Apostle Paul had written two letters to Corinthians. I mean TWO letters... it is also mentioned that in Acts of Apostles Paul preached to a group of Corinthians blah blah (Acts of Apostles 18) Now, this was enough for me to include Corinth in my plan to visit while in Greece. I also wanted to visit Thessoliniki, but it seemed to be quite far away... as also Patmos island, so i decided to stop over atleast in Corinth.
By chance, i seemed to stay in a hotel (err...hostel) close to Larissa station in Athens area. Now, i didnt know that Larissa station also is also a suburban railway station with interconnections across Greece. This proved to be a blessing in disguise. I got the train from Larissa station to Corinth. It cost only 6 euros. Now you would expect the train station to be somewhere in the center of the city. I dont know how the train system and planning works in Greece, but this one was outside the city?!? I had to pay 5 Euros to go to the city center, and because it was Saturday, the tourism office was closed. Also it was raining and cold... the security guard outside the tourism office gave me a copy of the Corinth map. Nothing wrong with that, except that copy was not of good quality. I walked around a bit, visited the port and went back to the city center and asked the men in blue (the police men) how to get to Acro Corinth. The younger one spoke English and guided me to the busstop.
At the bus stop, i met a nice Greek girl student, who was waiting to go to Ancient Corinth herself. She adviced me not to go to Acrocorinth which is highup in the mountain as it is a) rainy b) you have to take a taxi and it costs money to go... no guarantee that there would be a return taxi, so you would have to pay the waiting charges also c) it is a Saturday and a holiday period, so no guarantee on the frequency of buses... this was enough to scare me off Acrocorinth and an excuse as i was already feeling cold. We took the bus to Ancient Corinth. From there, i walked uphill and entered the Corinth archeological site. The entry fee was 6euros and it included visit to the Museum and the site itself...
It was nice to see the city planning, it was far away from the harbour, up high in the hill and the old city itself was small... but well planned shops on the west, center and temples, the council house, etc. the historical artifacts in the museum was also good source of information, especially the ones about the gravesite... the statues are no good... i mean, you see that this Zeus, this is Apollos, Diana, blah blah, but except the fact that they worshipped the pagan Gods, the life of the people is not much explained through these statues. But the excavations at gravesite was interesting... they mentioned how and where and from whom and for whom the site was purchased and for how much... extra info which gives you lot of information about city life.
There was a good collection of pottery excavated there... detailed drawings on the pottery of all shapes and sizes, and for various purposes. In one of the shops outside the site, i saw a man handpainting these kind of pots, but they were too expensive for me, so i dropped the idea of buying miniature size pottery even if they are hand painted. Besides, I cant afford to carry around that the rest of my trip guarding it like an egg shell. Some of the pots in the museum, i had absolutely no clue what they would use for... especially the small ones. Too small to be used for anything in the kitchen... may be was used for serving some spicy sause or something. It would also be nice if they write what their intended use was...
There was a whole section of a floor with colored tiles. They were in fabulous condition, considering the city was destroyed many times, rebuilt and it was preserved for thousands of years. Huge patterned flooring, made with tiles the size of keys in keyboard. This was interesting for me. This meant they had conceptualised, done enough planning, color coordination, choosing the right amount of tiles, all one square inch sizes, no mean task. But they didnt mention where they were found... whether in the council house or shops or some nondescript building... would have been nice to know it. It would give you an idea of to what extent people went to decorate where. If it was in a shop, you could assume that it was a common thing around in existence, but if it was a council house then they decorated the public buildings like that etc. But the patterns where nice and way too detailed and well preserved.
I tried to visualize the area with the planning shown there in one of the noticeboards and imagine how it would have looked with people walking around, etc. It was kind of exciting and thrilling... I found the place where Apostle Paul is supposed to have preached from... they said this was the platform called the Bema, which is the platform used to address people and it corraborated with the Biblical mention of the place (i couldnt locate it in the Acts of Apostles). Again, as i imagined hundreds of people around trying to listen to Paul preaching from the platform, Paul in his confident voice, clear, educated, brilliant, public speaker, catching everybody's attention much to the chagrin of the jewish leaders, curious people, doing their chores around, stopping to hear, to understand, the Roman soldiers nonchalantly listening to see if the Jewish leaders' accusations were right, should they put him in prison or let him go.... the place came alive... the Bible says he stayed there for 1.5 years, i wondered where he would have stayed in the city.
