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 In Ithaki, Gidaki Beach by SirRichardLeave a Comment
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 A stair in Ithaka by SirRichardLeave a Comment
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 Ithaka by SirRichard
The islands here are greener, bigger and less crowded than the more famous islands of the Aegean.
There are no direct ferries from Piraeus, the easiest way to get there is to take a bus to Patras and there take a ferry to any of the islands.
The best known islands are:
- Corfu
- Kefallonia
- Zakynthos
- Ithaca
- Lefkada Leave a Comment
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Because I was traveling to both Greece and Turkey, I really wanted to know what caused the tension between the two countries. After doing some reading, I soon discovered...
During the Ottoman Rule of Greece, hunger and hopelessness reined. People who came up with enough money emigrated to foreign shores. The Greeks countryside became quite empty. When the Ottoman Empire waged a long series of wars with the Italian state of Venice, Greece was often used as a battleground. The Turks ruled Greece for 400 years.
On the 25th of March, 1921, a religious flag was raised, and independence for Greece was declared. That date is now celebrated as Greek Independence Day. It meant very little at the time because the Turkish army still occupied the land. It took a long, bloody war for Greece to truly win its freedom.
The oklephts [Greek outlaw patriots] would attack Turkish soldier and then disappear into the night. Both the Turks and the Greeks fought with passion that turned into barbarism. Torture and slaughter of civilians played an ugly part in the war [1821-1829].
European libertarians loved Athens for giving democracy to the world so European governments entered the Greek/Turk struggle. The French, Brits, and Russians devastated the naval forces of Turkey and her Egyptian allies. Once the Ottoman Empire became engaged in a land war with Russia, they pulled their troops from Greece.
There are many Turkish influences found in Greece today, including a 5% Turkish population.
*When the Turks invaded Greece, they brought their religion, Islam, with them, and many Orthodox Churches were turned into mosques. The Turks were tolerant of other religions, during the occupation, the priests and monks held secret classes for young Greeks to keep Greek traditions alive..
Turkish-Greeks are citizens of Greece. They speak the Turkish language and follow the teachings of Islam, the Muslim religion. Many Turkish-Greek women wear long black overcoats and white scarves, called 'yashmaks".
Some of the Turkish Greeks live in Thrace, the province that borders Turkey in northeastern Greece. Thrace feels and looks more like Turkey than Greece. People in Trace's villages wear traditional Turkish-style baggy pants, full shirts, and headdresses.
Others live on the Dodecanese Islands, which lie just off the Turkish coast [part of Turkey until 1947]. Leave a Comment
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 Myth of Hades Kidnapping
Persephone by deecat
The Greeks of a[pre-science] world worshiped many gods & goddesses & used myths to answer questions about the universe.
One of my favorites points out how myths were used to explain what science now answers. It is the myth of the of Why We Have Changing Seasons:
Long ago, Demeter (de-MEE-tur)was goddess of the harvest & watched over the land. Demeter had a lovely daughter named Persephone
Hades, god of the Underworld, lived deep below the Earth, & he was lonely. One day, Hades saw Persephone working in the fields with her mother, & he immediately fell in love with her. He desired for her to become his Queen of the Underworld.
So, Hades jumped into his chariot and came up through the Earth's surface, grabbed Persephone, & took her down to the Underworld.
Demeter was so sad that she stopped working & ordered the Earth to stop growing. Everything died away, & humans were starving & dying.
Zeus, King of the gods & goddesses, heard the cries of the humans. He ordered his brother Hades to return Persephone to her mother, Demeter. Hades did not want to lose his bride so he tricked her into eating six seeds from a pomegranate. The fruit was the food of the Underworld. By tasting this fruit, Persephone could not leave the Underworld!
Zeus was so angry when he heard this, & he knew Persephone would be trapped forever in the Underworld. He quickly thought up a plan that would keep both Hades & Demeter happy.
Persephone stayed with Demeter for six months of the year. This time became SUMMER when all the plants grew.
After a six-month visit to her mother, Persephone returned to the Underworld. During these six months, the Earth grew cold & the plants died. This season became known as winter. The 6 Pomegranate seeds caused the six months without growth.
This is just one of many wonderful myths that were passed on from one generation to the next [by word of mouth] from one generation to the next.
After Christianity arrived and Science became the way to answer such questions as the Seasons, the belief in the myths subsided. However, the myths do live on as forms of entertainment and excitement.
How much more exciting the myths were than the dry logic that we know today! Leave a Comment
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 Map of Greece by deecat
I personally don't think that any other nation has contributed as much to world culture as Greece has. architecture, astronomy, art, medicine, mathematics, law, and literature all have "roots" going back to the ancient Greeks. Can you believe that most of the subjects that we study in our schools were 1st taught by the Greeks thousands of years ago?
If you look at the map, you will be able to see all the areas that made up Greece.
Traditional Thrace: It's in northeastern Greece and borders Bulgaria and Turkey. It looks more like Turkey than Greece.
Thessaly: Located in central Greece, it is surrounded by mountains. Our tour guide called it "the breadbasket of Greece" because of all the crops grown on the fertile plains in the center of this province.
Central Greece: There are lots of low hills and plains in central Greece, and we saw vineyards, olive groves, and orchards. Attica is call "the Heart of Greece" because it contains Athens, the capital city.
Macedonia: It shares a border with the Republic of Macedonia [independent country to the north of Greece]. It's the largest province and lies west of Thrace. It also borders Albania and Bulgaria. Macedonia has warm summers and cold winters. In the middle of this huge province, cotton and rice are grown. The rest is mainly mountainous.
