Last pics from Turkey!

A woman making a silk rug

Right before the duck attacked mom!

More pics from Turkey!

Hot Air Ballooning in Cappadocia - the most breathtaking way to see Cappadocia.  We had to wake up at 5am after a late night of seeing the Swirling Dervishes.  The Swirling Dervishes are a group of men who devote their Muslim lives to an ideal based on love.  They do a unique ritual of "dance" where they dress in robes and swirl, literally, to music.  My mom and I went to a performance by a group of them near Cappadocia.  They wear these interesting looking hats, I compared them to the Cappadocian mountains because they are cone-like, but flat at the top.  When they swirl they are almost in a trance and hold one hand up to the sky and the other down to the floor in a representation of accepting God's love and passing it on to the world.  They were interesting to see but it was quite a challenge to stay awake.  Waking up the next morning for the balloons was always on my mind.  Flying over Cappadocia really emphasizes its beauty.  We were packed into a basket with 17 other people!  My dad fighting for position with his video camera.  It was awesome but the most exciting part was landing.  My dad was estimating our "pilot's" every move and was trying to stay two steps ahead of him so when he though he was about to land, and my dad was sure it was going to be a crash landing based on the trajectory, speed and angle from which we were entering, he started to yell at my mom and I to take landing position!  He was very insistent even though I was sure the pilot knew what he was doing and I wasn't convinced we were going to land quite yet....I knew we would get some kind of warning, but I grabbed the handle to appease my father.  Sure enough, we didn't land then but we did land on some farm, on some bushes, feet from a hill that we would have surely tumbled down had we not had the help of about 5 men on the ground pushing and pulling the basket to the most desired location.  After we landed and exited the air craft we were greeted with champagne and oj, what a treat!

A man still utilizes one Cappadocian rock by serving tea to the travelers that pass through.  His tea (they call it chai) shop is three stories reached by ladders and squeaky metal stairs.  He was the nicest man and doesn't make people pay for their tea.  He has quite an impressive kitchen in the rock and it is decorated so comfortably that you really don't think twice about having chai on the second story of a hollowed out rock!  His name is Recep Erkan, the Peri Kafe Cave Man.  If you are ever in Cappadocia, check him out :-).

Here you can kind of see some of the structures built into the rocks of Cappadocia.  There were people living in these holes up until the 195o's!  The years have taken their toll on the rocks and the rock slides became too dangerous after a man and his son were killed by one so the government made the people move into the nearby towns.

An underground city was created by the people of Cappadocia for even more protection from the numerous armies who traveled through that land.  The underground city was built to hold thousands of people for weeks, or even months, while armies occupied their lands up above.  There were floors and floors of rooms with specific purposes, like kitchens, storage facilities, and places to keep animals.  There were giant round stones with holes in the middle engineered to slide in front of doors in case of an attack.  The holes being there to slide spears through.  An ingenious contraption really.  We could only imagine being stuck down there for months at a time.  My mom particularly got a little panicky at the thought.

Camels are used as a tourist attraction, and that's about it.  Where they once were prized for travel they are now used for rides and photos.  This particular camel was enjoying his meal :-).

 Cappadocia was my most favorite thing we saw in Turkey.  Because of its location between two volcanoes ash and other types of volcanic rock and material has accumulated in the area.  After years and years of rain, snow, wind etc. the ash and rock has uniquely been chipped away to create these magnificent creations.  People have utilized these tall solid, yet easily manipulated, formations and built cities inside them.  From a distance they are barely noticeable, thus their power against invasions, but once you go near you see where homes and churches have been built into the rock.  

An ancient Hittite city - this city is called Hattusas, the capital of a very old Anatolian city.  This city sits on a very picturesque spot.  Little is left, understandably, but this gate was one of the most well preserved and most impressive.  We walked around the site for a bit, including walking through a tunnel that was built through their city wall.  As were most ancient cities in this volatile country, Hattusas was once very well fortified to protect itself from the many people trekking across Anatolia.  Their homes were built with doors in the ceiling that they reached via ladders that were pulled up during any threats.

Mausoleum of Ataturk, the father of Turkey - this day we drove to the capital of Turkey, Ankara.  Zafer decided to take us to the mausoleum kind of last minute, but we were so glad he did b/c it was very impressive, as you can see.  Attiturk really played the most important role in Turkey's independence and growth as a modern country.  This mausoleum was built in his honor and it represents his leadership and the importance he placed on defending the country.  He instilled in young Turks that every one is born a soldier.  Zafer reiterates this statement, and it is apparent that they take it seriously even to this day.  There was also a very interesting museum with articles from Ataturks reign.  He was instrumental in women's rights and modernized the alphabet in Turkey, to name just a couple of things that he accomplished.  You see his face on flags, his statue and his presence in many places around the country.  According to Zafer it was quite unfortunate that he died young b/c he accomplished so much in such a short time and he could have accomplished even more if given the time.

Istanbul Day 2 - Haghia Sophia & Grand Bazaar

In front of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

The Blue Mosque as seen from a window in the Haghia Sophia

Me in front of the Haghia Sophia, Istanbul

I am wearing a sling from irritating my shoulder on the healing wall in the haghia sophia, go figure.  So typing has become quite a challenge and I don't think I can stay updated.  We are seeing so much everyday.  I will at least try to update pictures and fill in the rest when I get back full usage of my arm.

