Posts Tagged ‘travel’

I have never been entirely sure why some places become popular, lively destinations, while others languish in obscurity and are denigrated as slow or backward.  I’m guilty of this myself at times; for instance, would I rather spend the weekend in Chicago or in, for instance, Beloit?  Well, Chicago.  Obviously, right?  It has people, and it has things to do, and yes, sometimes it is even beautiful.  Possibly in a man-made way, but that’s something.

But which came first?  The people, or the appeal?  At a certain point I think geographic locations achieve a self-sustaining momentum, which will cause people to visit just because that’s what people do.  Places like New York, Tokyo, London, and Paris all have that particular cult about them.  If you’re still following me, then hang on tight, as I explore whether this island might just rank up there with those neon capitals of culture.

I have recently had frequent occasion to try and figure out what, exactly, there was to do on the island of Mykonos.  I wondered, when prodded, where all the fun clubs and vaunted nightlife was.  And the people?  How come nobody else was there?  But I realized, when forced to think about it this way, that I didn’t care where they were.  And I didn’t care where the hottest club was, thank you very much.  I, for one, am pretty convinced that Mykonos is one of the places where the appeal was definitely there well in advance of the people.  This little gem in the Aegean was beautiful long before people set foot there, and for many many years and for many many people that was enough.  Only later did people go just because that’s what people do.  If that’s why you came, well then fair enough.  But if, while you are there, that’s all you’re bothered about… you are missing out.

Which is not to say that I didn’t have fun out and about on the town, because I certainly did – Caffe Perfecto did a great lunch, Appaloosa was nice for everything, especially the fun company, and Argo was mostly loud but also nonetheless enjoyable.  Passo Doble was small but did a mean espresso, and I marvel that they can turn what is an unassuming coffee shop by day into a themed party venue by night.  The entire waterfront is just row after row of awnings and tables, light and noise.  Even the nameless place in Little Venice (whose menu was strangely limited exclusively to Mythos that night) would probably have benefited from a daylight visit, if they could just find the rest of the kitchen/bar staff they seemed to have misplaced.  Those are the clubs/bars/restaurants/cafes I remember (usually the same places, but the function changes depending on the hour).  But I also passed some time walking on the beach, and that was much improved by being the only person there.  And I had fun sitting on the steps of a little church looking over the town, which frankly would have been no fun at all if there were, for instance, a line and a bouncer because Paris Hilton was also going to be sitting on those steps tonight.

The island was beautiful.  Unlike Cyprus, which was large (as far as islands go), complicated, and very thought provoking, Mykonos is quite small and simple.  Not to say it didn’t provoke thoughts, but they mostly went along the lines of “Oooh.  Ahhh.” as I watched the waves wash up and down.  Or the slower version, “Oooooh.   Ahhhhh.” as I watched the sun set into the sea over the whitewashed town.

And as I wax rhapsodic about my getaway, you may be thinking that I’ve been doing quite a bit of that here.  Let me assure you that it just comes with the territory.  Seeing new things, and seeing them with new eyes, often leads you to appreciate each place’s unique assortment of beauty with renewed sensibilities.  But just think, if I’m really this stunned, mightn’t you be, too?

So if you’re the kind of person who was quite taken by the Grand Canyon when you first saw it, or who could sit and listen to the ocean for hours, or who likes to watch thunderstorms roll across the flatness of lakes or plains, maybe you should visit Mykonos.  Everybody’s doing it.  But maybe, when you leave, you’ll know why they all come.

An overview of the Intern Quartet (less Mark) outing to Cyprus.  Step 1, get there.

Okay, so our flight to Cyprus was at 6:20am on Saturday the 17th.  The airport is down near Piraeus, so it takes usually around 45 minutes to get there, I’m told.  It didn’t seem that long when I got a taxi in after my flight, but then again, I wasn’t paying much attention (at least not quality attention) to anything right then.  So, 6:20 – 45 makes 5:35am, make it 5:05 to be safe.  Then we have to arrive early for international flight check-in, because even though Cyprus is in the EU, it hasn’t signed (or implemented, I’m not sure) the Schengen agreements, which means it still has independent border controls. On the plus side, this meant I got more stamps in my passport, which is amazingly unbelievably (and inexplicably) satisfying.  But we had to get there earlier (we thought), so now the clock is pushed back to 4:05am.  And of course most people don’t just roll out of bed and walk out the door – even boys – so make it 3:30am to give me time to put clothes on straight and brush my teeth.  Yuck.

