Day 1
We arrived in Tirana and had a few hours before we needed to catch our bus to Greece. I decided to give Hans a quick tour of center city that would give him a glimpse into the history, culture, and politics of Albania. This walk around served as a wrap-up and farewell experience for me because I knew it would be the last time I was grounded in Albania for a long time. We walked to Skennerbeg square to soak in communist heritage and central position of Skennerbeg in the Albanian identity. I sat down to re-pack my thrown together pack, continued down the newly built promenade, and then swung around to the pyramid before having to rush back to the bus stop for departure.
This is the vehicle that would take me out of Albania and into a new world. We filled the time with napping and conversation. We reminisced about the "time of our lives" from our 3 months of studying abroad in Jerusalem with a dynamic group of college students sharing a common passion for immersion in the Holy Land. We stopped for a short break in Fier before the sunset in Albania and some guy got on the bus and immediately started shouting about how he wanted cheese. After another couple hours we began the long process of crossing the border in Greece. The journey was slow and any formalized process tends to take longer for Albanians, some of whom have never encountered the confusing structures of the outside world, so the border crossing was painstaking.
After crossing, we drove about an hour before being dropped off several kilometers outside of Ioaninna, our first destination. Since it was after 2am we were tired and figured that nothing would be open in the city, so we decided to follow through on our plan of being homeless for a night. There was a small airport nearby that was closed, but had some metal benches in the covered entrance area that would provide separation from the ground to keep us from freezing on a surprisingly cold night. Before we could put our stuff down, a police car pulls up and two guys get out. One went inside to perform the nightly check-in, while the other waited outside. Since we did not want to give the appearance that would likely sleep there and wanted to see if we could get a ride, we waited and talked to the police man telling our situation and that we were not sure we what we were going to do. Nothing came out of it and the guy stayed there for about a half-hour keeping us from rest, but we tried to engage in conversation to avoid the awkward circumstances despite our willingness to do so being apparently quite low. After they left, we got out more layers of clothes and positioned ourselves in such a way that we were not seen by the guard through the doors. It really felt like we were outcast homeless men who were wary of the authorities and just wanted to find a place to spend the night.
Day 2
This was one of the worst night of sleep ever. Anticipating summer travel around the Mediterranean I had not packed clothing with the purpose of keeping me warm. I wore my two pairs of shorts under my pants, a couple t-shirts, a flannel long-sleeve that I had included just-in-case and my rain jacket. I was still cold and laying on the metal benches, although better than the ground, certainly did not help. Furthermore, the benches were those with individual seats on them so there was not a flat or long enough surface to lay on. Despite being very tired, I ended up waking up over ten times in the short night because my body was sore and angry with these conditions. When the sun came up, we could not sleep much longer and figured we should walk our way into town to make sure we caught the bus out for that day.
It was a new morning and we were in Greece, that gave excitement to our steps and a sense of richness to just about everything. After reaching town we stocked up on water and found a fruit stand with a friendly shopkeeper who had lived in Chicago. The peaches, cherries, and nectarines that we got in season were definately the best we had ever had, unbelievably juicy and sweet. We continued on and stopped in a beautiful Orthodox church to give a sense of religious grounding, which I found out was modeled after St. Katherine's monestary in Egypt that I had seen from a distance. Then we made our way through the winding streets and eventually found the bus station after asking several people for directions.
This bus station would haunt us for longer than we knew. The plan was to leave to Kalambaka that day so I asked at the ticket booth and they said there was an evening bus. My guide book had suggested there was a bus at 8am and it was 7:45 so I asked, "So is there no bus at 8?" The man in the booth responded, "Morning bus leave." Thinking that my slightly outdated book was an old schedule, as it would prove to be other places, I bought tickets for the evening bus.
We had several hours to explore the city, so we gathered ourselves and read about the sites in the book. We noticed that there were a ridiculous amount of young Greek women who seemed to be traveling everywhere and anywhere alone or in small groups, while there were no few guys in site and those that were did not seem very masculine. While it made for a better aesthetics, we were disappointed in the sense of assertiveness and adventure that it suggested of Greek men and wondered where all these girls were going. I mean that place was constantly packed with primarily attractive girls between 16-25...a phenomenon that would hold up each time we came back.
Hans and I are both interested in history, warfare, climbing around, and great views so when we read that there was an old citadel, we made for it like the Gap of Rohan. The city is built along a high elevation lake that is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It seemed there would be great views, but it was hard to take in from in the city. We walked a few kilometers along the main drag before reaching the winding stone streets of the old city. Finding our way meant always going toward higher ground until we located the path and walked through the gate into the citadel.
There was a couple old mosques, some ruins, a cafe, and a few museams but most of the buildings were closed. We walked to the far edge of the promontory and were rewarded with not only a panarama view of the lake and the mountains above, but also a juicy treasure. Hans spotted a turtle below on the ground between the wall and the cliff edge. After some Luftwaffe pebble bombing, he climed down to investigate and stumbled upon a large bush full of ripe plumbs. Since this was public land and difficult to get to we had no problem harvesting what we could. We ended up with two paper lunchbags full and would be sustaining ourselves on those treats as a for the next couple days.
We ate what we had at the overlook and after exploring we made our way down. We saw that there were boat rides out to the island, and after checking the time, we boarded the next ferry out to the island. It turned into a beautiful day and the island had a lot to offer. There were touristy shops along the winding streets built on the hillside and we dodged shopkeepers on our way to the museum. This intimate museum was situated on the site of an old monastery and was dedicated to Ali Pasha Tepelena who was killed there. He was a powerful warlord who ruled over southern Albania, most of Greece, and western Macedonia in the 17th-18th centuries. The Ottoman sultan, whose power was questioned by Ali Pasha regional control, offered a truce to allow the warlord to retire on the island but then sent an assassin to murder him. The fat Ali Pasha was smoking a massive hookah in his personal quarters when he was shot through the floor. The holes and original musket rounds along with a collection of his personal clothes and weapons remain on display today. Since he was from Albania, he is treated as a folk hero in the South, so it was neat to make that connection outside of the borders of my second home.
Upon leaving the museum, we saw some caves where the inhabitants hid from Nazi bombing during WWII and the stopped at a beautiful shaded restaurant to try local eel. It was oily but tasty (Hans devoured all of the skin) and with the supplement of free bread, olive oil, and our plums, it served as a decent meal. Next, we visited an old church that contained the most gorily illustrated interior I had ever seen as it was dedicated to martyrs of the faith with icons of decapitation, boiling, drowning, burning, dismemberment, piercing, and BBQ griddle. It was time to head back to the bus station, so we boarded the return ferry and walked along the water stopping for natural relief and for Hans to sniff all the flowers while forging our own path until we approached the bus station. With plenty of time to spare we decided to indulge in our highly anticipated first Greek gyro or souvlaki. This turned out to be the most flavorful gyro of the entire trip as the balance of ingredients and the sauce was quite the sensory experience that we did not downplay.
It was time to head out, so we entered the bus station. I did not see the bus so I asked at the ticket window and the man informed me that the bus had left. Hans and I looked at each other in confusion and pointed to the ticket time, but the man showed us his watch that revealed it was one hour later than the time we had been living in. This was bad because we would have to pay for our fairly pricey hostel in Kalambaka, not have enough time to see the amazing site that I had originally planned a whole day for, and find another place to stay when we had seen nothing reasonable. The frustration and corporate exhaustion flowed in at once on Hans and I. Ultimately, we should have checked to see a time change, but it was in the middle of the night after a couple exhausting and mentally demanding days that we crossed the border and were thrown into a situation where we needed to find a way to spend the night out in the cold. The thought had never crossed our minds then, and there were not really any clocks that we had remembered seeing because we working off Hans' wrist watch.
We muttered some curses and tried to figure out what to do next. I called the hostel for that night, using the cell phone of one of those many girls, for it only to be confirmed that since it was less than 24 hours ahead, we would be charged. We asked if there was any reasonable places to stay, but there was nothing in that city. There were possibly places to stay in a neighboring town, but that would require locating, paying for, and making sense of a local bus. If we did not leave until morning we would almost no time to explore the fascinating cliffs of Meteora. Frustrated, exhausted, and out of luck the two of us contemplated hitch-hiking there. We had no local map or knowledge of the road and it was our first day in Greece, but we thought of the big difference in cost and time it would make and more importantly, how legendary would it be if we pulled it off. We wrestled with the options and tried to gather more information for 30 minutes with little effect until we looked at each other and acknowledged our mutual "screw-it" attitude. We walked with an adrenaline high, out of the bus station to find the main road through town to start our hitch-hiking.
The sun was beginning to set and we had no idea where we were going. Our bodies were thrust forward on raw frustration and anticipation of what "could be". But after walking several kilometers that began to wear off and we thought more hard about the possible consequences. We could be stranded in the middle of no where in the dark. I decided that it was dumb and that we should try to get to that other town for some serious sleep and start fresh tomorrow with what we have. We did just that. Although it was difficult to find the bus, we eventually made it to the town and found a cheap place to stay after asking and gesturing with many Greeks. To drown his frustration Hans set out to locate some sweets. He came back with ice cream, chocolate bars, and a liter of banana juice and proceeded to consume them all. This would give birth to our trip-long expression of "drowning our sorrows by shoving our faces." He also insisted on getting juice everyday believing that it was the most effective way to rehydrate and replenish nutrients. Amidst the frustration I did not realize how tired I was, I slept through till my alarm went off which was 12 and 1/2 hours of sleep.
Day 3
With our time adjusted, we took the local bus back and boarded the morning bus to Trikala. Well rested, we enjoyed our plums and the beautiful mountainous scenery along the road. We were driving through the tromping grounds of Alexander the Great. With all the winding slopes, we were thankful that we did not attempt to hitchhike at night because any walking or stopping along these roads would have been dangerous and confusing. Upon arriving in Trikala, we boarded a bus for the short trip to Kalambaka, the town below the slopes of Meteora. We discussed our options for getting to Delphi and decided we had no choice but to sprint through Meteora in 3 hours before boarding a bus to Trikala on time for the only bus to Delphi that day. We left our packs in the station (a lifesaver) and hailed a taxi to take us through the top. Exploring Meteora in 3 hours seemed like foolery, but Hans and I had done crazier things and we were not about to let any time go to waste.
The roads twisting up the western side of the slopes with rock columns and monasteries rising directly above us gave some great perspective on what we were getting into. The area was smaller than I had anticipated, so I charted a course and felt like we could see it all in our short time. The drop-off point was conveniently at the entrance to the most famous monastery perched on the western most precipice of the region. We climbed up hundreds of winding stairs perched on the cliff edge and then entered the monastery through a tunnel carved into the rock. The monastery complex was several different buildings built into the rock connected by carved tunnels and rooms with a great open courtyard area with views over the entire region. There was a beautiful gilded sanctuary with incense burning, some historic displays, and a couple monks walking around.Because of time, this was the only monastery that we would enter, but we were content because it was the most complete and elaborate of those in Meteora.
