G6
GREEK ISLANDS
4.15-26 (12 days) $1800
4.15-26 (12 days) $1800
After arriving on April 15, we'll have a day in Athens and then take
the overnight ferry to Iraklion in Crete. We'll spend two days
and one night in Crete, visiting the Minoan Museum in Iraklion, the
Minoan palaces at Knossos and Festos, and the village Drosia on Mt
Ida. Our next two days will be spent on Hydra, an idyllic small
island only 90 minutes by hydrofoil from Athens; Hydra is an
architectural national monument and no motorized vehicles are allowed
there. Then we'll go for four days to Skopelos, the most
beautiful of all Greek islands, with a day trip to the nearby island of
Alonnisos.
APRIL 15 Arrive Athens
If you’re coming to Greece from the US, you will have left the day before. The time difference between the two countries is 7 to 10 hours; if it’s 8 am in California (and 11 am in Toronto), it’s 6 pm the same day in Greece. The new airport of Athens is attractive and efficient, and easy to navigate. It’s a good idea to change some money in the banks at the airport; unlike some countries, banks at the airport and everywhere in Greece have approximately the same rate of exchange, which is always better than the rate outside Greece. After coming out the front door of the airport, you’ll see a line of taxis, and a corresponding line of people waiting for taxis. Take a taxi from the taxi stand to the HOTEL AUSTRIA, 7 MOUSON STREET, AKROPOLIS - FILOPAPPOU (telephone 923-5151). When you arrive at the hotel, tell the driver to wait while you go inside. Tell the desk clerk at the hotel you’re with Dick, and he’ll make sure you pay the right amount for the taxi (it should be around 25-35 euros) .
You or I can be contacted anytime at this Athens telephone number: 011-30-210-923-5151 (Hotel Austria). The FAX number is 011-30-210-924-7350. Dial all 15 digits from North America, only the last ten in Athens. If anyone might want to contact you, tell them to use these numbers and we will be notified immediately, wherever we are. Be sure that you, or whoever is calling, mention the name “Dick,” so as to be identified properly. I do not include numbers of all our hotels, since at most of them the desk clerks do not speak English (anyone calling probably would not be able to leave a message).
We'll meet in the hotel lobby around 7:30 PM to go out to dinner at a local restaurant.
View from the Austria Hotel, Athens
Today we'll visit the Akropolis and Agora. In the evening we'll take the overnight ferry to Crete.
We’ll meet in the hotel lobby for a brief discussion about Athens and the Akropolis, then take a 10-minute walk to the Akropolis entrance. On our way we’ll pass the restored Theater of Herodes Atticus (the Herodion), originally built in the 2nd century AD and still used for musical and theatrical events during the annual Athens Festival (June-September).
Excavations have shown that the Akropolis itself was inhabited as early as 5000 BC and in use continually through the Helladic (2800-1800) and Mycenean (1800-1100) periods. No remains save pottery survive from the Dark Age (1100-800), but during the Archaic period (800-500) several temples and other structures were built, all of which were destroyed during the sack of Athens by a Persian invasion in 480; the remains of these archaic buildings are housed in the Akropolis Museum. During the second half of the 5th century all the structures still to be seen on the Akropolis were built, first the Parthenon (447-438), then the Propylaia (437-432), the temple of Athena Nike (427-424), and the Erechtheion (completed around 395).
We enter through the Propylaia, the entrance gate on the west end of the hill; the little temple on the south-west corner is the Athena Nike, restored most recently in 1936-40. Proceeding along the north side of the Parthenon, the Erechtheion is on the left and may be visited first; closed off for restoration for many years, it was opened in 1989 and we can now walk entirely around it. It is a composite structure which was used for several cults. principally those of Athena, Poseidon, and Erechtheus (son of Erichthonios, a mythical half-serpent half-man king of Athens). The south portico is the famous Karyatid Porch: the Karyatids are the six columns in the shape of women. The columns in place are all replicas, one original having been removed by Lord Elgin and the other five kept in the Akropolis Museum.
Returning to the Parthenon, the north-east corner provides a good vantage to observe certain famous architectural refinements. The spaces between columns are not all the same, the corner columns are a bit thicker than the others, horizontal lines are curved and vertical lines are inclined. If you sight along the top step of the foundation, you will see the slight bulge of the center, which is repeated in the architrave above. All these innovations give the building an appearance of regularity and vertical lift from a distance (and it was from a distance, after all. that most people in antiquity viewed the Parthenon).
