January 6, 2011

8 countries in 8 days and we’re still standing – wahoo!

Docked this morning in Pireus, Greece – the ancient and original port area of Athens. Pireus was built in 500 BC but most of it has been rebuilt within the last century due to destruction that happened during WWII.

We stood on the top deck to experience our arrival through the islands that lead the way to the port and were greeted by the ringing of church bells in celebration of another special day….January 6th….the day that Christ was baptized according to the Orthodox faith. It is interesting to note that in Mexico, Jan 6th is Kings Day and the day that the 3 Kings (wise men) bring presents to all the kids. In Italy it is Befana, when the old woman rides on her broom to bring gifts to all the children and now in Greece…it is the day that Jesus was baptized and from what we were able to glean….it is a special holiday and there are gifts for the kids here too.

We learned that in Greece you say Yashu for Hello and Efharisto for Thank you so we were set to go!

We were on a tour today….Scenic Athens and the Acropolis and at the start of our tour the people in the back of the bus were saying, “turn up your mic….we can’t hear you” and at the end of the tour people were saying “we can hear you….turn down your mic”. Yes…..it was a disappointment to say the least BUT….never fear…..there is a story somewhere in there I’m sure…..

We did learn a few things on the tour though and were able to enjoy some of the sights of Athens from our bus. A tour bus is no Jesus (Mexico), Sylvano (Italy), or Rafael (Spain) though so some of our photos are blurry from being taken through the bus window.

On the upside….decorative orange/tangerine trees lined the city streets, there were taxis everywhere (it looked a lot like New York city on that front), there are buildings upon buildings-the density is so high, and there are statues or ancient ruins on every other corner.

As we left the port of Pireus where our ship was docked and rounded the corner to another port that was named for Zeus. This one was in the Agean Sea though so here we are within minutes of floating in the Mediterranean Sea and now we’re looking out at the Agean….we are very lucky! As it was January 6th there were many young boys lining the beach near this port waiting for church to get out and for the priest to throw a cross into the Sea. The boys would then all dive into the water and search for the cross hoping to be the first to find it as they would then enjoy a day of great luck and good fortune.

We spent a little time at the Pantheon – the stadium that was built for the original Olympic Games in 400 BC and that was rebuilt in 1896 when the Games were restored. This is the home location for the flame that travels the world over each time there is another year of the Games. In addition to the fact that this location is truly something very special and completely constructed of marble and very impressive in it’s size if nothing else…..I found the bathrooms here to be very interesting too. They were marked so simply with a W.C. and then a childlike drawing of a man or a woman beside each of the doorways. Inside the washrooms…..the walls and the floors were solid marble and amazingly impressive for their simple and understated entrance.
We saw the government house and the tomb for the unknown soldier where there are guards dressed in traditional costume and who change posts every hour.

We noticed that there is sooo much graffiti everywhere on all the building fronts and along the little city streets. We learned that the population of Athens is 4 ½ million which is about 45% of the total population of the entire country! We also learned that Acropolys means the top of the city and that the Acropolys in Athens was built in 3000 BC when it was dedicated to Athena, the daughter of Zeus. We also saw the ruins of a temple that was built for Zeus in 200 AD and that originally consisted of 166 columns but only 6 are left standing today. We learned that olives and their oil are the main export and industry in Greece and that there are 60 billion olive trees in the country. Other exports include: bananas, grapes, wine, tobacco, cotton, and bauxite (for aluminum production).

So….yes…..we did learn a few things along the way and we did see a few sights as well but…..here is the story that I alluded to……Our guide, Mina, was terrible (and I am being generous!). She was rude, didn’t listen, was disorganized, and you had to wade through her ramblings to glean the information we did get. People were so frustrated and continually getting left behind or totally lost and since Lynda is an organizer extraordinaire…..she simply took over the tour! Yes…..she now speaks fluent Greek and carries a sign along the streets of Athens with a trail of tourists following behind her! Well….maybe she can’t say any more than Hello and Thank You but….those are important words in any language and she really did take over carrying the sign and everyone really did follow her! We were all wearing little headsets so could hear what Mina was saying and that meant that we could hear Lynda too (since she was right beside Mina). Mina is very short (at most 5’) and I don’t think her arm can lift higher than her waist as that is as high as she was willing to hold the sign so Lynda would take the sign from her and hold it high overhead so the folks at the back would know what direction to head for. Mina would say, “give me my sign back” and Lynda would say “no….people can’t see – you’re not holding it high enough” and they’d go a few more steps and Mina would say “give me my sign back” and when Lynda said that “not everyone was there yet”, Mina simply replied that “enough of them are here so we’re going in”. Needless to say that about finished me and many others, so rather than following along for the rest of her tour most of the group fanned out and did their own thing.

That is when Lynda and I experienced our first taste of Greek coffee. We discovered that it is never served with cream…only sugar…..and that is VERY IMPORTANT based on the look we got from our server when we tried to order cream with it. We had to choose if we wanted to have it a little bit sweet, a medium amount of sugar, or very sweet. We both chose medium and that was plenty sweet! We bought sesame pretzels from a man on the side of the road that were delicious and we enjoyed the strains of an accordion being played extremely well by a little boy trying to earn some money. I bought a bracelet and earrings and when the jeweler put them on me….he said “may you wear these and have long life” and then things went downhill quickly from there…..

My life may be long but……my aunt Kay is one of the people in our party and one of the people who had been “left behind” by our guide Mina. When Kay was left behind…she stopped in a shop along the way and when she came out of a room missed the fact that there was a step down. It’s not good news but….. she fell and hurt her shoulder quite badly. As soon as we got her back to the ship she saw the doctor who did an x-ray with the onboard equipment and who made arrangements for her to see someone at the hospital in Turkey where we’ll be tomorrow morning for another x-ray on better equipment. Regardless of what they find…it is likely that the best they’ll be able to do for her is give her some pain killers and put her arm in a sling or maybe tape it right down but…..it hurts her a lot and will mean that her Turkish adventure will look quite different from what she thought it would. Lynda and I didn’t have any tour booked in Turkey so will accompany her to the hospital in the morning. It will be another story I’m sure!

On to another country in the morning….this jet-setting, country hopping lifestyle is certainly something different from what we’re used to in Canada where it takes days to just go from province to province! According to our cruise director, Gary (who is very fond of himself and we know that because he's told us so in 18 different languages!), there are 47 different countries represented on this ship so even if we weren't getting off in all these ports we're kind of like a floating United Nations. You never know if the person you say hello to in the elevator will understand English or look at you in confusion and it is super cool to see all the cultures represented in both the staff and the guests.

Till next time,
L & L