The master plan for the move to the United Arab Emirates has two parts.  The first is to stash some bucks for retirement; the second, and just as important, is to travel this part of the world. Being located here reduces the travel time and costs and gives us the opportunity to visit some places that would likely not have happened starting from the US.  The master plan is off to a good start.

I had the end of January in mind for an initial trip, but late in December I realized I had an opportunity to take two days of vacation and get ten days off.  And so, on the spur of the moment, we decided to take off to Greece.  I had always been intrigued by Greek antiquities and liked the idea of seeing a Greek island without the crowds.  The plan was laid out.  The way these things with work us goes something like this:  I come up with some grandiose, idealized, loosely defined plan for some sort of adventure.  I have a basic framework but no details.  The whole affair is rife with opportunity for catastrophe.  Lynn steps in and puts meat on the bones.  She methodically researches the fine points, with highlights of specific places to see including all the logistics.  These are carefully noted in chronological order.  Plane arrives here at X time, metro takes us to Y at Z time, etc.  She doesn’t like to use something like Word or any sort of electronic documentation. Her preference is for ruled notebook paper. A pencil is preferred, a pen can be used in a pinch.  It’s her system. It works.

Our trip started with a night in Abu Dhabi to set the stage for an early flight to Athens. We left for the airport about 2.5 hours before departure, not being sure how long this process was going to take in a foreign land.  With a little help from a flight attendant, we ran through the whole security process and arrived at our departure gate in under an hour. We arrived in Athens on an overcast day and set out to figure out the metro process. It is really quite easy, I hope this is typical of other large cities we fly into.  Athens has red, green, and blue metro lines that crisscross the city.  You can buy a ticket for different options – 90 minute, 24 hour, 3 day, etc. You don’t really pay for destination to destination.  Get on, get off as you choose within that interval.  They were generally pretty cheap, just a few euro. Tickets that had the airport for starting or destination were a bit more – 10 euro.  Still, they were very punctual and as a rule very clean.  Some of the older cars were well decorated with graffiti.  It wasn’t graphic, but I had no idea what it said.

Our stay in Athens was at a private hotel (we didn’t stay at any chain hotels this trip) called the “Acropolis Stay”.  It had a tiny house feel to it. Very compact, but clean, new, and everything you needed was there.  Best of all, it was literally 120 paces from the metro exit for the Acropolis.  All the major highlights we wanted to see were within a 10 minute walk.  All of the rooms we stayed at were around $100 a night and nice restaurant meals were to be had for around $15-25.

We asked the staff at the hotel for restaurant recommendations and were asked if we wanted tourist Greek food (what you might find at a Greek restaurant in the US) or local Greek food.  Of course, we asked for what the locals would have.  After a brief amble around town to stretch our legs and get our bearings, we found our way to one of the recommendations.  The first step in eating at a restaurant was working your way through the restaurant promoters that roamed the street promoting the benefits of their establishment. The first dinner was at the Arcadia Restaurant across the street from the Acropolis Museum. I had lamb souvlaki – lamb marinated in tsipouri (a Greek liquor made from distilled grape skins after the wine has been made) and fresh herbs along with roasted vegetables and feta cheese stuffed mushroom caps. After dinner we were brought a courtesy “digestive juice”, a mixture of table wine and cherry, pomegranate, and berry juice. We had been well advised!

Our first morning in Athens was spent in the central district.  After breakfast at “Different Square” where I had my first pork bacon in three months along with “juicy” eggs (I didn’t know what this was going to be. I received eggs sunny side up, so I guess that’s what that means), we meandered about the Dimotiki Agora (Athens Public Market).  This market has been in business nonstop since 1886. The Meat Market was first. This was crowded, pushing, shoving mass with meat sellers yelling constantly at no one in particular. They slammed their cleavers into chopping blocks seemingly for the sound effect alone. The first section we went through had whole lamb, pigs, beef, and rabbits in various states of dismemberment.  Chicken, turkey, and duck hanging from lines with their heads in bags were available for customers, a mixture of private shoppers and restaurant owners.  Men operated sausage grinders on demand. It was all quite a spectacle.  Adjacent to the meat section we found seafood of all manner.  Fish of all types.  Squid, calamari, shrimp, octopus, eel, crabs – all fresh on ice.

