Our Holiday in by Spiro Liacos. Friday April 11, 2008. (see index page at www.meanttobemusicals.com.au/Greece)

We landed in Athens at about 3:30 pm, after having passed over the hills of Euboea and Attica, covered in fields of brown earth or green crops. Once again, there was applause from all the passengers when we landed. Our bags were not checked again. Has this practise now been abandoned? The X-ray machines and metal detectors are probably good enough to detect any potential threats. At the exit I saw my cousin Jenny waiting for us. I knew what she looked like because I had seen Jim’s (my brother’s) photos of her from his two recent trips to Greece. I hadn’t told her when we were going to land, not wishing to put anyone out, but, I found out later, she had found out the flight details from Jim. Anyway, it was great to see a “familiar” face. Apostoli, her brother, also came shortly afterwards. The boys drove with him and the girls went with Jenny. The sky was quite overcast, but Apostoli told us that the sky was grey because fine dust from Africa had been blown over by strong southerly winds. So I can now tell people that I’ve seen the Sahara Desert; all over Athens! The cars were all dusty, too. We drove to Theio Yianni’s house. He welcomed us warmly and we tried to organise our stuff. Well, Theio Yianni was delightful. He looks a lot like my Theia Vasiliki in Melbourne and uses a lot of the same phrases as my mum. Jenny was very helpful in getting our stuff ready, pulling out blankets and sheets, and organising the blow-up mattresses. She then told us not to worry about dinner because she would order pizzas. She then had to got to the doctor and told us she would return later for dinner. She actually returned at about 10:30. Greeks eat their dinners very late! I’m not sure if it was just hunger, but it was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever tasted. Apollon, Jenny’s son, was also at Theio Yianni’s house when we arrived. The boys almost immediately started playing and were inseparable for the next 24 hours! He refused to go to his piano lesson and decided to sleep over. It was great. The boys finally found another child to play with after three weeks in Italy where they barely saw any children let alone play with any. Spiridoula and Maria, my other cousins, came over briefly and met us, as did Jimmy, Spiridoula’s son. After the horror of the morning’s experience, the welcome from our Greek relatives was above all expectations, even though Jim (my brother) had told me about how fantastic they were.

Saturday April 12, 2008 Athens.

This morning we did very little. A trip to the small supermarket around the corner and to the bakery just up the road. The boys and Apollon continued to play together. It was fantastic. In the afternoon, we caught the train down to the city centre. The Metro train came within about two minutes. In Rome, then Milan and now Athens, you never seem to have to wait on a platform for more than about 2 minutes. We got off at Omoneia Square, kind of central Athens. This part of Athens, only about 3 km from the Parthenon was absolutely ugly. Ugly low-rise apartment and office buildings, dirty streets, rubbish, narrow walkways. Was this monstrosity of a city built by the same race of people who built the Parthenon, for which Athens is famous? After three weeks in Italy, which was full of fine cities, this was a big disappointment. Of course, Athens’ history is completely different to Italy’s. Athens was a tiny little town during the Byzantine Empire, and so, apart from the Parthenon and a handful of other buildings (which are mostly ruins), it has few historical buildings. It started developing after it was made the capital of the newly formed Greek Nation, and then grew rapidly after WWII, when people flooded into the capital looking for work. We made our way down to Syntagma Square. The buildings here were a little nicer. We witnessed the changing of the guards who “guard” the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They were dressed in their traditional Greek “Tsolias” clothing, complete with pompoms on their shoes. When the change was complete, people rushed towards the guards, who stand absolutely still, to have their pictures taken. We made our way through the National Gardens, which were very nice, to the Zappeion, Athens’ Convention Centre. This was a well presented cream- and orange-coloured neo-classical building. Walking down the pathway towards the Temple of Olympian Zeus, we spotted a tortoise walking along a grass section! Wildlife in Athens. The Temple of Olympian Zeus was just 12 or so columns in the middle of a large grassy field. The columns were huge, but there were so few of them. The original temple would have been enormous. Athan discovered that he was able to fit through the steel fencing that surrounded the site, so he was running around on the grass and we were able to take some shots of him without the fence being in the way. Nick then tried to fit through and succeeded, too. My boys, the trespassers! Across, the road was the beginning of the Plaka, Athens’ old quarter. This was nice. The streets were narrow and lined with souvenir shops and eateries. We worked our way through the streets, passing beautiful outdoor tavernas painted in delightful pastel tones. We climbed up towards the Acropolis’s northern side and walked along the pathway. Every second building was a church. This had turned into quite a nice walk. We could see some of the buildings on the Acropolis, but not the Parthenon, which is on the Acropolis’s southern side. We stopped for dinner at the Areos Pagos, the place where the ancient Athenian government was located, at the foot of the Acropolis in a large grassy area. There were no buildings here, only a few ruins like stacked stone blocks and remnants of columns lining the pathway. From there we had a nice view across the Ancient Agora. The sun was setting now, but we climbed the Areos Pagos hill, just below the Acropolis. The views up towards the Acropolis and its flood-lit Propylea (the grand entrance) were outstanding. The hill itself was made of smooth marble and was very slippery. Our introduction to Athens was very unsatisfactory but this area of Athens was beautiful. On the way home, some people heard us talking English in the train and we started a conversation. They were amazed that we were from Australia but we could speak Greek. We chatted all the way to our train station. It was fantastic. Greeks are always ready to begin chatting with each other and offer opinions about the state of Athens and which are Greece’s nicest areas. They said that Trikala and Volos, our next two destinations, are beautiful. Let’s hope they’re right!

