Liz Here
It is September 2015 and I am determined to blog about our trip to Europe and give details about life that I consider important. Perfection is the enemy of progress so I am going to publish partial since blog file is becoming unwieldy.
We went to Europe for 9 weeks and had limited capacity for blogging. We did not carry lap tops just 2 carry-on bags and 2 backpacks. I lost my smartphone in Thessaloniki. I bought a tablet phone and then lost that phone too in a bathroom when we landed at LAX. Was this trip a success or not? You decide.
Our Life is in Ruins.
Volcanoes, places ruined by volcanoes and archaeology museums are a huge theme in our travels this year. The most well traveled person I know is Dr. Diane Buffalin. She is a humorous psychologist who has spoken to cheer passengers at sea on over 80 cruises over 20 years. When discussing our trip plan Diane emphasized theme. Ruins are a fantastic theme in Europe and Iceland and continued when we returned to West Coast of US to visit 4 American parks centered on volcanoes.
Engineering of anything but especially automobiles and machinery is almost always important for Mike, the truest car guy ever. So visiting machinery sources is part and parcel of interesting travel. Even in the ancient world those pillars did not rise up by themselves. Men built the walls, columns, Corinth Canal and on and on.
Why go to Greece? Greece is the birthplace of so much Western thought. Science and theology are intertwined in the ancient world. Philosopher is a Greek word meaning lover of thought and Mike and I are lovers of thought. Not faith, thought. Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato were Greek. Aristotle created scientific methods for observation. The Greeks considered food, health, culture, theatre, women's rights and literature. Geology, physics and math held only a fraction of their interests. Our visit is to explore this home of the ancients. But Greece is extra complicated right now so giving it proper consideration has taken time.
The entrance fees to venues especially in Greece are incredibly inexpensive. Consider that a 5 day ticket to Disney World costs almost $300. A 4 day ticket to the Acropolis costs 12 Euros ($15). No long lines. We did not need to purchase ahead even though many students were visiting on spring break. It is admission to 7 amazing ruins. Admission to the phenomenal museum in Athens cost 5 Euros. And the museum showed animated Caryatids that winked and charmed more than ever.
My great aunt Grace married a Greek named Jimmy. They lived in St. Louis area where he owned a diner. He sold the diner and they took a trip to Greece. Poor Jimmy had a heart attack and died in.Athens. His heart attack was provoked by anger when he saw that his family was not taking good care of his handicapped brother that he'd been sending money to support. Grace gave us 2 boy dolls dressed like these guys. All I usually give are postcards.
After Mike's radiation for prostate cancer ended in Nov. 2014 why take a long and relatively costly trip? Not 7 months like our first trip but not 3 weeks either. Mike has worked and saved his whole life so he has nothing to prove about his ability to delay gratification. We can afford it. To look back on our lives when we are aged and know that we visited interesting and mildly challenging places is to know that we really lived. Mike likes the idea of arriving in the hereafter a smoking heap, a physical wreck, body thoroughly used up. So let's use our bodies to go places.
I bought 2 one-way tickets from LAX (Los Angeles) to Athens for $700 each. I priced the tickets with ITAsoftware.com, a goggle search engine. I bought the ticket with trepidation and then had buyers remorse. Would we actually take the trip or would some other life event obstruct the trip? Would we be happy like we were before prostate cancer?
Mike is not a complainer but he complained that eating almost only plants (to reduce risk factors and stay off medications) made him wish he were dead. He gave up drinking his beloved milk in October 2014 due to intense rectal spasms during radiation. In the course of 2014 Mike quit not only milk and a daily beer but also cigarettes. We strive to walk 10,000 steps per day or at least take a walk after meals. Mike would not see results of blood work to learn if his risk factors were improved until his annual physical in Lansing in June. Time to take a trip. Mike would get a lot of exercise and only miss a little Nascar.
