These Boots Are Made For Walking

This blog post was inspired by a restaurant we had lunch in one day. As we sat and ate, we suddenly heard a song that sounded familiar. Almost simultaneously, Reed and I asked incredulously "Is this These Boots Are Made For Walking in Greek?" It was. It was awesome.

This song reminded me of the many walks we’ve taken on this trip. Dr. Krentz was the captain of the club volleyball team at Yale, has run three marathons during the course of his life and is in very good shape. Thus, he greatly enjoys walks and hikes and sets a pretty blistering pace. The first and perhaps most entertaining walk took place once we landed at the Munich airport. We were all tired and eager to unwind. Not Dr. Krentz. He immediately started powerwalking towards our terminal. Even worse, he had been near the front of the plane and had a tremendous head start. We must have looked crazy- a bunch of American students with heavy backpacks speeding through the airport following a man in a yellow Columbia shirt. But that’s not even the best part of the story. One might think that we were rushing because we were late or had a short layover. In fact, we had an eight hour layover. When we reached our gate, panting and sweating, it wasn’t even open and we ended up sitting on the floor outside of it. Figures.

Another walking highlight occurred on our first day in Herakleion (on Crete.) We were set to hike up to Anımospilia, a Minoan temple. I asked Dr. Krentz early in the morning if İ needed to wear my boots (I had put my Converses on earlier.) He smiled and said that the walk was pretty easy and I didn,t need to worry. We had another dilemma that day; Caroline had gotten sick on the ferry and we didn’t know if she should go with us or stay and rest. I decided to put on my hiking boots and she decided to rest, both of which turned out to be good choices. The walk up to Animospilia turned out to be quite a trek (45 minutes each way, steep uphill.) Sarabeth, our varsity volleyball player, said that it was a workout, not a quick walk. İ agreed. From that day on, I’ve always worn my hiking boots, rain or shine, in accordance with the Girl Scout motto (Be prepared.)

İ think my all-time favorite hiking story of the trip took place at Marathon, the site of a Persian defeat by the Athenians and the subject of Dr. Krentz’s next book (due to be released spring 2010.) We got off the ferry that morning at around five and had settled in for a longish bus ride. Around seven, we reached Marathon and got off the bus to cold and windy weather. Dr. Krentz talked about the battle and then, pointing to the mountains, told us we were going to climb one of them. We looked at each other in dismay, having each gotten about five hours of sleep. The news only got worse. There was no trail up the mountain. Dr. Krentz wanted 16 exhausted college students to trailblaze up a mountain at seven in the morning so we could get a better view of the plain. On the bright side, we all made it up and back down the mountain without any injuries, regardless of how unwillingly we climbed. I’m sure there are many more hikes to come and I’ll keep you posted.

Let's Go to the Mall...Today!

On Tuesday, we returned to the Knossos Palace, everyone’s least favorite ferry. It was still our test day, so most people were quite stressed. I was reading in the cabin when Louisa and Caroline came in, overjoyed from having just finished their last test. We were chatting when we heard an announcement over the loudspeaker. Since none of us understands Greek, we didn’t pay much attention until we heard the woman speaking English. She said and I quote “Ladies and gentlemen. The shops on board are now open for the sale of profitable items. Thank you.” We burst out laughing and decided to check out these profitable items. The ship’s stores were quite a mixed bag. My favorite store by far was a child’s store that contained more Winnie the Pooh and Disney merchandise I’ve ever seen outside of the Disney store. It also contained a great selection of really random items that caused us to break out into uncontrollable fits of laughter, including many singing stuffed animals. Another store sold Lacoste and Benetton items, which are even more expensive in Europe. Needless to say, we didn’t find any profitable items on board. But we did find some somewhere else…
That place is the two story grocery store in Herakleion. It is awesome. The first time we went, Louisa really needed to buy detergent. We searched the entire bottom floor and couldn’t find any. In the checkout line, I saw a woman with what looked like detergent (it was actually window cleaner) and we asked her where she got it. She pointed upwards as if to tell us the store had a second story. We climbed the stairs and reached a whole new world. Toys, cleaning supplies, clothing…so many random things were on the top floor of that grocery store. We couldn’t believe it. There were definitely, in the words of the Knossos Palace, many profitable items to be found.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

