The Weekend in Italy

I would have very much liked to post an update every night so I would not have had to make this one enormous post, but internet connections and time (read: sleep) constraints made that impossible, so I'll just have to make this as smooth and interesting as possible. We'll go Day-by-Day as we did in Crete and for part of the Peloponnese.

Thursday:

Thanksgiving day in America was not celebrated with any frivolity in Milan. The sun rose over the piazza in front of the Duomo Cathedral just as on any other day.

And the day began. I had taken the Metro from my hostel with the rising sun (7:00 am) to the Duomo stop and intended to walk to the train station from there, arriving by 8:30 at the latest. In a beeline path, the walk would only take 20 minutes or so. For a person who had never been to the city before, had not done nearly enough research on its layout and, and had no map, it took just about exactly the hour and a half I had reserved for the trip. 

The side of the Duomo Cathedral just as the sun rose. Unfortunately, all of my pictures of the front, center of the building are very dark and I didn't really get a second chance at taking pictures.

The biggest, most elaborate mall I have ever seen, across the street from the Cathedral. I wish it had been open as I walked through, for a better look at the restaurants if nothing else!

I walked in a straight line unintentionally along the metro line, and passed hundreds of fashion boutiques and brand name stores with Christmas window displays, including the area I had found the previous night, now fully lit and busy as the shops started opening for the day's business. I found the train station without getting too lost and with plenty of time to spare.

Now, about trains. They are by far now my favorite way to travel. If you count in all the time and hassle that it takes to get through an airport and onto a plane, trains are just as fast - if not faster - for intercity journeys, especially when the view is as nice as it is in Northern Italy. It took just over an hour and a half to get from Milan to Florence with no hassle whatsoever. The most relaxing and enjoyable means of travel I've ever come across. Let's get some more of these in America!

Arriving in Florence, I met up with my hostess, Miss Dottie, who at once took me to lunch. I learned there that a true Italian meal consist of three courses: Primi Corso is usually pasta or rice, Secondo Corso is typically a meat, and then you have a vegetable. I wasn't too surprised to learn this until they brought out the plates. Each course was the size of a full meal - at least by my standards - and I had to work quite hard to finish all of the amazing food before me (I couldn't do it, but I gave it my best effort, and the household dog was happy to help with my meal afterwords.) We took a quick walk along the Arno river after lunch, then had to return to prepare for Thanksgiving Dinner.

The Gardens behind the rectory where the Dunnam's live.

St. James, the church where Father Mark is Pastor.

Thanksgiving was an intense and fun experience. It may have been an American style, traditional Thanksgiving meal, but the people there were definitely Italian in mindset, if not origin. We started late, there was enough food to feed a small army, let alone the 85 people who were in attendance, and the dinner that began at 7:30 ended at 11:00 or so, with people lingering to avoid the light drizzle and continue conversing with the pleasant company. Of everyone there, it seemed to me that only about half of us were true Americans, the rest being British or Italian, there for family and friends or just interested in the tradition and the food. All in all, it was delicious and fun, and perfectly full of those awkward Thanksgiving moments where you don't know a soul and are constantly introduced via personal story to those around you who you may never see again (until next year, at least!)

Friday:

I was up talking with Miss Dottie for at least another hour after that, but still managed to get up in the morning for a sunrise walk along the Arno.

Little shops and restaurants, especially those specializing in leather, jewelry and pasta (respectively) line the river banks and help the area gleam. This particular stretch is full of history, even though only one of the bridges is original, and the rest needed to be reconstructed after WWII. The entire area looks more like a movie set or historical villa than a place where people actually live. The museums house a fair few of their statues outside, so I kept running across things like Neptune's Fountain, the bronze Perseus, a copy of the marble Rape of the Sabine Woman, and Hercules and the Nemean Lion as I walked through town. Miss Dottie also directed me to the Duomo in Florence, which I did manage to take a (less dark) picture of.

The immense size of the building (that's a 20-odd foot Christmas tree in the bottom left) is only accentuated by the incredible detail that has gone into every inch of the building.