I filled in itineraries knowing that the trip would start on April 11 (after Easter) and end in time for Father's Day in June. In January the Euro dropped 20%. In February and March I booked lodgings for land portion of late summer trip to Alaska. I'd booked a cruise to Alaska 2 years previously at a low price so we are going to Alaska too. Life is too short to miss Alaska.
I bought 2 one-way tickets from LAX (Los Angeles) to Athens for $700 each. I priced the tickets with ITAsoftware.com, a goggle search engine. I bought the ticket with trepidation and then had buyers remorse. Would we actually take the trip or would some other life event obstruct the trip? Would we be happy like we were before prostate cancer?
Mike is not a complainer but he complained that eating almost only plants (to reduce risk factors and stay off medications) made him wish he were dead. He gave up drinking his beloved milk in October 2014 due to intense rectal spasms during radiation. In the course of 2014 Mike quit not only milk and a daily beer but also cigarettes. We strive to walk 10,000 steps per day or at least take a walk after meals. Mike would not see results of blood work to learn if his risk factors were improved until his annual physical in Lansing in June. Time to take a trip. Mike would get a lot of exercise and only miss a little Nascar.
I filled in itineraries knowing that the trip would start on April 11 (after Easter) and end in time for Father's Day in June. In January the Euro dropped 20%. In February and March I booked lodgings for land portion of late summer trip to Alaska. I'd booked a cruise to Alaska 2 years previously at a low price so we are going to Alaska too. Life is too short to miss Alaska.
Mike told me firmly to buy travel insurance. He took little interest in trip planning and was entirely sick of topic before we left. I bought the travel insurance. Travel Guard agent refused to insure us since we were not departing from and returning to the same address. Allianz insured us for $800 in 5 minutes with an automated system. Even with lowered risk of a heart attack getting hit by a car or whatever accident requires insurance. Allianz is a sponsor of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion radio show on NPR so we did not mind paying them.
When planning a trip outside of North America notify cell phone carrier at least 10 days ahead. We told ours 3 weeks ahead. Mike ordered $5000 US dollars in exchange for €4400 Euros at $1.06 and Chase Bank charged $1.13. No vaccinations were required for this trip.
Mike had truck serviced for 100k miles so it would sit with fresh fluids with Wayne Head RV and Storage in soon-to-be very hot San Bernardino.
What did we pack? In our back packs were a pair of good hiking boots that alternated with our sneakers and a small toiletry kit. I carried a bath towel knowing I could off load it but I didn't have to. Mike carried a large phone battery and cords. He bought a knife in Orvieto. His bag held 3 pairs of pants, 3 long sleeve shirts, 3 t-shirts, 7 underwear and 7 pairs of socks. He had a spring jacket, a heavier jacket and a waterproof jacket. We each had a swimsuit. I had a tee shirt, a dressy blouse and slacks, 3 sports tops, 2 sports bras, 4 cotton blouses, 4 pairs of pants, 7 pairs of socks and 7 pairs of panties. I bought a $25 brown wool cape on Hydra for more warmth. Only once (in Nafplio} did I have to ask Mike to help me wring out laundry by hand. Otherwise laundry facilities just seemed to be handy.
What did we pack? In our back packs were a pair of good hiking boots that alternated with our sneakers and a small toiletry kit. I carried a bath towel knowing I could off load it but I didn't have to. Mike carried a large phone battery and cords. He bought a knife in Orvieto. His bag held 3 pairs of pants, 3 long sleeve shirts, 3 t-shirts, 7 underwear and 7 pairs of socks. He had a spring jacket, a heavier jacket and a waterproof jacket. We each had a swimsuit. I had a tee shirt, a dressy blouse and slacks, 3 sports tops, 2 sports bras, 4 cotton blouses, 4 pairs of pants, 7 pairs of socks and 7 pairs of panties. I bought a $25 brown wool cape on Hydra for more warmth. Only once (in Nafplio} did I have to ask Mike to help me wring out laundry by hand. Otherwise laundry facilities just seemed to be handy.