So far, we are all loving Greece, but there have been quite a few instances where we wish things had gone differently. The basic theme of the Classics trip is that you wake up early and go to at least one site a day, usually two or three. These sites fall into about three categories:
1. Big sites that most people want to go to (i.e. the Minoan palace at Knossos.) These sites usually have restrooms, gift shops and sometimes small cafeterias.
2. Smaller sites that are less popular but still visited (i.e. Ayia Triada.) These sites are fenced with a manned ticket booth outside.
3. Very small sites that no one goes to (i.e. Thorikos.) These sites are not fenced and don’t require tickets. It really makes you wonder how many people actually go there.
Anyway, one day we were scheduled to go to Phaistos and Ayia Triada, two Minoan sites that are very close together. We got to Ayia Triada…but there was a problem. The site was closed. A man told our bus driver Spiros that the site might open later in the day. It didn’t. The next day, we headed for Malia. Again, it was closed. So, we missed out on two Minoan sites. Kind of a bummer.
The real reason for writing this blog entry can be summed up in three words: orange farmers’ strike. As a side note, the oranges in Greece are very good…who knew? People here eat a lot of oranges. To continue, we were in Siteia, a beach town on Crete, for a few days. One of these days was a “free day,” which means that we were all cramming for the four tests we had to take the next day, affectionately known as “test day.” You’re allowed and encouraged to start the tests early (on the supposed “free day”- an option most of us exercised.) Dr. Krentz had arranged with our hotel to let us check out at 2:00 on test day instead of 10:00 so that we could work on the tests in a peaceful environment. At around 10:00 the night before, I had just started working on my art test when Dr. Krentz knocked on the door. Looking like the bearer of bad news, he announced that we would be leaving at 9:30 in the morning due to an orange farmers’ strike. Apparently, while we had been enjoying Crete, discontent had been building. The orange farmers had begun blocking roads with their tractors. The orange farmers were planning to block the road out of Siteia at noon the next day, hence our need to leave early. Thankfully, we made it back to Herakleion in plenty of time. Reed found a local paper that told us that the orange farmers had been offered 500 million euros to stop the strike and hadn’t accepted it. The farmers are now blocking many roads in Greece, including two that we need to travel on soon. More updates will come as the strike progresses. One can only hope that we will all get what we need (meaning, the orange farmers will get their money and we will get to go to Turkey.)

Please Don't Stop the Music

This is a special blog entry. While abroad, I've heard many interesting American songs. This is a list of the best of the best. Get excited.

The best of the Cairo airport:
My Heart Will Go On (Celine Dion)
Because You Loved Me (Celine Dion again...this was, believe it or not, an Egyptian man's ringtone)
and my personal favorite...
Barbie Girl (Aqua)

The best of the HMS Serenade:
Our ship was known for really bad elevator music and tons of reggaeton. It's also famous (or infamous) for hosting an "Egyptian party" where tourists from all over the globe drink and dance awkwardly. Songs include:
Suavemente
Here Comes the Sun (originally the Beatles)
Mambo No. 5 (Lou Bega)
Dr. Jones (Aqua again)
Various Christmas carols (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and Silent Night were perennial favorites)
Life is Life (a song that has given us a great motto for the trip)

The best of Crete:
This is really only one song, but it's so good, so I had to put it on here. While in Crete, we've discovered this awesome two-story grocery store. Caroline and I went yesterday to buy some food for a picnic and we heard the Spanish version of Unchained Melody. It was awesome. Sarabeth and I went to the store the next day and heard the song again. Crazy. Anyway, apparently people in Crete really like the Spanish version of Unchained Melody.

