SO MUCH TO SAY and it’s so unfortunate that I couldn’t have chunked my thoughts into smaller, more easily digestible blocks, but as Jeremy (Dionysus: god of wine), Harpswell (Athena: goddess of wisdom and war), and I (Artemis: goddess of the hunt) took on the nomadic lifestyle for about 10 days, it was difficult to dock at an Internet café…the only one we tried was a place in Athens that lost its power within 15 mins.
I’m sitting on one of my two beds in Szerencs, overwhelmingly giddy to be home in my BED that I LOVE. I feel like I’m melting into it right now…it just doesn’t compare to the train couchettes (train bunk beds that resemble those you’d see in an army camp). I can finally do laundry, use my own shower, my own kitchen, and gather my thoughts from the trip. I love being on the go, but sometimes there’s nothing better than getting home after a long time away.
Here come the itinerary and trip highlights:
The Greece Trip:
Dec. 21st – Szerencs to Budapest, HU
Budapest to Kiskunhalas, HU
Janos provided us with a place to hang out for a few hours until our next train arrived at the unpopular hour of 2 am.
Jeremy and I are tired but excited for the journey
Dec. 22nd (1:46 am) – Kiskunhalas to Belgrade, SERBIA
The three of us arrived in Belgrade at 6:30 am feeling a little ragged, but Jeremy was perky, because in the remaining ten minutes of the train ride, he made a Serbian friend with the girl sitting across from us. I guess he felt pressured as Harps and I would meet up with our Serbian friends later that day…but then again, Jeremy tends to ignite banter with anyone who speaks English along the way. Harpswell’s dad’s friend fetched us from the dark train station (cold, aching, tired, and hungry, but still enthusiastic to see the bombed out buildings of Belgrade) and took us to his quaint apartment where he fed us plasma cookies for breakfast. He told us that the name comes from the amount of vitamins in them…and in his slightly Russian/Serbian accent, proudly stated that he likes to call them Vampire Biscuits. Then the three of us fell asleep for a few hours and REALLY messed up our sleep schedules, while he read a book.
Serbian Orthodox Church
I made plans to meet my Serbian friend, Georgie, who goes to university in Belgrade. I was so excited to see him again as we had endured the CELTA in July together. It was great to reminisce and walk around the city with him. We all picked up a few words in Serbian, I sampled the country’s specialty “Deer Beer” or “Jelen Pivo”, and we became acclimated to Orthodox churches and the Cyrillic alphabet just as we had to leave. The Cyrillic was a good BASE CAMP 1 on the Mount Everest of “NEW AND COMPLETELY FOREIGN LANGUAGES” before we hit the summit aka - Greek alphabet. But then again, once you get the hang of Hungarian, what CAN POSSIBLY BE HARDER?
Georgie and me
Mica, Harpswell, and me in Belgrade
I left Serbia feeling flush from the snow that began to fall, the delicious meat dinner we all had, and from the sensation you get from meeting up with an old friend and still being able to talk non-stop. We hopped the next train at 6 pm, ready for our couchettes.
Dec. 22 –23rd – Overnight train from Belgrade to Thessaloniki, GREECE (passed through Skopje, MACEDONIA sometime at dawn).
This portion of the trip was largely uneventful as the three of us attempted to use the beds/benches to our advantage. However, I did get snips of disapproval here and there from me mates about wanting to crash around 7 pm. I guess they weren’t prepared for how much sleep I like and NEED. From that moment on, I was known as the girl who needs too much sleep for reasons beyond my comprehension.
Border guards and ticket officers (see Jeremy…I know the difference) came to our glass box about once every seven or eight minutes to stamp our passports, study our Balkan flexipass tickets, and blabber something in Serbian/Macedonian/Greek (at one point we thought they wanted us to get off the train which made me suspicious and I imagined the train taking off without us and with all of our crap). We dined on Hungarian sausage, Jello/chocolate cookies, and Cheetos. Snacks fit for a champion. THANK ZEUS we had our plasma cookies earlier!
All I remember of Macedonia is a tree or two passing by my window in the dark. There was still snow about on the fields. It was too early in the morning, I was too tired, and I was moving too fast aboard a train to really get an accurate grasp of the country.
Dec. 23rd – Thessaloniki to Athens, GREECE
In Greece, you need a reservation for anything you do. Our first incident of train trouble and group tension resulted from not being able to make a reservation for our train to Athens. We had finally made it to Greece, but we were still hoping to get to Athens before Christmas. After consulting about 6 people about what we should do, we ended up standing in between train cars for approx. 20 mins. We were forbidden to lay our stuff down in the train bar and tersely told by a few Greeks that we needed to move our asses outta there. Finally, the ticket officer directed us toward three empty seats in the dining car where people felt no qualms about lighting up in a no-smoking area. It was a chimney, and I rested my weary forehead on the table, glancing up every now and then to see the magnificent scenery jet by the window. The snow-capped mountains were spectacular and Harpswell even told me that one of them was supposedly Mount Olympus. I believed her as the mountain tops were hidden in the clouds…I liked to think that Zeus was still up there ready to toss a lightning bolt down at a moment’s notice. I was suddenly reminded what I loved about trains so much.