Epirus: It lies in the northwest corner of Greece and has great mountains and deep valleys. Epirus citizens have kept their traditional customs and dress. This is possibly due to the mountains [Pindus Mountains] which have isolated the province. Shepherds still wander in the mountain pastures with their sheep and goats.
Peloponnese: This is Greece's most southern province, and it is a vast and mountainous peninsula of high peaks and coastal plains.
Greek Islands: These islands are actually mountain ranges, mostly under the sea. There are about 1400 islands, but only 200 of them have people living on them. The largest is Crete. The other islands are in five different groups: The Sporades, Ionian, Cyclades, Dodecanese, and Northeastern Aegean Islands.
Unfortunately, I have not visited the islands yet; however, I certainly intend to! Leave a Comment
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 Holy Monastery of Grand
Meteoron by deecat
*The Greek Orthodox Church is financially supported by the Greek government, & religion is taught in the country's public schools. Our tour guide told us that in 1982 the government legalized civil marriage & relaxed strict laws concerning divorce. She also said that the Orthodox church is less important in the everyday lives of most Greeks than during the time of Turkish occupation. Church attendance has declined. However, it remains high on religious holidays and for weddings, funerals, and baptisms. It's worth noting that more than 95 percent of Greeks belong to the Greek Orthodox Church [which is a branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church].
EASTER is the most important religious holiday for the Orthodox Greeks. The week before Easter, they have fireworks and feasting that is accompanied by religious processions and services. Each village honors its own patron saint on the saint's feast day.
Greeks celebrate Christmas, but they exchange gifts on St. Basil's Day on January 1.
Greek Orthodox services use the Greek Koine language of the Byzantine Era. There services are rich with symbolism. They have incense burning and lovely chanting. The congregation stands during the church service, with woman on the left and men on the right.
When infants are baptized, they are dipped in water three times. The baby receives the sacraments of Christmation [anointing with oil] and communion after they are baptized.
We went to a Greek wedding once, and the bride and groom are crowned with white wreaths joined by a ribbon. This symbolizes that they are joined as a new family. Then, they drink from a common cup [sharing the burdens and joys of their new life together].
On our tour, we were able to see Greek Orthodox churches that were richly adorned with icons [gold-highlighted paintings of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints.] Most of these churches were built in the Byzantine style [shape of a Greek cross, with 4 equal-sized arms. A massive dome rises over the center that symbolizes the vault of heaven with a cross on top.
We also enjoyed seeing the monasteries, Meteora [meaning "hanging in the air"] being my favorites. Leave a Comment
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 Jayne on edge of Acropolis
overlooking Athens by deecat
There are some great positives about the modern city of Athens. I enjoyed Syntagma and Omonoia squares as well as several superb museums. It was fun to hear the university students and the Lawyers arguing politics at the park near the Syntagma Square.
A working class area and a fine place to sample food sold by street vendors is Omonoia Square. [Be forewarned that this is also where 8 major streets converge.]
Be sure to see Athens' National Archaeological Museum which holds more masterpieces of ancient art than any other museum in the world!
But, the new face of AThens, sadly, allows us to hear the screeching of tires, the blaring of horns, and the roar of traffic. Half a million cars, buses, and trucks swarm into the city streets that are unable to handle half that much.
Traffic jams are horrendous; it's faster to walk than to take a taxi. Walking is not always safe, either. Remember, it's the polite Athenian motorist who beeps his/her horn before plunging through a red light!
These vehicles discharge tons of poison into the sky above the capital each year. On windless days, you can see a ghastly white cloud that blankets Athens from an observation atop the Acropolis. Athens has become one of the most polluted capitals of Europe. And, that is really unfortunate for all the monuments, ruins, and ancient architecture.
The Old Face of Athens is completely different. Near the Acropolis is a great neighborhood called the Plaka. It is easy to get lost there, but what a grand place to be lost!
Comprised of narrow, twisting streets that serve as a vast flea market in the daytime., vendors sell genuine antiques, fine art work, but they also sell assembly-line produced pottery. In the night, the Plaka is the city's entertainment headquarters with its clubs and tavernas, its bouzouki music, and its folk singing.
Of course, the highlight of my trip to Athens was the climb to the top of the Acropolis. It contains the remains of four major buildings--The Temple of Athena Nike, the Parthenon, the Propylaea, and the Erechtheion. [see other tips].
Even though I saw the Acropolis at the beginning of my trip, I think that it's really a fitting place to end the story of Greece. The monuments of a golden age at the top, and a twenty-first century city spread below. Leave a Comment
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 A tavern in Plaka (Athens) by SirRichard
But if you go off the beaten path you will surely find in remote islands and villages places full of charm where you can taste the delicious traditional Greek Cuisine. Leave a Comment
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 Ithaka coastline, Ulisses
sailed here by SirRichard
- The Nymphs Cave (see pic) in Ithaka: here is where Ulisses left his treasuries when he returned, before going home as an old beggar.
- Dexa Bay (Ithaka): where Ulisses was diembarked by the phaecians.
- The fields where Eumeo, the man in charge of the pigs, lived and met Ulisses after he returned (Ithaka).
- Corfu, the island of the phaecians.
- Pilos, where King Nestor lived. There went Telemachus to ask for help.
- Mycenae, where king Agamennon lived.
- Sparta (not much left there, just a modern town) where King Menelaos lived. Leave a Comment
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