Santorini, Greece: Part 2 (She Got Right On It)

Beautiful Santorini

This is Pat.  Bill had a cold and stayed on the ship for our stop in Santorini.  It’s a hard place to skip, since the white buildings, blue domed churches and the Mediterranean Sea make this a stunning place to visit. 

Why the white buildings?  Early on, the government used the local limestone to make an inexpensive white paint, which was provided free to the residents.  Why the blue domes on the churches?  By law, the church domes (only) are painted blue, and it’s beautiful.  And why so many churches?  Well, just like the US, the tax code plays a role.  Per our guide, if you have a “church” on your property, you don’t pay property taxes.  So even expensive hotels have a small chapel, and hence, pay no property taxes.  This helps explain Greece’s dire financial straits.

This was a sign on one of the stores.  Throughout our travels in Greece, we’ve heard from the tour guides that, although they have advanced degrees in antiquities or archeology, they can only get jobs as tour guides.  Unemployment, particularly for the highly educated, is around 25%.

We also noticed that many of the tree trunks on the sides of the road were painted white for the bottom 8 feet.  We asked our guide to explain.  He said that Santorini has only 6 policemen, and being Greek, they won’t work the late shifts.  There is quite a bit of night-time drunk driving as a result, so they paint the trees to illuminate them and help prevent accidents.  Our guide said he often needed the help of the “white trees.”

The island is what remains from one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history (1600 B.C.) and the villages are at the top of steep cliffs. 

Legends say that Santorini is actually the lost city of Atlantis.  Maybe?  I walked (and walked and walked) through two of the villages:  Fira, the capital and Oia.  Fira is very wealthy (a small home goes for $2.5 million).  The streets are cobblestone and wind around like a maze.  Pronouncing its main square (Plateia Theotokopoulou) was almost as hard as finding my way back to the parking lot.  Oia was quieter – an artist’s colony - and I spent a lovely hour with a glass of wine (or 2) at a local taverna. 

Santorini, Greece: Part 1

Hi all,

Yesterday, when we sailed into Santorini, Greece, I was sick ... cold, allergies, not sure, never-the-less I stayed in bed and Pat caught the tender into town and went on the excursion. 

Pat has agreed and has the ball to write this blog.  I’m sure she’ll get around to it in the next few days, but she enjoys reading, and relaxing, etc. and is not quite as obsessed about the blog as I am.  This is a chronological place holder for future entries.

So at this point, I can do one of three things:

1). Write it myself and make stuff up, you know - like alternative facts

2). Nag her until she gets it done, or

3). Simply wait for a few days and let her do it on her schedule.

I choose number 3 ... 50 years of marriage has shown this is the best policy.

In the interim, I’ll share the latest in ship protocol and safety.  Today, leaving  Athens we had another life boat drill.  Pictured below are 150 of my new friends who are assigned to our lifeboat. 

This is my third drill and I have it down pretty good.  Even so,  the crew would not allow me to take my cocktail on deck, nor would they allow me to teach everyone the Macarena while we waited.  Go figure.

Rhodes, Greece - No Colossus, but Lots of Grappa and Wine

Rhodes is a town of two parts: Old Town and a newer parts of the city.  On the latter, our tour was mainly a drive around to see its commercial parts of the city. Of course we passed the Bank of Rhodes, which spawned many questions about the local economy.  Our guide was not encouraging.  She said, “Take me for example. I have a master’s degree in archaeology, and I’m working as a tour guide.  Most of the people my age, in their thirties, with any kind of advanced education, can’t get a job.”  I have to say she was an excellent tour guide as you can imagine.

The Old Town is a magnificent walled and moated medieval city from the 1400’s. 

Prior to this time the people on the island considered themselves part of a Byzantine culture, but the Knights Hospitaller, and the Knights of St. John were among seven orders who began to change this. The Old City is extremely well preserved.  Parts were actually reconstructed by various occupying forces during and after World War II – Italy, followed by Germany, followed by the Great Britain, and now finally a country that fits their life style, Greece.

