Greek Islands to Athens - Athens, Greece
Athens, Greece
A one hour boat trip and we were on the island of Rhodes, basing ourselves in an apartment in the city of Rhodes (Rodos to the locals). Hostels are almost non existent on the islands but the apartments are good value. The old town of Rhodes has an impressive medieval city wall built by the Knights of St John, who had fled from Jerusalem in 1291 and set themselves up as masters of Rhodes. After a few false starts because of poor information re opening times, we were finally able to walk around the top of the old city wall which in some places is 12 metres thick and surrounded by a huge moat.
The old town has lots of narrow cobbled lanes with stone arches, many covered in beautiful flowering bougainvillea. The Avenue of the Knights is lined with impressive buildings which lead to the Palace of the Grand Master. Several of the buildings were inns for the knights of various countries and the French Inn is now the French consulate. The Palace of the Grand Master had fallen in to dis-repair in the 19th century but was restored to be a holiday home for Mussolini, although he never got to use it. We hired a car for one day to drive down the island to Lindos, once the most important ancient city on the island.
The acropolis is perched on a high rocky outcrop overlooking two harbours and is very impressive even in its ruins. We arrived soon after opening time but were disappointed to find six tour bus loads ahead of us! However, on leaving we counted more than thirty buses in the park, so guess we didn't do so badly after all. The acropolis overlooks the town of Lindos and the town looks so good because every spring the houses are whitewashed. There were dozens of donkeys ferrying tourists up and down the cobbled path to the acropolis, but the rest of us who walked had heads down to avoid the donkey poo! We did stop on the way at one of the many beaches, with deck chairs side by side, but it wasn't tempting enough for a swim. From here we headed to the other side of the island to see the ancient ruins of Kamiros, the third of the three ancient Rhodes island cities. There has been a settlement here for thousands of years, and though ruins were not as impressive, the hillside setting looking out to sea was beautiful. We were lucky to see any sites on Rhodes, because the day after we had the car everything was going to be closed for two days in protest at Government action to reduce staff numbers at historic sites and museums. From Rhodes we took an overnight ferry to Crete, arriving at the small north eastern town of Sitia in time for breakfast on the waterfront. This is a quiet sleepy town with a lovely harbour surrounded by mountains. Had booked a rental car but found it to be a soft top that couldn't be locked and were very lucky to get another as every other rental car in the town was out on hire. Ended up with a Peugeot 107 that used so little petrol we thought it had a faulty gauge! Over the next four days we drove from one end of the island to the other and criss-crossed it several times, all on one tank of gas. The first day we drove over one of the most winding, narrowest, precipitous roads ever, but saw some interesting isolated hill villages along the way. At one stage the road became so narrow and rough we thought we must have turned down a private road by mistake, so reversed back 100 metres, only to find we were definitely on the "main" road! Stopped for lunch at one of the small villages and managed to order a Greek salad, tzatziki, (yoghurt, cucumber, garlic & olive oil dip) bread and tea - not a bad effort considering there was no menu and they spoke no English. A huge range of rugged mountains run from east to west along most of the island, with olive groves growing up into the foothills. Olives and grapes are the main crops, with a few areas of citrus.
High up in the centre of Crete is the Lasithi Plateau, which is 900m above sea level and surrounded by mountains. It is a huge expanse of crops and orchards with the remnants of old windmills used as pumps for irrigation - now replaced by mechanical pumps. Continued west to the city of Hania, which had an interesting old town and Venetian port. It was a good base for doing a hike in the Samaria Gorge. We took a local bus to the head of the gorge, where our hike started with a long steep descent from about 1200 metres through ancient cypress and pine forest. At its narrowest the Samaria "gate" is just 4 metres wide and the cliffs rise to almost 300 metres.
