Aegean Odyssey: A Brief Retrosepctive

A big trip like the one my wife and I have just returned home from makes me contemplate, for good reason, the purpose of travel. To me, it is to learn about the world and better understand one's own place in it; to make connections with people from other lands, both natives of the areas visited and fellow travelers; and to share ones' experiences with others, both in person and through venues like this. Ideally, a person will come back from a trip of this sort with new ideas, a new perspective on their old ones, and a reinvigorated sense of purpose. Suffice it to say that we accomplished with our Aegean Odyssey everything we might have expected. 

In the ancient world of the Mediterranean, hospitality and how people treated strangers was extremely important and was, not to put too fine a point on it, integral to the continued existence of civilization itself. Commerce with other lands could not take place if travelers were subjected to theft or violence or were not able to obtain from their journeys things commensurate in value to what they had expended on them. People like our friends Dimitri Kremmydas in Athens and Michael Townsend in Crete may just be mortal people but, in that they invited us into their homes and made our journey more fulfilling, they follow in the steps of paragons like Aeolus, who used his winds to carry travelers on their paths across the wine-dark sea. 

Many other people bear mentioning here and they include friends Richard and Laura Allan, who journeyed from their home in Scotland to spend six wonderful days with us in Santorini, our fourth reunion since we met them on a Nile River cruise in 2006; my friend Brendan Cass, who made monumental efforts to come to Kos Island for just a day-and-a-half so that he could experience it with me; Nathan and Alison Richards and Toni Symonds, who along with Michael Townsend made our time in Crete much more enriching; the staff of the Atlantis Hotel in Santorini; Stamatis Patiniotis at the Asimis Kolaitou Art Gallery and Giorgia at the Lignos Folklore Museum in Santorini; Mary, Voula Mavrea, and the other staff of the Small Village resort on Kos Island; teacher and caretaker Julie, who shared her knowledge of the Hippocrates Garden with us and her friend Dora, an archaeologist who discussed history and mythology with me; and Sophia Stavrianou at the Porfyris Hotel, who provided excellent advice that helped us make the most of our time on the island of Nisyros. Thanks also to Tracie Conner for getting us to the airport on our way out and to Karen Holmes for picking us up there and to Taylor Conner for taking such good care of our cats while we were on the road. And there are undoubtedly other deserving people I may have neglected to mention in this quick recap of our trip and I beg their forgiveness and will be sure to add them as I update it! 

We encountered villains in the course of our travels as well and, while their impact was much less than that of the good people we met, they bear mentioning. These scourges of the Aegean include the swine that lurk at the port of Santorini and other islands and will not answer polite questions while trying to sell overpriced shuttle rides; the many shiftless taxi drivers of Rhodes, who will drive past visitors hauling luggage up the street in favor of giving ride around town to cruise ship passengers; the gypsies who create distractions with their drugged and abused children while their compatriots pick traveler's pockets; and the restaurants that provide substandard service and food to strangers because they do not think they will have to deal with them again or prefer to deal only with those who speak particular languages. Heracles, Theseus, and the other heroes of antiquity would certainly have wreaked a terrible vengeance on them all. 

Many friends followed our journey, commented on it, and provided encouragement to us during it and I would like to thank them for that. Interestingly, a number of friends commented in response to my posts during this trip about how I don't stop working even while on vacation, which points to the fact that of all the things a prolonged trip like this is to me a vacation is not really one of them. Yes, a journey like this can and ideally should have elements of fun and relaxation, but our four-week odyssey through the Aegean was often physically demanding, was expensive, and was attended by elements of uncertainty and hazard. If we just wanted a vacation we could have much more easily, inexpensively, and quickly gone to Port Aransas on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Disney World, or a hundred other places. 

So this trip was much more than any mere vacation could have been, I achieved my goals with it, and, while I am physically exhausted, I have been mentally stimulated -- and am hitting the ground running with an eye to finishing up projects I set aside when we went overseas and to jumping into ones that are exciting and altogether new. And being inspired and invigorated by a trip is, I think, the most someone can expect from it. 

Aegean Odyssey Day 27 (Kos/Athens)

Took an early morning flight from Kos to Athens, checked into the Sofitel at the airport, and spent the afternoon with friend Dimitri Kremmydas discussing everything from culture, politics, and religion to wargaming and learning how to make phyllo dough and spanokopita! 

More to come! 

Aegean Odyssey Day 25 (Nisyros)

Aegean Odyssey Day 16 (Santorini)

Wanted to do something a little different today and get away from the crowds choking the narrow streets of Fira and so hiked out past the edge of edge of town and along a stretch of desolate coastline that we had ridden along several times by bus. Was very pleased to stumble upon the Asimis Kolaitou Art Gallery and spent some time chatting with curator Stamatis Patiniotis about the exhibits and in the course of our discussion learned a number of interesting things about Santorini from him. 

More to come! 

Aegean Odyssey Day 15 (Santorini)

Visited two museums, foot-and-hand-washed laundry in the bathtub, tried to do some writing and updating of my blogs while being plagued throughout the day by bad Internet connection and difficulty keeping the computer powered up, and had a gyro each for first and second dinner. 

After breakfast we walked up through town to the vicinity of the museums I wanted to visit. When we arrived at the Archaeological museum Diane confided that, with only 56 hours until our departure from Santorini, she was "concerned about the laundry" and we both agreed it would be best if she went back to the hotel to work on it. My guess is that she had glanced into the foyer of the museum when we walked past it the day before and recalled that it was dominated by pots, certainly the sort of antiquity she hates the most. 

Archaeological Museum
To say that I was a bit disappointed with the museum is not to diminish the many wonderful things its two halls, configured in an L-shape, contained. It is the only museum I have visited on this trip, however, where I was provided with no brochure or other guiding information, and about half the items were not labeled in any way, leaving visitors to guess at their provenance and somewhat uncertainly figure things out on their own; there did not even appear to be a guidebook available for sale. 


In general, a preponderance of the artifacts dated to the 7th and 8th century B.C. and were from local ancient cemeteries. Certainly the most striking and beautiful of the objects was the lifelike bust of the goddess Aphrodite (above), which still retained much of the pigment that had been used to color her hair. Other things I particularly enjoyed were the ceramic items with depictions of birds eating snakes, a theme that appears to have predominated in the iconography of local grave goods from this period; and some humorous and even somewhat vulgar statuettes that appeared to have been in vogue for a time, such as a satyr mounted on a fat little donkey that almost could have been the model for the one in Shrek. 

I love artifacts like these because of the connections they make for us with the past and the sorts of questions they prompt. How did someone feel about the person they buried this with? What would I want to be buried with? Contemplating these ancient peoples in this way always makes me quite emotional and I hope part of them knows that they are being remembered and mourned anew. 

Santozeum
Located just a half block down the hill from the Archaeological Museum and apparently situated in what had once been a large private residence is the Santozeum, a museum dedicated to full-sized reproductions of frescoes discovered in the ruined city of Akrotiri. Upon entering visitors are provided with a laminated booklet that provides a crash course in Theran wall paintings and which explains the iconography of those on exhibit; there is also a brief video with interviews with the Princeton archaeologists involved with the restoration of the frescoes. One of the most impressive of the works is certainly that depicting the extended sea voyage of a Minoan fleet from the 2nd millennium B.C., which includes representations of four different Bronze Age seaports. As with the nearby Museum of Prehistoric Thira, a visit to the Santozeum complements one to the archaeological dig at Akrotiri and helps make a trip to it complete. 

When I got back to the hotel Diane dumped some soap and two weeks worth of my laundry into the tub and, after letting it soak in hot water for around half an hour, I got in and stamped around on it for about 10 minutes before working each piece a little by hand. Seemed very reminiscent of pictures I have seen of people stomping grapes for wine and made me wonder if anyone would ever discover a fresco at Akrotiri that would get dubbed "Washerwomen of Thera"; asked Diane to take a picture for posterity but she declined. Then, as I wrung out each piece Diane rinsed it in the sink, wrung it out again, and then found a place to hang it on one of our two balconies. I don't think it was too obtrusive but, suffice it to say, the hotel won't be using any pictures of it taken this afternoon for its new brochure. 

Headed out to find somewhere casual to eat and, after wandering around lower Fira a little, rejected one place because it looked "too hot" and another probable-looking establishment simply because it was named "Meat Corner." Finally stopped at a gyros shop called McDaniel's Snack Bar, where Diane had a pork gyros and I had a lamb kebab pita, both good, along with a couple of cans of Coke Light (hours later I was hungry again and wandered a few streets down to Nick the Grill, where I had a delicious lamb gyro that had a nice hot blob of fat in it). 

