Euro Trip; part I

Last week I was able to take a fantastic European vacation. My wife, father, stepmother and little brother took a cruise to the cradle of western civilization; leaving from Venice and sailing to Athens and a couple of small Greek islands; hitting Dubrovnik and then finishing up with a full day in Venice. It was simply magnificent!!

I didn't have a bad meal on the trip, was able to see some absolutely fantastic sights, and met a lot of nice folks; except of course, for the Frogs. It was nice to see that the ugly American has been replaced by the ugly Frenchman - who was universally despised by everyone.

Our first stop on the trip was to Athens. What can you say? Athens is the cradle of western democracy, philosophy, architecture and so on and so on. I think what stunned me more than anything else is that there I was, walking around where only a few thousand years ago people like Aristotle, Socrates, Alcibiades, Xenophon and practically anyone else from classical history walked and lived their lives. It was, frankly, humbling. What visit to Athens would be complete without seeing the Parthenon, the temple to the Greek god Athena on top of the Acropolis?

It was funny to learn that the temple was built in about 9 years time - but the Greeks have been trying to restore it for the last 20-25 years or so!!
A short distance away from the base of the Acropolis was a temple to Zeus - you could clearly see the temple from the top of the Acropolis and vice versa. Stunning. Simply stunning.

We then piled into our guide’s van and headed over to the main Greek museum in Athens. Again, all I can say is, wow. Agamemnon’s mask was there (although it couldn’t possibly have been Agamemnon, but the name given to it originally when it was discovered stuck…)

There were hundreds of statues there, and let’s just put it this way - all the stuff that you see in art books or history books - was in this museum. I am not what I would consider to be an artsy person but I was simply overwhelmed.

We concluded our day in the Plaka - a huge shopping and eating area that is among the oldest places in Athens. It’s here that I had probably the best meal on the trip - a gyro sandwich with traditional pita bread and shredded pork - but what made this gyro so damn good was the Tzatziki sauce, which is made from yogurt, spices, and sliced cucumbers. This Tzatziki sauce was completely different, and had some mustard in it, not to mention being a little sweet.

Next stop, Mykonos!