DAY 12 - PIRAEUS

12) SATURDAY, 9 JULY 1977 :  10KMS. - PIRAEUS

 
We chose to visit Greek National Museum in the morning, there were many wonderful  sculptures of  deities like Apollo, Poseidon, Satyr etc. and decoration accessories. Greek pottery is characterized by a reddish orange and black stripes painted and portraiture and geometric designs . 

Photo : Bing images search

Most of stone sculptures and designs of their pottery (vases and water jugs, etc.) are carved and painted with military patterned nude warriors or gods rather than a naked woman.  Perhaps on the same vase one side is painted with deities/worriors wearing  clothes but naked on another side. Admission fee in general was  50.- Drachmen but I paid only 5.- Drachmen  by showing my  International Student Card.

Most of artifacts on display in the museum are not completely perfect ones but they were broken pieces bonding  together again in original shapes .  I had seen more perfect artifacts displayed in the museums in PARIS and ROME.

Poseidon - Photo : Bing images search

 

Apollo - Photo : Bing images search

 

Athena the goddess of Athens - Photo : Marsyas (wikepedia.org) / Bing images search

ATHENS  itself looks dirty and not beautiful as I have thought. The climate is very hot and despite the scorching hot sun, we scrambled up to the Acropolis for a closer look. We had to pay additional 5.- Drachmen  for viewing outside of the Acropolis. 

There was no fine decorations on the Acropolis left for appreciation but there were  marble pillars and broken down pieces of the Parthenon temple - the major part of the Acropolis.  However,  there are many  tourists visiting this place which brings a large sum of income from the admission fee  for the city every day.

Photo : Bing images search

In the museum building near the Parthenon we can see broken pieces of carved pediments  of the Parthenon  on display.  Most parts are shown mainly at the British Museum in London.  There was also a replica of the perfect Parthenon, demonstrating traditional aesthetic quite well.

Photo : Doriero / Bing images search caption

Around the Parthenon, especially at each corner, there were policemen on duty to warn visitors by blowing whistles at people pretending to climb on or in Parthenon to take photos, which is currently under restoration.  The condition of Parthenon is worsening every day due to the bad condition of the air in ATHENS.

 

Photo : Bing images search

Greece weather  in the summer month of July is really hot, like in Thailand but much drier.  People seem to prefer  having  cold drinks during this time as well.   There is also cold water dispenser in most restaurants;  a coffee or soft drinks is often served with cold water (not common in Germany) . At night many Greeks prefer  to sleep outside on the decks or balconies as it should be cooler. There might be less mosquitoes than in Thailand. Some Greeks may pour water on  terraces to cool down the temperature of their surroundings.

ATHENS shops are located in the specific areas like in China town of Bangkok, such as fabrics, bikes  and accessories,  sanitary wares and etc.  Down from the Acropolis, we walked through a market selling fresh fruits, from where we bought some nice fresh peaches .  We stopped at  the coffee shop to taste our peaches and ordered  a cups of coffee for each because it is very hot and we were thirsty.

Here we met 2 Greeks, one of whom had been in Germany  and speaks German fluently.  They asked to join us at the table and finally volunteered to take us for  a walk in the park where there was a fair similar to the local annual Volksfest in Germany .  We ended up with going to the beach for swimming !  A big surprise for us, many Greeks  went for swimming at night because the weather was very hot.

After swimming,  one of these 2 new  friends  asking Tilo to drive him at his sister’s home in ATHENS. A German-speaking guy  whose home in PIRÄUS nearby  but he himself was not familiar with the way home, we had to ask all the way since he had recently returned home from Germany  for soldier recruitment.    

We reached his sister’s home later than midnight and thought of finding a parking nearby but were invited to sleep in the house of his sister.  The house has a nice terrace and empty so we accepted his invitation. The weather was very hot still, we thought sleeping on the house terrace open space would be better than sleeping in our campervan, although there is a  fan and air channels fixed to the floor for sucking the wind / fresh air into our sleeping section as well as an air vent on the top. 

DAY 11 - ATHENS

11) FRIDAY, 8 JULY 1977: 175KMS .. - ATHENS.

On the way from  KONSTANTINOS to ATHENS  before ARKITSA, we  found  a  beach almost deserted, so we  parked for a rest and swimming,  as well as cleaning  interior of our campervan and clothes  with fresh water of  limited quantity  20- liters. Since we  left Munich  for 10 days, this was the first time that we had a chance to wash our clothes. 