The front facade of the cathedral, with a little better look at how intricate the masonry and architecture is. These churches are the true merging of form and function, art and architecture as one.

When I got back, we began a little museum hopping, first the Academia Museum to see Michelangelo's David, then to the Palazzo Strozzi for a lovely exhibition of the works of Bronzino, whose art I knew, even if I didn't remember his name. 

We weren't allowed to take pictures in either museum, nor did I have the time to sketch. The David was definitely the central piece in the Academia, and it was much larger and more impressive than I would ever have guessed from the thousands of pictures I've seen of it. It's 17 ft high for a start, which is nigh on impossible to really imagine until you're next to it. There was also an exhibit of antique musical instruments which was fascinating, especially the number and intricacy of those made specifically for the Medici family.

The Bronzino exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi was much mroe intimate, and very moving. The paintings, sculptures and tapestries, almost all of which he had a hand in, to up about 15 galleries and became more naturalistic and elaborate with time. It's always so interesting to watch an artist grow like that, and I found that some of his lesser known paintings were some of my personal favorites. One, which I had never seen before this exhibit, was a simple portrait of a woman, with such detail and texture that her pearls quite literally stood out over the gold lace on her silk and velvet dress, which I could make out the material of without even trying. That takes incredible talent and skill. Also, some pieces were set up next to contemporary poetry that went along with them and brought an entirely new dimension to the Renaissance paintings. I appreciated that a lot.

Miss Dottie and I spent the evening browsing through Old Town Florence, window shopping and noting the art and architecture scattered along the streets. Florence, with most of Italy, I think, encourages you to crick your neck looking up at the rooftops and high walls of its buildings, almost all of which are topped with statues and wrought iron. It was always fun to just walk the city. At around 7:30, we drove across the Arno and up to one of the largest plazas (called the Piazzale Michelangelo) for a view of the lit up cityscape from above. The mix of modern and ancient, religious and secular, all lit to match with flood lights, street lights, window lights and Christmas lights is breathtaking.

A bronze copy of the David in the Piazzale Michelangelo.

Saturday:

Early Saturday morning, I said goodbye to Miss Dottie an Father Mark and caught the 9:30 train to Rome. I arrived around 11am, dropped my things in the Hostel and began to run. 

I went first to the Colosseum (which is right next door to the Arch of Constantine, as seen below).

But the line to get in was forever long, and as much as I wanted to see the Colosseum, I didn't want to spend two hours waiting in line for it, either. So I went to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill site first and bought a combo ticket for the two places together. Then, feeling intelligent for beating the crowd, I took my time wandering through the Roman Forum.

The Forum is fascinating for many things, of course, but two reasons in particular stood out to me: its huge size - the site took me a good 45 minutes just to walk without stopping much at all - and the immense time span it encapsulates. Ancient temple facades remain, but have been restored as ancient churches, which were later restored again into more modern churches. Arches and houses were built and re-inscribed and re-used for new purposes, creating a kind of mish-mash of ancient architecture that was actually pretty reminiscent of an old shopping center that had gone through several partial renovations. Which is basically - from what I understand - what the ancient forum was. 

Ancient style statues crowing a church dedicated to St. Francis.

The facade of a mostly destroyed temple (no idea who it was dedicated to). It was odd not having a map or guide to the sites. The problem I kept running into in Rome, on sites and in museums, was that nothing was labeled and they would encourage you to pay extra for an audio guide or tour guide if you wanted more information. There were no student discounts to begin with, and I didn't have enough time to do the whole site properly, so I didn't bother with either. I will if I go back, or at least I'll research heavily beforehand.

A temple facade now housing an ancient church. The architectural disparity between the two styles is so cool! 

Triumphal Arch of Titus in the Forum.

The Colosseum. I got to skip the line to walk through. :-)

Looking down into the Colosseum from the upper level. The structures in the center are not roman original, but later Christian additions. Scale tourists provided. This place was so crowded, but really incredible. The structure itself is heavy and weighs down on you, even as it lifts itself up impossibly high into the clouds. Miss Dottie told me beforehand that, to her, the building feels like death, and I agree with that sentiment completely.

