Going Greek

We spent the first week in November visiting three different, unique destinations in Greece.  It was a lovely week.

Our first stop was on the island of Santorini, also called Thera. We both fell in love with this island. It is a volcanic island with a still active volcano. The island is actually part of the edge of a sunken volcanic crater or caldera and has a long and interesting history related to catastrophic volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. It has even been associated with the myth of the lost city of Atlantis.

https://www.greeka.com/cyclades/santorini/santorini-history.htm

Our hotel was beautiful, built from a traditional cave home overlooking the volcanic caldera. The staff definitely spoiled us. We weren’t expecting such a high end place. Thanks Booking.com.

We visited Akrotiri, a flourishing city that was abandoned in the 17th century BC due to earthquakes and then a volcanic eruption. The city was buried by lava and therefore fairly well preserved like Pompeii. The multi-story buildings, sophisticated frescos, and household furnishings indicated it was a well-to-do city. We did have a tour guide but it became clear during the tour that, to be kind, he had his own unique interpretation of the history. To be truthful, he was just making s**t up!

We spent an afternoon in the town of Oia, a bustling tourist destination on the island. This town has tripled in size in the last 10 years.  It was obvious to us that the area is extremely vulnerable to the next earthquake or volcanic explosion which, because there is still an active volcano there, will come.

The blue-domed churches were a stand out feature in Oia and on the island.

We spent one day on a tour on a boat that took us into the Caldera and taught us about the geology of the area and the people. The water was turquoise and we did go in for a short cold snorkel. It was a perfect day.

Our next stop was on the Island of Paros. This accommodation was at the opposite end of the spectrum from our last, a very low rent fishing camp except there was no complaint about the location.

And I liked our visitors.In fact, there were stray cats all over the island. They seem quite well accepted and in pretty good shape. We ate outdoors one night on a closed in patio and at least 6 different cats snuck through the door and begged for food.

We rented a car and explored the island, visiting both inland and port towns and several very different beaches.  It was a Sunday and windy and cold so we didn’t see many people and not much was open. We enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Our last two days were spent in Athens. We had been warned that it was mostly a big dirty city but we really liked it and found it easy to walk around. The history is overwhelming so we appreciated having a tour guide to help us wade through it. I’m just going to post pictures here!

The Acropolis:

This was the view from the rooftop balcony of our hotel.

Entrance gate (Propylaea) and the Temple of Athena Nike:

The Parthenon:

The Porch of the Caryatids at the Erechtheion:

Odelon of Herodes Atticus and Theater of Dionysus:

Zeus’s Temple:

Changing of the Guard at the President’s house:

Poseidon’s Temple:

We were in Greece for the U.S. primary and so very aware that democracy began in this country. We were really intrigued to learn that they used a type of lottery system to pick their juries.

They also had a system for banishing power seekers from Athens. Interesting and I suspect easily corrupted.

Greece had been on my radar as a place to visit for a long time and I can happily report it exceeded my expectations!