Greece Trip - Part Three

Ok, I have some serious blogging to do to get up to date. However, it isn't going to happen this week. Jim and I are going to Colmar, France tomorrow and then Jim's mom comes on Monday.

September 9, 2008

The next morning, Jim and I swam to shore to explore what little was there on the island of Kea. It looked like it was a little tourist resort but was completely deserted save for an old man smoking a cigarette and drinking a coffee. It almost had an eerie feel to it as if there had been a big party there the night before and everyone was still sleeping or they were waiting for a big tour bus to come through.

We wanted to get a coffee but it didn’t seem like anyone was working at the bar. We decided that either the old man we saw needed some serious customer service lessons or he was staying at one of the bungalows behind the bar.

Thankfully, we were able to find a bathroom in the deserted town which was clean and even had toilet paper. Bathroom strategy came into play all week as we tried to avoid the bathroom on the boat.

Our second day sailing was a long one. We sailed for about 7-8 hours. We intended to go to Mykonos, but weren’t able to get there. I started to worry about whether we would have enough time to get to Santorini in time if we were consistently were behind schedule.

We ended up going to an island named Sryos and anchored at Ermoupoli. Ermoupoli was a great little town with tight alley ways filled with restaurants and little boutiques.

Unfortunately, Jim had gone down in the galley earlier in the day and ended up getting sea sick so we decided to stay in a hotel for the night. It also didn't help that our boat seemed to be rocking much more than any other boat in the harbor.

We had dinner on shore and then walked up to a chuch high above the town - Agros Greorgios. On the way down, we saw cats everywhere. I am not sure if they belonged to anyone but we saw a lot of cat food out for them as if they were community cats.

I was actually glad that Jim was seasick because having a hotel for the night was really nice. We were able to wash off the salt from the sea and get a good night sleep.

Wednesday, Sept. 10

The next morning, Jim and I went to the main square (Plateia Miaouli) for a coffee. We had our first Greek coffee sitting with 15 or so old men. They were all facing the square, drinking coffee, gossiping and fingering their worry beads or Komboloi. Worry beads are Turkish prayer beads which are often used to reduce stress and bad habits. They were generally only used by men but have more recently come into use by both sexes although we only saw old men using them.

The next island we went to was Naxos. It was the largest and most fertile island in the Cyclades and had lots of tourists as a result. We first tried to anchor in the bay near the port to avoid having to park the boat again, but when some policemen began yelling at us from shore, we surmised that it must be illegal to be there and reluctantly took the boat into the harbor.

After walking around the town that night, Jim and I set up our beds on the bow of the boat again. Unfortunately, the harbor was very windy, noisy and bright so neither of us slept much that night. I moved to different parts of the boat all night long which I think resulted in my glasses falling overboard. They somehow "disappeared" on our trip.

Thursday, Sept. 11th

It was another really rough day on the water so Jim was seasick again. He took over steering the boat and after a few hours seemed to be doing better.

Our next stop was Folegrandos which was a sleepy little port. All I could hear were the waves lapping the beach, and a dog barking in the distance.

Jim and I got another hotel that night at the Farm Hotel. The hotel did have a little farm next to it with chickens and goats.

That night for dinner we rented scooters and ATVs and drove up to the main town - Hora. I was a little scetched out by the rickety old scooter until I realized the poor thing couldn't go over 20 miles an hour.

I was on a mission to get seafood during this trip, but sadly the main "seafood" restaurant didn't have any fish. The seas had been too rough for the fisherman to go out. We ended up having dinner in a little square with Christmas lights hanging from the trees and little Greek girls playing nearby.

Greece Trip - Part Two

Monday, September 8

We finally got out of port at around noon after our grocery trip and our “safety briefing” from Stu. Considering that Jim broke his toe, I found myself holding on for dear life on the side of the boat, and we dented the boom and tore one of the lines, I’m not sure how effective the safety briefing was.

The first day on the boat, I realized that the there are 2 big problems with sailing. The first is that you are sitting on a boat all day. I know this seems obvious. Sailing = being on a boat. I, however, didn't seem to make this connection. I guess I thought much more about exploring the islands rather than actually sailing. I saw the sailing part as a means of transportation, but not necessarily the main event. Unfortunately that view wasn’t necessarily shared with our captains so some of us were disappointed with the amount of sailing vs. island exploration that occurred.

The second problem with sailing is the bathroom situation. For those of you who don’t know anything about sailing, there is one bathroom that can be used when the boat is in the harbor. You must pump out the toilet’s contents into a storage tank and pull in sea water. No toilet paper can be put in the tank so you have to put your used toilet paper into a bag which hangs on the bathroom door. Yes, that would be the ajoining door to our cabin.

