Turkish Tea and Toilets

We don't take the land tours offered by cruise lines because we prefer to explore on our own.  Sometimes we have a destination in mind and other times we don't. 

And often times the most ordinary of experiences make for our most memorable travel treasures.  Such was the case with the Turkish tea and toilets in Trabzon.

                                                      A Trabzon street scene

We realized that on this, our third stop in Turkey during our Black Sea cruise, we had not yet sipped Turkish tea from those fragile looking cups that look like miniature drinking glasses served on  tiny saucers with tiny spoons.  We chose a place that for decades had been selling tea and offering a vast array of those walnut-honey pastries, baklava.

The one thing it didn't offer was a toilet.

Toilets, our waiter said, were across the street about a half block away. And then he led us to them: Down a long hallway and some steps at the back of a banquet hall. He directed Joel to the "Bey" room and then ceremoniously opened and held the bead curtains at the entrance of the "Beyan" room for me.

What happened next makes me laugh now; but at the time it was quite perplexing: 
The ladies room was modern with motion-activated lighting in stalls equipped with an eastern-style toilet (think toilet in the floor, a 'squat-pot') which was fine until . . .
I squatted and the light went off. 
I stood up, the light came on.
I squatted and the light went off.
I did this three times thinking,"Is this "Candid Camera"?
Finally, I took aim and did what I had to do - in total darkness.

When I came out, our gracious waiter was still there  and again opened the curtains for me.  He escorted us back to the street, shook our hands, thanked us again for having tea. 

He returned to his shop while we tucked away another travel treasure.

Open. . .Sesame! Those Street Treats

The temptations, it seemed, were on every street corner, at every ferry dock, bus or tram stop in Turkey and Greece. They were stacked high on tables in the open air or in glass enclosed colorful carts.

                              Lunch in Sinop, Turkey

We called them, 'those sesame circles' but the proper name in Turkish is simit and in Greek koulouria. By whatever name, they are some of the tastiest, cheapest street food we have ever eaten. I sometimes ordered by smiling at the vendor then drawing a circle in the air, pointing to the stacks, holding up two fingers for the quantity - I call it the 'point-and-smile' method of ordering in a foreign language.

It took a bit of time to convince ourselves to try them as they looked somewhat plain. I mean, there was nothing fattening to add to them or dunk them in - a practice to which we Americans have become far too accustomed.  Think large bread stick or small loaf of bread twisted into a circle and topped with sesame seeds.

But once we did sample them, we were hooked.  Some were sweet and others more like a cracker with the sesame seed topping providing all the flavor needed.  They made for several inexpensive lunches as we never paid more than .75E or TL (that's euro or Turkish Lira), often paying much less than that. The one I am eating in the photo above was still warm from the oven, as we purchased it at a bakery in Sinop, Turkey during our cruise stop there.

We eat on shore every opportunity we get when on a cruise (we welcome a break from ship's cuisine no matter how good it is).  And half the fun of exploring a new city is trying the new flavors and foods it has to offer even if it means ordering by my 'point and smile' method.

October 28:: Oxi Day - Greek Parades and Pride

                               OXI Day - Poros

Oxi Day, October 28th, is a national holiday in Greece.  Throughout the country parades and celebrations are taking place and Poros is no exception.  Today's chilly temperatures, dark clouds and wind didn't keep residents from lining our main street and attending the ceremony at the war memorial in the heart of town.

Oxi Day commemorates the events that took place on Oct. 28,1940, when the Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxes refused Benito Mussolini's demand to occupy certain portions of Greece that he considered strategic locations.  The story goes that with a single word, "Oxi" ('oh-hee') or "No" the request was denied by the PM marking Greece's entry into the war. 

Today's celebration, a rather simple affair compared to the descriptions of those that take place in the larger cities,  involved -- it appeared - every child on the island.  School children marched wearing white shirts and dark pants and skirts; their teachers - men in suits and ties, and women in dress coats and shoes marched to their side.  They were divided by grade with the youngest leading the parade.  Each group drew loud applause from the on-lookers.

