We hope you are enjoying a Happy and Joyous Easter. We just returned from a nine day stay in Greece. What a wonderful time we enjoyed. I guess it has been a dream of mine to visit Greece since my World History teaching days when we did a major unit on Ancient Greek Civilization. I can honestly say that we were not disappointed as it was everything we thought it might be and more.
We flew out of Alex’s city airport late Thursday evening on the 29th of March. Both airports in Alex run pretty tight security. No one is allowed in unless they are flying out or flying in. Friends and family cannot really see people off. There was a young bride waiting to leave dressed in her full wedding gown. This is not an uncommon sight in the Arab world as many marriages are still arranged.
We arrived in Athens early Friday morning and took a little walk around the city as we were waiting to check in to our hotel room. Unlike Alex where it is rare to see any dogs, we saw several large dogs throughout the city – big friendly ones that hang out when their owners own shops. Athens has a very well developed city transportation system – subways, trolleys, buses, taxis – along with many scooters and private autos. It is also a city of parks and greenery. Many of the apartments and office buildings had balconies with flowers and plants. It is a very pedestrian friendly city as well with spacious sidewalks, parks and areas of the city that is closed off to motor vehicles. In many respects, it is like San Francisco with street entertainers and musicians as well as numerous street vendors. One group of vendors that were prevalent during our stay were “purse and bag” salesmen. They would have their goods laid out on sheets and then after a while, just load them up and move onto a new area. There were many young people on the streets and we heard later that the universities in Athens have been closed all school year as the students have been demonstrating. Anything they do on campus is forgiven as long as no one or no things are damaged. We talked with a student later in the week who said she was going to have to go one more year as she was missing her final year this year. Of course dominating the Athenian landscape is the Acropolis with the Parthenon (where modern democracy began) rising several hundred feet in the air. In many areas, remains of the ancient city could be found. Theses remains often are not as well persevered as we see in Egypt because of the climate and also because of the fighting that has taken place on the mainland.
Greece has a population of nearly 10,000,000 and over half live in Athens, yet it is a very clean city – the only negative we noticed was the graffiti that would sometimes be painted or sprayed on buildings. We enjoyed an area known as the Plaka (a historical tourist area at the foot of the Acropolis) with many shops and street cafes. Athens is a very easy city to visit as most of the historical sites are within easy walking distance.
The focus of our trip to Athens was to attend the NESA Spring Educators Conference. NESA is an organization of schools in the Near East and Middle East along with a few European countries who border the Mediterranean Sea. There were over 700 in attendance at the 3 day conference. Both Pat and I attended several informative sessions. It was interesting to meet with teachers from other areas during the receptions and breaks and discover “pros and cons” of living and working in other countries.
On Sunday, we toured Athens and “walked” with history. Since it was a Sunday, entrance to all of the sites was free with many people taking advantage of the nice weather. Athens’ history is as long as any city in Europe (over 8,000 years) and it has been continuously inhabited for the past 3,000 years. Because of the geography, Greece has had a proud tradition of independence and the concept of city-state reflect that. We visited the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Agora, the Temple of Hephaestus, the Temple of Olympian Zeus (the largest in ancient times) Hadrian’s Arch, and the Theatre of Dionysus. It is hard to describe the grandeur that is Athens – it truly was an experience of a lifetime to walk in the footsteps of history.
Following the conference, Pat and I joined another couple from the school (Helen and Mike) and flew to Santorini (one of the many Greek islands). Mike and Helen (experienced travelers) had heard of this island from some friends and suggested it to us as interesting place to visit. Santorini is a small, circular group of volcanic islands located in the Aegean Sea. It is also known by the name of the 6th largest island in the archipelago, Thera which is famous for the huge volcanic explosion which destroyed the settlements and created the current geological caldera. The island is one of Europe's top tourist hotspots.
There are several little towns of Santorini each filled with neat places to visit, historical sites and of course great places to eat! The island has population of approximately 10,000 residents and it is said to increase to over 70,000 during the summer months. April is just at the start of their busy time of the year.
The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the last several thousand years when it erupted about 3,500 years ago. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of feet deep, and its effects may have led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 70 mi to the south. One popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis.
Major settlements in Santorini include Fira, Oia, Emporio, Kamari, Imerovigli, Pyrgos and Therasia. Akrotiri is a major archaeological site with ruins from the Minoan era. The island has no rivers and water is scarce. Other than tourism, Santorini is home to a flourishing wine industry, based on the indigenous grape variety, Assyrtiko. Assyrtiko Vines are well adapted to the Santorini habitat and are planted far apart as their principal source of moisture is dew. They are formed in the shape of baskets, with the grapes hanging inside to protect them from the winds. We visited two wineries and sampled some of their wine.
