Going Greek

Unfortunately Sam didn't have a chance to cover our escapades in the Greek islands, so you're stuck with me. Also, I want to apologize for taking so long to update this blog. You see, when I'm traveling with interesting people I tend to prefer spending time with them to time with my laptop. That leads me to conclude that successful bloggers much be lonely people, but that's not really all that surprising, is it?

So, we took a ferry from the coast of Turkey to the Greek island of Samos. This island is one of the largest in Greek possession, and it's also the closest to Turkey's mainland. In fact, I'm pretty sure that from any of the Greek islands, you can see across the water to at least one other island, usually several. I didn't realize that they were so close together, but it makes sense that this would foster an early sailing society with primitive navigational tools. Samos is also one of the most verdant Greek island, as most of them have very little water. One last thing that makes it special is that it's the only of the Greek islands that I have been to before. I came to realize on this trip that it's a very poor representation of what the Greek islands have to offer.

The main port of Samos is in a small town called Vathy. There are about 3000 residents and it's mostly all confined to a narrow strip of buildings lining the long harbor. A few decent restaurants and a smattering of cheap hotels is ll there is to see. Previously when I was here with my father and sister, I rented a moped and explored the island with Erika. We visited a monastery, and went to a town on the other side of the island called Pythagorio where there were some minor ruins. Pythagorio is named after one of Samos's ancient citizens... Pythagoras. He's know by schoolchildren as the originator of the formula a^2 + b^2 = c^2, but he developed a lot more formulas than that, and he also proposed important theories on musical tuning, philosophy, and natural science. A lot of what's accredited to him may (probably) have been developed by his students and colleagues as he was the leader of a somewhat powerful cult.

This time on the island, Sam and I decided to do a bit less. We checked into the Pythagorio Hotel, the same one that I occupied 5 years ago and headed out to the beach to get some color. It was a very small one, but at least there were some sunbeds, umbrellas, and cold beer available. It seemed fitting that our first meal in Greece that night would be Gyros, though they weren't especially good ones... we enjoyed way better ones later on. I didn't know before that they always deep fry the pitas so that they're hot, crispy, and greasy when you get them. I think that they're considered health food back home.

Our next destination was Mykonos, and only two ferries go there each week from this island, so the next morning we got an early start and went down to the ferry. It was a HUGE ship, and held cars as well as hundreds of people divided up into several levels of decks. It seemed pretty comical that a ship so large could dock at such a tiny town but I guess the ports have very deep water here since sand is so rare. It was a pretty miserable 7 hour ride but we stopped at half a dozen different ports and islands along the way and it was pretty scenic.

Finally we reached Mykonos near sunset and were met by a throng of hotel representatives pimping their wares. I was really happy to find a great room in town at half the price ($48 a night) that I had been seeing on Hostel World (the website that I use to make reservations if I'm getting in late). That made me a little suspicious but how could I turn down a free lift into town? Anyways the room was good, maybe 5-10 minutes walk from downtown and with good AC and internet speeds.

The main town of Mykonos island is called Hora, which means village, and every island has at least one town with this name. I don't know that the island was particularly famous in antiquity but it certainly is now. It's the most expensive, with the best beaches, the best shops, and is usually the busiest. Despite that, the town feels very small and there aren't any buildings taller than 2 stories. They're all painted white and blue and at night the streets glow with the shop lights and cafe table's candles. It's probably the most beautiful town that I have ever been to, and that's saying a lot I think.

The shops sell great jewelry, paintings, tourist junk, jewelry, trendy clothing, shoes, designer housewares, jewelry, and carpets but are so well presented and tasteful that I even liked the window shopping. There are also dozens of great but expensive seafood restaurants but you could find cheap gyros and kebabs if necessary. The first night we explored the town and got hopelessly lost in its narrow alleys which are said to have been designed to confuse raiding pirates. There are no 'main' streets and certainly no straight paths as every building is at a strange angle and startlingly close to each other. You really need an excellent sense of direction to find anything twice, and that makes it charming.

The next day we took a bus to the south side of the island, a 15 minute ride, to reach the famous Paradise Beach. It's a fairly large beach with good sand, probably trucked in, and crystal clear warm water. There were some large beach resorts and clubs backing the sand, and we saw a lot of fliers announcing that the Ministry of Sound would be performing in a couple days. Sam worked on her tan while I spent the majority of the day writing my previous blog post from my reclining chair under an umbrella in front of the water. Though Sam wouldn't have any part of it, about half the girls at this beach go topless and I found my typing progressing slowly. Another nearby beach, Super Paradise Beach, is mostly nudist and a very popular spot for the gay population which come in force to this island.