We entered through the Gate d' Amboise.

It seems that many of the moats associated with castles never contained water, but were designed as a killing field before the walls were attacked.   

After passing by the double moated fortress, the streets opened to commercial venues with shops, taverns and restaurants ... 

after which we visited the Palace of the Knights …

and its interior ...

where multiple Roman-Greco mosaics were removed from ancient buildings on the island and incorporated among the marble floors, much like area rugs.

We left the walled city via the Streets of the Knights ... 

where we saw the many inns that housed the crusaders.

 

We concluded the day with a visit to a Greek “taverna.”  This event was why we signed up for the tour.  The chef / owner presented a cooking demonstration on tzatziki, a Greek Village Salad (much like Tarpon Springs without the potato salad), an eggplant salad, moussaka, soutzoukakia with rice, and followed by a dessert of Greek yogurt with grapes and honey.

The demonstration was followed by several glasses of the local grappa, the meal described above, and for me a dry, white Greek wine. I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures.   

Cypress, Greece

Today may have been the best sight-seeing day yet.  Temperature was a cool, dry 68° and the island is very small resulting in a leisurely bus ride to only a few sites.

Cypress is a divided island, approximately in half.  I had forgotten this.  North of the officially named “green line” is controlled by the Turks, south by the Greeks.  It has been invaded so many times and occupied or controlled by so many nations our guide, a short, elderly, funny Greek woman, sort of took this division in stride; however, she did tell us of a personal loss.  In 1974, while she and her sister were on holiday, her family home in the north was taken by the Turks and later sold to its current owners.  She had to move south.

Our first stop was the city of Kourion, an impressive Greco-Roman site where we saw remaining public baths and pavement mosaics, such as the four-panel design in the central room at the House of Eustolios.

Nearby was a large Greco-Roman theater built in the 2nd century BC.  It is still used today for many performances.

Perched high on a cliff, we were able to easily see the blue waters of the Med below.

Next was a visit to the Sanctuary of Apollo.  The sanctuary is the largest and one of the most important religious centers on the island and was continuously used from the late 8th century BC to the second half of the 4th century AD.

Third, we visited one of the most picturesque of the old villages in Cyprus - Omodos Village.  First, we stopped at the monastery of the Holy Cross, where they were having a service for the 2nd day after Easter. This was a long service.  It begins by one priest remaining in the church conducting the service while the second visits every home in the village, carrying a small cross.  When he left each home, a group of young men joyously fired shot guns into the air!  Go figure?? We were right in the middle of this.

Then a visit to the restored wine press of Linos …

Then the best part - two hours of free time to bask in the sun and drink Greek wine before heading back to the ship.  It was a great way to celebrate my birthday.

Next, to Rhodes, where by tradition, we’ll have to consume colossal amounts of Greek wine, as the Colossus of Rhodes no longer guards the harbor.

Later, Bill

Israel: Part 2

HAIFA

A brief overview of the port city of Haifa on our way to Acre included a photo stop at Mt. Carmel and a breathtaking view of Haifa Bay.  The golden dome of Haifa's Baha'i Shrine is pictured in its gardens.  The Baha’i faith numbers over 5 million people worldwide and holds this site as sacred.

The current town of Nazareth is located about 20 miles away from here.  Strangely, Nazareth did not exist as a town until about 80 AD and did not flourish as a city until about 300 AD.

  Given this, some scholars believe Mt. Carmel was the original home of a few hundred married Essenes, or the Nazoreans of Mt. Carmel as they were known. It is reported to have been a cooperative family village where “Jesus, the Nazorean”, as Paul referred to him, was likely to have been raised.  Haifa, including Mt. Carmel, is now about 300,000 people, many of whom are Christians and Muslims.