Two days we rented cars to visit both ends of the island. Although it is not a large island, it takes a while to get from one end to another because the terrain is so hilly and uneven. We walked miles throughout the island visiting historical sites as well as the modern ones. Fira has two excellent museums which contain many artifacts (statues, pottery, everyday utensils, etc) in excellent condition that have been excavated from the various archeological sites on the island. Some date back nearly 4,000 years old. It seems that the inhabitants enjoyed building their communities often in very high remote areas – giving them a place to overlook the entire island and watch for invaders coming from the sea. Several of the beaches are “black sand” beaches. While it may look like dirt from a distance, it is actually the same texture and consistency of sand. There was also a “red sand’ beach as well on the island.
One day we visited Oia, located on the west end of the island. This was a beautiful area to watch the sunset over the Aegean Sea. It was also here that day that we noticed a cruise ship back in the port of Fira that began to list. Apparently the captain got to close to one of the reef and tore open the bottom of the ship. Nearly 1,500 passengers and crew had to be evacuated and within 12 hours the ship sunk completely in the harbor of Fira – two people had not been accounted for as we left the island two days after the accident. Nearly 700 of the passengers were Americans. We have just learned that the captain and 5 crew members have been charged with negligence in the incident. The port in Fira is at the bottom of a large cliff and is accessible only by a 600 step winding walkway (featuring donkeys to transport those who choose not to walk) or by cable cars like mountain ski lifts.
On the island there were numerous churches, most all are Greek Orthodox. Their domes were brightly blue colored and could easily be seen throughout the island. In the morning and evening (7:00 am and 7:00 pm) church bells could be heard throughout the island. They would ring 3 times, 3 times again and then 7 times – repeating this sequence several times. We asked the manager of our hotel the significance of this and she told us the 3 was for the holy trinity and the 7 is a lucky number for the Greeks (7 days of the week, 7 sacraments, 7 deadly sins, etc). They seem to be a very religious people. We visited one of the services; people come in and deposit money, light candles and then kiss a picture of the Virgin Mary before taking their seats. One day while exploring Fira, Pat and I came upon a Dominican Monastery. This monastery is home to 13 cloistered Dominican nuns. We met the caretaker of the monastery who told us about the sisters who are there and their community. It was interesting speaking with her. Originally she was from Italy and she told us she visited the US last summer and was surprised to meet Americans who were friendly and not like they seem to be portrayed in movies, on television and in the news. (One of the things we were told before we came to Egypt was that more than anything else, we would be ambassadors for the US and in this way we could demonstrate to people what America is really like – too often the America that the world knows through actions of our political leaders is not a favorable one.) There are 80 Roman Catholics in Santorini and another 200 Roman Catholics who have settled there after fleeing Poland. During Easter time, a Dominican monk had been sent to Santorini to minister to the needs of the Polish Catholics. On Good Friday, there was a candle light procession through the city of Fira by the Greek Orthodox. From 3:00 pm until 7:00 pm, church bells rang continuously every two minutes.
One of the highlights to visiting Greece is the Greek cuisine. Because of the favorable climate, many restaurants have outside sidewalk areas as well as in door areas. Greek salads are a big favorite (fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, capers, olives and Greek salad dressing) along with fresh baked bread. Pork, chicken and fish are especially tasty. Meals are social events that usually take much longer than in the states. Most of our hosts would surprise us at the end of the meal with wine and/or a little pastry dessert. They really want to please their guests.
Most of the country side in Santorini was ill suited for much agriculture. As mentioned above, it is a grape/wine growing area. The vines are circular in nature to protect the fruit from the high winds coming off the sea. We did see fields of daisies in full bloom and several large cacti (with snails!!). Along several exterior walls of our hotel and other buildings, we would see snails as well. Often we felt as though we were back at the farm as we could hear roosters crowing throughout the day. If you want to learn more about Santorini, visit http://www.santorini.gr/. All in all, we had a very enjoyable time with Mike and Helen on the island. They are heading back to the states after this year and we will be sad to see them leave.
Now we enter the final 9 weeks of the school year – it will no doubt fly by and soon we will be headed back to the states. We do plan to take a little side trip on own way home to visit Nuremberg and Munich in Germany and Krakow in Poland with a side trip to the famous death camp of Auschwitz. In the next few weeks we will began planning for our little trips for next year – certainly one of the major pluses for teaching overseas (especially in our area.)
