Greece Trip (part 2)

As we near the Savoy, I recognize the area, as I have already done my research of the area on Google Maps. I find it is hands down one of the best travel tricks I know.  The hotel is just as I expect. It’s not a new hotel made into a glass box. It is definitely a local business that looks at home in its surroundings near the Ancient waterfront. You would not describe the Hotel Savoy as being fancy. I had a plan for this hotel. It was intended to be a home base for our entire stay (even though we’d made plans to venture out to the other Greek islands.) I scored a deal wherein the cost of the flight together with this hotel for almost two weeks was less expensive than the flight if purchased on its own. 

Hotel Savoy Port Piraeus Athens, GR (photo G. Bessmer)

This very place of Piraeus was first settled in 26 century BC. It is an area rich in history from its battles in the Peloponnesian War when in 426 BC the port of Piraeus surrendered to the Spartans which lead to the surrender by Athens itself! Piraeus served as a Naval Base for fighting the Persians in 480 BC. Only three years later, the area would be bustling with silver mines. 

In 360 BC a lion was sculpted of marble and had become so well known it was located to the port in 1 Century AD and served as a landmark. Later the Italians would refer to Piraeus as Porto Leone (The Lion’s Port). The statue was looted in the 17th century and taken to Venice where it stands outside of the Armory today. Through the centuries even Alexander the Great worked on rebuilding the area. Even though the area now resembles a somewhat modern metropolis, you can’t help but feel the history. 

Exhausted from our travels and feeling jetlagged, we agree to a late afternoon nap. With a bit of help from George, we check into our hotel. I tried to explain to the front desk clerk that we would not be staying the entire time at the hotel. We plan to have an element of spontaneity in our plans, so I have no exact dates to name. We are instructed to leave at least some belongings in the room when we are gone. The lady at the front desk takes a bit of time to teach us a bit of Greek pleasantry useful for our visit.

The room has two twin beds and is a welcome sight after feeling so confined for hours and hours. The view is assessed momentarily. City view, streets, other buildings, a few trees on the street below, the smell of salt air, the honking horns from the endless stream of taxies and busses. The cellphones show that we have no new email.  It seems odd. We had signed onto the hotel’s FREE WiFi successfully. The balcony doors are left open while we napped just feet away. 

Several hours later, we woke to twilight skies and felt almost human again. It’s time to find our first Greek meal! We dress and head out on the town. After asking a few locals where to go for dinner we reassess our condition and decide since our wake up time is 6:00 we’d look for a bit of street food and a few bottles of water before heading back to the hotel. We have arrangements with George to drive us on a tour of Athens landmarks including the Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus!

Kaliméra! (Good Morning!)

Unbelievably, breakfast is included with our stay at the Hotel Savoy! They offer a full complement of breakfast items including freshly squeezed Orange juice. I’m not certain if it’s the excitement of waking in a strange city but everything (everything) tastes extra fresh and flavorful. Still no new email.

At 7:30 there’s George is waiting in the lobby of the hotel. He’d already met with the lady at the front desk and together they decided to let us finish our breakfast undisturbed. We climbed into the Mercedes sedan and we were soon at the base of the Parthenon. But there is a problem. After making a few phone calls and speaking very excitedly, George reports that city workers are on a strike and ALL ancient Athenian landmarks would be closed for the day.  We would need to create a “Plan B”.

George drops us first at the Acropolis, allowing us to explore what there was to do. We discovered an area referred to as the hill on the marsh. It was there that St Peter gave his speeches and gained notoriety for starting a Christian church.  The area is terrific for viewing the city of Athens. George drives us to the nearby Acropolis Museum. That has been the highlight of the trip so far. What a beautiful place!  

Next, we drive to the temple of Zeus! It was very impressive with 16 still standing pillars (of 170). The others have been destroyed and are missing over the course of 2,500 years of concurring, earthquakes and the effects of time.

George suggested we drive to Corinth where, on the way, we see the canal that connects the Aegean to the IOS Sea. We see several boats flying up & down the narrow crevice. The canal was very impressive, and seems to draw many tourists from all around. 

Along the way, George is telling us the history of the area. He’s fascinating to listen to, but, with the twisting and winding of the roads on a warm afternoon, riding in a comfortable car, still suffering from jet lag, and listening to his voice for long periods of time, it’s no huge surprise I keep nodding off. Each time I do, he speaks a bit louder to get my attention!  Occasionally he’d teach me Greek useful phrases. He’d ask me to repeat them. He was going to be certain we enjoyed every moment of that ride! I liked ol’ George too much to be upset. He’s a great character in our story of Athens, Greece. 

Now onto the Corinth Archeological Museum. It has an area with ongoing excavation. The Museum has an extremely interesting collection of various items dating as far back as 7,000 years! Most items are out in the open to inspect from up close.

Next, George insists we eat at a restaurant he’s familiar with (suspect but we’re hungry and it looks like a good spot). It is within walking distance from the site. The name of the restaurant is written in Greek. I’m unsure of its English name. 

