Greece, March 2006

Our Spring Break trip to Greece with Laurie as our tour guide.

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Over the course of 2005, Laurie wrapped up her teaching job in Sao Paolo, Brazil and started on her Masters program in Castellon, Spain. With her in Europe, we conspired to meet for Spring Break, 2006, in Greece. Laurie was very familiar with the country, having worked on archeological digs in Crete while a student in the early 1990s, leading high school trips from Philadelphia and visiting various parts of the country frequently from Beirut. We figured it would be great to see her and have a free tour guide.

We collaborated over the winter months on an itinerary, balancing our desires for an overview of Greek highlights and nice hotels with Laurie’s greater familiarity with the country and her desire for cheaper, more rustic accommodations. We knew Greece deserved more than a single week but that was all the time we could muster, given Allie’s school break and Barb’s work schedule. We decided on two nights in Athens, one in Delphi, and three nights on Crete in two locations. Given the March weather, we reluctantly gave up on our wishes to visit other Greek islands. Maybe some other trip.

I decided to use Costco Travel to help select hotels and bundle our flights. They seemed to do a good job weeding out the chaff and only offering a reasonable selection of hotels at various price points and luxury levels. It was the first time I relied on Costco for trip planning and overall I was pleased with their selections, prices and service.

Saturday, March 18

We flew to Athens on Alitalia via Milan. We departed from Dulles at 5:20PM, arriving at 7:45am on Sunday in Milan. We had three hours in the airport before flying to Athens, arriving at 2:10pm on Sunday.

Sunday, March 19 – Athens

We met up with Laurie at the airport where she arrived an hour or so before us. We got a cab to our hotel, the Golden Tulip Electra Palace, checked into our rooms (Allie shared with Laurie), changed clothes and soon set out to see the sights and get oriented. The Electra Palace was the first of our Costco-sourced hotels. It turned out to be a decent 4-star European hotel, good but not really outstanding. Its best feature was its location in the Athens old town, easy walking distance to the Acropolis and main sights. It was more expensive than Laurie wanted but not as modern as Barb and I might have chosen.

We first scoped out the rooftop of our hotel which included a pool (closed, still too cold) and terrace lounge with a nice view of the Acropolis and old town.

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We ventured out on foot, circumnavigating most of the way around the base of the Acropolis. It was fairly late in the day so we didn’t go into any of the main sites or museums, but did well with an orientation walk and some window shopping.

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After substantial wandering, we settled on a likely looking restaurant for our first meal in Greece. This evening set the tone of me wanting to order too much, Laurie wanting to get something cheap, Allie wanting something with french fries, and Barb picking around for one or two things that were as plain as possible. Fun!

Monday, March 20 – Athens

This was our main day for the sights of Athens. We started with the Acropolis and Parthenon, trying to beat the hordes of day trippers. We didn’t beat all of them but the lines weren’t too long yet. Laurie gave us a running commentary but we also eavesdropped on some of the tour guides leading groups.

It’s hard for me to resist being snarky about the state of the ancient ruins and being a tourist at this most touristy of sites. But it was also pretty awesome to be at the symbolic heart of Western civilization. We did our best to absorb what we could in a couple of hours.

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We spent some time in the Old Acropolis Museum, trying to learn more about the site and its history. I learned more about the sordid story of the Elgin Marbles. Why exactly I took these photos is lost to my own history.

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More views from the Acropolis, including kitties.

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Turned out it was a few days before Greece’s Independence Day (March 25), so we got to see practice flyovers. Kinda cool. Not really the most impressive air force, but it made for an interesting juxtaposition with the ancient sites.

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We descended from the Acropolis into the Agora, the ancient marketplace of Athens. I was particularly impressed by the Temple of Hephaestus, a well-preserved temple that gives a fuller impression of what the Parthenon and other buildings may have looked like. I mean, it had a roof and everything.

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From the Agora, we crossed the street to the Plaka section of town and shops. We grabbed a table at a cafe and had a souvlaki lunch (I think Barb and Allie had french fries and a Diet Coke). We had a lot of goofy fun with the word tzaziki, as in “Would you like a little more tzaaa-ziki?” It was a catch phrase that lasted through our trip and for many years after with Allie, Laurie and me.

Fortified with lunch, Laurie led us to the Athens Metro to head up to the National Archeology Museum, walking past the Greek Parliament Building (Old Royal Palace) and catching a minute or so of the Changing of the Guards in Syntagma Square. The museum was stunning. I especially loved the Cycladic figures, the Mask of Agamemnon and the bronze statue of Poseidon (or is it Zeus?).

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I became quite fascinated by the Cycladic figures — artwork from a culture so ancient (more than 2500 BCE) and little known, yet it looked so modern. I wondered why I hadn’t seen more of it before or since.

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We were pretty darn tired by the end of this full day. We caught a cab back to the hotel rather than further negotiate the Metro. I’m not sure what we did for dinner but I know we stayed close to the hotel.

