Honeymoon Travel Journal Entry #6
Topic: honeymoon travel journal
**10/11/04**

Quiet day in Santorini

We woke up a little later than usual - barely in time to make the last of breakfast, which ends at 10. It was hotter, and quiet. Perfect for sitting by the pool of the Aegean Plaza Hotel.

It is hard to see how overwhelmed we are by choices until we are on a little island in Greece with just 3 kinds of beer and one kind of diet soda. The chips bags are all small. There are stuffed grape leaves and a dry sort of pound cake, but no cow's milk. You can't drink the water, and there is no room service.

But the hazy Aegean sky and blinding sun and white buildings create a picture of beauty on the rugged, ashen island.

We napped to rest from our excurson to the pool and went out to dinner. I introduced Mr. Bisous to the Gyro wrap. Yum! (Fattier than the American food court version). Then more sleep - Mr. Bisous watches ER in Italian, with Greek subtitles.

**10/12/04**

Oia in daylight

After a nice night's rest, we had or usual breakfast (less food today, feeling stuffed from last night). Then into town, where Mr. Bisous got a haircut. Since neither of us knew Greek for "no, just shave all of it," we required the help of a translator - a nice woman getting highlights under one of those big dryers.

Then we went to a (different) scooter rental agency and picked up a superior scooter with more power that actually didn't break down two miles from our hotel. In the dark. We scootered on up to Oia to check out the shops we had skipped over after our day cruise - rushing to find a seat at a restaurant with a sunset view.

We saw more island dogs and cats, plenty of little shops with expensive wares. We sat for a while watching a wood carver at his trade. Then we went to the castle and video-ed the view out over the caldera.






































































This picture shows the long hike up from the water to the village - this picture was taken from the castle. (just one little tower - not much of a castle to speak of). Though this is not the hike we took two days before, it is a reasonable facimile. The hike we took was just around the bend, on the other side of the castle. Talk about cardio...















After another big lunch, we returned to Kamari. Then, of course, a nap.

At night we went back to the beach for dinner. Pizza Mr. Bisous wanted, and pizza he got, in a Greek steak house with wagon wheel lamps and a long-haired cook/bartender/waiter.

The village is emptying out. Half the restaurants are closed already. The shop where we bought bottled water and a gift for Mr. Bisous' tentants is covering their wares with plastic and preparing for winter.

We were a little worried about what it will be like in Mykonos -- though it will be over Thursday-Monday that we will be there, livening things up a bit, I imagine.

* * *

Greek TV

You don't realize how much American culture permeates - and then you turn on the TV. All the major shows except for soap operas and news, and a few movies, are American. Rarely, BBC.

It must be different in India, France, or other countries with robust film industries. The Greek film industry seems negligable. As people in Greece, we were well-received (though not as much as my friend Jenni and I had been on our earlier travels to the Continent, as they say). As Americans, not so much. The pause after I say I'm from Texas is definitely uncomfortable. Bush was born in Connecticut, I said helpfully. But they've never heard of Connecticut.

Honeymoon Travel Journal Entry #5
Now Playing: Modest Mouse - damn, I LOVE THEM
Topic: honeymoon travel journal
This entry has been a long time in coming - things have been busy :) - just go to the link to the left to get a look at the previous honeymoon travel journal entries all in an organized little row.

If you are not the kind to look back...we left our hero and heroine on the beautiful island of Santorini, the "Black Pearl" of the Aegean, walking back in the dark to our hotel after being stranded due to a broken down moto...

**10/10/04**

Cruise of Burnt Islands, the Caldera, and Sunset

We woke up refreshed from our adventure the previous evening, though my voice was gone until I took a shower.

After breakfast, Mr. Bisous went to tell the moto man where we left the broken vehicle the night before. The moto man expected payment nonetheless -Mr. Bisous cordially refused, and a brief argument ensued, but not for too long.

