Getting Home

I make my way back to the airport and get there one and a half hours before my flight. It takes me a full hour to get from the Metro station to my locker to the terminal and to the gate. I got there with barely enough time to use the restroom before we boarded.

The flight was long (8 hours) but not too bad.

I'm happy to be home.

Museum of Ham

I stop for lunch at Museo de Jamon (The Ham Museum!). I have bocadillo de Jamon (Ham sandwich) which is just a crunchy bagette with a thin slice of ham. But the ham is incredible!

Madrid Metro

The Madrid Metro is a lovely system. It's clean, timely, and has television!

Palacio Real

The Palace is elaborate and lush. The audio tour takes only about 1:45. The Palace is nice to see and all, and I'm glad I did it -- but it's not mind blowing or life changing. I'm far more impressed with the cityscape of Madrid.

Madrid has lots of clean streets with new buildings intermixed with the old.

Terracotta Man

He's fragile, he's decorative, he's a beautiful adornment. He's Terracotta Man!

Madrid

I disembark and I'm jazzed that I can read the signs and ask for things in a native tongue. Now my Spanish isn't great, but I feel empowered knowing that I can ask for directions, count my money, and figure out the Metro system.

I stuff my bag in a locker - armed with only a camera, I take the train to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace). I'm able to get from plane to audio tour at the Palace in 1 hour. I'm pretty impressed with myself.

Greek Stereotypes

Greeks:
Do not eat pita all the time
Do not have any dishes with Phyllo dough, except spanikopita
Do not paint every building baby blue
Do not eat Hummus

Are a big hearted people who want nothing more than for you to enjoy yourself
Are a bit pushy...but not in a malicious way
Savor life
Are proud of who they are...maybe to a fault
Are shrewd business people and are always looking for an angle
Aren't judgmental

I think it's safe to say that I like Greeks.

PS: I also met no one named Zorba, did not see a gypsy, and not once did I hear "If I were a rich man"

Leaving Greece

The TV was programmed with the wake up call -- pretty cool -- then the phone rang too. I'm up and out post-haste. I say my goodbyes to Andrea -- and off to the airport. Another 47E. I'll be glad when I can stop hemorraging money.

My morning improves as this is a business class flight to Madrid - YIPPEE!

I enjoy the leg room and the breakfast -- and then I sleep the rest of the way. I awake in Madrid with 6½ hours to kill...and a game plan.

Last night in Greece

Andrea and I head back out to dinner -- she is still not feeling great and only has a couple of bites of her food. This is like the 3rd time in the past 2 days. And the Greeks are proud people. Everytime Andrea eats only a couple of bites the waiter immediately pipes up "What? Somethingawrong witta da food? I senda back and makea you happy anda full" (and for purposes of this journal Greeks sound just like Italians. I'm sure that'll offend them).

So now word has surely spread to the other chefs in town about Andrea's lack of appetite. Good thing we leave town in the morning.

We do some light souvenir shopping and head back to the hotel. I have trouble getting to sleep - luckily there is a movie on TV in English and only subtitled in Greek. About 2am I see if I can catch a swim on the rooftop pool. Alas, the pool is roped off. Back to the room. 5am comes early

Back to Athens

Back to the hotel. Andrea and I read on the rooftop for a bit. It is so nice up there. A cool breeze takes the edge off the humidity.

The Acropolis is lit up at night, not unlike the DC monuments. Because of its perch above the dimly lit city it seems to hover like a haven, like something mythical -- which I'm sure is what the Greeks had in mind with its design.

Peter waxes about Olive Oil

Peter has described to us the virtues of Greek Olive Oil over the Italian version. The Greek oil is green - and purportedly tastes better than its Italian counterpart (I'm not arguing).

I've come to find in my very short stay in Greece that the Greeks accuse the Romans/Italians of stealing everything. They are clearly worse than U.S. Southerners discussing the War of Nothern Agression - but it is analogous.

At one point Andrea confirmed to Peter "Yeah, the Greek Olive Oil is thicker" -- he cut her off quickly and derisively "IT IS NOT THICKER! IT IS MORE PURE!"