The menu has pictures of the food available. Scott orders a Greek salad and lasagna (macaroni and cheese with a thin layer of ground meat). I order pork chops served with potatoes. The entire meal was afloat in olive oil and pepper sauce. Although it seems a bit over salted, I finish everything on my plate. 

The well-meaning owner comes back to the table with a plate of orange segments and strawberries for dessert. We eat as many as we can, pay the bill of 35 Euro and leave the change as we were told that was acceptable. 

George is waiting for us in his car; engine running. We climb in and speed off for our trip back to Athens. On the way, George makes an unplanned stop at a church dedicated to St Peter. There is a spectacular gold mosaic wall including a triptych of St Peter. It seems George most certainly wants to share his faith. Once back in Athens, we arrive at the Parliament building to see the changing of the guard. 

After about 10 minutes, we’re on our way, first to a wonderful chocolate shop for delicious ice cream, then to our final destination; the Hotel Savoy, Athens. 

We arrive back to our hotel room with the intention of freshening up and heading out again to see the night life of Athens. After our showers, we sat at the end of our beds; mesmerized by the local news. Knowing of our early date with the Blue Star Ferries in the morning we decided to call it a night.  Sleep felt wonderful! 

Ti sto kaló (What the Heck?)

I awake at 3:00 with an idea. I should have thought of it before really. I don’t think of myself as a complete idiot. My inner voice said, “Switch your phones from WiFi to Cellular!” My inner voice was correct!  The emails came flooding in from the past several days! Among them was an email from the Princess Santorini marked “Urgent”. As I opened it I read that the strike that was happening here in Athens had far reaching effects – all the way to the Island of Santorini. Although they stopped short of saying our reservation would be canceled, they advised us, “please find an alternative method for arriving.” An alternative method for arriving… on an island? I woke Scott and explained to him that our plans to head out into the Aegean for the next nine days could be in jeopardy.  Thankfully we had the Hotel Savoy for our entire stay! 

I also found an additional email from the US State Department. The message told us ALL forms of transportation in Greece were down. It said we should avoid the ports (air and sea) There are potentials for hazards that may happen. US Citizens were being advised to stay away from any areas with potential for civil unrest.

The decision was to make our way to the docks, anyway. As it turns out, we had no problem whatsoever boarding our ferry. Three hours later we will be arriving at our first stop; a beautiful island called Paros. The next stop after an hour – Naxos. After a brief stop in Naxos, we were on our way to IOS. iOS came and went with a few pictures of each of us. At one point, I went to the reception desk onboard. I asked them for a timetable. “We don’t have them,” the receptionist said. “You need to contact your travel agent when you arrive in Santorini,” he says. 

“I’m supposed to wait until I disembark in Santorini to ask a travel agent there when we will arrive in Santorini?” Strange… I assume it’s a language issue.

I go back to my seat and look up the information online. 

For some reason, Scott suddenly goes into “Danny Torrance” mode, and communicating with him is difficult. I think he’s tired. Next stop is Santorini! I contemplate the virtues of waking him when we arrive. 

I send a message ahead to the Santorini Princess, “We are to arrive only about 20 minutes late.” 

They respond right away assuring me their driver Adar would be waiting at the dock for us. 

As we arrived in Santorini, it was magical! We entered the caldera and saw all of the white-topped cliffs covered in Adobe like houses. Everything is so foreign to me. What a moment! We are met by our driver, who looks like super Mario. He was from Georgia; former Russia. He says, as he drives his black Mercedes van close to the edge of a cliff, with no guardrail, “I miss the old Russia!” He makes it clear he is no fan of President Obama. We were the first to engage him in a political conversation. We are interested to see how others outside of our day to day universe feel about the world we live in. 

Adar takes us up the cliffside FaST! I regretted that our last conversations may be about President Obama, no matter how one votes. We dodge cars and barely squeeze by tour buses making their way up and down the same dangerous road. “Hey Adar, do people ever go over the side of this thing? There are no guard rails. It seems dangerous.” 

Adar nods his head affirmatively and gives an evil grin. I take a deep breath and look to see how much further we need to climb. It’s going to be worse coming down. I just know it!

He rushed us directly to the Santorini Princess Hotel. I wanted to tell him to slow down. It was like spies were after us and he was driving a getaway car. “Look out for that PEDESTRIAN!” Good thing the car’s horn works! When we arrive, we were met by every staff member of the Santorini Princess. One of them kept yelling, “Leave your things! Leave your things, and follow us!” It was uncanny how it seemed as if we were going through a TSA screening. “Not even my Tumi crossbody bag with my ID and credit cards?” No… I can take this. 

We are taken on a tour of every venue; breakfast, dining room, spa, and finally our room. It was Magnificent! It was a small single bungalow/ typical vaulted Greek style building. On this property we splurged a lil so that we could have a memorable stay in first-rate accommodations. Situated on the edge of a cliff about six miles from the small town of Fiera (Thera) the Santorini Princess is an amazing bucket list property that I would recommend for everyone visiting the island. Reservations are needed well in advance, with stays requiring advance notice of one or even two years!


