BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 09 Jul 08 - 01:00 PM

Anyone been to Plakias (southern Crete) recently? Have they wrecked it? I really, really hope not!

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Nick
Date: 08 Jul 08 - 07:03 PM

Southern Crete I enjoyed when we went and the Samaria Gorge though much to busy is still worth walking down. If you walk quickly at the beginning you can lose most of the crowds and then stroll and enjoy. The caves at Matala still wreak of urine but it was nice to go down to the Mermaid cafe and have a bottle of wine. Stayed in Plakias when it was really quite small and used to enjoy sitting watching the buzzards and vultures disappearing on the thermals in the morning over breakfast and walking the hills around - it's probably very built up now. Stayed in Palaeochora (sp?) and enjoyed that a lot, very friendly very family and the whole centre of the town shuts at night so people can eat and play and chat - lovely. Chania is also worth a visit.

Enjoyed the Peloponnese a couple of years ago and had a good holiday there - gradually getting more commercialised and probably spoilt. I spent a really enjoyable lunchtime up in the hills practicing my incredibly limited Greek with the locals. There was a builder who I chatted to (he spoke much better English of course) who - once he realised I wasn't interested in buying a house - gave me his views on how toursim was an economic necessity but would partially destroy the community. Sad. Great walking in the hills and some very pretty places.

Did NOT enjoy Zakynthos apart from the famous view with the incredible coloured sea and the wrecked boat. Saw no turtles which were probably trampled underfoot by the clubbers in the town next door. Aprt from I found a bar with a guitar and used to go and swap songs and tunes with the owner over a few beers.

My wife did the islands 30+ years ago and loved them though many have now changed.

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 08 Jul 08 - 06:45 AM

I doubt "The Last Temptation" had anything to do with where Kazantzakis was buried. He went through many different ideologies in his life, and the Christianity of "St Francis" and "The Last Temptation" was far from being the final one . He simply wasn't part of the church any more when he died.

Anyone here been to Ross Daly's workshops at Houdetsi?

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 03:12 PM

I think that's a visit everyone should make once, Shimrod, despite the crowds it's an interesting day out. But once is enough - there are lots of other interesting and beautiful places to visit on Crete, and sans crowds!

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 02:25 PM

"The main reason we're going this year is we've heard a rumour that public entry to Knossos is going to be restricted in the future."

It's probably about time! Last time that I went it was just a huge struggling mass of multi-national leisurewear.

But at least it was outdoors and was a slight improvement over the huge struggling mass etc. in the Herakleon Archeological Museum a couple of hours before ...

I go to Crete mainly for the wild flowers - I won't make the mistake of taking the day trip to Herakleon/Knossos again!

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 07:59 AM

She's a great writer, if 'The Island' is anything to go by.

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Dave Masterson
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 06:19 AM

We're off to Crete in September - can't wait. The main reason we're going this year is we've heard a rumour that public entry to Knossos is going to be restricted in the future. What that actually means and whether it's true or not we don't know, but we're taking no chances! It's a place we've wanted to visit for a long time.

By the way Victoria Hislop is the wife of one Ian Hislop, of Private Eye and 'Have I got news for you' fame.

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 07:15 AM

Aye, it's grand!

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 04:49 AM

Oh yes, Crete! Go in April if you can - it's stunning!

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: theleveller
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 03:22 AM

Don't apologise - we could all do with a bit more perspective.With all the headlines about aids, the problem of leprosy seems archaic and biblical, not the serious (but solvable) problem it is.

On a happier note, Crete is probably the most friendly place I've ever visited. I've had old men stop me on the road, ask if I was English, then simply shake my hand and offer me a cigarette.

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 12:03 PM

Yep, but I learned a lot about leprosy that I never knew, including the facts that there are 14 million lepers in the world today, that it's not transmitted by normal contact, and that the drugs which cure it cost just £20 for a full course!