After descending the stairs, I located a footpath that cut through the woods in one of the canyons between the rock columns. While we love our overlooks, it was great to see the area from a different perspective in the trees looking up at the towering pillars of stone. After running through the woods like marauders, we climbed back up to another monastery balancing on top of a rock column on the edge of a huge drop-off. I spotted a possible viewpoint across a chasm, so we checked it out. There was a narrow way connecting several of the columns that jutted out above its surroundings that we carefully navigated. There was a makeshift bridge made by two logs that crossed the gap between two of the rocks and some climbing near the edge before we emerged victorious on the top of the last pillar for the best viewpoint of the day. We took some photos then sat for a while to take in the scenery while eating the last of our plums and spitting the seeds over the edge for a skydive. Looking around at the other highpoints and rock formations, Hans and I noted that God may have known what he was doing keeping our time very limited in this beautiful place. With more time to explore, we may have got into a dangerous place with our two adventurous spirits urging each other onward. Thinking back to our night descent in the Jordan desert, it would not be the first time we got ourselves into a perilous predicament so we were just glad to be alive and have a few hours to take in this unique location.
We made our way back and then took off running down the road to the East hoping to get a few more perspectives before descending back to Kalambaka for our departure. We were both not in running shape but pushed through wanting to see as much as we could. It was a nearly perfect day and the higher altitude kept it fairly cool providing relief to our heart-pounding bodies. Using the overlooks to scout our next moves, we made it to a couple other outlooks and found another winding path down toward town. With some time to spare, we slowed down and enjoyed our surroundings as we cut through the underbrush trying to stay on the overgrown path. Hans whipped out his sling and unleashed his fury with well-trained accuracy on bushes and rocks, but we both agreed that my baseball arm was a bit more deadly...He was good, but certainly no David. While it seemed we were close to town, the path kept winding and winding and we realized we would be at a very different place than where the bus station was. We started running again and made our way into town looking trying to find the way to the bus station. My travel map did not seem to be correct so I began to ask people, but a couple did not know where it was (huh? your local bus station) while others gave conflicting directions. The scheduled departure was now approaching and we did not know where to go, we followed the directions of a few shop keepers and ended up at the international station.
We were so mad that it was happening again. We had taken advantage of the time we had by doing the best we could in a new environment and things didn't fall together. It had never been much of a problem finding the local bus station in a town before, but my map was not useful and the people seemed to be very ignorant of their own surroundings leading to us standing along the road knowing that the bus had left, and it seemed our day in Delphi would be lost and we would be paying for another hostel reservation we could not reach.
When we found the bus station and got our stuff, I asked what time the bus left from Trikala and it seemed that we may be able to get to the bus station before the long-distance bus departed for Amfissa. We ran up the street and the next taxi driver in line calmly said it would be no problem to get us to the station before the long distance, but it was not cheap because the distance. Still frustrated that we had not made our bus and that we spent extra money on the taxi, we were relieved to easily make the bus we REALLY needed to catch.
To give some added perspective for why the difficulties of the past couple days were so frustrating, it was the part of the trip that I had spent by far the most time on planning. There was no precedent for traveling between these areas quickly and the information online was not only very limited, but also conflicting. Most people who traveled these areas did it as part of a packaged tour departing and returning from Athens, which I did not want to do because of time and money. And of course, the day we were going to Delphi was Sunday, the only day without multiple buses making the trip. In the end, I just went with what I thought worked best and hoped things would come together. But we were mostly unlucky and missing the bus on the first day had really crunched our time.
The long bus ride gave Hans and I more time to talk in addition to our napping and journaling. While I had frustrated at the sheer volume of things going wrong, Hans particularly struggled with wondering why God had allowed these unlucky things to happen. We talked about how things could have turned out for the better, to forget about the extra money spent because it was just money, and how to be more careful or patient. He talked about his travelling experiences in the Phillipines, India, and especially about going through central America with his sister and encountering some evil presences in the towns among the Aztec ruins.
During our hour and a half stop-over in Amfissa, we walked through an outdoor market and bought some chocolate covered fried donut balls. We were searching for food and for the famous local olives, but again Sunday cut down our options. We eventually found some gyros before returning to the bus station for our evening bus to Delphi. As the sun was setting, we whizzed by countless miles of olive groves that covered every part of the countryside before climbing up the winding road to the top of the gently-sloped mountain where the Ancient Greeks had tucked their most sacred sight.
You could tell Delphi was a tourist town because of the many nice shops, restaurants, and hotels, but they gave color and a nice energy to the tight streets. We checked into our hostel and decided to go out to get a drink and some internet. There was a bar that had free Wifi if you bought a drink, a great deal, so we used the computers then ordered a beer and some fresh-squeezed orange juice. We relaxed together I decided to purposely release my frustration from the past couple of days by chalking it up as an area that was plainly not travel friendly. When I brought up our glasses after finishing the bartender, looking surprised, asked "What are you doing?"
"Helping you out," I responded.
"Why would you do that?"
I was a bit taken aback. "Why not. It's not difficult for me to bring them over on the way out and wish you a good night."
She smiled. "People don't usually do that." After pausing, she offered us a free shot of Ouzo for which I was excited because we had not yet encountered this characteristic Greek liquor.
We started a conversation and she was very intrigued to hear about what I had done in Albania. She had come from Romania to work there and she wanted to open a new club. She was very friendly and our encounter was a nice way to end an exhausting day.
Day 4
The next morning we got up early, bought our bus ticket to Athens, then went to check out the site. We walked down the street past the museum and entered the site a few minutes after it opened. This visit would be particularly memorable because we were the only people there for over an hour as the sun slowly unveiled itself from behind the mountain slope above. We walked through the ancient agora, then up the Sacred Way that used to be flanked by statues and treasuries donated to Apollo by the city-states. There was a stone pillar marking the omphalos, or center of the earth apparently calculated by Zeus when he released two eagles at either end of the earth and they met in the middle at this point. We continued up past the temple of Apollo, the theater, and the stadium where we crossed the red tape and found the ancient starting blocks to take part in our own Pythian Games (since we were not going to Olympia) before being whistled at by one of the guards.
We began to make our way back down the winding path with amazing views from above the sight and ran into a group of American high-school students. A group of the girls were talking about how tired they were and that they may wait at the bottom while the others went up to the top. Hans and I were baffled and held in the urge to lash out them for being spoiled, unwilling to suck it up for a bit, and for not knowing what they were missing. We simply approached them and said bluntly that they needed to go to the top because that was where the best views and ruins were.
We exited the upper site and ran down the road past the site of the spring where pilgrims used to wash themselves and down to the entrance to the lower site, where the most recognizable structure in Delphi was located. The tholos is a raised circular platform with a cylindrical enclosure surrounded by pillars and we do not know what any of these buildings were used for. However, this is the best preserved example and it was likely near where the famous oracles would deliver their catatonic messages to answer questions of the envoys coming to seek the will of Apollo. Their trance-like state was likely derived from intoxicating fumes that emerged from an opening in the earth over which she sat in a tripod chair. Their babbling would be interpreted by a priest into verse. Since the answers were usually vague, it is likely how the message was received by the audience that would determine their action.
With a little over an hour remaining before our bus departed, we ran back up the road and into the museum. This was the first time either of us had encountered the rule that you could take pictures of the displays, but could not have people in the picture. The museum was not very extensive but had a few important displays including the original carved rock marking the center of the earth and a full-size bronze charioteer. Satisfied with our visit, we grabbed our bags and boarded the bus to Athens.
The Athens bus station was outside of the city-center so we had to take the metro, but first we stopped to inhale three different gyros. With the name and address of our popular hostel, I figured it would be easy to find, but I asked several people and they did not know where it was. We started walking down the street, some police men gave us the wrong directions, so we resorted to asking taxi drivers, but the not one of them in the whole line-up knew where it was. After over an hour of walking and asking, it seemed hopeless so we looked asked a few people and finally got helpful directions to an internet cafe. I got more specific directions not only for Athens but for all the hostels for the rest of the trip. I was relieved to see that I got a confirmation email from the tour company that would be taking us on a day-tour during our third and final day in Athens and that they would pick us up right near our hostel. Of course, as we checked out, the guy at the counter told us where the street was on our map, so we were able to finally find it hours after arriving in the city.
Since all the ancient sites were in the same area of the city, I decided we would hit all of that during our full day tomorrow, and would knock-off the close by National Archaeology Museum that night.The hostel receptionist was able to give a lot of information about the city and he confirmed my plan saying the museum was open until 8 all week. Of course, when we got there at 5:30, the museum was closing because there was a special exhibition that night to celebrate Croatia joining the EU that day. Unbelievable! Here we were again running up against some unforeseeable and unusual roadblock that would mess with our ability to see all we wanted to see.
All the main historic sites were closed for the night, but I decided we should go to the area around the Acropolis to explore and see it at night, which we would not get to do if we were visiting the museum the next night before going to bed early. It was a great decision and the closure may have worked in our favor in the end. We were walked through some gardens, visited the ugly Greek Parliament building, walked the streets, and of course found a way to shove our faces with more gyro. We passed several groups of police officers who outfitted with body armor, motorbikes, and riot gear. This heavy police presence was in response to the economic crisis and the following civil unrest, but this over the top show of force seemed to provide more anxiety than security. I used the travel book to find the two best lookout points in the area and we spent a good amount of time on Philopappos Hill climbing rocks and gazing over both the acropolis to the west and the harbor far to the east before weaving our way down the other side toward Aeropolis Hill where Paul preached to the Athenians about the "unknown god."
After finding a way around the annoying fences, we noticed that the hill was being swarmed by young people. It is the most popular place to watch the sun set, so we figured we might as well join in the fun and perched ourselves at the top. The two of us adventurers seemed to be getting a lot of attention from the adolescents surrounding us. I was trying to figure out why when I heard someone quietly say "Mr. Benner", so I turned and saw Klea, one of my Albanian students who had just graduated from LAC. Well this was an unlikely meeting, and it would turn out not to be the last. We talked for a while about why she was in Athens, how she had come with her cousin to the hill each night, and how she was feeling about college. Although she was very scared about leaving her family and country, I am proud to say that she is now attending Lithuania Christian College along with 4 of her classmates.
After the sun set, we planned to return to the first hill that was higher and with a better view to watch the Acropolis lit up at night. We grabbed a couple local beers and climbed back up through the gardens in the dark to the top of the precipice and parked ourselves to take in the ancient city below. We talked for a couple hours about Hans experience in Guatemala, his desire to go to the army then become a college history professor, about the hardships of being abroad, and how this affected our relationship with God. I was thankful for this time and knew that we would not have done it the next night because of having to be up very early for our ferry to Santorini. Wanting to get to our hostel before midnight, we eventually made our way back among crowds of people still in the streets.
Day 5
The next morning, Hans and I walked to the appointed street corner for pick-up by the tour company before being transferred to our bus that would tour the ancient sites south of the isthmus at Corinth. We passed by the island of Salamis where the Athenian navy defeated the vastly larger Persian invasion fleet effectively ending the Persian incursion in Greece. first stopped at the deep canal connecting the Adriatic with the Aegean Sea and got to see one small boat pass before heading down to sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidaurus. This ancient site has one of the largest and best preserved ancient theaters in the world and it still had amazing acoustics. From the central point of the stage floor, you could drop a quarter or speak in a normal voice and be heard all the way at the top, which is quite impressive for an outdoor venue. After rumbling around the theater, we scurried our way to the rest of the site which was mostly in ruins, but there was enough that you could get a sense of the size and function of this place of healing blessed by Asclepius the god of medicine.
