A 4.18-5.1 Northern Greece, Easter on the island Skopelos, Athens (14 days)
$2450.
APRIL 18 Athens
If you’re coming to Greece from the US, you will have left the day before. The time difference between the two countries is 7 to 10 hours; if it’s 8 am in California (and 11 am in Toronto), it’s 6 pm the same day in Greece. The new airport of Athens is attractive and efficient, and easy to navigate. It’s a good idea to change some money in the banks at the airport; unlike some countries, banks at the airport and everywhere in Greece have approximately the same rate of exchange, which is always better than the rate outside Greece. After coming out the front door of the airport, you’ll see a line of taxis, and a corresponding line of people waiting for taxis. Take a taxi from the taxi stand to the HOTEL AUSTRIA, 7 MOUSON STREET, AKROPOLIS - FILOPAPPOU (telephone 923-5151). When you arrive at the hotel, tell the driver to wait while you go inside. Tell the desk clerk at the hotel you’re with Dick, and he’ll make sure you pay the right amount for the taxi (it should be around 30 euros) .
You or I can be contacted anytime at this Athens telephone number: 011-30-210-923-5151 (Hotel Austria). The FAX number is 011-30-210-924-7350. Dial all 15 digits from North America, only the last ten in Athens. If anyone might want to contact you, tell them to use these numbers and we will be notified immediately, wherever we are. Be sure that you, or whoever is calling, mention the name “Dick,” so as to be identified properly. I do not include numbers of all our hotels, since at most of them the desk clerks do not speak English (anyone calling probably would not be able to leave a message).
We'll meet in the hotel lobby around 7:30 PM to go out to dinner at a local restaurant.
View from the Austria Hotel, Athens
We'll drive up into the foothills of Mount Parnassos to visit the Oracle of Apollo at Delfi. Delfi was the most famous oracle of the ancient world (remember that an oracle was a place or a message, not a person), already held in highest esteem at the time of Homer (8th century). Here questions were asked of the god Apollo (mostly by rulers and governments in the earlier phase, by individuals in the later phase) and his answer was transmitted by a priestess, the Pythia, who babbled something incoherent which was translated into hexameter verse by the college of priest-poets. The petitioner would first purify himself in the sacred Kastalian spring, then write his question on a lead tablet, and wait for his turn to submit it. The order of submission was determined by lottery, unless one was granted the right of promanteia (the privilege of cutting in line), presumably in return for a handsome gift to the sanctuary; an extant inscription just below the Temple of Apollo reads “Delfi grants to the people of Chios the right of promanteia (cutting the line).” The oracles were characteristically vague or ambiguous, thus increasing immeasurably their odds of success.
In myth Delfi (like almost all oracles) was at first the possession of Gaia (Earth), who was the first to utter prophecies. Later Apollo killed the great serpent which guarded the site and took it over (Pytho, the early name of Delfi, and Pythia, the priestess, may be words derived not from python [serpent] but from pythao [a verb “to rot”], since Apollo left the body of the serpent to rot in the sun).
We’ll begin with the museum (the display labels are mostly in Greek and French, so if you don’t know one of these languages attach yourself to someone who does).
We go up the entrance stairs to the first exhibit, a large omphalos (navel stone). Zeus saw where two eagles, flying from the ends of the earth, met; this place was Delfi, the navel of the earth. The following rooms contain in order the Sphinx of the Naxians; a huge archaic sculpture which stood atop a 30-foot column, and the pediment and frieze from the Treasury of the Siphnians; large, very early bronze shields; two kouros statues of Kleobis and Biton, two youths proclaimed by Solon to be the most fortunate persons in the world, since they pulled their mother’s chariot to the Argive Heraion, fell asleep in the temple, and never awoke; a treasure of gold, silver, and ivory objects found in 1939 under a path below the Temple of Apollo; sculpture from the Treasury of the Athenians; statuary from the archaic Temple of Apollo (this temple, called the Alkmaionid temple because it was paid for by the aristocratic Athenian clan of the Alkmaionidai, was the second on the site and was destroyed by an earthquake in 373 BC). The Alkmaionid temple was quickly rebuilt, and the new temple’s repair by Domitian at the end of the 1st century a.d. is commemorated by an inscription; a rare and important inscription of a hymn with musical notation. objects from the Tholos, a round temple in the lower shrine; 4th century sculptures, including three enormous dancing girls on a column which was the base for a tripod, and the votive offering of Daochos, a family group tracing his genealogy; the highlight of the museum (and perhaps of all museums) is the bronze statue of the Charioteer in; this spectacular piece, from around 475 BC, stands poised at the end of the Archaic age, on the verge of motion and the Classical style.
