More details on Greece, then. Basically when in Athens I really did get to see (and know) the city. The central part of it is small enough to be highly navigable. I have gone from the girl who got lost all the time and couldn't read the map to showing up in a brand new city and taking buses and walking everywhere and it all just working out all right. Athens, though maybe not the most aesthetically pleasing city, does have a lot of character to it. Athenians like to go out drinking and partying at night in the Psyrri district and the men spend hours in front of the kafeneios (coffee houses), talking and smoking and drinking coffee. There are lots of museums and we can't forget the Acropolis and the Agora and lots of Roman ruins in between. The Plaka district was pretty touristy but still quaint and adorable. I did really enjoy the taverna thing; eating platters of mezzedes washed down by the house wines that come in large wooden barrels. Everyone I interacted with was very friendly, something I've definitely learned to appreciate as a traveler. It was really nice spending time with Rory, too.
The day trips I had were mostly great. Sounio was particularly stunning, even the bus ride there. The Temple of Poseidon is atop a hill covered in green grass and wildflowers overlooking the ocean...actually, the hill is really more of a cliff. The views are spectacular, and Lord Byron even graffitied his name right onto the Temple. Way to go, Lord Byron. I always knew those Romantic poets were all good-for-nothings.
Nafplio was a long bus ride, nearly three hours, and it passed by ancient Corinth, Mycenae and Argos. I didn't make it to the temple of Epidavros unfortunately, but oh well, guess I'll just have to go back to Greece. Nafplio is sort of a tourist sea-town, but the tourists it attracts are mostly just Greeks and a few Scandinavians and Japanese (everywhere I have traveled this year there have been Japanese tourists, literally everywhere!). First thing I did was climb the Parampali fortress which was built a few hundred years ago, I think during the Ottoman era. One thing I learned about Greece is it isn't just the "ancient" stuff, there's the Byzantine and Ottoman stuff too that's also everywhere. Really great views and I literally met the only other American tourists during my entire trip-it was a family from Spokane taking a ten week vacation. (I know, ten weeks?) Greek teens obviously never go to school because they were everywhere I went and it was definitely not vacation time for them. Ha. I saw some crazy costumes at the Peloponnesian folk art museum and tried to go to the archaeology museum but it was closed. I walked around the wharf and visited the worry bead museum and tried to find an elusive gelato place Rory told me about.
Aegina was sort of a dud- I took the ferry from Piraeus, not a very attractive city, and unfortunately the weather wasn't that great and I didn't make it to the temple on the other side of the island but at least what I did see was nice; ruins of an old synagogue and some Ancient Stuff and took a nice walk and ate dolmades. Aegina is famous for pistachios. Hmmm.
All in all a rather wonderful trip. Passover was nice, I had two seders even though I'm in Israel, both drastically different from one another- got through the Haggadah in 10 minutes on the first night and then in 2 1/2 hours on the second, so there you have it between Israelis and Americans! On Monday Elie and Arielle and I journeyed to Abu Ghosh, which was lots of fun and yesterday I saw Scarlett Johansson's latest film. Pretty awful but I still love Scarlett. Friday and/or Thursday I will hopefully be at Rainbow Gathering!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
greece is the word (first part)
so after another visit from the hospital I am ready to write about Greece! (don't worry, it's all good now. Oh, and happy Passover and soon-to-be-Greek Easter.)
Here is the rough itinerary of stuff I did. I'll put it here and break it down.
