9 posts tagged “greece”

I saw another restaurant with Grass Hill on the menu, perhaps that was the veggie option.

Clive Owen's name doesn't quite have the same showbiz pizazz when translated into Greek. (Slightly curious as to why the film title was left in English)

And finally the place all straight men dream of staying (it's in Kalambaka boys):

In my humble opinion, these are the pics from Greece I'm most proud of:

...because it's a man walking his goats!!!

For this one I had to stretch the zoom to max as I wasn't appropriately attired to enter the monastery...

It wasn't all old stuff on holiday, there is an abundance of graffiti and while most of it isn't going to get Banksy worried there were some interesting pieces...

Yiasus. So I have returned from blue skies, alfresco dining and cheap wine to cold, pissing rain and buggered up Sainsbury's online orders but, still, I have my photo's to keep me warm. The whole collection is at Flickr (there are loads but it was quite a photogenic holiday).
Think I'm going to pull together some themed-groups over the next few days but for starters here are the World Heritage Sites we visited which tallied a whopping eight in the end (really like that sightseeing).
First off was Delphi, home an oracle and like the Switzerland of Ancient Greece. It's built right up in the most beautiful mountains and you can see the sea in the distance.

Next was Meteora which has the most strange but stunning rock formations and then, for extra tourist appeal, over the years monks and nuns set up monasteries on top of them as a safe haven. Originally rope ladders and pulleys would have been used to reach them. Some still use such a system for deliveries and decrepit religious visitors.
Unsurprisingly the area is also quite a draw for climbers and Bond film crews.
The Greece 2008 tour then headed onto the Peloponnese. Ancient Olympia first, to peruse the place it all started and of course it was all done in the nuddy back then.
The site is far bigger than this picture shows with remains of temples, hotels and buildings for the officials but this is the competitors entrance to the stadium which still has its original starting line for the races - in marble, naturally. I like to think they had a sign in the tunnel that said: 'This is Olympia' that all the athletes touched just before running out into the stadium. Cheats were fined and the money used to make bronze statues of Zeus which lined the route into the stadium, the cheaters name and misdemeanor were carved into the base.
Driving high up into the moutains outside Olympia there is the Temple of Vasses which is in pretty good shape for its age. Its location would have given it the most commanding presence for miles around. Sadly it is now shrouded in a tent primarily to protect it from the harsh seasonal elements while it is restored but it could be permanent. There is still a massive wow-factor though as you walk through the gap in the canvas and first see it.
 
Moving away from classical Greece, Mystras, our next stop was a byzantine town built on a steep, knackering, mountain slope. A few buildings and a lot of the original streets and steps are intact but a lot is now in ruins. The only remaining inhabitants are some nuns but the whole place has a Tintagel-esque, mystery, magical feel. You could spend hours exploring and I loved it.
Our fifth Worth Heritage Site was Monemvasia. Think of Mont St Michel in France or St Michael's Mount in England and you get the idea: Rocky island with an ancient town built into it. Originally it was connected to the mainland but an earthquake separated it. There is now a causeway but once at the city wall no motor vehicles have access. (Something I should have planned for, I thought, when hauling my two-weeks worth of luggage over the cobbled streets to our hotel.)
The upper town is pretty much in ruins apart from a church but the lower town is very much inhabited. Its narrow cobble streets linked by steep steps create a maze like terrain but nonetheless everywhere seems to have the most amazing view of the sea and mainland.

Two more to go. Epidavros which is the the world most well preserved ancient theatre and still hosts live performances. The acoustics are quite incredible, you can hear a coin being dropped on the marble slab in the centre of the stage from the back row, as demonstrated by the stream of tour guides. Unfortunately some tourists with far less talent than gall like to test the acoustics in their own way.
And finally for all those that have got this far, what has to be the most well known, the Acropolis in Athens. Breathtaking it is despite being rammed with tourists and in particular, apologies to my neighbours here as no offence is intended, drawly-accented Americans. (Do Greek-American's all inhabit the worst part of the US for nasally, whiny accents or something?).

 

Yep, our little tour of Greece is on its last stop in Athens and what a bonkers city it is, I love and hate it with equal measure.

We've racked up seven world heritage sites, staying the night in one, culminating in the Acropolis this morning which is a wonder to behold. Pics coming soon.

Some more observations about Greece though:

* There are a 1001 different ways of getting cheese into a meal and the Greeks have discovered each and every one of them

* Wine is v. v. cheap even with the crap Euro/Pound exchange rate and you can order it by the kilo in some restaurants (I kid you not and no I haven't tried)

* Mobile phone etiquette doesn't exist: any time, any place, anywhere, as loudly as possibly and with the most ridiculous ring tone

* All the young people live in the cities

* Greek waiters coined the phrase "looking but not seeing"

* Salads will always arrive first regardless of what you have ordered

And some observations about the roads:

* The rules of the road: there are no rules (unless there is a copper about which is extremely rare)

* There are two speeds of travelling: OAP-barely-see-over-steering-wheel and nutter

* There are bold over-taking manouevres and Greek over-taking manouevres

* Helmets are for decorations ie dangling off the arm otherwise don't waste your money

* Parking can be anywhere, preferably blocking someone in or creating a massive bottle-neck on a busy road

* Pedestrianised - schmestrianised, pavements are just another parking place if you are in a car or, part of the road if you are a scooter.

