Aah, Galatas

The casserole dish kept smacking my shin as I pedalled.  The bike was shitty to start with and got worse when I slowed down. It needed speed for stability. They came with Le Boat and Deb and I had ventured into town to reconnoiter, find where we might have dinner tonight and maybe have a beer. The map showed a symbol at Ville de Pinte indicating they had a restaurant but didn't indicate it was closed on Sundays. The adjoining bar was open and amongst the patrons was a woman into her cups that made cassoulette, a dish so popular in this area that there was a cassoulette festival closing the streets in Castelnaudary when we slipped away. She sold us enough to feed four and accepted an 8E deposit on the dish. We'd stopped at a lock earlier that also sold their canned version of this delish dish so dinner was set. But I get ahead of myself, I was going to tell you about Galatas.

We took one of those hydrofoil thingys that flies over water from Athens to the island of Poros.  It's popular with moneyed locals and tourists alike but our destination was 94 seconds and 1E over the  channel to Galatas on the mainland. Fewer tourists, half-price prices but ample restaurants and our fabulous hotel. It's called 'Poros View' because it sits atop a hill with a captivating panorama from the pool deck. But it was on the top of a hill. Day one, as is common with me, was shitty as it takes time to acclimate. "We're on top of hill!", I said, "There's no restaurants up here!" I whined. "What are we going to eat?" Blah, blah, blah. The morning revealed a happier John and a new rhythm set in. It was a 10 minute walk into town and a 5E taxi home. Dinner 1 was on the beach, dinner 2...couldn't tell you, it was 2 weeks ago. We also discovered most places in town delivered - cheapgood food right to your door. I did tell you about our Lover's Bay excursion which emboldened us to try another. 

UK's Guardian proclaimed Kolloni as one of the best beach bars in Greece. Evidence would suggest their criteria were how bohemian can you get. Cool people, no services. I asked the guy at the abandoned trailer cum beach bar if he had any chips. He thought for a moment then walked away. He came back with a plastic beer cup with chips. Apparently he'd dipped into his personal supply and was willing to share. "Do you have a menu?" "No", he said. "Got anything to eat?", "Scrambled eggs, maybe some cheese pie". I had this vision of a magnificent gem of a beach, hidden away from the masses (it was on the mainland) with soft sand, a chaise longue and a bikini clad miss bringing me ice cold beer. It was a half disc of level land, 45 meters of waterfront with crystal blue water. We parked ourselves in the gravel at the last shaded spot and got a beer. It was a 20E cab ride at 11AM and we'd asked the driver to pick us up at 7. We called at 4.

Prices in Greece are less than Mexico and I'm not an economist but it's likely due to their recent economic collapse. They say they were misrepresented in the press with a lot of talk about how they were retiring younger than most, weren't paying taxes etc, with the intent of wrangling concessions from Greece to help the EU balance the books. Jobs are fewer, wages lower and the new retirement age is 67. And the beneficiaries are the tourists who can buy 1 1/2 litres of good wine for 3E, less if you fill your own bottle. Like the rest of Europe, many, many people smoke but here I see more people rolling their own than I saw in the downtown eastside.

The rhythm at Galatas was slower than what we'd put ourselves through the previous week but just what we needed. Travelling, not holidaying, means pack and move every other day and it's exhausting. But a week in one place meant excellent meals coupled with excellent pool time and a whole week of rest and relaxation. And then the travelling resumed. Next up a flight to Santorini to hook up with Sister Anita (and Luigi).

That flight actually took place 2 weeks ago and we're about to pull out of Carcassone, an ancient city (Romans started it in 333AD) and today I'm captain. Wish me luck!

Parisian Pleasures

We're on a boat. We is me, my two sisters, their husbands and Deb. The six of us launched a few hours ago from Castelnaudary, an ancient town in Southern France after the briefest of orientations. It sits on the Canal du Midi and the plan is to float from here to the Mediterranean through wine country and we've budgeted two weeks. None of us have operated a 42' boat before or been through a lock but we've now passed through 9 locks and tied up to some stakes we pounded into the riverbank. It's time for dinner but first I gotta get you caught up.