Istanbul Day 2 - Blue Mosque & Topkapi Palace

Part II - Blue Mosque

From the Hippodrome we walked to the Blue Mosque.  This mosque is one of the most beautiful I have seen.  In the picture above my parents are standing in front of the entrance which has two huge bronze doors that lead into a courtyard.  This courtyard is where you are supposed to take your time, as a Muslim, to abolish thoughts of the outside world and prepare yourself for prayer.  From here you walk up some steps and go through another entrance, which I am standing in front of, to enter another courtyard.  At the bottom of these steps are numerous faucets where Muslims are supposed to do the ritual ablutions by washing their feet, hands, face and mouth as a purification before entering the holy mosque.  As you enter the actual mosque you can see where it gets it's name from.  The inside is adorned with blue mosaic tiles and beautiful stained glass windows with blue as the predominant color, giving the inside of the mosque a blue hue.  This mosque is one of the most famous religious buildings in the world.  Sultan Ahmet I commissioned the mosque during a period of declining Ottoman fortunes, and it was built between 1609-16 by Mehmet Aga, the imperial architect.  The splendour of the plans provoked great hostility at the time, especially because a mosque with six minarets was considered a sacrilegious attempt to rival the architecture of Mecca itself.  From the picture above you can see the floating lanterns but you do not get a sense of the blueness that associates it with it's name.  From here we walked to the Topkapi Palace.

Part III - Topkapi Palace

Between 1459 and 1465, shortly after his conquest of Constantinople, Mehmet II built Topkapi Palace as his principal residence.  Rather than a single building, it was conceived as a series of pavilions contained by four enormous courtyards, a stone version of the tented encampments from which the nomadic Ottomans had emerged.  Initially, the palace served as the seat of government and contained a school in which civil servants and soldiers were trained.  In the 16th century, however, the government was moved to the Sublime Porte.  Sultan Abdul Mecit I abandoned Topkapi in 1853 in favour of another palace.  The palace is a city within itself.  The kitchen alone was made to be able to cook enough food for thousands of people and has around 10 giant smoke stacks just for itself.  The grounds sit atop a hill and have the most beautiful view of the city and the Golden Horn.  We started our tour seeing the exhibition of the imperial costumes.  They were mostly kaftans for the Sultan and were made from the most beautiful silk prints.  It was a palace tradition that on the death of a sultan his clothes were carefully folded and placed in sealed bags.  As a result, it is possible to see a perfectly preserved kaftan worn by the sultan as an adult and child.  

From here we moved on to the Treasury.  For some reason there was an exuberant number of children visiting this day.  It must have been field trip day and we were crammed into the small rooms peeking into the small cases to look at the extravagant jewels with little munchkins stepping on our toes.  It hurried us along but the palace holds an impressive amount of treasure and we were sure to see every bit.  Some of the most impressive stones were giant emeralds that adorned swords,thrones and aigrettes, which adorned imperial turbans.  What is interesting is that there are so few women's jewels on display.  Whereas the treasures of the sultans and viziers were owned by the state and reverted to the palace on their deaths, those belonging to the women of the court did not and they were able to keep theirs.  The most impressive of all stones there and probably in the world is that of an 86 carat diamond, called the Spoonmaker's diamond.  It is said to have been discovered in a rubbish heap in Istanbul in the 17th century, and bought from a scrap merchant for three spoons.  

After the treasury we walked through the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle.  Some of the holiest relics of Islam are displayed in these five domed rooms, which are a place of pilgrimage for Muslims.  Most of the relics found their way to Istanbul as a result of the conquest by Selim the Grim of Egypt and Arabia, and his assumption of the caliphate in 1517.  When you walk in you notice the reading of the Qu'ran (Koran), which is chanted 24hrs a day, 7 days a week in these rooms.  The most sacred treasure is the mantle once worn by the Prophet Mohammed.  There are also other important relics, including locks of hair, teeth, parts of a skull and hand of other prophets, including their most important Mohammed.  There are also on display locks and keys to the holy Kaaba, the first sacred shine built in Mecca, and also the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed where Muslims, if they can afford it and are healthy enough, should make their pilgrimage once in their lifetime.  There are also four other basic duties for Muslims.  These include the profession of their faith: "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet."  They are enjoined to pray five times a day (the first being at 5AM, which we can brightly hear from our hotel), give alms to the poor, and fast during the month of Ramazan.  It is a religion defined by ritual which the people follow strictly.

The one part of the palace which we did not see, which I wish we had, was the Harem.  Sultans were known to have hundreds of wives and concubines which lived in these parts of the palace.  I can only imagine what those quarters must have been like.  Unfortunately we did not have time to see them and from here we moved on to our next stop.  The Haghia Sophia.