Then we walked down to Kamari Tours to catch our bus for our boat tour of the little islands of Santorini. The large bus took us to the port of Athinos, where we boarded the King Thiras, a 3-masted ship.

We went first to the burnt islands, and on the way snapped this picture of the donkey trail leading up from the caldera to the clifftop capital village of Fira. 600 steps. It is a good picture to keep in mind - because we climbed the equivalent twice over later in the day...



The Caldera of Santorini is an underwater crater - the largest in the world. Many times larger than the crater at Krakatoa. Before the enormous eruption in 1625 BC, the island was a single round piece of land. There was one volcano in the middle, and its peak was approximately 1km high. At that time, a Minoan civilization was flourishing on nearby Crete, and on Santorini at the village of Akrotiri.

For weeks to months before the explosion, the volcano smouldered, depositing as much as 60 meters of ash in places. The people on the island prayed, but to no avail, and finally they packed up and left, going presumably to Crete. Unfortunately, the massive eruption (according to our guide, the largest in the history of mankind) sent a tidal wave 70 meters high (the recent Sumatran tsunami was about 10-15 meters high) to Crete. The civilization there was destroyed, and climate changed all over the world due to the clouds of smoke and ash.

Santorini became three islands - Santorini (Thira), Thirasia (small Thira), and a third, uninhabited island called Aspro. The present height of Santorini is about 600 meters, as the middle of the island was blown off, and the crater sank into the ocean to become a caldera.

The still active volcano kept burning and bubbling, and 3000 years later (1500 AD), it emerged as two more islands in the center of the caldera. The burnt islands are known as Nea Kameni and Palia Kameni. Nea Kameni is the active volcano now and has 8 craters. The last eruption was in 1950, and there were 5 in the 20th century. Nea Kameni was the site of our first stop off the King Thiras - the volcano Santorini, with its smoking vents and sulfur and iron rocks.


After a walk to the top (1 euro), and a view of many craters, we boarded the ship again and sailed to the second, older burnt island, Palia Kameni. There, the so-called hot springs (lukewarm, really) warm a tiny inlet. Steam bubbled out of the ground and made for rust-colored water. The King Thiras tied up to a rock, and we jumped off the boat, swimming a good distance to the little church next to the "hot" springs.




























After our relaxing daub in iron mud and cleansing swim back to the boat, we sailed to Thirasia. We walked up a steep set of switchbacks to the tiny fishing village at the top. Two other villages on the island are abandonned.

























Most of the people were fishermen and restaurant owners -> we had chicken shish kebab and a Greek salad, along with a few coke lights and some mineral water. The way was so steep that most of the tourists went to the top on donkeys (mules, really, but the locals called them donkeys). We walked (Mr. Bisous has no fondness for donkeys).

The little island had a few elderly Greek couples, a few kids, the donkey keeper, and a large number of dogs and cats.

After a trek down, we boarded the ship for the last time and sailed over to Oia (pronounced EEE-ah) to watch the sunset. We went up about 400 steps (again skipping donkey assistance) to reach the village at the top of the cliff.



























At last we boarded a bus to take us back to our hotel at the other end of the island.

Honeymoon Travel Journal Entry #4
Topic: honeymoon travel journal
*Added photos to some previous entries*

**10/9/04**

Santorini by Moto

Breakfast was similar to the offering in Athens - fresh tomatos, feta, cold cuts, and a spectacular variety of breads. The only milk was goat milk, but there were boiled and scrambled eggs, too.

Our first activity was to rent a scooter, or 'moto' from the place across the street from the hotel. 10 euro got us an oil-spitting Peugot, 2 helmets, and an empty gas tank.

We moto-ed around most of the island that morning - way down to Akatori and ruins (closed) and up to the capital city of Fira. At Akatori, we hiked up a barren road to try to see the closed ruins - the excavation was covered, but the site seemed busy. The city there is one abandonned just before the island blew to bits in 1625 BC. We ended up in a field of tilled dust - perhaps readied for a planting of grapes. Vines cover the rest of the island.

