Month: January 2016

We are interrupting our normally-scheduled (well maybe not really that scheduled) blogs about Greece to share some sad news. Bob and I learned the other day about the passing of our (at least for a short time) beloved Jess. She was one of the dogs that we cared for in New Plymouth, New Zealand while her human parents were away. She was older and having some troubles with arthritis while we were there, but nothing too severe. However, her issues apparently became steadily worse until she was in quite a lot of pain. Her human parents and canine companion, Baz, are missing their beloved Jessie Lou, and Bob and I were saddened to learn of her death. She was a very special dog. The following is from our blog last fall as we were getting ready to end our stay in New Plymouth —

And we will definitely miss the beautiful dogs. Jess is the sweetest girl ever. She is impossible not to like. She loves to eat and likes to have her belly rubbed. She doesn’t get around as well as Baz due to her age, but she likes to try to hang with him as much as possible — joining in on barking at the neighborhood cat and starting out her walks with her version of a jog.

We miss you Jess — you were a very special part of our New Plymouth experience last fall and a very lovely soul!

 

It has been interesting getting to see a tiny portion of Greece.  While we can’t generalize to the whole country (mainland and multiple islands), we have found it to be study in contrasts.

People — all of the people with whom we have interacted with have been really, really nice. They have been very patient and helpful with us as we didn’t have time to try to master their language before we came.  Almost all Greeks, at least in the urban and suburban areas we have been in, speak English. One of the retailers in the local bakeries has taken to teaching the Texans a couple of words — Yeia soy! (Hello — sounds like achoo but is said Yasoo) and Kalimera (Good Morning — pronounced a bit like the English word for squid — calimeray).  On the other hand, Greeks drive like bats out of hell — zipping down main thoroughfares as well as through neighborhoods at ungodly speeds. They will also nearly drive up on you on the sidewalks if they need a parking place.

Infrastructure — They have it all. They have old buildings, embassies, shiny new homes shops, as well as shells of buildings that have been abandoned or never got to be used (some resulting from the financial crisis impact).  These are often found right next to each other.

Even the Olympic Stadium from 2004 is a study in contrasts. You can see the amazing architecture, and some buildings are apparently still being used, but the grounds are unkempt and some of the facades are peeling and rusting. When we visited yesterday, it felt a bit like walking through a modern sports ghost town. On the otherhand, we checked out a huge mega mall (creatively called “The Mall”) one metro stop away from the stadium, and it was shiny, airy, and quite busy.

On another fun note about little everyday differences, in doing the laundry at the house the other day we were charmed to hear the lovely little song that is played at the end of the cycle.  So much nicer than our American buzzer on our machine.  The house we are caring for is also right across the street from a school, and the “bells” used to indicate transition between class sessions sounds like a very loud doorbell.  (We had originally assumed one of the neighbors must be hard of hearing.)

The weather is finally turning in our favor, so we’re hoping to explore a bit more of the area. Two recent fun finds — the local market and finally getting to see some of the surrounding mountains.

Kifisia, Greece House Sit

After sight seeing in Athens, we headed by metro to Kifisia, a northern suburb of Athens, to start our 10 day house sit with three pets — Lily, an 11 year old cocker spaniel, June, a mostly outdoor cat and X (a yet-to-be-named) mix puppy. All three are so cute and really easy to care for, though the puppy does take a little extra work, as was expected.

We had initially talked with this homeowner couple for a house sit in the October/November timeframe, but the dates didn’t work out for us. In late December, we received an email from them asking if we could do a house sit in January. We were skeptical that we could get affordable-enough air tickets to make it work, but we lucked out and found reasonable airfare on Turkish Airlines from Houston (rather than Austin) via Istanbul. Flying from Houston reduced the per person cost by $500.

With our second day in the home, we are establishing a routine for the 3x/day dog walks, the frequent yard visits with the puppy, and inside/outside time for the cat. June, the cat, is an adept climber and neighborhood explorer. She usually accompanies us (doing her own thing) while we walk Lily. When inside, she is loving and purrs contentedly, but it isn’t long before she’s ready to head back out.

In other “getting into a routine” news, Beth is currently training to hopefully run the Manchester Marathon when we are in England this spring. Luckily, we found a gym less than a mile away that she can use to continue her training while here as there is no ability to run on the local sidewalks or streets. The sidewalks here appear to be for the planting of trees and the parking of motorbikes, if they exist at all. And the car traffic here is crazy.

In terms of local food, we have had some great cheese, local bread, and sweets. Bob has also enjoyed some gyros (made differently than in the States) and souvlaki while Beth has been into the grilled veggies and just discovered a lovely Sonia salad (carrots, beets, kidney beans, onions, dill, and parsley).

The house is just off the main avenue with many shops and markets. And we have enjoyed poking into local markets (seafood, regular, produce) and various bakeries.

