July 31 A quiet day with delicious food breaks

Today we had a quiet day catching up with washing etc. We only went out to a local restaurant for a little stroll and a yummy lunch and later for dinner.

Best chicken soup I’ve tasted served with lemon and flat bread. A delicious light lunch.

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Our neighbourhood mosque

An absolutely delicious evening meal of Manti - Turkish ‘ravioli’

The end of a gentle day

July 30 Back in Istanbul

It  is wonderful being back in Istanbul again. Today we simply wandered. It was not without purpose however because we were wanting to get information about visiting the Black Sea, but we poked our noses into old and new places. As we have a number of times before, we ended up at the harbour and had a fish sandwich on the Galata Bridge.  I love the energy of the whole waterfront area plus the New Mosque and Misir Carsisi, the Egyptian (spice) Bazaar. We explored both before heading off to see the old train station, Sirkeci Terminal.

The queue to get into the Basilica Cistern snaked around the corner - fortunately we saw it in 2018

Water fountains dot the streets but I'm not game to drink the water.

Eating fish sandwiches on Galata Bridge looking towards the new 'fishing boat' restaurants

This is how we bought fish sandwiches in 1984 - from the real fishing boats.

People crowd to the waterfront

Huge shopping arcade in the underground passage from the harbour /Galata Bridge to the New Mosque

Entrance to the shopping-mall passage

Misir Carsisi, the Egyptian bazaar which was opened in 1664. Delicious aromas

The New Mosque was finished in 1663. No wonder that step is so worn (red circle)

The New Mosque is vast inside and the people very welcoming

The old steam train - the Orient Express perhaps

Sirkeci Terminal opened in 1890

Sirkeci Terminal was the end of the line for the Orient Express which started from Paris in 1883 with forty passengers on board (before this station had been completed) - the round trip lasted seven days. The kids and I arrived at this station from Venice in 1984 and simply walked up the hill to our hotel. The last time Lindsay and I were in Istanbul in 2018  the station was closed for long distance trains so we had to be bussed out of Istanbul to catch the train to Bucharest.  

Today the terminal bustling modern train station

The trams take up the entire road here. You have to keep your ears and eyes open.

You never know what lies behind high walls! We peered through a grill because I am ever curious

Behind this plaque and wall was the Aydinglu Dervish Convent  built 1509

Wandering back to our hotel I found an opening in a high wall and looked through. Voila! It was the site of the Aydinglu Dervish Convent built in 1509. It was demolished in 1958 and today houses a shrine, fountain and sepulchre. A tranquil little spot on a very busy road. 

Old Istanbul is a place to wander - quite exciting in so many ways. And we happened on a travel agent and popped in to ask about going to the Black Sea.  We had hoped to get to the Black Sea via the Bospherus but ended up booked into a bus tour which would take us overland through some of the Asian part of Turkey. We were happy with that. PLUS we booked a tour to Gallipoli something we had not planned to do but something drew us to it this time. We arrived back at our hotel feeling quite pleased with our plans.

July 29 Athens to Istanbul

We’ve arrived in Istanbul where the temperature was a refreshing 25C. Utter bliss after the scorching days in Athens. We are staying at the same hotel we stayed at in 2018 at the end of traveling the Old Silk Road - such wonderful memories. Hagia Sophia is right outside our window. Itt is so beautiful.  We have six days here before boarding a ship bound for Venice.

Cool drinks after a long drive from the airport - it is Saturday and summer!

The restaurant on the roof of our hotel. Excellent food with fantastic views

A restaurant with $million views

Sultan Ahmed Mosque at dusk

Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) which we can see from our roof-top restaurant, is glorious in the twilight. Then the air comes alive with the haunting adhan which echoed across this city of over 3000 mosques. It is ever so spine chilling but its meaning an encomassing expression of a city's psyche.

July 27 – 28 Last days in Athens

On our last two days in Athens we sheltered inside during the worst heat of the day then ventured out later for a wander. A loittle way down the road from our hotel we found the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation and ducked in for a look. It is grand and glorious as befits a cathedral.  

Inside the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation

The exquisitely decoated portico of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation

Then we headed for the Plaka and idled along all the narrow streets. Quite fascinating. From salons advertising skin-eating fish where you put your feet into a fishtank and have the fish nibble your dead-skin off to wee lux shops selling gorgeous glass doodads to ancient ruins. Athens has it all! 

One of the many entrances to the Plaka

Skin-eating fish. Quite bizarre but popular

We stumbled upon these ruins of a basilica from the 1st century

Our last supper - Korean

After dinner on our last night, we caught a taxi and headed for Mount Lycabettus - the origin of its name is not known for sure but it is popularly referred to as 'the one that is walked by wolves’.  Its summit is the highest point in Central Athens and is a drawcard (I missed going there when I visited Athens in 1984 as we were watching every cent). People gather there to see the sunset. Like most popular tourist attractions, we waited in line for a long time to catch the funicular to the top.  It is a thing to do! And the panorama is rather amazing.

Crowds line up to ride the funicular 

Standing and waiting room only

Lycabettus is crowned by a church 

Like all high places there were comms towers on top but look at the dazzling white of the city below

It was check-by-jowl standing room only

As the sun set on on the city of light with its not quite yet violet crown, we headed back down the hill and to our hotel. In the morning we would be flying to Istanbul for a few days before joining another cruise.