Evidence of two time periods side by side in Athens
We succumbed to a taxi to take us to Hostel Zeus as we were in no mood to figure out the Greek metro system (which we later learned far surpasses the Budapest/Prague metros).
Our first night consisted of getting our bearings in a new city. We dumped our stuff in Rm. 16 and grabbed gyros and drinks before deciding to head back for the night. The hostel was fairly empty and we only met two other American girls that night…and then a random guy in the fourth bed of our room, which was strange as most of the other rooms were completely empty.
Dec. 24th – Athens
Christmas Eve in Athens brought us a hike to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon, Temple of Athena, Theatre of Dionysus, the Agora, and a breathtaking view of the millions of white buildings clustered at the bottom of a valley between mountains. Ruins were scattered throughout, seemingly sporadically dropped from the sky to land among the hundreds of cafes and bars. Mountains cropped up to create rolling neighborhoods and the sea was distant but visible.
Harpswell and I liked to pretend that the stray cats and dogs found wandering about at the top of the Acropolis were ancient gods and goddesses reincarnated as animals, still watching over their old city. The Agora (or marketplace) reminded me of the deck at home in Naperville as mom and dad have made it into a backyard paradise. Not that our deck contains Ionic columns, busts of Greek heroes, and marble floors…but the overall ambiance of lush greenery, birds chirping, and a sense of calm resonated here.
We stopped to watch a street theatre performance at the foot of the Acropolis grounds and still couldn’t believe it was Christmas Eve. On the way home, we stopped for Ouzos, a Greek licorice drink at a stray bar on the way home and were in good spirits for the night. We met up with a number of people on Christmas Eve, a big party night in Athens (or it could have just been another Sat. night…as the primarily Orthodox Greeks don’t celebrate Christmas until January 7th). Many of the bars that night required a reservation, and Jeremy almost got us beat up after his opinion of this prompted a, “you got a problem with that?!” from the bouncer. But we managed and it was definitely a Christmas Eve different than any other.
Theatre of Herodes Atticus in the Acropolis
Dec. 25th – Athens
Christmas Day in Athens was beautifully blue and sunny. We walked to the botanical garden with minimal winter wear and passed many orange trees and palm trees on the way. I was faintly reminded of a Christmas spent in Florida one year as we walked through the juxtaposition of tropical flora and Christmas décor. The green of all the plants was so sharp in contrast to the Hungarian winter plain. I made my other two travel companions wait to see the changing of the guards at the Parliament building and then we wandered home to prepare for our fancy Xmas dinner. Dressed to the nines, we headed out to a Greek restaurant and adapted to the new dinner hour. People were still arriving to eat at 1:30 am, just as we were about to leave.
Dec. 26th – Athens
This was our emergency day in Athens (unplanned) but necessary as we hadn’t bothered to research what the hell we were going to do after our hostel reservation was up. Going to any Greek island would have been another 5-9 hours on a ferry and we figured that traveling for that long again was JUST NOT worth it. A spinach pie, a few hours at an Internet café, a short power outage, a Greece guidebook, and some advice from our John Lennon look-alike hostel front desk worker from Liverpool later…we decided to hit up the town of Nafplion with no other knowledge than what Jeremy discovered in the guidebook. We got a few nods of approval when we told some of our short term friends/acquaintances in Athens where we were going.
We then planned to hit up a few museums, but realized that most everything was closed in Athens due to a recent holiday. So we did what we do best, we wandered. And we wandered right into a cricket match in a city park area. Miraculously, all of us were really into it and became loyal spectators, cheering for the fielders (?) that were standing next to us. Jeremy tried out his Hindi and we all got to know some of the players who were from Pakistan. One, who admitted to us that the Greeks don’t necessarily give them the five-star treatment.
Athens at sunset
Next, we trekked up to a small cliff where we watched the sun set over the sea and managed to ascend above the exhaust and ground pollution. To one direction, storm clouds materialized over the mountains and blended the two into a dark bluish gray mass. It was beautiful and a perfect activity for my favorite time of the day.
Later we learned that this area was prime for drug dealing…
Dec. 27th – Nafplion (small town on the Aegean Sea about 2 hours south of Athens)
Hopped the bus for Nafplion the next morning and had absolutely no idea of what the place would be like. What Harpswell and I wanted was a beach and so we were crossing our fingers that the guidebook was right. When we pulled into the town, we were greeted by a huge fortress on a mountain that curled itself around the entire plateau of its summit. We had our pick of places to stay and we finally decided on a place with a little kitchen and lots of bookshelves. It even had a balcony looking out at the fortress mountain. The town consisted of narrow but hilly cobblestone streets lined with bakeries, shops, and cafes. Balconies covered in flora not seen in Hungary at ANY time of the year overlooked the streets/sidewalks. Harpswell and I eventually made it our goal to find the beach and take a dip. Every step we took uncovered a new and incredible mountain, stretch of water, or cliff covered in cacti. We ran into Jeremy and we all had the same wide-eyed smirk on our face. Almost in unison, we agreed that this town was beyond spectacular.
