Introducing Greece

INTRODUCING

GREECE

Explore a truly ancient history and culture that’s matched by its scenery – on both sea and land. Our specialist introduces the diverse highlights of our newest European destination…

WORDS BY SUZANNE MCGRORY

White & blue views The iconic whitewashed buildings of Santorini attract visitors and film crews alike

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“The sweeping views from atop Hydra Island included scrub-dotted hills, the red-roofed town below, rocky islands in the distance, and a wide expanse of the glittering blue Aegean Sea”

When

contemplating Greece, it’s easy just to consider the ancient sites, but this country has much more up its sleeve – contemporary street art in Athens, a 17th-century monastery on Hydra and a slow-paced way of life contrasted with the glitterati crowds on Santorini. As we have prepared to launch Greece as our newest European destination this summer, we looked at some of our new offerings, designed to help you get at the soul of a country that combines modern grit and ancient elegance with sunny panache.

MARVELLOUS MUSEUMS

Athens’ Acropolis and National Archaeological Museum are two important stops in understanding not just Greece, but all European history. The graceful lines of the Parthenon and the vast age of the exhibits at the museum are visually compelling, but visiting with a knowledgeable guide will help you come to grips with their long history.

I saw the National Archaeological Museum with Sandra, a tiny, grandmotherly woman with unlimited energy and an impeccable sense of style. Not only did she have a deep and broad understanding of Greece, she also had the je ne sais quoi that makes a guide great.

Housed in a vast neoclassical building that itself dates to the 19th century, the museum is a vast

warehouse of early Greek artefacts ranging from the Neolithic era to the end of the classical era. It’s enormous, but Sandra pointed out the important works and placed them within the arc of history.

She helped me grasp just how long a span is encompassed by the phrase ‘ancient Greece’ – the early days of Mycenean Greece were about 1,000 years before the Peloponnesian War, as far from today as the Battle of Hastings.

The museum also includes items from the cultures that prefaced and influenced Greece, giving me my first glimpse of Minoan and Cycladic art – the Minoans flourished from 27,000 until 1,450 BC, while Cycladic culture was at its height between 3,300 to 1,100 BC . I found myself drawn to the Cycladic pieces in particular – so simple in form that they seem almost like contemporary abstract sculpture.

STREET ART IN ATHENS

More than two millennia of shifting political tides have made Athens a gritty, resilient city, and Athenians seem to have a buoyant attitude that bears them up through the rough times. That spirit takes a physical aspect in the form of street art.

The city has been a hub of outsider graffiti art since the 1980s, and its walls form an ever-changing canvas for a landscape of tags, bright murals, commissioned works, and high-end conceptual art. Nikos is a local artist with an in-depth knowledge of the

Athens art scene, and you can take a tour with him to see the latest graffiti offerings.

In America, ‘graffiti art’ can summon images of hieroglyphic scrawls, but in Athens it can be an elegant genre. Locally renowned artist INO creates building-sized black-and-white murals that wouldn’t look out of place in a gallery. They can also have a distinctly political edge. I saw pieces welcoming refugees, brash political slogans and some (unprintable) words about foreign leaders.

One of the most arresting works of political art was a close-up of Loukanikos, the intrepid dog that defended protestors from riot police during the Eurozone crisis. A symbol of the protests against the IMF-prompted austerity measures, he was even featured on the cover of Time. The one-story-high mural, titled All Dogs Go to Heaven, appeared after Loukanikos died in 2014. The dog’s face, framed by crackling flames and smoke-fogged riot police, has a compelling, elegiac quality.