ACRE (aka AKKO)

Situated on the northernmost point of Haifa Bay, is the amazing UNESCO World Heritage Site of Acre (Akko).  I tend to be a bit of a Knights Templar junkie, given all of the gothic cathedrals throughout Europe either financed by or built by the order, so this excursion was particularly interesting to me.

It was Baldwin I who led the First Crusade to the Holy Land, captured Jerusalem from the Saracens (Muslims) and rescued Christ’s sepulcher from the “infidels” in 1099 AD. 

 Years later the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon (aka Knights Templar), the Knights Hospitallers, the Knights of St. John and the Teutonic Knights found themselves in a bit of a mess and had to escape to Cypress through Acre in 1291 AD.  But in the many years before their escape, Acre was the Knights Templar’s main three-walled-moated-fortress for protecting arriving European pilgrims. 

It was here they built three sea ports for Genoa, Venice and Pisa and created a vibrant merchant enterprise on top of what lay beneath.

The knights’ underground city, discovered by accident and opened to the public at various time during in the 1990’s, is a staggering find.   Rubble was cleared from beneath the city streets to reveal a series of vaulted rooms called the Crusader Halls, which lead to the Refectory (dining hall ... table and chairs are not original).

Part of this underground city was known as the Hospitaller Quarter because it was there that the knights received their medical care.

Also referred to as the Crypt, it is a true representation of Crusader architecture. Near to the Crypt is a stairway which leads to a long underground passage that is thought to be an escape tunnel that was built by the Crusaders in order to reach the port during attacks by Muslim forces.

Returning to the surface was a welcomed relief, after the narrow passages and low ceilings of the tunnels, and put us the middle of Acre's long and colorful Ottoman period.

P.S.  As a piece of trivia … the country we now refer to as Israel was actually two kingdoms back in the day - Israel to the north and Judah to the south.  King David united them and his son, King Solomon, was able to keep the kingdom together during his reign.  Eventually their belief systems and cultural differences caused them to once again separate. Judah was originally settled by nomadic Semites from today’s Jordan.  Israel was originally settled by escaping Egyptian slaves from the Exodus. [In this regard, there’s a whole biblical thing regarding two of Jacob’s (aka Israel) sons, Joseph (mother: Rachel) and Judah (mother: Leah), but I’ll save that for another time.]  For now, I think it’s interesting to note that some hold an esoteric meaning to the name "Israel" to have been derived from:  IS (from the Egyptian goddess, Isis), RA (from the Egyptian Sun God, Ra), and EL (from the northern kingdom’s god, Elohim).

 Later, Bill.

Israel: Part 1

JERUSALEM

It was a tug, but key to our decision to pass up the opportunity to visit Jerusalem was the fact that we had visited the various religious sites associated with Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and wandered the cobbled streets and crowded markets on a prior trip.

The Dome of The Rock, where Mohammed is said to have ascended into heaven, now occupies the Temple Mount where once stood the First and Second Temples of the Hebrews.  Below this mosque you can see the wall surrounding the old city of Jerusalem.  This photo is taken from near the Mount of Olives toward the Essene Gate. 

We concluded our time in Israel could best be spent exploring elsewhere.

But to talk about other parts of Israel without describing the magic that is Jerusalem, seems a little anti-climactic.  So let’s do this.

During the last two weeks Jodi Magness, a highly credentialed professor of archaeology at UNC, presented 6 amazing lectures on the Ancient Near East.  Among three other women from Jerusalem, she is featured in a fantastic documentary on Jerusalem (link to video below).  If you’re so inclined and have a spare 45 minutes watch it, it’s well worth your time. 

http://www.jerusalemthemovie.com/

Dragging Your Asp to the Nile at Dawn …

Boarding the buses at 6:30 a.m. for a 13 hour adventure came awfully early.  But that’s the price you pay if you want to go from the Red Sea to Nile River and visit the town of Luxor (aka Thebes by the Greeks) and surrounding ancient Egyptian Temples.

Miles and miles of barren mountains and sand stretched ahead of us as we drove through the Eastern Desert.  Our guide explained we were driving through the home of the Egyptian Bedouins. 