Oh yeah, and the night before that, we went to an event at the Marine house, because they are generally cool people, and even if they weren’t, I sure wouldn’t tell them so.  We went over there and had drinks and conversation with the detachment and random people from work, plus people from town that they know. It was fun but didn’t end until midnight, when they moved the party to a bar, and we ditched to get a few hours of sleep.  P.S. if you ever join the Marines, you should know that the ones at diplomatic posts get live-in chefs.  And if my experience is anything to go by, they’re pretty good.  Nummy hors-douvres.

Anyway, getting a taxi at 3:30am is not a problem, it turns out.  Depending on where you’ve been this may or may not surprise you.  A flight later and we arrived in Cyprus.  Along the way, I discovered that the wait times at 5ish in the morning are pretty much nonexistent, so we had overbudgeted for time at the airport.  Also, intern Courtney falls asleep instantaneously on airplanes.

On the approach pattern, we flew over the whole island along the North-South axis – it is relatively small, at least in that dimension.  Even so there were large swathes of farmland and mountains that make you realize it’s more than just a tourist destination; people have lived there, semi-independently, for millenia.  Upon arrival, Jodi rents the car, Courtney tries to figure out how to keep her eyes open, and I change money.  P.S. I now have the only spendable money (in Cypriot pounds).  The feeling of power is amazing.  Also, they have interesting designs on their coins.

Step 1.5, a little background information.

The Turkish military invaded in 1974, on grounds that the Greek cypriots were violating the terms of a 1960 treaty, which may or may not be true.  The treaty contained many provisions to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority including guaranteed levels of representation in the legislature and increased local autonomy, and most importantly it required that Cyprus remain independent of any other power; historical evidence and prevailing sentiment at the time both indicated that the majority of the island was leaning towards unification with Greece, which would have been a violation.  Furthermore, there was significant domestic protest over the disproportionate power Turkish Cypriots seemed to enjoy.  Many people think that the Turks were only invading to force the Greek cypriots to compromise with the Turkish cypriots on favorable terms over the major issues – in any case, they now control 37% of the island, including a bit more than half (I think) of the capital, Nicosia.  So the invasion itself was a spectacular success, but the aftermath didn’t turn out as planned, because nobody bothered to compromise.

A note on names.  Pay attention here, because this is kinda tricky: when talking to a Greek cypriot, it is diplomatic to term the north side “Turkish occupied Cyprus” or a similar phrase, because they hate it when you give any semblance of legitimacy to the administration of the north side of the island.  However, when in the north, it is diplomatic to refer to it as “North Cyprus” (the informal name of the Turkish-backed state), because 1.) people don’t like it when you use euphemisms which deny the existence of the country they’re pretty sure they live in, and 2.) it is illegal to “insult Turkishness” in Turkey, and this may carry over to areas under Turkish control.

Step 2, play tourist.

So Saturday morning in Cyprus we drove the rental car from the airport at Larnaca down the coast road to Limassol, and then on the Pafos. How’s your Cyprus geography?  Along the way, it rained, but about the time we hit the Birthplace of Aphrodite, the sky cleared a little bit.  I have a picture on the gallery, looking southwest (I think) from the coast, with a bit of cliff on the left, ocean on the right, and a clearing sky above, that I think looks just gorgeous.  We also saw a fort (which was a bit of a snoozer, but what can you do?) and some archaeological digs (which were much cooler).  I got a picture of me laying down in a crypt.  A bit of fun, but mostly it made my jacket filthy.  And about this time I was feeling really tired, but I was not alone, so we decided to drive to Nicosia (the capital and major city) and check in with our hosts.

Jodi had arranged for us to stay with some family friends who work in Nicosia, so we checked in and said hi.  We had a snack, cleaned up a little, and suddenly even Courtney was awake, so we went into town.  Nicosia is really interesting, because the UN buffer zone separating the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots runs right through the downtown area.  We wandered the Greek side for an hour, and then got a call on my handy dandy phone from one of the Marines from Nicosia, who showed us around.  It is nice to have these connections.

