Cheap & Easy Travels

“Sleeping is Overrated” 14 June 11

3d_media — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:57:00 GMT

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Greatest Hits of the day: Rustem Pasha Mosque - Eqyptian Spice Market - Dolmbache Palace - Metropolitan Café - Writing on the rooftop with a full moon.

Still Not on the Clock: I can’t sleep more than five hours at a time so the tour to the Rustem Pasha Mosque is blurry. The Mosque is smaller than and built before the famed Blue Mosque, the iconic feature in any picture of Istanbul. Still, It’s a stunning introduction to Islam. As in all Mosques, the names of the holy family are inscribed in tiles around the interior. Hussein is the grandson of Mohammed and his namesake Barack Hussein Obama, was there and saw it too.

Caviar and Curry: The word “Exotic” comes to mind when describing the Egyptian Spice Market in Istanbul. The guide told us all about why it is called Egyptian, but I could not understand a word of it…He speaks five languages. His French sounds convincing, but what do I know about French? If you like color, you will love this place. Piles of exotic sweets, teas, spices, henna, caviar and God-knows-what is here. It’s an explosion of the senses. Pat let me buy a $30 natural sponge. Why? Have you ever showered with a natural sponge? (Maybe not, at $30 a piece.) Well, vacations make you do impulsive things. My shower later in the day was lovely! I plan to use it many years in the future.

Boring Royalty: I am not impressed with the extravagances of royalty, so the Dolmabache Palace was boring and opulent to me. I can’t help but believe some of the money it took to fashion the largest chandelier on earth could have gone to a better cause. Four and a half tons of crystal is a lot of fancy glass. I wonder how many children had to go without a meal to finance that big light? This palace was built in the mid 1800s when there was still a sultan running things here. His wives had to live in the third story with the kids and could not enter the main ceremonial halls. WTF?

Just Across the Street: Right in front of our Guest House is the Metopolitian Hostel. They have a relationship with a restaurant of the same name down the street. At the top of the building is a six-table restaurant that faces the Marmara sea and is like watching the City lights of San Francisco from Treasure Island, except the shore across the water here is much closer. Pat and I had a fantastic but expensive dinner at the Hostel. I guess if I had to take food up five flights of very narrow and steep stairs I would add a little on to the tab as well. It was the best meal we have had in a few days in terms of flavor and the view was fantastic. It’s not like an Athens rooftop bar with a stunning view of the Acropolis, but still very lovely.

La Luna, La Bella Luna: is bright and full, but slightly obscured by the grape vines covering the awning above me. Fellow tourists are wafting in and out of my peripheral vision as I write. Greetings of “Hello” in various accents are shared and I keep looking across the bay called the “Marmara” to the beautiful auburn colored lights that reflect long shadows on the still waters. It’s cool but not cold. I can hear a call to prayer in the distance as I decide if I should have one more glass of wine before I retire. It is 11:30 pm Istanbul time and 9:30 in the morning CA time…

“On the Road to Istanbul” 13 June 11

3d_media — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:54:00 GMT

Greatest Hits of the day: Easy Metro ride to the Airport - Simple visa - Cool having a driver - Marmara Guest House is neat - Good stuff at Doy Doy.

We Braved It: We rolled our four-wheel-drive luggage through busy sidewalks and across cobbled streets from the Athens Center Square Hotel to the Metro Station at Monastriaki in time to catch the train to the Athens airport. It worked out well. The flight to Istanbul was only an hour and a half long but we still got a hot meal.

Paperwork Was Done: In Sacramento we filled out the necessary visa application forms we downloaded from the Turkish Embassy and made sure we had the passport-style photos needed so there would be no hassles at the Visa counter in Turkey. Guess what? The Immigration agent was amused. All we really needed was $20 to get in - with a stamp to our passports we were good to go. Times change even before the Internet can keep up.

Ms. Deason & Stackpole: A driver named Muse (Moos not Mewz) waited for us at the exit gate. Off we went to the car and the next thing we know, we are at the Marmara Guest House. We negotiated for the top room closest to the rooftop terrace and the breakfast room. Yay. Sometime in the recent past they invested in double paned windows with tight seals. Why? We are just a stone’s throw from the Blue Mosque. Calls to prayer begin at 4:00 in the morning and take place five times a day. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but the calls to prayer are broadcast far and wide. LOUD is the word here.

Local Food: We were directed to a place called Doy Doy, a few blocks past the nearby bazaar, for dinner. Rooftop again. We can’t seem to get enough of the great views on the rooftops of the cities we are visiting. It was decent Kebab at a decent price!

“Up the Hill” 12 June 11

3d_media — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:52:00 GMT

Greatest Hits of the day: National Museum of Archeology - Big rain - Up the St. George’s Hill - Dinner at Plaka Roof Top Restaurant - More Hotel Roof Top views.