As a budget traveler I booked rooms ahead through Airbnb, Booking.com and Hostelworld. In some places I booked directly with room keepers. Airbnb is paid up front the minute I commit to the host but we got some well located rooms with warmth and character. Often our rooms required us to climb. Steep climbs up hills, steep stairs, sometimes uneven stone paths with twists and turns. No guide to prepare us.
Hostel of the Sun in Naples is the only famous European hostel that we stayed in.
When we arrived hungry at Fotini's in Athens on April 11 I expected to drop off our bags and go out to eat. Fotini offered me either whole grain or white pasta with either basil or red sauce. I was thrilled! Beginner's luck! It was Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday and most places were closed. Whole wheat of course. And she had oatmeal on the counter. Greek bakeries have great black bread. Fava beans and olives. Eating plant based whole foods in Greece is easy and delicious.
Several times Fotini in Athens asked me why I didn't ask for her advice when trip planning. Rick Steve's guidebook concentrates on a bus trip around the Peloponnesian Penisula and Fotini was adamant that the Peloponnesians are fascists. She's boycotted strawberries for 4 years because they come from the fascist Peloponnesian. Fotini showed us a different and interesting Greek mainland.
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| Fotini, our Communist Airbnb Hostess
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| Rick Steve's Travel Focus is Athens, Hydra, Delphi, Peloponnesian Penisula. |
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| Cyclopean Wall |
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| Epidavros |
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| Treasury of Atreus |
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| Then we met Fotini and added a drive from Athens to Delphi to Volos, the Pelion, Thessaloniki, and Meteora. |
The Caryatids uphold a porch of the Erechtheion, a temple in the Acropolis.
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| The Porch of the Caryatids on the Erechtheum. It is north of the Parthenon in the Acropolis. |
In the museum
The Caryatids are female figures that serve as pillars to buildings. The museum in Athens animates their charm.
We were out until 2 am April 12 in Athens. Athens by night is not the lively party place it used to be before "The Crisis", Fotini grieves. She ordered interesting sea foods for us to try. We did not spend time on regional buses after all. She took us with her car to Volos, the Pelion, Thessalonikki, and Meteora, places that I had not expected to afford.
Fotini took us first to Delphi which I had planned by bus. I admired and coveted the trip on- line but didn't want to deal with a Greek driver. Fotini says Greek taxi drivers overcharge and to demand that the meter is on. A taxi driver charged us €10 when it should be €5. She seethes over her countrymen. Land, language, history and culture are great but the people cheat wherever possible.Rocky windy islands produce traders not farmers.
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| Hadrian's Arch in Athens. |
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| Not Doric or Ionic but Corinthian Columns |
We were struck by the pervasive graffiti and when I told Fotini she rolled her eyes and said how Indo-European languages have yet again hijacked a Greek word, graphos. Not just a word but a huge concept. Great cultures are based upon graphos. Wherein lies graph, graphic, graphite. Whole of literature is created by graphos. Ideas are expressed by "graphos". History moves from oral to written with graphos. Religion and myth are written down. Greek words are foundation words for logic, ethics, math, science, medicine, theology, law, politics, logistics, sports. The Olympics began in Greece. Our body parts were named by Greeks. Sciences ranging from astronomy to archaeology to physics to chemistry were defined by the Greeks.
We were in Greece from April 11-May 1. In 19 days only one day of rain in the Pelion near Volos. The Pelion is the mythical home of Centaurs.
