Flying from Seattle to Athens, we changed planes in bleak and rainy Amsterdam. I realized that miserable weather at a transfer city makes me wickedly happy. Let it rain in Holland…we’re flying to Greece for two weeks of virtually certain sunshine.
 |
|
Enlarge photo |
On the plane, people asked, “Where are you going this time?” It was fun to answer, “I’m taking one of them Rick Steves’ tours.” I’m always impressed when planning to make a meeting halfway around the world with 15 minutes to spare, and I get there just as planned. Anne and I checked into Hotel Hera and joined our tour group on the rooftop — a view of the Acropolis and welcome drinks in hand. Last time I was on this rooftop, it was bare concrete with rickety plastic furniture. I was the driver/guide of a minibus tour…a true adventure, with the blind leading the blind. Now, it’s a different Greece. Like the city itself, the hotel has enjoyed a complete makeover. It was still a Rick Steves’ tour…but with a plush and shady rooftop, a scholar guide (Colin Clement) and me on vacation with Anne. I joked with Colin that it’s easy to be an impressive guide in Greece, because brilliance is relative and rare is the American tourists who has a clue about Greek history. Colin was worried I’d be bored. I was wondering what it would be like to be off-duty, with no real agenda other than to enjoy myself. My mom could never sit down and relax with company, and I struggle with my “mother-guide complex” (e.g., audio concerns when Colin was giving his intro talk). Colin stressed punctuality, and how we will actually leave people behind who are late for the bus. Someone cracked, “What’s the difference between a tour member and a hitchhiker?” The answer: “Five minutes.” Colin prepped us for the experience. If you ask for a “no smoking” section, they’ll sit you anywhere and remove the ashtray. Someone asked for a doggie bag on his last tour, and the waiter took the remains of their meal away, and brought it back in a sack, proudly announcing that he put other people’s leftovers in as well, so that the dog would have a real feast.
 |
|
Enlarge photo |
Talking with members from our group, it was clear: retired people want longer trips, working people need shorter trips. Two retired couples were fresh off of our Turkey tour, combining that and our Greece tour for a month-long visit. And, for many, this two-week itinerary was a stretch. The delightful pedestrian lane that now circles the Acropolis hill is symbolic of the great changes in Athens from the last decade or so. We strolled it with the local paseo crowd. They just had an election yesterday. I asked a local the results, and he said, “Good for owners, bad for workers.” Wandering through the city, you still feel the heritage from the 2004 Olympic Games. And even from the Para-Olympics. A small industrial elevator riveted to the face of the Acropolis’ cliff now makes that ultimate historic hilltop accessible to all. While that’s great, I have to admit I have a problem with the grooved inlay cut into every sidewalk. In hopes of enabling people who can’t see to get around the city with their white canes, they cut up every sidewalk and inlaid grooves to guide the canes. In practice, crazy obstructions make following the grooves impossible. The result: a city painfully in need of charm has new sidewalks which happen to be the ugliest in Europe. Athens, once so congested and polluted, has made huge strides. But it’s still intense and congested. It seems there’s about one blade of grass for each of the city’s 3 million cars. For a taste-version of “pinch me I’m in Greece,” I needed two things: a souvlaki pita and a local yogurt. Wandering the old town under a floodlit Acropolis, munching my souvlaki rolled in greasy pita bread, is like a ritual for me. And to cap that, I drop by a dessert place for a yogurt, and patiently drizzle honey on it as if I’m scribbling “Yes, I’m in Greece!”
Always wanted to be first to post!!! Enjoy your vacation Rick and tour members. Wish I already hadn’t eaten dinner. I can taste Greece like I was there yesterday. Must go to the local Greek place this weekend.
My first experience in Athens happened to also be at a hotel with a rooftop with a drink in hand looking at the Acropolis. Amazing! I was lucky to have my first visit there after the Olympics – apparently the change is quite remarkable. Enjoy your journey, Greece is an amazing country whose people are so genuine.
Good to hear I’m not the only person out there that takes your tours back to back. Curious how the Turkey/Greece folks like combining these tours. My last GF and I had planned to do a couple of tours, but when mentioning putting these 2 together, she expressed concern that there would be a “Grecian overload” with these 2 tours. I’m hoping to combine either the Turkey or Greece tours with best of the Adriatic next year. I shove off for my 2 tours in exactly 6 weeks. I’m so ready to get out of town.
Enjoy the sunshine and leisure of your vacation in Greece, Rick. Colin will do the tour. You and Anne get to be the tourists. :) Happy travels to you both!
Enjoy Greece. I dito your comments about working people want shorter tours. I would love to go on a RS Greece tour. 14 days is too long off work for my husband and I. We would love a 7-10 option. We just did your 8 day Paris/London tour and it was wonderful for us working folks.
Athens is famous for its smog, but this day, according to the Athenians, is a one-day-a-year clean-air day. From the Acropolis, we could see forever.