Tuesday, March 21

We checked out of the Electra Palace and caught a bus or cab back to the airport to get our rental car for our drive to Delphi. I knew that I didn’t want to try to negotiate Athens traffic but the airport was well out of town with good highway connections. It was easy to get pointed on the highway toward Delphi and avoid the worst of the city traffic.

At some point an hour or so out of Athens we ventured off the main highway and veered closer to the coast, driving on smaller roads through mountain villages of sheep, olive trees and vineyards. It was a nice drive but we were a little hesitant to stop anywhere and in any case there weren’t a lot of obvious touristy places to stop.

Eventually we made it to Delphi with enough time in the late afternoon to explore some of the historical ruins.

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Allie, Barb and Laurie knew a lot more about Greek myths and legends than I did. Laurie was a professional student of Greek history and culture. Barb had been a fan of the myths since childhood and had passed her fascination to Allie, especially through the book D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths. The three of them had long discussions of various myths including the Oracle of Delphi. I was happy to tag along and learn a little myself.

As it got closer to the afternoon closing time, the crowds thinned and tour buses filled up to go back wherever they came from. We climbed higher up the hillside ruins, reaching the Temple of Apollo and the amphitheater where Allie put on a little show for us.

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We went a bit higher to the very impressive and unexpected Stadium where Allie had a good time imagining herself an Olympic champion.

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After the site closed, we found our hotel, the Acropole, and explored what we could of the small town — mainly a street or two of tourist shops and a very limited number of restaurants open for dinner. We found a bottle or two of wine and some snacks then repaired to the balcony of our rooms which had a great view of the sunset over the valley below, looking down to the sea. A very pleasant end of the day.

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The Acropole Hotel, by the way, was not a Costco selection. I think either Laurie or I found it via the Internet and TripAdvisor. It wasn’t great, but was fine enough for one night. The balconies with their views were by far the best feature. There was no TV, Internet or air conditioning but we survived, somehow.

After the sunset, we went back down the street looking for a restaurant. There were very slim pickings and we ended up in a small place that I think was in the lobby of another hotel. I can’t remember what we had but it was the poorest meal we had on the trip.

Still, the overall day had been a success until we got ready for bed and Allie discovered that she was missing one of her two stuffed animals. At home, Allie slept with a bed full of stuffed animals but we only let her bring two along for the trip. And now one was missing, I think an elephant. She had it in Athens. Barb called the Electra Palace and after an investigation with housekeeping they determined that they had it. We told them to keep it at the front desk and we would come by the next day to retrieve it. Laurie couldn’t believe we would make such a fuss over a stuffed animal, especially when Allie had a spare, but neither Barb nor Allie would have it any other way.

Wednesday, March 22 – Delphi to Crete

In the morning, we returned to the Delphi ruins, spending a couple of hours at the impressive Archaeological Museum. We didn’t see much more of the site which was once again crowded with bus tourists by the time we finished with the museum. There was another section of the site we hadn’t seen but us old folks were leery of walking downhill to the Tholos of Delphi and having to climb back up. So we sent Allie to take a couple of pictures and tell us about it.

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Our plan had been to spend some more time in Delphi that day before driving back to the Athens airport to catch an afternoon flight to Crete. But in order to retrieve Allie’s stuffed elephant we had to cut out of Delphi a few hours early, somewhat to Laurie’s consternation. It also meant I would have to drive into the heart of Athens traffic which I’d been hoping to avoid, especially since we didn’t have precise directions back to the Electra Palace Hotel.

We pointed the car (minivan, actually) back toward Athens and did our best to navigate into the city center without getting any dings or scratches. The rental company had put the fear of God into us over damaging the car. Laurie tried her best to read the Greek street signs and I did my best to avoid the motorcycles and other vehicles zipping around us. Eventually we actually found the hotel.

Barb ran in and checked with front desk who initially had no idea what she was talking about. Undeterred, Barb escalated the issue until someone finally checked under the counter and, sure enough, there was our elephant. Barb brought it triumphantly back to the car, to Allie’s delight.

We then had to navigate out of the city back to the airport, but it seemed a lot easier in that direction. We made it in time, turned in the car no worse for wear and caught our puddle jumper plane to Crete.

We landed at the Heraklion airport and once again made our way to the car rental counter, eventually getting ourselves a car along with another long lecture about not getting any dings in it.

We headed into Heraklion and toured around the town a bit, getting our bearings. We spent a fair chunk of the afternoon in the very impressive Heraklion Archaeological Museum, seeing such pieces as the Phaistos Disc and the Snake Goddess figurines.

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Eventually we had our fill and decided it was time to find our hotel. Laurie had selected the accommodations for this evening in Arolithos Village. It was the only place she really insisted on for the trip, both because it was less expensive and billed as a traditional Cretan village. I think she’d heard about it from friends or maybe she’d found it on her own. She was leery that we would choose one of the large European beach resorts on the island, so this was her vote.