“Parthenon” means ‘virgin” and the temple was dedicated to the virgin goddess Athena, the patroness of Athens. The sculptures on the east pediment represented the birth of Athena (who leapt in full armor from the head of her father Zeus). The scene on the west pediment was the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica. The metopes had scenes found on many classical temples: the war between the Centaurs and Lapiths, the war between the Giants and the Gods. and the war between Athens and the Amazons. The frieze along the outer wall of the inner temple represented the procession of the Greater Panathenaia festival. Much of the frieze, along with some metopes and pedimental sculptures, was removed by Lord Elgin in 1801 and is now in the British Museum (the “Elgin Marbles”).
The chief architects of the Parthenon were Iktinos and Kallikrates, and overall supervisor of the project was the famous sculptor Pheidias, who created the gold and ivory statue of Athena almost 40 feet high.
Although converted into a Christian basilica and, later. into a Moslem mosque, the Parthenon remained largely intact until 26 September 1687, when a mortar shot set off an explosion in the building, which was being used by the Turks as a gunpowder and munitions storehouse.
Just east of the Parthenon and below ground level is the Museum. Going though it clockwise, the north and back halls contain remains of pre-classical structures and the south halls contain artifacts from the Parthenon and Erechtheion. Specially interesting are the pedimental fragments from 6th century temples (the emphasis on serpentine shapes reflects the importance of snake-men in the mythical history of Athens), the Moschophoros (an early 6th century statue of a man carrying a calf), the Korai (archaic statues of maidens; the most famous is the Peplos Kore), the Kritias Boy (around 480, one of the earliest examples of the Classical style), and the few fragments from the Parthenon pediment not destroyed or carried off. The last two rooms contain what is left in Greece from the friezes of the Parthenon, Erechtheion, and Nike temple, and four of the original Karyatid columns.
From the wall along the north side of the Akropolis you have a good view of modern Athens, as well as the ancient Agora, the Roman forum, the National Cathedral, and the Parliament building on Syntagma Square. From the lookout point on the east end you can see the National Garden, the Stadium where the 1896 Olympics were held, and the huge Roman temple of Jupiter (2nd century AD). The south wall looks down on the theater of Dionysos (where the dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes were performed) and the Roman theater of Herodes Atticus.
The Akropolis entrance is just a few yards from the Areopagos, a small hill just northwest of the Akropolis. Here, according to myth, the first jury trial was held, the trial of Orestes for the murder of his mother Klytemnestra; when the jury of 12 Athenian citizens voted 6 for acquittal, 6 to convict, Athena cast the deciding vote for acquittal and established the principle that an evenly split jury must decide for the defendant. During historical times the hill was the meeting place first for the aristocratic council of elders and later for the most serious trials (treason and homicide). In 51 AD St. Paul delivered here his sermon on the “Unknown God,” a copy of which is inscribed on a bronze plaque beside the stairs leading up the hill.
From the Areopagos we’ll walk down the hill to the Agora, the social and civic center of ancient Athens. In use throughout antiquity, the Agora was gradually covered over by newer dwellings, so that in 1931 when the American School of Classical Studies began systematic excavations, the only visible ancient building was the Doric temple at the northwest corner (the “Theseion”). We’ll begin by going through the Agora Museum, contained in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos; originally built by King Attalos II of Pergamum (159-138 BC), the stoa was rebuilt in 1953-56 thanks to contributions by private American donors. The museum, which contains some 180,000 objects (not all on display), offers a unique perspective on Athenian history from Neolithic times through the Roman period. It is arranged chronologically, in a single long hall beginning with pre-Bronze Age finds and objects from the many Mycenean burials in the area and proceeding through historical times (each century takes up about 20 feet). Almost all the objects are very well described on labels by the American excavators, but I’ll mention a few of special interest: in the middle of the hall, on the left, are a klepsydra (water clock) used to limit the times of orators’ speeches, a kleroterion (lottery machine) used to select public officials (the radical democracy of 5th century Athens believed all citizens were equally capable of fulfilling official duties), a large bronze shield captured from the Spartans in 425 b.c., and a terracotta potty chair; opposite these are a beautiful selection of black-figure and red-figure vases and an entire case of ostraka (broken pieces of pottery used in banishment elections). Ostracism was practiced in Athens from 487 to 417 BC: every year the Assembly voted on whether or not to hold an ostracism; if they held one, each citizen wrote on a sherd the name of the person he wanted to be exiled; if over 6000 votes were cast, the person with the most votes had to leave town for 10 years; in general, the most popular and successful public leaders were selected for ostracism.