* Horns are to be used to greet friends and acquaintances or if being held up by a nano-second

* No one has a bloody clue how to use a round about

* Cycling: I wouldn't

London is going to seem sane but I am going to miss it terribly when we fly home on sunday.

Well that's how quickly this holiday feels like it is going. I'm here in Ancient Olympia, well actually its a modern hotel near Ancient Olympia but it's close enough, and I've finally given in to the lure of the internet (it's free here!).
I'll keep this short because Mosh is bound to come tapping on my shoulder soon.  Initial observations: Greek people are very friendly and completely bonkers on the roads. Double white lines are merely a guidance to masculinity when driving rather than an indicator that it is unsafe to overtake.
There has been a bit of a petrol crisis - a strike meant that virtually all petrol stations ran dry which caused a bit of alarm for a couple of days when you are depending on the car to get around. It has been a real eye-opener as to what could realistically happen in years to come.
Greek Orthodox monostaries like to depict gory scenes of how saints earnt their sainthoods on the walls and put in words what they couldn't draw.
The toilets in nunneries are a lot cleaner than those in monasteries.
I swear I saw Scarlett Johansson with her mum looking around the Sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi.
And I'll leave it at that for now.
Will be pictures to come when I get back in just over a week (non of Scarlett unfortunately) - bought a 2 gagillabite memory card so I'm snap, snap, snapping away....

Been planning to upgrade my digital compact for a while. Mosh bought me the little Pentax Optio SV about four years ago and it's been brilliant but technology has moved on and, most importantly, so have shutter speeds.

My only real gripes about the SV were the terrible shutter lag which made taking shots of moving objects very tricky if nigh on impossible and the small viewing screen which made it difficult to see the picture, particularly in bright weather.
Anyway Mosh hinted that he might get me a new one for my birthday which would be just in time for our holiday. As I'm familiar with the Pentax and have all the batteries and memory cards that go with it, it made sense to get another, so now I have a shiny new Optio A40.
Haven't really had a chance to play with it much yet as it's only a few days old but I am already impressed with the improvement in the shutter speed and have discovered one or two new little functions that the old model didn't have for example the soft flash:

With full-on flash (left) and soft flash (right) which I think gives the subject a more natural look.

(Model: AKA Vasquez; cocktail: Camilla Parker Bowells at the Hard Days Night Hotel Liverpool; jacket: Model's own.)

The A40 also has a staggering 12 mega pixel capacity which is way more than I need but nice to have for those one off detailed shots. I remember when Mosh got me the older model which is 5 MP and he said then that was way more than I needed. Technology doesn't half move fast.
So we are off to Greece at the crack of sparrow tomorrow. All the guide books say how photogenic Greece is so I'm hoping to put my new toy through it's paces and you never know I may actually have learnt how to use one or two more functions on it by the end of the fortnight (or Mosh will have worked them out for me, hopefully)

We're off to Greece for two weeks next month which I'm really excited about. Have never been before and needless to say it is definitely a cultural trip not a beach holiday in some over-developed lager-lout resort.
We are flying in and out of Athens and Mosh has organised the itinerary which will see us visiting lots of beautiful and historic places such as Delphi and Olympia. We finish with three nights in Athens which is my birthday present to Mosh.
Mosh studied Greek as part of a classics degree so he's in charge of communing with the locals and telling entertaining Greek myths and legends over a glass of something cold in the evening.
My task is booking all the hotels so I'm spending rather a lot of time on the internet and leafing through the Lonely Planet at the moment.  Good ol' LP don't know what I'd do without it. Count down begins.
 

Finally headed into town at the weekend to make the most of some of London's fine cultural institions. Mosh wanted to see an exhibition of London maps through the ages at the British Library but when we got there the queue was an hour and a half long and even he thought that was a too long a wait to see some old stuff.
After a quick mooch around the book shop we decided to walk over to the British Museum. It is actually only 10 minutes walk from my office but in the two and a half years I've been based there I'm ashamed to admit I've never made a lunch time or after work visit.
It is the first time I've seen the Great Court, which was all the more stunning

for having the sun shining through the panes.
We had a wander through the Egypt room. There is something very regal and timeless about the statues. We couldn't get very near to the Rosetta Stone to have a proper look as it was mobbed, so Mosh, who has an amazing memory for historical information, acted as curator.
Then we headed to the Persia halls to see some of the exhibits from Turkey, inspired by our visit to the country last year. There was nothing on the grand scale of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin but still worth a look.

We finished our brief tour at the exhibition of the controversy-shrouded Elgin Marbles. I can understand why Greece would want them back but then I'm sure that there are one or two artifacts held in Greece which don't really belong. In a similar vein, the Turkish want the Pergamon Alter back from Berlin but we couldn't help but notice on our holiday, the Egyptian and Middle Eastern artifacts that are on display.

We finished up with a browse around the excellent book shop and a quick look in the reading room. Most of the books have now been moved into British Library but there is still something very impressive and learned, and Harry Potter-esque about this huge round room.

Our afternoon was finished we a cuppa and some chocolate and the walk across Covent Garden to catch the bus home.

Really must do more of this.