First day of laundry under olive tree on the beach

I used a nylon rope stretching between two olive trees  as  clothes hanging line. Then I cooked (steamed) rice and made  spicy Chinese sausages salad  (that Yai-PONGTHEP  has  given us before departure from STUTTGART)  I had it together with  red chili paste.  Around 6.00 pm, we began driving to ATHENS.

We need to pay for roads toll 20.- Drachmen for the highway useing.  The Greek highway, anyhow, was not as wide as German Autobahn and  no dividing barricade on the road.  Most Greeks seem to  drive  well (?) , as well as Thai people (!), zigzaging from  left to right and enjoyed using horns  for fun without reason. Even worse were those trucks with color lamps at the front and both sides  (not much different from Thailand),  causing nervous tension and frustration. I seemed having got  used to German standard  during the past 4 years  in Germany that I never heard anyone used the horn !

Omonia roundabout (old photo) - Phot : Binbg images search

We arrived  ATHENS  about 8.30 pm. Tilo prefered to park outside the city as we were afraid of finding parking lot . At first, we though it was not far from the city center but we were wrong and had to walk quite  a long way. There was no sign that we would reach the city center,  we passed nearly  40 building blocks  until we reached  OMONIA roundabout, where  we  had some  sweets and cakes that look like Thai dessert made from egg yolks dipped in syrup (called Dhong-yhib and Foythong).   

Omonia square nowaday - Photo : Wikipedia / Bing images search

We walked  to look around  and saw people sitting at tables, generally having grilled meat and dessert.   Around  11.00 pm we went back to the parking  and drove off to find a better parking near the park not far from the National Museum.  Until we found the ideal parking spot, we had to drive around a OMONIA roundabout many times .


At last ..... something unexpected happened ....

After cleaning ourselves with wet towels as usual and we were preparing  our bed, we heard  a knock at the side of the campervan.   As soon as Tilo opened the back doors, we heard the voice announcing “Police !”  Of course, the policemen ....they asked to check our passports . One of them climbed up without our invitation.  He asked us to lift up the seating boards in the sleeping compartment and searched for  illegal materials but found nothing.  

I wondered and asked them what they wanted to search for. The answer was that because they saw our campingvan  moving and  making  several stops. Because parking area was hardly to find and we wanted to find the best area that was the reason Tilo drove around and stopped once in a while to have a look !  The police should have thought that  we might be drugs traffickers (oh well !? )  Actually Tilo had noticed  a car following us but didn’t mention it to me as he thought it was a taxi.

Athens - Photo : Bing images search

After having found nothing illegal and some converstions exchanged till clearly understood for both parties, the police politely asked for apologizing and bade us good night and wishing us a wonderful time in GREECE before driving away. So it was time to bed finally.

Athens by night and Acropolis - Photo : worldpress / Bing images search

DAY 10 - KONSTATINOS

10) THURSDAY, 7 JULY 1977 : 197KMS . - KONSTANTINOS

Monastery of Agia Triada - Photo :Bing images search

In the morning, we visited  METEORA Kloster , a Greek Orthodox Christian monastery on top of the hill, which looks weird, something like Monument Valley as seen in Western films with cowboys.

It was very quaint, characterized by a lump or large rocks with building (Monastery) located on a hilltop where space is limited .

Roussanou Monastery - Photo : Bing images seasrch

About 7.30 pm. we left  LAMIA, one of  interesting big cities of GREECE.  We took  the road along the coast toward the capital city ATHENS.  Today we spent the night in  HAG. KONSTANTINOS.

On both sides of the road  they were plantations of potatoes, tomatoes , watermelons , etc. I found the irrigation of GREECE was  very well managed. However, it seemed to me that farmers did not rely on government assistance alone. Farmers may have deep well pumps for underground water sources of their own and for their own use of watering plants on their farmlands.

Konstatinos on sea - Photo : Aralik Sokak / Bing images search

Interesting Airvuz Video of Meteora, Greece

III. GREECE : DELICIOUS GRILLED GOAT MEAT ON SKEWERS AND BRAYS OF DONKEYS

DAY 9

9) WEDNESDAY, 6 JULY 1977: 370KMS. - METEORA

I woke up almost at 10.00 am., we tried a new alcohol burner bought from SKOPJE.  It works effectively. Our old burner using kerosene pump didn’t work well because of the high flame making cooking pot black and dirty.  Once we started boiling water, a young guy came to have a look at what we were doing. His home might be close to our parking area.  We invited him for  coffee,  we could rarely talk but using sign language in inviting him. After a cup of coffee, he  took out 10 Dinars and extended to us but we did not accept it anyway. The young guy went back and  we began to clean dishes, sweep and vacuum inside our campervan. We had no sooner finished cleaning than the boy was back again with an armful of nearly 10 tomatoes, evidently from his farmland beside the road.