Greece Lightning

We're now in Greece and liking it a lot. We arrived in Athens on Tuesday, went to two temples, and then got on a ferry to Crete, where we've been ever since. The ferry ride is very interesting. The ferry leaves at about 9 at night and gets to Crete at 5 in the morning. The crew members then yell in Greek over the loudspeaker for you to get off the boat. It's a very interesting way to wake up. Our hotel, the Hotel Olympia, is very interesting. Its one noteworthy feature is the bathroom, which is painted entirely lavender. The wall by the door is lavender, the doors themselves are lavender, the stalls are lavender...I think you get the idea. Louisa and I were horrified...she told me to mention to all of you how much she hates lavender. It reminds her of sick children and bruises. This bathroom is unreal.

We've made some new friends in Crete, many of them four-legged. Our first night here, four of us were walking to dinner and were followed by two dogs. They followed us loyally in circles around Crete until we reached a restaurant owned by a very nice Greek man who spoke English well. The next day, we were all walking when we saw one of the same dogs again! Words could not describe our delight. We've also made some feline friends, a fact that Sarabeth is very happy about.

One of the most interesting parts of our Grecian experience has been our bus. We have a yellow double-decker bus that takes us everywhere we need to go. The bus is driven by Spiros; he speaks no English. Thus, Dr. Krentz is the only one who can communicate with him. Two days ago, Spiros told Dr. Krentz that he thought it would rain on Thursday. Because of this, Dr. Krentz decided to switch our site visits so that we would have a longer drive on a sunny day rather than on a rainy day. Thursday, we all packed our rain jackets, expecting the heavens to open up at any time. However, the sky remained a beautiful blue and cloudless the entire day. Today, we woke up to rain. Go figure. I guess we shouldn't have counted on Spiros to predict the weather.

Money, Money, Money

So much happened in Egypt. We saw temples at Karnak, Luxor, Edfu, Kom-Ombo and Philae. in addition, we've also seen the Pyramids and the Sphinx, as well as the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Some funny things have happened along the way- many of them concerning money. One theme is the persistence of the vendors. On our ship, the Serenade, there is a group of men that sell cartouches (basically, cartouches are ovals in which names are written.) Their shop is right next to the ship's restaurant, so every time we went to a meal, we were asked to buy cartouches. One day, the man said "Silver cartouche for 25 pounds...or 20...I don't mind." Caroline and I found this one-sided bargaining hilarious. Later, we went to the market in Aswan and encountered the same kind of thing. One man simply stood in the door of his shop yelling "FREE! Everything is free!!" How true that is is up for debate.

Our guide Hesham has been a great help in telling us about common tourist traps. His main piece of advice was "never trust a smiling camelman or horse carriage man." Apparently, these people have been known to tell tourists a low price and then take them out the middle of nowhere and demand large sums of money. Thankfully, a bunch of us rode camels at our first hotel, so we don't have to worry.

Some other funny experiences have come from the language barrier. The only person in our group who speaks Arabic is Hesham; however, he wasn't with us on our first day in Cairo. Dr. Krentz, Caroline and I went out in search of food and encountered a small "hole in the wall" restaurant." The cook spoke some English and by means of pointing and gesturing we were able to order some sandwiches filled with beef, onions and peppers. When we went to pay, the man told Dr. Krentz he owed 29 pounds. Caroline and I began pulling out our money, but Dr. Krentz told us to stop. The entire bill for the three of us was 29 pounds (less than 6 dollars.) We had guessed that we would have to pay four or five pounds each, so this was a pleasant surprise. At every restaurant that we've been to, we've tried to guess what the bill will be (since we clearly can't read the Arabic menus.) Later that night, we went to a different restaurant and estimated way too low- the bill was 21 pounds for half a chicken and 27 for a beef kebab.

Hesham also gave us some words of wisdom about modern Egypt. One thing I thought was really interesting was the luxury tax. There is a huge luxury tax on cars on top of the 10% Egyptian sales tax and import taxes. Thus, a Jeep Grand Cherokee costs about 70,000 USD. A BMW or Mercedes costs about 140,000 USD. How crazy is that?! Even a Toyota Corolla or the like is still avout 30,000 USD. So, the moral of the story is, buy food, pashminas or stuffed camels- but never cars- in Egypt.