The costs here are really good (cheap). The owners pointed us to a great coffee shop where we had two coffees and four pastries for about US$8. The Metro cost us US$1.25 a piece (going from central Athens to Kifisia, the last stop, approximately 15 miles). Greek wine is very tasty and really cheap — about $6 – $8 for a good bottle of red, white, or rose. We have also sampled local liquors — ouzo (anise-flavored and often mixed with water) and mastika (slightly sweet).

The weather has been chilly. In fact, it snowed all day and overnight last night with some snow accumulation on cars. But, it is likely warmer than our next house sit locale in Calgary, Canada. (At 5:20 pm Athens time on Sunday the 24th, it is 43 in Athens, 43 in Austin (but much earlier in the day), and 27 in Calgary (ditto about time difference).

Day 2 in Athens started with sunshine, and a note from our house sit couple. While the girlfriend/fiance was already in England for their house sit, he was here finishing work but was ill and needed us to wait to come until 7 instead of the planned 4 pm arrival time. We had a few more hours to enjoy Athens.

We started at the Acropolis after our “free” meal at Niki Hotel.  Bob had found us a great hotel in the Placa section of Athens — near the Parliament House for $43 US a night with breakfast.  The area was great — with lots of local restaurants and shops but without the high tourist section annoyances of workers hollering at you to get you to go inside.

The Acropolis is amazing!  It sits on a hill far higher than any other in town, so you see it a lot and are reminded of the long, long history of this amazing city and country.  Due to its age, it is in a continual state of restoration.  The Acropolis is a section of Athens consisting of various temples, theaters, stadium, etc.  However, it is most well-known for the largest building set on the highest part of the hill — the Parthenon.  I have to say as amazing as it is to stand near structures that have survived (at least partially) for so long, the view of Athens from the hilltop is just as impressive.  See below for some highlights with evidence of the restoration work underway.

We then wound our way back down the hill to see the ancient Agora (market/meeting place — think of Socrates and Plato leading their discussions).  Again, an area and group of structures rather than a building.  We spent most time at the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalos.

From the Acropolis we wandered over to the City’s Central Market where the crowds were busy shopping for the freshest fish and meat (including skinned goat’s heads with eyes intact).  We just tried to hang onto our bags in the throng and didn’t buy anything.  We had an interesting bathroom experience on the way to our next stop.  We had stopped at a public toilet in a little square but we’re waiting patiently (and then beginning to be not so patiently) since the red light indicated that it was in use.  Finally, a nice little older Greek gentleman came over and told us to go into a nearby building where we could use the facilities for free.  We took his advice.  Bob had no problem, but the men sitting in the room near the restroom kept trying to tell me something in Greek.  I finally figured out that I needed a key for my door.  Turns out it was a veterans hall and apparently they don’t have many female members.

We decided to check out what are known as the Trilogy of Neoclassical architecture in Athens — The Academy, The University of Athens, and The National Library.  The exist side-by-side on a Main Street. The Academy was the most attractive from the outside, but the English nerd in me loved seeing the old card catalogs and spiral staircases in the National Library.

Probably the two of the most intriguing sites we saw on Thursday were a social protest (never did learn what exactly it was about) and the changing of the guard near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside of Parliament House.  We heard warnings about the protests, but it didn’t seem terribly large and was certainly completely non-violent from what we saw.  The changing of the guard ceremony, however, was something like no other guard ceremony we have ever seen.  Picture grown military men wearing what appears to be Catholic school girl uniforms with stockings, garters, a little beanie with a long tassel, and clog style shoes with fluffy balls on them doing some type of weird high kick ( front, back, side) march and then getting their outfits restyled by the head guy in camouflage.  And then they have to stand at attention while tourists pose with them!  I couldn’t do it, they had already sufficiently made my day.  All military should be required to dress and act in this manner to limit actual fighting.  See below.

Hey All!

Bob and I started our 2016 nomadic existence on January 18 by flying Turkish Airlines from Houston to Athens via Istanbul.  We had a fun time exploring the Istanbul international airport terminal ( and the free samples of Turkish Delight) but regret that we won’t have time to explore the actual city on this trip.  See photos below of Istanbul Airport.

We had 2 great (though cold and a bit rainy) days in Athens before heading to the northern suburb of Kifisia where we are caring for the home and pets of Athena and Constantinos. More to come on Kifisia. See below for highlights of the pre-housesit portion of our trip.

The first day in Athens was rainy, but we still got a good introduction to it from a local college student that we connected with through the This is My Athens program.  This is a program promoted by the tourism bureau that connects visitors with local guides for a free 2 hour tour based on common interests.  Our guide,  Jason, was a 5th year engineering student who had a great knowledge of Athens history and architecture and spent a little over 3 hours with us showing us the Parliament House, constitution square, the national gardens, past Olympic venues, temple ruins, and a great view of the Acropolis and Parthenon from atop the Hill of Muses.

Afterwards, Bob and I went to the Acropolis Museum where they now store many of the original columns and sculptures from the Acropolis to save them from further damage.  Unfortunately, Bob took the photos on his phone but didn’t have the photo stream turned on, so we just have a couple photos from Tues. night and Wed.  See below.