Istanbul Day 2 - Hippodrome

Part I - Hippodrome

As you can see from my titles we saw A LOT today.  We started the morning off at the Hippodrome.  Here once stood the heart of the Byzantine city of Constantinople.  It was originally laid out by Emperor Septimus Severus during his rebuilding of the city in the 3rd century AD.  It is thought that the stadium held up to 100,000 people but there is little left of what once stood.  Now the site is an elongated public garden and the only original fixture left is what was once the chariot track, now paved over and used as a road.  Constantine enlarged the Hippodrome and adorned the "spina," the central line of the stadium, with obelisks and columns from Ancient Egypt and Greece, importing a sense of history to his new capital.  Three of these adornments still stand including two that you see in the above picture.  Here you see the Egyptian Obelisk, which was built in 1500 BC, and which once stood outside Luxor until Constantine had it brought to his city.  It is obviously shortened and sits on four bronze stands to protect it from earthquakes.  These bronze blocks sit atop a marble base made in the 4th century AD showing Theodosius I and his family in the "kathisma" watching various events, including one of the erection of the obelisk itself.  The other obelisk you see in the picture in the distance is the Column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus.  It is thought to have once been sheathed in a case of bronze.  The third column not in the picture is the Serpentine Column, believed to date from 479 BC, which was shipped here from Delphi where it once stood.  It is missing it's top ornament of gold serpents.  The heads of the serpents were knocked off in the 18th century by a drunken Polish nobleman.  The Hippodrome was the scene of one of the bloodiest events in Istanbul's history.  In 532 a brawl between rival chariot-racing teams developed into the Nika Revolt, during which much of the city was destroyed, specifically the Hagia Sophia.  The end of the revolt came when an army of mercenaries, under the command of Justinian's general Belisarius, massacred an estimated 30,000 people trapped in the Hippodrome.

As we were standing in the middle of the park listening to Zafer tell about the history of the place we hear what sounds like a band in the distance.  We weren't sure if it was live or not and then we see in the distance a marching band coming down the street.  My dad immediately takes off running after them with his video camera held up high.  We are hardly misjudged as locals in this country.  The band ended up coming right down the street in front of us and as you can see in the picture they were dressed in traditional Turkish ceremonial dress followed by young children and then students.  Zafer said this march was customarily done to encourage the troops to go into battle.  My favorite part were the fake mustaches they wore.  Later on we saw the young kids doing typical Turkish dances in front of the Hagia Sophia dressed in their little Turkish outfits.  My dad got some good video of that as well :-).

Istanbul Day 1

Last night I arrived in Istanbul, Turkey.  It was amazing to travel only 45min. and be in Turkey.  I was greeted by our tour leader, Zafer and our driver Mustafa.  They took me to the hotel to meet my parents who had just traveled about 15hrs. to meet me.  I couldn't have been more excited for this trip.  I really had no idea what to expect arriving in this country.  I ignorantly know very little and what I have learned recently is from the point of view of the Greeks, probably not the best lime light given their rocky history.  After our first day I am more then pleasantly surprised by the beauty and character of this city.  We had dinner on the rooftop of our lovely hotel last night.  The view is of the entire city from the Hagia Sophia down the Bosphorus.  This morning we started our day on a ferry ride down this important body of water.  The Bosphorus is a strait of water separating Europe and Asia and which joins the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.  The shores of the Bosphorus are lined with beautiful palaces and mansions once owned by Sultans and now occupied by the wealthiest of Turks.  We exited in a town named YENIKOY and drove back towards where we came.  

We stopped atop a hill in one of the most picturesque spots in Istanbul.  From here you can see the city on both sides of the Bosphorus and far into the distance.  At this spot we had a nice lunch and some Turkish tea (my mom and I are drinking it in the picture above).  They use a lot of chili peppers in the food here making it spicy and I love it!  As you can also see in the picture above there are thousands of Tulips around the city.  They are so beautiful.  Apparently tulips originated from Turkey and were brought to Holland many many years ago.  Turkey is now trying to bring them back to their homeland and there is a tulip festival going on right now. After lunch we headed back towards the inner city.  We were dropped off in front of the New Mosque and the Spice Bazaar.  Before walking through the Bazaar we stopped at the Rustem Pasa Mosque, built in 1561 by the great architect Sinan for Rustem Pasa, son-in-law of and grand vizier to Suleyman I.  Rents from the businesses in the bazaar were intended to pay for the upkeep of the mosque.  My mother and I were asked to cover our heads and luckily we were wearing jackets with hoods and were able to throw those over.  We all had to remove our shoes and step on a carpet before entering the mosque.  The inside is beautifully adorned with Iznik tile mosaics, showing the wealth of the corrupt Rustem.  It was a very interesting place to be.  Zafer explained to us the rituals of the Muslim prayer.  He told us that the reason men and women have to be separated in a mosque during prayer is so that the men do not get distracted from their prayers if a women bends down in the traditional prayer movement in front of them.....as men so easily do.  He told us that all people are seen as equals inside a mosque regardless of class or sex.  Muslims pray five times a day and we hear the prayer chants from almost anywhere the city during these hours as they are projected from each mosque via speakers.  It interests me so much to learn about the religion and this culture from one of their own.  I feel very lucky to be experiencing this.

As we were speaking inside the mosque Zafer noticed that someone grabbed his shoes outside and he ran outside to confront them.  I immediately thought of Slumdog Millionaire!  Luckily the shoe thief was only a tourist who accidently grabbed the wrong shoes and he embarrassingly handed them over.  Sure enough Zafer told us that many shoes are stolen and as we walked back through the streets to our car we saw men selling shoes that were definitely not new, maybe just wiped down, lying on sheets.  Afterwards we headed to the spice market.  This cavernous, L-shaped market was built in the early 17th century as an extension of the New Mosque complex.  In Turkish the market is named the Misir Carsisi - the Egyptian Bazaar - because it was built with money paid as duty on Egyptian imports.  From medieval times spices were a vital and expensive part of cooking and they became the market's main produce.  The bazaar came to specialize in spices from the orient, taking advantage of Istanbul's site on the trade route between the East (where most spices were grown) and Europe.  Today an extensive amount of things can be found within the market, including everything from household goods, toys and clothes, to exotic aphrodisiacs.  The very first picture above is from this market.  