July 26 Three Islands in the Saronic Gulf

 

The Saronic Gulf

An interesting little harbour where we met the boat

Athens, in fact the whole region, was extremely hot and definitely not wandering weather. So we decided to take a one-day cruise to three of the islands in the Saronic Gulf - Hydra, Poros, Aegina. I think we regretted the decision when we saw the vessel and the crowds pouring onto it - images of media reports of an overloaded ferry sinking in Greece flashed before my eyes.  It was veerry crowded and very noisy!  

Our ferry

First stop Hydra

Hydra and Poros were quite quaint tourist spots and we wandered a little in spite of the heat. Lunch was included and we were herded into an overcrowded dining area. The food was OK and plentiful. By the time we reached Aegina, the largest of the islands we’d had it.  We chose to stay onboard and read as the on-shore your options all cost extra and didn’t particularly interest us. Unfortunately, that port stop was a long one. Rather a wasted day in many respects but a good lesson. 

Hydra was well protected 

A pretty harbour

Near the port of Hydra we found an art exhibition space displaying interesting work

Poor donkeys - there are no motor vehicles on Hydra

Poros is a larger island and has vehicles - it is very touristy

The sign above caught my eye, it says "Stop Fish Farms" (and deplete the seas?!)

It was so hot when we got back to Athens that a number of food outlets had closed. We fpound one opened for a take-away and were relieved to get back to our airconditioned hotel.

July 24 Beautiful ancient Delphi

 

Travelling into the rugged countryside northwest of Athens

Today we took a trip to Delphi, an ancient place which clings to the steep slopes of Mount Parnassus. Magical, nostalgic names to me! It is such a beautiful, unique place. The drive took us through gorgeous countryside. For me it was to be a trip down memory lane harking back to 1984 when my kids and I, together with a dear friend who joined us from the USA, toured the area using local buses. That trip was lots of fun and quite an adventure. 

At Delphi 1984 - an excellent year for travel, exploration and discovery for us‘young adventurers’

Delphi, now an archaeological site, was an ancient, sacred place and seat of Pythia the Oracle.  Indulge me a little while I divert to a little Greek mythology-cum-history which I find so intriguing. The name of the Sybil/Oracle Pythia is derived from Pytho, which in mythology was the original name of Delphi. It seems that word,  pytho, means ‘to rot’ referring to the sickly-sweet smell from the decomposing body of the monstrous python/serpent slain by Apollo (perhaps Pythia was inhaling toxic perhaps sulphurous fumes coming up through cracks in the earth).  Apollo became king but because he had killed the Python that controlled the city rather than simply defeating it, he was banished from Delphi for 3 months of every year.

This was the agora, market place. The reddish bricks were added by the Romans later.

R: This spiral bronze column once stood outside the Temple of Apollo. It is now in the hippodrome in Istanbul.  L: A replica staninding where it should be 

The archaeological site which was once Delphi crawls up the mountainside, a quite steep mountainside. When excavations started they had to shift the modern-day village of Delphi. Not surprisingly a lot of reconstruction/restoration of ancient Delphi has taken place since we were there 40 years ago and many things are now roped off which was rather sad. Nonetheless it was an extremely nostalgic day for me and it was wonderful sharing it with Lindsay - in spite of the heat which reached 40C.  Utter madness climbing hills in such weather, but I was determined to get to the little amphitheatre halfway up the hill above the Temple of Apollo, the temple from where the Oracle, Pythia prophesied.  When we were able, we stopped for a wee rest in the shade, the super-heated air smelled of cypress - it was delicious. 

The Treasury of Athens

People once flocked to make supplications to the Oracle. Thry paid dearly for the possibility of that privilege. The Treasury of Athens was where those ‘gifts’ brought to the Oracle were stored. The size of the gift determined your position in line. People could only make supplications to the Oracle once a month during the 3-month period when Apollo was not there - he was the God and the Oracle was his voice, when he wasn’t there.

The ruins of the Temple of Apollo

Beautiful pencil pines. We were heading up there to the small amphitheatre.

A stunning vista looking over the ruins (not Lindsay!) into the valley way below.

The amphitheatre where Nathan did a rendition of something Shakespearian. It is now roped off

The Temple of Apollo below. And below those cracked blocks Pythia sat in darkness

Pythia (Internet pic)

Pythia, spokesperson for Apollo, sat in darkness in an enclosed inner sanctum under the floor of the Temple in an almost trancelike state making utterances which the priests of the Temple ‘interpreted’ - for a price. The Oracles were all innocent young women chosen from local villages. She would sit on a tripod positioned over a chasm - an opening in the earth through which toxic fumes rose. She also chewed poisonous oleander leaves - needless to say they died fairly young.

Way below more excavations were underway - a swimming pool and sporting arena.

The ancient Greeks considered Delphi the centre of the world and marked that with a stone monument known as the Omphalos (navel). We were to see that in the museum.  We didn’t have a long time to wander on our own around the ancient site before we were herded off to the museum, a more recent addition to the site. It is a very informative space. 

This 2m marble Sphinx of Naxos stood on a tall Ionic column next to the Temple of Apollo.
The Sphinx served as a guardian of the sanctuary.

The Omphalosm (navel)

'The Charioteer' detail is exquisite. Bottom right gives an idea of what the original work may have been like

Many artefacts rescued from the archaeloogical site were on display in the museum. One, a statue called ‘The Charioteer’, was preserved thanks to a natural catastrophe - it was buried in the debris after a great earthquake in 373 BC. The detail is quite exquisite. 

Then we were whicked off for unch at a local restaurant before heading to the delightful hill-side town of Arachova known for its weaving - we resisted the temptation - before heading home. A memorable albeit draining day.