We have met with a small problem.
An unfortunate event occurred while we were breakfasting and/or showering in Prague one fine morning. A midget opportunist of indeterminate gender who had been sleeping two beds over went on a crime spree (with two people asleep in the room no less!) and then promptly checked out of the hostel. Dan's laptop was among the victims, leaving us with very limited blog creating abilities.
But all is not lost: Dan is still taking photographs and we will resurrect the blog once the insurance money comes through. And on the bright side, I now know how to make money if we can't get jobs in Edinburgh.
The Parthenon inspires awe. Its sense of presence is spine tingling and once you have recovered from a brief case of slack-jawed yokel syndrome you begin talking in hushed tones out of respect for this immense, perfect, geometric structure. Even when the structure is covered in scaffolding and no longer perfectly geometric due to a somewhat embarrassing incident in the 16th century which involved the storage of gunpowder within.
Your brain then reels with jarring, lurching confusion when you look down from the Parthenon to the city of Athens below – a white concrete jungle that sprawls for miles in every direction... how did the civilisation that created “the foremost monument of western civilisation” way back in 447BC advance to this?
The mind boggles.
But once you are in the concrete jungle it’s actually pretty neat. The inner city is very walkable and dotted with interesting ruins, marketplaces, funky public squares, creative street art and kittens. The people are friendly and the house wine is delicious and practically free. But there are definitely signs of discontent – there is a lot of angst in the graffiti, the cafes are filled with people talking exasperatedly about political matters, the police are kevlared to the hilt and all planes were grounded and all tourist attractions closed for a strike during one of the three days that we spent there. The enraged shouting was audible almost a kilometre away from the protest.
Despite warnings... we headed into the battleground.
We didn't see too much unrest, but the police presence was hard to miss. All of the attractions were closed on our first day too, luckily we were on our walking tour which only visits the outside of everything anyway.
The gates of the Acropolis from an ancient hill.
Our very own archaeologist/walking tour guide, and yes the guy to the left is wearing stubbies. Back in the good ol' warm days...
Jumping for joy in a renovated roman market hall. It was really cool to see a roman structure as it would have been, since this was done the UNESCO rules have changed and no longer can you fully renovate an old building like this.
Our Brazilian buddy Louis, about the join the crowds with us for the main attraction..
The Parthenon... after learning so much about this structure is was amazing to finally see it. For those who don't know much about it, there's a couple of reasons I think it's so great. Firstly, the design. Although it looks like a simple building, the Parthenon doesn't have a single straight line on it. The ancient Greeks were masters of their craft and employed subtle curves throughout to correct optical distortions in our vision and to embue the structure with a real presence. The angle of this photo is no accident either, the architects designed the Parthenon to be on the perfect viewing angle just as you walk through the gates of the Acropolis. Secondly, the craftsmanship. The Parthenon is built like a massive jigsaw puzzle and because of the curves, every piece is unique. This actually threw off the modern Greeks when they tried to renovate it in the past, they thought the column pieces were interchangeable and it wasn't until the 90's with help from modern Japanese imaging teams they worked out the Parthenon's great secret. Since then they have pulled it apart completely and put it back together, giving us apparently the best Parthenon we've had for centuries. That also highlights another feature of the craftsmanship, the Parthenon is entirely held together by the interlocking pieces, there is no "glue", which makes it really earthquake proof. If it weren't for the idiot soldiers who stored massive amounts of gunpowder in there during a siege and subsequently blew it up from the inside, the Parthenon would be to this day surviving earthquakes unscathed. Even though, it's still an incredible monument from a civilization that was ahead of their times. Look up 'Secrets of the Parthenon' on YouTube if you've made it this far and you're still interested!
Hi everyone,
We checked out four more Greek Islands before heading to the mainland for moussaka and protests:
Mykonos
I have always wanted to go to Mykonos because the chorus of one of my favourite songs by the Fleet Foxes goes like this:
“And you can go to Mykonos,
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you’ve made”
This does not even come close to an accurate description of Mykonos. It is more like this:
“And you can go to Mykonos
Where you’ll drink until you’re comatose
And spend all your money in one day
Oh what a mess you’ll make”
We weren’t enamoured with Mykonos because there wasn’t much to see or do there other than drink yourself poor at 6 euro a beer and buy t-shirts that say ‘Mykonos’.
