their fights could work their way out of slavery. Of course those cases were rare.

We were originally scheduled to travel the 270 miles to Ithaca, Greece after departing at noon, but around that time we learn  from the cruise director that all Greece is going on a two-day strike so we can neither stop at the island of Ithaca nor make our way through the Corinthian Canal. Instead, we will sail 500 miles around the Peloponnese and arrive in Athens about 3 am on Wednesday, with disembarkation later in the morning. We’re heading full speed to make that destination, and rocking and rolling a lot in the process. Winds come from the north in this part of the Ionian Sea, and we are heading roughly west-to-east, so we roll with the swells.

At every port, a local person boards our ship and performs the role of pilot. We learn that the pilot never actually touches the controls on our boat, but guides our captain into and out of the harbors. The two boats don't seem to even slow down for the step from his boat onto ours (docking), nor to slow again when he leaves our boat once we clear the harbor on departures. Below is a video of one of those events:



Though not our last night at sea, we still have the Captain’s dinner tonight. The original reason for the earlier special dinner was that the captain would be required for our trip through the canal at Corinth, but the lobster has already been purchased for tonight so we celebrate now, even though we will miss the canal.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

6/26 - Pompeii


The day is much like the others we’ve enjoyed: arrival in port about breakfast time, a tour in the morning, lunch back on the boat because it’s quickest, another tour in the afternoon, a brief siesta, departure from port, a lecture or two by one of the outstanding scholars traveling with us, cocktails (today with the Yale group, including singing) dinner, and a film available in our cabins relating to the events of the day.

To be more specific, because today is so very special, we sail into Naples harbor during breakfast. The gangway has obviously been repaired from the incident in Malta and we depart from the port side again. We board buses with our guide Carmine (and yes, he wears bright red pants!) and head for Pompeii. Unlike some of the other archeological sites we’ve visited, Pompeii is a major tourist attraction and draws many (millions? I don’t recall what we were told) of visitors each year. Our group stays together successfully, but we are given a place and time to meet in case we become separated.

Pompeii is also very different from the other sites we’ve visited because it was buried literally overnight. Instead of being abandoned, as Nestor’s Palace, or overlaid with subsequent cities, as Troy, Pompeii simply disappeared under many feet of ash that quickly solidified into stone. Its art and artifacts were (nearly) perfectly preserved, as were the shapes of the people engulfed in the ash/stone.

An Ancient Winebar - Pompeii had 82 of these sidewalk refreshment centers!
Our first stop is a bypass of the tourist areas and a special greeting by Dr. Stephen Ellis of the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project and insight into what his group will begin tomorrow. Would you believe it sounds incredibly familiar? In about 150 bc, in the area of a blue collar neighborhood where they’ll be excavating, families made fish sauce at home: some for home use and the remainder for local sale. Apparently, Spain (or what is now known by that name) began making fish sauce by some vastly cheaper method and underpriced the local Pompeiian fish sauce makers. So they changed. They bought their fish sauce from Spain and the area became one of service providers: diners, wine sellers and winebars, and other forms of service businesses rather than manufacturing. By 75 bc, fish sauce production had ended in the neighborhood and they continued to prosper in their new businesses. I think we now call it outsourcing. We didn't invent it.

Pompeii was also a city (20,000 people) of wanna-be’s. They weren’t Romans. There is much evidence of “putting on the dog” by various families who decorated their homes to appear larger, donated to their local theater foundations to win elections, and built columns of cement or, in repairs of brick, overlaid with materials to make them appear to be marble.

More pictures from Pompeii are here.

They also had some warning of the catastrophe that was to come. In 62 ce, there was a significant earthquake that caused great damage to the area, but repairs had apparently been completed, or at least were well underway, when the volcanic eruption that killed and covered the city in August of 79. The Roman red bricks (of renovation after the 62 quake) are visible everywhere, augmenting the earlier gray stone of the original construction.

There are two theaters, one for plays and musicals(?) and another, much smaller, for musical performances. We spend some time in the smaller one. There is a small (4”) black stone embedded in the performance area and we each stand at that spot and say something. We hear our voices as we speak! Not as echoes, but our own voices exactly as we speak them. My brief message: “May it please the court.”