Unlike California, the vines aren't put up on fences - instead they are encouraged to grow in a spiral and stay on the ground. I guess cheap labor and lack of moisture make it economical to grow them that way. As they are harvested in september, we missed the exciting part of the season.

After Akatori, we went up to the capital city of Fira. It is a lovely town situated on the edge of a cliff overlooking the caldera (or volcanic center of the islands). In the past, the supplies for the island were hauled up the steep cliffs from the deep water port. These days there is a second port, acessable by road, and the first port has a lift. Considering the numbers of people visiting this tiny barren island every summer, by jet and ferry and cruise ship, getting supplies to the island is vital, but I imagine much easier now.
















By 2pm I was exhausted. Our original plan to go all the way up to Ia at the far northern tip of the island was scrapped. We moto-ed back to our hotel in Kamari and signed up for a boat tour of the Caldera and sunset in Ia for the next day.

After sunbathing (I fell asleep but escaped burning), we went out for dinner - the waiter brought us complimentary brandies and olives.

After dinner, we took the moto out again, hoping to catch a sunset over the caldera on the western part of the island. Unfortunately, our moto broke down about 2 miles from our hotel. We abandonned it, walked back to the hotel in the dark, had a drink, and fell asleep.

Honeymoon Travel Journal Entry #3
Topic: honeymoon travel journal
(because typing these up are better than studying. I also wrote out thank you cards and changed my SprintPCS service plan amen.)

***Oct 8***
Bad night, flight to Santorini

I could not sleep last night - finally at 4, after tossing and turning and a shower, switching directions on the bed (2X) and naproxen, I got to sleep. 8am - Mr. Bisous says ' We gotta get up, hon.' Our driver was scheduled to take us to the airport at 9. We threw our stuff together and ran downstairs for breakfast.

What had been a sore throat on the plane from Boston and a right-sided runny nose yesterday had erupted overnight into full-blown head congestion.

Anyone who has ever been unable to pop one's ears on a plane ride (babies everywhere can attest to this) knows the terror of possible icepick Nazi torture ear pressure head pain. Stuffy and desperate, I ran through the Athens airport, looking for Afrin, my only chance on such short notice... but unlike in American airports, where the little shops have GQ, Penthouse, Cosmo, lifesavers, tampons, tylenol, nyquil, and AFRIN, shops in the Athens airport were either NEWS or DUTY-FREE alcohols/chocolates/perfumes, or hermes scarves. None of which could ease my growing stuffiness and fear (except, perhaps, an enitre bottle of ouzo).

We were told the pharmacy was "I don't know, downstairs?" and went downstairs, only to get lost, take a misstep into arrivals and bagge claim, and voila - the pharmacy! Two squirts 2X a day. Almost immediately, I could breathe again.

Just enough time left to get to the boarding gate - where a very boorish American noticed Mr. Bisous reading Churchill's "The Gathering Storm" and proceeded to tell us, in a very loud voice, that the president was an idiot, that Kerry was an idiot, and the best thing to do would be to suspend the human rights of terrorists altogether, so if a terrorist killed our families, we would have the right to kill their families. Nice how Americans make friends abroad by recommending the deaths of innocent children and spouses...speaking of that, America's relationship with Greece has not always been sunny. Back in the 70s, our government's zeal to suppress communism meant we backed a corrupt military junta that ruled Greece for several years.

On a personal leve, they have been quite friendly. But despite the hype on "My Big Fat greek Wedding," they seem to be a reticent people, not smiling until I smile, awaiting my friendliness before they show their hand. More like Boston than Texas, in that respect.

Flying away from Athens, I was struck by the relection that I didn't feel the sense of ancient habitation that one does in Innsbrook or Edinburgh, for example. The ancient has been buried in the dirty maze of humanity, ruins guarded with some indifference.