Day 1: arrived in Athens, met Rory's friends, ate true gyros for the first (but definitely not the last) time in Greece though mine was sans meat
Day 2: Monastiraki, Psyrri, introduction to the magic of Greek bakeries
Day 3: Saw the Parthenon and the Plaka district, big taverna dinner as a going-away pary for one of the CYA kids
Day 4: Visited the Agora and a Byzantine church with one of Rory's classes
Day 5: Explored the Temple of Poseidon at coastal Sounio
Day 6: Rode the bus to the idyllic seaside Peloponnesian town of Nafplio
Day 7: Took the ferry boat from Piraeus to the island of Aegina and ate at the cutest taverna ever
Here were some highlights among many (I'll write more about stuff in the next post):
-the yayas aka Greek grandmothers
-the ridiculously blue and beautiful ocean
-Greek food: saganaki, tzatziki, eggplant salad, dolmades, fluffy pita, baklava, souvlaki, need I say more? Oh and bakeries and pastry shops and street vendors...
-old Greek men fiddling with their komboloi (worry beads)- I even went to a worry bead museum in Nafplio
-the views from Sounio and Nafplio
-walking peacefully along the coastline of Aegina
-actually getting to see the Parthenon in all its glory after endless discussion of it in AP art history back in my high school days
-Greek clothes ( a welcome relief after the eurotrash styles of Israel)
-taverna dining (and the wine)
-the Athens metro...so clean, so pretty, so efficient
-I'm not sure if this was a highlight, but constantly getting lost in the sketchy Botanical Gardens and "zoo"
-Greek Orthodox churches
-um and ICONS...I am such a sucker for Orthodox iconography
-the blooming wildflowers
-seeing people get ready for Easter
-Greek coffee (if you call it Turkish coffee they might shoot you...also, it's Greek delight, not Turkish delight)
more to come!
Here is the rough itinerary of stuff I did. I'll put it here and break it down.
Day 1: arrived in Athens, met Rory's friends, ate true gyros for the first (but definitely not the last) time in Greece though mine was sans meat
Day 2: Monastiraki, Psyrri, introduction to the magic of Greek bakeries
Day 3: Saw the Parthenon and the Plaka district, big taverna dinner as a going-away pary for one of the CYA kids
Day 4: Visited the Agora and a Byzantine church with one of Rory's classes
Day 5: Explored the Temple of Poseidon at coastal Sounio
Day 6: Rode the bus to the idyllic seaside Peloponnesian town of Nafplio
Day 7: Took the ferry boat from Piraeus to the island of Aegina and ate at the cutest taverna ever
Here were some highlights among many (I'll write more about stuff in the next post):
-the yayas aka Greek grandmothers
-the ridiculously blue and beautiful ocean
-Greek food: saganaki, tzatziki, eggplant salad, dolmades, fluffy pita, baklava, souvlaki, need I say more? Oh and bakeries and pastry shops and street vendors...
-old Greek men fiddling with their komboloi (worry beads)- I even went to a worry bead museum in Nafplio
-the views from Sounio and Nafplio
-walking peacefully along the coastline of Aegina
-actually getting to see the Parthenon in all its glory after endless discussion of it in AP art history back in my high school days
-Greek clothes ( a welcome relief after the eurotrash styles of Israel)
-taverna dining (and the wine)
-the Athens metro...so clean, so pretty, so efficient
-I'm not sure if this was a highlight, but constantly getting lost in the sketchy Botanical Gardens and "zoo"
-Greek Orthodox churches
-um and ICONS...I am such a sucker for Orthodox iconography
-the blooming wildflowers
-seeing people get ready for Easter
-Greek coffee (if you call it Turkish coffee they might shoot you...also, it's Greek delight, not Turkish delight)
more to come!
Friday, April 4, 2008
springtime my friends
I'm in Tel Aviv right now in my cousin Gershon's apartment as I write; tonight is Tom's 21st birthday party.
Backtracking in time a little:
Back to the acupuncturist. I really like it.
Wednesday: after environmental science class we went on a field trip to a climate change conference at the Notre Dame Hotel (a hotel owned by the Vatican!). The conference was being sponsored by an Israeli-Palestinian organization that works towards peace, cooperation and resolving environmental issues within the country, and an Israeli and a Palestinian speaker each spoke about the affects of climate change in the world but specifically the Middle East-- where of course the effects are particularly harsh; desertification, food shortages, water crises, you get the idea. Actually, I'm writing an article on the environment for the j., so more on that later, I think. I'm not sure when the actual article will be published but I'll let you know.
