Back in Switzerland

Our final drive yesterday towards Winterthur was through rain and cloud. This meant of course, that the St Gottard Pass was closed and we had to travel through the 19 km tunnel. The tunnel is only 1 lane in each direction...which means the 3 lanes in each direction have to go down to one. Beats me why the Swiss don't want to build another tunnel there...they are building the base tunnel that will go 50 something km through the base of the Alps for trains that will load up trucks. Somehow the huge traffic jams of Swiss and Italians trying to get to each others countries on holidays have no cachet for the ones who control the tunnel building. We were lucky and there wasn't too much of a traffic jam.
We stopped in Canton Schwyz where the heart of Swiss history is located...the federal archives. Jurg felt, now that I have a passport as a real citizen, that I should learn a little more of the Swiss history. So, as it was William Tell on the way down, now I had to see the original Swiss constitution on the way back. So it is spoken, so it is done. Don't think they said that in 1291 when the original 3 cantons got together to make some agreements on how the cows would graze in the fields. I haven't read the English translation yet...so I guess it covers more than that. The museum was actually quite interesting and they provided me with an English translation so it was actually fun.
Today we took the wonderful Swiss train system into Basel to meet Karin a sort of step sister for Jurg. Trains were amazing...all on time..or almost. One was a minute late. There were 3 connections and all worked perfectly with the tracks clearly identified on our itinerary. Then in beautiful Basel we took the trams...wonderful Bombardier trains that somehow haven't made it to Canada yet. We visited the old central city, took the little ferry across the Rhine and ate lunch by the river. Had a great day!
One thing I noticed is how different countries solve common human problems with different solutions. For example...the myth of the dirty toilet seat. Humans somehow believe that the most germs reside on the seat. This is not so, but difficult to counter. So in Greece, in many public toilets they have just done away with the seat. Women have to do the helicopter hover manouver there. In Switzerland, they invent a machine of course. Push the flush button and the seat wobbles around its elliptical circle getting cleaned by this gadget attached to the tank.
Tomorrow is a day off...then family on Sunday.
Chus!

Bellinzona...back in the Heimatland

At a small swiss hotel in Bellinzona in the Italian part of Switzerland. We left the ferry and battled the Italian traffic through Ancona and then on the autostrada. Apparently the Italians are all on the road today heading home after the Easter holiday. Constant steady traffic everywhere and then traffic jams as we came through Milan. Our plan was to stay overnight in Mendresio...a smaller town near Lugano..but very few hotels there. Next plan to stay in Lugano...surely it is still off season. The Best Western Bellevue that overlooked the Lake quoted 335 F with breakfast. Has to be one of the most expensive BW 's on the world. We checked out a few backstreet places and decided Lugano was not for us and headed down the road to Bellinzona. Basic hotel, with nice people who put the soccer game on for Jurg while we ate a pasta dinner...still 150F with breakfast. But, all the necessities. So it is good to be back in Switzerland...but...
I forgot to mention in the last blog the scene at the ferry terminal in Patra. (or is it Patras? or Patris?) There was a huge number of young men handing around...all quite dark skinned. Apparently they are from Pakistan, India, Iran etc. All come towards Europe through Turkey and then hang around Greece hoping to get into a truck or get smuggled somehow onto the ferry and get to Italy and the rest of Europe. They had a tent city made with plastic and barrels that we could see from the ferry and they had bent a number of the metal fence posts so that they could squeeze through at will. Security made no effort to stop or even notice them...they just went in and out often over the fence. It seemed so sad...young men, willing to work, hopeless. I just read that food prices and shortages will affect Asia significantly...so I wonder how many more of these young aimless men will be trapped in such hopelessness. Surely this will foment into something terrible in the future unless the world gets involved. Greece has little capacity to cope with anyone outside it's own number of unemployed.
Tomorrow we will drive over the St Gottard Pass and hopefully do the drive over rather than the tunnel through. The snow will decide that. Then home again in Winterthur with more family get togethers and a chance to see friends.
Tonight Barcelona is winning the game against Madrid...all with Italian commentary. A flat screen TV in our basic room. How Swiss!

