My Travelogue in Greece-1

My casual Travelogue in Greece
Oct-Nov 2023

Page 1

Page 1
Installment #1 <== You are here.
Installment #2

Installment #1

Well, I finally got here! I'm in Greece!
I left Maui on Oct 17, and I reached Greece on Oct 19.

5 hours to fly from Maui to Los Angeles.
5 hours to fly from Los Angeles to Boston.
9 hours to fly from Boston to Athens.

All 3 flights went smooth as silk.
And all 5 pieces of my precious Checked Luggage (concert sound eequipment) arrived safely with me.

But I'm here! I'm in Greece!

First, I have to explain about the national "mind set" of the Greek people:

Relax. Don't take things too seriously.
Don't take the rules too seriously.
Just chill-out, relax, have a good time, and Enjoy Life!

Now that you know that, let me explain the most unusual Passing through Customs I've ever had - here at the Athens airport.
Normally, you first get all your luggage, and then you go through Customs with all your luggage.
And normally, when they see me with 5 BIG LUGGAGE plus all my carry-on, a red flag goes off, and they thoroughly interrogate me.
But here's how in went going through Customs at the Athens airport.

First of all, you go through Cusoms before you get your checked luggage, so they did not even see that I was coming with 5 large luggage.
This is the ONLY time I've ever gone through Custom, when not a word was spoken.
Here's how it went, when it was my turn::

I walk up to Customs and hand them my Passport.
Then they have the computer read the bar code on my Passport.
They stamp my Passport.
They give me my Passport.
They motion me to leave.
Not a word was said!

Wow! How much easier can it get than that!

And when the Conference Organizer - Sarah - met me, she was as sweet, accomodating, honoring, and helpful as could be.
Both Sarah and the other event organizer - Leslie - were both super-nice to me - the entire time.
In fact, on that same day that I arrived, since it was a beautiful sunny day,
they asked me if I wanted to go swimming at a beauiful cove they recently discovered - if I was not too tired.
I arrived "fresh" and was not tired at all, so I said Yes! Let's do it!

So first we went to a delightful Taverna with outdoor tables, and ate lunch together.
We all ordered a large assortment of appetizers and all availed ourselves of all of these appetizers.
I was reminded of how much I enjoy an authentic Greek salad.
The lunch was relaxed and delightul. And so was the ambience of the taverna.

Then all 3 of us took a taxi to the delightful new swimming spot they had recently discovered:

I was so looking forward to swimming in Greece!
I brought my mask and snorkel
Once I jumped into the ocean, only then did I feel that I had truly "arrived" in Greece.

Though there were perhaps 20 or so people at this cove,
Still, everything seemed very serene and peaceful.
No one was talking loudly.
Either silent, or occasional soft relaxed talking.
It was so peaceful, that it was almost unearthly.

Greece is famous for having crystal-clear water.
(WAY clearer than the water on Maui)
The reason for this is that the ocean floor is not sandy, or muddy or plant life.
Is it SOLID ROCK!
So there's nothing floating in the water, to obscure the view.
So it's truly crystal-clear water.
Maybe this next photo can give you some idea of how clear the water is:

Jumping in, I immediately noticed that the water was notiecably colder than the Maui ocean.
But still quite all right, once you get used to it.
(But not as cold as the pools underneath the waterfalls on the road to Hana, Maui)

Sarah had mentioned that this water is exceptionally buoyant, because of all the salt dissolved in the water.
That became blatantly obvious to me, when I tried to swim down to deeeper water,
but the water kept forcefully pushing me back up towards the surface!
It just would not let me swim down deep!
Wow! I've never experienced that before.

Later we had a lovely dinner together - created by their friend Nick, who is a Master Chef.
In my honor, Nick created a delighful vegetarian dinner.

Then I want back to my hotel room, to catch up on my sleep.

By the way, my room is on the 5th floor of a hotel - right in the smack dab middle of Athens.
And there's a LOT of car traffic down below.
And - get this - I have not heard any car or motorcycle honk their horn at all. Not even once!

Welcome to Greece!

Installment #2

Saturday afternoon - before our 5:00pm Conference meeting - I'm "exploring the neighborhood".

Wow, what luck! The most common & popular Greek take-out dish is Souvlaki.
It smells wonderful, but alas, it has lamb in it, and I'm vegetarian.
But what luck! Just half a block from my hotel is the only place in all of Athens that offers Vegatarian Souvlaki!
I ordered it. And it's totally yummy!

I went to Amonia Square to exchange dollars for Euros .
It's quite the business center.
Here's the beautiful fountain in the center of that square.

That evening we had a gathering for all the conference presenters, and this was held at the roof of the hotel.
What a delightful surprise to see how nice it was on the roof:

And when it got dark, from the roof you could see a distant monatery high-up. I understand that there are only 2 priests that live in that monastery.

By the way, the elevator in this hotel is the most AMAZING elevator I have ever experienced.
Why? Because there is absolutely no sense of motion whatsoever! I've never experienced that before in any elevator.
Initially, I was very impressed by this. But then I realized this is because it barely moves!
The elevator in the Empire State Building could climb 100 floors faster than this elevator could climb 3 floors.
That's why I now called this elevator, the turtlevator.

But rather than being impatient, I've turned this into an asset:
I just go in, press the Floor 5 button, and then close my eyes and go into a deep meditation.
When I hear a bell ring, I know it has reached Floor 5, so I gradually come out of meditation, slowly open my eyes,
and then exit the elevator - feeling all refreshed from my meditation. Voila! Floor 5!

This Sunday afternoon, the conference leader Sarah led the group onto a 15 minute walk to the National Archeological Museum,
which we each explored for 2 hours.

Here are some of the displays I found interesting:

They had an enormous collection of vases.

And, of course, lots of statues

They even had ancient Greek porn:

And lastly, a busty room:

In this part of Athens, I noticed that there were 3 soldiers on every street intersection. I asked around and learned that in the recent past, "anarchists" were creating trouble and riots in this part of town. But in the very recent past, every thing has been peaceful. But still, just to make sure things remained peaceful, these soldiers were positioned in every street intersection. Man of man, they were seriously armed to the hilt! Each one had some serious weapons, and loads of peripheral military equipment, including even large military shields. But yet......they all seemed like young men (19-24), and they all had the SWEETEST vibe! So I started chatting with them (in a very friendly manner, of course). I learned that, despite their heavy military equipment, they were police, not soldiers! Wow! Yet they were all so young & sweet & even innocent, that I decided they were really angels disguised as soldiers.

Proceed to next section: 3 of 8
Installment #3

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