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This is Sunday and we take a bus to Chania (also spelled Hania and pronounced hahn-yah).  This is Crete’s most evocative city with it’s pretty Venetian quarter crisis-crossed by narrow lanes leading to a magnificent harbor.  It’s only 28 miles from Kissamos but the bus ride takes an hour.

Our first stop is the Archaeological Museum in a beautifully restored 16th century Venetian Church of San Francisco.  What amazed us the most is how small fragments were glued together to re-create the vases and vessels.  There were also glass vases from a 3 C BC glass foundry.  I had no idea glass could be this old.

 

After coffee in a nice garden restaurant we went to the Byzantine Museum.  This had a limited number of items to display and was a disappointment after Archaeological Museum.

The town was humming this Sunday.  Outdoor restaurants abound in the city and are wall-to-wall on the harbor.  Almost all were full or near full.  So how do you choose one?  It’s common practice to have a “salesman” outside trying to lure you in.  I saw one with a sign “No Pressure”; this appealed to me so that’s where we went.  We later discovered it has a 2018 Trip Advisor Mark of Excellence.  And it certainly was good.  But we haven’t had a bad meal since we’ve been here.

 

From our outdoor restaurant (below) we could see a Mosque across the bay, but it wasn’t open. And we came across two bikes that looked like city rental bikes but were unique in that they were made of wood.

 

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Today’s scheduled ride wasn’t particularly long or hard, even if the trip out was mostly up-hill.  At 2.5 km, I had a flat rear tire.  The bike outfitters told me that we had 2 inner tubes since our wheels are different diameters.  But when I opened the trunk bag I saw only one tube, one to fit Brenda’s wheel.  No problem, we can patch the tube.  It took a while to get the tire off and when we did, we could not find a hole in the tube.  So, what’s happened?  We reinstall the tube and tire, pump the tire up and start to get on and the tire is flat again.

So we start walking back to town.  But suddenly I had a thought: the trunk bag seemed pretty big to have only one spare tube.  And sure enough there was a bottom compartment which had the spare tube I needed.  So we take the wheel off again and install this tube. We get it back on the bike and for some unknown reason, the brakes are rubbing the rim.  So it takes me more time to adjust the brakes.  By the time everything is sorted out, we’ve probably lost an hour. After some discussion, we’re back on the bikes and back on the ride (uphill).  But the grades get steep and the temperature rises (86 degrees).  So we turn around, not completing the ride.  I need my eyeglasses adjusted and it’s lunchtime in Kissamos.   Unfortunately, the eyeglass place doesn’t have staff that can make the adjustment until Monday.  No photos today.

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No cycling today; we’re sailing.  On a boat which will handle 400 people; this is the small boat. 

 

From the Kissamos harbor it’s about an hour’s boat ride to Imera Gramvousa – the Island of Pirates.  There are 400 plant species in Gramvousa, three of them cannot be found anywhere else on earth.  There are also 98 species of birds.  The main attraction, if you call it that, is a 1579 Venetian castle.  At least that’s what the tourist literature says.  Actually it’s barely a ruin, no indication of where  a castle used to be.  And to get there you have to climb 400-500 feet on slippery, rocky soil.  There are some steps, but some of these are pretty tall steps. I huffed and puffed on the climb and was very disappointed at the top.  Coming down was more difficult, as it always is. A couple of times young people asked “Are you all right?”  Did I look as if I was about to die?  Maybe!  And as I approached a very big step, a young black lady in front of me held out her hand and said “I don’t look strong, but I am.”  Thanks, lady.

The next stop is the lagoon of Balos, listed as one of the best beaches in the world.  Well, I’m not a beach person.  I don’t like sun, sand or salt-water.  So what made this one of the best?  Beats me.  Second picture below Patrice took of me trying to hold up the umbrella.  Are we having fun yet?

I must have left my shirt on the bed.  When I returned to the room the maids had folded it the same way they fold the towels.  Brenda told me to enjoy this one; she’s not going to fold my shirts.

But the next day, they folded her jacket.

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Today’s official route is more difficult than yesterday’s.  According to the  Ride With GPS software, the maximum grade is 18.8%. Yikes.  (The steepest paved road in the world is in Dunedin, New Zealand – 23%.)  So we decided to opt out.  Instead we did the short ride which we missed on the first day,  The Shore East of Kissamos.

Left, a nice lunch location but we were there before lunchtime.

