Greece

‘Kalimera!’ An old lady in black gown greeted me. It's ’Good morning’ in Greek. ‘Kalimera!’ I smiled at her and greeted back. I was sitting at an outdoor table of a small café in Old Town Mykonos sipping a cup of coffee. The Greek coffee is made from finely ground beans, unfiltered and strong, just the way I like it. It was half past eight. There was hardly anybody on the streets and a serene peaceful atmosphere everywhere. Air was fresh and slightly salty. The city was still recovering from all the parties and alcohols from the night before. People on the Greek islands were definitely night people, their typical dinner time was around 10PM, and the hustle and bustle on the streets lasted well beyond midnight. Mykonos was the last stop of my Greece trip, which started a week ago in Athens.

Before I came to Athens, a friend of mine told me that Athens was the low light of his visit to Greece twenty some years ago. He said the city was badly polluted, chaotic, and lacked character. But that was before the 2004 summer Olympics. The Athens I saw was nothing like what he described. True, it was chaotic at times (especially the traffic during rush hours, wich reminded me of downtown Manhattan). It’s a city of 4 million people after all. But I found this ancient city clean and full of charisma.

My buddy John and I arrived in Athens on Saturday afternoon. The transportation from the airport to the city was not bad. We planned on taking Metro straight to the city. But the airport Metro station was closed due to renovation, so we had to take a bus to Syntagma Square and get on the Metro from there to get to our hotel at Omonia Square. After situated in the hotel, it was already early evening. We went out to get a quick bite before called it a night. I was severely sleep deprived after the 13 hour redeye flight in a ridiculously cramped 747.

We got up early the next morning, and took a guided tour around the city. We started at Panathinaiko Stadium. This is where the 1st modern Summer Olympic Games was held in 1896. The stadium was cleverly carved out of a small hill and was built entirely of white marble. According to the tour guide marble was amble in Greece and worth less than 1/3 of wood (imagine that!).

Then we visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It was a ruined temple in the center of Athens. It was so huge that ancient Athenians spent more than 6 centuries to complete the project! But soon after it was built, it was pillaged by barbarians and was never repaired. Such a shame!

Our final stop was THE Acropolis. The Acropolis was every bit as spectacular as I imagined. It consists of three main structures – the Propylaea, a monumental gateway with marble columns that serves as the entrance to the Acropolis.



The Erechtheum, which was dedicated to the legendary Greek hero Erechthonius. On the south side, there was the famous "Porch of the Maidens", with six graceful female figures (each sculpted differently) as supporting columns.



And the Parthenon, the monumental temple of Athena, the protector of Athens. It is the most important building of Classical Greece and the quintessential symbol of western civilization. Its decorative sculptures is considered to be the culmination of Greek art.



I originally picked the last week of May for this trip for two reasons: 1. it’s still the low season (late June – early September is the high season) so everything from airfare to hotels is cheaper 2. it’s not yet summer, so it shouldn't be uncomfortably hot. But I was wrong on this one – after 10 minutes of walking around on the top of Acropolis, I was already sweating profusely. The thermometer on my watch indicated it was 95 degrees. With the late morning sun shining directly overhead and no wind at all; to say it was hot would be an understatement. I wondered how insane it would get in July and August.

Despite the heat, I enjoyed the great view of Athens from top of the Acropolis. The city sprawls out as far as you can see. Air was a little hazy but far better than in the Bay Area. One thing I noticed was that there were no high rise buildings or skyscrapers in Athens. That’s because the Acropolis was so sacred to the people in Athens, they made sure it was visible from almost everywhere in the city. In the night, the Acropolis was floodlit. The best view was from the Dionysiou Areopagitou street in the Makrigianni district just south of Acropolis, and it was nothing short of spectacular.

At the foothills of Acropolis Hill was the Ancient Agora, once a central market and gathering place of such figures as Socrates and Aristotle. It was on our way to Plaka, the old town of Athens. We were a little hungry and there were many restaurants in Plaka.

Almost as impressive as the Acropolis was the Greek food. Prior to this trip, all I knew about Greek food was Gyros, Greek salad, and Feta cheese. But there were so much more! My personal favorite was mezedes or meze, which were small plates of food served with ouzo (a Greek liquor with an intense licorice flavor that turns milky once mixed with water). We had all kinds of meze – grilled octopus (a big-o octopus tentacle with suction cups on it, yum!), stuffed squid, fried mackerel salad, moussaka, fried cheese… One thing worth mentioning is Naxos salad, which is tomatoes and soft Naxos cheese covered with olive oil. After finishing the tomatoes, I wiped off the olive oil and cheese with bread, it was so good! Greece makes the best olive oil in the world, and it was used lavishly in every dish. I couldn’t help but wonder how much olive oil an average Greek consumes every day. The Greek oil is so good that the Italians import olive oil from Greece, slap on their labels and export to the United States. Thanks to the Food Network, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) has become overwhelmingly popular in the recent years, many people stopped using regular pure olive oil all together. But actually EVOO should only be used in salads, or over fish and soup after the cooking is done. If fry or grill with it, the high temperature can ruin not only the oil but also the taste of the food.

