Grecian Formula (without the dye) — Boomer Boarding Pass

After taking time off from traveling for Covid, it’s impossible to resume without realizing that our perspectives have changed. Maybe we have been spending too much time sequestered at home dwelling on bad news about the the pandemic, imminent environmental collapse, and greedy people grabbing more and more power while increasing the suffering of the weak amongst a storm of conspiracy theories and misinformation. Is it possible to truly go on holiday any more? Answer: Evil has always existed. It’s just a matter of ignoring it for a brief time if you are going to find any joy in life, if even just for a few weeks of travel. Then maybe we can get back to fretting. At any rate, we are Boomers and, as such, we’ll be exiting this planet sooner than later so now is our time to hit the road again!

We join the line of fellow tourists, climbing up to the Acropolis.

We booked three nights in Athens to overcome jet lag and coach travel from Los Angeles. Ellen had set Bill’s expectations low for the city, noting that it consisted of a lot of concrete architecture and graffiti. This is true, with the occasional exceptions here and there. Nevertheless, Athens is a big European city and holds a lot of fascination for us. Perhaps it’s the food. Walking down one busy pedestrian street, we come to a sea of tables, each full of customers with huge plates of souvlaki, stuffed eggplant, moussaka, gyros, and mounds of fries. The smells of searing meat were everywhere but we resisted having already stuffed ourselves on the “continental breakfast” at our hotel, which consisted of a full cooked breakfast plus a buffet of anything we could imagine and then some. Still, we did stop along the way for some Rick Steves’ suggestions, like honey-covered donuts, a custard-filled pastry, and some Greek Koulouria, sort of a big O-shaped pretzel covered with sesame seeds. Without a doubt, the Greeks like to eat, and in large portions.

The Acropolis always seems to be there, perched high above all the souvenir shops. — The Acropolis makes a good easily visible landmark from which to orient ourselves.

The Little Kook Cafe goes all out for Halloween. Their decorations take up the better part of a block.

Beneath the Acropolis is the neighborhood of Anafiotika. A wonderful escape from the city, we climb the narrow pathways between these small houses, more reminiscent of a Greek island than Athens.

What’s lacking in Athens is the sense of history we see in other European cities. The city went through many advances and declines in its history, enduring a lot of looting in the process, leaving very few grand historical buildings standing. Nevertheless, Athens has its own unique charm: casual, unpretentious, and full of people with a love of good food. We had read so much about the islands being the place for 20-somethings to go for wild 24-hour partying (and Ellen did just that back in the 70s), but when Bill had to go back to a restaurant in the middle of the night to retrieve his forgotten bag, he found that the islands can’t hold a candle to the partying in Athens. At 1:00 a.m., music was blasting out of the many bars in the Monisteraki neighborhood with patrons spilling out onto the sidewalks and streets. We had eaten there at a popular delicatessen favored by Athenians (and it was probably the best meal we had while in Athens).

Looking down at the caldera on Santorini.

On to the islands by ferry, Santorini is our first stop. Driving from the harbor to Oia at the north end of the island, we are initially unimpressed. It feels like we could be in any of a number of less developed and rather dry, barren countries. Similar to Mexico or India, we pass lots of partially constructed shells of houses, empty lots full of discarded building materials and trash, and dilapidated houses and markets. Most of the island was a far cry from the pretty town of Oia, where Gen Zers and Millennials obnoxiously posed for Twitter selfies before a backdrop of pricey boutiques, jewelry stores, elegant restaurants, and $1,700/night rooms along the main path going through town above the coastline (and we thought we were high-end tourists). Despite the dichotomy, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of Oia’s setting overlooking a huge caldera partially submerged in the Aegean Sea.

A beautiful beach is a surprise below a not-so-beautiful entrance along one of the main roads in Santorini.