We then drove south to the beautiful coastal city of Nafplio, which is protected by three different Venetian fortresses and served as the first capital of modern Greece. We had less than an hour to explore, so I walked down the promenade along the water and then came back through the flower-girded Italian style streets with quaint cafes and shops. We then drove toward the jewel of the tour, Mycanae, the capital city of the Mycenaean and likely where King Agamemnon from the Illiad ruled. We stopped outside the site at a large restaurant for lunch where everyone was served Greek salad, bread, french fries, and lamb.
Before entering the main site, separated from the city, we visited a grave cluster containing the great royal beehive-style stone tombs covered over by earth. Then at the main site our guide gave us some background as we approached the famed Lion's Gate with two lions carved into the stone above the entryway. On the bottom level was the royal tomb cluster where the famous Mask of Agamemnon was found along with loads of other gilded jewelry and objects. We continued to walk up the slope that the fortress city was built on up to the palace. The palace rooms seemed very small and not as ornate as some, but it is still amazing that such a city was built and such wealth amassed almost four millennia ago in an area of such mountainous geography.
After taking in the commanding view over the entire plain below, we left Mycenae and stopped at a shop with all sorts of figurines and hand-painted pottery for sale, a money grab opportunity typically included in these type of day tours. Then we returned back to Athens along the sea passing a couple hills that were acropolis sites for other ancient Greek city-states. After being dropped of, Hans and I hit several mini-markets to procure a feast of up bread, sausage, cheese, pickles, olives, tomato, pepper, banana, cherries, plums, yogurt, pastries, and juice. We hung around in the room for a while writing in our journals and doing wash before going to bed.
Day 6
Since none of the sights open until 10am, we were able to take our time and find some great mini-markets to supply breakfast and snacks along the way. We started at the Acropolis and I was pleasantly surprised when I was given a hefty 10 euro ticket for free because of the international teacher's card that I had bought, which had not worked previously. We joked about this as we made our way through the crowds up the turning white marble steps and through the front gate of the Acropolis of ancient Athens.
After stopping to take in the fact that we just crossed that ancient threshold we turned left to check out the Erechtheion, including the famous porch of the Caryatids (on the cover of my guide book), which was a temple partially dedicated to Poseidon. Legend has it that the Athenians decided to dedicate their city to Athena rather than Poseidon after a gift-giving competition. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident causing salt water to come out while Athena made an olive tree grow. The citizens found the olive tree more useful, so they dedicated themselves to Athena.
Next we slowly walked around the Parthenon, which dominates the area of the acropolis and was a temple for the worship of Athena. It was very well preserved until the Turks decided to store their ammunition inside. The Venetians bombarded the city and when the temple was struck, there was a massive explosion that blew off the roof and most of the one side. They are currently still in the process of reconstruction. We took our time trying to take everything in on what may be the most famous ancient site in the world. There was a great lookout over the city and plenty of picture opportunities along with site guards blowing their whistles at anyone getting too close to the monuments. As we finished rounding the Acropolis and prepared to sit to eat, we ran into the girls.
Kelsee Foote had studied with both of us in Jerusalem during our semester abroad. She is a independent and strong-spirited adventuress who could be compared to an elegant and intellectual Amazonian. She had just graduated college and was in the midst of several months of backpacking with her sister, Danielle, throughout southeastern Europe. We had talked about meeting up to travel long before and had arranged to travel together for a few days in Greece. I knew they were in Athens but figured our itineraries would not match up, but since we ran into each other, we spent some time discussing what had been going on and agreed to meet up at the archaeological museum that night.
After parting ways, and finishing our food, we descended down the eastern slope of the acropolis checking out the old theaters positioned here and getting a sense of scale for the cliffs that acropolis was mostly surrounded by. We visited the Acropolis museum that was full of statues and other remains found on the site, with the top floor being built to mirror the outlay of the Parthenon. Then we ventured out into the Plaka district to execute a broad sweep of ancient sites.
Our first stop was Hadrian's arch followed by the temple of Zeus, which was nothing but a raised chunk of earth with a few massive pillars left standing, but it was the largest temple on mainland Greece. Then we jutted out to the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the Games of the I Olympiad in 1896. We cut back haphazardly through the streets seeing parks, cafes, palaces, and old churches until we eventually arrived at the Roman Agora. Although we had been taking our time, we found out the sites closed earlier then listed in my book so we quick made our way through the remains dominated by the well-preserved Tower of the Winds. Skirting our way over to the Ancient Agora, there was an old chapel that I chanted in before we found ourselves on the main drag of the ancient Greek city where both sides of the wide street would have been lined with colonnades and roofed shops serving as the social and economic heart of the city. Before it closed, we made our way to the Temple of Hephaestus, which we had seen from the hill during sunset, which is the best preserved Doric temple in the world.
A crescendo of whistles was blown by the guards signaling closing time so we ran around for our final view then exited. We bought some fruit and checked out some shops in the city before taking the metro back to our hostel. We were tired and very hungry from our long day of site hopping, so we revisited the mini-markets for another feast to fill our stomachs in the hostel eating area before going to the room to do some laundry and take a short nap. There was not another country who happened to join the EU that day so were were able to enter the museum, which was tightly-packed with quality ancient stuff.
Having taught ancient Greek history, I noticed they heavily stressed that the Cycladic civilization beginning during the 4th millennium BC was the earliest in Greece. I had taught the widely accepted understanding that the Minoan civilization on Crete beginning around the same time was the first. In addition, the Minoans were basically ignored throughout the museum, which had rooms of displays for Cycladic, Mycenaen, Classical, Hellenistic, and finally Roman collections on the main floor. The few displays they had for the Minoans were found in a separate exhibit on the mostly closed second floor. My guess was that the mainland Greeks were upset that Crete kept all of the best Minoan artifacts in their museum, so they intentionally disregarded that era both out of lack of artifacts and for spite.
The Cycladic pieces were interesting because they were very distinct from other ancient civilizations with long, smooth features and because they were largely unknown to me. From Mycenae they had the famed Golden Mask of Agamemnon, gilded swords and jewlery, Linear B tablets, and lots of pottery. The rest of the pieces were mostly statues, but it was interesting to see the progression from Classical to Late Roman.Hans was frustrated that two exhibits he was very interested in, Cyprus and Egypt, were closed and the book highlighted their Egyptian collection as one of the best so I talked to the lady at the information desk suggesting that we had come to the museum in part to see the Egyptian collection. She eventually called one of the guards who took us back to the exhibit and gave us twenty minutes to check it out...like a boss!
After the museum closed, we met the girls outside. As was to be expected due to the high historic interest levels Hans and I, they moved through the museum more quickly and came away with different observations. Since everything was closed, we talked for a couple and I was able to catch up with what Kelsee had done for the past couple years and what she was hoping to do after her travels. We confirmed our boarding details for the ferry to Santorini where we would meet them early the next morning.
Day 7
In the morning, we headed out to Pireas harbor area by subway, picked up our tickets, and went out in search for some bread and cheese to eat during the journey and were able to find a guy who would let us in early after Hans walked in and kept asking questions basically insisting we be able to buy cheese. When we returned to the boat and got to our reserved seats, the girls were there waiting and it was not long until we were off.
Our ride was scheduled to take about 8 hours and I anticipated sleeping for much of it, but conversation quickly took the upper hand. I continued to get caught up with Kelsee then got to know Danielle who had been living around Boston while completing her master’s program in psychology. Periodically, I would go out to visit Hans who had taken up residence on deck and check out our progress and surroundings. The most interesting observing was when we docked at the islands Paros and Ios and hordes of people and trucks unloaded from the ship followed by a larger swarm that waited to board. Hans had been charting our progress and so we anticipated the dramatic views as we approached Santorini by claiming a space along the railway. We sailed into the middle of the group of islands where cliffs of brown and red volcanic rock bordered the sea with white, layered cities perched along the edge.
We docked, waited to exit, boarded a bus that climbed the winding road up the cliff, and then hopped on another bus that took us to Oia, the famous white-washed town of Santorini. The drive took us through twisting sun-baked streets that revealed the shape of the island which slopes gradually downward away from the sea-cliffs. There used to be one landmass, but the volcano at the center violently erupted causing the heart of the island to fall into the sea. There were few trees but there was a good amount of shrubs and grasses apart from the barren red-rock cliffs.
From the bus, we walked through the tight-knit streets to our hostel, which was beautifully positioned around a central courtyard with a couple patios on the roof. The receptionist was bombarded with requests, so I checked us in slowly and got all the information needed to strategize for the next day and a half. After some lazy deliberation, we walked down a winding path to the beach below the cliffs and found an area used for cliff jumping. The main leap was about 25 feet, which was enough to bring discomfort to my ears, but it was worth it. We then walked along the coast and climbed another winding path back into the city ending at the old castle just as people were gathering there for the sunset. This is definitely one of the best places in the world to watch the sunset and we each climbed around the crowd to get a full view. Since we had neglected to eat anything for most of the day, we stopped for gyro before returning to the hostel. I went to the roof to relax under the stars while Hans mingled with a couple Korean girls before bed.
Day 8
In the morning we ate breakfast provided by the hostel on the balcony then started off for a hike along the cliff edge. We walked for a couple miles first taking in the terraced beauty of Oia as we climbed then pausing to experience the barrenness and beauty of the arid cliffs and shrubs juxtaposed by the expanse of sea below. When we reached a picturesque monastery perched on the hillside we stopped for pictures and basking in the sun. Hans ran up to the top of the highest hill quickly soon to be pursued by a rumbling wolf where we got a view over most of the island. I began taking panorama footage to document our position when a Tusken Raider appeared with its guttural groaning leading to an explosion of laughter.
We rejoined the girls and made our way back on the path the way we came taking in the sites from another direction. After gathering our stuff, we got picked up in a truck and taken to a small vehicle rental place where we rented a small car for the day. With the windows down and foreign music blaring we felt pretty cool driving down the gentle slope of the island to the eastern coast. We stopped along the road at a vineyard where we sat to try the local wine. Danielle and I felt like the parents of the bunch as we read about the background, scents, and tastes included in these unique, volcanic-grown wines as Hans and Kelsee returned from stuffing their faces and pockets with pilfered grapes.
Continuing down the coast, all roads led to Fira, the central city on the island, before we emerged back to the central cliffs along the southern part of the island. At an overlook, we stopped the car to take in the broken island from this new perspective. A strong wind was blowing in from the sea causing the water to slap inaudibly and forcing us to literally lean toward the edge if we were going to keep our balance without holding onto something. I began to throw some of the porous pebbles into the air so that they went out and returned like a boomerang. At this point, an exciting phenomena occurred. Hans found a plastic bottle partly-filled with water and hurled it forward. My amusement quickly turned to worry as the wind whipped the bottle into the air and back over his head toward the road just as a car was driving by. However, the bottle avoided this undesirable collision by slamming perfectly into a trash container sitting along the road fifty feet behind Hans. We responded with shocked excitement while Hans screamed in blind triumph at the unlikely chance of this trash finding its way home.
We next found our way to the ancient site of Akrotiri, which can be described as the ancient Greek version of Pompeii. This important ancient settlement was covered over by volcanic ash following the great eruption. Although less dramatic and expansive than Pompeii, Akrotiri is the best representation of what a typical Minoan town (2nd millenium BC) may have looked like and has yielded some of the most important Minoan artifacts including frescoes, tools, and furniture. Hans and I visited the site, which is protected by a newly completed indoor facility, while the girls relaxed on the beach. We got to walk on part of the site at street level and I saw a depiction of "drowned men" which reminded me of the Drowned god and the salt-water baptisms of the Iron Islands in Game of Thrones.