After the spice market we went back to the hotel and Zafer and my mom and I took a stroll down one of the most popular streets in Istanbul.  It is called Istiklal Caddesi and it is a wide walking street that is lined by modern shops and restaurants.  There were so many people walking down it that you had to maneuver your way through the people and the occasional trolley that went by.  It was a lively bustling street and Zafer said that there is always tons of people.  After our walk we just had a quick dinner at a nearby cafe and then went to bed, gearing up for another full day.

Kiki's Visit

First things first.  I have to write about Kiki's visit!  On Monday the 6th Brian and I drove to Athens to meet Kiki.  It was perfect timing b/c Brian had the next few days off after a great win against Faliro.  It was Brian's first game back after his "injury" and he played great scoring 3 goals.  We took advantage of his short break and grabbed Marco and headed to Athens.  Kiki wasn't arriving until that evening and we got on the road early, initially having planned to stop at Mycenae and maybe Epidavros on the way.  It ended up raining though and we just decided to head straight to Athens early.  As we were maneuvering our way through the crazy traffic packed streets of the city I see a Taxi out of the corner of my eye inching closer and closer to our car.  In my head I thought, "he's going to stop before he hits us," and to Brian I just said...."Brian," but it was too late.  Sure enough, the Taxi DID NOT stop and just plowed right into the corner of our car and kept on driving with a little smile on his face.  We both just kind of sat there, mouths agape, not really believing what just happened.  I jumped out of the car to take a look at the damage and saw another Taxi driver kind of looking at us in disbelief and pointing in the direction of the cab, like, why aren't you going after him?  But what were we to do?  Run the Taxi over and yell at him in English?  So in an empty attempt at revenge I wrote down his license plate and we moved on.  Brian kind of wiped up the scratch later and that was the last of that.  After all, it is just a rental.

When we got to the hotel I went to the counter to check in and was kind of hoping Brian would hide somewhere with Marco so we didn't have to deal with all the attention he draws, and possibly a problem with the staff.  I booked that particular hotel, Divanis Palace Acropolis, for the sole reason that we had read they allowed dogs but knowing the way Greece works, you never know.  Sure enough, once the women saw him sitting there she asked me, is that dog staying with you?  I knew there was going to be a problem.  She said, "we do not allow dogs over 5 kilos (Marco is about 12.5kg).  I gave her the "oh no, I had no idea" puppy dog face and she kindly called her manager and he made an exception.  I honestly don't think they would have made one if Marco wasn't as cute.  They just asked us to make sure he stayed quite, ha, since there were other people on our floor.  This meant we could NEVER leave him in the hotel room alone, so Marco came with us everywhere.

After we picked Kiki up from the airport we dropped her stuff off at the hotel and walked into the old part of town for dinner.  The hotel was very near the Acropolis and as we walked we had it shining above us, an always impressive site.  Just like when Michelle and Nico were visiting there was no one around.  I still don't understand the schedules of the people in Greece but we found a nice quiet restaurant to sit and have a good meal and that was all we needed.  The next day we set out for the island of Hydra.  We got on one of the "Flying Dolphins" and about 1 1/2 hrs. later we landed.   Hydra is a charming small island just off the coast of the mainland.  What makes it so charming is that they do not allow cars and the only way to get around is via donkey.  Kiki was especially excited about this and getting a donkey ride so that was the first thing we looked for when we got off our FD.  My intentions were to take a pic of Kiki with, or maybe even on, a donkey but the minute we paid any attention to the animal his handler came up to me, grabbed my purse, and practically threw me on the animal....so we were off on our donkey ride.  I don't even think those donkeys are meant for rides b/c they contain wood saddle-like boards atop their backs meant to carry luggage to the hotels.  Well these wood boards held Kiki and I regardless of their purpose and Brian and Marco trotted on foot behind us trying to take pictures.  It was fun and I'm glad we did it.  Hydra is small and we saw most of it within the hour but we found a really delicious cafe right by the water where after our fabulous lunch we decided to go to for dinner as well.  We also walked to the Lazaros Koundouriotis Historical Mansion, former home of one of the major players in the Greek Independence struggle.  We saw that, despite the hours it showed in our travel book, it was closed for the afternoon.  We decided to walk around the island some more, took in more of the sights and the scenery, let Marco run and play with another random dog, and then headed back.  After climbing the hill once more to get to the mansion we were anxious to get inside but to true Greek fashion the doors did not open at the proposed hour it said on the wall and we even waited about 20min. past but they never did open so we gave up on our mission.  After our delicious dinner we headed back to Athens and to bed.  On Wed. we went to Vouliagmeni and Glyfada for some shopping while Brian was at practice.  Unfortunately none of the shops would let Marco in so we had to take turns.  Afterwards we hit up all the Athens sites like the Acropolis and the ancient forum, rested a little in the hotel and then went back out to dinner.  On Thurs. morning we dropped Kiki off at the airport (:-() and Brian and I headed back to Patra.  

From now on my blog will be coming from Turkey as I left Greece yesterday to meet my parents in Istanbul!  I will be here for the next two weeks on a Turkish adventure, stay tuned!