Just think, for a mere £280 million they could all be cured - puts the obscene cost of one day's war in Iraq and Afghanistan into perspective.

End of lecture folks - sorry!

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: theleveller
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 11:38 AM

Agree with you about Spina Longa, Backwoodsman - it's one of the saddest places I've ever been.

Also make a pilgrimage to the grave of Kazantzakis overlooking the bay at Heraklion. A profoundly spiritual man, he was refused burial in a cemetery because of writing The Last Temptation of Christ. His epitaph reads: "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 11:14 AM

Hislop.
There, I'm not that old!

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 10:54 AM

And if you go to Crete, visit the old leper-colony on Spina Longa - a very sobering experience. You might also read 'The Island' by Victoria ????? (sorry, forgot her name - a sign of approaching Old Age!), it's fiction but a very moving book, and builds a fine story around the real facts of Spina Longa.

Also, drive out along the coast to the N.E. tip of the island, and walk the Nekron Gorge down to Zakros - much shorter, quieter and less 'touristy' than the Samaria Gorge, and much more accessible, and a great walk for that. Leave your car at the top of the gorge, and have a beer in the tavernas at the bottom while you wait for the bus to take you back to the car.

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: theleveller
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 10:39 AM

Go to Crete and read Nikos Kazantzakis' Report to Greco and Zorba the Greek before you go. Hell, read them anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 09:55 AM

Take me along.

Seriously, all advice above is good, especially the bit about keeping your valuables close to you and well-guarded especially in crowded tourist spots like watching the change of the guard in Syntagma etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 09:17 AM

"Best hint - go with the flow, let the adventure happen, don't rule anything out and get involved rather than beng an onlooker."

But be careful! I narrowly avoided being badly conned in Athens a few years ago. I'm not saying this sort of thing is peculiar to Greece - it could happen anywhere. There are some nasty and unscrupulous people out there who prey on tourists because they know that they tend to have their guard down.

Having said that I had other encounters in Athens which were, hopefully, more typical of Greece. That is encounters with charming and hospitable people who made me feel very welcome.

In brief, be very wary of what appear to be chance encounters with over-familiar people in very touristy areas.

Oh yes, a more general piece of advice, that can't be repeated too often, and doesn't just apply to Greece: keep your valuables out of sight - particularly your money and your passport.
Three of my friends have been robbed recently - in Fiji, Latvia and the USA (and the authorities were very unhelpful).

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Trevor
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 08:54 AM

I've spent a fair bit of time in Greece in the last few years. My advice would be to fly to Athens and then let serendipity take over. It may well be that your friend heads for Piraeus or Raffina and a ferry, or gets a flight to one of the islands (probably just over an hour is the maximum flight time to any of them). Or maybe a hire car on the mainland - head for the Pelion peninsula, via the Parnassus.

Best hint - go with the flow, let the adventure happen, don't rule anything out and get involved rather than beng an onlooker.

PM me by all means.

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Dave Masterson
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 08:42 AM

Try this - so much info!!!

http://www.greecetravel.com/

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 11:42 AM

Eat everything you find in tavernas! Develop a taste for retsina and ouzo (*ugh*)... if you can... and send postcards! With grease stains so we can be really jealous!

(I loved Greece when I visited but it was a loooooooong time ago...)

Subject: RE: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: Micca
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 09:14 AM

mg, maybe you could suggest she reads Roger the Skifflers "postcards from Kalymnos" threads!1 they certainly gave me a very pleasant and easy intro to the Greek character to put alongside the poetry of George Seferis and the history and architecture that I was already familiar with, just a thought

Subject: BS: Friend going to greece..suggestions?
From: mg
Date: 28 Jun 08 - 11:32 PM

Someone I work with has a month off and said she wanted to go to Greece. She does not have a passport..anyone know how fast youcan get them rushed? Any suggestions on airfare from Portland, Oregon, tours, etc.? Would be going in July if she gets a passport. mg