Posts Tagged ‘greece’

There was a small fire in the Embassy last night (technically, the Chancery, but we’ll just respect common usage here).  Nobody was injured, but it sure stinks in here.

Also, my trip to Cyprus this weekend became more interesting when I was told I should visit both sides.  Now I’m considering it.

Those of you who did me the favor of attending “wine nights” in lovely Urbana might remember that one time, after I found out I was going to Greece, when we tried a few Greek wines.  The only two I could find were from a place called Domaine Skouras; a red and a white, and that was all I knew.

Well, now it turns out that Mr. Skouras happens to be a real person with a real winery and he really likes the fact that the United States is his biggest export market.  So we paid him a visit, and he treated us pretty well.  We paid for the tour, but I’m not sure everyone gets the same service.  I probably made it on the local news a few times that evening because I happened to be sitting next to someone rather important.

The wine was nice, too.  We started with a tasting in the cellar (with the rows and rows of barrels – see photos).  Afterwards, we moved on to a lunch of gourmet Greek foods, which were tasty.  Wine served with the meal, of course.  We started with the red and white that I’d had before, and then moved on to the big guns, including a “big wine” – literally, “megas oenos,” and a delectable dessert wine (which is not for sale yet, but we got a sneak peek).  Some of the guests enjoyed the wine more than others, but I think everyone had fun.

And along the way, of course, I got to look out and see some of the countryside.  The Skouras winery is past Corinth on the Peloponnese somewhere, and this was a new part of the country for me.  The hills were steep and occassionally barren, but the valleys were fertile enough and they could put grape vines in the strangest places.  All told, it was a good way to spend a Saturday.

On Sunday, I went to a football match between two local(ish) teams.  AEK is from Athens and Olympicos is from Piraeus (I believe), which is only a few miles away.  You Greek history students will know.  Anyway, it was a tie, 3-3, which is significant since these two teams are part of the set of three that usually duke it out for the title around here.

Oh, and by the way, it rained and snowed (at the same time, I swear) and gusted wind [and, of course, smoke].  Good times. Cold times.  Everyone I met kept apologizing for the winter weather.  And while it was a little cold, it wasn’t Chicago winter, so I wasn’t complaining.

And then, of course, the Bears lost.  I did stay up for that – intern Courtney had some friends who made a reservation at Hard Rock, so Mark (senior intern) and the two of us got lost looking for Hard Rock, but in the end had a good time.  Until they lost; that was sad.  Also, we did not get to see any of the commercials, due to copyright issues.  That was possibly the second-saddest thing.

And then I went home at 5am and started work the next day at 8:30!  I’ve been having fun, trust me, but it’s hard to write about it.  Please sympathize!

We’re trying to plan a trip to Cairo, to include the pyramids, etc., and probably a trip to the Greek islands.  Since I’m in the area, it seemed like a good use of my time.  Weekends are great!

Although, I still haven’t seen the Parthenon (except from a distance).  I’m a bad tourist.  But I’ve still got time!

Made it safely to Athens on Friday, February 2nd.  I would have loved to tell you about it then, but I could barely tell which way was up, so it had to wait.

The journey was uneventful, although I did meet a particularly opinionated dental supply salesman from Chicago who kept me awake during my layover in Frankfurt.  It would have been nice to sleep, but I arrived in country at around 1pm local time, which makes it 6am Chicago time, without having slept more than 2 hours.  It was a long first day.

I took a cab to the address of the apartment I’m staying in, and met the roommates.  Mark, Courtney, and Jodi all seem nice, so all’s quiet there.  Mark and Courtney have been here a month or so, so they were showing me the ropes, and they didn’t let me sleep away the weekend.  We got up at 6:30 on Saturday morning and headed up to see the monasteries of Meteora.

After a four and a half hour train ride (which was made more interesting by the rotating cast of characters who sat across from us), we stepped off the train to be instantly stunned by the impressive view of tubular stone cliffs rising hundreds, if not thousands, of feet from the center of a green valley.  The cliffs are smooth and gray, apparently having been gently carved by water out of the rock, and sanded down over time.  Many small, curved ledges dot the sides, and the tops are flat, like someone carved curvy stone end tables on a grand scale.  Being confused at 6:30 in the morning, I didn’t bring my camera, but if I can snag some pictures from the other guys I’ll share them.

We initially started walking towards the cliffs, but it is longer than it looks.  After a nice hour-and-some walk, we went back to town and called a taxi.

The monasteries are mostly located on top of the rocks, although a few underachievers have settled to snuggle at the base.  They have a long history, beginning with a collection of reclusive Orthodox hermits who inhabited their under-accessible reaches to escape the rest of the world.  The monastery we visited (Agios Stephanos) apparently dates back to around the 1400s (if I remember correctly), although it has been improved since.

It was a stunningly large complex of stone, slate, brick, and fired clay, wedged neatly onto the top of this flat rock.  It is still inhabited by an order of female monks (my intuition was to call them nuns, but that is either not applicable in the Greek Orthodox church, or was lost in translation).  We spent a few hours peeking around – the paintings in the church were spectacular.  See for yourself some time.  But you’ll want to allow more time than we did, because there are at least half a dozen monasteries, and we only saw one before we headed back to town to buy tickets back to Athens.  We saw several of them from a distance, and I think it would be worth seeing more.  (I’ve been told one of them has a collection of skulls from all the monks who lived there – creepy, perhaps, but pretty interesting.)

Oh, and if any of the ladies do take the time to visit the monasteries at Meteora, be aware that pants are not allowed, nor are bare arms.  If you forget, there’s a rack of loaner skirts at the entrance.

Four and a half hours later, we arrived back in Athens, and that was it for Saturday.