Park City Silly to Seriously Greece

Park City has a way of creating ongoing parties and celebrations throughout the year, and we were fortunate to hit the first "Park Silly" event of the summer season. Park Silly is one big street-long craft and food fair that covers all of Main Street, with craft, food and of course, beer vendors.  These pop-ups compete along the Main Street with the likes of Gorsuch from Austria, Lululemon and Patagonia to name a few.  Andrea I walked up the Rail Trail that passes close by Cassie and Kris's home, to the heart of Park City.   There we met up with the new family of 3 for some fast food from one of the Park City food vendors.  Did some shopping as well, and purchased a small compact, waterproof speaker to take with us on our journey.

June 7th and 8th were a blur of travel from Salt Lake City to Kennedy airport in New York, across to Amsterdam and on to Athens.  After 27 hours of being up and awake, we checked into Dave Red Hotel in Athens.  

How different the Athens cityscape was from my (Boyd's) last visit with Conrad Johnson in 1972.  At that time we negotiated the crowded yet relatively small city streets into the heart of Athens in our 60 something Volkswagen converted bus with it's kangaroo bars and rally lamps.  While the population grew by only 500,000 in that time period, the sophistication and complexity of the city was leap years away.  Modern express ways move you from the new international airport into the city, where there is a plethora of modern stores (think H&M and Marks and Spencer), along with a cornucopia of eating establishments from the humble Gyro seller to modern/upscale restaurants replete with resident DJs and mood lighting. 

My Bride after being awake for 27 hours straight in Athens

Athens for us was a visit to the Acropolis and surrounds.  No more just walking up and into the Acropolis as Conrad and I did some fifty years ago.  Now it's lining up to purchase a ticket, to join the crowds of tourists along set walking paths into the main structure, with security personnel ever watchful.  Most of the Acropolis is off limits now as they continue restoration to the massive stone works.  Many of the piles of stones are numbered, as the Greeks take advantage of AI, to try and reconstruct portions of the fortress of Athena that have been lost to time and earthquakes. 

The Vagabonds by the Acropolis

Leaving Athens on a short flight to Heraklion very early in the morning of the 10th, we found ourselves landing on a flat spit of land abutting the Mediterranean Sea.  Heraklion is Crete's largest city, with Chania on the western end of the island coming in at number two.  The land is one of contrasts, with stark mountains, some with evidence of snow still visible in June juxtaposed against the "Windex blue" Mediterranean waters.  Olive trees and vineyards coexist outside the towns, where sheep and goats roam.  The Kiri Kiri, Crete's almost extinct style of goat hang out in unlikely places along the roadside, untethered and free of any predators.

After wandering the inner city area we chose to dine at a small, open-air restaurant, "Meze Meze", located within the maze of streets and alleys in the central city.  Our waitress, Maria, greeted us with an American scented, "sure" when asked if they could provide us with some white wine.  Maria is a vivacious young lady with outstanding English skills - she was wearing a Baltimore Ravens T-shirt that night and we immediately thought of our dear friend Beth G who would have loved this gal!  She said she learned her English mostly from watching movies - notably Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lion King.  "Meze" means appetizer in Greek, and we sampled Greeks specialties while having 500ml of very drinkable Greek table wine.  

Boyd in the "Change Room" on Matala Beach

Boyd & Maria our animated server 

The following day we drove south through the mountains and villages to Matala Beach.  Once a quaint fishing village, with hermit caves carved into the limestone walls of the bay, this small enclave is now a bustling tourist destination packed with street vendors and open-air restaurants.  Five Euros each got us a lounge chair and umbrella (prices range from 5-10 Euros).
We enjoyed the sun and the spectacular blue Mediterranean waters. Above is Boyd protecting his modesty (what there is left of it), in a change booth on the beach.  Andrea explored the "hermit caves" and after a little shopping (Andrea needed a small leather cross-body purse), we got into our Seata Aroma (Spanish made Peugeot), and drove the hour back to Heraklion.

On the 12th we drove out past the airport to a touristy place known as "Pleasure Beach".  With free parking as the come-on, we planted ourselves under the azure skies on the beach which overlooked a small island with a Greek Orthodox chapel gracing it's shores.  Both of us swam the short distance to the island and examined the chapel which was quaint but closed to the public.  