The next day, we take an 11 km hike from Oia to the port at Fira with spectacular views on either side of us. This is a popular thing to do, and we are joined by plenty of other tourists going in both directions. Every couple of kilometers we pass by a church, painted just like we’ve seen in the pictures, with bright white with blue roofs and trim glimmering in the sunlight. Even when we are away from the reflection of the white buildings, the Grecian sun seems particularly blinding. Even with sunglasses, we find ourselves squinting in the bright daylight.

Ios is our next island stop. After bustling Santorini where we were competing for road space with jammed tour busses, daredevil motorcyclists and ATVs driven by chunky middle-aged couples smoking cigarettes and blocking traffic to take pictures, sleepy Ios (pronounced “E-ohs”) is a welcome change. In early October, many businesses were already closing up for the winter here. We were the second to the last guests at our Airbnb for the season, after which our host planned to go back to Athens. This was a time to slow down a bit, to enjoy hiking, beaching, and wandering through the little village lanes. Our host tells us that the population of the island dwindles to about 1,400 after October.

Sunset from our kitchen window on Ios perched over a nearly deserted town..

Lots of lounge chairs, but hardly anyone comes to this Ios beach this time of year, which is alright with us.

Everywhere we go there are cats and kittens. We get out of our car at an archeological site and a tan and white green-eyed greeter trots up to meet us. After relenting with a couple of pats of butter, we have gained four fast friends at our Airbnb, one of whom would like to join us inside. The population of cats seems to be out of control here, though many of them have clipped ears denoting that they have been neutered (we are relieved that Ios has a trap, neuter, and release program), and most of them looked adequately nourished. A woman at a ticket booth points out that right in back of her is a feeding trough for cats and we notice that many doorsteps have bowls of kibble in front of them. Still we wonder what becomes of so many cats when winter comes and the crowds leave.

From Ios we go on to another popular island for tourists: Mykonos. And it is obvious why this island is high on everyone’s list. There is something about the dynamic topography, the local flora and fauna, and the quaint and picturesque labyrinth of paths running through the main town that even the cruise ships that unload thousands of visitors here every day cannot spoil. Part of the charm is in the feeling we get that people other than tourists live here. We often but happily lose our way, ending up on quiet, narrow lanes where laundry is hanging out to dry and family life is going on behind the patio doors. This is an excellent island for beaches, and we are able to get a swim in on what was likely one of the last days of the season where anyone who isn’t a polar bear could enjoy the water. This is an expensive island to visit, prices having been driven up originally by jet set types discovering the place many decades ago and currently by wealthy Russians and Chinese. But, we are not much affected by the restaurant prices since our go-to menu orders are almost always for the “everyday, ordinary” yet incredible moussaka, or stuffed eggplant, tzatziki, and the Greek salad. This basic and delicious fare is reasonably priced even in the higher end restaurants. We order these dishes because they are fantastic and our favorites, not to save money. Who could ask for anything more?

The view from our apartment window. Sunday worshipers of God above and worshipers of the Sun below.

We returned to this cafe because it was so perfect in every way. It didn’t hurt that it had cats, too.

Our last island hop is to Sifnos, keeping in synch with alternating busy islands with quiet ones—actually something that was more the result of the ferry schedules than anything else. All the hills on this large island seem even steeper than on the other islands, making for some challenging hikes and great views, some that don’t even require leaving the bedroom at our B&B. This place has a feel more like what Bill imagined a Greek island would be like, but unfortunately we had only a few days here due to ferry schedules and an approaching storm that compelled us to rethink our departure time since we were told that our planned ferry for the next day was likely to be cancelled.

Actually, this is a picture from a caldera facing restaurant in Santorini, not from Sifnos. We couldn’t resist this picture of a happy and delicious memory! Their version of Saganaki was the best we tried, feta cheese wrapped and baked in phyllo dough then drizzled in honey and sprinkled with white and black sesame seeds.

From here it was on to Italy, with a (somewhat) new route for us focused on towns we hadn’t explored in Umbria, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna.