Greece Is The Word - Day 5

Day 5 - Monday, October 17

Athens

Monday morning we woke up early and had breakfast at the buffet before disembarking. We got off the ship around 7am, and were met by someone from Atlantis Tours who drove us from the port to the Key Tours office where we started our tour. We got on the bus and our first stop was the Athens Trilogy, which consists of the National Library of Greece, the Athens University, and the Academy of Athens. From there we went to the Olympic stadium, where the olympic games were held in 1896, 1906, and most recently in 2004. It was really cool to see the place that has been the center of the Olympic games and from where the flame comes for each set of games. Our next stop was the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which was dedicated to Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods, during the 6th century BCE. The construction wasn't finished until over 600 years later, under the rule of Emperor Hadrian. Of the original 104 columns, only 15 remain. It was really neat to see the columns that are still standing, and you could really imagine what the temple must have looked like in its glory. At the same site there is also Hadrian's arch, which was originally the entrance to the temple. It was interesting to see the arch against the backdrop of the modern city with its bustling traffic. From there, we went up to the Acropolis hill, which can be seen from almost all points in Athens. We started our tour at the Herodian Theater, which is still used today for performances. It used to be inclosed with a wood roof, but now is an open air theater. After a walk up the hill, we came to the Temple of Athena Nike, where Athena was worshiped as a goddess of victory in war and wisdom. From there we walked up to the top of the hill to visit the Erechtheum and the Parthenon. The Erechtheum was built between 421 and 406 BCE, and is a temple dedicated to the Greek hero Erichthonius. The Parthenon was constructed between 447 and 432 BCE and was dedicated to the goddess Athena. It originally housed a giant ivory and gold sculpture of Athena, which was later stolen. The Parthenon was constructed to be absolutely perfect. Its dimensions follow the golden rule, with 8 columns along the front and back and 17 columns along the sides. The columns taper in at the top and the center in higher than the sides in order to form an optical illusion that the temple is absolutely perfect. Each of the structures atop the Acropolis hill are being restored. The Temple of Athena Nike was finished a few months ago, and the Erechtheum and Parthenon are currently under renovation. They are using marble from the quarry originally used for construction of the temples, so its interesting to see what the marble would have looked like before it had been discolored over time. After spending some time on the Acrolopis hill, we left the tour group and walked down the backside of the hill to visit the ancient Agora. The agora was the center of life in ancient Athens, and includes the Temple of Hephaestus. We walked along the streets of Athens and came to Hadrian's library, where the statue of Nike still stands. From the library we walked along the streets until we found a nice little place to have lunch, then made our way back to the Key Tours office for our transfer to the airport (after only having to ask for directions twice). It took about an hour to get to the airport, and we were off to Larnaca for our connection back to Tel Aviv.

Overall Thoughts

Our trip was absolutely great. It was a perfect combination of sight seeing, relaxation, historic sites, and beautiful scenery. We had time to explore, time to relax, and didn't have to worry about how we were going to get from place to place. Here are a few last thoughts about Greece:

• Athens is a pretty dirty and rundown city. The archaeological sites are beautiful, but the city itself is sort of a dump. 
• The Greek Islands are beautiful. Santorini in particular.
• In Greece, lane markers and stop lights are merely suggestions. Be careful when crossing streets, as cars and motorcycles don't always stop, even when pedestrians have a green light.
• Don't step in donkey poop. It smells.

Greece Is The Word - Day 4

Day 4 - Sunday, October 16

Crete and Santorini

On Sunday we woke up really early and had a 6:30 breakfast at the buffet so we could get off the ship right at 7 when we docked in Heraklion, Crete. Our original plan for Crete had been to go to the Palace of Knossos, one of the great archaeological sites of the world. However, because of the strikes, all archaeological sites in all or Greece were closed on Sunday. So, we thought maybe the Archaeological museum would still be open, but, no dice. So, we spent our morning walking around the streets of Heraklion and enjoying the local flavor. We visited the Church of Ayios Titos where they were having Sunday morning mass, then continued exploring Heraklion. As some very ominous-looking clouds started to descend upon the city, we walked toward the water and plopped ourselves in a little cafe to wait out the rain storm. It actually ended up being really nice to just sit and watch the rain over the Mediterranean and the Venetian Fortress of Rocca al Mare and drink white hot chocolate. With a break in the weather we headed back to the ship and had a nice lunch while we sailed to Santorini.