A single, small uniformed marching band played.  The Greek Orthodox priest opened the ceremony at the War Memorial with prayers.  Pairs of school children, some wearing tradtional Greek clothing, placed wreaths at the war memorial.  We all observed a moment of silence.

Greek tourist guides say not to miss the observance festivities if you are in Greece - they are right.  We consider ourselves fortunate to have been able to share in the celebration.

Fall Harvest and Market Daydreams

Tourist season is coming to an end and harvest season is in full swing - it is a perfect time to be exploring the Peloponnese and the nearby Saronic Islands. 

One of the highlights of our trip is experiencing olive harvest.  Time and time again as we drove through the Peloponnese countryside Sunday we would come around a corner to find a mom-and-pop harvest underway. 

Large nets are draped beneath the trees to catch the olives. Branches were cut --  thus taking care of pruning and harvest at the same time, I guess -- and the branches shaken to release the olives onto the net.  The olives were then stuffed into gunny sacks.

We passed numerous old pickup trucks, laboring under the weight of stacks of sacked olives, as the harvest was taken to the cooperative processing plants that appear every so often in this area.

We opened the windows to inhale the pungent citrus air as we drove through miles of orange groves.

The abundant harvests of the area are reflected in the street markets held in towns and villages.

The street market held each Wednesday and Saturday in Nafplion stretches for blocks as vendors display their fruits and vegetables.  Zucchinis (courgettes) and aubergines (eggplants) carrots, cabbages and soft-ball-sized, vine-ripened red tomatoes are piled high. Leeks as long as yard sticks were piled like lumber next  next to mountains of fava and string beans. Huge bags of perfectly-shaped potatoes were offered for less than a euro.

In addition to oranges, pomegranites and figs, we were tempted by red- and green- grapes so vine-ripened they fell of their stems as I placed a large bunch into the bag the vendor held for me.  Liter and half-gallon sized plastic bottles are filled with home-made rose and white wines. (We tried the white in a liter bottle - we paid 2E - it was an excellent sipping wine).

Market prices are ridiculously low here; not like the prices we know at Farmer's Markets back home.  We strolled through the Nafplio market, restricting our purchases to an item or two that we would eat during our short time there. And then we begin daydreaming. . . if we were to live here a month or two each year, just think of the wonderful things we could cook at home  and how inexpensively we could eat. . .

It was an idea as tempting as the produce!

On Foot or Burro? That is the question.

On the island of Hydra (Greeks pronounce that, 'eee-dra') in the Saronic Islands off the Peloponesse coast, there are no motorized vehicles - except for two small garbage trucks.  So when you step off the ferry onto its near perfect crescent-shaped dock you have two choices for getting to your hotel: on foot or burro. 

              Burro loaded with rebar in Hydra

Unlike Santorini where the burro chain greets the cruise boats and photos are taken of passengers riding up the steep hillside, here the burro is serious business.  They haul produce and people, lumber, dirt, supplies and their handlers sit sidesaddle leading their pack-string along the waterfront loading the items in preparation of heading up the steep, narrow pathways to the town's interior.

Our mainland roadtrip took us to Hydra for a night's stay Sunday.  We had planned to stay in another town on the coast but as with our philosophy of travel, when the opportunity presents itself, take it.  We passed a sign pointing through an olive grove that read "Hydra".  We followed the roadway and found ourselves at a tiny taxi ferry dock, and thought,'why not?'

We parked near the olive grove, packed on overnight bag and hopped aboard the 16-passenger taxi that whisked us across the channel for a delightful evening and morning visit to an island we would otherwise have missed.

In case you are wondering, we walked to the pansion where we stayed for 35E a night. It was an easy walk, not far from the harbor.

It Just Doesn't Get Any Better. . .a Sunday Drive

"It just doesn't get any better!" has become an almost daily declaration of mine since heading to Greece following our Black Sea cruise.  Each new destination has me proclaiming, "it won't be better than this. . .view, moment, monument. . ." and then each new place proves that it can!