Arolithos Village was quite a way out of town, up a winding hillside. It was getting dark by the time we made it to the vicinity and we were afraid we’d have a hard time finding a place for dinner. As we were winding up the road, we came upon a small taverna that still had lights on. We stopped in, and though there were no other customers we were welcomed to a table. We proceeded to have the best meal of the trip. Laurie did most of the ordering and the kitchen produced plate after plate of delicious things, starting with the crispest, freshest calamari we’ve ever encountered. It was a great little place but these many years later it doesn’t seem to still be there.

We got to the village after dark and I think we woke people up to get ourselves checked in. Arolithos turns out to be a reconstructed Cretan village, built in the 1980s for tourists — sort of a Cretan Williamsburg on a tiny scale. Their website is not operational now but it may be closed due to Covid-19. Here is another traveler’s blog post (fairly accurate, I think) about the place.

We were shown to our rooms which were like two little apartments in nearby houses. The rooms themselves were rather spartan and cold in the March evening. Laurie was quite happy. Barb was not impressed, especially when she noticed a spider or two in our room. There was nothing else open in the village and indeed we didn’t see any other people other than the couple of people we seemed to wake up checking in. We turned in very early for us and Barb had a fitful night, feeling a little too close to nature.

Thursday, March 23 – Palace of Knossos

Breakfast was included with our room which gave us a little chance to wander the village in the daylight. It was cute but there were clearly very few guests at this time in March. We eventually found the place where we got our continental breakfast and checked out shortly after. I’m sure Laurie wanted to stay longer to see what else the village offered but we had a big day lined up at the Palace of Knossos and Barb did not dally.

We were among the early horde of daily visitors at the Palace of Knossos. This was a very impressive site, the main Minoan structures dating to nearly 2000 BC, though there were neolithic settlements on the site going back thousands of years earlier. The site was rediscovered in 1878, excavated starting in 1900 and some of what can be seen now are reconstructions from the 1930s or later. There’s some dispute over the accuracy of the reconstructions but it seemed to me like a decent compromise to handle the flow of tourists. A little history, a little theme park. We’d seen some of the real stuff in the museum the day before (where it belongs).

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Plus, there were cats and peacocks. Everything you need!

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After a full day at Knossos, we drove two hours or so west to the town of Chania and made our way to our hotel, the Casa Delfino (website), another Costco choice. Our rooms here were very nice — little apartments, really. Barb was happier.

We had a little time to scout a bit of Chania’s pretty harbor before sunset. I didn’t know much about Chania or what to expect, but it was quite charming. Chania has a long history, as expected, though I didn’t realize it included a considerable time as a Venetian colony.

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We wandered a bit and found a place for dinner about a block off the harbor that served wonderfully fresh seafood. It was so good, and the waiters so friendly that we returned there the next night, one of the only times I’ve ever repeated restaurants on consecutive nights. Now, if I could only remember which one it was…

Friday, March 24

For our last full day in Crete, we explored the western end of the island by car. We started with a wander around the harbor in Chania.

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We had in mind going to a beach, but though the morning was sunny, the weather was cool and breezy and deteriorated through the day. By the time we got to Falassarna Beach it was downright cold. Our idea of a picnic on the beach turned into a test of endurance. We didn’t last long.

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We spent the rest of the day driving around the countryside but didn’t really see any other particular sites or attractions. We made it back to Chania for a rest and time to see the harbor at sunset. We returned to the good restaurant but the second time was not quite as magical as the first. Still, it was another fine day to cap off our time on Crete.

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Saturday, March 25

We wrapped up our Grecian holiday with travels, driving back to Heraklion, turning in the car (no dings!), and flying back to Athens in the afternoon. We said our goodbyes to Laurie at the airport. We had a very early flight the next day so we elected to stay at the airport’s hotel. Laurie headed back into Athens for one more evening before flying back to Spain.

We checked into the Sofitel Athens Airport Hotel, a modern business-class hotel. Barb loved it. We napped away the rest of afternoon, watched TV, and had a decent not-very-Greek meal in the hotel’s restaurant. You know, vacation. We went to bed early because we had to get up around 4am for our 6:30am flight.

Sunday, March 26

We stopped in Milan again on the Alitalia flight home, getting back to Dulles around 2pm and driving home to a weeks’ worth of papers, mail, Harry and Buster. Back to the real world.

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I had a great time traveling with Laurie and I think Allie did as well. Barb got along fine with Laurie and enjoyed the trip overall, but she and Laurie are on opposite ends of the vacation accommodations and meals spectra. I think this ended up being the only trip we’ve all made together, though we have discussed others from time to time. Italy, especially. So far, nothing has actually worked out.

We covered a lot of ground in just 6 days, but I know there’s a lot more of Greece worth seeing. I’d like to get back to see more of the islands (when it’s warmer) as well as other sights on the mainland. I’m not sure if or when we might do that, and whether to go on our own, with Allie or Laurie again, or maybe on a cruise. I’m not terribly eager to do it on a cruise, particularly not on a large ship, but it might be the easiest way. Time will tell.