During lunch we had gotten tender tickets for Santorini, and were on the first tender to leave the ship. Even from the decks of the ship, we could tell that Santorini is an amazingly beautiful island. Santorini is the remnants of a much larger island that was destroyed during one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, the Thera eruption, which occurred 3600 years ago. When we docked in Thera we had to decide whether we were going to ascend the large cliffside via the cable car, via donkey, or via foot. We chose the cable car, which I think was a very good choice. When we reached the top we were rewarded with absolutely incredible views of the city sitting on the cliffside. We meandered through the streets of Thera and decided to get in a cab and head over to the city of Oia. Oia is only about 6 miles north of Thera, and is the home of the traditional whitewashed buildings and blue domes that are so iconic in Santorini. The cab dropped us off in Oia, and we meandered through the rain to the main church. From there we walked down some narrow alleyways, and were rewarded with the view that we had all be picturing in our minds. Looking out over the east side of the island we were able to see the city, with all its blue domes, the cliffs, and the water. The scene was absolutely breathtaking. After taking some pictures and trying not to get too wet from the rain we headed back to the center of the town where we met our cab to go back to Thera. We had enough time to explore the streets of Thera before the sun went down, and we explored some of the shopping areas where Arielle bought some beautiful jewelry and Jeremy and I bought a painting of the scenes of Santorini. We picked a little restaurant with an extremely interesting owner (who basically forced us to come and eat in his restaurant), and tasted the traditional sweet and dry white wines from Santorini with some delicious baklava and banana caramel crepes. We were a little disappointed that we didn't have a sunset because of the weather, but the view was still fantastic, the food and wine were delicious, and the company was great. From there we walked up to the cable car, and in the dark I ended up with some donkey poop on my shoes. Oh well. We finally reached the top and got on the cable car to head back down to the port. We tendered back to the ship and had a great last dinner with our waiter Geny. After dinner we had high hopes of going to the ship's magic show, but we were so tired that we went to our rooms and played some games before going to sleep.

Greece Is The Word - Day 3

Day 3 - Saturday, October 15

Kusadasi and Patmos

Jeremy and I slept in a little on Saturday morning while Arielle and Daniel got up early to go to Ephasus. Since we had been there just a few weeks before on our Turkey trip, we took the morning to just walk around the port area. We got off the ship and were bombarded with people trying to sell us all sorts of things that we didn't want or need. Welcome back to Turkey! We walked by the ancient Caravanserai, where travelers used to stop to rest on their journeys. From there, we walked out of the tourist part of town and around into the more local area. After walking for about an hour we reached the top of a hill overlooking the water and Guvercin Adasi, the peninsula of Kusadasi. We walked down the hill with the view of the ship and the harbor in front of us, then planted ourselves along the water for a little while to watch the fish. On our way back to the ship we decided to stop at the ice cream cart that we had seen throughout Turkey, but never got to try. Its too bad too, because the ice cream was delicious! The guy was really funny, and put on a great show. When we got back to the ship we met up with Arielle and Daniel, and had lunch in the sit down restaurant. After lunch we rested for a bit, and Jeremy and I sat on the back deck on the ship watching the scenery on our way to Patmos. 

When we docked in Patmos we tendered into Skala and immediately got into a cab to take us to the Cave of the Apocalypse and the Monastery. Patmos is a very small island - they have a population of about 3,000 on an island of about 13 square miles. Our cab dropped us off at the Cave of the Apocalypse, which is where John of Patmos (St John the Divine) is said to have received his visions that he recorded in the book of Revelations. The cave is now surrounded by a sanctuary, which is surrounded by a convent. The cave and sanctuary themselves were beautiful, but the best part of the stop was the views of the city of Skala. From the hill we were able to look out over the lagoon where we had docked and see practically the whole island. Little did we know that the views would get even better as we went up to the monastery. The medieval monastery of St John really looks more like a castle or a fortress than a monastery. The inside of the monastery was absolutely beautiful, with painted frescos and ornate decorations dating back to the 12th century. We had some time before our cab picked us up, so after we explored the monastery we walked around the little streets of the town, then just sat and enjoyed the view of Patmos. The monastery is the highest point of the island, which meant that we had incredible views of the harbor, of Skala, and of practically the whole island. Our cab picked us up and took us back into Skala, where we walked around for a while and then found a cafe on the water to sit and have some appetizers. On our way to the restaurant there was a motorcade for a wedding with everyone honking as they drove down the street. It was really fun (and loud) to see! After our snack we tendered back to the boat and had dinner at the Greek buffet. After dinner we had thought about doing something on the boat, but we were all so tired that we just hung out and discussed what we were going to do the next morning in Crete.

Greece Is The Word - Day 2

Day 2 - Friday, October 14 

Athens and Mykonos

On Friday we woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel. They had a really nice buffet - it was a great way to start the morning! From there we boarded our transfer bus to the boat terminal where we checked in, got our ship cards, and had our passports taken away from us (they gave them back, don't worry). The four of us boarded the Louis Majesty and walked up two flights of stairs to our rooms. We were on the fourth floor, with two inside rooms. They were nothing special, but totally adequate. After we unpacked and put our things away we went up to the deck to see the view of the Athens harbor. The ship left the port, and we were on our way! Soon after we left the port we had our muster drill, assembled in our station, and watched the crew demonstrate the proper way to put on a life jacket. The best part was when the crew was giving the instructions and misspoke, saying "Ladies and gentlemen, you are now in your muster stations. You will report here in the likely event of an emergency." Like all announcements on the ship, they were done first in English, then in Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Greek.