There were a whole lots of Gladiator street performers all around the area, but these guys were by far the most playful and the most popular.

Looking up from the base of the Colosseum. It really is enormous.

At around 1:30 pm, I totally forgot about lunch, still somewhat full from the numerous, gigantic meals of Florence, and took the metro to Vatican City.

The wall surrounding Vatican City in part.

I spent nearly 4 and 1/2 hours in Musei Vaticani, most of which was spent craning my neck to stare at the ceilings.

A tiny detail of a tiny ceiling painting in one room.

The full hall with that room, which displays about 25 tapestries, all in pristine condition. I was especially struck by how the Renaissance popes especially enjoyed commissioning portraits of themselves with the Ancient Greek and Roman gods. That mixing of religions and consorting with other deities is so frowned upon today that I had always assumed that Christianity had frowned on it from the start, but apparently that is not true. Many of the deities became angels, graces and saints in the olden days.

Another ceiling in another room, that seemed to be nothing but red and blue paint with gold leaf over marble and ivory. Breathtakingly beautiful. And that is not the main exhibit in that room.

The central gardens within the museum, which serves as a meeting place for tour groups and a house for statues that can survive the outdoors.

Of course, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel, but I stayed in that one room, wishing I could lie down on the floor for about 20 minutes. It's funny I had never really noticed, but if you come in by the altar, the main scenes are in chronological order, but upside-down, and if you come in at that back, the scenes are right side up, but reversed chronologically. I think that's Michelangelo's little way of saying there is no wrong or right way to enter the chapel. It is accessible to all. I really appreciate that. Of course the individual artwork is amazing, but what is really mind-blowing is how well the room fits together as a whole. No one thing overpowers another, and all the colors blend and complement each other so pleasingly. I feel like Michelangelo must have taken the entire room into account before even beginning to plan his ceiling. It's a truly wonderful experience.

I was a little saddened that the other pieces I was really dying to see were mostly inaccessible. The Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica was closed off to the public whilst I was there, because the Pope was in the Basilica, doing unspecified Pope-things. That was kind of cool in itself, to know how close I was to an icon of the world. Rafael's School of Athens painting, I could just see, and I'm really grateful for that, but restpration work was taking place on the ceiling just beside it, so a fair amount of the painting was blocked by tarp and scaffolding. Just means I have to go back. ;-)

After leaving the museum, it was already starting to get dark, so I decided to take my metro pass (which was good for 24 hours) and get off at every stop going back to my hostel and walk around a little so I could see a little more of the city before I had to leave. I couldn't see too much because of the dark and because I didn't really know where I was going, but I saw the Fontana di Trevi and Teatro dell' Opera, among other things and began to get a small feel for a small part of the city.

The Fontana di Trevi. I wish my camera could handle the dark better.

I went to bed much earlier than I had planned originally, just from exhaustion and hunger,
and didn't sleep very well, but it didn't matter much. I wasn't going to get any more done in Rome and there was plenty of time for sleeping further on the train, plane and metro I had to take to get back to central Athens. So I managed to stay on budget, see a fair number of things (there was never going to be opportunity to do everything, so I always knew I would have to come back.) Also, I feel pretty proud that my pocket was never picked, and I was never picked on by anyone. I got back to Athens at around 11am on Sunday, and do not intend to leave again until London in December. Now, there is homework that needs doing and sleep that needs getting.

Καληνύχτα!

Where, Oh Where Did November Go?

How has it been so long since the last update? How did November suddenly take off on Hermes' sandals and fly across the calendar? Has it been this way for everyone or just those of us here in Athens? I had the exciting adventures of a school essay and a visit from Williams College friend KS in which we re-did everything I've already taken pictures of, so there hasn't been a whole lot of news, but ne'er an unhappy moment, as per usual around here. Not a whole lot of sleep either, though, thus the use of words such as "ne'er".

Other News: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt.1 premiered a whopping 16 hours earlier in Athens than it did in the United States, and I saw it twice over the weekend because I loved it that much. I'm not talented enough yet to sustain watching a movie in Modern Greek, but fortunately for me and all the other American students, the Greeks don't believe in dubbing their films, but only using subtitles, so there were no language barriers to surmount!