Watched the sun set over the caldera from our terrace while the crowds milled below and cheered as it descended beneath the horizon, a tradition that irritates Diane (and which is, admittedly, a little strange; for time immemorial people have celebrated the rising of the sun and even gone to great pains to ensure it would happen, and this is certainly a new spin on that). Then, I went downstairs to the "Colonial Room" and ordered a cup of coffee. I chatted with the barman, Giorgio from Athens, while he went through the prolonged process and learned he was working at the hotel for the season and very much liked Santorini. 

"There are many islands," Giorgio said. "There is only one Santorini." 

Aegean Odyssey Day 14 (Santorini)

Sadly, today was our last day with Richard and Laura! A week with them went by pretty quickly and was over too soon. 

We met for breakfast at 10 a.m. and, as it was damp on the terrace of the Atlantis Hotel, we ate inside for the first time since we arrived. Richard and Laura checked out right at 11 and then we moved their luggage into our room for the day and, after chatting awhile, realized we still needed a picture of all of us on our premium balcony. I approached the desk clerk, who was hanging around by the bar entrance, and he seconded a guest who was having a cup of coffee there for the task. I lined up the shot and even took a sample (top right), but somehow the settings got changed after I handed over the camera and the one with all four of us did not come out quite as crisp (below right). 


We then decided to head out and wander around Fira a bit, heading up to the area of the cable car that goes down to the port and scouting the locations of two of the three museums in Fira I still wanted to visit, the one for Classical antiquities and the Zantozeum. After circling back toward the hotel on a side street that took us past the Highlander -- where Richard and I resisted the urge to step in for a quick one -- we decided to have a bite at Ampelos, the place we had met the Allans for our first drink of the vacation with them a week earlier. I had a delicious artichoke heart stew with peas, carrots, potatoes, and Santorini tomatoes, while Diane had a Caesar salad, Laura had the fresh fried calamari, and Richard enjoyed a pork "Slovaki." We induced the waiter to shoot a brief video segment of us giving our famous "Yamas, Ya' Bas'!" toast, which was one of the trademark watchwords of our vacation together (bottom). While we were sitting there, we were amused to look over at the Naoussa Restaurant and see one of its waiters escorting customers from the nearly-empty terrace down the outer stairway toward the vault we had been taken to! Someone else apparently had not measured up to the stringent standards they expect of paying guests. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking water and wine on our terrace at the hotel and, among other things Richard and I agreed in principal that we were overdue to embark on some sort of project together and would look at doing so once he completed his doctorate and I had cleared my slate a bit. We put the Allans in a cab to the airport at 7:30 and wished them a safe, speedy, and comfortable journey home, where they were looking forward to several days of primitive camping in the sunless and drizzly hills of their rugged homeland.  

Around 8:30 I went and got us some takeout from Chinese Famous Foods a few blocks away. Suffice it to say that this restaurant has zero ambience but I had a nice chat with Orestes, the young Albanian/Greek guy that takes orders for the older Chinese men that run the establishment; among other things, I learned that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant had visited Santorini by yacht last year and that he had gotten his picture taken with them.  And, lack of ambience aside, we were pleased to discover that the food was excellent and thoroughly enjoyed our numbers 1, 24, 43, and 53 (hot and sour soup, pork with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, stir-fried noodles with vegetables, and fried rice).

Dozed for a couple of hours while the thoroughly mediocre street musician that has plagued us this week droned out the handful of songs he knows, again and again, for about three hours over by the bell tower of the Greek Orthodox cathedral; waited in vain for Bono to arrive and slap him with an injunction preventing him  from continuing to ruin With or Without You. Then, got up, worked and played my Grepolis computer game for about three hours, and then had a beer on the terrace and turned in. 

Naoussa Restaurant (Santorini, Greece)

With as many restaurants as there are in Santorini, one would think that proprietors would do everything they could to please the people who walk through their doors and not deliberately offend paying guests. Unless you want to quite possibly be treated badly, however, and maybe still not get anything to eat, you will want to make a point of avoiding the Naoussa Restaurant here. 

As guests of the Atlantis Hotel next door, my wife and I and the other couple we are with here had had our eyes on Naoussa for several days and, after a day exploring the island, decided to get cleaned up and go over there for dinner one night. When we got there, a man who we understand to be the owner sized us up and asked us if we had reservations. This seemed like an absolutely absurd question, as the place was almost empty and not more than half the tables actually had anyone sitting at them! 

