ISLAND HOP TO SYROS

I should buy stock in some company that manufactures electrical adaptors, because I think I'm keeping the industry afloat.  I haven't been counting how many adaptors I've purchased, but I'm sure most have been for European style plugs.  And, as usual, by the time I found a store on the Greek island of Syros that sold them, they were closed until evening hours.

The weather isn't quite warm enough for the beach, so there aren't very many tourists yet.  While the ferry I took from Athens to Syros was packed, very few people got off at Syros.  I don't know where everyone was going.  Syros isn't a popular tourist destination.  It's one of the quiet islands in the Cyclades, with a population of just 22,000 on just 32 square miles.

I met a couple from New York who spend 2/3 of the year here and they wondered why I picked this island to visit.  It was because it was quiet and not so touristy, which I thought would be a good idea after Athens.  This is the City Hall, a lovely neo-classical building.

I spent only one day here wandering about the streets of the port town, most of which looked like this.

This is the port town of the island, Ermoupoli.  I stumbled onto the market area of town where there were butchers and vegetable vendors.

And fresh fish....don't those guys in front look like they're trying to flip off the table?

There were lots of stray cats on the streets.  This one found an interesting spot to relax.

This one was a little shy and wouldn't come out to see me.

There are still some really old stone houses here and there.

I found this boat in a yard of daisies near my hotel, which was 100 or so steps above the town.  I wonder how they got it up here.

A quiet day on a quiet isle.

OUT AND ABOUT IN ATHENS

Wow, I've walked almost a layer of skin off my left foot....I'm not sure how my right foot escaped this damage because it's taken the same number of steps, maybe a couple less, but it's fine.  I've been to a number of ruins and museums in my few days in Athens, and as I look at my photos, it's hard to remember where I took them.

This is a street musician playing some unusual stringed piano-shaped instrument near the Acropolis Museum.

This one is outside the presidential palace.  It appears as if the public services cutbacks hit the government security department, because there were only these two fellows at the gate.

This is the ruins of yet another temple, but I can't remember which one.

These are some ruins in the ancient agora area, in contrast with the modern Greek Metro train.

One of the museums I visited was nearby, and I saw some very interesting statuary and stone carvings which were recovered from the agora area.

The detail of these centuries-old pieces is pretty amazing.  This was a pretty unusual piece for obvious reasons.

Photographs weren't allowed in some of the museums I visited, and I can only say that I've seen a plethora of statuary, artifacts, skeletons, friezes, columns, coins and jewelry.

There were a surprising number of tourists on most streets, but this one was almost deserted.

I moved to a hotel in the port area because I had to get up very early to catch a ferry to Syros, the first of four Cyclades islands I will visit in the next week.  The port area is pretty seedy, and there wasn't much to see there.  A trip to the post office to mail my tax forms gave me a great measure of the extent of the government cutbacks here.  There were 8 windows for general services, and only two were manned.  I waited 40 minutes to buy stamps.  For the first time in years there is a budget surplus, but the cost to the common citizen has been huge tax increases, huge jumps in utility costs, and significant decreases in public services.  Protests are still occuring but less frequently.  Yesterday a car bomb with 70 kilos of explosives was set off in front of a bank.  No one was hurt because a warning was called in, so that part was a relief.  

Yesterday Greece made a successful return to the financial markets, raising $3 billion euro in its first bond sale in four years.  It appears as if Greece is regaining the trust of investors.  The Greeks I've talked to see this as a very positive sign.  In spite of the tough times they've endured, I find the Greeks to be a friendly, hospitable people.  I think the islands have had it better because of heavy tourist trade, so I'm looking forward to my island hopping week ahead.

IN THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

This is my favorite spot at the Acropolis.  With pretty much everything in ruins, you have to exercise your imagination to the nth degree to conjure up an image of life a few centuries B.C. when this was THE place where the Greeks paid tribute to their many gods including their special guardian, Athena, safeguarded the city.

Unfortunately, there is a restoration project underway at this time, and scaffolding (and hordes of tourists) interferes with any shot you try to get of the Parthenon.  This was the best I could do.