Today, however, an update! And with good reason. I boarded a plane today for the first time since arriving in Greece on August 30, and landed in Milan, Italy just a few short hours ago! This is only the first (very short) leg in a (very busy) multi-part trip, that will also include Florence with Miss Dottie (for those of you who know her) and Rome. Quite a lot to squeeze into our "Thanksgiving" vacation, one whole day longer than our normal weekend. I took today off (with permission) to get a little more time.

My first thought about Italy as we descended far enough below the clouds to see the countryside of Northern Italy was how appropriate it was that this country should be so culturally artistic. The agricultural fields from above are much smaller, less square - more polygonal, and much more colorful than any I'd seen on a flight before, giving the effect that I was looking down upon a stained glass window of a large, beautiful agricultural landscape. A very impressive first glance!

I arrived just as the sun was setting and thus have yet to see Milan in the daylight (that's why this post has no pictures, unfortunately. I took a few, but they aren't very good. Trying again tomorrow.) I didn't want to go straight to the hostel after landing though, just because it was dark outside, so I got off the bus at Milan Centrale Train Station and just started walking anywhere that seemed bright and well-populated. This worked much better than I thought it would as I first ran across a large flea market of sorts, then found a lovely little restaurant/cafe where I had dinner, a fabulous Tortellini ai Corciofi (Tortellini with Artichoke Sauce). I also ordered a Hot Chocolate because, while it may still be 72 degrees Fahrenheit in Athens, it's only 44 degrees in Milan. Fortunately, I brought a jacket and tights!

Hot Chocolate in Italy is not what we Americans consider "Hot Chocolate", however, as I quickly discovered to my delight, but is in fact Drinking Chocolate. Now, Hot Chocolate is a powder, usually blended with hot milk or water and stuffed with marshmallows, whipped cream and, if the restaurant is classy, cinnamon. Drinking Chocolate is more like a melted Godiva Dark Chocolate Truffle mixed with cream and whole milk. You can imagine my delight when they brought that out. I had to eat it with a spoon and finish it before dinner so that it wouldn't congeal into one large truffle-in-a-cup before I could finish it, though that would have tasted good, too!

After dinner, I kept walking the streets a little, noting where I was in case the streets suddenly became residential as they are apt to do in Athens, and marking metro stations as I passed them, when lo and behold I turned a corner and THERE, right in front of me was the central street of Milan's World-Famous Fashion District! Knits of Cashmere and Lamb's Wool, so finely woven it feels like you're wearing a cloud of warm air, so soft you might as well be petting a puppy, and lovely enough to match some of the art in their museums. Brand names, no names, big stores and holes-in-the-wall, this street had everything, and it was all lit up bright enough to be a Christmas display. I didn't get to do much shopping because a) one look in every window was enough to remind me how poor college students really are and b) it was already 8:00pm when I got there and 'lit up' does not equal 'open' around here. Still, I got to go into several stores of differing varieties (though rather similar prices) and talk to a lot of clerks about the different types of fabrics and cuts on garments in style right now. When I get back to school, I am going to listen to ever piece of sewing advice Barb and the new assistant can give me, and beg so hard for a tutorial with them next semester. If you're reading this, Barb (or any other witnesses), please hold me to this promise! I want to know how to recreate these beautiful things!

By this point it really was getting late, so I took the metro to the Hostel, which I found without much difficulty. It's not in a bad part of town, and it really is right on the metro. The plan is to wake up tomorrow morning at 6:30, be out the door at 7, with the sun, make my way to the Duomo Cathedral for pictures and walk around for an hour and a half or so, generally back towards the train station so I can pick up breakfast at a little cafe and be on the train to Florence by 9:30 tomorrow morning! I'm not as tired as I thought I would be and I think I'm in for the night as everything seems pretty closed right now, so this may actually happen. Will let you know tomorrow anyway. As long as I have internet, I will be posting every night through Sunday. Then I'll worry about the essay due Tuesday. And NaNoWriMo (in that order, Mom and Dad!).