Turning left from the Museum entrance, we take the paved path to the site entrance (separate ticket). As we begin up the slope after the entrance we come first to the Offerings of the Arcadians and the Spartan Monument of the Admirals, two rows of statue bases, then two semi-circular Argive monuments, followed by a large number of treasuries, including those of the Sikyonians, the Siphnians, the Thebans, and the Athenians (reconstructed). Next is a small Council Chamber near the site of the column which held the Sphinx of the Naxians, the place at which the gold and silver treasures in the museum were found, and the Treasury of the Corinthians. Below the Temple of Apollo is the Stoa of the Athenians, a colonnade honoring the victory over the Persians in 480, and before the Temple is the Altar of Apollo, dedicated by the people of Chios (with the aforementioned inscription granting Chios the nght of promanteia). A reconstructed pillar held an equestrian statue of Prusias, king of Bithynia in the 2nd century BC. The great Temple of Apollo was the actual site of the oracle, perhaps in an underground chamber. Above the temple is a small but well-preserved theater, built in the 4th century and restored by the Romans. A steep but worthwhile walk leads from the theater to the Stadium, the best-preserved in Greece; it held 7,000 spectators and is still used for theatrical and musical events. After returning downhill to the entrance we turn left and follow the path to the Kastalian Spring; a little below the spring is a refreshment terrace (much needed by those who’ve gone all the way to the stadium) with a good view of the lower site. The large, recently-excavated gymnasium area is now open to visitors; below it is the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, which contains an old and a new temple of Athena, two treasuries, and a beautiful, partially-reconstructed 4th century Tholos.
After visiting Delfi we'll drive 30 minutes south to Erateini on the coast.
APRIL 20
We'll visit several
interesting places during our
drive north, including the aqueduct built by Emperor Augustus
for the town he created, Nikopolis, and the beautiful Venetian harbor
at Nafpaktos, where the Turkish fleet assembled before the famous
battle of Lepanto in 1571.
Nafpaktos: Venetian Harbor
We'll go to Konitsa, a few
miles from Albania, after
seeing the Oracle of Zeus at Dodoni.
The Oracle was regarded by
Homer as the oldest of
all oracles and second in
importance only to Delfi. Zeus was the god of Dodoni and spoke through
the
rustling leaves of a sacred oak tree. At first the oracle consisted of
only
a circle of tripods around the oak; a temple was built in the 4th
century,
enlarged by Pyrrhos at the beginning of the 3rd century, and rebuilt at
the end of this century. The most spectacular structure at Dodoni is
the theater, one of the largest in Greece (holding around 20,000); it
was built by Pyrrhos and rebuilt twice in later years.
The first priests at Dodoni were
called Selloi (which may be connected with Hellenes, the Greek word for
themselves); Homer says that they wore no shoes, never washed their
feet, and slept on the ground (probably because this oldest of oracles
maintained a strong
connection with Gaia-Earth, the first giver of oracles). Later a band
of
priestesses called Doves interpreted the sounds of the oak to
petitioners.
In the museum of Ioannina are several dozen lead tablets of questions
put
to the oracle; the most common types of questions are “How (or when)
will
I have a son?” and “Am I the father of her children?” and “To which god
should
I pray for business success?”.
Views of our hotel in Konitsa, the Gefiri.
Dodoni theater
Venetian harbor at Nafpaktos
APRIL 21
Vikos is the Grand Canyon of
Greece, a spectacular
gorge in the Zagori national park. From here we'll drive about 90
minutes through the Pindos
Mountains to Metsovo, a village of 5,000 Vlachs (and the wealthiest
town per capita in the European Union). Metsovo and the
other mountain villages of this area are completely unlike the rest of
Greece. Even the language is different, since most of the people,
although they speak
Greek. are Vlachs and speak Vlachika as their native tongue. The older
people
still wear the traditional mountain clothing: men in black. sometimes
with
skirts and white leggings, tasselled clogs and shepherd’s crooks, women
in
long skirts and embroidered velveteen bodices. They are taciturn and
proud, but very friendly to their North American visitors. The scenery
everywhere is fantastic: Metsovo is on the steep side of one mountain
and looks across a valley to some of the highest peaks of the Pindos.
capped with snow through the summer. The fields are riots of
wildflowers, and in distant valleys
flocks of sheep and goats are tiny moving white dots. The town itself
is
one of the most prosperous in Greece, with most of the income coming
from
lumber, grazing, cheese-making, weaving, and the bequest of the Tositsa
family.
