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'Mericans!!!

May 13: Due to the wonder of Frequent Flyer Miles, I inexpensively departed from RDU (Raleigh Durham International), which scheduled me to have an extra two days in Greece ALONE. I figured I could handle it, and if nothing else, just hole up in the hotel for a couple of days and get into the Greek mindset. Besides, I had my trusty Silva compass, never mind that whole declination thing. After landing in London with a long layover pending at Heathrow, I booked a hotel. This was the first of several currency conversion “issues”. For traveling Americans there’s Mastercard. 120 Euros is steep, but not terribly bad for a hotel. Pounds on the other hand... doh. Mom will understand, right?

May 14: I arrived in Athens, hailing a taxi to take me directly to the Hotel Carolina, a name that put me at ease in a foreign place. The taxi driver spoke broken English, but enough to show his disgust for Athens traffic. "The cars here...and the people, it's just...FUCK!" I went into the hotel, up a creepy spiral staircase and into my room. A glorified closet. The bathroom took a minute to decipher. The shower offered no curtain, and a three inch deep basin resembling a 16x20 darkroom tray. Greeks aren’t much for the long soak, I suppose. The self-cleaning maneuver was sort of a “crouch and spray” operation. Enveloped in culture shock, I stayed in the hotel all day, taking some comfort in the one English speaking T.V. channel, repeatedly showing a movie from the 80’s about how to cheat on your spouse. Long live the Flock of Seagulls Haircut.

May 15: I decide to venture out in to Athens, and roam around. I take a business card from the Carolina Hotel to give to a taxi in case I get lost. After wandering around for a bit, I stop to eat lunch. Lurching over a Gyro, and admiring a BMW 650CS motorcycle, I watch a short couple walk past the window. It was Kyle and Emily, who had also come to Athens early and were at the same hotel. We spent the remainder of the day walking together, and at night, seeing how long a capful of Ouzo would burn.

May 16: This was the officially scheduled meeting day for the group, so Emily and Kyle and I schlepped our bags to the Pan Hotel. We easily found the rest of the gang, dressed in the latest US casual fashions: shorts, Tennis Shoes and Tee shirts. “always use a condiment.” The blatantness of our foreignness gave rise to a Southern twanged “’Merican!” a word used when we felt out of place, or had lost a member of the group, like a mother duck calling her ducklings. After everyone gathered the group set out to hike up to the Hill of Muses. The view from there was spectacular, and one could see all the way to Piraeus, a nearby port. The thickness of the smog struck everyone. Apparently Athens is trapped in this smog due to an envelope of sea air that acts like a cap.

May 17: The gang headed for the Acropolis, which was under heavy construction, but the form could still be seen through all of the scaffolding. The density of people there astounded me. Thousands of tourists brandishing cameras and child transport devices clogged the main entryway. Later, a small group of us walked through the Agora’s gardens. Many beautiful plants grew there that I know Ryan and I could grow if we could just smuggle some seeds out of the country… We left Athens by rail to the port where we boarded a ferry destined for Crete. Four of us, Me, Ryan, Molly, and Lauren were crammed into a room (closet?) with two sets of bunk beds. It was cramped, but friends were close. Our best efforts to sequester the smell of Ryan’s shoes with deodorant failing, we slept in preparation for a 6am docking.

May 18: Our cabin was startled awake at 6am by one of the professors. We had misunderstood the docking protocol. You have to be off the boat by 6. We scurried to pack all of our belongings, during which I lost a zip off pant leg. Today’s journey would take us to the Samaria Gorge, which made Linville Gorge look like a door ding. The gorge itself is 200+ feet deeper than the Grand Canyon. The length of the hike was 16km, but nobody (almost) complained. The scenery was so beautiful that the distance swept under us in no time. I would have liked to go back. Along the way we saw twisted rock formations, Byzantine ruins and curious plants resembling amorphophallus. The end of the hike spit us out onto a cement path bordered with Oleander. The path led us to a beautiful black pebble beach, with substrate consisting of polished pea sized gravel. The water was a beautiful blue, and remarkably clear. I tried to take pictures of it, but clear water in photographs looks, well, clear. Mr. Photographer. A ferry took us to Matala.

May 19: The Palace of Phaistos was like an archeological site with no rules. You could rub your hand or scratch a nail on anything. Giant urns with dozens of rope attachment handles were everywhere. The caves in Matala were originally carved to serve as tombs, but people casually lounged in them to get out of the sun. Pieces of ancient civilization were lying about everywhere. My favorite was a small hut that had been crushed by a giant boulder. Hope the resident got out in time. Several of us walked over to another site, where you could see the outlines of buildings being overtaken by vegetation. Everywhere spiny attack plants grabbed my feet. We had dinner at a beachside restaurant that invited us to tour the kitchen and choose our own ingredients, such as what piece of squid or fish I wanted. If was dark, but the caves were illuminated with an orange light, like the spots that people put on their Christmas decorated houses in Raleigh. The waiters never rushed us, and after we finished we were presented with shots of alcohol, a strong spirit that tasted like purge from an MSR stove.

May 20: Our group went to Gortyn where we saw Olive trees tens of feet in diameter, and the oldest law code to survive in western civilization. At Ayia Triada, JR discovered possible evidence of early compass use. The palace was oriented due north. This revelation led us back to Phaistos, where the palace was also pointed north.