Καληνύχτα and Buonanotte!

Marble Carving

Well it has been quite a long time since the last update. I wish I had more to say. There are only few pieces of news. First, it's still September weather in November here (a sympathetic shout out to all the poor sleet-enduring people in Williamstown, MA and elsewhere). I'm in the process of NaNoWriMo (linked, if you're interested) which is eating my life, as always, but I'm trying to hit my word counts by typing inside museums and cafes so I keep myself immersed in Athens. Last, classes have essentially doubled in their workload, so I'm suddenly having to take care of that as well. As such, there has been very little travel as of late, and very little worthy of updating.

However, tonight, I managed to remember to take my camera to marble carving class, so I thought I'd share some of that. Class meets for 3 hours on Tuesday evenings, and consists of myself, 3 other CYA students, about 7 or 8 Athenian citizens (depending on the day) and two teachers. The first class, we were each given a slab of marble and a few sheets of paper and told to design a relief sculpture. We could carve anything we wanted, with only minor suggestions on relative size and complexity. I chose to base my piece on a sculpture fragment I had seen in the Acropolis Museum (where we aren't allowed to take pictures) that had really inspired me.

The basic design, with the progress that's been made up through today. It's really slow work. I've carved out maybe half a centimeter's depth of the background fully (this picture was taken at the beginning of class) and that has taken well over 7 hours. Still, it's rewarding.

JK working on his piece, which currently consists of two heraldic horses. We take the chisel and hammer and chisel out tiny pieces of marble one hammer strike at a time. After three hours, it can really hurt your hands and wrist if you aren't careful.

BB working on her marble (a cat)

The primary instructor (I think his name is Dimitri. He barely speaks any English, but I think he's learning for our sakes) helping me with my piece. One tap of the hammer in his hand does approximately 4x the work of mine. He's extremely good at what he does, and manages to be encouraging, even when it's obvious that we've messed up.

More of the class, all hard at work. The woman in the foreground speaks English very well, and we're starting to make friends with her as we're all at about the same skill level.

A very talented member of the class who speaks no English and is working on a 3-dimensional limestone carving.

Another man, who is also working in 3-dimensions. Not only is he amazing at carving, and does he speak English pretty well, he also baked brownies and brought them to the class tonight! I'm hoping to return the favor before the classes end.

DD, the third CYA student, working at his marble (his hand is almost as steady as the instructor's!) which is an octopus.

BB has to date used more different tools than the rest of us combined. She has used the regular chisel, a smaller, fine chisel, an enormous serrated chisel, and as of today, some heavy-duty sandpaper.

After the class, the two instructors always serve drinks and refreshments. It's incredibly sweet of them to serve wine to everyone after such a long, intense class. I wish I could stay and hang out with them more, but three hours is already a very long time to put off homework. The two instructors are in the blue shirt (Dimitri?) and in the white shirt (I think his name is Giorgos, but again, I'm not sure.)

Impromptu picture of the CYA group!

So, that's the scoop in Athens these days. The bombs you may have heard about in the news didn't really disturb the city at all. It seems that such protests are relatively run-of-the-mill here and no one gets too worked up about them. We were advised to maybe-possibly stay away from the embassy for a few days, but that was the extent of it. The incidents seem to have basically fallen out of the public memory already, or been reduced to jokes. 

I will try to update more frequently again soon. I have a friend studying in Istanbul coming to visit this weekend, so I'll be forced to go out and do things again, so updates should happen then!

Καληνύχτα!

Another Weekend in Athens

A surprising amount has happened since I got back from Santorini. When everything re-opened on Friday after National Resistance Day, we all went to the Open Market to stock up on food for the week. It feels really nice to be cooking for myself again, rather than eating out all the time. However, I didn't buy nearly enough as I'm already running low on a lot. There will be a lot of creativity in the dinner department this week.

That afternoon, I went back to the National Archaeological Museum to fully explore the vase collection on the second floor. When you think of Ancient Greek vases, one particular form usually comes to mind - the black figures on a red clay pot. This is, of course, a very common form of pottery, but it's certainly not the only one. This was the first time I had ever seen such a wide range of pottery in one condensed location, and it put the scope of ancient pottery in a lot of perspective.