Sailing the Adriatic for the third time

We are two hours away from landing in Ancona Italy for the last leg of the journey home. The 21 hour ferry ride on Superfast Ferry VI has been quiet and comfortable. Our 4 bed cabin was cramped but servicable...quiet except for the quartet snoring. Jurg even got to watch his soccer game on TV- but his preferred team didn't win. There are lots of trucks on board but not so many people with cars. A few campers are on the top car deck sleeping in their vehicles and there is a tent on the top deck where a few hardy souls are camping. The only problem we have with this ferry is the smoking. It is all outside...but everywhere outside. And some of the nicest outside shaded bar areas are full of smoke. It seems every Greek man of any substance smokes and would never consider asking before lighting up. Except in the family where we stayed. They never smoke inside...just on the balcony.
The Greek hospitality was wonderful. We slept in the bed of our hosts..Katharina and Agapitos..while they split up and one slept in a small bed in their top floor abode and the other slept 2 floors down in the grandson's bed. The parents and 2 daughters all share one house with each having a floor. The daughter with two children (13 and 18) plus husband were away visiting the other grandparents for Easter, so their beds were available for Rosmarie and Sozon. The eldest daughter and husband, Adriana and Sam, were home and joined us for all the meals and conversation. Adriana did some of the cooking in her kitchen. Quite a close family arrangement. They were so good to us! Hope they can come to Canada!
On Monday we went back on the bus and subway to the centre of Athens. This time we walked around the Placa...the area under the Acropolis and saw some of the amazing ruins that litter the landscape. Children walk and run on the bases of 2000 year old buildings and play among the fallen columns. Tourists take pictures sitting on marble benches from the old Greeks and wander among the standing columns. Quite amazing to me. So many pieces of antiquity that are taken for granted...yet the Greeks are so proud of their ancient history and it's impact on the world. Most had seen that movie...My Big Fat Greek Wedding..and thought it funny.
The current political situation is so difficult and they expect things to get worse as more people lose their jobs. The bureaucracy and corruption are endemic and make it difficult to solve the problems. People don't pay taxes and won't if they think their money is wasted. Apparently the big shipping magnate Onassis offered in lieu of paying taxes to build a rail and highway system around the area south of Athens..Government didn't take him up on it. So, he probably didn't pay the taxes either.
We drove from Athens to Patra on the new autobahn which goes most of the way. The remainder to be finished is quite complicated with lots of tunnels through the mountainous hills and roads that go by the sea. All German money from the EU...I think of it as reparation for the WW2 crimes the Germans committed against the Greeks. Massacres and such occurred here.
We stopped off for a quick visit at a friend of Sozon's who has a holiday place right on the edge of the sea...and I mean the edge. He used to have 30 metres of beach but now he has a wall just off the kitchen with the sea up against the edge. The waves wash right over the patio and once even carried off some of the kitchen pots. Apparently, in typical Greek fashion, he built there without a permit many years ago. So someday, maybe it will disappear into the sea. Squatter's rights are strong here in Greece and one has to watch property, because if someone else comes and builds on it are you aren't watching, they have a claim.
Italy awaits us...my phone doesn't work there. So no texts. We should be home in a day or so..one more overnight. And I hope some good Italian food. Their pasta can't be beat

Easter in Athens.