Yesterday after Hebrew class, Riki and Alyssa (two of my friends from the program) and I went on what turned into a Christian-pilgrimage-adventure in the Old City. We walked through the Muslim and Christian quarters, stopping at Al-Jafar's for some khabbiyeh, down Via Dolorosa where we saw some of the stations of the Cross and walked to the roof of the Austrian Hospice where you can basically get the most amazing view of the Old City. The Dome of the Rock was so close that it looked small. Then we walked out the Lion's Gate to hike up the Mount of Olives. Passing by the massive Jewish cemetary we headed first to the Church of All Nations where there was a Coptic service taking place. To be honest, the church is really cool-looking from the outside, but the inside was kind of strange. We passed through the garden of Gethsemane where there were groups of pilgrims from all over the world. Alyssa is Catholic so she gave us short rundowns of the meanings of all these places.
We tried to walk up to the Russian Orthodox church but it was closed-- some other time, I guess. Our final stop was at the church shaped like a tear drop, which was very peaceful and had another amazing view. I saw so many monks, so basically I am set for life (I give myself twenty points every time I see a monk and I get ten bonus points for Armenian priests). From there we walked all the way back to Hebrew U, passing through residential east Jerusalem.
After a nice lunch at Giraffe with Gershon I think I'm ready for a nap or something like that. This weekend, alas, will be spent mostly working on/studying for midterms. My very first college midterms. Ah, Sarah Lawrence and the lack of midterms...kind of spoils you...now I've kind of forgotten how to study for tests.
Next time I update this I'll be in Greece!
Backtracking in time a little:
Back to the acupuncturist. I really like it.
Wednesday: after environmental science class we went on a field trip to a climate change conference at the Notre Dame Hotel (a hotel owned by the Vatican!). The conference was being sponsored by an Israeli-Palestinian organization that works towards peace, cooperation and resolving environmental issues within the country, and an Israeli and a Palestinian speaker each spoke about the affects of climate change in the world but specifically the Middle East-- where of course the effects are particularly harsh; desertification, food shortages, water crises, you get the idea. Actually, I'm writing an article on the environment for the j., so more on that later, I think. I'm not sure when the actual article will be published but I'll let you know.
Yesterday after Hebrew class, Riki and Alyssa (two of my friends from the program) and I went on what turned into a Christian-pilgrimage-adventure in the Old City. We walked through the Muslim and Christian quarters, stopping at Al-Jafar's for some khabbiyeh, down Via Dolorosa where we saw some of the stations of the Cross and walked to the roof of the Austrian Hospice where you can basically get the most amazing view of the Old City. The Dome of the Rock was so close that it looked small. Then we walked out the Lion's Gate to hike up the Mount of Olives. Passing by the massive Jewish cemetary we headed first to the Church of All Nations where there was a Coptic service taking place. To be honest, the church is really cool-looking from the outside, but the inside was kind of strange. We passed through the garden of Gethsemane where there were groups of pilgrims from all over the world. Alyssa is Catholic so she gave us short rundowns of the meanings of all these places.
We tried to walk up to the Russian Orthodox church but it was closed-- some other time, I guess. Our final stop was at the church shaped like a tear drop, which was very peaceful and had another amazing view. I saw so many monks, so basically I am set for life (I give myself twenty points every time I see a monk and I get ten bonus points for Armenian priests). From there we walked all the way back to Hebrew U, passing through residential east Jerusalem.
After a nice lunch at Giraffe with Gershon I think I'm ready for a nap or something like that. This weekend, alas, will be spent mostly working on/studying for midterms. My very first college midterms. Ah, Sarah Lawrence and the lack of midterms...kind of spoils you...now I've kind of forgotten how to study for tests.
Next time I update this I'll be in Greece!
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