The Geometric styles of the earliest pottery is much more beautiful in person than in pictures as in the pictures it just looks like an overwhelming amount of design that doesn't fit together on a pot. In life, you are forced to look at the details one at a time and the geometry tells stories in and of itself. It's much easier to portray huge ships and immense armies on a pot where everything is tiny and repeated. Some of those designs look like epic battles straight from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies.

As the Geometric style progressed, the figures began overtaking the repeated patterns, which begin to form a sort of border for various scenes. They also got more abstract, and you can tell that the artists were starting to have fun with their work, sometimes mimicking the pot's shape with the design on it, and sometimes anthropomorphizing their work.

Hello!

How are you today?

I don't recall if there was a purpose to this practice or not, beyond artistic expression (I know Professor McGowan told us this in Ancient Greek Art and Myth, but I can't remember!) but it's very funny to look at, and the faces instill an oddly natural happiness when you look at them. I can't tell you how many disaffected tourists smiled at these in the museum. 

Before going any further into Archaic and Classical pottery, which is the style of figures on either black or red clay that most people are so familiar with, I cam across something that I never expected to see.

Wood.

Real ancient pieces of wood with the paint still on them that had not decomposed since they were created in 540-530 b.c. I have no idea how that happened (the plaque didn't say) but they were still so beautiful after so long, and it amazed me that they are in such great condition!

Back to pottery, this plate of Herakles and Athena, which I love for its tenderness, is much more typical of many people's idea of Greek pottery. Look at the amazing detail in their hair and clothing, though. I cant imagine holding my hand stead enough to draw that in paint or etch it in clay.

Two lovers. This seemed, to me at least - based on what I was seeing elsewhere in the museum, to be unusual subject matter. The pose, the expression and the melding of the two figures into one with the drapery of their garments is all superbly executed, though. The ancient artists were much more prone to experimentation than I ever believed or understood.

A lengthwise view of one sculpture hall in the museum. There are about 20 of these on the first floor alone. This place is HUGE.

Young boy on a horse in bronze, with scale models. It's the largest piece in the museum that I had no previous knowledge of. The craftsmanship (not to mention the level of preservation) is astounding!

Friday night was the JF's birthday. her parents and brother were in town to see her and they took a large group of us out to dinner. It was quite fun, even though we didn't go to the Japanese restaurant for sushi like we had planned (JF is a bit tired of Mediterranean cuisine). We went to Applebee's instead. Rest assured my non-existent craving for American food over Greek food is still non-existent. Still, it was a fun and lovely night. 

Saturday morning I woke up to do laundry and spent most of the day planning out the Thanksgiving trip to Italy. Everything is set except for a place to stay in Milan (anyone have suggestions? Put them in the comments!) I'm pretty excited about that! I woke up far too late to go take sunrise pictures on the Acropolis and thus have missed my daylight-savings-time window. I'll just have to try again near the end of the semester when the sun is rising at 7:30 again. 

Saturday night, when I finally left the apartment, I went to the Greek National Opera to try to get rush tickets to Marathon-Salamis. I haven't seen much opera, but of those I have seen, I decided that understanding the words wasn't a high priority for overall enjoyment. I would have had no trouble getting a seat, but I got especially lucky in that, while waiting for the student rush line to open, an older woman walked up to me and gave me a ticket that she wasn't using, then left before I could do more than thank her. Pity, as I would have loved to give her something in return. It was an 8th row orchestra seat, so it probably cost her about 70€. 

The opera itself was phenomenal. I had googled the synopsis before going and found that I didn't need to know the individual lines beyond that at all. The singing was fabulous, the costumes were incredible and the set was overwhelming. It was very freeing not to have to pay attention to the words (in Italian with Greek subtitles) and just concentrate on the stage itself. There was an especially powerful moment in the third act where the main characters all traveled to Delphi to receive the famous oracle on how Athens could defeat the invading Persians ("Put your faith in your wooden walls" ie. ships). They recreated onstage what I believe to have been the creation of the Delphic oracle and the relationship between the god Apollo and the first Pythia who prophesied for him. The ballet at that point was mind-blowing. 