To this point, I have felt admiring Yugoslavs that they are so kind and friendly, really thoughtful considerate, and fun-loving people. They always smile all the time like Thai people. ... Goodbye  my friendly Yugoslavs.

Leaving our overnight parking, we headed towards  PRILEP, BITOLA,  to the Greek border town NIKI.

Not far from the border, we drove passing a large field of sunflowers on both sides of the road. Adjacent to sunflower field, there were rectangular wooden boxes on the ground periodically to collect bee honey. This is not a bad idea to gain both benefits from sunflower planting for sunflower seeds (used in making oil and margarine) as well as to collect honey in the meantime. In fact, we should do the same in my country* because the weather in Europe during this month is as hot as (or hotter than) in Thailand. We arrived the border  about 3.00 pm. No problem for customs and papers checking at the border, we could pass through GREECE easily.

(* Note: 36 years ago- in 1977, farming or planting of sunflowers in Thailand did not exsist like today).

Photo : ucanr.edu / Google images search

From the border, some changes of sceneries of sunflower fields to harvested wheat fields. We saw light brown stubbles, some were burned in black, It looks the same as when farmers burn their fields in my homeland. Mountains are rarely covered with trees. There are, however ,  small bushes in distant areas. I wondered if people could take benefit of the soil for agriculture in this bald mountainous areas.  Otherwise, there was not a single  house to be seen but looking so peaceful.

Photo : worldpress / Bing images search

On the way down  to the south to KOZANI, we came to a stream, so we parked near the bank to take a bath and shampooing. Since the water in the stream was at a low level, we had to use a plastic bowl taking water from the stream and poured it on to our bodies, just like taking a bath Thai way.  Feeling refreshed after a Thai bath, we went on to KOZANI, GREVENA and KALAMBAKA.

Bathing "Thai" way

We arrived KALAMBAKA about 8.30 pm.Yugoslavian time but by the new adjusted time in   Greece , which is faster 2 hours, it was about 10.30 pm.  Dinner time for this evening, it was very tasty and affordable.  We had grilled goat meat (like Thai pork skewers)  5 skewers for each with a bottle of red wine. It costed us only 92.- Drachmen  (1 DM = 13.- Drachmen / Drachmas).  

Greek is known as the best in preparing of the most delicious grilled goat meat. They must have special way or secret tips on how to marinate or cook meat - a little bit lean meat with aromatic spices (probably origano and fennel) and the smell of grilled meat on it. I thought that both goat meat and mutton  were consumed widely in this area.

 

Photo : Bing images search

And there is also tasty  feta cheese, made from goat milk as well. It looks like white curd  and has rather strong odor.

Feta cheese - Photo : Bing images search

The further we are away from Germany, the cheaper everything costs.  Oil is not so expensive,  a liter diesel as a station before KOZANI costed approximately 48 Pfennig only.

After we were  filled with our grilled meat dinner, we  went for a walk around.  I noticed there were not many people coming out for a walk together,  like in those cities of Yugoslavia. On the contrary, people sat in a restaurant opened until late at night like in my country Thailand. Then we drove away and stopped overnight in METEORA

Photo : Jurek D. (Flickr) / Bing images search

From the border, I observed that on both sides of the road, especially at some curves and intersections, there were small shrines, looking like spirit houses in Thailand. Some are totally in glass like tiny greenhouses and some have little lamps or lightings as well as a figure/photo of  Mary or Jesus inside.Some shrines are beautiful and the sizes are quite big... 

I have also seen usage of donkeys for transportation and for loading things on the roads we passed today. I have heard for the first time, strange sound like someone coughing. Try to do it yourself and listen if it sounds like brays of donkeys !
Hack, hack, hack ...... that's the sound !

There were herds of goats walking with their goatherds, assisted in tending the herds by dogs. These dogs are trained to help controlling and herding the goats.

Interesting landscape with a lone tree, on the way in northern Greece.

The wind here was very strong. I saw some monks of the Greek Orthordox church, also known as the Rabbi with long beard on their faces, wearing a long coat or robe to the length of ankles, walking in the area.

(Some Greek words I've learnt :
  Efgaristo = danke, thank you
  Palagalo = bitte, please
  Gala = milch, milk)