The crowd here on Mykonos tends to be pretty young overall. Of course you'll see some older couples too, but not many young kids either. This is a place that people come when they want to look good spending money, or at least to look at good looking people spending money. That said, everything was very expensive in the shops... I had a hard time finding a shirt for sale that cost less than $100 so I didn't get any at all. Also, the people that come here really do look good... handsome men and beautiful women. Of course a lot of them are gay men that tend to work out too much, but still it's a good looking crowd. Later that night we shared some cocktails and got up early in the morning for our sightseeing trip.

We took a ferry to the island of Delos (a popular day trip) after shopping around for some food to carry with us. Delos is a tiny (relatively) island that's super close to Mykonos. Nobody lives on it, and it's largely covered with ruins. Mythology holds that on this island, Hera gave birth to the twins Apollo and Artemis while clutching onto a palm tree. This led to the island becoming an important pilgrimage site and helped its temples amass huge fortunes in gifted and taxed treasure. In its day the island had thousand of bronze statues and elaborately carved temples complete with the best tile mosaics that I've ever seen. Around 400 BC, Athens got control of the island and tried to oust its local inhabitants to make it more holy. They first outlawed giving birth or dying on the island, so old folks and late term women had to leave. Later on they outlawed the locals altogether and moved the majority of the treasure to Athens for 'protection'.

The most famous site on the island are the Lions of Delos, a series of large and lean lions that stood in a row to strike fear into the hearts of visitors who had probably never seen a lion before. Most of them have been stolen over the centuries, one of them is in the Arsenal of Rome, but there are a few remaining after having been dug up in recent history.

Sam and I walked the island with a friendly gay couple, though I've already forgotten their names. I gave some shortish lectures on the history of the island, the interaction of the Minoan and Ionian civilizations that came to form Greece, and the story of the war with Turkey that ended in '25. I'm really jazzed that all these disparate history lessons are coming together and making a complete picture for me finally... it makes the area that much more interesting. Sam and the guys talked about which actresses they loved best. We also saw the excellent free museum on the site that holds a lot of the nicer and more delicate pieces. Oh, I forgot to mention that there was a penis shrine and a collection of phallic art in the museum. Hilarious.

The next day we were supposed to take a ferry to Santorini but some minor winds and clouds were enough to cancel the ferry. We ended up spending most of that day in the room watching movies and drinking cocktails since Sam's back was acting up. Later in the day we got some dinner at a great seafood place called Nikos Taverna. You know it's great if I actually remembered the name.

Finally we got the ferry to Santorini and it was a long one with a layover on the island of Paros in between. The hotel owner met us at the dock and took us back to our new digs in his van. The ferry had dropped us off at the New Port which is accessible by road but traditionally you would be let off at the Old Port where you would either have to climb a brutal cliff up to town or ride a donkey. It's said that this island has more donkeys than people and more wine than water. The white wine made here is supposed to be the best in Greece and we had some at dinner that night.

We were joined by a couple backpackers that we met at the hotel... well, a backpacking couple is more accurate. Their names are Jeff and Katie and they hail from Vancouver. Jeff's been traveling for 6 months already and Katie just recently joined him so Sam and I saw some parallels. The dinner was a surprisingly cheap seafood platter that we all shared featuring a dozen small fish, various kinds of calamari and octopus, Greek salad, watermelon, and a pitcher of white wine. Not bad for $15 each.

Santorini is a particularly beautiful island because it's formed in a huge crescent shape with enormous cliffs dominating its inner side. There are a couple other small islands that help close the ring as well as one low and rocky island in the middle, devoid of vegetation. This is the product of a huge volcanic eruption that happened around 1500 BC, killing all the inhabitants naturally. At the time the island was a part of the Minoan civilization that was centered on the island of Crete. The Minoans were an advanced and wealthy people, exploiting the trade boom of the bronze age and domination the seas. Their mainland Greek counterparts, the Mycenaeans, were less technologically savvy, made poorer pottery, and were no match for the Minoan navy. The enormous volcano's ash cloud drifted south and nearly destroyed the Minoans on Crete by itself, and this gave the Myceneans the edge they needed to finally conquer the Minoans. The myth of Atlantis, an advanced people on an island sinking into the sea, was based on the story of Santorini. The low rocky island in the middle is what's left of the smoking remains of the volcano.

The next day, Sam, Jeff, Katie, and I rented some ATVs and visited the black beach of Parassos. It's black because of volcanic sand of course and holy crap is it hot. Sure the sand was scalding, but the waters were refreshing on balance and we spent a good long time there working on our pathetic tans. Jeff's got a great tan for a Canadian, and I think that I'll be at his level in a few more months. Right now I've got the best tan of my life.

Afterward we rode over to the Red Beach on the southern side of the island. The shear cliffs surrounding the beach are made of red pumice and the sand is actually tiny red and black pumice stones giving it a light almost fluffy feeling when walking on it. I LOVED this beach... it was just so beautiful and the sand so unique. Also, there weren't any shops or restaurants spoiling the natural splendor, save for a few rentable umbrellas and chairs. I can tolerate that.