The Good Friday event consisted of a procession following the "coffin" of Jesus with the symbolism of going to place him in the tomb. There were hundreds of people with candles and lanterns that joined in the procession with the bells of the church tolling a sombre two note dirge heard all over the area. We circled round the streets and back to the church and then home.
Saturday morning we took the bus and the new Metro to the Acropolis to see the new museum. It is spectacular in its simplicity and concept. The statues and artifacts are displayed openly and it felt quite intimate. The top floor has the statues and pieces of frieze displayed in the exact way they would have been on the Parthenon. The Parthenon is seen out the glass wall high above us on the top of the rock Acropolis. Magnificent!
Saturday we all have a sleep in the afternoon...we have to be up to go to midnight church service. All, except Katerina who is cooking and carrying on in the kitchen all day. We head out at 11:45 and join the crowds outside the church. The priest and entourage stand on the steps above us and chant and swing the incense censor at an icon. When he pronounces something about Christ is risen the bells start ringing, and the fireworks start banging. Great noise and joy in the crowd...none of whom had been paying much attention before. Lots of families and children. We walk back home and can see the fireworks all around Athens way down below wherever there is a church.
Lots of food...soup, a hot dish with entrails and greens, meat and salads. Katarina has been fasting all day and avoiding meat all week, so this is a treat for her. We head to bed at 2 a.m. The men will get up around 7 or so to start the fire for the BBQ for the Easter mid day meal.
The meat on the BBQ is goat and entrails (liver, heart and lung) and we have a big feast around 3 pm. There are Sam and Andriana who live one floor below, and Panos and Maria with their new baby girl. They have not announced her name yet as this will only happen at the baptism...and their seems to be a superstition about using the name before this happens. We eat Goat, chicken souvlaki, salads, cheese pie, spinach, wine and some sweets for dessert. I must add that the oranges here in Greece are spectacular this time of year...sweet and juicy and large.
We have a little sleep afterwards and arise to lots of political discussion..none of which I understand except for the heat and the word Gadhaffi. Sam is from Ghana and has some very interesting views on the politics of Africa.
So it is evening now, Easter is finished...tomorrow is still a holiday and Andriana and Katarina are fussing in the kitchen. It could be more food...we will see.

The Route to Athens

The island we spent the night on was wonderful to explore. We drove around in the morning through the back roads which were through the agricultural areas. Grape vines were little more than stumps in the ground with green shoots just starting to head upwards. Market gardens were full of broccoli that had already gone to seed, cabbages round and ready for harvesting and cauliflower. Obviously these were winter crops. Areas were being planted with summer greens and other tender plants. A young shepherd with a big grin and a whole herd of goats with a number of small white ones blocked the road as we went by. These goats have escaped the Easter fate of many.
From here we travelled inland towards a holiday house in the mountainous area north of Athens were Sozon and Rosmarie's friends, Stamatis and Litsa, spend their holidays and weekends. On the way we passed the monument to a battle the Greeks had with the Persians hundreds..make that thousands..of years ago. Seems about 300 Greeks held off a million Persians according to the sign. The statues were the usual gorgeous marble of naked men. Even in the cold they strut their stuff.
The road went through pastoral land and across rocky forested areas before we arrived in Prisano. The town was so tiny it didn't even have a store..just a church and a square. Soon after we and they arrived, Litsa produced a wonderful meal...vegetables stuffed with rice, peppers, tomatoes and eggplants and small panfried fish, head and all. She had lots of sweets for us and homemade wine. We went on a drive after this late lunch to Porto Germano a seaside resort to the west about 45 minutes away. It had the remains of a mediaval castle crumbling on the hill and lots of restaurants with few patrons at 6 pm. Still off season-not beach weather yet.
We drove home and once again Litsa produced this huge meal...using the wood stove. Roasted goat with potatoes, sliced tomatoes and cucumber and broccoli. We will not starve here.
Next afternoon we headed off for Athens. With the new autobahn it is a quick drive..about 45 minutes to Pireas where Litsa and Stomatis live. For us we go to the other east side of Athens to Heliopolis. This suburb is high in the hills overlooking the city. There was hardly any traffic and we made it in about and an hour and 15 minutes. The drive was magnificent at the beginning...winding up the treed mountains to a low pass. We again passed a huge herd of goats and sheep..looked like hundreds..following a shepherd home. They blocked the whole road for a while.
We are greeted enthusiastically by Katarina who prepares food for us. We will eat before we go to the Good Friday event at the local church. She will eat after this event with husband Agapitos who is still at work.