Near the theaters is some scratched wall art and in one of the houses, mosaics cover the floors and walls. I am perturbed that these aren't better protected until I learn that all the good stuff has been taken to the archaeological museum in Naples. What remains at Pompeii is among the least and left behind so we might get a sense of the original conditions. 

Excavation to begin tomorrow - Mt. Vesuvius in the background
We find it fascinating that there was an established width for chariot axles. There were sidewalks everywhere and occasional walkways of stone, spaced so that Pompeiian chariots could pass but other chariots, of differing wheel widths, could not. We clearly see the ruts of chariot wheels in the stone.

After the usual delightful lunch, including today both a pasta bar and pizza, we take a short bus trip to the Naples Archaeological Museum. Pompeii stands as buildings, but its art, including its frescoes, has been relocated to the museum. The mosaics are exquisite! One room-width piece of mosaic art contains 1.5 millions pieces of stone! It is not completely intact, but shows a battle story in incredible detail. Other mosaics contain larger pieces and fewer colors, but the quality of the art is wonderful.

We also are fascinated by cement reconstructions of people and a dog. Pompeii was never covered by lava, only by ash. Its people died of poison gas, then were covered by a layer of ash between 9 and 21 feet thick. The cloud from the volcanic eruption created heavy rain of both water and more ash that turned to stone at some point. Fairly recent archeologists realized that there were cavities in the stone created by bodies. The bodies had completely decayed, but left behind holes in the now-stone in the shapes of their bodies. They found that if they filled a hole that they discovered with cement, it might turn into the shape of a body. We see the cement shape of a very pregnant woman, a dog in agony with a chain about its neck who could not escape the fumes, and a tree stump. Oh well, can’t win them all.


Saturday, June 25, 2011

6/25 Trapani and Segesta, Sicily


Day 6 – Trapani, Sicily

Another lovely morning as our ship pulls into harbor at Trapani, on the northwest coast of Sicily. We quickly board the buses for the inland town of Segesta, where a splendid Greek temple, begun in 424 bc, stands sentinal.

A five-minute bus ride above the temple is a lovely amphitheater, dating from the same period, overlooking a pastoral landscape. Our guide, Smora, sings something (an anthem; an opera aria?) in Greek and we can all hear her beautifully. It clearly makes the point that the acoustics are stunning! There are many there besides our group and the applause was unanimous! How did they know about acoustics back then?

Lunch is off the boat at a charming spot along the beach.

We do a quick walking tour of downtown Trapani, then re-board the boat for a 4:15 departure toward Naples and Pompeii.

John remembers about today:
We notice that it starts with bigger rolls overnight and much of the early morning. For much of our trip the water has been very smooth. There are longer, deeper rolls in the sea. We're in rougher seas than we have seen before now. Anyway, it's rolley. We get back on schedule and it’s still rolley (9:50 pm between Trapani and Messina). We are in Italian waters; they drive on the right side of the road. As usual, we sail in the afternoon, arrive around breakfast.

Trapani is different because the land around it is so different. Enormous peaks, hardly mountains, but significant heights compared with where we’ve been before. The harbor, again, is great. There are two exits: one for commercial vessels such as ours, but another for smaller craft. Boats here are small boats, only one major yacht, some ferries. It is a working harbor. We dock on the side with the only working gangplank without issue. It’s still hanging out to the side, like a broken wing.

We arrive about breakfast. We board, then got off the bus. Because of a local antique car race, we know it will be unlikely to get to the mountain town. There are high ridges, somewhat like Tuscany, where we lived for a week in Montepulciano. Coaches are available, but the timing is tight. A delegation of nine people comes on board to clear us for disembarkation. There is a fair amount of diplomacy involved, but we are off the ship in good time.

We sit on the bus for 50 minutes inland, from Trapani to Segesta, a truly dramatic ruin in remarkable shape. All of its columns and all of its crossbars are in place after nearly 2500 years. The area is one that has earthquakes, but none has shaken these stones. Today it was spectacular against a crystal-blue sky that would have done San Francisco proud. The panorama is one of deep valleys and high mountains with dramatic clouds clinging to the tops. The temple is in a relatively low-level place; there were areas higher than it that were the sites of urban habitation. There is a spectacular amphitheater, a mile’s drive above the temple, what an incredible surprise! Built about the same time as the temple, it commands a wonderful view of a very deep valley with an expansive vista. Several of the members of our party climb up and down, but we take the bus out of concern that we’d miss the return bus.

