New Upload: Lion Gate and Grave Circle A (Mycenae)

I uploaded two pages this week, both about Mycenae Site.

1) Lion Gate (Mycenae)



This probably the most iconic monument of Mycenae and it really is pretty imposing.


2) Grave Circle A (Mycenae)



This one is not as famous as the Lion Gate, but the golden mask known as Agamemnon's mask, found here by Heinrich Schliemann, is probably as familiar as the Lion Gate.

For more photos and information, please go to the Gate to Greece website.


When we visited Mycenae at the beginning of September, it was not very busy and I did not see any of my compatriots (I am Japanese). Apart from Greeks, I saw many Italians, who tended not to be in tour group, maybe because they come to Peloponnese with own car by ferry. I started to see also Russians and other East Europeans, but not many yet, even though beaches are full of them.

Travel from Athens to Birmingham

As I wrote about the flight to Athens, I now write about travel from Athens to Birmingham.

The flight from Athens to Zurich was very early, departing before 7 o'clock (I woke up at 4!). This is the breakfast.

The same sultana bun as the one I had in the plane from B'ham to Zurich, but this time with a pot of yogurt. We were given a small tablet of Swiss chocolate, too.

The girl sitting next to me was reading a book written by Russell Brand. It is totally irrelevant, but I remembered it now. I like Russell Brand.

Swiss airplanes look like Red Cross planes.

This is the waiting lounge of Zurich airport. Cool, isn't it?



Lunch hour approaching, I felt hungry. Everything was pretty expensive. A coffee is about 5 Swiss francs, or a cup of soup at self-service cafeteria is 6.50 or so.

I settled at a cafeteria called Corbeille and ordered a coffee/tea + a slice of cake deal for SFr. 9.90. These are milk coffee and a cake with berries and custard cream cake.

The cake looked delicious but was pretty ghastly. No interest what-so-ever. The coffee was really good, however.

While I was eating, an American guy sat down behind me (there were lots of Americans in Zurich airport). To order, he asked the waitress's suggestion. It was not a specific question. Something like "I think I'd like to have lunch. What do you recommend?". I felt it was quite alien to my culture, or the cultures I have lived in. In my culture, if you want to order, you read the menu and choose what you would like to eat. If you want to know some details about the items in the menu, you ask the waiter/waitress, but never such a general question. In America, the waiters/waitresses are not just the people who ask your order and bring your food, but the people who coordinate your meal and your eating experience at the restaurant.

I finished eating thinking about these things, and then headed for the boarding gate.

This is the lunch in the flight from Zurich to Birmingham: brown bread sandwich with turkey ham and artificially formed egg.

We had also drink and a tablet of Swiss chocolate again. Food with no joy.

When I arrived at Birmingham, the temperature was 14 degrees and it was raining, while the temperature of the room where I was sleeping in Piraeus was 35 degrees during the night. Shock to the system, it was.

Travel from Birmingham to Athens by Swiss

28 August 2008.

The departure.

As I wrote in a previous entry, this time I took Swiss fright from Birmingham to Athens stopping at Zurich. I paid about 170 or 180 quid. The cheapest combination was 20 quid less than that, but I chose a slightly convenient combination time wise.

It was a morning flight but it was not too early and I did not have to get a cab to the airport. Although we used a private hire from the home to the town (£5 and £1 tip), I could use the train to the airport (ticket was £3).

At the airport, I checked the currency exchange rate of Travelex.

£1 could buy only €1.10! You must be joking!!! It is sooo close to £1=€1 level. Although I had enough euro and did not have to buy any, this rate scared me.

I managed to secure a window side seat (to be able to take pictures for my websites and blogs) and enjoyed a sultana sweet bun and a cup of coffee on the flight from Birmingham to Zurich. The bun was chillingly cold, but tasted rich and nice.

Coffee was pretty good for in flight freebee. It tasted fresh and bitter as I liked.


Then I changed planes at Zurich. I waited about 45 min and embarked (but we waited about half an hour in the plain because of the airport was too crowded).

This is my seat from Zurich to Athens.



For some mistake, they gave me a seat with large leg room. You don't know me in person, but I can tell you I am pretty short and small, about 155 cm high, 48kg in weight. I have never get one of these in my life.