Sunday April 13, 2008.

The streets of Marousi are lined almost entirely with apartment buildings and have two or three middle- size hoppers on nearly every corner. People chuck their household rubbish into the bins, and, presumably, the rubbish trucks come every so often and empty them. There is simply not enough room for everyone in Athens to have their own wheelie bin. A practical solution to the problem. There are no nature strips. To beautify the place, the council has planted trees in the middle of the already-narrow footpaths. There is no doubt that these trees have improved the appearance of the place, but the footpaths are all cracked and it’s almost impossible to walk on them. Most people just walk on the road. Car parking is also very difficult in the very narrow streets, so most people park their cars with two wheels up on the footpaths, making it even more difficult for pedestrians. Today we got up to go to church, but by the time we got ready at 9:30, Theio Yianni told us that the church service was just about to finish. In Greece, the church services finish very early. We hung around for a while, but Jenny rang us and invited us over. We went over and ended up staying for lunch, a delicious pasticchio. The kids played with Appollon on his Play Station. Spiro, Jenny’s brother came over and we met for the first time. He was delightful. He has just come back from where he is supervising the construction of a 3 ½ million Euro villa. He is also one of the engineers working on Athens’ Metro tunnels. In the afternoon, we visited Yianni and Roula’s house. Yianni is Georgina’s first-cousin’s son. He picked us up from the train station in his car and all seven of us drove to his house: three in the front and four in the back. It was a little tight! He dropped us off at his house and went to park the car; wherever he could find parking! He has a boy and a girl similar in age to the boys. We had a good time with them. The kids enjoyed playing with the other kids. They had a computer and a play station. Everyone’s got a playstation except us. At one point his mum rang up and told him that she was matiasmeni, afflicted with the evil eye. He immediately rang his mother-in-law and asked her to xematiasi her (de-evil-eye her). Some weird stuff goes on in Greece. They ordered souvlaki and it was delivered shortly afterwards. Scrumptious. We walked back to the car, which was parked about 5 minutes away and piled in.