We went next to the Fruit and Vegetable Market.  This was an equally impressive display but the vendors weren’t quite as vocal as the meat crowd was.  The displays of citrus, peppers, pomegranate, kiwi, apples, and bananas seemed to be arranged for the maximum kaleidoscopic effect.  And of course, olives took center stage.  Row upon row of bins of fresh olives of all sizes and colors. Olive oil, olive soap, olive lotion, utensils made olive wood, cutting boards of olive wood. If it can be made of olives it was there.

I had no knowledge of the Central Market offerings before this trip, but of course everyone knows of the Greek ruins.  We moved on from the markets to Hadrian’s Library, the Roman Agora, and the Ancient Agora (an agora is a public open space used for markets and assemblies).  Tickets were available for each individually; we opted for the 30 Euro pass that got us into all the major antiquities.

The highlight of the Ancient Agora was the Temple of Hephaistos, built 460-415 BC.  This was the best preserved of the many ruins we saw in Athens.  Built in honor of the god of the forge and fire, this temple was used as a Greek Orthodox church from the 7^th century until 1834.

We headed through the Plaka district past citrus laden trees on our way back to “Gods’ Restaurant’ (I was a little slow to pick up on the plural possessive tense of God) for a lunch of traditional Greek gyros and a local brew.  The Plaka district lies at the foot of the Acropolis. This section of town is a narrow maze of crowded streets packed with small shops selling goods.  These are often poorly marked, one-way, single lane, or pedestrian use only (mopeds ignore that restriction).  Backing up to turn around appears hopeless. A kind of rental car hell if you think about it.  As we wandered through town, I thought back to my trips around Europe in the early 1980’s, when Coca-Cola and Kodak signs were at every turn.  Coca-Cola still has a big footprint, but I saw only a single Kodak sign on this trip.  In a town of the ageless, this was a poignant reminder of the impermanence of life. Penis shaped bottle openers and key chains for sale on the streets also reminded me we weren’t in the United Arab Emirates.

We visited the Acropolis Museum after our late lunch.  Along with the Acropolis, this is a must-see if you visit Athens.  The three-level museum is just minutes from the Acropolis and was built to accommodate all the many relics collected on the Acropolis and surrounding slopes. The entrance has a glass walkway for viewing ruins the museum is built over.  These will eventually be incorporated into the tour.  The entire third floor is dedicated to the marble relief frieze from the top of the Parthenon made up of metopes depicting scenes from Greek mythology.  There is hope for the eventual return of the “Elgin Marbles” which made up a large portion of the frieze along the top of the Parthenon as well as other Acropolis ruins including one of the original Caryatid sculptures that are currently in the British Museum in London. These were removed from the Acropolis under dubious circumstances by Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin, in the early 1800’s, when the Acropolis was being used as an Ottoman military fort.  Seems old Bruce had designs to decorate his estate with these, but a nasty divorce forced him to have to sell to the government at a loss. The Greeks have worked for the return of these treasures since gaining their independence from the Ottomans in 1832.

On the last day of 2017 we got an early start on the Acropolis.  As usual, the streets were virtually empty before 8:00 AM.  The weather was again perfect for us – starting off in the upper 40’s, increasing to the low 60s through the day with clear blue skies.  We climbed the hill to the Acropolis and had a beautiful peaceful morning at one of the most recognizable spots on the planet.  The tourist population slowly swelled and the selfie sticks with it.  More than once I had the opportunity to consider alternative uses for these while waiting for a photo op. At one memorable spot I had the pleasure of watching a young man sitting on a rock artfully freehand sketch the Parthenon before him.  I wish I had that skill.