The cliffs were spectacular with different coloured strata and several sections threatening to break off. Our 16km walk ended at the fishing village of Agia Roumeli where we waited for a ferry as there was no road access to this village. There was a strong wind blowing and when the ferry finally docked it was a mad dash to board through the bow, but still got wet from breaking sea spray. The ferry made one stop at Loutro, another isolated coastal village with no road access, then it was on to Chora Sfakion to connect with a bus back to Hania - a great 14 hour day. During WWII, Crete was invaded by German paratroopers, and after a desperate battle, Germany gained control and the allies were evacuated. However, both sides suffered many casualties, and we visited the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Souda Bay. This site overlooked the bay, was beautifully cared for, and we remarked upon the older ages of the known dead buried there (many graves are unidentified), compared with the younger ages of ANZACS buried at Gallipoli. Nearly 500 Kiwi soldiers are buried here. We stopped at numerous small rural villages and seaside towns, with Agios Nikolaos being a picture perfect town on the northeast coast. Small fishing boats were anchored in a sheltered "lake" that was connected to the harbour by a short canal. The area around the lake and harbour was lined with restaurants and bars, and we wondered, not for the first time, how they all managed to make a living, as none were overly full, despite tourists thronging the waterfront. Our last night on Crete was spent in Iraklio, Crete's capital, as we were departing from this port next morning. When it came time to catch the ferry to Santorini, we drove our rental car to the port where the drop off was a breeze. The "driver" was waiting for us and all we had to do was grab our bags and walk a few metres to the ferry. We arrived in Santorini a couple of hours later, and it was an awe inspiring sight. We hadn't appreciated the fact that Santorini is a volcano, and still considered active, but currently dormant. The cliffs above the port rise up steeply and a road snakes its way up to the caldera rim some 250 metres above. The cliffs have many layers from earlier eruptions, some parts dark red, changing to a light gray ash on top. We stayed in the small village of Karterados, just 15 minutes walk from the main town of Fira. In 1956, a large earthquake devastated the place. It killed scores of residents and destroyed the towns of Fira and Oia. Decided on a different mode of transport here and hired a 4 wheeler for the day. It enabled us to get around the entire island, stopping off at several beaches and picturesque towns, one of the most spectacular being Oia in the north.
The hilltop villages cling to the volcanic rock and cascade down multiple levels, with tiny connecting lanes running through them. Most of the buildings are whitewashed, with bright blue domes of the orthodox churches dotted throughout. Sanatorini's beaches are black volcanic sand, apart from Red Beach, changing to smooth lava underwater. This is a very popular destination for cruise ships, and there were 5 of them anchored in the bay below the cliffs. For our last night on Santorini, we treated ourselves to dinner in a restaurant overlooking the caldera, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. After a relaxing four days here we moved on to Paros Island. Paros was so much nicer than expected we stayed a day longer than planned. It is much quieter and more laid back than the other islands, with lovely sandy beaches. The locals were also very friendly. We found a perfect cheap apartment metres from a nice beach and just ten minutes walk from Parikia town. In days of old, pure white marble was quarried on the island and used for several famous Greek sculptures. There must still be a lot of marble around, because many pavements are paved in marble - even our room had a marble floor. Hired a scooter for a day to see the rest of the island - only about 60kms round trip.
Stopped off at several villages along the way, some being small fishing villages and others inland. The fishing village of Naoussa was our favourite - quaint and picturesque. Stopped at one of the many beaches for a swim and had a beer in a taverna built over the water. The rest of our time here was spent doing the odd walk, exploring the old town, reading and swimming. Each morning we walked along the beach for our fresh baguette from the local baker and that was usually our breakfast and lunch. A tough life!! After Paros we had a five hour ferry trip to Piraeus, then the metro into Athens. A bit of a shock to be back in a big city, but having spent several weeks in mainland Greece years ago, we only stopped here for two nights. It was much easier to find our way around this time as most street names are now in both Greek and English, and of course there is always the Acropolis to use as a landmark.
Decided not to revisit the Acropolis, mainly because we could see a number of cranes and scaffolding on the top and felt it wouldn't look as good as when we last saw it. Had a wander around some the the ruins near the Plaka district and climbed Ardittos Hill/Park which overlooked the old Olympic stadium where the first games of the modern era were held. Wasn't easy finding a way into this park because all the gates were locked, but some friendly locals already inside at the top showed us a wide gap in the fence we could climb through. After a nice walk we ended up at the bottom of the hill with no way out, until another local walking her dog pointed us in the direction of the park fence where there was only one place wide enough to squeeze through! Having escaped through the park bars we headed back to the old area of Athens below the Acropolis to see the Theatre of Dionyssos and Theatre of Herodes Atticus. The former was mostly in ruins but Herodes Atticus is well preserved and is the main venue for the Athens festival that runs from May to October. There is a lot of graffiti to be seen around Athens, much of it being artistic, but there is also a lot of straight graffiti. We head to Patras by train tomorrow morning and hope to arrive in time to catch a ferry bound for Italy.