Hellas

So how does it feel to walk around a city that is over 3000 years old? Better still how does it feel to see structures that are still standing which are that old.

Athens, with its seven hills and small alleys is just that. How does it feel? Quite brilliant.

Too see the care with which the old monuments are being restored, you can not help but feel frustrated at the way the ancient heritage back home is being neglected and destroyed. (I know big talk - what am I doing about it?)

Anyway. The city of THE acropolis. THE because every Greek city had one. But this is the one that matters. This is the one that the world recognises. This is the one that is probably in the best shape.

Went up the hill to the temples of the Parthenon, Erecthyion and to Nike on a day with spitting rain. Walking about the acropolis, you get a sense of the old grandeur of the place. You also have to marvel at how the place was built in the first place. Lucky for us we got a tour who let us know details about the place. Also told us of places to visit around the Acropolis. Like the new Acropolis museum, still not open but a preview display is up. Quite nice that.

The tickets to the acropolis also give you entry to the 6 other places around the city:

• The Ancient Aghora - Crumbling market place on the foothills of the Acropolis. Built and rebuilt over over the ages, still a lot of structures standing from way back when.
• The Roman Aghora - The forum as its called in Roman territories is the Marketplace put up by the Romans when they finally took the city. Most of the place is in ruins.
• Hadrian's library - Shell of the great library setup by Roman Emperor Hadrian.
• The Temple of Jupiter and Hadrian's gate - The incomplete Temple that was built in the centre of the city. The scale of the thing is enormous. Unsurprising that they ran out of men and material to complete the thing. Hadrians gate is another relic of the Roman time, built right next to the Temple of Jupiter.
• The Theatre of Dionysius - Huge theater built on the slopes of the Acropolis. Seeing it you remember that the ancient Greeks were the first to have public plays. Huge theater. Standing in the well you can almost see the hundreds of peole sitting in the seats rising around you.
• Keramaikos - Supposed to be an ancient cemetry. Didnt bother the spooks.

Also went to the Ancient Harbour of Piraeus. Not ancient anymore. Nothing old visible. All the tourist lines of the Meditaranean is all you get to see.

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In between, went for a day trip out to Delphi, The Navel of the Ancient world. The location where Casandra (cue Voices) and the other Oracles prophecised the glory and the destruction of the ancients.

The place was generally in ruins. Archaelogical restoration is in progress, and you can see some of the past glory of the monuments in place. Delphi was dedicated to Apollo and the columns of the temple are still visible. Every four years, Games were held at the Stadium built at the top of the stadium. Walking up to the top, realised how out of shape I was. The bloody Greeks must have been hulks to walk up that slope carrying their armour etc.

The highlight of the trip though was at the Delphi museum. There a almost complete lifesize statue of a Charioteer is installed. Its eerie jade eyes seems to follow you as you walk around the statue. Superb.

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This trip was done one week after the riots in the city in Dec 2008. While waling in Pireaus, a crowd was gathering for some more protests. Got out of there as fast as possible.

Also had dinner in the completely seedy Indian restaurant near Thission. Outside were completely dodgy looking immigrant janta. The police made a round of the place a few times while we were having dinner.

There was another Indian place just a few streets earlier to the seedy one. This one was great with decent Indian fare. Quite amazing how the atmosphere of the place just completely shifts in a few 100 metres.

Had good vegetarian food in the country. Probably helped to have along a person who new what to order.

Also, was amazing to see the Greek alphabet again. All those years of alpha, beta,gamma,delta etc in school paid off. Atleast you could guess what was written in case the english script was not available. Nice timepass as well. Especially when you could read some of the engravings on the monuments.

Photos @ picassa

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Thus ends the travels of the crazy Indian in Europe in winter 2008.

BTW , completely stunned at the number of Indian tourists in Greece for the time of the year.

Deustcheland

Probably ended up in the country at the wrong time. Gloomy skies, brisk wind, but thankfully no precipitation. But winter was beginning to show its true colours.

Five days in the country, six towns in and around Bayern. Gods gift to the traveller is truly De Bahn, One stop location to find public transport anywhere in Germany, and trains anywhere in Europe. The site is quite stunning in that it give details of connections between buses, trains, metro et all in one place. It even gives you expected time it takes to walk from one terminal to the other.

Some of the offers on the site are quite interesting too. I ended up taking a Bayern pass everyday and was able to travel on all public transport in the region except the high speed intercity trains for 20 odd EUR a day.

Travelling around the region you are reminded that each town was in itself part of the federation of city states. Each town, Nurnberg, Bamberg, Wurzberg, Augsburg, Munich all had there own city forts and royal palace for the local City ruler. All these palaces are very impressive. Highlights of each town

• Nurnberg : the old town with the Haptmarkt area
• Bamberg: the town hall - a UNESCO world heritage site. Can not be described. To be seen to understand. Would be superb in good light i think.
• Wurzberg: The river Main and the bridge accross it. The way the flow of water was regulated through the arches of the bridge reminded me of wiers etc that we had learnt in FM. Surpirising that I realised that, cause the statues on the bridge itself were superb. The walk along the river was sublime. Reminded me of walking along the seaside back in the colony.
• Augsburg: The main street in the town, the Fuggurei - a clean ancient ghetto type place
• Munich: The beast at the heart of the area. Capital of bavaria. Everything is larger than life, the squares, the palaces. And I don't think i've seen half of what is there to see in the city.

Was christmas time when i was around. The christmas markets were thrown open in all the town squares. The smell of gluhwine (mulled wine) and sausages was everywhere. General cheer and Christmassy feel in the air.

Managed to put in a day trip to Salzburg, Austria (after spending the night in the waiting room in Munich on Christmas eve). Beautiful town nestled in the Austrian Alps. Was where Mozart stayed and creatd his music. The city centre is another UNESCO heritage site.

Cheeky fact - The town houses here are all called Rathaus's. Haus being House - loosely translating to Rat House. Quite amusing that the hall of the town people is called the Rat house.

For picures go that direction. You'll need to signin to see the pictures believe.

Differences

One sometimes gets a rude awakening that you are from another culture and thought process entirely. Even something as simple as grocey shopping opens your eyes.

In Germany, I was quite surprised to find that everything - and I mean everything, is closed on holidays. Super markets/ stores everything. Coming from a place where you can always go to the kirana store incase you need something, was quite annoying. Landed on a Saturday and was provisionless for a full day before I could get anything. Thankfully there was just enough provisions lying about the house to last the weekend.

Monday morning first thing get to the nearby super market, get saamaan that would last for my stay there and get to the check out. Pay up and lookup for plastic bags to carry the bought stuff. Pick up one of the bags kept at the check out and start the stuff that I've bought, only to be admonished by the woman at the checkout in a thick teutonic voice "You must pay for the bag". Pay for plastic? What? That to a steep price for flimsy plastic. This is when you realise the EU is trying to force people to be environmently friendly. A good thing definitely, but completely alien to me.

Guess thats what all that cross cultural sensitivity crap is all about.