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| Centaur with Graffiti |
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| Grecian women waited for their men to return from the sea so much so that individual families built their own private churches. So many useless buildings out of gratitude for men returned. Greek Orthodox Church is greedy, corrupt and has contributed greatly to their economic crisis. The church owns many houses and buildings that sit idle. Donated unoccupied property wastes away even in the best neighborhoods. Meanwhile homelessness is issue. Property taxes are so great that children are warned. "You better behave or we will leave you the house." |
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| RV Park near Meteora |
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| Meteora means meteor. Monastery, Convent and Church are built on cliff tops. |
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| View from Oia |
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| Lovely young couple enjoying a vacation. |
We actually drank wine on our dramatic rooftop terrace of Marcos Rooms and got drunk with a couple from Texas. We met a couple on our trip to the caldera and invited them to our terrace for sunset. They bought wine. Prejudice is that American travelers (like them) are wealthy Republicans while we are outspoken and unabashed liberals.
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| Boats dock in Fira. But take the bus to Oia and spend at least one night there. The map shows the outline of the caldera nicely. |
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| We had coffee with these Greek folks. |
Rick Steves was explicit; sleep in Oia and not Fira. We flew in and took a public bus around the island of Santorini for $1.50 each. We schlepped our bags over the cobblestones and enjoyed a sunset rated one of the top 10 in the world. We watched the sunset for 3 nights in a row. Marcos Rooms is an Airbnb for $65 per night on an island where a room under $200 is hard to find. Windy and cooler than most islands. In 2010 Brad and Angelina bought a house on Santorini for $8M and have not been back. Why? No one knows.
Akrotiri is an amazing archeological site on Santorini. It is further back in time than Pompeii is from today. It is only 3% excavated. Tour guide Katy designed a genius bus tour that maximized shade and comfort for $35 per person. She grieves that the economic crisis has paused excavation. A throne-type second story toilet may well be the oldest most sophisticated feature of all we saw during our travels.
On the ferry to Hydra a Greek passenger and IT worker Nick Pappadoupoulous took note of us. He asked us about the US and quoted Gore Vidal. The US was an empire that never reached its zenith. In Hail and Farewell: the End of the American Empire Vidal condemns W for his wantonness. Nick tested us out by first asking if we liked Obama. He told us how Greece had been politically centrist until unemployment reached staggering heights in 2008 turning the Greeks left and even hard left. Mothers, wives and daughters joined in voting to support their unemployed men. The Germans say that they are lazy and like Germans of the past they do not recognize their own racism. We met German engineers in Alaska totally indoctrinated in a political narrative that the Greeks are lazy. Corrupt tax evading shipping magnets, various other oligarchs who dominate the media and mining and the huge cost of buying submarines for NATO (from whom else, Germany) and of course managing vast waves of immigrants undermine them. The Greeks only number 11 million. Greece lies at an enormous crossroads of continents. The Greeks are Europe's first line of approach for refugees. They have economic structural problem (like everyone). The failure of Syria, Iraq and unrest in Africa are bad for them before anyone else.
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| Suspicious pharmacist and wife lunched with us during Katy's tour. He was afraid that we were Republicans. Now he and Mike are FB friends. |
On the ferry to Hydra a Greek passenger and IT worker Nick Pappadoupoulous took note of us. He asked us about the US and quoted Gore Vidal. The US was an empire that never reached its zenith. In Hail and Farewell: the End of the American Empire Vidal condemns W for his wantonness. Nick tested us out by first asking if we liked Obama. He told us how Greece had been politically centrist until unemployment reached staggering heights in 2008 turning the Greeks left and even hard left. Mothers, wives and daughters joined in voting to support their unemployed men. The Germans say that they are lazy and like Germans of the past they do not recognize their own racism. We met German engineers in Alaska totally indoctrinated in a political narrative that the Greeks are lazy. Corrupt tax evading shipping magnets, various other oligarchs who dominate the media and mining and the huge cost of buying submarines for NATO (from whom else, Germany) and of course managing vast waves of immigrants undermine them. The Greeks only number 11 million. Greece lies at an enormous crossroads of continents. The Greeks are Europe's first line of approach for refugees. They have economic structural problem (like everyone). The failure of Syria, Iraq and unrest in Africa are bad for them before anyone else.