Magnificent Pilion Peninsula

April 20, 2011
Yesterday we travelled from Larissa to Volos which is about 4-5 hours northeast of Athens. Volos is a town right on the edge of the sea that is at the start of the Pilion Peninsula. This peninsula curves like a conch shell with its inner edge a delightful drive along the edge of the sea through olive groves and small tourist villages with seaside coffee spots. The road twists and turns at sea level for most of the drive until it finally rises towards the centre of the final point where we stopped at Trikeri. We had a coffee in the beautiful little square in the centre with lots of old men smoking and drinking either outside or in the tavernas watching TV. The spine of this peninsula reaches up to 1500 metres where snowcapped mountains tower over the sea and even have a ski resort about an hour from Volos. We travelled back up the peninsula and went up the highway that branches up the outside of the curl along the Aegean Sea. Here the highway no longer grips the edge as the cliffs rise up to 1000 metres above the sea and we travelled along the edges of the high canyons...probably about 10 kilometres for every 1 kilometre as the crow flies. We spent the night in Tsangarada in a converted house from which we could see the Aegean Sea off in the distance way down below. It was magical. The quiet and the birdsong was soothing. So beautiful! This area is mostly a holiday place for Greeks, so the signs had very little English on them. The road through this mountainous area had a number of places where the winter rains and snow had washed down mud and boulders onto the road. Construction crews were getting ready for the coming tourist season.
We continued the drive this morning through the mountainous area and then descended very quickly from 1200 metres to sea level at Volos...hundreds (it seemed!) of switchbacks down the side of the mountains to come down. Chauffer Jurg did a great job in getting us safely to the bottom.
We are now on an island...one of the largest in Greece where the city of Chalkida is connected by a bridge to the mainland. Tomorrow more exploring!

April 18, 2011
I am sure we were the only guests at the Olympic Hotel in Metsovo. Wonderful views over the hills and the red tile roofs of the town..both of which were white with the overnight snow. It was cold! The temperature about 3 deg C. But we walked around the town this morning marvelling at the quaintness of it all and the well developed tourist information and souvenirs. Apparently all of this was developed by a foundation started by a swiss guy with Greek Roots who died before he got to see how well this town has done. Their traditional crafts and farming morphed into goods and wonderful cheeses, honey and meats. A delightful place to visit and spend a night.
Off on the new autobahn heading for Meteora. The road was great, the vistas sublime across the hills and into the mountains. Lots of tunnels that made it a quick trip. A joint project of the EU and Greece...we know which one put in all the money.
Meteora..magnificent...monasteries perched on top of high limestone columns graced with moss. The weather was low and foggy and softened the edges of the rock. A handful of monks..very few of whom we saw, keep 6 out of the original 23 monasteries going. Bus loads of tourists were walking up the challenging steps to tour the areas that were open. In the chapels..no photos allowed of course...a few young men were polishing the silver and cleaning up for Easter. Every single square metre of the chapels were painted with icons, and the carved wood chairs around the edges looked most uncomfortable. All of us women had to put on a wrap skirt as no slacks, pantaloons or pants were allowed in. Couldn't see how the monks could get excited about that...but rules is rules I guess.
We are staying the night in Larissa one of the largest cities in Greece, where Sozon and Rosmarie with Jurg chaperoning had a visit in 1965. Sozon was in the Greek military at the time in this area. The city is alive with young people drinking coffee and socializing in the outdoor coffee places that line the pedestrian streets of the city. Our hotel overlooks the area..so we hope they aren't up all night. It seems like all the young that we didn't see in the mountains are here. It sure would be hard to leave this and go back to isolated Bitsa where we didn't see a soul on a Saturday night!
Lots of roman ruins around and tons of grafitti cover everything..some of it quite good. A 10,000 seat amphitheater is a real draw..