22 May 2009

Athens

Off to Crete

Manny and Jonathan returned to Athens after a week on the island of Spetses in the Saronic Gulf. We said our goodbyes to relatives--saying goodbye to Jonathan's 92-year-old aunt, his original Greek instructor, was especially difficult--and took the first ferry, a high-speed "Flying Dolphin" hydrofoil to nearby Hydra.

It is an idyllic place, totally devoid of cars, trucks, and (for the most part) motorbikes. Donkeys do the heavy lifting on the warren of small alleys and cobbled streets. We walked around, with no particular destination in mind, and then we (i.e., Jonathan) swam off of some large rocks (there are no beaches in Hydra), where the ocean drops off to well over 100 meters within just a few feet of shore. The clarity of the water is intense: one could see a 2 euro coin at over fifty feet.

Manny and Jonathan are "parking" the laptop, among other nonessentials, with our friends in Athens in order to lighten our load for phase 4 of our journey--the hike of the Samarian Gorge on Crete, the longest gorge in Europe. With its terminus on the Libyan Sea, the southernmost point in Europe, this is the culmination of our trip. It will include a visit to papou's village in the high mountains of western Crete, a place nearly exterminated by the Germans in WW II--but very much alive today. We expect the quintessential Cretan hospitality, lots of food, drink, dance, and laughter.

More to come....but perhaps a slight hiatus in the blog postings..