After spending some 2-3 hrs i walked back to the place where i should get the bus... i was freezing, and i didnt intend to spend too much time there, but i had 30 mnts for the bus to arrive. I tried to look around a shop to eat, and was so drawn by the citrus trees around. I had read from the Greek tourism booklet that the place was famous for Citrus trees. Now, i wanted to get hold of them as i saw them everwhere.... lovely oranges hanging from the trees, almost every house seemed to have a tree. I went into the store and there was no oranges on sale, naturally... there is no point in selling oranges when every household has atleast one tree, and that tree is full of oranges... the oranges were just lying around, dropped, no one to take and eat... and i was desperate to get hold of them. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat," - Genesis 3:6 i really felt like that, i could relate to Eve very much that moment. I have heard people say that stolen oranges are sweet, i saw a tree in an open place, next to a shop, and took two, hoping no one would stop me. Later in the night, as i tried to eat them in the hotel, i realized why not many were bothering to pick them up. They were sour, miserably so... i had to throw one away. The other one is still in my backpack. I dont know what i will do with it... If it survives, i will take it back to Geneva, and may be try to use it as an astringent or in one of my food.
While I was in Ancient Corinth, i met two friendly dogs... one a female black stray dog inside the site... they seemed to be the only ones who go around everwhere, as we humans are not allowed to go beyond certain places (they are barricaded with a rope)
The tourism booklet about Pelopnnese region also suggested that i see Isthmus, the canal connecting the different seas, Ionean sea and Aegean sea(?)... but i passed through it by train, and i didnt want to spend a lot of time on it. I took the bus from New Corinth to Ismos (how the Isthmus area is called) and took another bus to Nafplion.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
My big fat Greek experience
While in Greece, i noticed these things...
a) People smoke a lot - young, old, woman, man, etc etc. and everwhere - including restaurants, buses, inside ferries, stations, ticket counters, information booths, everwhere, i mean really everywhere. I really hate this. Not only the fact that i am allergic to that smell, and i am better at identifying the smoke, better than a smoke alarm, it must be wrecking havoc on their health. I made a mental note to check the lung cancer percentage in this country.
b) Most places are clean, but there are a lot of non bio degradable trash around... more than any country in EU i have visited so far(with the exception of Italy). But they do make efforts to clean, even in nasty windy weather - atleast i observed this in Mykonos.
c) Most young people speak English... this is nice as the street signs are in Greek and i really understand it now when people say "you speak Greek and Latin", what they mean now... Its kind of weird to see mathematical symbols, its like you have to solve some geometric equation to decipher the final answer and identify the street name... but Greeks are very helpful.
d) They are not only helpful, but also give extra advice, especially if you look young and vulnerable and foolish.
e) I found something very close to my culture: the family bonding, food, familiar greeting of people in restaurants, etc... heartwarming and nice
f) I didnt observe a lot of people kissing and making out in public, this is significantly different from what i have seen of Western Europe. But then probably argue that Greece is not exactly western europe. Traditionalism still seems to rule the roost.
g) Mommas seem to weild a lot of influence over the family and men behave like i am a man, i am the boss kind. But they still listen to momma. Again, a lot similar to Indian and Italian cultures.
h) People seem to generally religious, atleast the older ones... Greek orthodox upbringing... i havent seen the night life here. I didnt notice many x-rated stores, only one so far. May be it exists in certain places, like the Paquis in Geneva.
i) The water is blue, i mean really blue... crystal clear and nice. I wonder why Indian waters match our murky brown skin color... I also noticed that the rocks are similar to limestone rocks, i.e. easy to break, white and nice, but not too good for the foundation. I think so. I made another mental note to check out the rock types... rocks fascinate me... i have a natural interest in Geology and the different colors, the sizes, the type, the history - wow, they are interesting.
