Random leftovers about Greece

We are now in Norwich, England and as I look out at rainy skies with 45 degree temperatures I am remembering Greece more fondly than is probably realistic!  We spent 2 and 1/2 days in Athens seeing the famous sights and museums (lots of large structures and statues).  Logan described the Acropolis but we also saw the Museum of the Acropolis where they have the friezes that no one had destroyed or, to quote the museum video "those that Lord Elgin violently removed."  Major campaign to get those back from the British!  Lots of years of temples at the Acropolis and surrounding area meant lots of leftover pottery that had held offerings.  It was interesting.  We also saw the National Archaeological Museum and the Byzantine Museum (everyone was museumed out when we left Athens).  Athens is a crowded, noisy and somewhat smoggy city that is fascinating and beautiful. 

 

So when Reuben and Kim tried for coffee in Athens this is the size they got!  Needless to say, the next morning we had to hit Starbucks!

The state religion is Greek Orthodox and there was a whole street with stores that sold all the stuff you might need to stock a church or dress like a priest or have cool religious stuff.

 

The athletic stadium in Athens which was built and used by the Greeks for original "olympic" games, had marble seats put in by the Romans and used, then refurbished for the first modern Olympics in 1894, and refurbished again and used (for archery and the end of the marathon) for the 2004 Olympics.  

 

 If you zoom in on this picture you can see that they were tired of answering questions about the stadium and just put every piece of data on this info board!

 

 The guard outside parliament in Athens at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  This is a formal, elite guard that does a changing of the guard which we watched.  It was overseen and inspected by a guy in regular army clothes.  But the clothes worn by this formal guard included a skirt with 400 pleats and pom poms on the shoes.  Logan said this did not seem like an elite formal unit but rather where one would be sent for punishment!

Visiting the island of Rhodos was more in the nature of a vacation.  Our all inclusive hotel made everything easy.  All inclusive meant three meals, a snack bar that was open from 10 - 6, three bars that were open from 10 am - 12 midnight which served all types of beverages, organized "sport" activities throughout the day, and evening entertainment (Greek dancing and music one night, two different "skit" nights, jazz one night, and a Mr. Lindos Princess contest which I am grateful neither Reuben nor Jonathon participated in).  When Kegan wrote that we had to dress formally all that meant was no bathing suits in the dining room, and for dinner no flip flops or shorts.  Not exactly formal...  Most of the guests at the resort were German, then quite a few British, and then some from France, Italy, Eastern European countries.  Earlier in the summer apparently there were a lot of Russians whom the locals were not pleased with because they don't spend much!  The entertainment was conducted with English as the "main" language but translated into German, Italian, French and Russian.  Very impressive language skills (and skill choosing things that didn't need much speaking!)!

 

Reuben at mini golf at the resort.  We were pitiful.

 

We "escaped the compound" for two days and took trips around Rhodos.  The town of Lindos was built for pedestrians and donkeys with all the "roads" being 10 feet wide winding between stucco houses built against each other and all having sun awnings so it was cool and shady everywhere.  Gorgeous setting that looked like a movie setting.  Of course most of the lower floors had shops for tourists or restaurants for tourists...  The tourist season was coming to a close (really, most things closed til April by the time we left!) while we were there.  That meant that George's Car Rental just had a phone number on the door.  When called, George's mother answered and passed onto George that we wanted cars!  When George came to rent the cars we found out that after tourist season he has a bit of a break then harvests and presses olives.  That is about the extent of the economy in Rhodos.  In Greece overall the unemployment is 28% but youth unemployment is almost 50%.  Lots of talk of leaving to go to the US to work because there is family there.  Many people we spoke with had lived in the US at some point already.  As we drove around we saw an enormous number of partially built structures that were started when the economy was good but abandoned when things went bad.  Lots of rebar sticking out of concrete.  The landscape overall was more arid than I had imagined it would be.  And lots of goats!  Along the side of the road there would be the yellow caution signs that indicated to watch for deer and some signs for cattle, neither of which exist on Rhodos but apparently there are no signs made that have pictures of goats on them!  Greece was an interesting place to visit, with good food (especially the restaurants we ate at when we "escaped the compound") a relaxed culture and friendly people, and stunning landscapes and art. 

The Lindos Acropolis and some of the town of Lindos (astonishing that we could get a picture here that did not include a cat!)