Our family tradition is to eat in a different restaurant each wedding anniversary. On our 37th, we ate at the Athens Marriott. The waiter laughed and said as a school child he was bussed to the Acropolis one day, the one and only time he has been there!
We needed to fill our cooking gas tank, the guard who let us into the place, the man who filled the tank, the man who made out the bill, the cashier who took the money, were all much more friendly than required, or expected — just typical Greeks!
In Athens each time a light turns green, horns blows.
A man gave us his business card and said we should call him if we have a problem while we are in Greece. Now that is a nice man! We used to say the Italians are the nicest people. Now we say compared to the Greeks, Italians are hostile, treacherous, and belligerent!
Colin, wishing you the best guiding this tour! Keep Rick in line . . . he is a just a tourist this time.
Miserable weather at a transfer city also makes me happy! I fly to Frankfurt tomorrow thorugh London (Heathrow), no offense meant to the brits but I hope it is raining like mad in London!!!! ;)
I hope you have a relaxing time in Greece. And Jim Humberd, I simply love your stories.
I want one of those pitas too!
I love the doggie bag story – a classic! I can just picture the glowing smile on the waiter as he brings the guest a supersized-combo of eveyones leftovers and the concerned look of the guest! hah! Id love to have a waiter try that here in Southern California!
Greetings Rick, you wrote Athens is a city painfully in need of charm..that’s to funny, we took our daughter on a trip to Paris, then sent her on a school trip to Rome and Florence and then last year took her to Athens and Mykonos…she fell in love with Athens, she said it had the most charm of all the cities she visited in Europe–and what’s even funnier is that she’s in college right now and she’s talking her “new” friends into backpacking through Greece this summer…
Hi Rick. I agree with Tom that your story of the doggie bag turned my imagination on in an instant. I too could see a proud waiter giving his restaurant’s extra food to a deserving dog instead of an undeserving trashcan. Thanks for perking up my Friday. Thanks to the other posters too, this is so much fun for me.
We took students to Greece about ten or twelve years ago when my husband was a teacher. It was in July and the hottest place I have ever been. Our daughter who was fourteen at the time said to me ” it is so hot I stood out on the balcony in my under wear and across the ally was a guy in his underwear and I didn’t even care.” Have a great time in Greese. Wish I was there.
so glad to know you are on the road again and we can check your blog for further adventures. I was in Greece in 1977 and hope to go back someday, older, wiser and with more money. I left my appendix on the Island of Rhodos, now that was an adventure!
I find the fact that you are so bothered by the aesthetics of sidewalks that were built for blind people (enough to write about it) just despicable. Maybe I’m a little sensitive since my mother was blind. But shame on you. And no it’s not impossible to get around. The sidewalks in Athens are applauded by many for making it simple for blind people to get around. I guess wheelchair ramps are ugly to you as well.
James I have to agree with you, I have been to Athens many times and have seen these new sidewalks….all I can say is that they are lovely, charming and give a human being a sense of warmth of how such an ancient city has become so modern….the ancients would be pleased with this “new” city….
Your comments about flying half way around the world and making your meeting within 15 minutes reminded me of a trip to Paris. My friend and I were supposed to meet at a hotel in Paris at a certain time and date. I went over the week before and toured Brugge and Amsterdam (with your book of course) and was to take the train into Paris that day. He was making his first trip to Europe, so I was a little worried that he’d have trouble navigating to the hotel. To my surprise we arrived within 15 minutes of each other at our hotel. To this day, I’m blown away by that. Love the blog.
Greek yogurt spoiled me for any other yogurt. It’s soooo delicious! And Greek yogurt with Greek honey and walnuts . . . to die for. Yummm. By the way, you can now find Greek yogurt in our neighborhood grocery store. It’s almost as good as the yogurt I had every single day of my stay in Greece.
A good place for eating lunch or dinner in ATHENS is Eden Vegetarian Restaurant, located at LYSSIOU 12 at MNISSIKLEOUS. I was there in November 2005.It is on the north side of the Acropolis, easy walking distance from MONASTIRAKI SQUARE AND METRO. Walk to the Eden Restaurant while walking to or from the Acropolis visitors’ entrance. The Eden Restaurant is quiet and peaceful – that is rare in Athens.
Rick, I guess when you read this you might be away from Athens, but you may like to know that I agree with you : Athens is painfully in need of charm. But, one sight in Athens that does have charm is seeing a white carriage pulled by horses, stopped in front of the Acropolis visitors entrance, late in the day after the tourists are gone. Trees surround the parking lot there. And, walking up or down the north side of the Acropolis on MNISSIKLEOUS street (part of it is all stairs) is pleasant. And, the Eden Vegetarian restaurant at the corner of MNISSIKLEOUS street and LISSIOU street is high class, but not expensive, with French and Czech Art Nouveau pictures on the walls.
The doggie bag story was a hoot. I am sure my dachsie would love a treat like that the next time we eat at a steak house! Love your blog! Kathy