After a sufficient examination, we picked up the girls and drove to the "Red Beach" to relax on one of the most unique, and seemingly dangerous, beaches available. We hiked around the hill and climbed down to the long and narrow beach situated under a high wall of deep-red volcanic rock. As Hans and I ventured over to a secluded swimming area along the rocks I found out that he could not swim properly as all of his powerful figure was lost swiping around like a confused tiger. After a couple demonstrations, he seemed to be progressing much better and we enjoyed the views looking back at the beach and taking underwater pictures with his indestructible camera.
We returned to the girls and ate an early picnic dinner on the beach. As we prepared to leave after basically everyone else had left, Hans and I began to experiment with throwing rocks and into the rock wall above and having them fall back down toward us. Then I decided to see if I could hit the top of one spire, and after a few tries, I crow-hop and launched one near the top. But instead of the normal small stone falling back down, it somehow had caused a small avalanche of rocks and one large chunk came crashing down right through one of the lounge chairs provided on the beach. After investigation, we could see that there was a two foot hole perfectly where a tourists head would have rested had they been lounging there. I felt a bit bad for breaking the chair, but much more confused, if not frustrated, at the lack of safety precaution relating to the unsound rock face looming above the heads of those on the beach. If my small stone had dislodged such a mass of rock, then a stiff breeze could cause these weathered slopes to crumble. That rock would certainly have killed whoever was lounging there so I was, in a way, proud to have sent a message to the people in charge of that beach and to perhaps have prevented those same rocks from falling on actual people at a later time.
In leaving, we decided to rush back to Oia in time to catch the last moments of the sun disappearing over the distant horizon. Although it did not seem we would make it, I weaved through the streets and we walked up to the castle for the literally the last seconds of sun before the traditional clapping and cheering by the crowd. We then explored the streets and shops at night, which was brought a whole new atmosphere and beauty. After some confusing interactions and happenings, I decided to stop the group at an overlook point for a quick jam session followed by hours of conversation and soaking in our surroundings. I discussed with Danielle how lifestyle and attitude are intertwined with faith and how living with life abundant in Christ has to do with believing and living out God's promises in your life. How can you teach or pass these experiences onto others who are seeking abundant life? We also talked about differences in our personalities and how to check pride as we seek to grow.
Hans and I were going to take a ferry arriving in the middle of the night to Crete, while the girls had decided to sleep over, so we said goodbye for a while. We stopped at a market to buy some food for the journey including a container holding over a quart of generic Nutella. It conveniently worked out that we could leave the car at the port, and I thought we should refill the tank to where it was when we got it. The problem was the roads were abandoned and everything seem closed. I pulled into a dark gas station just to check if we could pump gas by card, but alas we could not.
As I pulled out, a car came toward us, rolled down its windows, and the men inside yelled at me in Greek. Not wanting to get involved in anything in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, I kept driving. I saw behind me the car turn around to follow us. Hans was sleeping and I decided to quicken the pace to make it to an area in the town of Fira. As we were coming into town, the car pulled up next to us and the men motioned for us to pull over like police men. Since I did not want to get in huge trouble, I decided to pull over, wake Hans, and quickly update him. The two men came up to the car with flashlights, showed ID, and asked for our identification in broken English. Since they were not in a police car or uniforms we refused. They tried to search the car but we did not move out of their way.
Soon an actual police car pulled up and a guy with a jacket resembling a police officer speaking better English asked why we were not cooperating. We explained what had happened and gave our ID to him because we could see he was an officer. He made us get out of the car while they took down our information and searched the car. He told us he was a narcotics officer who suspected we had drugs. After an exchange of questions, he eventually revealed that they recently had a gas station robbed and that the officers were scoping it out when I had pulled in to check if I could get gas. He suggested that it was illegal for us to drive a rental car in Greece without an international driver's license, but I explained that I had specifically asked that question to the rental company. He threatened that we were both wrong and could be prosecuted but after not giving ground, he let us go.
Adrenaline pumping but relieved, we drove down the winding path to the port and waited a couple hours for the ferry to arrive, while sitting along the water inhaling banana and bread with lots of Nutella. We even saw the two officers who pulled us over and they smiled and greeted us "Hey, American." Hardly awake, we stumbled aboard the ship when it arrived and found our way to our cabin with sleeping bunks that I had smartly reserved. Although I had to nervously check on our progress several times because we were behind schedule, we eventually arrived after a decent sleep and I woke up at the right time for us to leave...so much for waking us as promised.
Day 9
Iraklio is the largest city in Crete, so we got our bearings by first locating the bus station and getting a timetable for possibilities of when we could leave that night. We planned, washed up, stored our luggage and boarded the shuttle bus to Knossos, a famous Minoan palace. The palace was not built as a defensive structure, but the techniques used are fascinating for its time nearly 2,000 years before Christ. There was a drainage and sewer system, several floors of rooms, and wonderful painted frescoes. The frescoes preserved from Akrotiri and Knossos suggest that the Minoans were not war-like but focused on trade and recreation. It seems women had a high position in society because they are depicted participating in feasts and sporting events, wearing ornate fashions, and the primary deity was a mother goddess who is shown with bare breasts holding two snakes to represent her control over fertility and nature.
Hans and I spent hours at the sight visiting together until we drifted apart taking in the vast and impressive space. Legend has it that the bottom of the palace contained a vast labyrinth where the famed Minotaur lived before being defeated by the hero Theseus. Sir Arthur Evans had excavated the sight and he decided to liberally reconstruct many of the areas. Many of the signs eluded to him going too far because there is little evidence to suggest the way that he reconstructed is historically accurate. However, it was nice to have a sight where some rooms were fully reconstructed and even painted because it me a more concrete picture of what the palace may have looked like. After taking in the frescoes, grand staircase, and throne room we made our way out and stopped at a few shops before returning to Iraklio.
On returning, we found an outdoor restaurant that served a massive amount of French fries on top of their gyros where we ordered three different gyros which was enough to stuff us for the rest of the day. We then went to the archaeological museum displaying all the finds from Knossos and other relics from throughout Crete that were so coveted by the museum in Athens. There was a glyph that likely contains the oldest writing found in Europe, the bull-leaping fresco among others, double-headed axes that were the symbol of power, and huge pots with Greyjoy-esque octopuses painted on. The development of civilization was obvious from the artistic progression during the historical stages before the earthquake which destroyed the palace, after which society became more violent and less sophisticated.
As I was leaving the museum I could not find Hans, I looped through again, then ran around the building, then looped through again and was frustrated because our bus was leaving soon and we had to go. Somehow we had missed each other because he was going to the bathroom, but had been looking for me as well. Thankfully on my last lap around the building, we saw each other and began running toward the bus station. For some reason, it seemed like any movement needed to make a scheduled bus was cursed as our given directions were wrong again so we ran around and a nagging pain stabbed at my abdomen until finally we made it to the station, got our things, and boarded our bus for Chania.
Chania seemed like a city of energy and beauty as we walked the streets looking for our hostel. Again, it took multiple times asking for directions because of some weird street organization, but we found our place, used the internet to connect back to home, went to our room, left a message for the girls who would hopefully be arriving later that night, and I headed out to a mini-market to get food to pack for our planned day-hike. As I laid down to sleep, I hear the girls come in, so I checked in with them and confirmed our plans for the next day.
Day 10
We woke up early, ate some breakfast, and traversed back across the city for a bus that would take us to the Samaria Gorge. This gorge is the longest in Europe crossing most of the length of the island from north to south with beautifully varying environments as altitudes change. When we arrived, it was very cold and foggy at the top but after beginning the steeply descending switchback trail our bodies warmed and it cleared up. Since this was a day-hike, I urged the others to take their time and stop to take in views along the way. Although I like to wander, climb around, or throw stuff to add adventure, Hans and Kelsee are an extreme combination of chemicals that seem to want to respond and outdo each other leading to rock slides down the path, tree crushing, and extensive venturing off the path, which I did not notice was against park rules until some people walked by who had heard the commotion and warned us of such a policy.
At one point we stood on a precipice that overlooked the gorge all around and Hans recorded a video of sliding sunbeams. There was another time where Hans and Kelsee went off for alone time leaving Danielle and I to discuss the state of things. Later we sat on rocks by the stream to have our lunch and noticed that we would have to speed up in order to finish the trail on time to catch the boat to a town where we could board a bus back to Chania. There were some ancient rock shrines that had been used for thousands of years. The path wound down out of the timber forest to an lush green area with beautiful pools of water and strangely twisting Cyprus trees and trunks then through a pine woodland, before emerging at the bottom of the chasm filled by boulders thrown down from the soaring cliffs on either side.
We took short rests and refilled our water many times until eventually we arrived at a town full of sheep pens and restaurants along the coast. We confirmed the boat time and figured we had just enough to grab another gyro for sustenance. The boat sailed along the coast full of hundreds of people who had hiked the gorge that day and my enjoyment of the tired journey was increased by a much needed backrub. When we got on the bus, Hans and I passed out because the last couple days had been very draining with the early morning threatened arrest and ferry.
Although we were filthy, we decided to remain in the old city near the bus station for a couple hours before returning to the hostel. We walked through the streets looking for something affordable before we decided to get frozen yogurt after Hans was awkwardly targeted for confrontation by the shopkeeper regarding the quality of the yogurt assuring us that it was not made from a mix. We treated Danielle because it was her birthday then walked out to the harbor area to sit on a bench along the lighted promenade before calling it a day.
Day 11
With nowhere pressing to be, we slept for a long time before heading back to the old town with the girls. Our first stop was the naval museum attached to the Venetian fortress that was unfortunately closed early after we finished. It was obvious from the museum displays that seafaring had always been the defining lifestyle and culture of Crete. There were dozens of detailed models of ships from the bronze age up to WWII. A repeatedly mentioned point of pride was that the rowers on the Greek triremes and other boats down through the ages were always free men as opposed to those aboard Roman, Venetian, and Turkish boats.
We took a stroll through the old city looking for monuments. The most significant find was the Venetian shipyards still mostly intact and a church that had been converted from Orthodox to Venetian Catholic, to an Ottoman mosque, and finally back to Greek Orthodox. We walked back to the main beach area along the promenade and enjoyed our last few hours together on the beach. Hans and I decided to swim out to this rock island several hundred yards off the beach showcasing Hans newfound ability to make significant progress in water without sinking albeit in more buoyant salt-water. Hans crafted a replica of the old city fortifications seen in the museum while Kelsee and I discussed the evolving attitudes toward life as we grow. When it was time to go, the group of us headed back to the hostel, packed up, grabbed some more groceries, and bid farewell before Hans and I returned to the bus station for our trip back to Iraklio.
Hans and I arrived in Iraklio after 11pm and we had to take a taxi with a set rate, that Hans wanted to walk away from, to the airport. We killed some time by pounding our food and scooping out the remainder of our Nutella with bread to finish it since we could not take it with us. A whole tub of Nutella in three days was a bit messy. Our flight was leaving at 2:30am so we were so exhausted from all the staying up at night that I hardly remember much about boarding or the flight except Hans' strong feelings of nostalgia each of the last couple of days and hours before departure as he kept repeating, "I can't believe we are soon leaving Greece." But we were excited for what was to come because we were bound for Espana.