Houses are wood and stone, with slate roofs and carved wooden ceilings
(you’ll
see these also in our hotel). During the morning we’ll visit the
Tositsa
Museum, the house in which the immensely wealthy family of the Barons
Tositsa
lived for over three centuries. After the death of the last Tositsa in
1950,
the house was made into a museum, a memorial to the way the rich used
to
live, and a superb collection of the folk arts of the region.
Our hotel, the Egnatia, in Metsovo.
APRIL 22
It's a short drive from Metsovo to Kalambaka, the town of the Meteora (24 Orthodox monasteries perched on sheer precipices).
Long ago under water, the rocks have been wierdly shaped and pitted by countless centuries of wind and rain. The recesses and their inaccessibility attracted early hermits and monks to the place, and during the 14th century the first monasteries were built. Once crowded and prosperous, they became virtually deserted during the last century, although a current renaissance in monasticism is accompanied by large building projects at several of the bigger monasteries. We’ll visit either Varlaam or Metamorphosis, and see the chapel (with frescoes depicting every possible way to become a martyr), the museum, and the platform from which rope nets are let down several hundred feet by a windlass; this was until 70 years ago the only means of entrance to the monasteries and still the only way to transport goods and materials. Male visitors are not allowed to wear shorts in the monasteries, and women must wear a skirt or dress and have their shoulders covered.
From Meteora we'll go north to Vergina, where the new state-of-the-art museum contains the Macedonian royal burial mound and the tomb of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great.
After visiting Vergina we'll go south around Mt Olympus to Volos and Mt Pelion.
APRIL 23-24
In Volos, we'll visit the Archaeological Museum, known for its Neolithic exhibits, and the Neolithic site of Dimini (in a suburb of Volos). Then we'll go up to Mt Pelion, an enormous massif overlooking the Bay of Volos. It's one of the most beautiful regions of Greece. The area is heavily forested, with fruit orchards and whole towns of flower nurseries. There's a ski resort at the top and scenic beaches at the foot of the mountain. We'll stop at some of the picturesque villages, like Makrinitsa, and stay at Hania near the ski resort.
APRIL 25-28
This morning we'll take the boat or hydrofoil from Volos to the island Skopelos.
We'll be on Skopelos for Easter Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Greek Orthodox Easter is on April 27, the third day of our stay in Skopelos. Easter is by far the biggest holiday of the year in Greece, like our Christmas, New Year's, and July 4 all wrapped into one. We can join the villagers for the midnight candle-lit procession to the main church and the enormous celebration that follows. On Sunday every family roasts a lamb on a hand-turned spit in front of their houses, and there is dancing and music everywhere.
Like the other Sporades Islands, Skopelos is mountainous and pine-covered, with dozens of marvelous beaches and picturesque coves and villages. It’s visited during the summer by many knowledgeable tourists from around the world, but fortunately it has no airport and hasn’t yet been ruined by mass tourism. It’s a big island, about 40 miles long and from 5 to 12 miles wide. A single paved road runs from Glossa, an elevated village on the west coast, to the main town of Skopelos. Situated in a circular harbor surrounded by mountains, the town rises steeply above the water like a huge layer cake. The bottom layer is the waterfront, a half-mile of restaurants, shops, and cafes almost hidden by the green of mulberry and plane trees, while above it layers of whitewashed houses with red tile roofs and brightly painted shutters seem to be piled on top of one another.
What is there to do in Skopelos? One could easily spend two days just exploring the town; the people are friendly and the view around every corner of the narrow lanes is wonderful; when you get tired of walking, have a seat at one of the waterfront cafes and watch the boats or chat with the people at the next table. If you want to see other parts of the island, rent a motor scooter or take the bus or a taxi; both taxis and busses leave from a plane tree on the waterfront, and the bus schedule is on a sign attached to the tree. About two and a half miles from town (a pleasant and not difficult walk) is Staphylos. the best-known beach; it’s named for a mythical prince of Crete who supposedly colonized Skopelos during the Bronze Age. Another two and a half miles along the truly breathtaking scenery of the southern coast brings you to Agnondas, a quaint village with a few houses and three seafood restaurants. Or, if you want to see the whole island, take the bus all the way to Glossa and back.
