My Trip To Greece & Turkey

Sunday morning found us in the now quiet Spartan plaka for breakfast. This time we had galatoburiko, a filo covered milk/butter desert pastry to supplement our coffee. Before we checked out we tried to telephone Sophia Masgana. She was my aunt, my mother's father's sister's daughter. She had married a doctor. When I was ten years old they visited us in Chicago on their honeymoon. I was going to visit her on mine now. Unfortunately, she wasn't home and we were running out of time.

Pam and I left the hotel to see the Spartan ruins. Thucydides said in his book on the Peloponessian War that if one were to look at Athens in the distant future, the relics left behind would make it seem more powerful than it really was while a look at Sparta's relics would make it appear less important than it really was. This was regretably true and what few Spartan monuments were built were used as masonry for the building of Mystras and its castro.

We could still find the amphitheater where Spartan boys were whipped for endurance until they shed blood. It was originally larger than the theater in Epidavros, but now most of the stones have been removed to Mystras. On the remaining blocks, Greek writing can clearly be read. Just above this site is the Spartan acropolis. There are no ancient ruins left here, but there remains a medieval Byzantine church which appears to have been quite large. Now its outer walls are only three feet high. Surrounding the entire acropolis are Byzantine fortress walls which are three feet thick and 20 feet high in several places where they are still in tact. We skipped the museum and went to the site of an ancient temple to some god along the Evrotas River. The "river" was just a small stream, but in ancient times it was the main water supply for Sparta. The ruins were unimpressive here.

It was time to go. This was the highlight of my trip. I enjoyed everything I saw on this trip, but this was the only place I did not want to leave. I would have liked to spend a week in Sparta. In Selassia, we were really able to see how people lived. It was my mother's ancestral home. Now that I could see how life in the Peloponnese contrasted with living in the U.S.A., I appreciated the cultural and technological leap Greek emigrants had to make when coming to America at the turn of the century.

As we passed the groves of olive trees lining the road out of town, I wanted to break my schedule and turned back, but the view of the Taygetos mountains in the distance made me realize there was still much more to see ahead. The road west through the Tygetos mountains is winding, steep, and narrow. Picturesque villages perch on the mountain side basking in the sunshine. They look ready to fall off with the next earthquake. At the very pinnacle is a restaurant with a view of the entire valley below. We considered stopping, but decided to wait until we arrived in Kalamata.

The radio played Greek folk music with a prominent clarinet. It reminded me of the Greek hour which my grandmother tuned into when I was a boy in Chicago. I thought it was awful then, but now, sometimes I miss it. I enjoyed the particular style of music playing in the Taygetos Mountains, but because the announcer spoke in Greek, I couldn't tell what the name of the tune was or who sang it. That was frustrating because everytime I try to buy Greek music, I always end up with something I don't like.

The mountain road was dotted with fields of wild flowers and assorted shrubbery. On several slopes, people were busy picking yellow flowered weeds. Finally we stopped to see what they were. I asked a young boy who tried very hard to tell me in Greek, but I couldn't recognize the word. Then Pam smelled the shrub and it was instantly clear that it was oregano. We picked a little to scent our car. The boy's father somewhat irritated that we were picking his supply, nudged his son as an admonishment not to let their secret out to anyone else.

Unlike the rocky inhabited eastern slope going up the mountain, the western slope of Tagyetos was covered with a forest of pine trees. We saw roadside souvenir stands selling nicknacks made from the pine cones and wood. The road leveled off just east of Kalamata on the Adriatic sea shore at the southwestern corner of the Peloponnese. Kalamata is famous in the USA for olives. Kalamata olives are purplish black, very salty and very good. After passing a crumbled Byzantine fortress, we arrived. Unfortunately, Kalamata is primarily an industrial town. The entire waterfront is fenced off for industrial use. Everywhere we turned, it seemed as if the better side of town would be just around the corner. I drove up and down several streets looking for it, but never found it.

Because it was Sunday, most of the restaurants were closed and it was hard to find a place to eat. When we finally found an outdoor cafe, I ordered a salad. To my surprise, it was the first and only salad I ate in Greece that didn't have olives in it. I was devastated. I couldn't get a Kalamata olive in Kalamata! Frankly, this was the ugliest town we visited during our whole trip, and if there was any doubt, the olives clinched it. . We immediately headed north for Pylos.

Since placing this travelogue on the web, Bill Bakopoulos (who is probably the mayor of Kalamata) has emailed me twice from Greece to tell me that he thought Kalamata has much more to offer. Times change and perhaps Kalamata has changed with them. If you find yourself with nothing to do in Greece for several weeks, you might happen by Kalamata. If you do, please check it out and let me know.

However, on our trip we immediately headed north for Pylos.

Pylos has been the scene of several famous battles through history. It was made famous to Americans under its Venetian name, Navarino by the World War II movie, The Guns of Navarone starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Guinn, and Greece's own Irene Pappas.

Thucydides chronicled a battle here during the Peloponessian War. The Spartans with their allies were trapped by the Athenians on the offshore island, Sphacteria. When they finally gave up, the incredulous Athenians couldn't believe the Spartans didn't fight to the death. They asked if the survivors were really Spartans. The Spartans answered that it would be a smart arrow that could distinguish a Spartan from their allies.

The Pylos harbor bay was also the scene of the decisive battle that won Greece its independence in 1827. The Turkish navy was harbored in port while the combined naval forces of England, France and Italy blockaded their ships. The Turkish ships were "accidentally" fired upon and the Turks made the mistake of returning the fire. The combined European blockade felt obliged to defend themselves with an all out attack which destroyed the entire Turkish fleet. Without a navy, Turkey had no way to ferry troops to garrison Greece.

The only vessels presently in the bay were fishing boats. Pylos is now a quiet and relaxed tourist town. A small decaying Turkish fortress lies at the southern border. The beach is beautiful and the salt water calm, clear, and warm. Every tourist in town, except the two of us, seemed to be French.

We found a French hotel called Mamare with a view of the Ionian sea. After checking in, we immediately went for a swim. The pier broke the waves leaving the water ideally calm for swimming. The water was very salty. I found out the hard way that salt water can irritate the eyes.

Perhaps because of all the French tourists, the food here was the best in Greece. There was stuffed zucchini, egg plant, salad, okra, and pork. Interestingly, all the fish goes to Athens. The okra was cooked in a tomato and red wine sauce which we started finding along the Adriatic and western Pelopponesse . This was the first time I ate this usually slimy vegetable and liked it. After dinner, everyone strolls the 500 feet to the end of the pier and back, over and over again. Grandmothers walk with grandchildren, teenagers walk together, and tourists walk. Its an endless parade back and forth.

There was a Greek band playing traditional music at an outdoor concert at about 9:00 p.m. I wanted to go, but Pam was tired and didn't want to be left alone, so we didn't go. From our window, I still heard the loud, but incoherent music which kept me awake for some time. I fell asleep listening to a woman singing something that sounded more like an English folk tune than Greek.