Thursday, December 16, 2010

Delos; or, Never Trust Athenian Travel Agents (Even When Bearing Gifts)

Our plan had been to arrive at Mykonos in the early afternoon, look around, find a hotel, and then take the boat to Delos the next morning, arriving back on Mykonos in time to take the return ferry to Piraeus. Travel agents in Athens consulted the schedules and assured us all this was feasible. As we eventually learned, in Mykonos, the tours to Delos operate only on Fridays and Sundays in the off-season. We arrived at Mykonos on Tuesday, and, it was so nice a place, we seriously considered staying over until Friday's tour. Bad weather was on the way, however, and the port police could not guarantee that the Friday boat trip to Delos would not be cancelled. So, after a few more hours' sight-seeing in Mykonos, we rode the Ithaki back to Piraeus. Sadder, but wiser, just as in Greek tragedy.

I have always thought it would be fun to do a completely fictional post on our travels, grabbing pix off the web, making it all up and posting it. This would have been a great opportunity. Alas, as I write, it seems less fun than work. If you're interested, there is a great site, with great pix, for Delos at http://www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/delos. Perhaps we'll visit Delos next time.
"Never trust Athenian travel agents!" they told us on
Mykonos

Mykonos Museum of Archaeology

Mykonos is very near the Apollo shrine island of Delos, where few lived and which was so sacred no one was permitted to be born or to die there. It served through the centuries as Delos' non-sacred portal, auxiliary, and warehouse, and itself has surrendered not a few artifacts, some of Cycladian age, most of 9th-8th-7th century BCE Greece.
Mykonos' excellent little archaeological museum














A "frying pan" ceramic piece--so-called because of the shape--apparently no 
one knows what they were used for (we saw plenty more in Athens' museums)
















Beautifully-painted pottery, 8th century BCE














"Who's been into the wine cellars?!"














For us, the most impressive piece was this 7th century BCE 
4-foot high funerary urn, decorated with scenes from the 
Trojan War; hardly a century after Homer himself is supposed 
to have lived






















Trojan horse














Hector, Andromache, and Astyanax?














8th century griffin














"No thanks, I'm driving"

Mykonos

We landed at Mykonos' "new" harbor in the early afternoon, took the bus to the "old" harbor, and began wandering the old town's almost completely pedestrian maze of kissing alleys. Greece really does pretty much shut down to tourism in the non-summer months, but we nonetheless got the relevant information, advice, and found a quite decent little boutique hotel, the Carbonika. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the old town, seeing the sights, having a nice Greek dinner on the old harbor, watching the sunset, and getting thoroughly and seriously lost in what is a very distinctive and beautiful place.
Approaching Mykonos















Typical Mykonos old town view



















Mykonos' "Little Venice"; apparently a scene from one of
the Bourne movies was shot here
















Sea camel near the old harbor















Mykonos' signature windmills















It's a beautiful little town with many
distinctive architectural features




















OK, polychrome it's not; and you can't tell
people you live in the white house with the
blue trim




















Sunset view














Next morning, old harbor















Petros, Mykonos' pelican mascot for more than 50 years;
he's completely accustomed to humans; wanders around the
harbor and fish market every day, getting hand-outs and
getting photographed


















View from our balcony

Aegean Cruise

We had wanted to see a bit more of the Greek islands and to mix some island-hopping with our archaeological interests. Our first choice would have been Santorini (aka Thera) and its Akrotiri archaeological site. Santorini is in the Cyclades island group and is itself the remains of a volcanic cone that blew off some 3600 years ago in one of the largest known volcanic explosions. What is of archaeological interest is the relatively recently discovered town of Akrotiri, buried in cinders sometime around 1628 BCE; sort of like Pompeii, only 1600 years older, and Minoan, not Roman. And in many ways, all the more remarkable. But the Santorini site has been closed for several years and remains closed (another long story).

We ended up choosing Mykonos, also in the Cyclades, and its site on the nearby island of Delos, said by some to be the second most important religious site for the Greeks, after Delphi; and also associated with Apollo. We conferred with several travel agents in Athens, about the ferries, Mykonos, and Delos, received appropriate assurances, and then proceeded to free-lance the trip, stuffing overnight gear into a day-pack and showing up at the dock very early the next morning. We should have consulted the Oracle at Delphi, too, but that's part of a larger story. To be continued.
We took the bus to Piraeus and arrived well before dawn's
rosy fingers touched the wine dark sea; cast-off was at 7:35
AM

















Leaving Piraeus















Looking back toward Athens















At least on our little five hour voyage, islands were always
in view, sometimes quite large, sometimes small, sometimes
inhabited, sometimes not

















Typical scenery; beautiful clear day















Landing at Syros



















More Syros; we also stopped at Dinos















Our ship, the Good Ferry Ithaki; wait, wasn't that Odysseus'
ship's name?
















Aegean sunset the next day

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Athens Miscellaneous

Our campsite, among the olive and orange trees, at Camping
Athens, a bit pricey, but nice
















View of the Acropolis from the Museum















Looking across the Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus at
a small bit of Athens--4 million people
















Ruins of the Temple of Zeus, under the Acropolis















Looking toward Piraeus, Athens' port














In the meat market, silly wabbits















Absolutely best sign store yet; "and in English, too"















Greek Parliament















Guards strutting their stuff















Cute skirts and goose steps














Athens is the most tagged city we have seen yet















Agora

After the Acropolis we walked down to the ancient Agora, which has been under excavation since the 1930s by the American School of Classical Studies.
A view of the Agora, and the Temple of Hephaestus, from
the Acropolis
















In the American School of Classical Studies Agora
Museum, "ballots" for ostracism















An ostracism ballot for Arissteides















Speaking of ballots, here's the Stele of
Democracy




















Athenian BBQ grill














The label said this was a toy; OK...
















Portico of the Stoa of Attalos, recreated by the American
School
















View from the Agora back to the Acropolis















Thought to be the House of Simon, an associate of
Socrates, who, like Plato, took notes on Socrates' dialogues















Looking back across the Agora to the Stoa of Attalos















The Temple of Hephaestus, in the Agora; perhaps the best-
preserved of all such temples; had it been on the Acropolis,
someone would have used it for target practice...

















In the vicinity of the various civic buildings in the Agora,
near where, we were told, would have been the jail where
Socrates drank his hemlock cocktail

















A block away from the excavated Agora, the remains of the
Library of Hadrian
















A nice lunch in the souvlaki alley















And everywhere around, more ruins, more excavation