We arrived in Tirana and had a few hours before we needed to catch our bus to Greece. I decided to give Hans a quick tour of center city that would give him a glimpse into the history, culture, and politics of Albania. This walk around served as a wrap-up and farewell experience for me because I knew it would be the last time I was grounded in Albania for a long time. We walked to Skennerbeg square to soak in communist heritage and central position of Skennerbeg in the Albanian identity. I sat down to re-pack my thrown together pack, continued down the newly built promenade, and then swung around to the pyramid before having to rush back to the bus stop for departure.
This is the vehicle that would take me out of Albania and into a new world. We filled the time with napping and conversation. We reminisced about the "time of our lives" from our 3 months of studying abroad in Jerusalem with a dynamic group of college students sharing a common passion for immersion in the Holy Land. We stopped for a short break in Fier before the sunset in Albania and some guy got on the bus and immediately started shouting about how he wanted cheese. After another couple hours we began the long process of crossing the border in Greece. The journey was slow and any formalized process tends to take longer for Albanians, some of whom have never encountered the confusing structures of the outside world, so the border crossing was painstaking.
After crossing, we drove about an hour before being dropped off several kilometers outside of Ioaninna, our first destination. Since it was after 2am we were tired and figured that nothing would be open in the city, so we decided to follow through on our plan of being homeless for a night. There was a small airport nearby that was closed, but had some metal benches in the covered entrance area that would provide separation from the ground to keep us from freezing on a surprisingly cold night. Before we could put our stuff down, a police car pulls up and two guys get out. One went inside to perform the nightly check-in, while the other waited outside. Since we did not want to give the appearance that would likely sleep there and wanted to see if we could get a ride, we waited and talked to the police man telling our situation and that we were not sure we what we were going to do. Nothing came out of it and the guy stayed there for about a half-hour keeping us from rest, but we tried to engage in conversation to avoid the awkward circumstances despite our willingness to do so being apparently quite low. After they left, we got out more layers of clothes and positioned ourselves in such a way that we were not seen by the guard through the doors. It really felt like we were outcast homeless men who were wary of the authorities and just wanted to find a place to spend the night.
Day 2
This was one of the worst night of sleep ever. Anticipating summer travel around the Mediterranean I had not packed clothing with the purpose of keeping me warm. I wore my two pairs of shorts under my pants, a couple t-shirts, a flannel long-sleeve that I had included just-in-case and my rain jacket. I was still cold and laying on the metal benches, although better than the ground, certainly did not help. Furthermore, the benches were those with individual seats on them so there was not a flat or long enough surface to lay on. Despite being very tired, I ended up waking up over ten times in the short night because my body was sore and angry with these conditions. When the sun came up, we could not sleep much longer and figured we should walk our way into town to make sure we caught the bus out for that day.
It was a new morning and we were in Greece, that gave excitement to our steps and a sense of richness to just about everything. After reaching town we stocked up on water and found a fruit stand with a friendly shopkeeper who had lived in Chicago. The peaches, cherries, and nectarines that we got in season were definately the best we had ever had, unbelievably juicy and sweet. We continued on and stopped in a beautiful Orthodox church to give a sense of religious grounding, which I found out was modeled after St. Katherine's monestary in Egypt that I had seen from a distance. Then we made our way through the winding streets and eventually found the bus station after asking several people for directions.
This bus station would haunt us for longer than we knew. The plan was to leave to Kalambaka that day so I asked at the ticket booth and they said there was an evening bus. My guide book had suggested there was a bus at 8am and it was 7:45 so I asked, "So is there no bus at 8?" The man in the booth responded, "Morning bus leave." Thinking that my slightly outdated book was an old schedule, as it would prove to be other places, I bought tickets for the evening bus.
We had several hours to explore the city, so we gathered ourselves and read about the sites in the book. We noticed that there were a ridiculous amount of young Greek women who seemed to be traveling everywhere and anywhere alone or in small groups, while there were no few guys in site and those that were did not seem very masculine. While it made for a better aesthetics, we were disappointed in the sense of assertiveness and adventure that it suggested of Greek men and wondered where all these girls were going. I mean that place was constantly packed with primarily attractive girls between 16-25...a phenomenon that would hold up each time we came back.
Hans and I are both interested in history, warfare, climbing around, and great views so when we read that there was an old citadel, we made for it like the Gap of Rohan. The city is built along a high elevation lake that is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It seemed there would be great views, but it was hard to take in from in the city. We walked a few kilometers along the main drag before reaching the winding stone streets of the old city. Finding our way meant always going toward higher ground until we located the path and walked through the gate into the citadel.
There was a couple old mosques, some ruins, a cafe, and a few museams but most of the buildings were closed. We walked to the far edge of the promontory and were rewarded with not only a panarama view of the lake and the mountains above, but also a juicy treasure. Hans spotted a turtle below on the ground between the wall and the cliff edge. After some Luftwaffe pebble bombing, he climed down to investigate and stumbled upon a large bush full of ripe plumbs. Since this was public land and difficult to get to we had no problem harvesting what we could. We ended up with two paper lunchbags full and would be sustaining ourselves on those treats as a for the next couple days.
We ate what we had at the overlook and after exploring we made our way down. We saw that there were boat rides out to the island, and after checking the time, we boarded the next ferry out to the island. It turned into a beautiful day and the island had a lot to offer. There were touristy shops along the winding streets built on the hillside and we dodged shopkeepers on our way to the museum. This intimate museum was situated on the site of an old monastery and was dedicated to Ali Pasha Tepelena who was killed there. He was a powerful warlord who ruled over southern Albania, most of Greece, and western Macedonia in the 17th-18th centuries. The Ottoman sultan, whose power was questioned by Ali Pasha regional control, offered a truce to allow the warlord to retire on the island but then sent an assassin to murder him. The fat Ali Pasha was smoking a massive hookah in his personal quarters when he was shot through the floor. The holes and original musket rounds along with a collection of his personal clothes and weapons remain on display today. Since he was from Albania, he is treated as a folk hero in the South, so it was neat to make that connection outside of the borders of my second home.
Upon leaving the museum, we saw some caves where the inhabitants hid from Nazi bombing during WWII and the stopped at a beautiful shaded restaurant to try local eel. It was oily but tasty (Hans devoured all of the skin) and with the supplement of free bread, olive oil, and our plums, it served as a decent meal. Next, we visited an old church that contained the most gorily illustrated interior I had ever seen as it was dedicated to martyrs of the faith with icons of decapitation, boiling, drowning, burning, dismemberment, piercing, and BBQ griddle. It was time to head back to the bus station, so we boarded the return ferry and walked along the water stopping for natural relief and for Hans to sniff all the flowers while forging our own path until we approached the bus station. With plenty of time to spare we decided to indulge in our highly anticipated first Greek gyro or souvlaki. This turned out to be the most flavorful gyro of the entire trip as the balance of ingredients and the sauce was quite the sensory experience that we did not downplay.
It was time to head out, so we entered the bus station. I did not see the bus so I asked at the ticket window and the man informed me that the bus had left. Hans and I looked at each other in confusion and pointed to the ticket time, but the man showed us his watch that revealed it was one hour later than the time we had been living in. This was bad because we would have to pay for our fairly pricey hostel in Kalambaka, not have enough time to see the amazing site that I had originally planned a whole day for, and find another place to stay when we had seen nothing reasonable. The frustration and corporate exhaustion flowed in at once on Hans and I. Ultimately, we should have checked to see a time change, but it was in the middle of the night after a couple exhausting and mentally demanding days that we crossed the border and were thrown into a situation where we needed to find a way to spend the night out in the cold. The thought had never crossed our minds then, and there were not really any clocks that we had remembered seeing because we working off Hans' wrist watch.
We muttered some curses and tried to figure out what to do next. I called the hostel for that night, using the cell phone of one of those many girls, for it only to be confirmed that since it was less than 24 hours ahead, we would be charged. We asked if there was any reasonable places to stay, but there was nothing in that city. There were possibly places to stay in a neighboring town, but that would require locating, paying for, and making sense of a local bus. If we did not leave until morning we would almost no time to explore the fascinating cliffs of Meteora. Frustrated, exhausted, and out of luck the two of us contemplated hitch-hiking there. We had no local map or knowledge of the road and it was our first day in Greece, but we thought of the big difference in cost and time it would make and more importantly, how legendary would it be if we pulled it off. We wrestled with the options and tried to gather more information for 30 minutes with little effect until we looked at each other and acknowledged our mutual "screw-it" attitude. We walked with an adrenaline high, out of the bus station to find the main road through town to start our hitch-hiking.
The sun was beginning to set and we had no idea where we were going. Our bodies were thrust forward on raw frustration and anticipation of what "could be". But after walking several kilometers that began to wear off and we thought more hard about the possible consequences. We could be stranded in the middle of no where in the dark. I decided that it was dumb and that we should try to get to that other town for some serious sleep and start fresh tomorrow with what we have. We did just that. Although it was difficult to find the bus, we eventually made it to the town and found a cheap place to stay after asking and gesturing with many Greeks. To drown his frustration Hans set out to locate some sweets. He came back with ice cream, chocolate bars, and a liter of banana juice and proceeded to consume them all. This would give birth to our trip-long expression of "drowning our sorrows by shoving our faces." He also insisted on getting juice everyday believing that it was the most effective way to rehydrate and replenish nutrients. Amidst the frustration I did not realize how tired I was, I slept through till my alarm went off which was 12 and 1/2 hours of sleep.
Day 3
With our time adjusted, we took the local bus back and boarded the morning bus to Trikala. Well rested, we enjoyed our plums and the beautiful mountainous scenery along the road. We were driving through the tromping grounds of Alexander the Great. With all the winding slopes, we were thankful that we did not attempt to hitchhike at night because any walking or stopping along these roads would have been dangerous and confusing. Upon arriving in Trikala, we boarded a bus for the short trip to Kalambaka, the town below the slopes of Meteora. We discussed our options for getting to Delphi and decided we had no choice but to sprint through Meteora in 3 hours before boarding a bus to Trikala on time for the only bus to Delphi that day. We left our packs in the station (a lifesaver) and hailed a taxi to take us through the top. Exploring Meteora in 3 hours seemed like foolery, but Hans and I had done crazier things and we were not about to let any time go to waste.
The roads twisting up the western side of the slopes with rock columns and monasteries rising directly above us gave some great perspective on what we were getting into. The area was smaller than I had anticipated, so I charted a course and felt like we could see it all in our short time. The drop-off point was conveniently at the entrance to the most famous monastery perched on the western most precipice of the region. We climbed up hundreds of winding stairs perched on the cliff edge and then entered the monastery through a tunnel carved into the rock. The monastery complex was several different buildings built into the rock connected by carved tunnels and rooms with a great open courtyard area with views over the entire region. There was a beautiful gilded sanctuary with incense burning, some historic displays, and a couple monks walking around.Because of time, this was the only monastery that we would enter, but we were content because it was the most complete and elaborate of those in Meteora.