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| I am backing Greece. Austerity is a crock of crap. |
We took a ferry from Santorini to Mykonos. If Mykonos is good enough for Paris Hilton then it is good enough for me. We toured ruins on neighboring island Delos. Mykonos is much more than a shopping destination for rich kids. Better beaches and less windy than Santorini. I had open days at the end of Greece trip. Fotini figured out that it was almost as cheap and much easier to fly into Santorini and fly out of Mykonos and only ferry from Santorini to Mykonos. What I have learned about ferries is that we don't see much. I booked Mykonos last of every place we stayed (32 rooms) by July 15. We had a beautiful one bedroom with a kitchen.
We flew from Mykonos to Athens on May 1st and then waited 8 hours in airport for flight to Rome. We did not have to leave the airport. Since strikes on May Day are common we were lucky not to need transportation in Athens. We flew from Athens to Rome for $100.
We took trains throughout Italy. We followed Rick Steves' itinerary as follows:
Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Orvieto, Assissi, Sienna, Florence, La Spezia to Verranazza, one of the Cinque Terra. Then Bologna was inserted so Mike toured Ferrari and Maserati. Then Venice. To go from Venice to Austria we had to take a bus and then a train. High speed trains in Italy are fantastic. The speed of the train from Rome to Naples was 200 mph and the ride was smooth as a baby's bottom. We were in Italy from May 1 to May 25. Great weather. Cities relatively uncrowded except Cinque Terra and the weekend in Venice.
We visited Rome for 2 nights and a day like Rick advised. Mike must-see gem in Rome was the Pantheon.
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| The Pantheon in Rome |
Following Rick Steves' itinerary to the letter we went to Naples for only one night primarily to see a fantastic Naples National Museum of Archeology. It is the real deal in archaeology. Greek culture and sculpture is great but the Romans make it all bigger. We stayed in a private room in Hostel of the Sun, one of the best hostels in Europe. I stocked up on groceries in Naples. Explains backpack and front pack. Unlike Greek food Italian cuisine was unsatisfying especially breakfast. White flour baked goods with the least nutritional value constitute the typical Italian breakfast. Whole grain breads were rare not ubiquitous like in Greece. What I really hated to see in Italy were radiation oncology offices. I only want to visit Mike's oncologist in Sedona to gloat about how Mike's PSA is .1 or less.
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| Naples honors 100's of victims of Organized Crime by posting their Images, Names and Age of Death on a building facing a huge city square, the biggest square I ever saw. |
We left Naples with some regret since the hostel was friendly and the city is exciting. But so much was under construction and maybe it will always be under construction. It is hard to know.
We took the local train down the Amalfi Coast to stay with Raquelle in her lovely Airbnb in affordable Piano Di Sorrento, 2 stops away from Sorrento just like Rick suggested. Raquelle served us a local lemon drink and discussed our itinerary. Mike wanted to see the ruins of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Oplontis and not the crater of Vesuvius. Then drive down the Amalfi Coast via bus. (We skipped Capris. Maybe I'll go back and visit Raquelle and Capris in future.)
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| Raquelle's Airbnb has 12 foot ceilings. Breakfast is served with sterling silver. |
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| In Pompeii |
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| Soup Kitchen in Pompeii. Fast food. |
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| Handsome man waiting for a train |
After touring Pompeii for a day we took a day long regional bus ride along the Amalfi Coast
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| In Ravello a Wedding Gown Model on a photo shoot. |
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| The Amalfi Coast is as sophisticated an address as any. |
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| See the switchbacks? |
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Mike asks, "Why are we going to Orvieto?" I forgot why. Too many places to remember. Because Rick said, I answer. Rick said, Go to Orvieto. We took the train from Sorrento back to Rome and onto Orvieto.
Rick selects 1 night stands carefully. When he does it is a choice place.
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| Riding up the Funicular to Orvieto. |
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| View of Italian State of Umbria from Orvieto |
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| Etruscans date to 768 BC. |
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| Old enough to Wow Mike. More to follow. |