In the evening, the four of us went to the main town of Fira for dinner. It's the one that the donkey trail leads you up to from the Old Port, and it's a pretty charming place. I hear that the town on the North end of the island, Ia, is the prettiest since it was leveled by a quake in the 50s and was rebuilt in the best style, but Fira is nice too. We looked at a dozen different restaurants before finding one that would give us a 'student discount'. We played drinking games with Jeff and Katie late into the night, as we did the night before.

When we got the ferry out of town in the morning, headed towards Athens, I was optimistic that it was going to be a great day. The fact that it was my 29th birthday had a lot to do with this, but it turned into a serious mess. So the first thing that happened was, while walking through the metro station in Athens, Sam slipped while walking up some stairs and landed on her left knee. She was in a lot of pain and couldn't walk, so some of the metro employees came over and carried her to a wheelchair that they produced. I was carrying all of our bags and trying to be as helpful as I could given the situation. They claimed that the ER is free, and after 20 minutes of resting Sam was still in intense pain, so we took them up on the offer and waited around in the stationmaster's office for the the medics to show up.

An ambulance took us to the ER at Athens General, one of several state run hospitals in the area. We must have gotten some preferential treatment as tourists because despite a huge number of people waiting for care, we got to see a doctor in a matter of minutes. He spoke great English (most foreign doctors that I have met told me that they have to train in English and that the med tests are always about American health issues and statistics) and reminded Sam and I of someone of Grey's Anatomy, though I can't remember the guys name... longish hair and a scruffy beard. He had some xrays taken, gave her a shot to numb her pain a bit, and eventually determined that she tore one of the tendons on the side of her knee. She'll need a checkup in a week to find out for sure, but if it's torn completely she'll need surgery to mend it.

The shot that she received didn't do so much to help with the pain and though he wrote her a prescription, the hospitals don't have pharmacies to fill them at. He advised me to go to a private pharmacy as they also sell crutches. We got a cab back to our hotel but Sam had some trouble moving around after we left the wheelchair at the hospital.

At the hotel, I saw that there were stairs leading up to the reception, so I put Sam on the front step of the doorway and put our luggage next to her in the doorway while I rent up to the lobby to inquire about an elevator. I found out that they didn't have one and our room was on the 4th floor so I went out to tell Sam that we'd have to find another hotel, when I noticed that her large suitcase was gone. She was on the step, right next to it, but didn't notice anyone take it since she was so racked with pain. I didn't know that she was so out of it, but I also didn't realize that the neighborhood was so damn awful. When I ran off to search for the culprit, I saw that there were whores on every corner, junkies laying about the sidewalks, and particularly dirty streets. Well, I couldn't find her bag but I did get us another hotel with an elevator but Sam was feeling pretty low to say the least. While I was searching for the bag, men were approaching and touching her thinking she was a crying prostitute. She didn't care for this experience either.

That night she had trouble sleeping because we didn't have any pain meds. All the pharmacies are closed and night, and in the morning I couldn't find one open because it was a Sunday. I talked to half a dozen different hotels asking if they knew of one that was open and I also searched for a good 6 hours but with no avail. I came back to visit Sam, and moved her into a better hotel, but finally around 4 pm I got a good tip and found an open Pharmacy. It turns out that the prescription was for stuff about at strong as aspirin, so a couple hours later we had to go back to the ER to get a better prescription. In all the countries that I had been to before this, you could get strong codine based medicines without paperwork but here in the EU it's tougher. After visiting the ER a second time and going to the pharmacy we got some stronger medicine but still not the good stuff. That and a stiff drink put her to bed.

On Monday Sam had to fly home. It's not a great time to fly, while you're in pain, on crutches, and with a soft cast preventing you from bending your leg for the most part, but that's how it is. We got up early to do a little shopping since she didn't have any clothes, so we got her a shirt and skirt from Zara and rode the metro to the airport. The train took a really long time to get there and we may have missed the plane if it hadn't been delayed for an hour. I said goodbye and she started her journey.

I heard from her later that because he plane was late arriving in Montreal, she missed her connection and the airline put her up for the night in a hotel. She was having a really hard time of it but on the next flight a family offered to give her a ride back to her apartment since she was landing in the middle of the day on a Tuesday and had trouble getting a ride since her cellphone was in the stolen bag. I hope that she gets well soon and that she's able to work again. It's funny though, she's had knee problems before and has often had trouble walking long distances because of them. On this trip with me however she hadn't had any problems at all apart from some back pain, but then she hurt her knee in a new way. Very unlucky. I'm going to miss that girl.

Yea, I know I'm a jerk for taking pictures of the incident... but hey, that's what I do these days. I'm going to end this here and move on to my time alone once more in a new post.