Sunday we drove over into the Turkish side of the island.  Regardless of differing opinions on the existence of a state in the northern section, they do allow people to cross between the sides.  I got another stamp in my passport (by special request), and we went touristing.  We went and saw the castle of St. Hiliarian (spelling?).  It’s high on a mountainous ridge, between the UN’s line and the Mediterranean to the north, but it was built long before the conflict.  I think it was built by the English originally, but used by the French, the Venetians, the Ottomans, etc. etc. etc. down the line. Today it is a tourist spot, but the area is still very important militarily, and we drove past tons of military bases.  I have a few opinions about the military situation in the area too, but I’m trying for a tourist perspective now.  So the castle was cool, and huge.  They claimed it inspired the Snow White castle but I think they’re lying.  We wandered it for hours – the grounds were very large, and steep, actually.  When it was fully intact it must have been impressive, and they basically built a contiguous complex of structures on the last 100 meters of the mountaintop.  We climbed to the very top and had an amazing view.  I think, if I had billions of dollars, and it wasn’t probably a World Heritage Site, and buying land in a country of questionable existence weren’t a bad idea, I would buy it. Breathtaking view of the mountaintops, green valleys between, and the slopes all the way down to the Mediterranean, right over the tops of towns.  On a clear day you could probably see to Turkey.

And from there, we wandered down to the coast by car and explored a little.  It was a pretty sleepy, generally unexciting place, save for the fact of the beaches, and the monument to the Turkish invasion. More political stuff, but I just can’t help it –  the artwork was very very very propagandized.  In the first panel, there were pictures of people suffering under oppression (probably supposed to be the Turkish Cypriots), and then the second panel had people suffering violently (probably representing ethnic cleansing), and the third had soldiers fighting each other (the invasion from Turkey), and in the fourth there were people smiling and holding hands under the shining sun.  The imagery is pretty straightforward, but I’m pretty sure the conflict is not so clear-cut.  Fascinating to see.  I don’t have pictures, because my camera battery ran out in the middle, but I made Courtney take some, so I’ll get those eventually.  It reminded me of nothing so much as a Turkish Guernica – both in artistic style and historical content, but I think the Guernica may be a more genuine reflection of the events it seeks to describe.

The great thing about this country being on the small side is, you can afford to take day trips to all kinds of places.  Last weekend, Meteora; this weekend, Delphi.  Delphi is home to several statues and monuments you’ve probably seen when the History Channel or somebody like them starts talking about Greece.  The Sanctuary of Apollo and the Sanctuary of Athena are two large complexes of ruins situated a few hundred meters from the modern town of Delphi.  I’m going to assume that the ancient town of Delphi is around the ruins I saw, because frankly the museum at the site was less than informative.

Anyway, we took a three-and-something hour bus ride from Athens out to the town on Sunday; along the way it began to rain, and by the time we got there it was quite gray and wet.  Not yet discouraged, we set out down the street with some other people we had met on the bus and made our way towards the ruins.  According to the signs, anyway.

Humorous interlude: Two men on the other side of the street serenaded the ladies as we walked past.

So after trekking a few hundred meters down the road, outside of town, around a few bends in the road – which, ironically, became more pedestrian-friendly once you left town – we climbed the hill to see the Temple of Athena.  (See pictures in gallery).  It’s got more than a few buildings, some recognizable pillars, and a very large theatre.  I don’t really know how to describe it; some of the buildings had signs indicating what they were (or at least their names), but it was pretty neat in person even if I’m utterly failing to convey this feeling to you.

And it was really wet.  More than a few of the pictures have rain drops on the lens.  On the other hand, it sure kept the tourists down.  We decided, since we were already so wet, that it wouldn’t hurt to walk down the hill, below the road, to the temple of Apollo, but it was less impressive than the Temple of Athena complex.  There were, in each site, an astonishing collection of pillar segments all around, and in many cases, very intricately carved stones of varying purposes – art or inscription, structural pieces like lintels, functional pieces like aquaducts, and decorative pieces like statues.  And after seeing all these through the haze of rain, we walked back to town, and caught another bus back to Athens.

Actually, I think this was my first taste of Greek ruins.  Still haven’t seen the Parthenon.

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!