Greece

Warning - lots of photos, but not too much text

On Monday 2nd May, Mum and Dad and I left early in the morning for a few days in Greece. I never thought that I would have the chance to visit there with my parents, so it was a real blessing.

The weather was beautiful. From the centre of the city, we were able to walk to the Acropolis. I had no idea that it was so close.

Mum and Hele on the Acrolpolis, in front of the Parthenon



Me and Mum and a Greek ruin...ha!


We had a little look around Athens and then caught a ferry to the island of Tinos, which is where Dad's dad was born. We arrived there at about 8:30pm and were welcomed at the port by many people begging us to stay at their place! We knew that this would happen and so we didn't bother to book anywhere. It cost us 50 euro (for the three of us) to stay in a room on the lower floor of the house of a local family...great.

Then next morning we enquied about going to Pyrgos, which is the village where my papou (grandfather) is from. At this time of the year, there are no buses. The only way to get there is a rental car. We went to the agency and filled out all the paperwork. I was ready to sign the contract when they said that there is only Third Party insurance (If there was an accident, I would have to pay for all the damages to the rental car). I said that I couldn't risk it. We were realy stuck now, because we had come all the way to Tinos. Luckily the man at the car rental place offered to drive us, with only a small fee. How nice is that!

Before leaving we went down to the port for breakfast. It is such a nice little fishing village. Then Michael (our driver) took us to Pyrgos. On the way he pointed out all the sights and told us the history of the place. Tinos is well known for its marble - there was marble everywhere!


Marble ATM and marble bus stop


The streets of Pyrgos are the same ones that my grandfather would have walked as a little boy. It was very moving to be there, especially to be there with my parents. My dad used to tell us of a 'plane tree' that Papou used to talk about in the little Square in the centre of the village. It was amazing to be able to see the exact same tree.

Mum, Dad and me in front of the Plane Tree


Mum and Dad - lovely blue and white houses (and one red)


We spent some time just relaxing and looking around. We sat in a cafe by the tree, drinking Greek coffee (strong!). I couldn't believe that I was there.

Mum, Dad, me, Michael (our driver)


Michael then took us to another little fishing village not too far away.

Dad, mum and Hele in Panormos


Our driving-tour lasted about two hours. Michael telephoned a travel agency and booked our return ferry for us. He then took us there to collect the tickets, and then took us back to our accomodation to get our bags. We decided to give him more money than he asked for, because he had been so generous. We wouldn't have been able to see Pyrgos without him.

We went to the main church in Tinos, which is the most famous place of pilgrimage in Greece. There is a miraculous icon of the Annunciation which we were able to venerate.

Hele in front of Panagia Evangelistria - church of the Annunciation


We looked at some shops and slowly made our way down to the port. It is such a nice place, it was a shame that we couldn't stay longer. We caught the 3pm ferry back to Athens.

Mum and Dad in front of Aussie gum trees

Dad in Tinos


Hele and Dad on the ferry



Dad in front of the Greek flag


In Athens, we stayed at a hotel that my brother Paul stayed in last year. It was right in the centre of the city, and close to some very funky little areas. After putting our things in our room, we went out for dinner in an area called The Plaka. The restaurant was so nice and we sat by a large window that opened up on to the street. There were two oldish men in the restaurant, who were singing and playing the bouzouki to entertain us while we ate our moussaka and souvlaki.


Dinner in a really Greek restaurant


Dad and Mum in The Plaka


The next day we took it easy. We wandered around Athens and saw some lovely things. We were very impressed by the Evzones (guards in front of the Parliament building). We stayed for the Changing of the Guards which takes place every half hour.

Changing of the Guard


We went out for dinner in an area called Monastiraki (little monastery). It is such a nice spot with great buildings, and you can see the Acropolis just above it. This was our last night and there were still a few things that we wanted to do. We managed to get all-but-one of them done. We had ouzo after dinner, we found the street of St Philippou (my maiden name) which we had noticed on a map, and we had some baklava (a sweet pastry dessert).

Sign for 'St Philippou street'

Hele with the Acropolis in the background

The only thing that we didn't manage to do was to buy dad a black fishing hat that a lot of the Greek men were wearing. Dad was very opposed to us getting one, but when we decided that we would buy one anyway (perhaps the ouzo influenced our enthusiasm), he was delighted that the shops were begining to close. We were too late.

We returned to Rome on Thursday morning.

I had not expected to love Greece so much. I had heard pretty negative things about Athens but I just loved it. The people were super-friendly, and I was so glad to have visited Tinos. I can't wait to go back with Kev!