KAYAKING OVER RUINS

A two-hour drive from Athens on the Peloponnese, Epidavros is a well-preserved archeological site. You can easily spend a whole morning rambling over the massive amphitheatre and through the Sanctuary of Asclepius. However, parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Site are now under the sea, which means the

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a. Ancient art in the National Archaeological Museum b. Feta cheese and olives c. Street art in Athens d. A donkey ambles past a church on Santorini e. Directions to the sunken site of Epidavros f. Bougainvillea decorates a traditional house on Hydra Island g. Locals playing backgammon h. Archaeological site of Epidavros is on the northeastern side of Peloponnese i. Mycenean fresco at the National Archaeological Museum

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a. A traditional house in Pyrgos b. Mule on Hydra Island c. A typical spinach and feta pie – or spanakopita d. Fisherman in Santorini e. A view of Hydra town f. A typically narrow street in Emporio, Santorini g. A man plays his traditional bouzouki h. Kayaking above the sunken site of Epidavros i. Street art in Athens

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only way to see them properly is from the water.

I boarded a double kayak with my guide, Alexis, and we paddled out from Gialasi Beach toward the ruins. Up close, the water was so clear that it seemed like liquid glass. And, the surface is mirror-calm, making it easy to paddle through, though it helps if you’ve kayaked before.

Gliding over the ruins, it was easy to see the outlines of the walls and buildings in the clear shallows. I could even make out the shape of an amphora large enough to hold a child. We beached the kayak and then I snorkeled back out to the remains, just offshore. The water over them was so shallow that I could have easily dived down to touch the 2,000-year-old stones.

We then kayaked out to a tiny deserted island, where we shared a picnic Alexis’s mom had made that morning. He supplemented the salad and spanakopita with fresh sea urchins and briny limpets he’d plucked from the water just a few minutes earlier.

LOCAL LIFE IN SANTORINI

In recent years, Santorini’s cliffringed caldera has drawn vacationers aplenty, in search of cinematic sunsets and whitewashed towns. However, with the help of a guide, you can still get away from the crowds and discover life as it used to be.

The tour begins outside the town of Fira, in the little village of Pyrgos. The town is less polished than the ones along the caldera and life moves at a slower rhythm. Here, you can meet Dionysus, a free-spirited Santorini native who lives in a traditional sea captain’s house. These stone-fronted homes have mostly been converted into restaurants, but his is still an active residence. Exploring the architecture from the inside was a rare treat that gave me a glimpse into life before Santorini was a popular destination.

From Pyrgos, my guide Anna led me along donkey trails through the countryside to the tiny village of Emporio. A one-time fortress town, it was even quieter than Pyrgos. The streets were often tight enough for me to touch both sides with my outstretched arms, and I admired

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the play of sun and shadows on the white, curved buildings and angled, sand-colored walls.

My final stop was a farm owned by Petros, a Santorini local. He doesn’t speak much English, but he offered me a warm welcome, showing me how to grind fava beans. His wife, Irini, then let me help as she prepared local dishes, which we then sat down to share under a shady tree.

A QUIETER ISLAND: HYDRA

As much as I love Santorini, I have to admit that I prefer the laid-back island feel of Hydra. Cars, motorbikes, and all wheeled vehicles are strictly banned on this small island off the Peloponnese – the garbage van is the one exception. Instead, long-eared mules and placid donkeys provide all the horsepower on the island.

The stone-paved streets are lined with whitewashed boutiques and small houses bedecked with cascading drifts of pink or red bougainvillea. It’s lively with visitors during the day, but once the last ferry leaves, the main town (also called Hydra) largely

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empties out, and you’re left to explore its quiet streets by yourself.

Away from the main town, the countryside looks much as it has since before the Industrial Revolution – a rural landscape of thorny, sunbaked bushes and terraced fields. The paths here are unmarked, so if you want to explore, I strongly suggest going with a guide who will lead the way.

It’s a peaceful walk – when I went for the first time, the only person I passed was a nun riding by on a mule. She was heading away from my final destination, Agia Matrona, a 17th-century monastery perched high on a hill inland. The sweeping views included the scrub-dotted hills falling away beneath me, the red-roofed town below, rocky islands in the distance, and a wide expanse of the glittering blue Aegean.

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

Get me there: A 9-day tailor-made tour of Greece, including Athens, Hydra and the Peloponnese, starts at $3,149. For more information, please call one of our Greece specialists on 1-855-593-2480.

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