7,000 years of history: The earliest settlements in Athens date back to 3,800 BC. The Minoans made this fertile region their home. They came from Crete where it is believed that civilization goes as far back as 128,000 BC. Someone else liked it too and ran them off, this happens over and over again until now. Who will conquer the region next? I wonder. The National Archeological Museum takes you through the ages. When early Europeans were pounding rocks, the ancient Athenians were creating art and contemplating the universe. Almost everything we now know about architecture, they had already figured out. When modern Athens was expanding the underground Metro they discovered ancient water aqueducts that tapped mountain springs, bringing water to the city and providing the water needed for a large ceramic manufacturing plants. I wonder who paid the taxes for that infrastructure? Humans are an industrious bunch.

A Deluge: The weather has been picture perfect with a capital “P.” Today the sky opened up into a downpour punctuated by rolling thunder. Gladly, we were inside the museum and could wait out the majority of the storm. We taxied back to the hotel where I even got to do some blogging once I figured out how to log on to the internet…When the rain stopped we headed out to:

The Highest Spot: It took a while to figure out, but we took the Metro to Evangelismo Station near the hospital and located the stairs to the funicular that runs up Lycabettus Hill to the Church of St. George. We got our work out in on those stairs…then took a funicular to the tippy-top. There is a high-class restaurant up there with a panoramic view of the city and the prettiest waiter yet. He needs to be discovered by somebody! Tall, dark, green eyes, dimples and a muscular build – Magnum P.I. It was hard not to stare. Oh yes, the food was pricey, but delicious and the drinks were nice too. If you go there, you have to go to the WC (toilet). Not kidding, they have the coolest hand-washing basin ever. I took pictures. Words can’t describe it.

Plaka Rooftop Restaurant: Am I sounding like a broken record about the rooftop dining experience? This one was spectacular. Not the food, the view. The wine was, well, young…The food was OK, but there was a live Grecian duo on electric piano and mandolin. It was relaxing and the sunset was amazing.

Hotel Rooftop: This time we ran into a couple of guys from an island we have never heard of located in the north Atlantic between Scotland and Greenland. They were both drunk out of their minds and wanted to buy us drinks and talk about poetry. Weird. Pat was forward enough to ask them to be seated and leave us alone…great gal. Tomorrow we travel to Istanbul. I can’t wait.

“Acropolis Tour” 11 June 11

3d_media — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 15:48:00 GMT

Greatest Hits of the day: Lunch at Herion Taverna - New Acropolis Museum - Acropolis and Parthenon - Dinner at Xion Zeus Restaurant - More Rooftop views

Fresh with lots of garlic: We found a popular restaurant with the “Rick Steves” crowd called Herion in the Plaka tucked behind a shopping street. The atmosphere is delightful with beautiful green trees and twinkle lights. The service in all restaurants is very different from the States. Waiters let you just sit for a while, order and then eat slowly. Occasionally they ask if everything is OK. You need to ask for your bill or it may never arrive!

Olympics bring new and exciting things to a city: The New Acropolis Museum was not there in 1992 when I first visited the city. Now, it is a beautiful storehouse of what is left of the carved marble gods and goddesses found at various digs around the city. A few heads are missing thanks to conquering masses from differing religious beliefs, including the Christians. Not many medal statues are left; those were too easy to forge into weapons used to destroy even more cultures. Some of the best pieces are in the British Museum. Greece hopes to one day get them back, but a precedent might be set. What if they had to return treasures like the Rosetta Stone to Egypt? Imagine.

One of the seven wonders: The Acropolis is a big temple complex. The heart of it is the Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena. Some say it was also the city treasury. The Ottomans, Christians, bombs, modern pollution and age have destroyed so much of it. A 60-year restoration project is still underway. I want to return in 20 years when it is close to being finished. Archeologists and craftsmen are working hard to bring back a fraction of its former splendor. Amazingly they are matching each unique broken segment of column with newly honed marble. It boggles the mind.

Rooftop dinners rock: At the top of the restaurant hill in the Plaka is a small place called Xion Zeus. Only one person there speaks English well enough to hold a conversation. She is one of the owners and she warned me against trying to make friends with the household 14-year-old setter. “He is old and grumpy, just like an old man,” she said. The food was not wildly fantastic, but pleasant and the atmosphere was worth the price.

Great views of the Acropolis: Did I mention that our hotel has a fantastic view of the Acropolis and the city below? The drinks are weak, but we can’t stop coming for the view. By the way, the weather has been lovely, in the 70s with a light breeze. Perfect!

“Athens Walking Tour” 10 June 11

3d_media — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:45:00 GMT

Greatest Hits of the day Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier - Shopping for the “Evil Eye Stone” amulet - Plaka - cute neighborhood, restaurants and a very old churches & ruins - Sunset on the Acropolis.

Pompoms and Circumstance – It only happens once an hour and we hit it spot on, by accident. The changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square in front of the Greek Parliament Building should be on your list of things to see in Athens. The guards wear tan pleated kilts, white tights and very impressive pompoms on the toes of their shoes. They look silly to modern westerners like us… but are part of an elite infantry unit called evzone. Their high-stepping march is carefully choreographed and timed. Have a look at our pictures.