After descending the stairs, I located a footpath that cut through the woods in one of the canyons between the rock columns. While we love our overlooks, it was great to see the area from a different perspective in the trees looking up at the towering pillars of stone. After running through the woods like marauders, we climbed back up to another monastery balancing on top of a rock column on the edge of a huge drop-off. I spotted a possible viewpoint across a chasm, so we checked it out. There was a narrow way connecting several of the columns that jutted out above its surroundings that we carefully navigated. There was a makeshift bridge made by two logs that crossed the gap between two of the rocks and some climbing near the edge before we emerged victorious on the top of the last pillar for the best viewpoint of the day. We took some photos then sat for a while to take in the scenery while eating the last of our plums and spitting the seeds over the edge for a skydive. Looking around at the other highpoints and rock formations, Hans and I noted that God may have known what he was doing keeping our time very limited in this beautiful place. With more time to explore, we may have got into a dangerous place with our two adventurous spirits urging each other onward. Thinking back to our night descent in the Jordan desert, it would not be the first time we got ourselves into a perilous predicament so we were just glad to be alive and have a few hours to take in this unique location.
We made our way back and then took off running down the road to the East hoping to get a few more perspectives before descending back to Kalambaka for our departure. We were both not in running shape but pushed through wanting to see as much as we could. It was a nearly perfect day and the higher altitude kept it fairly cool providing relief to our heart-pounding bodies. Using the overlooks to scout our next moves, we made it to a couple other outlooks and found another winding path down toward town. With some time to spare, we slowed down and enjoyed our surroundings as we cut through the underbrush trying to stay on the overgrown path. Hans whipped out his sling and unleashed his fury with well-trained accuracy on bushes and rocks, but we both agreed that my baseball arm was a bit more deadly...He was good, but certainly no David. While it seemed we were close to town, the path kept winding and winding and we realized we would be at a very different place than where the bus station was. We started running again and made our way into town looking trying to find the way to the bus station. My travel map did not seem to be correct so I began to ask people, but a couple did not know where it was (huh? your local bus station) while others gave conflicting directions. The scheduled departure was now approaching and we did not know where to go, we followed the directions of a few shop keepers and ended up at the international station.
We were so mad that it was happening again. We had taken advantage of the time we had by doing the best we could in a new environment and things didn't fall together. It had never been much of a problem finding the local bus station in a town before, but my map was not useful and the people seemed to be very ignorant of their own surroundings leading to us standing along the road knowing that the bus had left, and it seemed our day in Delphi would be lost and we would be paying for another hostel reservation we could not reach.
When we found the bus station and got our stuff, I asked what time the bus left from Trikala and it seemed that we may be able to get to the bus station before the long-distance bus departed for Amfissa. We ran up the street and the next taxi driver in line calmly said it would be no problem to get us to the station before the long distance, but it was not cheap because the distance. Still frustrated that we had not made our bus and that we spent extra money on the taxi, we were relieved to easily make the bus we REALLY needed to catch.
To give some added perspective for why the difficulties of the past couple days were so frustrating, it was the part of the trip that I had spent by far the most time on planning. There was no precedent for traveling between these areas quickly and the information online was not only very limited, but also conflicting. Most people who traveled these areas did it as part of a packaged tour departing and returning from Athens, which I did not want to do because of time and money. And of course, the day we were going to Delphi was Sunday, the only day without multiple buses making the trip. In the end, I just went with what I thought worked best and hoped things would come together. But we were mostly unlucky and missing the bus on the first day had really crunched our time.
The long bus ride gave Hans and I more time to talk in addition to our napping and journaling. While I had frustrated at the sheer volume of things going wrong, Hans particularly struggled with wondering why God had allowed these unlucky things to happen. We talked about how things could have turned out for the better, to forget about the extra money spent because it was just money, and how to be more careful or patient. He talked about his travelling experiences in the Phillipines, India, and especially about going through central America with his sister and encountering some evil presences in the towns among the Aztec ruins.
During our hour and a half stop-over in Amfissa, we walked through an outdoor market and bought some chocolate covered fried donut balls. We were searching for food and for the famous local olives, but again Sunday cut down our options. We eventually found some gyros before returning to the bus station for our evening bus to Delphi. As the sun was setting, we whizzed by countless miles of olive groves that covered every part of the countryside before climbing up the winding road to the top of the gently-sloped mountain where the Ancient Greeks had tucked their most sacred sight.
You could tell Delphi was a tourist town because of the many nice shops, restaurants, and hotels, but they gave color and a nice energy to the tight streets. We checked into our hostel and decided to go out to get a drink and some internet. There was a bar that had free Wifi if you bought a drink, a great deal, so we used the computers then ordered a beer and some fresh-squeezed orange juice. We relaxed together I decided to purposely release my frustration from the past couple of days by chalking it up as an area that was plainly not travel friendly. When I brought up our glasses after finishing the bartender, looking surprised, asked "What are you doing?"
"Helping you out," I responded.
"Why would you do that?"
I was a bit taken aback. "Why not. It's not difficult for me to bring them over on the way out and wish you a good night."
She smiled. "People don't usually do that." After pausing, she offered us a free shot of Ouzo for which I was excited because we had not yet encountered this characteristic Greek liquor.
We started a conversation and she was very intrigued to hear about what I had done in Albania. She had come from Romania to work there and she wanted to open a new club. She was very friendly and our encounter was a nice way to end an exhausting day.
Day 4
The next morning we got up early, bought our bus ticket to Athens, then went to check out the site. We walked down the street past the museum and entered the site a few minutes after it opened. This visit would be particularly memorable because we were the only people there for over an hour as the sun slowly unveiled itself from behind the mountain slope above. We walked through the ancient agora, then up the Sacred Way that used to be flanked by statues and treasuries donated to Apollo by the city-states. There was a stone pillar marking the omphalos, or center of the earth apparently calculated by Zeus when he released two eagles at either end of the earth and they met in the middle at this point. We continued up past the temple of Apollo, the theater, and the stadium where we crossed the red tape and found the ancient starting blocks to take part in our own Pythian Games (since we were not going to Olympia) before being whistled at by one of the guards.
We began to make our way back down the winding path with amazing views from above the sight and ran into a group of American high-school students. A group of the girls were talking about how tired they were and that they may wait at the bottom while the others went up to the top. Hans and I were baffled and held in the urge to lash out them for being spoiled, unwilling to suck it up for a bit, and for not knowing what they were missing. We simply approached them and said bluntly that they needed to go to the top because that was where the best views and ruins were.
We exited the upper site and ran down the road past the site of the spring where pilgrims used to wash themselves and down to the entrance to the lower site, where the most recognizable structure in Delphi was located. The tholos is a raised circular platform with a cylindrical enclosure surrounded by pillars and we do not know what any of these buildings were used for. However, this is the best preserved example and it was likely near where the famous oracles would deliver their catatonic messages to answer questions of the envoys coming to seek the will of Apollo. Their trance-like state was likely derived from intoxicating fumes that emerged from an opening in the earth over which she sat in a tripod chair. Their babbling would be interpreted by a priest into verse. Since the answers were usually vague, it is likely how the message was received by the audience that would determine their action.
With a little over an hour remaining before our bus departed, we ran back up the road and into the museum. This was the first time either of us had encountered the rule that you could take pictures of the displays, but could not have people in the picture. The museum was not very extensive but had a few important displays including the original carved rock marking the center of the earth and a full-size bronze charioteer. Satisfied with our visit, we grabbed our bags and boarded the bus to Athens.
The Athens bus station was outside of the city-center so we had to take the metro, but first we stopped to inhale three different gyros. With the name and address of our popular hostel, I figured it would be easy to find, but I asked several people and they did not know where it was. We started walking down the street, some police men gave us the wrong directions, so we resorted to asking taxi drivers, but the not one of them in the whole line-up knew where it was. After over an hour of walking and asking, it seemed hopeless so we looked asked a few people and finally got helpful directions to an internet cafe. I got more specific directions not only for Athens but for all the hostels for the rest of the trip. I was relieved to see that I got a confirmation email from the tour company that would be taking us on a day-tour during our third and final day in Athens and that they would pick us up right near our hostel. Of course, as we checked out, the guy at the counter told us where the street was on our map, so we were able to finally find it hours after arriving in the city.
Since all the ancient sites were in the same area of the city, I decided we would hit all of that during our full day tomorrow, and would knock-off the close by National Archaeology Museum that night.The hostel receptionist was able to give a lot of information about the city and he confirmed my plan saying the museum was open until 8 all week. Of course, when we got there at 5:30, the museum was closing because there was a special exhibition that night to celebrate Croatia joining the EU that day. Unbelievable! Here we were again running up against some unforeseeable and unusual roadblock that would mess with our ability to see all we wanted to see.
All the main historic sites were closed for the night, but I decided we should go to the area around the Acropolis to explore and see it at night, which we would not get to do if we were visiting the museum the next night before going to bed early. It was a great decision and the closure may have worked in our favor in the end. We were walked through some gardens, visited the ugly Greek Parliament building, walked the streets, and of course found a way to shove our faces with more gyro. We passed several groups of police officers who outfitted with body armor, motorbikes, and riot gear. This heavy police presence was in response to the economic crisis and the following civil unrest, but this over the top show of force seemed to provide more anxiety than security. I used the travel book to find the two best lookout points in the area and we spent a good amount of time on Philopappos Hill climbing rocks and gazing over both the acropolis to the west and the harbor far to the east before weaving our way down the other side toward Aeropolis Hill where Paul preached to the Athenians about the "unknown god."
After finding a way around the annoying fences, we noticed that the hill was being swarmed by young people. It is the most popular place to watch the sun set, so we figured we might as well join in the fun and perched ourselves at the top. The two of us adventurers seemed to be getting a lot of attention from the adolescents surrounding us. I was trying to figure out why when I heard someone quietly say "Mr. Benner", so I turned and saw Klea, one of my Albanian students who had just graduated from LAC. Well this was an unlikely meeting, and it would turn out not to be the last. We talked for a while about why she was in Athens, how she had come with her cousin to the hill each night, and how she was feeling about college. Although she was very scared about leaving her family and country, I am proud to say that she is now attending Lithuania Christian College along with 4 of her classmates.
After the sun set, we planned to return to the first hill that was higher and with a better view to watch the Acropolis lit up at night. We grabbed a couple local beers and climbed back up through the gardens in the dark to the top of the precipice and parked ourselves to take in the ancient city below. We talked for a couple hours about Hans experience in Guatemala, his desire to go to the army then become a college history professor, about the hardships of being abroad, and how this affected our relationship with God. I was thankful for this time and knew that we would not have done it the next night because of having to be up very early for our ferry to Santorini. Wanting to get to our hostel before midnight, we eventually made our way back among crowds of people still in the streets.
Day 5
The next morning, Hans and I walked to the appointed street corner for pick-up by the tour company before being transferred to our bus that would tour the ancient sites south of the isthmus at Corinth. We passed by the island of Salamis where the Athenian navy defeated the vastly larger Persian invasion fleet effectively ending the Persian incursion in Greece. first stopped at the deep canal connecting the Adriatic with the Aegean Sea and got to see one small boat pass before heading down to sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidaurus. This ancient site has one of the largest and best preserved ancient theaters in the world and it still had amazing acoustics. From the central point of the stage floor, you could drop a quarter or speak in a normal voice and be heard all the way at the top, which is quite impressive for an outdoor venue. After rumbling around the theater, we scurried our way to the rest of the site which was mostly in ruins, but there was enough that you could get a sense of the size and function of this place of healing blessed by Asclepius the god of medicine.