Sunday as we headed back across the inland and along the coast from Nafplion I think might have been one of those days that just don't get any better.

Our route from Nafplio took us through a series of small towns and miles of lush agricultural area; a checkerboard  of deep-green orange- and silver-gray olive groves. Rolling hillsides and valleys gave way to steep mountain peaks that we ascended on the twisty two-lane highway that took us back to the coastline we'd left five days before.

 It was an easy and quiet time on the roadway as Athenians hadn't yet begun their treks back to the big city so we had the road to ourselves, passing only a few orchard tractors and trucks along the way.  We stopped to admire the views - as good as Tuscany, we declared, if not better -- and that is saying a lot for the two of us who love all places Italian..

Peloponnese Potpourri: People and Places

                             Nafplio from the Fortress

It is a sunny Saturday afternoon in Nafplion and the Square below our room has come to life with weekend visitors from Athens.  The cafes are full, a game of soccer is being played by local children on one side of the marble-paved square and a street performer is entertaining other children and cafe patrons on the other side.  Laughter and conversations fill the air.

There's been so much to see and do in this area that we've used Nafplion as a base (staying five nights) and have taken day trips by car and explored the town on foot. . .driving in old Nafplion is a tights squeeze at best so we park at the port's free lot and walk a few block to our hotel (which is in a pedestrian only area anyway).

Americans Among Us

We realized a few days ago that we had gone for nearly a week without seeing another American; in fact that last time we had spoken to Americans was when we called out goodbye to our Florida friends at the cruise ship in Piraeus. 

Our first night here we met three delightful young American women who are studying in Athens and who were in town for a four-day study of the archaeological sites nearby.  Monika from USC, Soula from Michigan and Clare from Notre Dame gave us an introduction to the sites that we would be seeing and we had some good ol' football -- not soccer -- but football, talk from home.  We saw two of our trio atop the cliff at the fortress the next day and had hoped to cross paths again but it didn't happen.  "Yassis" to you all - hope to see you again one day.

Street scenes

People often ask us about places and begin with, "But what is there to see?"  Our short answer is "Life." And one of our favorite from this trip is the nightly scocer game that beings about 6 p.m. on the Square.  A group of tousle-topped boys gather and anywhere from one to three soccer balls appear.  The boys appear to be between the ages of 6 and 10 but often a grown man walking by will take a kick or two and last night a toddler - a bit bigger than the ball - wove his way in and out of the big boys.  It made for great entertainment - we can hardly wait for tonight's game!

In the Land of Legends and Myths: Mycenae

                                                   Lion's Gate - Mycenae

We are traveling through the land of myth and history.  The Peloponnese countryside -- less than 200 kilometers from Athens -- is awash in history; so much so, that we've had to pace ourselves by taking one 'time travel trip' each day back into history. 

We are not history buffs, nor do we know that much about Greek mythology.  But when you visit a place with ramparts dating to 1350BC -- yes, that is BC!-- there's no other word for it than: overwhelming. 

Once thought to be found only in legends and poetry, Mycenae was the most powerful city-state in Greece up to 1100 BC when it was destroyed by fire.  The site was discovered in the late 1800's - confirming the existence of a real city and people.

We entered the old city through the Lion Gate -- pictured above -- that dates back to 1240 BC and is considered the oldest sample of monumental sculpture in Europe.  The remains of the city's granary still stand as well a burial grounds and artists quarters.  Traces of grain were found on ceramics excavated there and now on display in the museum to the side of the city.  Finished beadwork, uncut ivory and gold leaf were found in the artists' quarters.

According to Greek mythology Mycenae was founded by Perseus, son of Zeus and Dianae.  He employed Cyclops, mythical beings from Asia to build the city thus the style of architecture is called cyclopean. 

The museum off to the side houses display cases filled with ceramics and art found at the site.
The entry fee was 8E per person which provided access to the city and the museum.  There are restroom facilities on site as well as a snack bar.  And numerous fellow visitors were using canes to get around but easily managed the well maintained - but sometimes steep - stairways.