j) Wherever you go, one thing remains the same... train tracks. They are either made of wood or iron, and filled with gravel. Except that gravel color varies from place to place. Here in some places it was white...
if i remember more, i will write more.
a) People smoke a lot - young, old, woman, man, etc etc. and everwhere - including restaurants, buses, inside ferries, stations, ticket counters, information booths, everwhere, i mean really everywhere. I really hate this. Not only the fact that i am allergic to that smell, and i am better at identifying the smoke, better than a smoke alarm, it must be wrecking havoc on their health. I made a mental note to check the lung cancer percentage in this country.
b) Most places are clean, but there are a lot of non bio degradable trash around... more than any country in EU i have visited so far(with the exception of Italy). But they do make efforts to clean, even in nasty windy weather - atleast i observed this in Mykonos.
c) Most young people speak English... this is nice as the street signs are in Greek and i really understand it now when people say "you speak Greek and Latin", what they mean now... Its kind of weird to see mathematical symbols, its like you have to solve some geometric equation to decipher the final answer and identify the street name... but Greeks are very helpful.
d) They are not only helpful, but also give extra advice, especially if you look young and vulnerable and foolish.
e) I found something very close to my culture: the family bonding, food, familiar greeting of people in restaurants, etc... heartwarming and nice
f) I didnt observe a lot of people kissing and making out in public, this is significantly different from what i have seen of Western Europe. But then probably argue that Greece is not exactly western europe. Traditionalism still seems to rule the roost.
g) Mommas seem to weild a lot of influence over the family and men behave like i am a man, i am the boss kind. But they still listen to momma. Again, a lot similar to Indian and Italian cultures.
h) People seem to generally religious, atleast the older ones... Greek orthodox upbringing... i havent seen the night life here. I didnt notice many x-rated stores, only one so far. May be it exists in certain places, like the Paquis in Geneva.
i) The water is blue, i mean really blue... crystal clear and nice. I wonder why Indian waters match our murky brown skin color... I also noticed that the rocks are similar to limestone rocks, i.e. easy to break, white and nice, but not too good for the foundation. I think so. I made another mental note to check out the rock types... rocks fascinate me... i have a natural interest in Geology and the different colors, the sizes, the type, the history - wow, they are interesting.
j) Wherever you go, one thing remains the same... train tracks. They are either made of wood or iron, and filled with gravel. Except that gravel color varies from place to place. Here in some places it was white...
if i remember more, i will write more.
My big fat Greek trip
Greece fascinated me and still fascinates me... i felt it would be cool to say that i had been to Greece... well, i didnt know how cool it would be and what it would do to a hot-headed person like me... Since i had nothing to do between Christmas and New year and 2 days of leave from office meant 10 days of holidays in the Christmas season (i love the Bank holidays in Switzerland), i decided to hop over to Greece. Nothing wrong with that. The main reason was not the cool place idea, but it was more like, its a place mentioned by Apostle Paul in the Bible, lot of things in the new church happened here, so it was cool, it was exciting, it sounded marvelous. Except i chose the wrong time and wrong places.
Like a true Biblical follower, i concentrated on places mentioned in the Bible, Patmos island, Corinth, Athens, etc. I checked with my Greek colleagues - who were not Christians. Nice as they are, they couldnt understand my desire to go to Biblical places. Island? Patmos island? They said it is far, and suggested that i go to Mykonos, Hydra, Spetses, Syros etc etc... and Nafplion and what not. They did warn me that the timing of my travel is not ideal (they were kind enough not to mention that it was the worst time) Now, i had no idea that they mentioned all the touristy places... Based on consultations, ideas and suggestions, this is how my plan finally appeared:
26-Dec: Arrive in Athens Greece from Geneva, via Zurich
27-Dec: Travel to Corinth, spend night at Nafplion
28-Dec: From Nafplion, travel to Costa, take boat to Spetses island, and then reach Athens(Pireus port) via Hydra island by boat, stay at Athens.
29-Dec: From Athens, first go to Halandri to change my American express TCs then go to Rafina port (or back to Pireus port) and board ferry to Mykonos island, do a stop over at Syros island.