Brian's Blog

Hello this is Brian. Erica asked me to write a blog describing my last team trip to Chios since she was not there. Chios is one of the many Greek islands scattered between Greece and Turkey. However when you are on the eastern side of Chios you can actually see the mainland of Turkey.

We arrived for our game against the team from the island on Friday afternoon and went directly to the pool for training like so many of my trips around the world have started. After we went back to the hotel had dinner at the hotel restaurant (with a very good Turkish desert!) and then went to our rooms to relax and sleep eventually. I had a plan though for the next morning. Since we had rented four cars to drive to and from the pool and three of those cars were driven by teammates, I was going to borrow one the next morning and see as much of the island of Chios as I could. I wanted to be a tourist for a few hours. So Friday night I researched where to go from the trusty Lonely Planet Greece travel book to find a destination. The next morning I convinced the two Slovakian teammates, Jozef and Michael, as well as the funniest guy on the team, Alexis (nickname Bull) to come along so we could find an interesting setting for a coffee.

Chios isn't a very touristy place but as we started driving we soon found out how beautiful it really is. Chios is known for the production of Mustica trees which are used to create the ingredient in chewing gum. We headed south to where the majority of the Mustica groves were grown. The first place we went to was a town called Pirgi which was a small local town but with some interesting Turkish influenced architecture. The houses had small connected black triangular shaped art on the sides which almost looked like the face paint designs the Mauri's (sp?) wear, in New Zealand. We decided we wanted to go somewhere else for coffee, somewhere closer to the water so from the map we decided we would go to a town 6 KM away called Emboreios. It was a very picturesque little cove with pebble beaches but most things were closed save for a few petite Greek taverna's (restaurants). We also went a little further up the coast to Mavra Volia beach but there were no cafe's there. There was however a nice beach of black volcanic pebbles looking out toward Turkey. So our road trip continued and we decided to head back toward our starting point but along the water toward the next town of Komi. When we stumbled upon Komi we found a small village with two visible people and one of them was working in a cafe so we parked on the sand beach and asked if we could take one of their tables from their patio to put right in the sand. It was a great scene to relax and drink a coffee (or even a corona). I felt like I was in the Corona beer commercial where there is nothing but two beach chairs, an umbrella made of straw (there was another closed cafe next to us with these umbrellas), sand, and sea. Since we had a game that afternoon, we drank our cappuccino's looked out at the water, and decided we would try and continue up the coast.

There was no one around and I think we were driving on a board walk for a while made out of cobblestones but then it continued into unpaved roads up over hills. On Chios there is the largest military presence due to the proximity of the number one foe Turkey, and I read that if you are driving on dirt roads that you shouldn't stop because they will think you are doing something suspicious. We were driving in a small Hyundai Accent car not made for off-road travel and the road was very much made for an off-road jeep. I had to maneuver around deep mud puddles, sharp rocks, and the occasional half to one foot drop offs while the other guys were telling me "Slow Down!". I didn't think I was going too fast. The guys in the car were starting to think I was crazy but I was having so much fun on this adventure that I kept pressing on until they were afraid we would run out of gas! The gas light came on and there was nothing in sight but hills. So they convinced me to turn around. (I am happy Erica wasn't there because she definitely would have made me turn around immediately.) We turned around and headed down hill and the gas light turned off. We headed toward a main road that we weren't sure existed and suddenly we found it and were headed back toward Chios Town.

On the way back in a small village there was a truck with a an over sized box in the back of chickens and hens for sale. Bull our Greek entertainer said in his broken english "We buy chicken". It was half statement and half question. We pulled up next to the stopped truck and he rolled down the back window to ask in Greek. Jozef and I were laughing hysterically with tears in the front of the car as the transaction took place. We weren't sure if he was going to do it and as we were laughing we heard him say in Greek "two euros, three euros, or four euros". Michael was in the back with Bull. I don't think he knew what to do but handed Bull a five and then took something back from Bull. Jozef thought it was the five and as we were driving away he found out it was the change and that there was actually a chicken in the back seat of our car! Bull was petting and talking to it like a proud father. We were thinking we could give it to our coach as a funny prank but were unsure of his reaction so Jozef decided we should drive around until we found someone who would want to add it to their farm. The first person we saw was driving on the road opposite of us in a tractor and definitely looked like a great candidate. Bull spoke to him from the back seat across Michael's lap but he said "no" with a weird look and told us to go to the gas station coming up in about 100 meters. We thought great we can get some gas and maybe pay with the chicken. The gas station was closed. So we found another gas station and put five euros in the car but they definitely didn't look like the type who would want a small chicken. The next town we found was Kallimasia and we turned in. At the first house we saw an old, typically dressed, woman (all black clothes) beating a rug over the railing of her patio. They had cages full of birds outside their garage and we thought they would love an addition. Bull started to yell out to the old lady. When she looked at us dumbfounded we saw the old man (her husband?) in the small driveway cleaning something and he came out to the car and agreed to whatever Bull told him. Then he gently took the chicken across Michael's lap.

Finally we made it back to Chios town for another coffee and then to our hotel just in time to make our team lunch. A few hours later we beat the team from Chios in a wild high scoring game, 16-13. It was my first game since my surgery and I was happy with my performance considering I had been out of the water for almost a month. Overall it was a great trip, and one that I will never forget.