Monday April 14, 2008

Theio Dimitri (another of my mum’s brothers) came over to Theio Yianni’s house this morning. Theio Dimitri was a pilot in the Greek Air Force. One of the few things I remember from my first visit to Greece was Theio Dimitri walking on his hands around his apartment. I was certainly impressed with him at the time, as was my whole family; “Theio Dimitri...the pilot” my parents always used to say. He was quite a character. Cracking jokes, singing, drinking tsipouro. He brought his 3-year-old grandson Marco over. Marco was also quite a character. “Na sou po kati” he kept saying. Theio Dimitri seemed to get happier and happier as the morning rolled on, and he then started expressing how much he loved his brother. He was a very loving, caring, emotional type of guy. Or he very drunk. Drinking a whole bottle of tsipouro will do that to a man. To me the stuff tastes like liquorice-flavoured oven cleaner, and I can’t stand oven cleaner. But it’s what Greeks like to get drunk on. That and life. It seriously felt good sitting around talking about stuff with my uncles. I barely knew them but I was having the time of my life. What a family I was born into! In the afternoon we went to the National Archaeological Museum. This museum had stacks of fantastic ancient Greek artwork. Original sculptures, the bronze statue of Poseidon, pottery, jewellery, paintings from Santorini. Well worth a visit for any lover of History and/or Art. The museum was in a beautiful neo-classical building, but the interior was very bare: plane white walls and ugly windows high up near the ceiling. The museums in Italy were all beautifully decorated. There seemed to be two “guards” in every room, either talking to each other or playing with their mobiles. There were probably more guards than patrons. This museum, said one of the guards, housed the third most impressive collection of artefacts from the ancient world, after the British Museum and the Louvre. Highly recommended. Next up was a visit to the Hill of Fillou Pappou, a treed hill situated just to the southwest of the Acropolis. It was getting dark by now, but that was good. We caught the train to Acropolis station, had a picnic dinner at the gates of the second-century-AD Theatre of Herod Atticus (at the foot of the Acropolis), and then made our way up the hill. The views of the floodlit Parthenon at night were stunning! We were looking back in time to a magnificent building built 2500 years ago. The ugly (“new”) Athenian apartment and office buildings weren’t visible in the dark (although we could see the city lights), so up there in the woods, the Parthenon shone in all its ruinous glory.

Tuesday April 15, 2008

The Saharan dust had cleared this morning after last night’s decent North winds, so we decided to go to the Parthenon. (We didn’t want to climb the Acropolis if there wasn’t clear skies over Athens.) The Parthenon was fantastic. Sections were covered by scaffolding, but it is still an impressive site. We unpacked our picnic lunch and ate on a bench with the Eastern section of this famous building towering over us. The views of Athens were great and you could see all the way down to the Saronic Gulf and across to the . We walked all around the Parthenon, saw the Erecthion, which has its columns shaped in the form of robed women, and climbed all the large chunks of marble which were once part of the structure of these buildings. Making our way back down through the Propylea (the grand entrance to the Acropolis precinct), we could see the ancient Athenian Agora below us. Passing the Theatre of Herod Atticus, we walked down a pathway on the Acropolis’ southern side and visited the Theatre of Dionysius. Many of Sophocles’, Euripides’, and Aristophanes’ plays were first performed here 2500 years ago, and these plays are still being performed. The semi-circular tiered seating was open to the public so we were allowed to sit there. We then walked around the Plaka area, bought a few souvenirs, and went to the Roman Agora. When the Romans took over Athens in the 100’s BC, they moved the city’s administration to this site. A few columns of the temples and other buildings that once stood here were visible. A little further on, we went to the Ancient Agora. This was the political heart of Athens during its golden years. This site used to have temples, administration buildings and open spaces. The Temple of Hephaestus still stands on the site at one corner of the site up on a low hill. The reconstructed with its 30 or so columns running the length of its Porch is a fine site and houses a great museum. I really enjoyed wandering around this site. It doesn’t have as many ruins as Rome’s Forum, but it was green, and it was all so peaceful. The remains (mostly the foundations) of many of the buildings were clearly visible and the kids enjoyed jumping around from one exposed marble remnant to the other. The Hill of the Pnyx was a little further along from the Agora. On this hill, which also has fine views over Athens, St Paul spoke to the Athenians about the statue to the Unknown God, which St. Paul declared to them was the one true God that he would make known to them. There is practically nothing here now. The hill is grassy and partly forested, and there are a few rocks arranged in a kind of semi-circle with a tablet marked “Orators’ Stand”. Was this the actual place that St. Paul stood? That’s what they think. Amazing.

Wednesday April 16, 2008.

