My Visit to Greece
By Joe Sarnicola
My journey to Greece started when I left Syracuse airport just before 11 on the morning of Oct. 14. After a three-hour layover at JFK airport in New York City and a nine-and-a-half-hour flight to Athens, my companion, Jan, and I arrived at about 8 the next morning. But that was Athens time. My body, still being on New York time, thought it was 1 in the morning and I am a person who has trouble adjusting to “spring ahead, fall back.”
In spite of the time difference, a short nap in the hotel refreshed me enough to be able to start exploring Athens.
Backing up for a moment, I would like to describe one event on the flight over. On the backs of the seats in front of us is a small screen for watching movies, but it has another feature of showing where the plane is in real time. When I checked where we were, I saw we were flying over Italy, just as the sun was coming up. Seeing the lights from the cities below and the changing colors of the sky around us while flying over Italy was one of the most beautiful sights of the trip.
The hotness of summer was past. But the weather remained pleasantly in the 70s all week.
The first place we wanted to see was a section of the city called Monastiraki Square, a collection of shops, outdoor vendors and sidewalk cafes, which was literally across the street from our first hotel. We had lunch at the Veranda Café. I ordered moussaka, which reminded me of lasagna, but the ingredients were tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant in a creamy bechamel sauce. I ordered vegetarian, but it can also come with beef or lamb. It was delicious!
Around us people were enjoying the food, the atmosphere and each other’s company. I highly recommend visiting here, just don’t get lost like we did. In the States, most of our streets are either parallel or perpendicular to each other. In Greece, the layout is more freeform. So it is very easy
to get disoriented.
The next day, we were scheduled to leave early in the morning for a two-day tour with a group to Delphi and Meteora (pronounced me-TAY-o-ra, accent on tay.) Whether it was due to jet lag, I can’t say, but I set the alarm for 6:30. When it went off, I got up and got dressed while Jan started a pot of coffee. I checked to see if my phone had charged overnight and discovered it was 4:30, not 6:30! So we tried to steal a couple more hours’ sleep. Sigh.
Once we left Athens, the landscape was mostly barren, dusty and dry for many miles. Another thing about the landscape in rural Greece: in the States houses come in many different colors, shapes and materials. In Greece, there seems to be a choice of square and white concrete with a brown roof.
When we reached Delphi, we were able to see the ruins, some which still show hand carved lettering. Delphi is where the ancient Greeks went to visit the oracle for guidance. It is hard not to be humbled when you view sites that are thousands of years old.
As we continued on toward Meteora (which means ‘suspended in air’), the landscape started to turn to rich, brown soil with olive trees, cotton fields and freshly harvested pastures. Many of the farms are terraced because Greece is very mountainous. Meteora is a region where several monasteries are built on top of very high cliffs and the monasteries are open to the public on a limited basis.
The night before we visited the monasteries, we stayed at a hotel in a village called Kalambaka, at the foot of the mountains. I expected a small town with little activity, due to its remoteness, but it was filled with shops, restaurants and entertainment. When the sun went down, the cliffs were lit up, offering a magnificent view.
The monasteries are still run by monks and nuns (separately). The chapels were decorated from floor to ceiling with brightly colored Byzantine style paintings of saints and Biblical scenes.
Stepping out onto the balconies and viewing spots, the valleys and mountainous terrain can be seen for many miles in every direction.
After our tour of the monasteries, we rode the bus back to Athens. The following day we were scheduled for a half-day tour of the city, after which we were free to wander on our own.
Athens is a busy, beautiful city, but it is not like a city in the states. The sidewalks are made of cobblestones, limestone, and marble, materials that can be slippery even when dry. Plus, there are breaks and holes in the sidewalk and the cobblestones that can be uneven, making for some unsure footing. Please wear sturdy, comfortable shoes and be mindful as you walk.
And the traffic? Yikes! Sometimes it was hard to tell if we were walking on the road or the sidewalk and there could be cars or motorcycles wondering the same thing. There are very few large vehicles in Athens. I even saw a scaled-down garbage truck. In addition, motorcycles weave in and around traffic and pedestrians. Parking is just as fierce, with cars facing each other on the same side of the street, often with motorcycles between them. Really.
From the balcony of our hotel room, we could see the Parthenon, which had been the political center of ancient Greece, on a hill called the Acropolis and it, too, was lit up at night. The site itself is a major tourist attraction, so expect crowds. We were told they had recently limited the number of visitors to 20,000 a week.
After visiting the Parthenon, we wanted some quieter time in a greener area and we were fortunate that near the hotel was the Athens National Garden, a scenic park with many walking trails, koi and turtle ponds, a wide variety of plants and remnants of ruins.
On the last day of our trip, we rode a ferry to the nearby island of Aegina. Like Monastiraki, the port area of this island was a cluster of shops and cafes. I wish there had been a tourist information booth there, because it was difficult to find out how to get to any historic sites or other places of interest. A fellow traveler gave us some good advice, so we rode a bus to the temple of Aphaia, a ruin on a high point of the island with a view of the ocean.
We took a wonderful horse-drawn carriage ride and sampled a liquor made from pistachios, a major crop of Aegina. I expected it to be syrupy and oversweet, but it was light, flavorful and refreshing. I wish I had bought more to bring home.
And before we knew it, we were back home in New York state.
5 Things to Know Before Going to Greece
1. Plan, book ahead. Decide what you want to see and do by checking travel guides and websites. Once we made our choices, we contacted Fantasy Travel, an agency based in Athens. They met us at the airport (and brought us back), gave us an itinerary for each day, pre-purchased all necessary tickets and made all hotel and transportation arrangements.
2. Buy Euros in advance. They can be purchased at area banks, AAA and other places. Euros are the preferred method in Greece at most shops, vendor booths and restaurants, although cards are acceptable at most hotels and certain merchants, although with surcharges.
3. Buy an adaptor for any electronic devices. They are inexpensive and available at large department stores. You cannot plug American-based devices into European outlets.
4. Think twice about renting a car. Signage is only in Greek and traffic in certain areas is treacherous. Being part of a tour is much safer and you can relax and enjoy the trip.
5. Greece is more than the islands and the beaches. There is history and beauty on the main island across the entire country. Think about this when you plan your trip.