We told him we did not and, at that point, everything might have ended well enough if we had just walked away. The proprietor, however, a fellow that looked something like a little Mickey Rourke, offered to recommend "another restaurant," which immediately got my hackles up, as the last thing I need is someone assessing which restaurant is appropriate for me. 

Declining his offer for guidance to whatever restaurant he thought would be more suitable for us, we started to leave and -- ideally just would have -- when the maitre'd said that yes, they actually did have a table for us! He then had a waiter lead us down a set of stairs to the lower level of the restaurant, which was also about half full and, while not as airy, did have one side open to the sea. One of the tables had children at it and this was the clearly the area intended for parties that the restaurant did not want displayed in it most public areas and I was trying to figure out which of the empty tables they would seat us at. 

They led us right through through this area, however, right past a laundry room and into a stifling vault at the back of the restaurant that was clearly being used as a storage area! At that point, thoroughly disgusted, with my wife beginning to gasp from the close atmosphere and the waiter starting to clear debris off the unused table in this grim space, we did finally all just turn around and walk away. 

A little research revealed that three other restaurants are affiliated with Naoussa Restaurant, Ellis Restaurant, Daphne Family Tavern, and Olympos Family Greek Tavern. While I have not eaten at any of them and cannot comment on their food I would not go to any of them for fear of suffering the same humiliating treatment as the result of a prevailing attitude shared by all of them. 

I am not sure what prompted the staff at Naoussa to treat us the way they did but I really don't care that much about the reasons. I put up with this sort of horrible crap for years when I was a soldier or a student backpacking around Europe and I am done with it. A restaurant that acts this way toward potential patrons does not deserve business from anyone. It bears mentioning, in any event, that our group consisted of two young to middle-aged couples and that we had gotten cleaned up and dressed for dinner and were not in any way grungy, attired in beachwear, or the like. We also had money that we did not and never will spend at Naoussa or any of the other establishments affiliated, and have a platform for warning other people about what they can expect from this strange and unfortunate place. They can be sure that the comments that appear here will also be reflected on TripAdvisor and a number of other travel-oriented sites. 

Greece, the Ghosts of South Texas, and Trips Past

CANYON LAKE, TEXAS -- Am at home writing this as I try to complete a current project, prepare for an upcoming trip, and reflect upon my most recent big adventure. 

* As many of my friends know, I am the editor of Clerisy Press's America's Haunted Road Trip series of travel guides to reputedly haunted places people can people can visit and am also the author of three of its titles. Two of those, Ghosthunting Virginia and Ghosthunting Maryland, I wrote some years back, and the third, Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country, I am fervently working to finish up now. While this latter book has involved a considerable amount of travel I have not posted too much about it here, as it has got its own dedicated blog (and I have updated it 10 times this month alone!). I have spared no effort on this book and anyone interested in haunted or historical sites in South Texas should do themselves a favor and check it out. (Shown at right is the tower at Comanche Lookout Park in north San Antonio.)

* In less than two weeks, my wife Diane and I will also be leaving to spend a month traveling to several locations on Greece! We will be starting off with a single day in Athens and will be doing something fun but yet-to-be-determined with my friend Dimitri Kremmydas, who lives there. Next morning we will be flying to Crete for six days and, among other things, are planning on visiting the Minoan ruins at Knossos, the Samaria Gorge, and the cave where Zeus was believed to have been born. We will then move on to the island of Santorini, site of the largest volcanic eruption in human history and known in antiquity as Thera, were we will spend 10 days, a week of it with our close friends Richard and Laura Allan, who will themselves be flying down from Scotland (Hotel Atlantis, the place we will be staying, is the large rectangular building in the picture below). We will then travel by ferry successively to Rhodes, Kos, Nisyros, and back to Kos, where we will spend a couple of days with my friend and colleague Brendan Cass and visit some of the sites I have featured in my "Swords of Kos" fantasy fiction novels. Then, we will fly back to Athens for a day and, from there, return home! 

* In the midst of everything else I am have also been trying to finish posting to this site the journal I kept during my voyage last September and October from Hawaii to French Polynesia, New Zealand, and Australia on board the Royal Caribbean vessel Radiance of the Seas, for which I served as the cruise lecturer. 

More to come as I complete one project, finish talking about another, and embark upon the next!