We went to Athens’ War Museum in the morning. There were many things on display: medieval and renaissance swords; guns used in Greece’s War of Independence; WWII machine guns; models of war planes, tanks, ships, catapults; ancient spears, bows and arrows; and other artefacts. I was impressed with a small model of a WWII plane shown crashing into an Italian bomber. A Greek pilot had shot down many Italian aircraft during an attack in WWII when the Italians tried to invade Greece. He ran out of ammunition so he crashed his plane into the Italian bomber. The Italian crew bailed out as did the Greek pilot. Landing near them, he took them all prisoner with his revolver. The Greek press reported this incident for days afterwards. The Italians were repelled after six months of trying to invade, but unfortunately the Germans came in and managed to take control. The Germans were unstoppable in 1942. Outside the museum building were a number of fighter planes, a helicopter and artillery guns on display. It was great. We then walked up the hill towards the Lykavvytos hill, Athens’s highest peak. It was a killer climb, but we finally reached the funicular railway that runs through a tunnel cut into the hill. The funicular ride took us to the top of the hill. The views of Athens were beautiful. To the south we could see the ocean, to the west we could see the Acropolis, and all around we could see the mountains that surround the city (except for the south where the ocean is). The air was clear. Fantastic. If only there were some more decent buildings to look at. Athens’ apartment buildings are so ugly. However, the little white-washed church of St. George looked great in the sunlight.

Thursday April 17, 2008.

We visited the island of Aegina today. Woke up early, caught the train to Piraeus, and caught a ferry. The ferry took about an hour and a quarter to get there. Aegina town was very picturesque. The shops and tavernas that lined the harbour looked very pretty painted in soft pastel pinks, yellows and browns. The small fishing boats in the harbour, however, were brightly painted. Two of the boats were floating greengrocers; the boat serves both as a method of transport and a shop! We hired a car, a tiny 4-seater jeep with ripped seats and a dodgy clutch and drove to the Monastery of St. Nektarios. Driving a hire car is a little more stressful than catching a bus, but you can see a lot more driving around with a car than you can waiting at a bus stop. The Monastery was established by St. Nektarios, who departed this world in 1920 and was canonised in 1960. The church itself was large, and beautifully decorated with icons. Unfortunately, some renovations were taking place so there was scaffolding all over the church’s interior. The Monastery, reached by a walkway (with lovely view over the valley that snakes its way up the hill, had a small courtyard which was absolutely beautiful. I love stone buildings, but there is a lot to be said for white- washed buildings on Greek islands. On one side of the courtyard, near the monastery’s entrance, was the tomb of the Saint. It was within a tiny white- washed chapel with a small blue dome. Next to it was another small church, but this one was painted in yellow and red stripes! The other buildings were all white. Walking through, a small entrance to another section of the monastery, we saw eucalyptus trees planted both within the monastery and outside the 10-metre high stone retaining walls. Eucalyptus trees! I felt a little homesick. A woman who was watering some of the pots in the courtyard offered to show us the saint’s living quarters. We saw the small bedroom and lounge area. We drove on across the island to the Temple of Aphaia. The ancient Greeks usually built their temples on hills with beautiful views. This was no exception. In front of the temple, we could see the Saronic Gulf stretched out in front of us. In the distance some 20km away, the whole of Athens could be seen. No wonder they build so many apartment blocks; the buildings stretched right up to the mountains that surround Athens so there is no more room to expand outwards, only upwards. The temple was fairly small but what was left of its structures looked in fairly good condition. There was no roof and many of the external columns were no longer there, but in this setting at the top of a forested hill it looked great. There was a perimeter of rope around the temple, but as we were the only people there we decided to go into the temple. Very naughty! But it felt great! I climbed up some blocks that were in the shape of a stair case and was at the top of the temple. Later a bus came and a few people started coming up the path towards the temple. Our time inside the temple was up. The boys wanted me to video tape them having a fight on the remains of some buildings that were near the temple. They loved setting up their scenarios. Now we need to edit it all. Back to the car for the drive to Aghia Marina, a small village on the eastern side of the island. Along the beach front there were more tavernas, some very tastefully decked out with bright blue chairs on marble patios, while others looked run down. We walked along the rocky coast line towards the beach, yes, the sandy beach. However it was too cold to swim so we walked back towards the road and to the car. The shops looked very shabby, but a few locals were cutting grass and painting, perhaps getting ready for the tourist season. We drove back to Aegina town, stopped of at a playground, dropped the car off and caught the ferry home.

Friday April 18, 2008.