Lunch in Corinth

So after checking out the ruins (ugh! More ruins), Peter took us to a local outdoor cafe for lunch. More good food, more great produce -- and this time we had freshly squeezed lemon juice (of course, we had to add a little bit of sugar)
Time to head back to town -- on our way Peter drove us by a small bridge at the foot of the canal, so we got to see the whole length of the canal from the bottom up.

Then back to the hotel

Onour trip we had stopped in a souvenir shop and Andrea picked out a bottle of Ouzo for our mother in the shape of Venus d'Milo (or as I always like to think of her the Intravenous d'Milo)

Pan Fluatist

It's Zamfir Master of the Pan Flute's muse

Temple of Apollo

We're off to the Temple of Apollo in Old Corinth. There was a museum which had a collection of headless statues. I went to do a turtle head and stick my head inside of my shirt to pose next to the other headless statues.
I actually got called out by the docent "NO! NO! Serious pictures only!" Sounded like someone needed to lighten up.

This reminded me of The Christmas Story

...and I think it comes from FRAGILE

Day trip to Corinth

I had arranged for MY driver, Peter (from the other day) to give us a private tour of the ancient city of Corinth.

Peter grabbed us right on time and away-we-go.
First stop was the canal - which is 180 feet tall and a couple of miles long. It is quite the engineering feat -- and completed in 1893, before dynamite (with all due respect to Jimmy Walker)

Dinner in Athens

We head out for dinner - someplace Andrea found in her tourist book which is an "institution" known for its deep fried cod. Also good were the chick pea croquets with Tzatziki sauce. A good meal, but Andrea does not feel well (still) - so we head back. [the cook is once again offended that Andrea hardly touched her food]

I cruised a bar looking for some interaction - much like Rome, this town is not into bars, but is very big into cafes. That makes it very hard for me, solo, in the Falcon, to meet some peeps.

Walkabout Athens

We trek out into the neighborhood -- Andrea is amazed by the whole scene- it is busy, ancient, and a bit overwhelming. We hike up to the Acropolis. It is all being restored, so it doesn't quite have the mystique I would expect, but the views are impressive. It is amazing to think about these massive marble temples being built 3000 years ago. They are truly wonders.

After coming back down the hill we are hot, sweaty, and famished. We find a sidewalk cafe. Andrea has the cold cucumber soup, which is not cold enough for her taste. I have tomatoes and cucumbers w/ olive oil. Once again, the produce produces.

We get a pistachio gelato that is one of the best ice creams I've ever had. I head back for a shower and some R&R while Andrea keeps cruising the streets.

The Theatre of Dionysius

Acting!

New pics

http://picasaweb.google.com/BigTDogHouse/Athens

I promise I'll try to post these inside the blog at a later date...but wanted to share what I had taken up til now.

Enjoy!

Moving to Athens

We check out of the Astir Palace and head on to the Electra Palace hotel in historic Athens in the Plaka neighborhood. This is supposed to be a 5-star hotel. I now suspect the Greeks are on a 10-star rating system. I mean, it's nice, but so is the Holiday Inn. It's certainly nothing like the hotel we just left.

We do, however, have an incredible view of the Arcopolis (the High City) - and here I thought that title would go to Amsterdam.

Back on the mainland

We get back to port from Hydra and back to the hotel. Andrea goes to sleep right away and I head on down to the bar, where my new friends from Cannon Corporation Europe are. More good times.

Bat shit crazy

This woman was sitting across from me on the Dolphin ride home from Hydra. She was crazy or high -- or both. She'd roll her eyes in the back of her head and start convulsing.

At one point she looked like she was holding an imaginary baby against her breast.

At various points she would writhe and twitch like she was in the throes of ecstasy -- and then she'd "climax" and rub her crotch. She frightened me.

Who's my Peloponnesian?

Sadly and funnily this was scrawled on a cannon on Hydra

Eating on Hydra

We meander around the cove and find a restaurant on a cliff called the Sunset Cafe. The view is spectacular. We decide to settle in here and have an early dinner. Good times!

After dinner I sat on the water and nursed a couple beers while Andrea window shopped.

The beer of choice in Greece is MYTHOS -- it is a mild lager good for sipping in the sun. Drinking Mythos in Greece is comparable to drinking Red Stripe in the Caribbean.

