A motley group of retired teachers made their way in red-eye buses from Galway to Dublin airport to catch an early morning plane to Athens. How lovely to recognise faces from past tours and feel the excitement of a week together again in a new destination, while also getting to know new fellow passengers ranging in age from 23 to 93. A good feeling indeed to think we could possibly be still roaming the earth many years from now and continuing to meet up and explore new places.
Blue
skies greeted us on our arrival at Venizelos airport Athens. As the warm April
sun kissed our heat starved skin, jackets which wrapped us from the grey Irish
skies were soon shed.
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| Parthenon |
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| Happy Group |
The changing of the guards in front of The
Hellenic Parliament attract crowds of onlookers. They work in pairs and have to
stand perfectly still and without facial expression for sixty minutes, before their
coordinated slow motion moves allows the next pair to take over. The young
Greek men have to serve for a year and it is compulsory. Training like this may
be of benefit to our own Irish lads!!! “A bit of smacht”
After a few days in Athens, the by
now familiar blue Travel Department coach took us south and Kalimere, Kalispera
and Kalinight didn’t sound strange anymore as we greeted our guide and coach
driver. We ate outdoors by the Corinth canal on route to The Peloponnesus - the
peninsula in southern Greece and watched the boats pass by. We soaked in the
sweet April sunshine while waiters served us with laden trays of food. Greek
salad with fat slabs of feta cheese, moussaka, calamari and tzatziki sauce – a
delicious Greek dip, devoured with loaves of crusty bread were but some of the
dishes we sampled. Carafes of wine were shared to wash down the food. Lazy dogs
stretched in the heat and cats curled round table legs, unaware of the beauty
of the surrounding Aegean and Mediterranean seas.
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| Della relazing at the Corinth Canal |
Over the next few days, from our new
base in Hotel King Minos in the small, pretty village of Tolo, we visited and
were informed about the many ancient sites in the Argolis region. Mycenae was a
Greek settlement in second millennium B.C. and is now a breathtaking place to
explore. The walls of this ancient site are made of huge limestone boulders and
are roughly fitted together. Because of the size of the boulders the ancient
people believed that they were constructed by Cyclops- hence The Cyclopean
Walls. Epidaurus is an ancient Greek city and includes a huge amphitheatre
built in the 4th century B.C. It is used again today for dramatic
performances and is admired for its exceptional acoustics. Indeed some members
of our group performed and their display of vocal ability impressed. Nafplio is
such a beautiful town that Demetri not alone took us on a very interesting day
tour but also an evening visit. Its architecture and culture is strongly
influenced by its varied history; medieval castles, monuments and statues,
fountains, cobblestone alleys and mosques- so much to explore that a week in
this town alone would satisfy.
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| Cait, Christina, Mary H. Mary K, and Dimitri at Epidavros |
We visited the ancient city of Delphi
which was an Oracle. People travelled here from far and wide to listen to prophetic
predictions of their future inspired by the Gods. We all partook of a drink of
water from Castalian Spring, where pilgrims to Delphi stopped to wash
themselves. Legend has it that drinking this water which comes from clean
melted snow makes you look ten years younger. Unfortunately for one and all,
this time Demetri was wrong. If anything the wrinkles increased from squinting
closely at each other to see if anything had changed. Were this legend true,
the Greek economy would be thriving today with no national debt.
The
Byzantine fortress of Mystras, which overlooks Sparta was developed down the
hillside from a fortress built in 1249. The beauty of its ruined churches still
covered in magnificent frescoes still remain to this day and are truly a sight
to behold.
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| Ancient stone of St Paul |
On
our final day we sped at high speed across the blue waters by sea-taxi to
Spetses, one of Greece’s many islands for a relaxing few hours. Spetses is one
of the 180 inhabited islands out of 9,835 in total. It is a beautiful and
charming place with a long naval tradition and some interesting characters.
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| Byzantine Church at Mystras |
This
was a wondrous tour staying with you long after your homecoming and urging you
to check back and dig deeper into the Greek civilization and culture as so ably
illustrated by our guide Demitri. Her love and passion for her homeland
transferred to us. Greece, the most ancient civilization, the land of Gods and
Goddesses of philosophers, mathematicians , physicians and poets- Socrates,
Plato, Pythagoras, Hippocrates and Homer. This land which has suffered a
turbulent history, is in a worrisome geographical location and has a far from
thriving economy. Yet the people are warm and smiling, reminiscent of many of
their ancient statues.
All
splendid indeed, but the companionship of our fellow travellers, the getting
acquainted and sharing meals and the odd glass of wine or a gin, the Greek
dancing and the Walls of Limerick, the laughs, the jokes, the own time, the shared time and the support of each other made the
whole experience a truly great holiday.
Della Healy