After spending 2 days in Athens, which was a good amount of time for Athens, we were ready to check out the Greek islands. There were more than a dozen ferries leaving Piraeus (a busy port city 6 miles west of Athens) to different Cyclades islands everyday. Our first stop was probably the most famous Greek island – Santorini.
We boarded a high speed catamaran from Blue Star Ferries in the morning, after 7 hours of smooth ride we arrived in Santorini. The Greek name of Santorini was Thira. It was actually the rim of an ancient (still active) volcano. The center of the island collapsed and sank into the sea as the result of an eruption a few centuries ago, which gave it the shape of letter “C”. Beautiful white houses scattered on the cliffs side of the island, made it look like covered in snow. On top of the cliff, you get an unobstructed view of the Aegean Sea.

There were a number of small towns on the island. We stayed at a low key bed-n-breakfast place in Fira, located at the center of the island. Fira was also the island’s main town. It was a little challenging to find our way around on the island since none of the streets had a name. It took us significant amount of Google mapping to find our hotel. Once again iPhone saved the day! Seriously, how did people live before smart phones were invented? Fira was about 7 miles south of Oia (pronounced ee-a), which was the main tourist attraction in Santorini. If you have seen a postcard of Santorini, it was Oia. In reality Oia was just as breathtakingly beautiful as in the postcards. All the houses, churches and windmills were painted white against the backdrop of cobalt colored Aegean Sea. And with a splash of vibrantly red bougainvillea here and there, you got a masterpiece.

Tourists started pouring into the narrow alleys of Oia every morning around 9 o’clock. Along these alleys were full of restaurants and shops. The owner of one jewelry shop showed me a picture of him with George and Barbara Bush, autographed by the president himself. The shop next door had a photo with Green Day. Evidently this place is a magnet to the celebrities as well:) The crowd left briefly in the afternoon and reappeared before the sunset. Sunset in Oia was amazing, and it was one of the most photographed scenes in Greece. People split right after the sun set, they filled up the alleys like the crowd pouring out of a movie theater.


On the 7 mile stretch between Fira and Oia, traffic was constantly slowed down by tourists on scooters and ATVs. Scooters and ATVs were the cheapest and arguably the most effective means of transportation on the island. We didn't rent a scooter though. We decided to get a Smart car, which was one step up from a scooter. I saw quite a few of them in Bay Area, and had always been curious and wanted to try it out. And I was not impressed at all. Honestly it was the crappiest thing I’d ever driven.


We chilled out in Santorini for 2 days before we hopped on the ferry again. And this time we were headed for the infamous party island – Mykonos. One of my European friends once told me that all Greek islands with a name ending with “os” were party islands, such as Ios, Kos, Mykonos… That was an exaggeration of course because all but a few Greek islands have a name like that. But Mykonos truly lived up to this reputation. The most notorious dance clubs were in Paradise Beach and the newer Super Paradise Beach. We were eager to check it out as soon as we got to Mykonos. So we headed straght for the Super Paradise Beach. And that place was completely nuts! Hundreds of half-drunk college kids in bikinis and swim trunks (thank God, no speedos) were dancing with the DJ pumping out deafening dance tunes. Every now and then, I saw two or three dudes carrying a giggling chick on their shoulders, running out to the beach and dumping her in the refreshingly cold water. They kept doing it over and over and never seemed to get tired of it. Boys were checking out the girls and girls were flirting with the boys. The hormone level at the place was boiling. Just imagine an European version of spring break in Cancun.

Realizing we were too old for that kind of party scene, we decided to shun away from the party beaches. Unlike Santorini, Mykonos had plenty of great beaches. We spent an entire afternoon getting sun tan at Ornos Beach, a mellow and "family friendly" beach that was within walking distance from our hotel. Sun was hot, and the water was comfortably cold (and crystal clear). I swam a quarter mile out to check out a beautiful old school sailboat called “Thekwini X”. It was as relaxing as the Corona commercial.

Except taking a short excursion to the nearby island of Delos, one of the most important mythological and historical sites in the Cyclades, we spent most of our time in the charming Old Town of Mykonos. Mykonos Old Town had many narrow alleys and white houses like Oia, but was not as uppity. I bet the shop owners in Mykonos didn’t have autographed photos of Bush or Green Day:) The most popular part of the town was Little Venice. Once you see it, you’ll understand why they call it Little Venice. It was a narrow water front street with restaurants and bars lined up on it. The street was open to pedestrians only, and was full of tourists. It was great to have dinner there at sunset, if you don’t mind the crowd. At the end of the street stood 5 big windmills, serving as the landmark and signature of the town.


The best time to take a leisure walk around town was in the early morning. There were very few tourists on the streets before 9AM. That's when you get to see what the town is really like. We passed by a busy fish market at the old port. There were all kinds of fresh caught fish – eels, squids, rock cods, octopuses… most of which was going to the local restaurants. Walking along the narrow alleys, I saw shop owners busy preparing for the opening. At cafés along the streets, a few patrons sat outside, most of them were local residents. After walking around town for almost an hour, we decided to take a break and get some coffee from one of the cafés. And just when I was sitting there sipping my coffee, an old Greek lady in black gown walked by and greeted ‘Kalimera!’…

You can find more pictures on my website.