Michelle & Nico's Visit

Delphi

Achaia Clauss Winery

Mykonos!

Marco in Mykonos :-)

Mykonos lunch

In front of the Acropolis

We have been fortunate to have Michelle and Nico visiting Greece for the past week! Last Thurs. Brian and I met them in Athens for a full day of sightseeing. We saw everything there was to see and saw as much of the city as we could. We even found some great live Greek Bozuki music! On Fri. we left for Mykonos. We were so excited but had seen the weather forecast showing lots of rain and we were happy when we landed and there was none. The three of us checked into our hotel and Michelle and Nico got upgraded to the honeymoon suite! It was a really nice hotel and we were the only ones there, haha. We realized shortly after check in that pretty much the whole island was shut down. Unfortunately this country really functions on a seasonal schedule and when it is not summer time it is hard to get the full experience. We were still optimistic though b/c we had heard that Mykonos was the party island! We thought, people can still party when it's cold out! Apparently not though and that night, after a delicious Italian pizza dinner, as we strolled through "Little Venice," the part of town that is supposed to "go off," there was hardly a soul in sight. We did find one little bar that we could hear Greek music emanating from but as soon as we walked in every single person in the bar turned their heads and stared at us and as Nico said it felt like the music was going to come to a screeching halt. We decided to move on. We gave up our Mykonos party search and headed back to the hotel hoping the next day to get more out of the island. The next day the rain did decide to show up. Brian and Marco were headed to the island via the ferry and we decided to rent a car so at least all of us could see the island this way. We thought we could at least drive to the beaches to check them out and after picking up B & M from the port we got on the road. We drove to a few of the infamous Mykonos beaches but they were shut down and locked up as well and from what we could see they weren't anything impressive. As we had heard Mykonos really only has one thing to offer, and that is a really good time, in the summer. We were disappointed but we still took lots of pictures on our last day there to take advantage of the shining sun and we headed back to the main land and finally to Patras. Brian and I showed Michelle & Nico our life here in Patras, eating and drinking lots of coffees. We were able to take them to the Achaia Clauss winery, Brian and my favorite place in this city. The people there are so friendly and the woman took us on another delightful tour. Since Nico is from Napa I think he especially enjoyed the tour. The next day I drove them to see Delphi, another favorite spot of mine, a 2hr beautiful drive from Patras in one of the most picturesque spots for any town. Finally, on their last night with us we took them to Bozukia. They had been dying to get a night out on the town in Greece and it doesn't get more authentic then Bozukia. I think it was quite an experience for them and I am glad Brian and I had another opportunity to go b/c it will probably be our last time. Our time here in Greece is boiling down and we need to take advantage of every minute. This morning, after about 3hrs of sleep I drove them to the bus station and sent them on their way to the airport from where they will head to Santorini! I hope the weather is better!

Information on the immigration problem here in Patras

Since about a month after arriving here in Patra I was made aware of a very big problem that has only increased ten fold since we have arrived. The refugee situation in Patra is one that although try as they might, Greece must not pass a blind eye to. There are thousands of young men who have managed to get to this city in the hopes of getting on one of the many ferries that pass through these ports daily. They are desperate and are willing to do whatever it takes. This entails living in a shanty town they have created for themselves out of huts made of trash and old clothing. Chasing the trucks hoping to break into them and hide wherever they can. Climbing the barb-wired fences that line the port. They spend their days standing by the roads that outline the port staring either at the street looking for trucks with unlocked backs or staring out into the sea dreaming of what crossing it might provide them. There was an incident recently that I wanted to share. Here are two articles that we found and I have pasted them below:

March 3, 2009

www.nowpublic.com

"Hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan clashed with riot police for hours yesterday evening in the western Greek city of Patra. The disturbances were sparked off when an Afghan man was seriously injured while trying to board a truck entering the city's port. After the accident tens of fellow refugees attacked the vehicle throwing rocks and other objects.

Later the tensions escalated leading to protesters setting up barricades and closing streets near the port. In reply the police deployed riot units and used tear gas in an into the early hours of Tuesday morning as police attempted to confine the protestors to a shanty town that serves as a home for over a 1000 refugees in the city.

Unconfirmed eyewitness accounts reported on Greek blogs and Indymedia Patra speak of the involvement of residents including members of far right groups in efforts to put down the demonstration. Eventually the police were able to push back the refugees to their encampment and disperse far right groups.

Patra, which is Greece's gateway to Italy has become a way station for immigrants seeking to reach the rest of Europe. However, the Greek state has been reluctant to give official asylum status to all but a handful of immigrants entering the country without proper documentation. Greece's daily newspaper Kathimerini has reported that out of 20,692 asylum applications submitted in 2007, Greek authorities approved eight.

As a result refugees are forced to attempt the crossing to Italy illegally, often in the backs of trucks bound for the Italian ports of Brindisi and Ancona.

The riots are the latest in a series of clashes between refugees and the authorities in Patra, including a series of accusations of police abuse of Afghan refugees. In September 2008 there were also riots as refugees clashed with police and Customs officers inside the port following the beating of three immigrants."

March 6, 2009

www.athensnews.gr

"VIOLENCE between police and demonstrators erupted in Patra on March 2 after a truck driver was reported to have deliberately struck a 17-year-old Iranian migrant with his vehicle putting him in a coma.

A police spokeswoman told the Athens News the driver was arrested, but refused to say what, if any, charges he faces.