On top of the site, there is extensive restoration taking place of another site. We have lunch off the boat. Our tour guide was clearly a gourmand, describing the meal we were likely to enjoy and, indeed, we did. A full meal that people would probably have eaten more, but most expected many more courses, so we quit and were a little surprised when the meal did, too.

There is a World War II gun placement and a stunning array of decaying wooden boats.


6/24 - Malta


What a spectacular country! We visit three wonderful places in the capital city Valletta during the morning. First stop is the archeological museum.

Fertility was a big thing with Maltans in the pre-historic age and we see numerous strange statues, of various sizes, of what may have been androgenous people. Huge-hipped, they resembled women in their lower halves, but they had the upper bodies of men. Wow! They certainly did know how to portray women as we saw one statuette of a female with breasts sagging below her waist.

After cherishing the ancient sign of eternal life, as etched in stone to the right, several of us look for jewelry and other souvenirs that portray this symbol. Until one of our group points to a fire hose sign, exactly the same symbol!

Click here to see more Malta photos.

The second visit is to the Co-Cathedral Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist. Unbelievable! It took them only five years to construct the outside, but one hundred years to carve the incredible inside. Do look at the photos. They have two splendid Caravaggio paintings which are never permitted to be displayed outside the cathedral. Sorry, no photographs were allowed in that gallery.

The floor is all tomb-tops of various people. (I presume all priests who lived and worked there, but that may not be true.) Those tombs were frequently adorned with elaborately arranged skeletons!


Third stop is the Palace of the Magistrate of the city,  priests of the Order of St. John, who all displayed the eight-pointed Maltese star on their chests. They have elegant staterooms and a room full of exquisite tapestries.

We return to the ship for lunch, then re-board the buses for the short ride to the Tarxien temple, a very early temple (3600 bc – 2400 bc) and very interesting. Right in the middle of a suburb, it is well-cared for but not like the other temple we visit. It has no cover, the site is hot, sunny and dusty (remember, all the best art pieces are at the museum we visited this morning.)

The Blue Lagoon from a great height above it
Hagar Qim
We then go further out into the country, stopping to take photos of the Blue Lagoon left (spectacular!) and then a few minutes further to the Hagar Qim temple. Much more carefully restored, with a huge tent covering the ruins and an elaborate visitor center (2/3 funded by EU money). We are told the work had had to be completed on time or the money needed to be given back to the EU. Needless to say, it is complete and beautiful.

We return to the ship and are watching the crew ready it for departure, when we notice the crew seems to be having trouble with the gangplank. As one of the workers fussed with the end of it, the gangplank suddenly gives way and pitches him into the narrow gap of seawater between the boat and the dock.

Fortunately, in only a few seconds we see him swimming to where there was a ladder and he is able to get out. We expect to hear ambulance sirens, but after the ship’s doctor braces his neck sand placed a big bandage on his chin, they put him on a body board and carry him back onto the boat. The captain later announced that, though he got bunged up a bit, he was going to be fine and would be back at work. We see him at work a few days later and are reassured that he really is ok.

Dinner is with the Yale group led by Gordon Turnbull, a delightful evening.

6/23 Valletta, Malta Harbor, evening arrival


Malta is marvelous! We hadn’t understood why the captain wanted to be sure all lectures were finished so we could be on deck when we docked at Valletta, but we quickly figured out why. The harbor is splendid!
Our arrival in Valletta photos are here.

We arrive about 5,taking a little while to get docked and get the gangplank in place, then we're free to wander on our own. When asked by what hour we needed to return to the ship, cruise director John said simply, "by the time the tours leave at 8:30 tomorrow morning."

Needless to say, we're back aboard well before the next tours began!

For some reason, Valletta's designers felt there was better security in making their streets in the form of a giant grid (I would have thought a more random design would prevent invasions, but what do I know?)

Anyway, the streets are laid in very easy to maneuver rectangles and squares. The only hard part is that it's all on a big hill. Once we finally get oriented, we climb and climb and climb!


