Greek Islands = meh
And thus the frittering away of time begins. Last night, I wanted to go out and check out gay Greek men, but I was too exhausted. I tried to just take a nap, but then I ignored the alarm.

And then because I didn't get up last night, I didn't check the morning bus schedule. As a consequence, I have an hour to kill, and I didn't get on the first ferry to Delos. Delos is home to some spectacular ruins, and I was hoping to see it 1) before it got too hot, and 2) with enough time to get some sun this afternoon.

I guess the tricky part is that I don't know how long I'll want to spend at Delos; hopefully, I'll have enough time to do everything I want today.

My verdict on the islands so far is that they aren't worth it. The beaches are nice, but there are a lot of nice beaches elsewhere. And there are definitely more appealing "quaint" towns elsewhere. I think the main advantage of the islands is the proximity to other destinations. For Europeans, it's closer than the Caribbean. For Americans, we can get both a beach vacation and a major city vacation all in one trip.

Biasing me against the islands is the terrible sleep I got last night. I stayed at Paradise Camping. I think I was one of the closest cabins to the road, and for most of the night I heard revving ATVs and mopends. and then the wind picked up, and the leaves became excrutiatingly loud. I ended up with a pillow on my head, which was tolerable, but it left me sore. I woke up at leave once an hour; we'll see if I can muster energy for the boys tonight.

Labels: bar trip, Mykonos (GR)

- posted by roger @ 8:48 AM (0) comments

 
I'm Never Walking Again
Okay, dinner's done (except maybe for dessert). After the grilled feta (it was double-bagged in foil with a slice of tomato), I had calamari stuffed with peppers and feta. The food's been great so far. It helps that I've warmed up to Greek cuisine over the last couple years.

Today was probably my most indulgent food day--I ate out twice! For lunch, I had more spanikopita, plus a dessert called kataifi, I think. It was chopped nuts rolled into semicrispy bird's nest-type noodles, doused in syrup. It was good, except that it reminded me of fruit cake.

Anyway, I was probably only this hungry today because of the walking--I think around 15km. Or however far three hours of near continuous walking will get you.

I wish I could figure out if these guys at the other table are related or in an ooky May-December relationship. The older one has a rang, the younger has a "hip" mullet, and they're both floating between English and French.

So when I woke up today (a little after 10), I decided I'd take a bus to a trail for Mt. Zeus, finish by early afternoon, then sunbathe back by the hotel. The ticket agent told me which stop I wanted, and I found the appropriate bus driver, but I guess the problem was only asking if he went to Agia Marina, and not asking if he'd tell me when we got there. So I missed the stop by about 8km, and I ended up in Apiranthos. Having not had any coffee, I decided to get some and have the aforementioned lunch. I wandered around town for a bit after lunch, but it was a pretty small village. I decided to walk back to the Mt. Zeus trailhead. But over an hour later, when I got there, I was pretty tuckered out. There had been a nice breeze, but it was still full and constant sun. I went up the trail a bit, but I only made it to the first point of interest--a spring. I replenished my bottle with the cold water and turned back. I continued on to the next town, since it was closer than Apiranthos, and I knew where its bus stop was. But then I got there and felt bad I hadn't hiked as intended, so I kept going to the next major town, Halki. I thought it was only 2km away, but it took considerably longer to get there. I had been thinking about touring the local distillery--one of the only places in the world where citron grows. But I arrived at the same time the bus was scheduled to pass through, so I bought a Kit Kat ice cream cone (just a Kit Kat buried in a vanilla cone) and plopped down. Citron liquor isn't widely exported, since the crop has lately een poor, but I saw it in Athens, so I'll pick some up on my way back.

So I made it back to town, but I didn't actually know where my hostel was. It was in a neighborhood full of hotels that were mostly only distinguishable by the paint color on the shutters. They picked me up from the dock last night (after midnight), and I hadn't paid attention when I left. After guessing blindly for 15 minutes, I managed to find it by systematically walking up and down streets, one by one. By that point, I only had about 1.5h of daylight, but I took it sprawled on a towel at the nearby beach.

