Greek Getaway

Because we were certain that winter in Central Europe would be so cold and bleak that we would need to see some sunshine by January, we planned a trip to Greece for post-Christmas r and r. In fact, Europe's been really warm this year, which means (and I hate to say this to those of you suffering from chilblains right now) that Greece was especially sunny and beautiful. And we took full advantage of the off-season activities, such as they were: we walked through olive groves, took a bath with some old guys, dined with an artist, and hitched a ride with a sorta-famous author. Oh, and we saw some famous buildings, too.

Planes from Brno fly only to London, Prague, and Munich. We've flown to London and Prague. This time we flew through Munich's LOVELY airport--our three hour lay-over was worth the cost of the flight. Munich airport is quiet, provides spending opportunities for kids who have saved up money for special German Playmobil, offers lots of delicious fresh food at reasonable costs (weird for an airport), and doles out hot drinks and newspapers at even more reasonable costs (i.e., free...like, really weird). AND for our (coach, of course) flights in and out of Munich somebody thoughtfully hired stewardesses who coquettishly offer passengers chocolate, nuts, presents and, if you look like a celebrity (which is how I must have looked in my plaid flannel shirt, jeans, and Breck boy hair cut), offer you your choice of red, white, or champagne...only they brought us a whole bottle of champagne so we would "enjoy your holiday." It worked--we did.

We spent the first five nights of our vacation on the serene island of Lesvos in a beautiful sea-side Byzantine town called Molyvos. Thankfully the Byzantines had all moved out but they left a stunning wedding cake of houses clinging to a hill around a satisfyingly "castley" castle. As we were there in the off-season, it was QUIET except (and this is a very significant "except") for the dulcet tones of the vegetable, meat, and fish vendors driving up the few passable streets hawking their wares through loud-speakers mounted on their trucks. What they were saying, I think, was: "aahwaaa kaalaaa aah chee-chee-chee." It sounded all Greek to me :), but apparently that is just enough "chee-chees" to get the little old ladies to shuffle down the hill to buy octopus arms, broccoli, sheep's testicles, and what have you. (So the Greek waiter asked his guests if they are having a good time. The guests replied: "Absolutely, we're having a ball!")

We stayed in a guest house run by a Dutch guy and his very cute dog ("Rickie"). While Rickie didn't do much in the way of cleaning or financial transactions, he set a great tone for our stay: Happy and wagging in the morning, happy and wagging in the daytime, and then asleep in his basket by 8:00. We loved Molyvos. The oranges, lemons, and olives were ripe on the trees, the lambs and baby goats were frolicking (and mighty tasty, too!), the weather was perfectly cool and sunny, and we had only a 10 minute drive (or a 4 hour walk through sheep poop and down precarious cliffs...another story) to a natural hot spring housed on the beach in a cool Turkish-style building that looked suspiciously like Luke Skywalker's house on Tatooine.

I'll just say three more things about Lesvos:
1) alas, in the off-season there are no marauding hordes of lesbians.
2) The island is big enough to have some geographical diversity: while most of it is drop-your-jaw- olive-groves-avec-sheep beautiful, some parts look like a moonscape...but also with little sheep astronauts ("sheepranouts?"). In fact, Lesvos has the world's biggest petrified forest, apparently left over from an ancient forest buried by a slightly less ancient volcanic eruption.
3) Because the Greeks and Turks don't get along (ethnic cleansing, Trojan War, or whatever), the island is militarized: sometimes subtly (e.g., there are no accurate maps, 'cos who knows what those surly Turks might do with a map?) and sometimes not-so-subtly (e.g., traffic signs for tanks?!) The tension was palpable enough that we decided not to call the landform across the straits "Turkey" opting instead for the Czech word for hen (as in, "wow, this yogurt tastes even better than the yogurt in Slepice").

We were afraid that after the sun and relaxation of Lesvos, Athens would seem loud, polluted, and tiring. We stayed in the Plaka district which, like the Sultanahmet district in Istanbul, is a virtual tourist ghetto. But what could have been an insane choice in the high-season was perfect in January. Because the prices were lower, we could afford a NICE hotel in the shadow of the Acropolis and, although we had to run a minor gauntlet of touts, the nearby restaurants were all wonderful, the food so fresh and easy to find, the service so friendly (a welcome respite from our Czech dining experiences...god, I miss good old American Thai and Indian food!) that Athens was a great choice.

Of course, all the ancient Greek sites were amazing. The archeology museum was like a trip through my college Art History text book. And I'm a sucker for that sense of legacy. But I'm also glad I had read up on the history of Modern Greece (i.e., post-Alexander the Great). During the Roman times Athens remained an important cultural center but, particularly after the rise of Christianity and the consolidation of power in Constantinople, Athens became a backwater of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires and remained so until relatively recently. (Athens' population in the early 1800s was only about 10,000!) So unfortunately for the architecture of Athens, the only really "nice" buildings are close to the old city around the Acropolis. The rest of the city sprawled out in the 1950s in the form of concrete apartment buildings. But, as I said, we behaved like tourists are supposed to and really only saw the ancient sites, the gorgeous central park, and, of course, the changing of the guards in their cute outfits, bizarre Martha Graham march-dance, and pom-pom shoes (I think that kind of humiliating hazing is illegal in the US army...)

Although Sophie suffered a little from "ruins fatigue," (heck, we all did!) she was, as usual, our passport to some really fun unplanned interactions. On Lesvos, she met a girl whose Britsh-expat mom and dad ran an art shop that sold the dad's funky olive wood carvings. They had us over to their house a couple of times for dinner. Shepherd's Pie, anyone? Also, at the end of one of our walks through olive groves, farms, and Byzantine churches perched on rocky outcroppings, we ended up a bit further from home than we wanted to be. We thumbed a ride from, as it turned out, Carol Christ, the famous feminist theologian who now runs "goddess tours" and such things. But Sophie's superpower of cuteness was most effectively exploited on helpless waiters who, after learning her name would swoon and proclaim, "But Sophia is a Greek name! Bravo Sophia!" (short break for head patting) "What can I bring my baby to make her happy?!" (pat, pat, pat) "The adults?! They will have beef and onions--but my baby! She does not eat meat? I have a fish that will make you so happy. . . Ahhh, SoPHia! Try and you will see how happy this fish will make you. (pat, pat,pat)" And it did.

So, full of olives and fish and glowing from 9 days of sun, we returned to the Czech Lands. Our baby rat had turned into a RAT! Maida is still very cute and always game for a snuggle but at our bedtime, which is her AWAKE time, she can turn into a one-rat-infestation (she's learning how to crawl up the walls by bracing her back against the radiators...yeeaah! creepy...). In addition to oversized vermin, we were also greeted with a FABULOUS snow fall, our first since December. Sophie was so angry that it was snowing on a school day that we decided to go sledding at 6:30 am. But the snow stuck around for a week, long enough for serious daily sledding on our little "Butt-ie" sleds.

We loved Greece but we are happy to be back in the Czech Republic, despite the lack of effusive head patters or tasty bovids. Sophie is meeting new Czech friends, my teaching is going very well, and Betsy's enthusiasm for her work got a much-needed boost when she spent a few days at a Czech-Slovak Fulbrighter retreat in a Slovakian spa town. My only disappointment was the recent cancellation of a overnight trip with my colleagues to experience a traditional Czech pig slaughter. Oh well, you can't have it all!