Because the Agora was in use for so long and so much rebuilding took place, there is now very little to see of the earlier structures. Walking across the north side of the Agora from the museum to the Theseion temple, we pass by three colossal statues of a Giant and two Tritons; these were the porch columns of a huge music hall, the Odeion of Agrippa (Emperor Augustus’ son-in-law). Next we see a large altar, perhaps the altarof Zeus Agoraios (Zeus of the Agora) and a headless statue of the Emperor Hadrian. Along the west side of the Agora, below the Theseion. are the government buildings, a Bouleuterion (Council Chamber) and a Tholos (the name given to any circular temple or building) where the 50 Council members in session (Prytaneis) dined and where a third of them stayed 24 hours a day for a month (the 5th century Council had 500 members but only 50 of them were in session each of the 10 months).
The Theseion (Temple of Theseus) is wrongly named: the building is actually a temple of Hephaistos. the god of fire and metallurgy, and should be called the Hephaisteion. It is the best preserved Doric temple in existence. Fighting centaurs appear on the west pediment, which may have portrayed the battle between the Centaurs and Lapiths.
Athens, Agora: Temple of Hephaistos
It will be lunch time when we leave the Agora; after lunch in the Plaka (the “Old Town” of Athens), we’ll walk around the area, visiting Syntagma Square and the Parliament building, in front of which the Changing of the Guard occurs every hour on the hour. The rest of the day is free.
This evening we'll take one of the luxury Minoan Line Ferries to Iraklion, the largest city in Crete; we'll have First Class cabins as nice as any cruise ship.
April 17 Iraklion
This morning we’ll go for a walk around Iraklion; particularly interesting is the open market. At the end of our walk we’ll arrive at the Minoan Museum, which houses the most important finds from Knossos and other Minoan sites.
The museum is very easy to navigate. It’s arranged chronologically; you walk up the right-hand set of rooms, then back the left-hand rooms, then upstairs to the frescoes, then downstairs to an annex of post-Minoan Greek and Roman objects. Since the best Minoan art is miniature (some of it can only be seen through a magnifying lens), I would like to compel you to look at everything in detail. Therefore, instead of giving you the location of the most important objects, I will give you an assignment, to find the following: 1) the House Mosaic; 2) the Snake Goddesses; 3) the Phaistos Disc; 4) the double bee pendant (on the entrance ticket); 5) signet seals showing 2 rabbits dueling and a mouse sitting on a stool; 6) any evidence that the Minoans knew the wheel; 7) a boar’s tooth helmet; 8) Linear A and Linear B tablets; 9) Kamares pottery; 10) the Hagia Triada Sarcophagus.
Knossos: the "Queen's Chambers"
Late afternoon (when it’s cooler and less crowded) we’ll go by public bus (about 10 minutes) to the so-called Palace of Minos at Knossos, just south of Iraklion. This was the largest and most important of the Minoan palaces in Crete, and has been partially reconstructed, chiefly by the original excavator, Sir Arthur Evans. The name “Minoan,” derived from the mythical king Minos, was used by Evans to designate the Bronze Age civilization of Crete (3000-1000 b.c.).
Although Knossos was inhabited far back into Neolithic times, the first palaces were built around 2200 b.c. The Minoan civilization was extremely advanced, the first “high culture” in Europe, and rivalled the contemporary cultures of Babylon and Egypt. Sometime around 1750 (or earlier) the first palaces were destroyed, perhaps by earthquake, and new palaces (the “Second Palaces”) were built; these in turn were destroyed during the first half of the 15th century (or more than a century earlier, if the destruction resulted from the volcanic eruptions at Santorini). The best Minoan pottery (especially Kamares Ware, beautifully-shaped polychrome cups and vases with eggshell-thin walls) was made during the First Palace period, while the best jewelry, engravings, and frescoes are from the Second Palace period. The Minoans also had writing systems, both hieroglyphic and linear (“Linear A”), but these have not yet been deciphered. Later Linear A was adapted by the Myceneans to write Greek; this script, called Linear B, is a syllabary (each symbol represents a syllable) and has been found on more than 4000 tablets from mainland Greece and Crete.
There are two important things to keep in mind as you walk through the ruins: (I) at least 75% of what you see has been reconstructed, much of it to conform with Evans’ theories of Minoan history, and these theories have recently come under heavy criticism; (2) the Minoans were not Greek, although they greatly influenced the first Greeks (the Myceneans) in art and architecture; their impact on historical Greece seems to have consisted mostly of certain religious traditions and practices (e.g., the Eleusinian religion).