These people need to be self-sufficient.  What was surprising, however, was their expertise with natural medicine and dealing with the hazards of their environment:  snakes, scorpions and the like. Small children can be found playing with scorpions and they don’t get harmed.  That’s because they are given tiny doses of venom from cobras and scorpions as newborns (before 14 days old) as a sort of vaccination.  The only poison that can’t be controlled is a bite from the black viper.  The Bedouins leave these guys alone.  

Our bus contained 22 passengers, one guide, two drivers and one body guard.  This guy had a “side arm” about the size of a piece of firewood.  I think it was an Uzi, at least this was the consensus of people who really didn’t know.   If this wasn’t enough security, we passed about a dozen police check points flanked by raised, enclosed platforms containing armed “soldiers”.  Riding along I felt reasonably secure by this. Seems like the the Egyptians are serious about their three months of Marshall Law.  One of the older passengers, however, claimed that all of these people were terrorists and reacted accordingly.  Funny thing about getting old - you become both non-cognitive and incontinent at the same time.   

About 45 minutes from our scheduled arrival time at Luxor, the desert sand was replaced by rich fertile soil and rows and rows of crops and other vegetation.  You might think this is because of the annual flooding of the Nile, but you’d be wrong.  It seems the Nile was dammed up some time ago, resulting in a giant lake used to control of the flood waters.  Now about 30 miles on both sides of the Nile there is a system of “distributaries” that distribute the Nile water to a wide swath of fertile ground.  This coupled with an evaporation and rain cycle continues to keep the Nile valley green.

Also, are the never ending, partially completed homes in route. The official reason given is: as long as the home remains unfinished, no taxes are levied.  I think it has more to do about Muslims being prohibited from borrowing money and paying interest.  Anyway, they seem to be happy, enjoying each other, their animals and way of life.

Finally, after 3 ½ hours we made it to the Luxor ... 

And the Luxor Museum. 

View of the River Nile from museum plaza.

This was great, my favorite event of the day (fn from Pat – probably because it was air-conditioned … fn from Bill, no really). The artifacts and statutes of many Pharaohs including Ramses II and Amenhotep III were presented there including my favorite Pharaoh Amenhotep IV who reigned between 1352 and 1334 BCE (who BTW changed his name to Akhenaten) and his Queen, Nefertiti.  Except for Madeline and other Egyptologists, a little known fact is that Akhenaten gave up Egypt’s traditional pantheon of gods and worshiped a single god, the Sun god Aten, hence the name change.  This Egyptian Pharaoh, represented here with the sun disk and sun rays, may very well have been the first monotheist.  

So “Roll Over Beethoven” ... and Abraham.

Pharaoh Akenhaten 

Pharaoh Akenhaten 

There are a number of links to Hebrew / Egyptian culture / religion.  One worth noting is on one of the walls at Akenhaten's capital city, Armana.  There, the longest and best rendition of a composition known as the “Hymn to Aten” is said to have been written by Akhenaten himself.  Its similarity to and possible source of the creation represented in Psalm 104 has long been noted.  It sums up the whole ethos of the Aten cult and especially the concept that only Akhenaten had direct access to the god, Aten.  

Check out the similarities.  Just sayin’.

Next was a visit to the largest religious structure ever built, the Temple of Karnak.  The hieroglyphics are carved into plaster; not chiseled into stone.  Many scenes on the exterior depict the Pharaohs’ triumph over the Hebrews, Assyrians, etc.  The interior scenes depict the Pharaohs’ relation to their gods.

Above, the obelisk of Pharaoh Hatshepsut was broken by her successors because of gender.  Somethings never change.

This was followed by The Temple of Luxor right around the corner.  Amazing day!

As I leave you we have crossed the Suez Canal and found 

our way to the Mediterranean and Jerusalem for Easter. 

Time to say good-bye to our new southern friends and ship’s “Auxiliary Guard.”

See you in Jerusalem.