I arrived in Athens last Friday, a day after my friend Gayle from the U.S. arrived to visit her daughter Leah who has been here for a 10-week internship with the U.S. Embassy.  They graciously invited me to stay with them in Leah's apartment in an upscale suburban neighborhood.  Leah has one more week to work, so I've had the pleasure of spending some time with Gayle sightseeing.

The Acropolis is pretty awesome, but you do need some imagination to enjoy it.

The beautiful relief carvings and statuary that once made the Parthenon a glorious place to worship have either been pilfered or removed to the Acropolis Museum for safekeeping.  What remains of most of the temples are merely the outlines of foundation stones.

There is a big arena that is recognizable as such.  Besides worship, the Acropolis was also a place where the wealthier citizens could enjoy theater.

You can enjoy some spectacular views of the city from this rarified aerie.

The Temple of Hephaestus, which is also in fairly good shape, stood out on the landscape below.

Here's a view of the same temple from the second floor of the museum at thr ancient agora ruins below.

There were patches of wildflowers here and there to brighten the landscape a bit.

There weren't many statues around.  These three lions were among the few.

I can't explain the feeling of wandering through these ancient ruins that were the cradle of civilization.  There is wonder, gratitude, and soaring imagination.  

I love Athens!  The people here are so friendly and helpful.  Here's one of the most charming ones Gayle and I encountered.  His name is Costas and his family owns the restaurant where we ate lunch this day.  I had my first taste of moussaka and it was delish!

DEMON-FREE ZONE

In Bali, for one day of the year, no one is allowed to leave their houses. The streets and beaches are patrolled to enforce this, and in addition, you are not allowed to watch TV, listen to music, work, light fires, or make any loud noises (although no one seems to have notified the roosters).  Every commercial establishment is closed, including the airport.  

This day, called Nypei, is the traditional Balinese New Year, and it's today, March 31.  This is a Hindu holiday and there are many rituals which attend it.  Two days before, every Hindu on the island heads to the sea for a purifying ceremony.  (Talk about crowded beaches--that's 85% of Bali's 4.2 million population!)  On the night before Nypei (which we will call ogoh-ogoh night), the entire island makes a racket, rousing up all of the demons from their hiding places to join in the festivities. Then on Nypei, the island goes silent, in order to trick the demons into thinking there are no humans on the island, so they get bored and go away.

The Balinese lure the demons out by parading around homemade statues, called ogoh-ogoh, which are anywhere from 2 feet to two stories tall.  Most are traditional demons, with large, frightening faces, teeth, hands, and tails.  The ogoh-ogoh are carried on bamboo bases by anywhere from 12 to 20 men or boys, depending on the size.  Each village takes a collection for materials to make the ogoh-ogoh, and even foreigners like me are tapped for a few rupiah.  My village of Bentuyung made seven of them, ranging in size from 2 to a dozen and a half feet high.  It was dusk so my photos aren't great, but you'll get the idea.

As usual, the Balinese carriers are colorfully costumed and painted.  Here's Kadek, the 8-year-old son of my adopted Balinese family, decked out as an ogoh-ogoh carrier.

Everyone on the streets, including me, is supposed to wear traditional dress because this is a religious ceremony.  Kadek, the mother, provided me with a sarong and sash.

The carriers do the ogoh-ogoh dance in the streets to loud gamelan music which basically sounds like a lot of drums and gongs smashing together. The ogoh-ogoh are shaken and shaken during the dance, and when they lose heads or arms or break altogether, the crowd cheers. With the music, the darkness, and the ogoh-ogoh, it is easy to believe that demons are flying about, joining in the festivities. In the darkness, fireworks boom and flash, and the atmosphere seems exactly like a demon’s cup of tea.

After the ogoh-ogoh have been paraded from one end of the village to the other, they are heaped into a pile and burned, all the while to the noise of fireworks, clanging Balinese music, and a cheering crowd.

I woke up on the morning of Nypei to the crowing roosters, as always, but there is no construction noise next door (yea) and there is no street noise.  I have invited Kadek's family to an Italian-American midday meal at 2 p.m., but they arrived at around 10 a.m because, Kadek says, they want to spend the day with me.  I hadn't even showered, but I didn't mind because the sentiment touched me.  Kadek wanted a picture of me in Balinese dress, so I showered and donned sarong and sash for some "family photos".

The guys played a dominos-like card game .