   

We came to  T in the road but it was gravel in both directions. We weren’t sure where we were but Patrice headed out anyway.  The rocks were bad enough but then we encountered deep sand and our wheels sunk.  When I finally got up the only option was to walk the bike for a while.  We got to what I think is the end but there is a path off to the  right.  Patrice and Brenda take off on this “path” through a field.  It’s narrow and branches hit me from both sides.  I holler “This is stupid.”  but they continue.  Damn hard-headed women.  We did finally come to a road and they feel vindicated.

We find a taverna which is open, run by an old woman who has almost no teeth. We are the only customers.  For once, we find someone who has only limited English but she understands beer.  It is very early season here and she has not stocked up on many items on the menu but I had a pretty good pork chop and the tomatoes in the Greek salad were fantastic.

 

The restaurant is less that 1 km from a Roman Amphitheater.

We’re not sure what this is; it was beside the Amphitheater.  Maybe an alter?  The stone in the manmade alter matches the natural stone behind it.

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Today was a tough cycling day starting with an 8 kilometer climb.  The main destination was an archeology site, the Ancient Roman City Phalasarnis (or sometimes Falasarnis).  To get there we had to ride on a rocky unpaved road, not pleasant even if you have a mountain bike with fat tires as Brenda and I did.  The Phalasarnian civilization started early but was at their zenith around 400 BC.  It is believed that the Romans trashed their own city, possibly because the inhabitants had become pirates.

Picture on the left below is of vegetable hot-houses lining the ocean-front.  Climbing up from the ocean, we had a tough 3-mile climb.  Brenda and I walked part of it.

An of course I had to take a photo of Betsy’s skirt.  She is co-leader of this ride.

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Our first cycling day was pleasant.  How could it be bad with blue skies, blue water and temperatures in the 70’s?  We had two rides today, both leisurely explorations of the shore to the west and east of Kissamos.  A few of us didn’t make it to the afternoon ride due to the two hour lunch.  Can you blame us? Sitting on the Med, enjoying the ambience and eating great seafood (fish, shrimp and calamari)?

We stopped along the road to visit a shrine and chapel built into a cave.

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BRENDA’s IMPRESSIONS OF ATHENS

Athens is a big city, quite old and very historical, but in many ways it is just old.  Obviously many resources are being used to protect and restore the Acropolis and Parthenon.  The rebuilding of that area began in the 1980s and will continue for many years to come.  This applies to many of the other important sites in the city. 

The highways around the city were fairly new thanks in part to the 2004 Olympics held here. The EU has probably helped also. Even the streets within the city were pretty good. The airport was modern and clean.

The Greek people have a great pride in their heritage and their city.  This was evident in how they proudly talked about their city, and the food and drink.  It was quite impressive given that the unemployment rate fluctuates between 15-30% depending on the season.  Tourism is a big business here and employs many from March through October.  We never saw evidence of unemployed, wandering people.

We did see lots of gypsies and they can be very in your face.  This is a cultural group we just don’t see in the US, certainly not in Dallas.

While the tourist areas are clean and tidy, I observed that much of the residential areas were not so tidy.  Older buildings, pollution, additions to structures contribute to this not so glamorous look.  Plus, the density of the population plays a role in the over-crowded feel.  Of course, we were staying in the center of Athens, just a few blocks from the Acropolis.  My outlook would have been different had we stayed in a suburb, but what visitor would want that?  I’m sure if Dallas was this old the same would be true.

CONTINUING ON

The history lessons are almost over!  But not quite.  Today (Monday) we flew from Athens to Chania on the island of Crete.  Then a limo took us to Kissamos where the biking will begin tomorrow.  Crete is the largest of the Greek islands.  There are about 1,000 in all but only about 100 are inhabited today.  About 10% of Greece’s 11,000,000 people live on the islands.  Crete is very important in the history of the country, so let’s talk about it.  Also I’ll include a sentence of two about other cultures to put things in perspective.

Over 4,000 years ago, on the island of Crete, a 12-hour boat ride from Athens, the Minoans were traders, not fighters. Society was like a corporation: ruled by CEO kings, managed by CPA scholars and blessed by bureaucrat priests. No one knows where they originated, and no one knows why they disappeared about 1450 BC. Even the poorest in Crete lived well in multi-room apartments with indoor plumbing. With ample leisure time, Minoans were avid sports fans. Tanned, relaxed good-looking men and women are shown in frescos dancing, fishing or strolling with goddess through a garden of exotic animals.