As an extra surprise, after leaving the opera, there was a group of accordion players just outside looking to catch generous, music-loving patrons. They did catch quite a few and some people leaving the opera joined in the song and dance with them. The whole scenario felt straight out of a movie and I couldn't stop smiling all the way home.

The four main accordion players

And from the back, trying not to be too obvious with my flash. They were quite friendly about the pictures.

I got back to the apartment around 11:30 to the great surprise of my apartment mates watching "Hocus Pocus" (with Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker) while eating popcorn and homemade rice krispies. So I got to join in the last 20 minutes of that as well. M has a guest who she was showing around the town, and K's mom came in this morning right after I woke up (again, very late).

I have to go back to classes tomorrow, which will be good in that it will get me back on a regular schedule, but I will miss the freedom and exploration of these last two weeks. Also, I'm going to miss the lack of homework. Still, the semester must move on and Italy and London draw ever closer.

Happy Halloween from a country where the holiday isn't celebrated (though I'll bet All Saints day will be) and Καλημέρα!

Santorini... Sort of

So, Santorini. Santorini, in a very few words, was beautiful, exotic and touristy. The problem with the first two was that the weather only held out for a little while, and the problem with the second was that tourist season in Greece is basically over, so all of the tourist hot-spots, especially those that are a little out of the way (like Santorini) are basically shutting down. There was nothing to do.

That isn't to say that we didn't enjoy ourselves! It was a lovely trip and the island is impeccably gorgeous (where the inhabitants keep it that way for the tourists at any rate.) In reality, no human beings were ever meant to live on the hunk of rock that is Santorini, which has no discernible sources of food or drinking water. They manage by shipping in supplies with the tourist that feed their economy. This means that all food and water is dead cheap, but all housing, souvenirs and travel is through-the-roof expensive. A donkey ride up the steps was twice the price of a full meal. Needless to say we didn't take them up on that "offer".

All this meant was that our three day trip got cut a little short, but in the time we spent on the island, we explored everything that three museum-weary people could find on Santorini. And now, a chronology with pictures:

Monday morning M, G and I woke up at 5:00 am to race down to the port and catch our boat. Having only been in Athens about 12 hours since getting back from the Peloponnese, this was no easy task, but we managed with all the courage of the legendary heroes of old and made it onto the boat with time to spare. Once we got there...

...things got a lot less exciting very quickly. Having lost my companions, and unable to follow their lead, I set out to explore for the next eight hours.

The stunning sunrise over Athens' port of Piraeus.

The boat's first stop at Paros. We roused ourselves long enough to sneak into the more comfortable seating left by those who departed here.

We passed hundreds of tiny islands, some of which looked fully occupied, some completely deserted, and some which had only a large, blue-domed church at their peak. This was (unfortunately) the prettiest day of the trip.

Our second stop, at the island of Naxos. This was as close as we got.

And finally lovely Santorini.

We arrived around 3:30, and the very kind hotel owner picked us up right away from the port (which was about a 15-minute drive up and around the mountain) and took us to the hotel. We set out things down, walked around Thira, which is the main city atop Santorini, where almost all of the shopping, restaurants and lodging around Santorini is. After a full day on the ferry, and a week of travel previously, we were too tired to do much and settled for finding a quick dinner, planning for tomorrow and turning in early. Very early. 

The next day, we woke up as early as we had gone to bed, cleaned up and departed for one of the beautiful black beaches on the island, Kamari. Kamari beach is formed from volcanic ash and lava rocks. It looks like a complete inverse of any kind of beach we have on the Gulf Coast back home. I had thought that "black sand" would look like "dirty sand", and prepared myself to be unimpressed after having grown up by the shores at Destin.

Consider me dead wrong.

The beach was gorgeous, with the rocks jutting improbably all around and within it. The ash-sand turned from hard rocks to soft ash that didn't burn your feet like the gulf white sands and again into smooth stone polished by the beautiful Aegean. Mountains and trees surround the area, and it feels more like you leave a small mountain village and come to a stream until you see the water stretch forever in front of you.

