June 28-July 9, 1984

June 28-July 9, 1984

Another classmate of mine had planned a vacation to the Greek Islands after our graduation ceremony, so we made plans to meet up.  Not knowing the area we picked a restaurant out of the guidebook and made arrangements to meet there for dinner on June 28.  We both hoped the restaurant would be still in business when we arrived.  Today is the 28^th, so I took a taxi to the port of Piraeus and bought a ferry ticket to the island of Mykonos.   Despite the uncertainty I successfully met Andy at Nikos Taverna on Mykonos for dinner.

Mykonos is the picture postcard Greek island.  All the buildings in the small port town crawling up the hill from the dock are whitewashed a brilliant white.  Atop the hill are several Dutch-like windmills.  Very picturesque.  There is not much to do on the island except go to Paradise beach on the other side of the island and soak up some rays.  Well, after more than a month of solid traveling I don’t need much convincing.

In another testament to this being a small world I ran into another person I knew.  That’s two now for the trip.  While walking by a port restaurant we ran into Tom, another classmate, who was on a post-graduation cruise of the Greek Islands.

I am not used to sitting in one place too long so after a few days Andy and I took a ferry to Ios, another of the thousand Greek Islands in the Aegean Sea.  Ios seems to have even less going for it.  It is not as picturesque as Mykonos.  Oh well, off to the beach.  Hmmm…I like this place after all.  It appears young Swedes come to Ios for vacation.  And Swedish girls apparently hate swimwear.  Besides soaking up the rays on the beach, I gave windsurfing a try.  It is very difficult.  I cut my ankle somehow while doing it, ending my surfing career.  Andy and I ended up spending almost a week on the Ios beach, celebrating the 4^th of July holiday along the way.

Tiring of Ios, we took another ferry to Santorini (also known as Thira) and landed at Athinos harbor.  To say Santorini is an unusual island is an understatement.  The center of Santorini contains an active volcano that blew its top some 3500 years ago and devastated the island and maybe changed world history.  What is left of Santorini is pretty cool scenery.  The main part of the island is a ring with the collapsed volcano, still smoldering, now an islet sitting in the center of the lagoon.  

The ferry arrives on the inside of the main ring island.  When the center of the island collapsed it left behind steep, heavily eroded, cliffs.  We took a cable car to the top where the main city of Fira clings to the 1000-foot cliff. The white-washed hotels and houses all hug the cliff edge here and provide magnificent views of the lagoon, cliff walls and the central volcano islet.  Simply Spectacular.

Andy and I rented mopeds to give us mobility and we gave ourselves a tour of the island.  One stop high on my list was Akrotiri. Like Pompeii, Akrotiri is an ancient city, buried by volcanic lava that is slowly being excavated.  The volcanic eruption was massive.  It had to be to destroy the island like it did.  It is thought that the legend of Atlantis comes from the destruction of the sophisticated Minoan civilization that once lived on the island.  It literally did sink into the sea.  Some historians have also suggested that the eruption caused a massive tsunami that rocked Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean and may have been the origin of the Biblical plagues that freed Moses and the Israelites from bondage.

Because of the volcanic origin of the island some of the beaches sport black sand.  We gave the black sand a try at Perissa and Kamari.  At Kamari we met a couple Jewish girls enjoying the beach.  The cute one, who was into the beach scene, was from New York City and I let Andy talk to her. I was left with the fatter Chicago friend, who wasn’t comfortable without her swimwear.

After more than two weeks in Greece I have eaten a lot of Greek food.  It is all very new to me.  Greek salad comes with every meal and consists of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers (no lettuce) topped with a slab of feta (goat) cheese.  Salad dressing is vinegar and oil on the side.  I like it.

Fast food on the beach is usually Souvlaki, roasted lamb chunks on a stick.  Also very tasty. Since we are on islands, seafood is popular but is mostly squid and octopus.  Sandwiches and Bread are not common.  If you can find one it is usually pita bread stuffed with meat.

The closest thing to food from home is Pastitsio.  It is a cross between Macaroni and Cheese with Lasagna. You have to be careful though as the Greeks like to stick eggplant inside.  I hate eggplant.  They also like to stuff food inside grape leaves (Dolmades) for some reason.  Not sure why.  Maybe grape leaves taste a whole lot better than olive tree leaves. Dessert is usually watermelon or Baklava, which is dough soaked in honey.