Skopelos is the home of Kostas and Voula Kalafatis, my Greek colleagues (they help me with my arrangements while I am in America). If you want information, help, or just friendly conversation and a cup of coffee (or something stronger), go to their shop on the waterfront.
On the 28th we'll take the ferry back to the Agios Konstantinos on the mainland; from here it's a 2-hour bus ride back to Athens.
APRIL 29
Today we'll visit the Akropolis and Agora.
We’ll meet in the hotel lobby for a brief discussion about Athens and the Akropolis, then take a 10-minute walk to the Akropolis entrance. On our way we’ll pass the restored Theater of Herodes Atticus (the Herodion), originally built in the 2nd century AD and still used for musical and theatrical events during the annual Athens Festival (June-September).
Excavations have shown that the Akropolis itself was inhabited as early as 5000 BC and in use continually through the Helladic (2800-1800) and Mycenean (1800-1100) periods. No remains save pottery survive from the Dark Age (1100-800), but during the Archaic period (800-500) several temples and other structures were built, all of which were destroyed during the sack of Athens by a Persian invasion in 480; the remains of these archaic buildings are housed in the Akropolis Museum. During the second half of the 5th century all the structures still to be seen on the Akropolis were built, first the Parthenon (447-438), then the Propylaia (437-432), the temple of Athena Nike (427-424), and the Erechtheion (completed around 395).
We enter through the Propylaia, the entrance gate on the west end of the hill; the little temple on the south-west corner is the Athena Nike, restored most recently in 1936-40. Proceeding along the north side of the Parthenon, the Erechtheion is on the left and may be visited first; closed off for restoration for many years, it was opened in 1989 and we can now walk entirely around it. It is a composite structure which was used for several cults. principally those of Athena, Poseidon, and Erechtheus (son of Erichthonios, a mythical half-serpent half-man king of Athens). The south portico is the famous Karyatid Porch: the Karyatids are the six columns in the shape of women. The columns in place are all replicas, one original having been removed by Lord Elgin and the other five kept in the Akropolis Museum.
Returning to the Parthenon, the north-east corner provides a good vantage to observe certain famous architectural refinements. The spaces between columns are not all the same, the corner columns are a bit thicker than the others, horizontal lines are curved and vertical lines are inclined. If you sight along the top step of the foundation, you will see the slight bulge of the center, which is repeated in the architrave above. All these innovations give the building an appearance of regularity and vertical lift from a distance (and it was from a distance, after all. that most people in antiquity viewed the Parthenon).
“Parthenon” means ‘virgin” and the temple was dedicated to the virgin goddess Athena, the patroness of Athens. The sculptures on the east pediment represented the birth of Athena (who leapt in full armor from the head of her father Zeus). The scene on the west pediment was the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attica. The metopes had scenes found on many classical temples: the war between the Centaurs and Lapiths, the war between the Giants and the Gods. and the war between Athens and the Amazons. The frieze along the outer wall of the inner temple represented the procession of the Greater Panathenaia festival. Much of the frieze, along with some metopes and pedimental sculptures, was removed by Lord Elgin in 1801 and is now in the British Museum (the “Elgin Marbles”).
The chief architects of the Parthenon were Iktinos and Kallikrates, and overall supervisor of the project was the famous sculptor Pheidias, who created the gold and ivory statue of Athena almost 40 feet high.
Although converted into a Christian basilica and, later. into a Moslem mosque, the Parthenon remained largely intact until 26 September 1687, when a mortar shot set off an explosion in the building, which was being used by the Turks as a gunpowder and munitions storehouse.
Just east of the Parthenon and below ground level is the Museum. Going though it clockwise, the north and back halls contain remains of pre-classical structures and the south halls contain artifacts from the Parthenon and Erechtheion. Specially interesting are the pedimental fragments from 6th century temples (the emphasis on serpentine shapes reflects the importance of snake-men in the mythical history of Athens), the Moschophoros (an early 6th century statue of a man carrying a calf), the Korai (archaic statues of maidens; the most famous is the Peplos Kore), the Kritias Boy (around 480, one of the earliest examples of the Classical style), and the few fragments from the Parthenon pediment not destroyed or carried off. The last two rooms contain what is left in Greece from the friezes of the Parthenon, Erechtheion, and Nike temple, and four of the original Karyatid columns.