We worked our way in the afternoon sun to Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  The crowd was much smaller and the effect of the afternoon sun on the solitary columns was very peaceful. I noticed a fair number of beggars during our stay.  Some peddled trinkets for loose change.  Musicians, some quite skilled, had a tin can or blanket set in front.  Others were training their children at an early age and using the innocence of youth to encourage contributions.  Still others simply begged, or sat with a homeless sign in front of themselves.

We had about 2 and a half days in the heart of Athens. They were full days.  We could have easily spent one more, perhaps more if we felt like spending some idle hours at a sidewalk café with a coffee, glass of wine, or a pint.  A friend many years ago told me when visiting Athens to hit the Acropolis for a day then head for the islands.  An island was indeed next on our agenda, but I disagree with the downtown assessment.

On January 1, 2018 we said our farewells to Athens.  As we left out hotel about 7:00, we passed a few last survivors of the New Years Eve celebration parties at a Tiki bar.  More people were there than in the metro station.  We took the metro to the port of Athens where we took the Flying Cat to Hydra for a three day stay on the island of Hydra.  The port was in a seedy, rough area.  We had a coffee while we waited on our ferry.  The coffee shop was full of smokers, several rolling their own.  We were happy to board the ship and get underway.  The hour and a half ride cost us 28 euros each, about 35 US dollars.

Hydra is a small, sparsely populated island, full of narrow winding streets with steep stairs leading to various buildings.  In the town center the streets are mostly marble, polished smooth form years of foot traffic.  Motor vehicles are not allowed except for a small dump truck.  Mules are available for transporting goods, and sea taxis are available for taking people around the island.  Almost all commercial businesses and residences are in a small area, so walking isn’t a problem.

The water in the port has stunning clarity that must make for fine snorkeling in warmer months.  We had temperatures in the low 60’s during the day and 40’s at night that were very comfortable.  Many of the shops were closed for the season, but enough shops and restaurants were open to meet our needs during our three day stay.  We stayed at the “Porta del Mare”, a quaint four room inn about as far from a hotel chain in appearance as you can get.  A climb up steep stairs was required for entry, with another climb up to the hillside jacuzzi above the inn which we enjoyed immensely.  Our first day was a casual day spent in the port, lounging in the jacuzzi and later enjoying a pizza.  We watched locals fishing after dark catching eel.

On January 2, our second day, we headed up for the summit of Mount Eros.  We worked our way up poorly marked train towards the summit, the high point on the island at 588 meters.  The Prophet Elias Monastery is along the route.  As we approached, we chanced upon one of the monks clipping greens on the hillside for a salad.  The small, well-kept monastery had several high-quality hand made goods for sale, but our cash was low and a bar of soap was all we bought.  Different sources said there were either two or four monks in residence, I saw two.

Lynn was comfortable at the monastery, so I headed on to the summit alone.  The trail is poorly marked but you can see the summit.  So you just pick your way. I didn’t expect much at the summit, but I was greeted by a stunning vista looking south across the Aegean Sea, and west towards other islands and the mainland.  A small wooden cross and concrete pillar marked the summit.

We enjoyed another portside dinner, and for a second time we saw a waiter dispatched to the local grocer immediately after we placed our order. The ever present feral cats on the island sat by waiting for scraps, but for the most part they are patient and do not make a pest of themselves.

We headed back to Athens on January 4^th for our last day before heading back to Abu Dhabi.  We boarded the “Flying Dolphin” in a cold rain, our only bad weather for the trip.  We arrived for our pickup to the “Infinity White Complex”, a dated but very large room in Porto Rafti about 20 minutes from the airport with a beautiful view.  The most notable event during this stay was a wonderful dinner at “Prima Plora”, a local seaside restaurant we had to ourselves.  The waiter lavished us with fire grilled whole grouper that we selected and a huge Greek salad with roasted almonds and sun-dried tomatoes.  We declined desert but were treated to Pana Cotta, anyway, followed by a complimentary grappa.  What was missing in luxury was abundantly replaced with a thoughtfully prepared, tastefully presented dinner served by a gracious host in a charming setting.  We could not have chosen better.

We returned back to Abu Dhabi the next morning.  Our short notice first trip was a complete success.