Andrea after her swim to the Chapel
Pleasure Beach

We picked up our long-time friends Margareta and Lennart, who had flown in from Stockholm that day, and proceeded to drive west along the northern coastline to Chania, where after thirty minutes of trying to negotiate the narrow roads and alleys, we parked our car and walked to 47 Gavaladon, and the Gardenia House, our AirNB accommodation.  Margareta and Andrea declared this to be a Mama Mia worthy house, with a delightful roof top lanai which overlooked a bustling pedestrian street below.  

Boyd with Minaret on rooftop patio in Chania

Night scene from our rooftop patio

Boyd & Margareta by Mosque in Chania

During the evening hours the street becomes a long passage of tables and chairs with multiple restaurants offering up their brand of Greek food and hospitality.  Dinner usually starts around 8:30PM and the tables will be occupied until around 2AM in the morning when all the table are stashed and lashed away in preparation for the next day's dining ritual.

We walked the old town of Chania with it's Phoenician fortress walls and lighthouse, along with a long abandoned mosque.  

Andrea, Margareta & Lennart on Phoenician Seawall - Chania

The Phoenicians had conquered the city around 1266 until the Turks established themselves in the early part of the 1800's.  They stayed around till 1897 when the Greeks booted them out.  The remaining minarets and mosques are now just tourist attractions, with the Greek Orthodox Churches in ascendance.  

June 14th found us at 6:25 in the morning boarding a bus in the old city to take us to the famed Samaria Gorge.  After some confusion with the guide, we made it clear we four oldsters were on the "Lazy" tour, where we were to catch the ferry from Sougia to Aglio-Remelli, a small village at the southern outlet of the gorge.  

On a bridge spanning the river in Samaria Gorge

Some two buses later, we arrived, caught the ferry to gorge and completed a ten kilometer roundtrip hike up and back into the gorge.  The gorge is Europe's longest, with a canyon that narrows to 9 meters, with crystal clear waters running down to the sea.  The walls of sedimentary rock, hued in orange are tortured and twisted from their original horizontal position into curiously skewed vertical monoliths of stone that rise all round you.  The Samaria Gorge is a national park, now protected.  It's waters feed the village below where goat and sheep compete for space with the tourists.  

Our ferry returning to Sougia from the Samaria Gorge at Agilo Remeli

We boarded one of two ferries at 5:30PM with what I would estimate were another five hundred souls (mostly young travelers), for the 45 minute return to Sougia.  There followed a 1.5 hour swaying bus trip snaking its way back to Chania, and a late evening dinner at a delightful open air taverna complete with Greek musicians playing traditional tunes. 

We left the charming city of Chania behind us on the 15th, and drove to the tiny village of Bali and its Evita Bay.  We drove down a rock strewn road to the smallest of the beaches, with a cove nestled in the rocks, "Windex blue" waters and inviting taverna's and the ubiquitous umbrella colored beach.  It was our favorite beach by far, and we swam and dove to take in the Mediterranean in all its seemingly pristine glory.  

The 2 of us at Evita Bay Beach, Bali, Greece

The beach was populated by numerous Greeks, British and Germans all soaking up the sun under clear skies and 28C temperatures.  We walked up the steep roadway to our car and drove on to Heraklion and the Venetian Boutique Hotel that evening.  We reunited with Maria at the Meze Meze where I got a hearty hug and we enjoyed more Greek cuisine with Margareta and Lennart. 

Our last day with Margareta and Lennart was highlighted by a tour of Knossos, the archaeological site of a labyrinth, known in Greek mythology for housing the Minator (half man half bull).  This site which was primarily an economic hub in it's day for the Minoans, had ruled the trade for the Mediterranean from Egypt to the present day Greece.  Question:  How were the Minoans organized as a society?

Answer to the question:  The Minoans were a matriarchal society with a high priestess.  They regarded the goddess of fertility to be preeminent.  

Will next catch up in Peloponesia, the peninsula south of Athens.  Machts Gute, Au Revoir, Aloha