And afterall that, plus the food in my stomach, I'm pretty beat. I'm going to try to stop in an internet cafe on the way back, but it really wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't.

Labels: bar trip, Naxos (GR)

- posted by roger @ 9:53 PM (0) comments

 
Bad For Hermits, Good For Foodies
I'm on a ferry bound for Naxos, and I am bored out of my mind. All I have to amuse myself with are my guidebooks. And there's only so much planning I can do, since it feels very much like work, and it'd thwart some of the romance of this trip. But on the other hand, lack of planning is inconsistent with my personality type, and it's causing some of that anxiety I'd mentioned earlier. I worry that every minute of my trip won't be jam-packed with awesome, or that I'll pick the wrong activities, forsaking something that would've been sublime. (ed: transcribing that last sentence caused me to go put my entire trip into google calendar) I'm worried I'll suddenly run out of time and have to book a flight back to Athens out of the nearest airport.

And so I plan. I'm constrained by transit schedules and travel times. I have to decide when the fast boats are worth the extra money. And I have to find the balance among my interests: ancient ruins, museums, food, shopping, hiking, tanning, diving, and (most importantly, perhaps) bumming around and absorbing the environment.

Today I hit the Acropolis, ancient Agora, and Philopappos Hill (a park with a fantastic vantage point of the Acropolis and the entire city). I also had lunch till I almost burst, and I wandered through the Benaki Museum.

Apparently, the eponymous benefactor had a taste for antiquities, and the museum was devoted to a broad spectrum of Greek art over time (he also established two other museums, topically devoted to Islamic arts and Byzantine and Christian arts). It was really quite interesting, and not packed with visitors--a welcome change after the Acropolis. I thought the Acropolis was bad when I entered, but the volume of traffic had doubled by the time I left. And the Parthenon was impressive and stuff, but you [understandably] couldn't walk through it, and the hordes made it difficult to appreciate. Plus, the Acropolis Museum was closed while I was there, so that sucked. By contrast, the serenity of Philopappos Hill made the Parthenon so much more impressive, even though it was farther away (but that also turned the people into tiny dots).

I ate lunch near the Agora. I think I ordered what was in fact two lunch entrees. But I was hungry and eager to sample different dishes. (ed: resumed much, much later, as both of my pens ran out of ink within a couple pages of each other) I was really in the mood for mussels, so I ordered the mussels under the "saganaki" column, whatever that means. It was basically mussels, feta, tomatoes, and basal, all stewed together and served with bread. Pretty tasty. But I also got a combo platter/sampler that included various fritters, tsatziki, roe, fried calamari, and fried anchovies. I was especially after the anchovies--turns out they aren't salty at all! It must be the curing process that gets them all deliciously salty. They were pretty good fresh, too, just different from what I expected. I guess that's the point of vacation, huh?

Before I got on the boat, I also hit up a small market. Turns out that "cream crackers" are actually crackers; I'd been hoping for some kind of cookie. But I also got some rockin' figs. Those things are like baby fists. Made of candy. I don't know if they're from around here, but they're delicious.

Oops, grilled feta's here!

Labels: Athens (GR), bar trip

- posted by roger @ 7:58 PM (0) comments

 
Three Things
First, the Acropolis is already swimming with tourists just an hour after it's opened.

Second, I am always relieved when the most immodestly dressed person around is not American.

Third, I am never bringing my kids on vacation just so they can sit in the corner and pluck grass. I am going to be the kind of dad who's gripping your arm as you slump to the floor, because you had better appreciate this; or even better, the kind of dad who leaves you at grandma's for two weeks.

Labels: Athens (GR), bar trip

- posted by roger @ 9:43 AM (0) comments

 
Trudging Through Millennia
Ever since I landed this morning, around 11am, my sole goal has been to not pass out. Figuring I couldn't stay asleep for more than 10h, I'm trying to make it to 9pm. Hopefully, I can stretch out taking a shower.