Kadek brought his pet rooster Kok for a visit.  I was absolutely amazed at what this rooster allowed Kadek to do to it.

Whoever heard of a rooster hug?

I made guacamole with chips and crackers and cheese for appetizers.  While avocadoes are plentiful here, they had never tasted guacamole and seemed to like it.  Camembert cheese was also a first.  Then we had spaghetti with meat sauce (pork, of course, no beef) and a salad.  I purchased a dessert because I don't have an oven or the kind of utensils and dishes you'd need to make any kind of dessert.  So it was lemon cheesecake with strawberries on top, but not cheesecake as Americans make, more like a light lemon regular cake.  

We spent the evening together, cheating a bit with one small light on in the house.  Little Kadek had us laughing at his antics.  He can make playthings of ordinary objects.  I wish I had a video of him hopping around the room on the side of a cushion like he was a cowboy on a bucking bronco.  He was a non-stop whirl of energy and then he just dropped and was sleeping within minutes.  With no TV or lights allowed tonight, it's an early bedtime for all of us.  I'll be sleeping with my iPad!

What a warm and wonderful experience it was to spend this special day with this lovely Balinese family who have embraced me as one of their own.  

TO HIGHER GROUND

Before I came to Bali, several people questioned why I was staying here for a whole month.  There's not much to do there, they said, especially in Ubud, which is quite a distance from the beaches that attract hordes of tourists.  And besides that, it's the rainy season.  But I already knew this, and it was exactly what I wanted...a quiet place to relax and reflect away from the bustle of tourism.

Because of the construction next door, my days haven't been as peaceful as I imagined.  So maybe now I wish there were more sights to see.  I hired a driver to take me to a few places north of Ubud.  It's consistently hot here every day, around 88°F (24°C) with humidity in the mid-80’s, so I wanted to go to the mountains to cool off a bit.  My driver, Kwi, is a really laid back , mid-30’s Balinese man who has a family like Kadek's, two boys the same age as hers.  Kwi's given name is Wayan, which is an extremely common name in this area of Bali.  So nicknames are given to children to give them individuality from the thousands of others with the same name.  Kwi was the driver who transported me from the airport to Ubud, and I took an immediate liking to his gentle spirit.  I asked him to take me to some special places.

Our first stop was the Elephant Cave Temple.

Balinese temples are designed as an open air places of worship within enclosed walls connected by a series of intricately decorated gates between its compounds. These walled compounds contain several shrines, towers, and pavilions arranged according to sacred hierarchy.

The special feature of this temple is a cave with carved recesses for special offerings to the gods.  This cave is mentioned in a Javanese poem written around 1365.  The entrance to the cave shows menacing creatures and demons carved right into the rock.  The steps into the cave show the curved erosion that thousands of entering feet have caused.

You will see statues wearing sarongs everywhere in Bali, usually black and white checked, which symbolizes the duality of good and evil.  I don't know the significance of this tricolored sarong.  

There were several recesses like this in the cave, but only two were filled with offerings.

You see these umbrellas here and there in the temple compound--I'm not sure they have a particular significance.

The grounds were serene and there were some beautiful flowers and, of course, another wonderful tree trunk, maybe the Balinese relative of the fig tree.  Kwi says it's a banyan tree.

We also visited the Holy Spring Water Temple where Hindus go to be purified by spring water that is said to have healing properties.  

The water from the springs here flows out of the temple area via multiples ditches and is used for irrigation and domestic purposes.  Here's one use for those umbrellas I was wondering about.

An example of one of the towers.

And a pavillion.

A pond chock full of huge colorful fish.

And here is one of those intricately decorated gates that separates the inner temple from the surrounding gardens.

This was the only modern example of statuary I saw here.

This huge banyan tree was draped at the bottom in a black and white checked sarong.

We headed from the temples to see Mount Batur, an active volcano which last erupted in 2005.  It was a bit hazy and,yes, those are storm clouds rolling in.  

There was also a lake in the volcanic valley.

We drove through a short rainstorm to the next location, the rice terraces.

Our final stop was a neighborhood, or banjan, where a colony of white herons live.  I walked down the tree lined street and there were herons roosting in every tree.

These are very small herons compared to types I've seen elsewhere.

It was refreshing to get away from the din of sawing and hammering and see some of the small wonders of Bali.