After the Minoans the Greek mainland was dominated by local tribes called the Mycenae's – warriors, not traders. But they disappeared also and Greece fell into the “dark ages”, 800 – 500 BC.

About 800 BC, Greek tribes began experimenting with democracy. A large military city, Sparta conquered its neighbors turning them into slave farmers. Sparta grew to 3,000 square miles, larger than the state of Delaware.

Opposite the oppressive, militaristic Sparta was the democratic, luxury-loving and business friendly Athens, population 80,000. Athens prospered, exporting cash-crops (wine and olive oil, pottery and other crafts) to neighboring cities and importing the best craftsmen and thinkers. After they defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, an excited soldier ran 26.2 miles to Athens to tell the good news. He died after the run, but The Marathon was born.

The Greeks dominated the ancient world though brain, not brawn. At school both the body and the mind were trained. In the Agora (marketplace) Socrates, Plato and Aristotle debated questions that still occupy the human mind. Both Plato and Aristotle founded universities that would attract Europe’s best minds for centuries.

And then the  Romans came.

 

Our hotel for the next 10 days has a pool and beach chairs on the Mediterranean. We have large rooms and balcony’s on the Med. We’re here for 10 days and breakfast and dinner is included.  This costs us $1,400 per person. Not bad, heh? 

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BLOG NOTE: I began this blog in 2009 when I rode across the country.  This consisted of my photos, my thoughts and impressions.  But now, riding with Brenda, we tend to go places that beg for description.  I’m not a good note taker and surely can’t  take notes and photographs at the same time.  But Brenda is a good note taker and remembers far more details than I.  So she now writes a lot of the blog text. So look above! The blog is now titled JOHN & BRENDA’S BASICALLY BORING BICYCLING BLOG.  I’m so glad the alliteration continues.

When we returned to the hotel at 7:00 pm yesterday we were pretty  tired.  Four days of exploring antiquity, including 3 11-hour bus tours, were taking their toll.  We returned to the Phillipos hotel where we began and were given the only room on the seventh floor. We were excited to see a private balcony large enough for a party and with a direct view of the  Parthenon. Then we opened the door to the world’s smallest hotel room.  It made the small French hotel rooms look large. There was not enough room for our suitcases; these spent the night on the patio.

 

Photo at left from our balcony.  Today is Sunday, a day of much-needed rest.  We did laundry in the morning at a very nice laundromat which had a table for working on the blog.  Then we went to the Acropolis Museum, one of four in the city.  When the Olympics were in Athens for the second time in modern history (2006), the city used this as an excuse to do major infrastructure projects like highways and a public transportation system.  As part of this was the Acropolis Museum which didn’t open until 2009. 

There was an ulterior motive here.  Many of the Greek historical artifacts are in the British Museum, taken last century by Lord Elgin.  Of course Greece wants them back.  But  the Brits have maintained there is no sufficient museum in Greece.  Now, this is no longer true. So come on Brits, give back to the Greeks what is rightly theirs.

The museum maintains visual contact with the monuments of the Acropolis, exhibits the Parthenon sculptures in their entirety (same size as the original and same orientation), and adapts the building to the archaeological excavation that extends across i0ts foundation.  See photo from the museum in the upper right and some of he evacuation below.

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Today our guide was Kostas.  He loved Greek mythology and gave me way more information than I was interested in hearing.  Our first stop was the Corinth Canal.  Construction began in 1881 and was completed in July 1893.  It is 4 miles in length, 25 meters wide and 8 meters deep. It is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland, arguably making the peninsula an island. Before the canal ships still used this shortcut but the small boats were being carried on wheeled cradles running in grooves. It is estimated that this process took 150 slaves. This system may have been used until the 9th century. Today approximately 2500 boats use the canal annually.

Above are photos of the Treasury of Atreus.  This is actually a burial gravesite for a wealthy family, but the details are lost to history.  The shape is like a beehive with 33 rows of rocks in concentric circles with a round capstone at the top.  After the initial folks were buried here, the entrance was probably covered in soil to conceal the entrance.  Additions to the burial space were made by lowering the bodies in the tomb by rope through the round cap rock at the top. The Lintel across the entry is estimated to weigh 110 tons.  The structure is 14 meters high by 14 meters wide and the grave was looted prior to the 2nd c BC

Above is the Citadel of Mycenae.