Santorini - "The Black Pearl of the Aegean"

Named for St. Irene, a mideval church, it is a volcanic island, Greece's only active volcano. It's interior was incinerated in a huge blast in 1625 B.C., causing a tidal wave that destroyed the ancient Minoan civilization on nearby Crete. Santorini island has the ruins of Akrotiri, one of the fabled sites of Atlantis.

We arrived in timely fashion and were met by a very pleasant tour guide and gruff driver, who took us to our hotel, the Aegean Plaza in the village of Kamari. Since it was the end of the season, we wasted no time in getting to the pool. Interestingly and not surprisingly, considering the island has so little rain most moisture comes from the clouds that form off the volcanic islands and drift over the main island, the pool was salt water. A dip refreshed my cold.

The island is arid; only a few natural springs around Kamari supply everyone. The people at our hotel are mostly European and very tan. The shops sell sponges, pumice, Formula 1 racing hats, large animal beach towels, and lots of eurowear.

We changed into warmer clothes when the clouds blocked the sun and walked around Kamari - it's clear the season is ending, because not many peole are out. Or perhaps it is the middle of the siesta again... the beaches are black, volvanic pepples. We got lost - there are few steeet signs, and the hotels and buildings have all the same architecture. Square stone facades plastered over in white or pastel, with arches, and bright wooden shutters...

Honeymoon Travel Journal Entry #2
Topic: honeymoon travel journal
***Oct 7***

Since the Acropolis was closed, we shopped for gifts in the little places down the hill -- shopkeepers were so happy, readily bargained prices down, and even gave us free gifts (postcards, a pen) that I wondered how much we were being shafted on the prices, and later found out that the taxes are so bad shopkeepers will generally give you a deal if you pay in cash, and they get an under-the-table revenue boost

-- then we got back on the metro (2,90 for a 24 hour subway pass) and unloaded the various bronze warriors, ceramic pots and boxes, bronze owls, touristy magnets, and bronze chess set pieces we'd collected for friends and family at our hotel.

Then off to the National Archeological Museum - it was open! And free! Now the front was rather... unkempt. Ratty lawn, mostly dirt. A bit of trash here and there. I guess everyone took a beautification vacation after the Olympics.

Inside the museum, however, was extraordinary. All the best stuff the British didn't abscond with ...

lots of sculpture, jewelry, pottery, and even some mosaics from the three major periods of Daedalic, Archaic, and Classical scuplture. Some of the pieces I had heard of or seen in books here and there - the "Omphalos Apollo" and the gold death "Mask of Agamemmnon."

After our initial Acropoldisappointment, we were all fired up after the National Archeological Museum - it was 2pm - so we got on the metro again, this time to go to the War Museum.

It closes at 2pm. Well. Fortunately, the really neat stuff like old fighter planes, torpedos, mine casings, and lots and lots of enormous guns are outside. So we stepped over the little do not enter rope and wandered around along with the rest of the tourists who'd foolishly wasted the morning at the closed Acropolis... just two blocks away from the War Museum, however, was the National Museum of Art - it was also closed. No strike, just the nationally sanctioned siesta between 2 and 5 pm.

Well. At that point, we looked around and noted the breast-shaped hill just a few hundred meters to our north. So we went up, and up, into these streets oddly reminiscent of San Francisco, and found the cableway tram that took us to the top. 9 euro for two got us up to a glorious view of the whole city - a great look at the Acropolis and the Temple of the Olympian Zeus.

After wandering around (the restaurant up top was... yes... closed) - we found our cableway tickets were only one way. Rich tried to subvert the system and set off an excedrin headache alarm that had us walking quickly and nonchalantly outside again...

So we walked down the hill (passing an amorous couple in a taxi). The woods on the hill were completely deserted - but just outside, the busting city, crowded streets, and growling motor cars.

Eventually we found a subway stop and went back to the hotel.

* A note on Greek Music *

Europop - lots of Europop. The young men on the street are dressed for West Side Story - slicked back hair, tight pants, and polyester technicolor shirts. As they age the somehow acquire ill-fitting suits and comb-overs.