We left Vancouver on Aug 3rd (it's now Aug 25) and arrived in Paris with my body saying it's midnight and the airport clock proclaiming 7AM. I tried to outsmart jet lag by staying up til 4AM the day before, sleeping a little on the plane and go on a bike tour at ten. Didn't work. Several sleepless nights and bitchy mornings followed but none of it drowned out the fantastic things we've seen and done since touching down.

We went straight from the airport to the bike tour and left them our bags as we explored the usual sites. Having seen it before did not diminish the splendour of Notre Dame or the Champs Élysées and the foreign sounds and smells assaulted the senses in the nicest way. The strong coffee, the melt in your mouth croissants, the waiters in their black waistcoats - I smiled so much my face hurt. And shed a few sneaky tears. I was here in 2001 with my daughter Rachel. She was dying and wanted to see Euro Disney to complete her personal trifector having already done California and Florida. The cascade of memories stretched my heart from bliss to anguish and I wouldn't change a thing.

But now it's time to find our temporary home and the adventure began. We'd booked a loft in central Paris but finding it was not for the faint of heart. Directions were lousy and the street was unknown to merchants within 200 meters of the location. We eventually found it after a few train missteps and redirections but access was via an unknown code. As Deb set off to solve that I proclaimed myself protector of the luggage, sat on the ground in front of it and let jet lag do its thing. 

Access to the suite meant a climb up 2 steep staircases and fortunately we've challenged ourselves to do 10 weeks overseas with just a carry on. Just as well because there was nowhere inside the 'suite' for luggage. I hid my bag under the ladder to the bed and Deb's went under the table. Well kinda, it was bigger than the table which rendered it to a drunken angle and unusable.  But you haven't really lived until you've attempted to climb over your partner at 2AM for a naked ladder descent to relieve nature's demand.

We did the Louvre and the D'Orsay, strolled Montmartre, got my tongue stung by a bee that was wallowing in my beer until my swig ended it's misery (and it started mine) and one more bike tour before exiting this complex, ornate city.  We'll finish up this adventure with three more days in Paris and planning on dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower to celebrate Deb's b'day. But it was time to move on and Athens was beckoning. I've told you about that but not the week in Galatas or the week on Santorini. So many stories, such a lazy writer but next time I'll tell you about the pleasures of sitting still. And figure out how to post some pictures...

Athenian Awakening

We've been in Greece for over a week.  And I'll blame the hot weather for slowing me down. I'm walking slower, talking slower and drifting from one thought to the next with little desire to connect the dots. But Deb's gone off for a pedicure with strict instructions to meet her in an hour (that was half an hour ago) so we can head off on our daily adventure. Today it's Kalloni, (heavy on the 'i') a 20K taxi ride in one direction or another from our base in Galatas, that apparently has a fabulous beach bar. Yesterday's fabulous beach bar was in Lover's Bay and it was a teeming tangle of bikinis and beer. For 6.5E we got a tiny table, an umbrella, 2 chairs and 24 sq ft of real estate. There are worse ways to spend your day.

But let me tell you about first impressions of Greece. 

Imagine the Mona Lisa painted on a dirty napkin. You're walking down the street, glance sideways from your cellphone and see a wadded discard. You go back to your phone but something caught your eye so you slow and look. Looking down at it you see it's looking back up  at you. You tap it with your toe not wanting to get too close to someone else's detritus and a tiny bit more is revealed. You crouch down, still keeping your hands to yourself and like a curious dog turn your head sideways. Is that a face? Using the corner of your cell you reveal more of its nature and the discovering dissolves your resolve not to touch. Your free hand pulls it fully apart and the beauty dominates its canvas.