30-Dec: Return from Mykonos island via Tinos (and visit big church there) and back to Athens Pireus, look around Athens, stay the night.
31-Dec: Look around Athens, travel back to Geneva...
Looked like a cool plan, except that i grossly underestimated the distance, time taken to travel, winter schedules, and the cost associated with it. I am writing this on the 30-Dec, and this is how it worked out.
26-Dec: Arrived in Athens Greece from Geneva, via Zurich
27-Dec: Travelled to Corinth, spent night at Nafplion
28-Dec: Saw Nafplion; took bus from Nafplion to Epidavros, hitchhiked alongwith a French couple back to Nafplion, back to Athens by bus, stayed at Athens.
29-Dec: From Athens, went to Halandri to change my American express TCs (phew!) then went to Rafina port and boarded ferry to Mykonos island.
30-Dec: Returned from Mykonos island back to Athens Rafina port, stay the night.
31-Dec: Hoping to spend half a day looking around Athens, travel back to Geneva...
Believe me, what we plan and what happens is something totally different. I am a sticker to plan, though i stuck to the original schedule as i didnt want to mess up my hotel reservations, you could see how this has worked out. Thank God for small mercies... but if i had gone by the original schedule, i would have collapsed midway through and would have needed medical attention. I am glad it didnt have to be the way i planned. I am very glad indeed. I am kind of rocking and swaying as i write this. Not that i am high on anything. I happened to just write this after my rocky ferry ride and had coffee after 15 yrs, so i am kind of groggy... For each of the places, i hope to write separate posts on my experiences...
Like a true Biblical follower, i concentrated on places mentioned in the Bible, Patmos island, Corinth, Athens, etc. I checked with my Greek colleagues - who were not Christians. Nice as they are, they couldnt understand my desire to go to Biblical places. Island? Patmos island? They said it is far, and suggested that i go to Mykonos, Hydra, Spetses, Syros etc etc... and Nafplion and what not. They did warn me that the timing of my travel is not ideal (they were kind enough not to mention that it was the worst time) Now, i had no idea that they mentioned all the touristy places... Based on consultations, ideas and suggestions, this is how my plan finally appeared:
26-Dec: Arrive in Athens Greece from Geneva, via Zurich
27-Dec: Travel to Corinth, spend night at Nafplion
28-Dec: From Nafplion, travel to Costa, take boat to Spetses island, and then reach Athens(Pireus port) via Hydra island by boat, stay at Athens.
29-Dec: From Athens, first go to Halandri to change my American express TCs then go to Rafina port (or back to Pireus port) and board ferry to Mykonos island, do a stop over at Syros island.
30-Dec: Return from Mykonos island via Tinos (and visit big church there) and back to Athens Pireus, look around Athens, stay the night.
31-Dec: Look around Athens, travel back to Geneva...
Looked like a cool plan, except that i grossly underestimated the distance, time taken to travel, winter schedules, and the cost associated with it. I am writing this on the 30-Dec, and this is how it worked out.
26-Dec: Arrived in Athens Greece from Geneva, via Zurich
27-Dec: Travelled to Corinth, spent night at Nafplion
28-Dec: Saw Nafplion; took bus from Nafplion to Epidavros, hitchhiked alongwith a French couple back to Nafplion, back to Athens by bus, stayed at Athens.
29-Dec: From Athens, went to Halandri to change my American express TCs (phew!) then went to Rafina port and boarded ferry to Mykonos island.
30-Dec: Returned from Mykonos island back to Athens Rafina port, stay the night.
31-Dec: Hoping to spend half a day looking around Athens, travel back to Geneva...
Believe me, what we plan and what happens is something totally different. I am a sticker to plan, though i stuck to the original schedule as i didnt want to mess up my hotel reservations, you could see how this has worked out. Thank God for small mercies... but if i had gone by the original schedule, i would have collapsed midway through and would have needed medical attention. I am glad it didnt have to be the way i planned. I am very glad indeed. I am kind of rocking and swaying as i write this. Not that i am high on anything. I happened to just write this after my rocky ferry ride and had coffee after 15 yrs, so i am kind of groggy... For each of the places, i hope to write separate posts on my experiences...
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