We enter (after running a gauntlet of tour guides) near two large round holes, perhaps cisterns. The main entrances were at the north and south ends, and led into the central court: on the east and west sides of the court were complexes of rooms and apartments, several stories high, ventilated and lit by light wells. At the northwest corner of the court is a throne room with nice griffin frescoes (restored); on the floor above, around a light well, are replicas of many of the frescoes found at Knossos (the originals are in the Iraklion Museum). All along the west side are storehouses; in the southwest corner, at the end of a processional corridor, are a propylaion and great staircase. On the east side of the court is another staircase, called by Evans the “Grand Staircase,” because he thought it led to the royal living quarters; this staircase leads down through three levels around a light well into a maze of rooms, one of which is called the Throne Room and another the Queen’s Bedroom. Outside these rooms, alongside a narrow stairs, is a storehouse of giant pithoi, 6-foot high storage vases; beneath a metal grill nearby is a good example of the terra cotta plumbing which brought running water to the palace; in the room of the Medallion Vases a small section of floor is cut away around a column base. Northwest of the palace is a paved road, perhaps the oldest in Europe, which widens as it ends at shallow stairs leading to the north entrance.
Knossos: Bull-Leaping Fresco
Tonight we’ll eat at an ouzeri on the harbor.
APRIL 18
Today we’ll go by bus to
Faistos, an important Minoan palace on the Messara plain in southern
Crete.
Faistos: the Megaron
On the way to Faistos we’ll stop at the archaeological site of Gortyna, where the famous archaic Law Code of Gortyna was found. Then we’ll continue to Faistos, a palace almost as large as that at Knossos. Built at the same time as Knossos, but more carefully and with better material, Faistos is our example of an unrestored Minoan palace.
From Faistos we'll drive north for a late lunch at Drosia, in a verdant mountain valley, where all the residents have the same last name and the food is unique.
Tonight we'll return to Athens.
APRIL 19 Hydra
This morning we'll go to the hydrofoil port in Peiraeus and take the 90-minute hydrofoil to Hydra in the Saronic Gulf. Home of many artists and sophisticated expatriates. Hydra is a national architectural monument. Unlike many of the Greek islands, development on Hydra is strictly regulated. All motorized vehicles (except for the garbage truck) are prohibited. and hotels must retain the appearance of the structures (e.g., a sponge factory) from which they were built. Aside from the two hours each day when the cruise ships dock, Hydra is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the world.
Harbor, Hydra
APRIL 20 Hydra
Another day in
paradise. This evening we'll return to Athens.
This morning we'll go up the coast about 2 hours to Agios Konstantinos, where we'll catch the hydrofoil or jet ferry to Skopelos (about 2.5 hours).
View of the Prince
Stafilos in Skopelos
Like the other Sporades Islands, Skopelos is mountainous and pine-covered, with dozens of marvelous beaches and picturesque coves and villages. It’s visited during the summer by many knowledgeable tourists from around the world, but fortunately it has no airport and hasn’t yet been ruined by mass tourism. It’s a big island, about 40 miles long and from 3 to 12 miles wide. A single paved road runs from Glossa, an elevated village on the west coast, to the main town of Skopelos. Situated in a circular harbor surrounded by mountains, the town rises steeply above the water like a huge layer cake. The bottom layer is the waterfront, a half-mile of restaurants, shops, and cafes almost hidden by the green of mulberry and plane trees, while above it layers of whitewashed houses with red tile roofs and brightly painted shutters seem to be piled on top of one another.
What is there to do in Skopelos? One could easily spend two days just exploring the town; the people are friendly and the view around every corner of the narrow lanes is wonderful; when you get tired of walking, have a seat at one of the waterfront cafes and watch the boats or chat with the people at the next table. If you want to see other parts of the island, rent a car or motor scooter (it's easy and inexpensive) or take the bus or a taxi; both taxis and buses leave from the waterfront, and the bus schedule is on an attached sign. About two and a half miles from town (a pleasant and not difficult walk) is Staphylos. the best-known beach; it’s named for a mythical prince of Crete who supposedly colonized Skopelos during the Bronze Age. Another two and a half miles along the truly breathtaking scenery of the southern coast brings you to Agnondas, a quaint village with a few houses and three seafood restaurants. Or, if you want to see the whole island, take the bus all the way to Glossa and back. It's also easy and inexpensive to rent cars and mopeds.
Skopelos is the home of Kostas and Voula Kalafatis, my Greek friends (they help me with my arrangements while I am in America). If you want information, help, or just friendly conversation and a cup of coffee (or something stronger), go to their shop on the waterfront.
One day during our stay in Skopelos we'll take a day trip to the nearby island Alonnisos, only a half-hour away by hydrofoil. Alonnisos is green and beautiful, smaller and quieter than Skopelos, and is the center of the
Patiri, harbor of Alonnisos
APRIL 25 Athens
Today we'll go by ferry to Agios Konstantinos on the mainland, where our bus will meet us for the 2-hour drive back to Athens.
APRIL 26 Departure