Some Thoughts on Greece

   We're winding down here in Greece. We saw all the things we wanted to see and now we're hanging out in Volos, just chillin'.

  We're here until Tuesday, then we make our way back to Athens before catching our flight back to Canada Wednesday, presuming the airport workers in Frankfurt aren't carrying out their threatened strike action.

  On our way here we stopped at Delphi and caught up with the Oracle and Apollo. Here's the ruin of the Temple of Apollo:

  It seems the whole "Oracle of Delphi" thing is very much like the American evangelistic thing, only ancient. The Oracle, Pythia, would hang out at the Temple near a vent that emitted a gas of some sort that would put her in a trance. People would come to her to gain guidance on the difficult decisions in their lives and she would "channel" Apollo and provide advice. For that service they would pay her tribute in the form of money, statues, jewellery, etc.

  The thing is, while she was in this trance she would speak "in tongues" which could only be understood by the people who attended her. I think I've heard this one before. They would interpret her answers in language the petitioner could understand. Sure. Think of her as the ancient Magic 8-Ball. "Oh great priestess. Should I marry my sister?" Mumbo jumbo results, which is interpreted as, "Go for it, it worked for Zeus." This might be connected to the downfall of Greece, but that's only my opinion. Also, Apollo, god of music was also known as god of ambiguity. Go figure.

  It's also worth noting Delphi was the centre of the world. How do we know? Well, it seems Zeus released two eagles, one to the east and one to the west. Where they met he threw down an egg-shaped rock called the omphalos which denoted that spot.

  That Zeus. When he wasn't marrying his sister or posing for wonder of the ancient world-type statues he was, like, Mr. Google Maps. "Hey Zeus. Show me nearby Chinese restaurants." I'll bet his directions wouldn't make you drive into a lake or the wrong way down a one-way street. I mean, he's a god!

  Speaking of driving, before we came to Greece I read many articles which warned against driving here. The drivers are aggressive, the streets are narrow, no one pays attention to speed limits, etc. Similarly, when we arrived in Cyprus, Penny (the homeowner) warned us about the "crazy Cypriot drivers". I must have driven over two thousand kilometers in these two countries over the past five weeks and I've not seen anything to dissuade me from driving here. Obviously, anyone who complains about driving in this part of the world hasn't driven in Toronto during rush hour. Piece of cake, this.

  There was one instance where it wasn't, and it was entirely my fault. You see, back when we were going to Poseidon's Temple the road switched sides as we entered the parking loop. What that means is, we're driving on the right side and suddenly have to switch to the left to enter the loop that goes clockwise around the site.

  When you come out, the road empties into, what was, the right side of the incoming road. No sign to tell you to switch back over to the other lane. Being the day after we left Cyprus, I was still in "driving on the left" mode so thought nothing of continuing that... until another car decided to use my lane in the opposite direction. Well, no one got hurt but the look on the other guy's face was priceless. I'll bet he didn't make the same mistake when he came out later. Would it have been too hard to make the parking loop counter-clockwise? Sigh.

  Meanwhile, with Delphi done we headed up Mount Parnassus, eight thousand feet above sea level, as the road doesn't go around it but over it. No guard rails either. Penny was not thrilled. It was quite a view.

  From there we headed to Kalambaka, which is the jumping off point for Meteora, and a night at the Arsenis Guesthouse. I mention this not because this is a wonderful place to stay. Rather, it was a unique experience, and I'm not referring to the three inch thick mattress. Our host, Costa, was lonely. He runs the place with his wife and his parents live there too. This time of year the place is deserted and those are the only people he sees so, fresh meat. I'm sure he repeated at least four times his family history and how the Internet ruined his business and that Lonely Planet writer didn't help either and the Germans and Dutch and Belgians are the best people and those damn Greek Mafia don't tell Americans to come to his place because of that damn AirBnB and... you get the picture. It was tiring. And the food was crap. Don't go there. I'm sure he'll add that damn Canadian to his list after this.

  We escaped the guesthouse the next morning and took off for the monasteries perched atop the rock formations of Meteora.

  To say these aren't prime building lots is understating things just a bit. Great view but they ignored rule number one... location, location, location. I mean, these places will never sell.

  There were originally twenty-four monasteries built here between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Only six are still operating and all allow visitors. We decided to visit two, Varlaam and Holy Trinity. Varlaam was the more interesting with access to many of the buildings as well as a museum which contained a library of scripts more than five hundred years old.

  Holy Trinity, although much less interesting did have one major thing going for it. The climactic scene in the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only, has our hero scaling the cliffs in pursuit of the villain. Of course we had to go up there!

  This is why I go to the gym 😂. These bridges, paths and stairs were only recently constructed in the past century. Before that the only way to get up to the monasteries was to be hauled up in a net, pulled by a rope.

  I'll take the stairs, thanks.

  That was it for our quest for all things historic. We originally planned to go to Vergina to see the ruins of Phillip II's palace, where his son, Alexander (not yet The Great) was crowned but we're all historied out. No more ruins, please. We've had five days of intense ancient history and we're ready to zone out with umbrella drinks, thus we're in Volos now.

  It's a nice town with decent restaurants. We had a great dinner last night with no french fries in sight, unlike literally every other meal we've had. We're looking for more of the same the next two days and maybe we'll get the chance to soak up some rays.

  Greece has been great and we agree we'd come back. We've not been to any islands and I feel we've had a non-typical Grecian experience. We've ignored the beach and party scene which the islands are known for, since it's not warm enough, and absorbed a ton of fascinating ancient history. We've seen some beautiful scenery, stayed in a few places we'd happily revisit and generally enjoyed the tour.

  We visited Athens and saw all the things. Since it's the off-season it was cheap and uncrowded. We toured the mainland and saw all the things. The car rental, for nine days, was only $110 CAD, about $9/day. We have a tiny car but it fits two of us and our luggage, gets great gas mileage and has no trouble fitting into narrow spots any other car could only do without its mirrors and paint.

  We stayed in some wonderful inns and hotels and none of them cost us more than $80 CAD. Restaurant meals are close to Canadian prices but they include all the fries you can eat. All in all, it was an inexpensive trip and very enjoyable.

  Wednesday we're back home for two and a half weeks before we head off to Virginia for our next house sit. Stay tuned for more thrills and spills.