Refreshing, but freezing Aegean Sea
The beach was not just any beach, but the Aegean Sea. The same sea that King Aegeus supposedly jumped into EONS ago after falsely believing that his son Theseus had not been successful in killing the mythical half man, half bull, Minotaur. When in fact, Theseus had slain the beast and in his excitement, had forgotten to raise the white victory flag that would let his father know he was okay. Instead, the King saw the black flag and jumped into the sea to his death.
The rooftops of Nafplion
This is the same sea that Harpswell and I plunged into along with three other older men who were probably once part of some Polar Bear Swimming Club. One man, Constantinus (right, Harpswell?) spoke to us in English (as most Greeks are prone to do) and told me that he has two daughters going to school in Chicago. He even attempted some Hungarian to Harpswell when she got out of the water. Anyway, Constantinus told us that it was about 21 degrees Celsius in the air and about 16 degrees Celsius in the water. Our winter holiday was starting to get TROPICAL! It was necessary to start swimming quickly so that the blood would flow and keep us warm. Harpswell, in her Maine upbringing, dove in right away, but I took a little longer. Once I did get all the way in, I looked to shore only to see Constantinus with two raised arms, cheering me on. I think Jer watched us from the fortress stairs. The water was definitely refreshing and bluish/green. You could see the bottom of the water at some points. We only stayed in for a short time as our fingers and toes were beginning to get numb.
That evening, our crew had the best dinner yet on the trip. Jer and I ravaged our swordfish, while Harpswell finally got her calamari…not to mention flan and red wine. For reasons beyond me, the wait staff continued to bring us free dessert…”FLAN ON THE HOUSE!” “CARAFE OF WINE ON THE HOUSE!” We didn’t eat right on the beach, but pretty damn close to it.
Tried to go dancing after dinner, but we were the only ones dancing, as apparently Greeks haven’t inherited the dancing gene. This is leaving out the traditional Greek dances…none of which I saw.
Dec. 28th – Nafplion
The last day in Nafplion was a little rainy, but that didn’t stop me from wandering back out onto the beach path, only to be pummeled by a high tide wave. Salt water in my mouth, in my hair, on my shirt, pants, and purse, and absolutely soaked my shoes. I felt like I was standing on that bridge after one of those water rides at the amusement parks. Later on in the evening, I took the same walk with Jer and Harps and warned them that Poseidon was angry today. But I don’t think they believed me until they saw that same wave crash up onto the path. It was about 23 times scarier at night, with flashes of lightning popping up every now and then from the dark clouds above the sea. Despite the sea storm, we could clearly see a myriad of constellations to the left of the fortress mountain. We timed the wave and ran through the tunnel like we were part of an obstacle course. The adrenaline was rushing as we made it through.
Dec. 29th – Leave Nafplion for Athens at 6 am
Athens to Thessaloniki
After reaching Thessaloniki, a big city in northern Greece, Jeremy introduced himself to an red-headed Irish guy who was waiting in the international train line. Three beers later, we had made acquaintances with another solo English speaking traveler at an outdoor cafe while waiting for our next connection to Belgrade…he gave us a lesson on United Kingdom SLASH Irish geography using a mobile phone and map while gypsy children petted our hair and a bold white cat pawed in the air in an attempt to get our Cokes.
…still on the 29th
Thessaloniki to Belgrade (30th of Dec) SLEEP!! SLEEP!!
Dec. 30th – Belgrade to Subotica, SERBIA
Subotica to some small town on the Serbian border
We traveled in a silver train/bus/trolley like war vehicle that moved at the pace of a lawnmower while the driver happily chatted/played cards with someone standing next to him. What fit the situation even better was that, instead of heading north in a straight line like initially planned, we skittered on the Serbian border for some time just to prolong things for the hell of it. It could have been worse!
SMTONTSB (see above) to Szeged, HU
Szeged to (we thought Budapest) but ended up in Szolnok, HU
Dec. 31st - Szolnok to Budapest, HU for NEW YEAR’S EVE 2006!
Jan. 1st – Budapest to Szerencs
For anyone who actually read all of this…WOW! Impressive!
New Year’s Eve 2006 is up next…but for now, I’d just like to say that this Greece trip has to be one of my all time favorites. I had two wonderful travel companions and we saw a lot, laughed a lot, weathered some tension here and there, but made it out alive seeing more of the world than we had before.
2 comments:
yup, unlike any other.
Although I wouldn't trade Poorgirls' Christmas for Grecian Christmas, your trip sounds so amazing that if I ever get money, the first place I'm heading is Balkan-ward.
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