'Migrants and other eyewitnesses told me they saw the driver of the truck speed up and literally sandwich the 17-year-old between his vehicle and the truck in front of his,' said Mihalis Sidiropoulos, a member of the Patra-based Movement for Immigrants' Rights.

'Doctors at the hospital have told me the boy remains in critical condition,' Sidiropoulos said. 'We know he has a brother in Greece. We're trying to find him.'

The incident took place outside the port, in a traffic jam caused by a lineup of trucks waiting to enter port grounds. The trucks were to board ferries bound for Italy. Migrants often try to hide on or in these trucks in the hopes of reaching Italy and points West.

According to Sidiropoulos and various news reports, the driver of the truck spotted the boy trying to climb the back of the truck ahead of him. The driver then allegedly closed the distance between the two rigs, sandwiching the boy between the trucks.

The incident sparked a confrontation between police and hundreds of undocumented migrants, most from Afghanistan. The angry mob surrounded the driver and hurled rocks at his truck to protest what some migrants reportedly called attempted murder.

Police fired volleys of teargas to disperse the crowd.

Greece is under mounting pressure to crack down on illegal immigration and find a permanent solution for Patra, where a shantytown just north of the port houses hundred of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers.

The incident on March 2 spurred area residents to renew their demands that authorities drive the migrants out of town. But local human rights advocates say this will solve little. Instead they are calling on the government to grant migrants refugee status.

'This would solve the problem because it will legalise their status, which is what they want, and it will allow them to travel to Italy legally,' said George Kanellis, a member of the Movement for Immigrants' Rights.

The asylum-seeker approval rate in Greece is the lowest in Europe. Greek bureaucrats reject almost every application for refugee status, says the UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency.

Greece has faced an avalanche of Europe-wide criticism since November 2007, when the German non-governmental organisation Pro Asyl published a shocking report accusing the Greek coastguard of 'systematically abusing newly-arrived refugees.'

The European Commission is also challenging Greek asylum practices by taking Greece to the European Court over a provision in national legislation that allows authorities to withdraw an asylum claim if the applicant leaves Greece without authorisation.

The mast majority of people seeking refuge in Greece are Afghans and Iraqis.

The situation in Patra is not new. Patra Mayor Andreas Fouras has repeatedly called for a state-run centre for undocumented migrants. In August 2008, Greece announced it would create a reception centre on the outskirts of town - far from the port - to temporarily house undocumented migrants. The centre has yet to open, reportedly for fear the European Union could accuse Greece of facilitating illegal immigration to neighbouring Italy.

The situation in Patra attracted international attention in February 2008 when local authorities rounded up hundreds of migrants trying to find passage to Italy by hiding in our under trucks. Most were undocumented, though some have at least managed to apply for political asylum.

On February 23, hundreds of truck drivers blocked the port of Patra to protest the growing number of migrants trying to hide in and under their vehicles. They demanded the government take measures to put an end to illegal immigration."

The top photo is one I took of a couple of refugees trying to get into the back of a truck right in front of our car. They create quite a menace to the truck drivers b/c they stand in areas along the roads where trucks have to pass through and have to slow down either at lights or detours. I have mixed feelings about the situation here. The thousands of refugees that have inhabited this city have really affected the environment. They are homeless and are wanderers and squatters in parks that would normally be wonderful places for people to enjoy. While they don't normally pose any type of threat to anyone they travel in packs and are just intimidating to be around. Their main focus is finding a different life for themselves, and I respect that. Since most of them are from Afghanistan and Iraq I imagine they are fleeing the war situation and are choosing asylum rather then joining say the Taliban. For this I am grateful. I think Greece is in a precarious situation to do something and yet they are a country that does not like to ruffle any feathers. They want to maintain their neutral position in this world. I would love to hear what everyone else thinks about this so please post comments!

End of Carnival, Infections & Travel - An update on our life

These pictures below and the one above are from the last day of Carnival. On the Monday after all the festivities and partying it is a holiday and everyone gets off of work. That morning we were awoken by a text from Fotis saying, "We'll go to fly our kite and eat fishfood. We want a lot to join us!" Well that about says it all. On this day they fly kites and eat fish. Brian was feeling sick but he was also anxious to get out of the house and get some fresh air. We didn't know what was wrong with him but we thought maybe he was getting the flu since he had been having night sweats and a fever for the past two days. Fotis and Mary came by and we followed them to a really cute town about 20min. away. Here we met Lambros, Jozef and a couple other people. Lambros was determined to get his kite into the air, so we watched his attempts for a little while until he gave up. We then walked to a cafe on the water and pointed out all of the successful kites in the air along the way to give Lambros a hard time. He insisted that his whole life he had been an accomplished kite flier and he did not appreciate our jeers. Lunch was long and we all got pretty antsy. Fish consisted of shellfish. I have not seen very many fish filets here and I miss them dearly. We ate octopus, shrimp, calamari and potatoes. Brian was still not feeling great and after waiting forever for our food we tried to quickly eat and leave.