Delos
According to Ancient Greek mythology Delos was the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis, and for this reason it was incredibly sacred. Rulers and powerful citizens from all over the Greek Empire built lavish temples on Delos to honour the twins, which was really just an excuse show off their wealth and the masonry skills of their craftsmen. Nowadays the island is uninhabited so we took a day trip to check it out and were hugely impressed by the craftsmanship of the Ancient Greeks and also by how many lizards could live in one place.
After a packed, rainy boat ride... the captain squeezed us onto the docks of Delos
Lizards are my new squirrels... and just as hard to photograph.
Santorini
We arrived in Santorini intending to spend 2 nights and ended up staying for a week – we just couldn’t resist the surreal beauty, varied volcanic beaches, steaming volcano with gale force winds, antiquated villages in white sitting atop sheer volcanic cliffs, decorated donkeys, vineyards galore with delectable white wine, cactus juice, stunning views in whichever direction we happened to turn our heads and sunsets that looked like they were drawn by Monet.
It is one of those rare places that has something to please everyone.
Some of the local produce.. we didn't waste any time getting to work sampling it all. Even found some locally made cactus juice (no, not the fun stuff) which set us back a cool 10 euro a glass! Mental note... always check price before buying stuff, even drinks
We sampled some of the local wines too, after finding a beautiful old vinyard in an old traditional Santorini town. The vinyard had two styles of producing wine, one being your modern technique: fresh grapes fermented in stainless steel temperature controlled vats, and then aged in the barrels on the top row. The second was the age old Santorini way of first sun-drying the grapes for a week or so, then squashing them with their feet in the chamber at the back of the second picture. The juice would drip through into the front chamber where the sediments were filtered by a basket... awesome. It is then fermented and left to age in the 100 year old barrels on the bottom row. Because of the drying process they have to use four times the number of grapes, as a result the flavour was strong and sweet, and even has a slight raisin-y-ness to it. As you can see, I have become quite the pro wine taster.
Even the donkeys in Santorini are beautiful.
Less beaches that we expected. But this one... fittingly called Red Beach, was a treat.
Milos
By the time that we reached little Milos the tourist season was drawing to an end and aside from being lovely it was quiet... too quiet. There were signs of life everywhere – cars parked in front of houses, washing on washing lines, open windows and so on, but we hardly ever saw anyone. It was completely idyllic but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the children of the grapes were lurking just around the corner (they’re the Greek equivalent of the children of the corn).
So we just explored the landscapes...
...found ship-wrecks, and grew elephant legs.
Picking amongst the Greek Islands is incredibly difficult! There are just so many of them, each with their own charms, and a barrage of internet opinions on which are best and which are best avoided. We decided to mix it up in the hope of getting a taste of all of the different reasons why we daydream about the Greek Islands when we are doing housework.
Kos
Beautiful Kos has all of the elements one could reasonably desire of a Greek Island – white buildings with blue edging, warm hearted and hospitable locals, white beaches that stretch for miles into the distance, some interesting ruins, a nightlife and some historical interest as the lifelong home of Hippocrates, the father of western medicine. It also has approximately 1 tourist per square metre. Still, who are we to complain about tourists?
Beaches, and MEAT
Patmos
Patmos was probably the loveliest island that we visited, although it is better known for its significance to Christians as supposedly God spoke to John the Apostle through a fissure in a cave there. It must have been an incredibly traumatic experience for poor John as he wrote the Book of Revelations in that same cave based on God’s words.
The cave was ethereal and the architecture, art work and Christian relics at the nearby St John’s monastery were gorgeous. Also there were quaint little towns with windy cobbled streets where you could happily get lost for hours and beautiful quiet beaches, some of which even had sand (surprisingly this important element is absent from most Turkish and Greek beaches).
Picking a hotel from the 20 people lining the wharf can be a hit or miss exercise... this time it was a score!
Heading up to the monastery, unfortunately the photography was very restricted so you will just have to imagine what St John's cave looks like...
Syros
Syros is the administrative centre of the Cyclades and for this reason is one of the most populated Greek Islands but it’s not a popular tourist destination (unless a tourist manages to get arrested anywhere in the Cyclades in which case they get an all expenses paid trip...). We stopped for a day, of our own free will, to see what island life is like for bureaucratic Greeks. It was definitely quiet, but the buildings and alleyways were quite beautiful, being traditional in style with artistic graffiti and colourful plant life popping out of every nook. And the food was spectacularrr!