We then drove south to the beautiful coastal city of Nafplio, which is protected by three different Venetian fortresses and served as the first capital of modern Greece. We had less than an hour to explore, so I walked down the promenade along the water and then came back through the flower-girded Italian style streets with quaint cafes and shops. We then drove toward the jewel of the tour, Mycanae, the capital city of the Mycenaean and likely where King Agamemnon from the Illiad ruled. We stopped outside the site at a large restaurant for lunch where everyone was served Greek salad, bread, french fries, and lamb.
Before entering the main site, separated from the city, we visited a grave cluster containing the great royal beehive-style stone tombs covered over by earth. Then at the main site our guide gave us some background as we approached the famed Lion's Gate with two lions carved into the stone above the entryway. On the bottom level was the royal tomb cluster where the famous Mask of Agamemnon was found along with loads of other gilded jewelry and objects. We continued to walk up the slope that the fortress city was built on up to the palace. The palace rooms seemed very small and not as ornate as some, but it is still amazing that such a city was built and such wealth amassed almost four millennia ago in an area of such mountainous geography.
After taking in the commanding view over the entire plain below, we left Mycenae and stopped at a shop with all sorts of figurines and hand-painted pottery for sale, a money grab opportunity typically included in these type of day tours. Then we returned back to Athens along the sea passing a couple hills that were acropolis sites for other ancient Greek city-states. After being dropped of, Hans and I hit several mini-markets to procure a feast of up bread, sausage, cheese, pickles, olives, tomato, pepper, banana, cherries, plums, yogurt, pastries, and juice. We hung around in the room for a while writing in our journals and doing wash before going to bed.
Day 6
Since none of the sights open until 10am, we were able to take our time and find some great mini-markets to supply breakfast and snacks along the way. We started at the Acropolis and I was pleasantly surprised when I was given a hefty 10 euro ticket for free because of the international teacher's card that I had bought, which had not worked previously. We joked about this as we made our way through the crowds up the turning white marble steps and through the front gate of the Acropolis of ancient Athens.
After stopping to take in the fact that we just crossed that ancient threshold we turned left to check out the Erechtheion, including the famous porch of the Caryatids (on the cover of my guide book), which was a temple partially dedicated to Poseidon. Legend has it that the Athenians decided to dedicate their city to Athena rather than Poseidon after a gift-giving competition. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident causing salt water to come out while Athena made an olive tree grow. The citizens found the olive tree more useful, so they dedicated themselves to Athena.
Next we slowly walked around the Parthenon, which dominates the area of the acropolis and was a temple for the worship of Athena. It was very well preserved until the Turks decided to store their ammunition inside. The Venetians bombarded the city and when the temple was struck, there was a massive explosion that blew off the roof and most of the one side. They are currently still in the process of reconstruction. We took our time trying to take everything in on what may be the most famous ancient site in the world. There was a great lookout over the city and plenty of picture opportunities along with site guards blowing their whistles at anyone getting too close to the monuments. As we finished rounding the Acropolis and prepared to sit to eat, we ran into the girls.
Kelsee Foote had studied with both of us in Jerusalem during our semester abroad. She is a independent and strong-spirited adventuress who could be compared to an elegant and intellectual Amazonian. She had just graduated college and was in the midst of several months of backpacking with her sister, Danielle, throughout southeastern Europe. We had talked about meeting up to travel long before and had arranged to travel together for a few days in Greece. I knew they were in Athens but figured our itineraries would not match up, but since we ran into each other, we spent some time discussing what had been going on and agreed to meet up at the archaeological museum that night.
After parting ways, and finishing our food, we descended down the eastern slope of the acropolis checking out the old theaters positioned here and getting a sense of scale for the cliffs that acropolis was mostly surrounded by. We visited the Acropolis museum that was full of statues and other remains found on the site, with the top floor being built to mirror the outlay of the Parthenon. Then we ventured out into the Plaka district to execute a broad sweep of ancient sites.
Our first stop was Hadrian's arch followed by the temple of Zeus, which was nothing but a raised chunk of earth with a few massive pillars left standing, but it was the largest temple on mainland Greece. Then we jutted out to the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the Games of the I Olympiad in 1896. We cut back haphazardly through the streets seeing parks, cafes, palaces, and old churches until we eventually arrived at the Roman Agora. Although we had been taking our time, we found out the sites closed earlier then listed in my book so we quick made our way through the remains dominated by the well-preserved Tower of the Winds. Skirting our way over to the Ancient Agora, there was an old chapel that I chanted in before we found ourselves on the main drag of the ancient Greek city where both sides of the wide street would have been lined with colonnades and roofed shops serving as the social and economic heart of the city. Before it closed, we made our way to the Temple of Hephaestus, which we had seen from the hill during sunset, which is the best preserved Doric temple in the world.
A crescendo of whistles was blown by the guards signaling closing time so we ran around for our final view then exited. We bought some fruit and checked out some shops in the city before taking the metro back to our hostel. We were tired and very hungry from our long day of site hopping, so we revisited the mini-markets for another feast to fill our stomachs in the hostel eating area before going to the room to do some laundry and take a short nap. There was not another country who happened to join the EU that day so were were able to enter the museum, which was tightly-packed with quality ancient stuff.
Having taught ancient Greek history, I noticed they heavily stressed that the Cycladic civilization beginning during the 4th millennium BC was the earliest in Greece. I had taught the widely accepted understanding that the Minoan civilization on Crete beginning around the same time was the first. In addition, the Minoans were basically ignored throughout the museum, which had rooms of displays for Cycladic, Mycenaen, Classical, Hellenistic, and finally Roman collections on the main floor. The few displays they had for the Minoans were found in a separate exhibit on the mostly closed second floor. My guess was that the mainland Greeks were upset that Crete kept all of the best Minoan artifacts in their museum, so they intentionally disregarded that era both out of lack of artifacts and for spite.
The Cycladic pieces were interesting because they were very distinct from other ancient civilizations with long, smooth features and because they were largely unknown to me. From Mycenae they had the famed Golden Mask of Agamemnon, gilded swords and jewlery, Linear B tablets, and lots of pottery. The rest of the pieces were mostly statues, but it was interesting to see the progression from Classical to Late Roman.Hans was frustrated that two exhibits he was very interested in, Cyprus and Egypt, were closed and the book highlighted their Egyptian collection as one of the best so I talked to the lady at the information desk suggesting that we had come to the museum in part to see the Egyptian collection. She eventually called one of the guards who took us back to the exhibit and gave us twenty minutes to check it out...like a boss!
After the museum closed, we met the girls outside. As was to be expected due to the high historic interest levels Hans and I, they moved through the museum more quickly and came away with different observations. Since everything was closed, we talked for a couple and I was able to catch up with what Kelsee had done for the past couple years and what she was hoping to do after her travels. We confirmed our boarding details for the ferry to Santorini where we would meet them early the next morning.
Day 7
In the morning, we headed out to Pireas harbor area by subway, picked up our tickets, and went out in search for some bread and cheese to eat during the journey and were able to find a guy who would let us in early after Hans walked in and kept asking questions basically insisting we be able to buy cheese. When we returned to the boat and got to our reserved seats, the girls were there waiting and it was not long until we were off.
Our ride was scheduled to take about 8 hours and I anticipated sleeping for much of it, but conversation quickly took the upper hand. I continued to get caught up with Kelsee then got to know Danielle who had been living around Boston while completing her master’s program in psychology. Periodically, I would go out to visit Hans who had taken up residence on deck and check out our progress and surroundings. The most interesting observing was when we docked at the islands Paros and Ios and hordes of people and trucks unloaded from the ship followed by a larger swarm that waited to board. Hans had been charting our progress and so we anticipated the dramatic views as we approached Santorini by claiming a space along the railway. We sailed into the middle of the group of islands where cliffs of brown and red volcanic rock bordered the sea with white, layered cities perched along the edge.
We docked, waited to exit, boarded a bus that climbed the winding road up the cliff, and then hopped on another bus that took us to Oia, the famous white-washed town of Santorini. The drive took us through twisting sun-baked streets that revealed the shape of the island which slopes gradually downward away from the sea-cliffs. There used to be one landmass, but the volcano at the center violently erupted causing the heart of the island to fall into the sea. There were few trees but there was a good amount of shrubs and grasses apart from the barren red-rock cliffs.
From the bus, we walked through the tight-knit streets to our hostel, which was beautifully positioned around a central courtyard with a couple patios on the roof. The receptionist was bombarded with requests, so I checked us in slowly and got all the information needed to strategize for the next day and a half. After some lazy deliberation, we walked down a winding path to the beach below the cliffs and found an area used for cliff jumping. The main leap was about 25 feet, which was enough to bring discomfort to my ears, but it was worth it. We then walked along the coast and climbed another winding path back into the city ending at the old castle just as people were gathering there for the sunset. This is definitely one of the best places in the world to watch the sunset and we each climbed around the crowd to get a full view. Since we had neglected to eat anything for most of the day, we stopped for gyro before returning to the hostel. I went to the roof to relax under the stars while Hans mingled with a couple Korean girls before bed.
Day 8
In the morning we ate breakfast provided by the hostel on the balcony then started off for a hike along the cliff edge. We walked for a couple miles first taking in the terraced beauty of Oia as we climbed then pausing to experience the barrenness and beauty of the arid cliffs and shrubs juxtaposed by the expanse of sea below. When we reached a picturesque monastery perched on the hillside we stopped for pictures and basking in the sun. Hans ran up to the top of the highest hill quickly soon to be pursued by a rumbling wolf where we got a view over most of the island. I began taking panorama footage to document our position when a Tusken Raider appeared with its guttural groaning leading to an explosion of laughter.
We rejoined the girls and made our way back on the path the way we came taking in the sites from another direction. After gathering our stuff, we got picked up in a truck and taken to a small vehicle rental place where we rented a small car for the day. With the windows down and foreign music blaring we felt pretty cool driving down the gentle slope of the island to the eastern coast. We stopped along the road at a vineyard where we sat to try the local wine. Danielle and I felt like the parents of the bunch as we read about the background, scents, and tastes included in these unique, volcanic-grown wines as Hans and Kelsee returned from stuffing their faces and pockets with pilfered grapes.
Continuing down the coast, all roads led to Fira, the central city on the island, before we emerged back to the central cliffs along the southern part of the island. At an overlook, we stopped the car to take in the broken island from this new perspective. A strong wind was blowing in from the sea causing the water to slap inaudibly and forcing us to literally lean toward the edge if we were going to keep our balance without holding onto something. I began to throw some of the porous pebbles into the air so that they went out and returned like a boomerang. At this point, an exciting phenomena occurred. Hans found a plastic bottle partly-filled with water and hurled it forward. My amusement quickly turned to worry as the wind whipped the bottle into the air and back over his head toward the road just as a car was driving by. However, the bottle avoided this undesirable collision by slamming perfectly into a trash container sitting along the road fifty feet behind Hans. We responded with shocked excitement while Hans screamed in blind triumph at the unlikely chance of this trash finding its way home.
We next found our way to the ancient site of Akrotiri, which can be described as the ancient Greek version of Pompeii. This important ancient settlement was covered over by volcanic ash following the great eruption. Although less dramatic and expansive than Pompeii, Akrotiri is the best representation of what a typical Minoan town (2nd millenium BC) may have looked like and has yielded some of the most important Minoan artifacts including frescoes, tools, and furniture. Hans and I visited the site, which is protected by a newly completed indoor facility, while the girls relaxed on the beach. We got to walk on part of the site at street level and I saw a depiction of "drowned men" which reminded me of the Drowned god and the salt-water baptisms of the Iron Islands in Game of Thrones.