May 21: We took a bus tour to the Lasithi Plain. The large crop fields reminded me of agrarian sections of California. The Dikteon cave is one of several caves supposedly used to hide Zeus from his cannibalistic father. We all streamed in to see the rock formations and water pools. After the cave we went by bus to Mochlos, an island rich in archaeology. The current was strong and water cold, so I wussed out, but a large group of students swam to the island. I stayed with JR and had a Mythos. I took some time to check out the tide pools, where I found shrimp, fish, crabs and anemones. I convinced Emily to touch an anemone. ME: “ooh! Cnideria! c’mon! Touch it!!” EMILY: “Hell no!” ME: “C’mon.” Such a nerd. Back on the bus, I longed for a motorcycle as we negotiated turns that make 276 look like Florida.

May 22: We continued our search for Earthquake damage evidence at the Minoan palace at Palaikastro. Later arriving at Gournia, part of our group hopped the fence to the closed site. I kept watch under an olive tree.

May 23: We went to the Palace of Knossos today. It was horribly crowded, and reconstructed but still interesting. It’s amazing that the original frescoes are still intact. Here we saw a giant peacock that kept calling out. We thought it sounded like “Kyle! Kyle!” Kyle is afraid of birds, so of course we had to rag on him a little.

May 24: We went early to the museum in Heraklion, showcasing the area’s history. Aaron Palmer and I posed for each other by a group of huge axes and got yelled at by a curator. The best part of the day was the market. We saw everything for sale, and ended up with a boat load of raisins, olives and cherries, all for 10 Euros. On the ferry to Santorini we met up with another college group from the US. Snotty sorority types. Out on the deck an elderly couple noticed Ryan’s Brevard College tee-shirt and said they owned the white painted bed and breakfast in downtown Brevard. Craziness.

May 25: Santorini would be an absolutely wonderful place were it not for the tourists, and the insistent heckling to get us into the shops and bars. The island is beautiful, a caldera with a resurgence in the middle. We took a ferry to the center, and it was like visiting Mars. Steaming red volcanic rocks everywhere. Returning to the ferry, an opportunity came about to swim to a hot spring. Those who accepted the offer returned saying it was only a few degrees warmer than the surrounding frigid water. At night, back on the mainland, we cruised about to soak up the night life. The touristy nature of this place was clear when our waitress said she was from New York. At night, Santorini turns into Spring Break with no parents around. Not my cup of tea.

May 26: Today we went to the excavated site at Akrotiri. It’s totally enclosed, roof and all which makes it feel like a museum, or a site recreation, but still cool. From there we went to the Red Beach, which was terra cotta colored. A large cliff behind our towels kept avalanching pieces of rock, but we were in no danger. The sound was peaceful. At night, we were roped into going to a “jazz club” which meant that CD playing at any moment might be jazz, or it might be that damn “I’m your lover” song so popular everywhere.

May 27: We boarded a “Flying Cat,” a catamaran style boat that almost flew over the water. We arrived in Naxos, my favorite island of the trip. The constant breeze, white and blue houses and old style windmills gave it a peaceful atmosphere.

May 28: We went to several marble quarries today. I spotted a modern quarry out of the van’s window. It looked like a pyramid of sugar cubes, they way the rock was cleaved. We saw the Kouros Statue, which looked like a sleeping man. It had apparently cracked in production. Drew Chapin used it as a slide. Later on we saw a temple to Apollo, where everyone found shards of artifacts. I found the bottom to a shipping amphora that was as big as an opened textbook. That night we all went out and ended up at a bar, as usual. The bartender, noticing his crowd, began to play 80’s American music. Somewhere along the line Kyle and Emily became engaged. I broke off from my usual group around 2 in the morning and went to accompany Justin to another nightclub. We eventually ended up at the hotel, somehow…

May 29: First on the agenda was a museum showcasing mostly pottery. I was able to see a complete version of the shipping amphora I found the previous day. Stopping for lunch, we were given a Komboloy demonstration by the shopkeeper. Komboloy are strung beads used to relieve stress by fiddling with them. Perfect for me, the fidget. During the demonstration, the shopkeeper’s komboloy exploded. We ran into the street collecting the scattered beads. He restrung them onto a piece of fishing line and gave me a piece to do as well. I still have the line in my wallet. On to Mykonos…another party island.

May30: We had a free day today, and ended up at Paradise beach. Jessica, a Brevard alumnus was already there, claiming a bunch of giant pillows for us to sit on. More of that party atmosphere. This was a partly nude beach. It seemed graduated from left to right. The farther right you looked, the more skin was exposed. We made fun of some buff dude in a Speedo dancing in the surf and asking everyone who walked by to take a picture of him.

June 1: This was my last day in Greece. I was sad to think about it, but also enthusiastic about my pending internship in Arizona once I got home. Another adventure. I walked down to a bookstore to pick up a gift for my girlfriend, Emily. I found a copy of Fight Club written in Greek and was elated. Kyle Emily and my flights out of Greece were only a half hour apart, so we stuck close. We ended up at Starbucks, possibly to ease back into “’mericanism.” Tastes the same everywhere. A few hours later I was flying home first class. The first thing you notice when you get back to America is how sloppy and fat everyone looks. It’s amazing. My first thought was, ‘hmm, back on the plane,” but then I saw my parents pulling up to collect me. I was elated and tried to begin to tell them about the trip, but that would have to wait. I suppose that’s what this website is for.