After the muster drill we had lunch at the buffet. Overall the food on the ship was pretty good. They had one sit down restaurant and one buffet restaurant in addition to the buffet at the pool and the restaurant that you could pay extra for. After lunch the four of us went to trivia, which was much harder than we all expected. We did redeem ourselves, however, during music trivia, which Jeremy won with flying colors. We are now the proud owners of a Louis Majesty keychain and a Louis Majesty shot glass. After trivia we went to one of the lounge areas and read about our port of call for the afternoon - Mykonos. Once we figured out what we wanted to do in Mykonos, we went back to the Fireworks Lounge for more trivia games. This one had electronic buzzers, and each team had a representative who buzzed in for the team. Jeremy, Daniel, and Arielle were really good at the trivia, and kept running up to our representative to give him the answers. After buzzer trivia we went back up to the pool for tea time. Tea, scones, cookies, and cake - yummers. After tea we spent some time on the deck watching the scenery, then we docked at Mykonos. 

We were the first group to disembark at Mykonos, and were able to get on the first shuttle bus from the dock into the center of Chora. We arrived just as the sun was setting, and were rewarded with a beautiful sunset over the Mediterranean sea. We walked around the main part of the island, enjoying the white-washing buildings and the small alleyways of the city. We visited the church of Paraportiani and walked to the water to see Mikri Venetia (little Venice) by night. The apartments and storefronts sitting on top of the water were beautiful. From there, we walked up to see the windmills, which are a common landmark of the island. On our way back to the boat we stopped at a waterfront cafe and had some traditional Greek appetizers before heading back to the ship. On our walk back we saw Petros the Pelican, who has been the official mascot of Mykonos for over 50 years. When we got back to the ship we had dinner in the sit down restaurant, where we met Geny who was going to be our waiter for the rest of the trip. After dinner we went to the ship's show, where we were introduced to the different crew. Some of the entertainers started to sing, and they were so awful that we left after the first song. It was probably for the best anyway considering we wanted to get up early for our next ports.

Greece Is The Word - Day 1

Day 1 - Thursday, October 13

Tel Aviv to Athens

On Thursday morning the sheirut (shared cab) picked us up at 2am and we were off to the airport. After a short visit with our friend Jessie who was on her way to Spain, Daniel, Arielle, Jeremy, and I boarded our plane to Larnaca, Cyprus. The flight was completely uneventful. I hear they served drinks and a snack, although I slept through the whole flight. We were supposed to have a two hour layover in Larnaca, but due to the air space over Greece being closed, all flights that went to or over Greece were delayed. So, after a 5 hour layover, we were finally on our way to Athens, Greece. We had pre-arranged for transferred to and from the airport, and it was really great to get off the plane and have someone waiting to take us into the city. After about 45 minutes we arrived at the President Hotel, and took a few minutes to put our things away. The hotel was really nice, and was located walking distance from the areas of town that we wanted to visit (which was good, since because of the strike all public transportation was shut down). After settling in the four of us got a map and headed out to Plaka, the old part of Athens. On our walk we really got a sense of Athens. Because of the protests the trash hadn't been picked up in a long time, so there were huge piles of garbage all over the street. Traffic was horrific, and nobody seemed to follow the rules of the road or obey lane lines. We walked by the American embassy and many other embassies, the war museum, the art museum, Parliament house with the tomb of the unknown soldier, the center of town, and around Plaka. Our walk took us by the new Acropolis museum, and around the base of the Acropolis to Marsh Hill, which held the low court of Athens until democracy was established. From Marsh Hill there was an amazing 360 degree view of the city and the acropolis. From there we walked back to Plaka, where we had a great dinner at Daphne's, a restaurant known for its authentic Greek cuisine. The restaurant did not disappoint - we had Greek salad, moussaka, spanikopita, and lots of delicious rolls with olive tapanade. And it was VERY different than the Daphne's in San Diego! We walked back to the hotel and went to sleep so that we could get up early to board our cruise.

Video: Jerusalem March

On the same day that Gilad was freed, we noticed that there coincidentally happened to be a planned parade through the center of Jerusalem. We saw streets blocked off and lots of people getting ready, so we staked out a good spot near our house (right across the street from HUC) and took some pictures and video. The pictures are on Sarah's Facebook and the video is below. It was a truly incredible experience seeing many of Jerusalem's city workers march through, only to be followed by Christians from all over the world shouting things like, "We love Israel!" and "God bless you!" and "Stand! Don't divide the land!" Fascinating. Enjoy the video!

Video: Simchat Torah at Kibbutz Gezer

We were lucky to be a part of the Simchat Torah celebrations at Kibbutz Gezer, a community with which my classmate Rachel and I will be engaging throughout the year as part of our "Terumah Project" (think community service project). Enjoy and Shabbat Shalom!