Mycenae is one of the most important archaeological sites of Greece. The fortified citadel is nested over the fertile plain of Argolis near the seashore in the northeast Peloponnese.

Mycenae is the largest and most important center of the civilization that was named "Mycenaean" after this very citadel. Mycenaean is the culture that dominated mainland Greece, the Aegean islands, and the shores of Asia Minor during the late Bronze Age era (circa 1600-1100 c BC). The Mycenaean Era occupies the tail end of the Helladic Civilization, which flourished in mainland Greece since 3rd c BC.

The Lion Gate guards and provides the main access to the citadel. The two lions arranged symmetrically around a column is the first example of representational monumental sculpture in the European continent. While its significance has been lost to the depths of history, its placement above the main gate of the most powerful citadel of late Bronze Age has led to speculation that it symbolized something important like a family crest or a coat of arms.

The triangular shape of the sculpture acts as a relieving triangle for the door below: its shape distributes the weight above the door to the sides and away from the horizontal lintel, protecting it form breakage. The relief sculpture is carved of gray limestone, but the heads of the lions were added on (probably made of steatite or metal) and have been lost since antiquity.

Above is photo of Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidavros.  This theatre seats around 15,000 and still performs Greek tragedies about 40 performances each year. There are 113 steep steps to the back row, so take of all your business before making the climb.  Some of the steps are not in good shape so take care!  In 4th c BC the original theatre seated 7,000.  The Romans added the upper deck to make 55 rows.  Legend tells that the theatre was created by Dionysus, the God of Wine and Entertainment.  No other builder was mentioned.

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A couple of observations:

• We’ve heard so much history and mythology these past two days, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction.  Is this the fake news of antiquity?  Speaking of which, on these long bus tours, I’ve been reading ”How The Right Lost It’s Mind”  - a really scary book.  That was written last night. Today’s tour guide admitted that fact and fiction are intertwined in the history of antiquity.
• No matter where we are n Greece, at a hotel, restaurant or bar or just talking to the bus driver, everyone speaks excellent English. And it’s no  wonder.  In Greek schools, they study English starting in the 3rd grade.  And in the 5th grade, they take up another language of their choice – French, Italian, etc.  So by the time they’re in high school, they speak three languages.  Hell, when I was in high school I had difficulty enough talking Texan?

 

Today’s guide is Youli.  She is excellent, knows her history, Greek gods, Christianity and her English is easy to understand. 

From the town of Kalambaka our driver takes us to our first stop in the Meteora Monasteries.  A total of 24 monasteries were built but only 6 are still active today.  Greeks make no distinction between the words monasteries and nunneries.  Only 2 of the 6 remaining are nunneries.  A hermit named Barnabus may have begun to settle the area as early as 950 AD. His abode, referred to as a hermitage, was likely more like a cave and his mission was to pray for people.  His life would have been very basic and challenging.  In the early 12th c more development began with the Mother of God church and the men from the area hermitages began to flow toward this church to perform their common prayers for God, discuss their concerns and to get help from other hermits in performing their hard work.  About 14th c more monasteries were built.  Early settlers would have climbed the rocks, carrying their needed building materials and supplies.  Then a system of nets and rope ladders were used.  Ladders were finally built in the early 20th c.

UNESCO has declared this area to be a “monument of Humanity that has to be maintained”.

 

Above is Varlaam monastery, the second largest.

Below is the Holy Monastery of Grand Meteoron, the largest.  Today only 7 monks reside here.  Quite impressive, especially when you consider the conditions under which it was built.  There 267 steps to get to the entry.  You can see the people lined up at 9am when the place opened.  The church inside the monastery has 3 sections.  Non-Christian people can only enter the outer area, then the middle section is for the Christians, then the sacred area for priests only.  We couldn’t even see the sacred area.  All tourists are allowed in the first 2 sections but women must have skirts or scarves tied around their waist.  Men in shorts must don a skirt. All walls inside the church are painted with fresco and icons.  Early on many people were not literate and these frescos tell stories of the Bible

 

Above is Nunnery of St. Stephens.  Today 27 nuns inhabit and care for the structures here.  The church is laid out as explained below but the frescos are still being painted today.  The colors here are much more brilliant than the monastery.  Today they do not burn candles inside which did much damage to the earlier frescos at the previous monastery.