Years of Poems and Spirits

took train to airport 8.23am. changed 3 trains before heading to airport. chatted with 2 Toronto travellers. last minute shopping t-shirts & cap for Wang Li kids.

Plane perfect on time. airport tax 28EUR per person.

arrived after 2 hours in the air. looked hazy as we approach Milan.
got on taxi : old guy with Benze van, like self talk while driving.

got to hotel after 40 min ride, nice hotel , facing a piazza and church.
headed to central train station for train reservation. no waiting line, all done in 10min.

visited Duomo Cathedral, got audio guide again. (after no guides at all in Greek, this feels homy).
climbed the dome after ice-cream break.
attended church service.

internet in the alley.

Athens: people, noise, food

Bing did morning hike 8am. Song decided to skip it.

With crisp air, Bing enjoyed the hike, feeling sentimental about Beijing’s old days with blue sky and crisp air.

Had quick breakfast with toasts and O.J. Got on taxi to train station.
2 UK traveller got on same train, we met them on the Delphi trip.

train-1: lots of seats. train-2: extremely crowded. settled down in the kids play room. no kids, lots of local adults, sitting, sleeping. it was cozy. Bing got sandwichs after piercing thru the crowds for several rail carts. Train was getting more and more crowded as we approach Athena.
Had conversation with the Greek people sitting in the same cart. The Grandma can’t speak English, but very chatty. Her daughter and grand daugther(half-Sudanian) can speak some English. She thinks we make lots of money, can buy a house in every EU city.

Checked in hotel around 6pm. Wondered around Plaka stores, had dinner: not delicious at all. grilled squid, greek salad again, calzo, pastta.
Took a walk around Acropoli. Nice lighting.
A concert in the theatre on Acropoli.

Bing dislike Athens. People are nice, but doesn’t take work seriously.

We had a sunny breakfast, Yannois prepared the omellet himself following our request ‘ham/cheese/mush-room’, he shopped fresh ingredients and cooked local style.

His 5 cats had fun begging for food and got punished by garden hose shower.

Chris arrived in his truck around 10am. We headed to the old church first.

Chris explained the history of the town. It was burnt down twice during WW.II.
The church was preserved, but can see some fire trace on the wall.
It has a special pegoda like structure in the middle where they preached.

The lady attending the church let us peak into the main chamber which is not open to public. Chris explained a lot details for us. The frescos are quite dark, the figures rigid and 2-dimensional.

Then, we drove thru the pass up to the mountain, we passed thru and stopped by a mini vineyard. Saw some old vace, scarfolding of the historic sites where monks built ‘monks prison’.
climbers, caves with scarfs for good luck. mountain goats roaming in the high rocks.

picked up 2 New Zealand visitor along the way.

Arrived the first monestary: big meteraon. lots of tourists and buses. cross the bridge, visited the church, museum. old kitchen, vine celler, dining area, the bone/scull remains of monks who died there. peak time, it housed 400 monks, now only 15.
A group of conservatory students were visiting as well, all dressed in dark color suites and ties.

Got into trouble with police, Chris and Bing talked with Police. Heading downhill to police station, Chris called his friend in Police station, it was resolved.
got a hich’hiker along the way.

Heading back up to the nun monestary. they close 2pm. took picture with Chris with panaromic view point.

Visited the nun church on our own real quick. Then the trinity church. Heading down hill for late lunch. saw green color patterned turtle on the way. after a quick sandwich, hiking up for sunset shots.

nice walk along the rim. view was great. saw sunset on huge rock.
heading down in the twilight. nice trail.

light on for the rock. same dinner place. more salad. meat more salty.

plan to go up for sun rise next morning. slept early.