I could hardly believe how lovely it was. The rocks were slippery and the tide was rising as we were there, but it was all the more beautiful for that. That's me on the rocks, by the way.

M and G resting on the shore, enjoying the view. We stayed there most of the morning and decided to push our trip to the other side of the island until later and eat lunch in Kamari.

Lunch in Kamari, plus G waiting impatiently for hers. That is a cinnamon-sugar crepe with whipped cream. It was phenomenal.

After a lunch that consisted mainly of dessert, we headed back to Thira for a little while. This was when we decided to cut the trip a little short (since we had already done half of the island*). We were also realizing that we were all a little short on cash after the Peloponnese trip. So we spent a bit more time lounging around Thira, then took the bus up to Ia.

Ia is that part of Santorini that all the postcards come from. It looks constructed purely for beauty and flows along the mountainside like a child poured it there from their toy box. The layout reminded me again and again of something out of Dr. Seuss (in the best possible way) or maybe Alice in Wonderland when she first looks through the keyhole of that tiny door. Curiouser and curiouser.

Looking down one of the many winding staircases in Ia onto a restaurant patio.

And down another private staircase. You can see how the colors outline everything and even the stairs curve to fit the mountain.

The other thing that Ia is famous for (along with many other Greek Island areas) the domed churches.

A cute restaurant sign. I love the attention to detail that the antennae are a fork and spoon. Mom, this one's for you!

My favorite staircase. :-)

The bells of one particularly old and lovely church.

The famous windmills on the island.

Another lovely staircase with the picturesque flower and white and blue paint that so embodies the island.

The church on every postcard. It is very lovely, though. 

The sunset on Ia is supposed to be the most beautiful in the world. Unfortunately, Tuesday night is when the bad weather started rolling in, and the clouds completely obscured the sky by the time the sun hit the horizon. We will have to try again someday. So we went back to Thira, grabbed dinner quickly, and once again turned in much early than we had planned. 

Wednesday morning was brutal. M tried to go running outside around 9:00 am, but was forced back inside, less from the rain and more from the sheer force of wind. It makes sense as were were basically out to sea on a mountain-top, but it was completely unexpected. After making sure the ferry would run and waiting for the weather to die down a bit, we set out to walk the steps down to the old port of Thira and see the donkeys. As already stated, we didn't ride them. I don't have many pictures, because the weather was still gray and drizzly and the stairs were not terribly picturesque, being covered in wet donkey and wet donkey droppings. But we braved the steps both down to and back up from the port and felt very good about ourselves afterwords anyway. We window shopped a bit, got lunch and bread and fruit for the boat, then drove back down to the port and got on. The boat ride back looked a lot like the boat ride there, with the exceptions that the water was much rougher and we stole nicer seats much quicker than we had before. I also had purchased a deck of cards as a souvenir on Thira - but not any deck of cards. A deck of racy ancient Greek vase-paintings cards. We played gin with them most of the way back to stares and judgment of those around us. It was completely worth it, although when G fell asleep, I admit to having played the most uncomfortable game of solitaire that I will probably ever encounter.

We had a small scare where we almost missed the metro and bus back to our apartment, but that turned out fine, and we all three walked in very happy to be home. We changed and checked our e-mail and to our shock, not five minutes later, SE walked in, back home early just like us! We exchanged hugs and stories, and I fell straight to sleep again.

Today was Greek National Resistance day (also known in Greek as Όχι day) when the Greeks celebrate their WWII refusal to allow Axis forces to enter their country in strategic locations and were promptly attacked. To the average American student, this means that every shop, office, and means of public transportation is down. So we sat in the apartment today eating what food we have. K is supposed to arrive back tonight as well, but so far no sign of her, and we're all beginning to think we are mis-remembering her schedule. Still, happy to be back in Athens and definitely feeling that this city is home. Tomorrow, I'm going back to the National Museum to explore the second floor more thoroughly and I'm going to try to get into the Opera. Who knows? It's always an exciting day in Αθήνα!

Καληνύχτα!