After a sufficient examination, we picked up the girls and drove to the "Red Beach" to relax on one of the most unique, and seemingly dangerous, beaches available. We hiked around the hill and climbed down to the long and narrow beach situated under a high wall of deep-red volcanic rock. As Hans and I ventured over to a secluded swimming area along the rocks I found out that he could not swim properly as all of his powerful figure was lost swiping around like a confused tiger. After a couple demonstrations, he seemed to be progressing much better and we enjoyed the views looking back at the beach and taking underwater pictures with his indestructible camera.
We returned to the girls and ate an early picnic dinner on the beach. As we prepared to leave after basically everyone else had left, Hans and I began to experiment with throwing rocks and into the rock wall above and having them fall back down toward us. Then I decided to see if I could hit the top of one spire, and after a few tries, I crow-hop and launched one near the top. But instead of the normal small stone falling back down, it somehow had caused a small avalanche of rocks and one large chunk came crashing down right through one of the lounge chairs provided on the beach. After investigation, we could see that there was a two foot hole perfectly where a tourists head would have rested had they been lounging there. I felt a bit bad for breaking the chair, but much more confused, if not frustrated, at the lack of safety precaution relating to the unsound rock face looming above the heads of those on the beach. If my small stone had dislodged such a mass of rock, then a stiff breeze could cause these weathered slopes to crumble. That rock would certainly have killed whoever was lounging there so I was, in a way, proud to have sent a message to the people in charge of that beach and to perhaps have prevented those same rocks from falling on actual people at a later time.
In leaving, we decided to rush back to Oia in time to catch the last moments of the sun disappearing over the distant horizon. Although it did not seem we would make it, I weaved through the streets and we walked up to the castle for the literally the last seconds of sun before the traditional clapping and cheering by the crowd. We then explored the streets and shops at night, which was brought a whole new atmosphere and beauty. After some confusing interactions and happenings, I decided to stop the group at an overlook point for a quick jam session followed by hours of conversation and soaking in our surroundings. I discussed with Danielle how lifestyle and attitude are intertwined with faith and how living with life abundant in Christ has to do with believing and living out God's promises in your life. How can you teach or pass these experiences onto others who are seeking abundant life? We also talked about differences in our personalities and how to check pride as we seek to grow.
Hans and I were going to take a ferry arriving in the middle of the night to Crete, while the girls had decided to sleep over, so we said goodbye for a while. We stopped at a market to buy some food for the journey including a container holding over a quart of generic Nutella. It conveniently worked out that we could leave the car at the port, and I thought we should refill the tank to where it was when we got it. The problem was the roads were abandoned and everything seem closed. I pulled into a dark gas station just to check if we could pump gas by card, but alas we could not.
As I pulled out, a car came toward us, rolled down its windows, and the men inside yelled at me in Greek. Not wanting to get involved in anything in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, I kept driving. I saw behind me the car turn around to follow us. Hans was sleeping and I decided to quicken the pace to make it to an area in the town of Fira. As we were coming into town, the car pulled up next to us and the men motioned for us to pull over like police men. Since I did not want to get in huge trouble, I decided to pull over, wake Hans, and quickly update him. The two men came up to the car with flashlights, showed ID, and asked for our identification in broken English. Since they were not in a police car or uniforms we refused. They tried to search the car but we did not move out of their way.
Soon an actual police car pulled up and a guy with a jacket resembling a police officer speaking better English asked why we were not cooperating. We explained what had happened and gave our ID to him because we could see he was an officer. He made us get out of the car while they took down our information and searched the car. He told us he was a narcotics officer who suspected we had drugs. After an exchange of questions, he eventually revealed that they recently had a gas station robbed and that the officers were scoping it out when I had pulled in to check if I could get gas. He suggested that it was illegal for us to drive a rental car in Greece without an international driver's license, but I explained that I had specifically asked that question to the rental company. He threatened that we were both wrong and could be prosecuted but after not giving ground, he let us go.
Adrenaline pumping but relieved, we drove down the winding path to the port and waited a couple hours for the ferry to arrive, while sitting along the water inhaling banana and bread with lots of Nutella. We even saw the two officers who pulled us over and they smiled and greeted us "Hey, American." Hardly awake, we stumbled aboard the ship when it arrived and found our way to our cabin with sleeping bunks that I had smartly reserved. Although I had to nervously check on our progress several times because we were behind schedule, we eventually arrived after a decent sleep and I woke up at the right time for us to leave...so much for waking us as promised.
Day 9
Iraklio is the largest city in Crete, so we got our bearings by first locating the bus station and getting a timetable for possibilities of when we could leave that night. We planned, washed up, stored our luggage and boarded the shuttle bus to Knossos, a famous Minoan palace. The palace was not built as a defensive structure, but the techniques used are fascinating for its time nearly 2,000 years before Christ. There was a drainage and sewer system, several floors of rooms, and wonderful painted frescoes. The frescoes preserved from Akrotiri and Knossos suggest that the Minoans were not war-like but focused on trade and recreation. It seems women had a high position in society because they are depicted participating in feasts and sporting events, wearing ornate fashions, and the primary deity was a mother goddess who is shown with bare breasts holding two snakes to represent her control over fertility and nature.
Hans and I spent hours at the sight visiting together until we drifted apart taking in the vast and impressive space. Legend has it that the bottom of the palace contained a vast labyrinth where the famed Minotaur lived before being defeated by the hero Theseus. Sir Arthur Evans had excavated the sight and he decided to liberally reconstruct many of the areas. Many of the signs eluded to him going too far because there is little evidence to suggest the way that he reconstructed is historically accurate. However, it was nice to have a sight where some rooms were fully reconstructed and even painted because it me a more concrete picture of what the palace may have looked like. After taking in the frescoes, grand staircase, and throne room we made our way out and stopped at a few shops before returning to Iraklio.
On returning, we found an outdoor restaurant that served a massive amount of French fries on top of their gyros where we ordered three different gyros which was enough to stuff us for the rest of the day. We then went to the archaeological museum displaying all the finds from Knossos and other relics from throughout Crete that were so coveted by the museum in Athens. There was a glyph that likely contains the oldest writing found in Europe, the bull-leaping fresco among others, double-headed axes that were the symbol of power, and huge pots with Greyjoy-esque octopuses painted on. The development of civilization was obvious from the artistic progression during the historical stages before the earthquake which destroyed the palace, after which society became more violent and less sophisticated.
As I was leaving the museum I could not find Hans, I looped through again, then ran around the building, then looped through again and was frustrated because our bus was leaving soon and we had to go. Somehow we had missed each other because he was going to the bathroom, but had been looking for me as well. Thankfully on my last lap around the building, we saw each other and began running toward the bus station. For some reason, it seemed like any movement needed to make a scheduled bus was cursed as our given directions were wrong again so we ran around and a nagging pain stabbed at my abdomen until finally we made it to the station, got our things, and boarded our bus for Chania.
Chania seemed like a city of energy and beauty as we walked the streets looking for our hostel. Again, it took multiple times asking for directions because of some weird street organization, but we found our place, used the internet to connect back to home, went to our room, left a message for the girls who would hopefully be arriving later that night, and I headed out to a mini-market to get food to pack for our planned day-hike. As I laid down to sleep, I hear the girls come in, so I checked in with them and confirmed our plans for the next day.
Day 10
We woke up early, ate some breakfast, and traversed back across the city for a bus that would take us to the Samaria Gorge. This gorge is the longest in Europe crossing most of the length of the island from north to south with beautifully varying environments as altitudes change. When we arrived, it was very cold and foggy at the top but after beginning the steeply descending switchback trail our bodies warmed and it cleared up. Since this was a day-hike, I urged the others to take their time and stop to take in views along the way. Although I like to wander, climb around, or throw stuff to add adventure, Hans and Kelsee are an extreme combination of chemicals that seem to want to respond and outdo each other leading to rock slides down the path, tree crushing, and extensive venturing off the path, which I did not notice was against park rules until some people walked by who had heard the commotion and warned us of such a policy.
At one point we stood on a precipice that overlooked the gorge all around and Hans recorded a video of sliding sunbeams. There was another time where Hans and Kelsee went off for alone time leaving Danielle and I to discuss the state of things. Later we sat on rocks by the stream to have our lunch and noticed that we would have to speed up in order to finish the trail on time to catch the boat to a town where we could board a bus back to Chania. There were some ancient rock shrines that had been used for thousands of years. The path wound down out of the timber forest to an lush green area with beautiful pools of water and strangely twisting Cyprus trees and trunks then through a pine woodland, before emerging at the bottom of the chasm filled by boulders thrown down from the soaring cliffs on either side.
We took short rests and refilled our water many times until eventually we arrived at a town full of sheep pens and restaurants along the coast. We confirmed the boat time and figured we had just enough to grab another gyro for sustenance. The boat sailed along the coast full of hundreds of people who had hiked the gorge that day and my enjoyment of the tired journey was increased by a much needed backrub. When we got on the bus, Hans and I passed out because the last couple days had been very draining with the early morning threatened arrest and ferry.
Although we were filthy, we decided to remain in the old city near the bus station for a couple hours before returning to the hostel. We walked through the streets looking for something affordable before we decided to get frozen yogurt after Hans was awkwardly targeted for confrontation by the shopkeeper regarding the quality of the yogurt assuring us that it was not made from a mix. We treated Danielle because it was her birthday then walked out to the harbor area to sit on a bench along the lighted promenade before calling it a day.
Day 11
With nowhere pressing to be, we slept for a long time before heading back to the old town with the girls. Our first stop was the naval museum attached to the Venetian fortress that was unfortunately closed early after we finished. It was obvious from the museum displays that seafaring had always been the defining lifestyle and culture of Crete. There were dozens of detailed models of ships from the bronze age up to WWII. A repeatedly mentioned point of pride was that the rowers on the Greek triremes and other boats down through the ages were always free men as opposed to those aboard Roman, Venetian, and Turkish boats.
We took a stroll through the old city looking for monuments. The most significant find was the Venetian shipyards still mostly intact and a church that had been converted from Orthodox to Venetian Catholic, to an Ottoman mosque, and finally back to Greek Orthodox. We walked back to the main beach area along the promenade and enjoyed our last few hours together on the beach. Hans and I decided to swim out to this rock island several hundred yards off the beach showcasing Hans newfound ability to make significant progress in water without sinking albeit in more buoyant salt-water. Hans crafted a replica of the old city fortifications seen in the museum while Kelsee and I discussed the evolving attitudes toward life as we grow. When it was time to go, the group of us headed back to the hostel, packed up, grabbed some more groceries, and bid farewell before Hans and I returned to the bus station for our trip back to Iraklio.
Hans and I arrived in Iraklio after 11pm and we had to take a taxi with a set rate, that Hans wanted to walk away from, to the airport. We killed some time by pounding our food and scooping out the remainder of our Nutella with bread to finish it since we could not take it with us. A whole tub of Nutella in three days was a bit messy. Our flight was leaving at 2:30am so we were so exhausted from all the staying up at night that I hardly remember much about boarding or the flight except Hans' strong feelings of nostalgia each of the last couple of days and hours before departure as he kept repeating, "I can't believe we are soon leaving Greece." But we were excited for what was to come because we were bound for Espana.