I mistakenly thought it would be great to have a bathroom near our room to compensate for my pea-sized bladder so we chose the room attached to that bathroom. Due to the proximity of the bathroom, our cabin had a distinct sewage smell to it and was one of the main reasons we slept on the bow of the boat every night.

Our first day on the boat was a slow one as the winds were light. At one point, we stopped for a swim in the middle of the Aegean and were actually able to swim faster than the boat. It was amazing to be able to swim in the middle of the sea with absolutely nothing, but tons of water around us.

We had intended to go to Kythnos but the wind didn’t cooperate so we only got as far as Kea. The island of Kea was quite barren and didn’t have much of a town. The landscape was scattered with housing projects seemingly abandoned as if they lost their financial backer midway through construction.

I was anxious to get on an island and explore so was disappointed that we were staying on the boat. However, looking back on the trip, that was one of the best nights. We had dinner on the boat, followed by a refreshing night swim. Then Jim and I were able to look up at the stars while we drifted off to sleep in the silent bay where we had anchored.

Greece Trip - Part Eins (One)

Sunday, September 7th

We started our trip to Greece in Athens. Our sailing partners did not arrive until later in the afternoon so we decided to do some sightseeing in Athens proper.

The Athens airport and metro system was surprisingly easy to use. They revamped their transportation system for the 2004 Olympics so it was much better than when Jim was previously in Greece.

Upon exiting the airport and making our way to the metro, both Jim and I remarked upon the similarities in the landscape between Greece and Tucson. I think the only difference in the climate is the amount of humidity.

We were able to ditch our backpacks in a locker at one of the downtown Metro stations (Monastiraki) which was a lifesaver as the temperature was in the high 90s without a cloud in the sky.

Our first agenda was lunch. Jim was sure he would be able to find the restaurant he ate at in 2002 in the Plaka district. Why do I fall for this? I know better. Once Jim admitted that there was no way he would be able to remember where he ate, we went back to a restaurant I had seen earlier. It had fans blowing a fine mist over the tables and was a godsend in the blistering heat.

After lunch we started walking through the narrow, winding streets surrounding the Acropolis. Every street in the Plaka is lined with shops selling leather shoes, jewelry and clothing. After wandering for about an hour and not having luck finding the entrance to the Acropolis, we ran into some people who pointed us in the general direction, kind of. It seemed very strange that the map we had didn’t indicate the main entrance to the Acropolis.

The acropolis is actually more impressive at night when lights illuminate it from below. During the day, the scaffolding is a bit of a distraction. The placards in front of the ruins unfortunately talked more about the restoration of the buildings which has been taking place since the 80s than the history or purpose of the structures. Of course I had left the Rick Steves and Lonely Planet information I had printed out in our backpacks.

However, the architecture of the Parthenon is quite impressive. The columns lean slightly inward and widen in the middle to counteract an illusion of being concave. The corner columns are slightly thicker; otherwise they would have seemed smaller and thinner than the rest. The building's width to length ratio, as well as the ratio between the diameter of each column and the distance between them was set at an ideal number 4:9. The temple's floor and steps rise slightly in the middle, creating an illusion of a perfectly straight line.

At the top of the Acropolis, you can see all of Athens which is a huge urban sprawl. According to one of the guide books, 1 in 3 Greeks live in Athens. They come for the job opportunities. After seeing some of the sleepy, peaceful villages, I can understand why young professionals would come to Athens for work and vacationers go there to relax.

On the way down from the Acropolis, we were so thirsty that we stopped for some drinks at a café/ bar. Jim had a frappe which is an iced coffee that everyone seemed to be drinking. He wasn’t a fan.

After our refreshments, we headed down to the Ancient Agora which was the market place / meeting place. It was hard to imagine what it looked like at one time seeing the scattered fragments of the statues, fountains and buildings. Jim loved the fact that we were standing in the same place as Socrates and the birthplace of democracy. I was hot and sweaty so was somewhat less impressed.

I determined on this trip that the weather in Germany is much more my style. I have some serious issues with heat. However, Jim couldn't get enough of the heat and sunshine. It must be my nordic blood that prevents me from loving the heat.

We decided to make our way to Alimos Marina where we were to meet up with Stuart, Louise and Rebecca. We figured out that it was about 5 metro stations away and then a transfer to the tram.

There was some confusion as to which direction we should be going on the tram. I ensured Jim we were headed in the right direction but for some reason he doesn’t trust my excellent sense of direction. So we got off the train and I showed Jim we were in fact on the right train and now had to wait for 20 minutes for the next tram. I decided that since we were both hot, sweaty and tired I would refrain from doing my “told you so” dance even though it was incredibly tempting.

We arrived at the marina and met Stuart, Rebecca and Louise who were already on the boat. Rebecca and Louise are from New Zealand, living in London and Stuart is an American, living in the Netherlands.