Before the welcoming committee leaves us alone to our own devices, we order a couple of appetizers of fried feta and a Napoleon. The Napoleon is a chicken, bread, feta, topped and running down the sides with some sort of salty tomato sauce. We also order a bucket of ice and a bottle of Ouzo. It is simply the most amazing thing I have tasted in a long time. I tell you Greece has food that is unlike any at home. It somehow smells better & tastes fresher. 

Sunsets in Greece are very special happenings. Ours was about to happen in about an hour. We slowly ate our appetizers and had several glasses of Ouzo. Sadly that’s about the last thing we remember until the next morning. We quite literally passed – no blacked out! We missed the sunset and everything. We’ve had a good laugh about that ever since. I swear all I remember is taking a few photos of the sunset about to happen. I went inside our living area and sat on the end of the bed waiting for Scott who was washing his hands. Ten hours later I awake with Scott beside me. Still fully dressed as we’d arrived, neither of us had moved. The strangest part of all (besides blacking out) was there was absolutely no hangover! None. We have awakened totally refreshed and ready for breakfast! 

We take showers, unpack, and hike to the breakfast area. We are met with everything you would expect at a breakfast buffet. All except eggs that is. They have an omelet station. It sounds wonderful but it turns out they only do eggs one way; cooked until they are almost crunchy and black. No matter how much coaching I give the poor girl, she has one way to cook an egg and will NEVER deviate from it. Based on our interaction with Adar I assumed she was from an Eastern Bloc country where rules are rules. 

We enjoy the experience making special note of the honey dispenser. It looks like a Lucite paint can. Inside was the darkest thickest most flavorful honey. We asked exactly where it is sourced from, since we wanted to buy some as a souvenir. We are told the honey is Attiki and is available online. (and to this day, we only purchase Attiki honey)

Soon, we venture out on a six-mile hike up a steep hill to the town of Fira. We pass through Thera Stephanos but NO! Keep going! Finally, we arrived in the small village spending the entire afternoon going through shops and sitting in a local bar called Two Brothers We drink 10 shots and they gave us a t-shirt that reads “Two Brothers Bar Santorini” we will send it to my niece Stephanie. The bartender taught us new drinks; “The bartender’s sperm” Kahlua and Sambuca. Vodka with cranberry juice and lime was a “wet pussy”.  We drank several pints of Heineken and left. We stumbled upon a cafe that served Gyros while you sit in swings. The sitting area offered swings. 

At one of the shops we met a jewelry store salesperson named Maria. She shows us rings that we love so much! 

When we were finished, we called for the hotel car and were whisked away back to the Princess as if we were spies being extracted from a danger zone. 

We’ve been on Santorini for several days now it’s time to move on. This is part of the travel program that I left open so that we could be spontaneous. After naming a few islands and considering each, we decide to head to Mykonos for a bit. 

The experience at the Princess was restful, clean and quiet.  We LOVE every moment of our time there. We will love to return. Adar, upon returning us to the docks the next morning, said the best time to come to the islands is the end of September to the beginning of October. 

Sadly we said goodbye to Santorini “we’ll be back!”

Now we are on the ferry to Mykonos. It is a place that seems everyone has been to. I am checking for hotel availabilities and reading up on customer reviews. I spy a place called the Poseidon and make reservations while sitting on my seat in the ferry. I make the payment and receive confirmation. We’re in!  

On our way, the ferry makes a stop in Keros and about six guys with baskets run onto the ship screaming and yelling something in Greek. At first, I am startled!  They offer sweets. We bought something that resembled rice dough with fluffy white nougat inside and peanuts. It was very sweet and oh so good!

Upon our arrival in Mykonos we find that our driver left us… But he returned and quickly deposited us at the Poseidon Hotel. We found it to be very nice, clean, and comfortable. We dropped our luggage, unpacked and headed to the pool and beach within minutes. We ventured into the village of Mykonos where we ate at a restaurant called Perfecto. It is just OK, and very pricy. We had grilled Cypress cheese, and pizza, a Greek salad, spaghetti. Tomatoes, olives, capers olive oil, onion and spaghetti pasta. The bill was 50 Euro. The owner eventually came to the table and offered a shot of a sweet dessert liquor. He joined us. He kept pouring the shots. 

After this we head back to the room. We are in bed by 21:00. 

Upon awaking, we go to breakfast at on property Poseidon’s café. It is extremely amazing. The offerings blow even the Santorini Princess out of the water. I take pictures to send to the Princess so they can see what eggs should look like. 

After breakfast, we head out to rent a scooter to travel around the island for the day. Scott and I are still laughing at our experience. 

“Do you have a license?” they ask. 

“At the hotel,” I say. 

“OK no problem,” the response. 

“Do these have insurance?” I ask.

“Yes, you have an accident it’s your fault. If it breaks down we’ll fix it. If you hit someone they’ll sue us”.  

This was followed by a quick, “Do you have the money?” 

Belly laughing, we are off!  We attach a GoPro camera to Scotts helmet so we could make a video of driving around the island. People laugh at us. He looks quite the tourist, and neither of us really cares.

We visit the ENTIRE island including Elia, Ano Mera, and the city of Mykonos. 

We return the scooters at 18:00 and venture into the village again to shop and eat dinner. It was a wonderful day.