Now, lunch time. We were given this bag. It was warm. I said "What is this?" in my mind. Stewardess said something but I did not get it.



It was a kind of calzone. The stewardess, who was evidently a French speaker, pronounced "calzoné" instead of "calzooone" as in Italian, and that was why I did not get it.



Inside, there was meagre quantity of cheese and tomato sauce. The bread was chewy and not particularly pleasant. Just something to fill the stomach.

We were given also Mövenpick white chocolate ice cream.



I learnt that Mövenpick is a Swiss company. I heard many people asking for normal chocolate ice cream, but white choco ones were all they had. They gave us, however, small Swiss chocolate tablets as well.


The ice cream was already half melted and it was like semifreddo without meaning to be so. A shame.

At Athens airport, I checked again the exchange rate.



€1 for 82.50 p., which is about £1 for €1.20. Evidently the exchange rate at Birmingham airport isn't good. If I need currency exchange, I should not wait until the airport; lesson learnt.

Return

I have returned to England already for 4 days, but I am still overwhelmed by the amount of data and photos in my possession. I am in dismay.



This is a view of Toló beach from the acropolis of ancient Asini. Isn't it gorgeous?

From Piraeus

I am still in Piraeus. I have been to many interesting places, and have kept travel diaries, but I cannot upload the photos now. Consequently, I will publishe the diary at later moments.

It is very hot here; more than 30 degrees.

Only two days of the vacation left...

Car Booked

Yesterday night, we booked a car from Hertz, just under £130 for 7 days. Hertz has a branch in Piraeus, which is convenient as we will be staying there.

We get the cheapest car, which is supposed to be a Hyndai small, manual car. It is just for two of us and won't go so far, so it should be ok.

I still have to make my luggage, but I don't think I will do it until tomorrow.

Now... I am going to watch CSI Miami and then go to bed.

Finally going back to Greece

I have not updating either this blog and Gate to Greece web site for a while. It was because I have not been to Greece for a while for personal reasons. But finally this summer, I will be back and I will have something to write about Greece and Greek stuff!

Apart from making the site, I want also to write day-to-day matters in this blog so that I can record information useful to myself and, hopefully, to others as well.

To start, this year, I bought Swiss airline ticket for £172 from Birmingham to Athens, and back, departing 28th August and returing 9th Sept. This was not the cheapest option I could chose, as I got a slightly better-timed, humanly acceptable option for the way-out. The cheapest one was about £150, if I remember well.

We will be renting a car for a week in Athens. We found a rather convenient offer on Expedia and Opodo: book 5 days, and get 2 days free. We pay £130 for a small, economy car rental for 7 days.

We decided not to go to islands this summer, and to go to Peloponnese instead. Dim, who is native Greek speaker, tried to book a hotel in Nafplio by phone, but the hotels are very expensive there and there wasn't nothing less than 50 euros even without breakfast (breakfast is not a small matter, as we have to pay AT LEAST 3.50 euros a head, so 7 euros for us two; if you travel in two and find a room for 60 euros with breakfast, there is very little difference from room for 50 euros without breakfast).

I found cheaper offers, searching www.booking.com, in a nearby village called Toló for 40 euros a night, without breakfast, but with a small kitchen and a fridge (these are great tools to save odd expenses). Toló, that we have never heard about, looks to be a sort of beach resort village, 8km from Nafplio; I found many fabulous photos in flikr.com. As we have a car, we don't have problem in moving around. The moral of the story is that the web is a great tool to look for cheap accomodation, and it is not true any more that local native speakers get better deals in Greece.

While we are in Nafplio, I hope to see an ex-colleague of mine who lives in Argos.

We plan to visit Corinth Canal, Akrokorinthos (as we had been to Corinth itself a several years ago, we don't think entering the Corinth site), Nafplio, Mycenae, Epidauros and Dimitsana. Time permitting, we will also visit Argos, Tiryns, and Tripoli.

We try to go also to Chalkida (ancient Chalkis) on a different day to meet up with our old friends, if we are not too tired from the trip to Peloponnese.

Places I want to explore this time include Glyphada, Valkiza and Voula. There are popular beaches, nice shops and restaurants, and lots of people from Athens in these areas.

I will report how the things will be either from Greece or from Birmingham when we will be back home.