After the food for the boat was delivered, we decided to go into the town to have dinner. The women who dropped off the food recommended a place but Stuart had gone to the marina restaurant and insisted it was good so we went there. It was a very modern design and looked like a very happening place. After looking at the menu though, I decided it was essentially an upscale Applebee’s. I think the only Greek food was a Greek salad. However, the bathrooms were incredibly nice so we all brushed our teeth there because apparently the marina bathrooms were not very clean.

That night was so warm that Jim and I decided to sleep on the bow of the boat. Ultimately, we slept on the boat every night but that had more to do with the room we chose than the heat but I’ll get to that later.

Non Marking Soled Shoes?

In preparation for our sailing trip to Greece, our captain sent us a list of things we should bring. One of which was non marking soled shoes. I had planned to wear my black athletic sandals which I now realized would make black marks all over the very white boat - not good.

So for the past two days I've been on a mission to find a pair of shoes for me as well as Jim. Only a month ago, I was cursing the stores for having only summery outfits when I was searching for sweaters to match the cold and rainy weather. Now when I'm searching for a sun hat, non marking deck shoes and swim suits, all I find are wool sweaters and boots. I have some serious bad shopping karma.

According to our captain, Aleksander, the four bottles of Bacardi he is bringing will not be enough alcohol so he suggested we all pick up a bottle at the duty free shop. He also suggested we bring some CDs for sunset techno parties. Why do I have the feeling that someone will be falling off of the boat? I have a sneaking suspicion that Eastern Europeans like to drink a lot - a few of the people in our party of 8 are Bulgarian.

Just in case we are lost in a storm, never to be heard from again, I love you all. Sorry for that little bit of drama. I'm sure the people we are with will be competent sailors. I doubt the boat company would just rent the boat to anyone; you've got to have some sort of sailing license, right?

It may be a while before I update my blog again. I have a lot of travel over the next month. We are in Greece for a week and then my friend, Beth, arrives the next day. We are going to Amsterdam for three days and then to Munich and Frankfurt. The night after Beth leaves, Jim and I are going to Brussels for a CLE seminar. So my guess is I won't have access to a computer for a few weeks. I'll make sure to post all about my travels when I return.

French Target

On our way back from the Eifel National Park on Saturday, we decided to stop over in Belgium to hit the Carrefour, the French version of Target without the friendly, helpful staff. It has just about anything you could want. The best part is that everything is in French so at least one of us knows what we are buying.

Sunday was another gorgeous day. After we rode rides, we went to the Rheinaue Park for a picnic. The Rheinaue Park is a large park almost the same size as downtown Bonn. It runs along the Rhein river so is appropriately named. Within the park, there are several gardens, a number of lakes and countless paved and dirt paths.

I intended to take some pictures of a serene Japanese garden I found one day on a walk. Unfortunately, the garden was overrun with screaming children playing in the waterfall so wasn't all that serene. I decided I'd have to come back to the park on a day other than Sunday to take some good pictures.

It was a great afternoon / evening for a picnic. We had some wine, cheese and bread and just relaxed.

One of the great things about Europe is the cost of wine. It costs about the same as a bottle of water. So why drink water?

Last week, I got a few more plants for our deck. I'm not sure why I have recently developed an affinity for plants. I think I am worried about the gray winter here. If I'm not spending time outside, then I'll bring the outside in. I decided to take a picture of the deck before I've managed to kill these poor plants. I fear for their lives.

Hiking in the Eifel

On Saturday, Jim and I went to the Eifel National Park for a hike. The Eifel covers 110 square kilometers. It is west of Bonn an extends to the Belgian border. The park contains 4 large reservoirs and countless hiking trails and biking trails. There are four different visitor centers inside the park. It looked like you could also rent canoes and kayaks.

We went to the Rurberg information center to start our hike. It was about an hours drive from Bonn. We already had a map of the area which we borrowed from some friends so the information center was only really helpful in that they had bathrooms.

The weather was absolutely perfect for a hike. It was sunny and in the high 70s. The canopy of the forest kept us reasonably cool on the hike.

A lot of the trails are actually paved so that people can bike in the park as well. We did find some unpaved roads and moved off the main trail to follow those.

The trails in Germany are not as technical as the ones in Colorado. They are generally pretty wide and obstacle free so make for easier hiking. That is probably one of the reasons that you see people of all levels out hiking and biking.

Although the trails are actually well marked in this park, we did get off trail for a little while due to Jim's no backtracking rule. We followed some mountain bikers who seemed to know where they were going - that is until they turned around and asked us if we knew where we were. Thankfully, both parties had GPS watches so we were able to head in the right direction.

Along the hiking/ biking route there was a snack stand. Of course, no German hike is complete without a gigantic beer and sausage. Our off track detour had put us a little farther out than we planned so we figured we needed nourishment to get back to the car. There was even a little pipe organ guy for entertainment. I could get used to this kind of hiking.