It took me about one and a half hours, between immigration and the metro, to get to the hostel. But it worked out swimmingly--it's a decent place, and they had availability. Since it was already afternoon, I decided to hide indoors at a museum. I walked to the National Archaeological Museum, which is pretty much the museum in Athens. I managed to get through most of it before my legs gave out. I may go back when I return, but I wanted to get a basic handle on Greek archaeology, since ancient ruins are going to be my focus. I took the [even more] scenic route back to the hostel, stopping at a travel agency to arrange my boat trips for the next week or so. I also popped into the Popular Musical Instruments Museum (it was free). I went in intrigued, given my interest in music, and it was cool that many of the displays also had headphones playing the various instruments. But I may have underestimated the effect my tiredness would have on my ability to appreciate music that didn't conform to my precepts of timbre and musical keys. Wah-wah-wah! That's seriously what it sounded like. All of it.

On the plus side, I bough SPF 4 sunblock, while resisting the urge to buy much else. I really don't need to saddle myself with souvenirs on the first day.

I've been meaning to try a low SPF block. I sometimes burn, so block seems like a good idea, but I get almost no color with SPF 15. I'm planning to test run on one of my forearms tomorrow. But the big test will be Mykonos--where all the beaches are nude. I'm curious enough to try it, but I may stop at just tanning my backside. Partially because my naked penis shame hasn't eroded as much as my naked butt shame, but also because the prospect of a sunburnt penis is terrifying.

On a happier note, the hostel is crawling with non-American anglophiles. Imagine this: a stubbly, tan, redhead, with short, wavy, surfer-esque hair, who is so muyscular (not beefy; more definition) that his worn out t-shirt hands an inch from his stomach. I love that.

Okay, think I've killed enough time. Hopefully I can sleep past sunrise!

ps I'm stuffed with gyros and spanikopita.

Labels: Athens (GR), bar trip

- posted by roger @ 8:05 PM (0) comments

 
Off to the eastern Mediterranean
And thus another adventure begins. I'm in the airport, waiting to depart. And, frankly, I just barely got here okay (although now I do have some time to kill). I overslept this morning, so it was non-stop packing once I got up. And then I also had to prep the rats so a family friend could care for them (made more complicated by the fact that one is taking liquid antibiotics). But in the end, the only wrinkle was taking a cab all the way to the airport--instead of the train station--and making the driver wait for ten minutes.

I also left the house a pretty big mess. The only reason my mom might not freak out is that she's away on business now, then will only be home for a week before going on her own vacation (with her sisters and mother on an Alaskan cruise). So she won't have to look at it for too long.

So now I feel relieved--hopefully that'll be the only hiccup during my trip (besides the Syrian border). I'm a combination of excited and nervous--not unlike the first day of school, but with a higher percentage of nervous. But I've got an exciting list of places to see; the itinerary was what kept me up last night. I'm hoping to hit about a dozen places, with stays ranging from a half-day (Delphi) to four days (Cairo). I've decided to bypass Istanbul, which seems crazy, but it was geographically inconvenient, and it would easily be its own future vacation.

So while I'm in Turkey, I'll be going a bit more remote--still to well-touristed locales, but generally accessible only by bus; i.e. slow transport. I figure they would be harder to make time for in the future, compared with flying in and out of Istanbul.

I'm starting with a day in Athens, then off to some islands, including Mykonos, where I'm hoping to catch some of the end-of-summer crowd. I'll have more time in Athens at the end of my trip, if I want it. But I've heard mixed things about the city, so I'm staying flexible.

Somehow, I managed to pack super light--light enough that my mom could carry my backpack. I suspect it was the decision to buy new shirts and forgo bringing undershirts. New shirts mean no sentimental value, so pit stains wouldn't be the end of the world. Hm, I guess I could have packed flip-flops and dress shoes. But I guess this means I have space for an over-priced neck pillow! I better get on that.

Labels: bar trip

- posted by roger @ 4:10 PM (0) comments