During our day at sea we were treated with several lectures by superb speakers. Call me if you're interested in getting the names of the lecturers and their affiliations.

Coincidentally, one of the people John works with is in Malta for his semi-annual board meeting there and he is able to join us for a drink at one of the main squares. Awesome!


6/22 Pylos - Nestor's Palace and Fortress of Methoni


Outside temperature at 8:00 is 70. We dock at the Bay of Navarino (remember Guns of Navarone?) on Greece's western coast. We breakfast early on the 5th deck outside buffet, sitting with two of our Greek guides. It's off-putting to sit down and the other two people at your table continue speaking in their foreign language, even though you know they are both fluent in English.

In the photo to the right, you can see the captain out on his little wing directing and driving the connection with the dock. The three buses wait for us.

We board the buses heading to Nestor’s Palace, some half-hour away on very narrow, winding, steep roads. Odysseus didn’t visit Nestor’s palace, but his son Telemachus did. I recall that Nestor also had a role  in the Iliad, but can't remember his exact place. The palace is huge and the beehive-shaped burial vault fascinating.

Left, the fireplace in Nestor's palace. There was originally a huge hole in the ceiling directly above the fireplace and it was obviously big enough to cook some awesome meals!

This archaeological site had an interesting, gently sloped roof over it, with wide-open sides. Compare with Troy's arching sail of a ceiling and the soaring tent we will see on Malta.

Our guide for the palace is Jack Davis, the archeologist who had unearthed the site, and Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the largest overseas American research institution. He is an authority in the prehistory of Greece and the Balkans. His wife, Sharon Stocker, leads the other half of our group and is equally well-qualified.

The story of the ruins is interesting: until about 1200 bc (the Odyssey, written in about 800 bc, recounting a story that supposedly took place in about 1250 bc). Up until its demise, the palace seems to have remained intact. But whatever happened to kill or cause the inhabitants to move, the site was never reclaimed, despite its apparent physical command of the area surrounding it. It was simply abandoned. Strange!

More photos are available here.

To the right is the beehive tomb that was probably used by the entire royal family. They used a stone trough to pile the bones of those who had previously died and whose flesh had disappeared. Apparently there were the bones of many people in that trough. There probably had once been a great deal of treasure there, too, but that was long gone.

We re-board the buses and return through Pylos to the old, but not ancient, fortress we had seen as our boat neared town earlier. This is the Venetian fortress of Methoni, a fascinating fortress reinvented to protect its inhabitants from ammunition sparked by gunfire.

Our guide, Smaro, carefully describes the defensive tactics: very thick walls, angled outward near the bottom, built with varying types of rocks and bricks for greatest support, bulwarks extending so the main gate could be protected from the sides. It is surrounded by a moat-like trench, probably left dry, but helpful in slowing the enemy’s advance. Fortress pictures are here.

We return to the boat for a fascinating lecture by Diane Ahl, on “Man is the Measure of All Things: The Male Ideal in Greek Art.” It is interesting to hear her comments on the image of young, male, idealized images. She has evidence, in the form of images on a pot, of men working naked in a bronze furnace area. There is some disagreement among the group about the wisdom of working naked among molten metal, but the evidence was on her side.

John remembers:
Entering the harbor. Not like yesterday: we first saw a huge rusted shape of a ship in drydock . Today was very calm in the protected harbor, and we were the only cruise ship there. This felt like a true Mediterranean town. When we approached in the early morning it was only a dark shadow. We were told there was a lot to get done today. We’re on a schedule. We had just a few hours there. We knew we needed to get back on the buses. It was fascinating driving through the flatlands. There is a big hotel complex here, that we didn’t see, but our guide spoke about. We only saw one hole of the golfcourse, but of course it was green. The guide talked about disputes concerning the water table and the resort’s excessive water needs. They do seem to be trying to be good citizens. 

Then we drove up and up and up. The guide commented on the  “commanding views” of the harbor, only useful to ancient people, to plan their defenses and see their enemy coming from afar. There was a clear understanding that this was a reason for Nestor to live here. Not very close to the sea but a perfect vantage point.