Turns out Brian's "sickness" was much more serious then we thought. After a couple of trips to the hospital we discovered that he got an perianal abscess. It was EXTREMELY painful for him and he was in pain whenever he sat. After prescribed some antibiotics we hoped it would go away. The timing couldn't have been worse b/c two days later I was supposed to leave for my 2+ week long trip to Italy and Dublin. We assumed some bed rest and his antibiotics would clear up the situation within days so I left for Italy hoping the team could handle anything that Brian would need. Italy was fantastic. You see a picture below of Kirsten and I in front of the Trevi fountain. Kirsten (Jeff Power's wife) and I started off in Naples (which was not as dangerous/dirty as I heard it would be!) and traveled to Pompeii, Capri & Sorrento before going to Rome to see Jeff play water polo against another Italian team that has two other young American players that we know. We had a really fun night in Rome and spent the next day seeing all the sights before heading via train to their town of Bogliasco, a beautiful, small beachside town near Genova. During all this traveling I would talk to Brian and realized that his pain/discomfort was only getting worse. He had to go to the hospital again and they told him he would need to have the abscess drained and/or possibly cut out. It was really hard and painful for him to do anything. He had to have Elsie take Marco to relieve that responsibility and just getting food from anywhere was a challenge b/c it was too painful for him to drive. They told him after his surgery he would have to stay in the hospital for a few days and now knowing the conditions in the Greek hospitals we decided it would be best if I came home. I had two days left in Bogliasco and then I was supposed to head to Dublin to meet Kelli (Tim Hutten's gf) and her mom and spend 5 days there with them. I luckily had a day in Bogliasco and Kirsten and I took advantage of the time so I felt like I saw everything and I bought a ticket home for the next day. Unfortunately I would miss my trip to Dublin but it was more important for me to go home to help Brian. His surgery happened while I was en route but he had a couple of teammates there and his coach and manager there for support. His surgery took place with two other patients in his room and a small curtain that barely covered him. The door to the room kept opening so basically everyone saw and heard firsthand how difficult and painful it was. Brian survived though and luckily they sent him straight home, without having to stay in the hospital. Since then he has felt much much better but is not just uncomfortable, having a large hole where the abscess once was. He has to go to the hospital every few days to have them replace the gauze that is inside the hole and I have been helping him with keeping it clean so as not to get an infection. Unfortunately it is a slow healing process and it will be another few weeks before he can get back into the pool and back to his job! They lost their last game that he had to miss to a team they had beat before and they play Vouliagmeni tonight and Brian and I will watch from the stands. It is now more unlikely then ever they will make it to the playoffs but I think they are safe to not get kicked back down to second division, so that's good. We all just hope that Brian will make a safe and quick recovery!

Carnival has come and gone and I leave Greece for now

Well we survived Carnival! It was all it was hyped up to be. On Saturday we got up slowly, pacing ourselves for the evening ahead. At 6pm we headed out to meet our group. We were group #148 and we were dressed up as Ice Cream people. I'm not exactly sure if there is a word for what we were (there probably is one in Greek since they have a word for every emotion known to man) but when we first saw our costumes we were skeptical. They really turned out great though and as I perused the other costumes groups had I couldn't help but think ours might be the best. Each group met in a different part of a very big street here in Patra called Korinthou. We brought our water bottles of our beverage of choice and once every one was in place the parade began. There must have been hundreds and hundreds of groups but since we stayed with our group the whole parade I am really not sure how many people or groups there were. According to Lambros there were 1 million visitors in Patra this weekend, so as you can imagine there were people everywhere. There was music blaring in the streets and we were all dancing and singing our way down Korinthou for at least a couple of hours. Honestly it went by so quickly that when we finished the parade we kind of looked at each other like, that's it!? The Saturday night parade was mainly for the adults to enjoy themselves and the floats and a lot of the children were left to join us for the parade on Sunday. On Sunday we met again in the same spot. Brian woke up feeling just terrible. He had the aches and chills and we weren't sure if he had picked up the flu or if he was just feeling the effects of a few cocktails. He tried to rally and come to the parade with us on Sunday but after being surrounded by the noises and smoke and heat of the crowds he thought it best to go back home to bed. It turns out he was sick and he has been fighting a fever and infection now for the last couple of days. We went to the hospital today and got him some antibiotics so hopefully it will pass soon. So Elsie and I charged the parade alone on Sunday, a lot less energetically I must say, but we still enjoyed ourselves. It was MUCH longer this time, and with just my bottle of water I definitely noticed the length this march along. We decided to head home after a coffee, much to the dismay of some other people from our group who were ready to conquer the evening once more. As we walked home I didn't realize once away from the parade the spectacle our costumes would make and we were asked to take pictures with random men more then once. We were also able to see some of the other groups go by as the parade was STILL going on. There were also some great floats, lots of horns and whistles and shouts and firecrackers. It was a celebration as only foreign countries can do. I ended up going home and staying there to keep poor Brian company but Elsie made it back out later. That night they burned parts of the parade out at the port with explosions and fireworks, I'm sure we missed quite an experience. Not to mention another long night. We did get to experience one of the famous Carnivals though and it was an experience I will never forget!

I leave for Italy tomorrow morning on my own little travel adventure! I'm so excited but so sorry I have to leave Brian when he's still not feeling well. I hope he and Marco can keep eachother company while I'm gone! I am meeting Kirsten, Jeff Power's wife, in Naples and then we are going to Rome, maybe stopping in Florence, and then to their current home town, Bogliasco. I then leave for Dublin after a week and spend about a week there, culminating on St. Patrick's Day, so fun! As soon as I get back I have two friends coming to visit so I am starting a whirlwind of travel and fun. If I get a chance to blog while I'm away I definitely will!