Eastern Orthodox Choral music - very pretty

Zorba-esque polka folk in every variety. Slow with whisky-voiced growling singers, quick with accordian, mid-tempo in the shops.

* Reflections on Athens while Mr. Bisous is in the shower *

Even the magazines describing the life here do it with a shrug - 'oh, how charming' that one must pay bills in cash, beurocrocy is impossible to navigate without connections or bribery, and the cab drivers are dishonest enough to warrant a special page in the Frommer guide. Supposedly refugees from Eastern Europe spend the night in tents in the square outside our hotel.

Athens is a fascinating place - a crossroads of East and West, of culture and commercialism, value and corruption. The streets are crumbling, but the Olympic flags are brilliant evem from the top of the Lycavittos. The shopkeepers flirt in English and give you gifts - it leaves you feeling good, but conned, somehow. And the odd incongruity between the unkempt grounds of the National Archeological museum, and the priceless collections within.

* * *

Dressed, refreshed, we stepped out into a livelier city than we found or first night. We followed the sound of music to Kotzia Square just next to the town hall. Dancers in traditional dress were skipping and holding handd, and an open air market had everything from vitamins to olives and honey. One booth had posters of sheep, and no other discernable product. Athens is more beautiful after dark, the dirt hidden, congestion light. Greeks are drinking and smoking and light-hearted after their siesta earlier in the day.

Honeymoon Travel Journal Entry #1
Topic: honeymoon travel journal
Just musings here - will likely go back and put in pictures - will edit out the most boring stuff...
*** Oct. 6 ***

...Our tickets incude transportation, so it was a relief to see a pleasant young man holding a "Mr. Dr. Bisous" ready to take us to the hotel once we got to Athens. We stayed at the Omonia Grand, right in Omonia square. The hotel lobby was indeed Grand, the rooms not quite so much, but about what you expect for a hotel room in a major European city. Tiny room, but private bath, a double bed, and AC.

The small TV had stations in Greek, Italian, French, and 3 in English (but two of these had no sound), leaving the only option as BBC news. However, it was entertaining to watch the Greek news shows -> crotchety anchormen actually turning the pages of the newspaper, reading aloud the stories/headlines, and then commenting on them with much younger, large-haired female co-anchors...
... we headed out for a walk. The city is congested and dirty, a bizarre cross between New York City and Acapulco. It struck me (as it often does in Europe) how little mixing of races there are. In downtown Athens we saw no Spanish, no blacks, no Asians. Just Greeks and some refugees hanging out in the square. Even as a brunette with brown eyes, I felt I stood out a little with my paler hair and PALE skin...

Oct. 7

...Breakfast was continental. No diet options. The Greeks have a great appreciation for chocolate. I thought I was grabbing rye bread - turned out it was (you guessed it) chocolate. Rich thought ahead and made little sandwiches of cold cuts, tomato, cheese, and little rolls from the breakfast buffet to take with us around Athens. Then off to the Acropolis. We took the metro, a modern, clean subway system. 3 stops from our hotel and we were there -> a brief walk up the hill... it was closed. Government worker strike. Had read a few magazine articles in the hotel room last night about Athens. About the congestion, the difficulty with bureaucracy. Greece is a socialist country that has suffered from transition to the Euro - the cost of living went way up, but wages did not increase that much.

Anyway, most of the government jobs are plums handed out from relatives who work as advisors and whatnot. The idea of the government job is not to work, "customers are a necessary evil" (from Olympia Magazine). As much as the services in the U.S. so far as health and welfare leave a lot to be desired, I do forget what it is like in a country where you are taxed a lot more, and where working more doesn't get you much benefit. It takes the incentives out of working. Some of the Greeks I spoke to about this told me "there are simple pleasures. Good wine, good sun. Just need to work enough to get those." No need to worry about health care... just a different way of thinking about things, and has its advantages over the rampant consumerism here in the U.S.

But we couldn't see the Acropolis the only day we were in Athens!

***