The winged lion was Venice's symbol
The great beehive tomb was built straight out from the palace. In modern times it was covered by currant drying areas. And 90% those currant drying areas signified ancient tombs. They walked us up; they explained the where-for and why-for. To be recreating it , oin tombs of what is there is today. Unrecognizable! Earthquake territory river nearby there weren’t olive trees there then it took a fair amount of imagining to see this notion that it was a tremendous number of years that this dynasty thrived; yes, it fell, but no one knows why. There was a notion, modern, to resuscitate the ancient recipes for scented and medicinal oils to be sold in the nearby spa.

The castle and ramparts were highlights, as was the guide. She was awesome!

We enjoyed the departure from the beautiful harbor of Navarone and as we got underway Kathy enjoyed a  pedicure. Funny nail colors, but sweet staff. The hairdresser’s been all over the world on this boat but looks forward to returning to the Philippines when we return to Athens. Said the voyages to Antarctica were wonderful, but only for those who don’t get seasick. For those who do, it’s awful. Another cruise.

6/21 - Syros, not Delos


We should have gone to Delos – an uninhabited island – with ruins from way back. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Delos enjoyed a long period of prominence, from 7th century B.C.E. until 88-69 B.C.E. The winds were unfavorable and our captain feared we could not find safe harbor, so we sail to the nearby island of Syros, also in the Cyclades.

Photos from Syros are here.

Syros is a lovely town of some tourist attention, but not a destination for large cruise vessels, nor even small ones very often. Our cruise arranges for local guides to walk us through some of the local highlights, though we didn’t get back down to the market to try “Turkish Delight”, which, we are told, was a favorite local sweet. Our fault.

Greece may need austerity, but we see none exhibited. Everything appears to be paved with marble, the churches we visit are gold-encrusted, and the only shops we notice mostly sold "wants," not "needs." The two Greek Orthodox churches we visit are very ornate, and one has a small icon that, after a cleaning a few years ago, was discovered to be by El Greco.

The afternoon lecture is again by Gordon Turnbull "Did Helen Go Willingly? War, Women, Beauty and Violence." During cocktail hour Bard professor Bill Mullen mounts a short reading from Book Three of the Odyssey, describing Nestor's palace at Pylos, including a moving scene between old Nestor and young Telemachus. After dinner we watch Gods and Goddesses, their movie of the evening, on the TV in our cabin.

John recalls our arrival on a very windy day, huge whitecaps, trying to figure out where we were landing. We in fact landed in a harbor with two enormous dry docks. Not beautiful, but interesting. A massive seawall protected the harbor. We tied up right at the town wharf, a much smoother landing than at the Dardanelles.

We learned we would have a walking tour, with a subsequent release. It was the slowest tour ever. Our guide was heavy and slow, but so were some of our fellow travelers. We climbed to a charming Greek Orthodox church. The little fold-down wooden chairs along the walls were labeled for men, who sat on the right, women were to the left (but our seats were unlabeled). We walked still higher up and visited the architectural museum and saw the icons that were put in graves. There were these flat icons, which struck us as a very early chapter in what we had been looking at. We entered the market to get to the archeological museum and ran into the police/fireman’s protest. This wasn’t Syntagma Square: they weren’t marching, but singing. They had a big banner that we couldn’t read, but there didn’t seem to be any anger in them.

It was our first view of a swimming beach and we were astounded at the clarity and blue-ness of its waters.

We also entered a small, but delightful, renovated theater. The town reminded us a little of Red Wing. The Sheldon Theater in Red Wing is similar: small, but immaculately cared for and, hopefully, prosperous. Municipal theater Apollo: designed as a miniature of LaScalla, in its original form, it has four levels of tiers. Workers were preparing the stage for something upcoming, their sweeping and vacuuming creating a great deal of dust. Its last performance was in 1953.

We learned that the local Greek Orthodox churches always had at least one ostrich egg, the ones we saw were embedded in the chandeliers and not obvious. Our guide talked of saving the red Easter eggs, a symbol of rebirth, and faith, each year. Its archeological museum was just three small rooms in a smallish building, but contained bowls and other artifacts dating to 2700 B.C.E. We were amazed by the medicinal equipment: tweezers, tongs, sewing needles, and other tools.

The scenery was stunning, just as you imagine a small, Greek ocean town.