This morning we did nothing at all! The kids played at home, wrote their diaries, and watched TV. At about 1:30, Appollon came home from school and the boys all played together. I took the boys to a playground, while Fanoula and Georgina went to the Mall, Athens’ first successful shopping centre. When we got to the playground, which was small but built on a bed of grass, it was locked. A sign on the gate said “Hours of Operation: 9-2, 5-10. Even the playgrounds have siestas. And how many kids are still playing at the playground at 10pm? We jumped the fence and the kids started playing. Just as Appollon was about to get over, a lady comes up: “What are you doing? It’s not open. I might ring the council...People are trying to sleep...” Fine. We left and went to another playground. This one had plenty of equipment spread out on the clay/gravelly ground and a small concreted area where kids could play ball games. After playing brandy, some other kids came and the boys and I played a game of soccer. That was lots of fun. At about 5:30, we took Appollon to his Basketball practice, but as we walked along the street we saw Spiridoula (another cousin) up on her balcony. So now I know where she lives. We went up and chatted with her. The boys played with Jimmy’s Play Station. We rang Fanoula and Georgina and they came too.

Saturday April 19, 2008

Ourania, Georgina’s cousin, had invited us over today for lunch. We caught the bus over to their house. Along the way we passed some construction sites where they were erecting 6- or 7-storey apartment buildings. We walked almost directly under a crane that was hoisting some metal pipes into place. The workers weren’t wearing helmets or safety vests, and the road wasn’t blocked off with fencing. This site would instantly be closed off in Australia. Ourania and her husband Taso were delightful, as were their two children, Dora and Christo, both in their 20s. After lunch, we drove down to a cafeteria near the beach. We left in sunny conditions, but by the time we arrived, it was completely foggy: at 4:30 in the afternoon. Later, we were told it was more dust from Africa. We passed some open grassy areas and lots of playgrounds and mini fun parks with blow-up jumping castles and slides. It was a beautiful part of Athens. We went to a café, which, once again, looked very good. Couches, large umbrellas, hedges. However, I just can’t really get into the cafeteria lifestyle, that nearly all Greeks love. The coffees were 3 Euro, hot chocolates 4.50 and a plate with 2 scoops of icecream for the kids was 7 Euro, all up about 25 Aussie dollars. Ridiculous prices. I much prefer to pack a picnic hamper. I was stressed trying to find the cheapest thing to order. Christo then suggested we take the kids to the playground. I finished my Hot Chocolate and we left. The playground was the biggest playground I’ve ever seen; plenty of structures, spinning things, a flying fox, swings, grassy areas. The kids had a ball. Christo then started playing chasy with the kids, but he found it very difficult to catch them. They aren’t as fast as adults on flat ground, but they could fit through the passages in the “pirate ship” much easier. It was very nice there but we had to leave because my Theio Dimitri had also invited us over, for dinner. We met my cousins Virginia and her husband Lambro, and later Genobefa. Genobefa was a gynaecologist, and she has only recently given birth and is still breast feeding, but that didn’t stop her from having a few beers with her meal! My Theio Dimitri was a pilot in the Greek Air Force (did I already mention this?) He was the first person in Greece to drop a laser-guided smart bomb, and test flew the F105 Starfighter and many other planes. A high achiever, pardon the pun. The boys wore a helmet that he had, and got to hold the sword that he was given when he when he graduated from the academy.

Sunday April 20, 2008

We went to church this morning. The church was very small, so the parish has built another little church next to it, where people can sit inside and listen to the service taking place next door. The two buildings were made of stone and looked fantastic. We then went to Thespina’s house (another cousin). This was the first time I have seen relatives from my dad’s side of the family. They too were great. So welcoming, friendly, funny. Thespina is married to Dimitri, one of Athens’ most senior fire chiefs. Their two kids Phillip and Effie were friendly. Thespina’s brother Thannasaki and his wife Iota were there and later Dimitri Liacos, who has the same name as my brother, came with his wife Maria. We left at about 7 because we had to get back to my Theio’s house because the Rent-A-Car guy said he was going to deliver the car to us tonight. I was expecting a Tarago size 9-seater car, but he has brought us a van. It’s huge. It easily fits 4 people across in each of the rear bench seats (though it has only 3 seatbelts in each) and three at the front. They’re gonna laugh at us in the village and think that we’re millionaires.

Monday April 21, 2008 Today we leave for the Greek countryside, and specifically, Rizoma, the village my parents come from. We in Australia call the country “the country”, but in Athens they call it the exarcha: “the place you come from”. Most people in Athens are not from Athens originally. We have arranged to meet my cousin Thannasaki on the National Road, that runs from Athens to . Farewell Athens. We will see you again in about 6 weeks. (see index page at www.meanttobemusicals.com.au/Greece)