From the wall along the north side of the Akropolis you have a good view of modern Athens, as well as the ancient Agora, the Roman forum, the National Cathedral, and the Parliament building on Syntagma Square. From the lookout point on the east end you can see the National Garden, the Stadium where the 1896 Olympics were held, and the huge Roman temple of Jupiter (2nd century AD). The south wall looks down on the theater of Dionysos (where the dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes were performed) and the Roman theater of Herodes Atticus.
The Akropolis entrance is just a few yards from the Areopagos, a small hill just northwest of the Akropolis. Here, according to myth, the first jury trial was held, the trial of Orestes for the murder of his mother Klytemnestra; when the jury of 12 Athenian citizens voted 6 for acquittal, 6 to convict, Athena cast the deciding vote for acquittal and established the principle that an evenly split jury must decide for the defendant. During historical times the hill was the meeting place first for the aristocratic council of elders and later for the most serious trials (treason and homicide). In 51 AD St. Paul delivered here his sermon on the “Unknown God,” a copy of which is inscribed on a bronze plaque beside the stairs leading up the hill.
From the Areopagos we’ll walk down the hill to the Agora, the social and civic center of ancient Athens. In use throughout antiquity, the Agora was gradually covered over by newer dwellings, so that in 1931 when the American School of Classical Studies began systematic excavations, the only visible ancient building was the Doric temple at the northwest corner (the “Theseion”). We’ll begin by going through the Agora Museum, contained in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos; originally built by King Attalos II of Pergamum (159-138 BC), the stoa was rebuilt in 1953-56 thanks to contributions by private American donors. The museum, which contains some 180,000 objects (not all on display), offers a unique perspective on Athenian history from Neolithic times through the Roman period. It is arranged chronologically, in a single long hall beginning with pre-Bronze Age finds and objects from the many Mycenean burials in the area and proceeding through historical times (each century takes up about 20 feet). Almost all the objects are very well described on labels by the American excavators, but I’ll mention a few of special interest: in the middle of the hall, on the left, are a klepsydra (water clock) used to limit the times of orators’ speeches, a kleroterion (lottery machine) used to select public officials (the radical democracy of 5th century Athens believed all citizens were equally capable of fulfilling official duties), a large bronze shield captured from the Spartans in 425 b.c., and a terracotta potty chair; opposite these are a beautiful selection of black-figure and red-figure vases and an entire case of ostraka (broken pieces of pottery used in banishment elections). Ostracism was practiced in Athens from 487 to 417 BC: every year the Assembly voted on whether or not to hold an ostracism; if they held one, each citizen wrote on a sherd the name of the person he wanted to be exiled; if over 6000 votes were cast, the person with the most votes had to leave town for 10 years; in general, the most popular and successful public leaders were selected for ostracism.
Because the Agora was in use for so long and so much rebuilding took place, there is now very little to see of the earlier structures. Walking across the north side of the Agora from the museum to the Theseion temple, we pass by three colossal statues of a Giant and two Tritons; these were the porch columns of a huge music hall, the Odeion of Agrippa (Emperor Augustus’ son-in-law). Next we see a large altar, perhaps the altarof Zeus Agoraios (Zeus of the Agora) and a headless statue of the Emperor Hadrian. Along the west side of the Agora, below the Theseion. are the government buildings, a Bouleuterion (Council Chamber) and a Tholos (the name given to any circular temple or building) where the 50 Council members in session (Prytaneis) dined and where a third of them stayed 24 hours a day for a month (the 5th century Council had 500 members but only 50 of them were in session each of the 10 months).
The Theseion (Temple of Theseus) is wrongly named: the building is actually a temple of Hephaistos. the god of fire and metallurgy, and should be called the Hephaisteion. It is the best preserved Doric temple in existence. Fighting centaurs appear on the west pediment, which may have portrayed the battle between the Centaurs and Lapiths.
Athens, Agora: Temple of Hephaistos
It will be lunch time when we leave the Agora; after lunch in the Plaka (the “Old Town” of Athens), we’ll walk around the area, visiting Syntagma Square and the Parliament building, in front of which the Changing of the Guard occurs every hour on the hour. The rest of the day is free.
APRIL 30
This morning we'll take the Metro to the National Archaeological Museum.
Athens, National Museum: Zeus
After the Archaeological Museum, the afternoon is free. There
will be time for those who wish to visit the newly-reopened Benaki
Museum or the Cycladic Museum (or both, since
they're down the street from one another.
Departure