As the cabbie raced from the airport to our hotel - the freeways are empty with the Greeks having deserted the city for cooler climes - the first thing I noticed was the graffiti. Everywhere. Every building from the ground to reaching distance was covered in it. Some of it just tagging, some of it beautiful, painstaking artwork. The best was on the roll down metal covers of the stores, perhaps commissioned by the owners but even much of that had been tagged over and the result was a grungy backdrop to the piles of garbage and broken sidewalks. It a looks a lot like Vancouver's downtown eastside. But then I looked up and went up.

We were staying at the Athens Melia and a doorman led us past the security guard in his all black outfit with army boots and dark shades and into our tourist oasis. The cool air  and sophisticated hostess softened the tension that had been building along my spine and I entered the House of Privilege with a slight smile. The room key unlocked our private cocoon with its double jacuzzi tub, beer fridge (4E, dirt cheap) and massive bed. Quick hint: don't put bubble bath in a jacuzzi. I flooded the bathroom. The all glass elevator whisked us to the roof deck and we were blasted with the view that makes this ancient city famous; the Acropolis with its Parthenon crown. As I relaxed with an ouzo and oj (O2) I began to see all that the throngs come to see. The distant ocean, the mix of ancient and new and a desire to see more, up close. Plans were made.

Some of the oldest antiquities in the world are kept in the National Museum of Archeology right under our noses. Now I like museums but usually leave feeling it was an hour or three well wasted and not a lot better informed. This time She hooked me up to Rick Steves audio tour which bluetoothed into my hearing aids and buddy Rick held my hand and carefully explained everything I was looking at. Loved it.

The Parthenon was day 2 but we waited with O2 on the roof until the cruise ship crowd moved on. Rick was with us again and two hours flew by. We exited differently than we entranced and found ourselves in tourist central aka The Plaka. You find something like it in most major tourist centres with a plethora of restaurants and souvenir shops. While most of Athens presented with a modicum of people, The Plaka was  shoulder to shoulder to shoulder. We were coerced into a restaurant (it didn't take much coercion) and enjoyed authentic tourist food as the human river flowed by. I don't think I could have bought a hamburger in Vancouver for what we paid for a feast with wine. A little heavier, a little drunker, we found a cab to end our day.

Known to my wife and other Grecophiles is the ancient Agora, the original city of Athens. It's now fenced and sold by the hour to those who can't get enough from just reading about it. Rick walked me through it and again brought the old rocks to life. Diogenes told Alexander the Great (he named himself) to get out of his sun and Plato urged the youth to know thyselves. Sounded like a pretty cool place to hang out 2,000 years ago.

There was some time wandering the streets looking to get ourselves hooked up with a phone but mostly getting lost on the varicose vein arrangement. Honestly we'd get 2 blocks from the hotel and couldn't find our way back. The early Greeks were brilliant but it was North America that saw the value in a grid.

And that was Athens. Which came after Paris. Which I barely remember but will sketch out in my next post.

Cheers!

A New Beginning

It's been a while. Ten years to be precise and as life would have it, a lot has changed. Ten years ago I was on a year's leave from my job in Vancouver's dowtown eastside to follow my wife as she exchanged jobs with a teacher from Wales. I won't go into the awful details, they're all well documented in 10-yr-old blogs, but it was worth the effort and discomfort.
But now I'm retired and will write about that ongoing experience in future blogs. My current adventure brings me to Europe once again to celebrate the end of yet another career - I've had several - and to muse on the beginning of another. Retirement is, after all, a new career but with new needs and aspirations. We'll see what comes.
I'm currently sitting on the deck of a pool at Poros View hotel in Galatas. It's about an hour's fast-ferry ride from Athens and it's on the mainland but took another ferry ride to get here. The ferry from Athens stops at Poros, home of the cognescenti and moneyed but it's an island so to get to the humble mainland is another euro and 5 minutes across the channel.
It's still day one so musings on this place will have to wait. We've just enjoyed three funtastic days in Athens, absorbing several millenia of history and tomorrow I'll write about it's good and bad and everything in between. Before that we were in Paris and that too is worth more than a mention. But now it's bedtime and with tomorrow's fresh start will try and navigate how to add pix and post this. It's been a while.