Sidenote #6

Kombolói, also known as "worry beads" look like a rosary, but have no religious significance. Men can be seen all over Greece flipping and twirling these beads around. They are used to pass time, keep your fingers occupied while you don't smoke, or to give your fingers something to do while you ponder life's more important questions.

Greeks do love to smoke, a lot. I was told that smoking is legal everywhere in Greece except the hospitals. Granted, I did find more places that prohibited smoking, but not many. Also, almost all restaurants do not distinguish a non-smoking section.

This pic is of a man twirling his beads on Hydra, but I think he was twirling them too fast for the camera to capture.

Hydra

The Isle of Hydra is lovely -- a small town is nestled in the hillside of a tiny bay. It has fortress walls and cannons on either side of the bay entrances. We are both happy we decided to spend a bulk of our time here. We walk around a bit and inventory what there is to see and do.

It is mostly cafes and boutique shopping -- definitely a destination for the wealthy. There are 4 monster yachts docked (75+ feet) there. Andrea peeped in one of the stores -- a silk blouse was priced at 475E.

Poros

We get to Poros and it is small and quaint with lots of little outdoor restaurants. I check the board for the ferries and see that the one we came on is the last one leaving today -- and it's leaving in 15 minutes!

We hustle around to see if there are any Dolphins leaving later, and thankfully there are. There is one leaving for Hydra (pronounced "ee-dra") at 3pm and we book a Dolphin to come back from Hydra at 8pm -- all the way back to the mainland.

Andrea was a bit taken back when I went into panic mode about getting off the island of Poros. She said "What's the worst that could happen? We have to spend the night here?" I told her "Yes. That is the worst that could happen!"

I might have felt differently if I had an overnight bag or knew that the hotels on the island were reasonably priced (and most important, had vacancies). So my little freak out sent us to Hydra which ended up being a great thing.

To the Islands!

After breakfast Andrea and I grab a cab out to Piaraus -- which is the marina. We immediately find tickets for a "Dolphin" (or hydro-foil) boat leaving for Aegina in 10 minutes. 40 minutes later we're on the island.

It is rather large and we are being constantly pestered to rent a car or a moped to tour the entire island. We walk around for an hour or so -- we went to some ruined temple, dedicated to Apollo about half a mile away. We get bored quickly and decide to catch the ferry to the Isle of Poros.

Sidenote #5

The big toe on my right foot is killing me -- I think I strained a tendon or something.

Quiet night in

Andrea and I spent the rest of the night in the room, talking, surfing the internet, reading -- it was really nice spending some quiet time with her.

Sidenote #4

Greece has the most amazing produce! It is so fresh and colorful and tasty -- and this rule applies to every restaurant here.

Italian food?

I'm got back at the hotel and took a catnap and then off to dinner again. We went to a small Greek restaurant suggested by the front desk. We sat to order and were informed that none of the Greek food was available -- so we left. Bummer. I was looking forward to Mousaka and Spanikopita. We ended up at an Italian restaurant of all places -- the food was actually pretty decent.

Meeting Peter

I'm done at the Olympic Gardens and and Iam tired and my feet hurt. I find a taxi right outside the Olympic Garden and 2 old men were sitting on a bench near the cab. They asked where I needed to go and where I was from. Turns out the driver lived in Baltimore and his buddy lived in Houston.

So the driver (Peter) quotes me a price and offers to drive by a few more of the sights. He takes me by the Olympic Stadium, where they now light the torch every Olympic games and then past the King's mansion, where there is a beefeater type guard. Peter actually pulled the cab over and took my picture with the guard.

On the ride to the hotel, Peter offers his services to take us on various day-trips -- to which I tell him I will give him a call (more on this later).

Sidenote #3

Since I lost my hat on the Super Shuttle I've been on the lookout for a new one. I found one for the PANATHINAIKOS football club. They are like the Yankees of Greek soccer. I have made many new friends who love that I'm wearing the hat. I've only seen one other hat for that team on the street. I don't think Greeks wear their gear like Americans. I think they save it for gameday.

Sidenote #2

Since I'm alone I've decided to amuse myself by taking self-portraits in front of the sights -- I'm tickled at the results