If Looks Could Kill – Folks around the Mediterranean believe a malevolent look from certain people can cause bad luck. If you want to know more, look up “Nazar” in Wikipedia. We just found the hand blown glass “lucky eye” pieces used to ward off evil, completely irresistible. They look like water drops within water drops, with dark blue first then white, light blue and dark blue respectively. Besides, you can never be sure…

Hillside Plaka Village area – The Plaka is by far one of the coolest places to wander around in. You will meet locals sitting on their porches mixed in with terraced Taverna-style restaurants. The cobbled streets are often lined with marble curbs. Marble must be cheap as dirt because it is everywhere in Athens. A few Greek Orthodox churches, many centuries old, pop up here and there as do Doric and Ionic columns that once held up stately buildings predating Christ by 500 years. The Plaka is littered with antiquity. Athens makes us feel like we have no history in the USA.

“Zombie Tourism” 9 June 11

3d_media — Thu, 9 Jun 2011 15:42:00 GMT

Greatest Hits of the day: Sleeping until 3:00pm - Marcus & the white hot policewomen - Getting lost, meandering in the Plaka - Mastering the Metro, no strike today! - Gay Gazi.

Rollin’ out late – Remember sleeping late in your early 20’s and staying up all night with no problems? Well, at our age they call it “Jet Lag.” Still with so much going on in the late evenings in Athens, it felt fairly natural for a Zombie. We sort of knocked around the nearby Plaka district (more about the Plaka later) getting lost and looking for our brains. Athens is 10 hours ahead of Sacramento, CA which is almost directly the opposite of our body clocks.

Boys vs. Girls – Greek men are better looking than the women. Our waiter, Marcus has Hollywood fancy looks-to-die-for and he is not the only one. All of our waiters young and mature (over 40) were stunning and their jeans actually fit. As for the women; well, the lady cops in Athens are white-hot to put it mildly. I could not believe it, we saw at least three. Imagine Selina in a tight blue uniform packing heat and running down the street in pursuit of a bad guy. That’s it, jaw-dropping. I kept looking around for the movie cameras – and this was only over dinner…

The Beeb (BBC) was wrong – There was supposed to be a transportation strike to protest the conditions in Greece today. Gladly, it didn’t happen anytime we needed a train. After dinner we chanced a trip from the Plaka area, just below the Acropolis hill, to the Gazi an artzy district once the home of the city’s gas works…

Gazi is Gay – That’s where you go to get that rainbow feeling and catch some counter-culture arts. We followed the advice of a gay Athens Internet site and found a rooftop terrace bar for girls. It had comfortable white canvas sofas with lime green and white throw pillows, very chic. Actually, we were the only girl couple there, but the crowd was very friendly and I liked the DJ’s playlist a lot. I kept drinking beer and not feeling a thing. Turns out the “Mythos” I was drinking has an alcohol content of .5%. Near-beer, aptly named Mythos, mythological beer. Never mind, staying sober in big foreign city late at night is generally a good idea anyway, don’t ya think?

First Legs: 07 & 08 June 2011

3d_media — Tue, 7 Jun 2011 05:12:00 GMT

Greatest Hits of the first day:

Trainin’ to SFO is cheap and easy – no, really.
SWISS upgraded us to Business at a 75% or more discount. Wow, what a difference.
Priority Pass is the ticket for layover luxury at no extra cost.

TRAIN’IN - I highly recommend anyone living in the Sacramento area that needs to fly out of SFO to try the Amtrak / BART route to the International Wing of SFO. OK, it took about 3 hours and one could argue that it takes an hour and a half by car. I agree. Now, add in gas, parking fees, hauling your stuff from the garage to the terminal and the stress of traffic snarls possibly killing your flight plans. Oh, the cost was $29 each and we have left over money on our BART card for the ride home. Tip: you can purchase a $10 BART card for eight bucks on the train. I haven’t even gotten to the fun part: the train pulls into the departure terminal for International flights. We actually had to walk 200 feet with our 4-wheel-drive luggage to check in. (You gotta have the spinners! – travel made easy, what took them so long?) One more thing, you can drink on the train, “just sayin.”

FLYING UPPER CLASS - As soon as we rolled up to SWISS (not called Swiss Air anymore), a lovely lady offered us an upgrade to Business Class for our 11+ hour flight to Zurich. It was pricey for us working folks, but at $600 each, about a 75% discount, we got to enjoy fine dining, with linen no less, and a fully reclining seat. Did I say FULLY? Think: “lower than a Lazy Boy” with a pillow, blanket and remote control in hand. Just like at home, except you are sharing the room with 30+ people. One guy really should have brought his C-PAP, major snores. NO worries, they gave us a nice little flight kit with earplugs, eye shields, booties and a tooth brush. SWEET DREAMS. :)

FREE VIP - Ever heard of VIP lounges at the airport? I knew they existed, but never realized they were accessible by mere mortals as Pat and I. With our Accolades American Express card from Bank of America we were able to enroll for a free Priority Pass subscription for VIP lounges in all major airports. If you like free nibbles, free drinks, comfortable chairs and Internet access, this subscription is for you. There’s no better way to spend five lingering hours at an airport waiting for your connecting flight.

The rest of the day was just boring stuff like a connecting flight and a taxi ride into town at 2:00 am in the morning. That’s OK though, turns out this town just gets started at 11:00 pm. Entire families, kids included are eating dinner after 10:00 pm.