Sarande, Albania

Who here has ever been to Albania?  (Mom and Dad, I'm not talking to you... you've been everywhere!!!)   Now I know the tiny coastal town of Sarande isn't exactly "seeing Albania" but it's a nice introduction.  And this was the second day of our cruise that we were able to go onto land without our kids.  Because having older kids is pretty much the most awesomest thing of all time. Hashtag perks of getting older.

Lordy, y'all.  I can't even GET to Albania without this happening.  This was on the boat before we even left!

Albania reminded me a lot of Macedonia, but a little cleaner.  Todd said this was his favorite picture, and I have to agree. The man has good taste in pictures.  I also spy my babies on the ship (no I don't. I just see the ship, which makes me think of my babies.)

Strolling along the promenade in Sarande.  Those palm trees are fabulous.  

We tried to get off the beaten path a bit to get some food - including some things I needed to scratch off of my scratch off food map.  So we stopped at Restaurant Rustico.  Kostas the Athens cab driver was the cab driver equivalent of this waiter.  Man, I wish I had gotten his name because he was really great!  He wanted to discuss American politics and said it had been a long time since Americans had been in his restaurant.  He also delivered a giant beer to our table.

My Tave Kosi from my scratch off food map.  It's a lamb and rice casserole with yogurt.  And my beer. And my sweaty husband who was eating delicious stuffed peppers.

This beer and meal is delicious but I still can't believe this weird beer contraption.  The center is filled with a pipeline of ice covered in plastic to keep the beer cold.  And do you know how amazing it is to have a meal with your husband without the kids? I love my kids.  More than my own life.  But a kid free lunch is where it's at.

I swear this is only the kind of thing you would see in Europe.  Maybe only in the Balkans.  These two fellas are riding along and suddenly run out of gas.  They leave the scooter and disappear for a while, returning with a bottle of gasoline.  They fill'er up, then dump the empty bottle in those bushes you see on the other side of the fence.  Because... the Balkans....

Views of Sarande from the Restaurant Rustico.  Not bad at all.

The nice waiter was like, "Do you want any dessert?"  (Are you kidding?  We just drank the tower of beer!)  He brought us vanilla and strawberry ice cream anyway... for free.  Or at least he claimed this was strawberry.  I'm pretty sure it was bubble gum or something.

We spent a good two hours here.  It was worth it.  Good food, beer, conversation and ice cream.

Sometimes you look up and think... wow, that building is fabulous!  I want to live there!

And then you realize Sarande forgot to finish it's sidewalks.  Don't fall in the holes, folks.  

Does anyone else think it's winter in Boston?  Anyone? 

 As we strolled along the streets of Sarande, it reminded us a bit of Greece.  This building is completely hollowed out.  But the good news was they were working on it, hard at work on improving a cute little coastal town. 

 Maybe someone could fix the hairs on my forehead.  (Side note: I spy my babies in the background!)

As we walked around Sarande, we found the archaeological remains of a former church/basilica.   It dates back to the 4th-5th century BC.

Somewhere around the 5th/6th century AD, it was turned into a synagogue.

The archaeological remains were discovered in the 1980s (not by this guy) but the entire area wasn't unearthed until 2003/2004 since Albania was under communist rule in the 1980s and wouldn't allow the excavation of the site.

The synagogue was eventually destroyed at the end of the 6th century AD as a result of the invasion of the Slavs.

I spy my babies 2.0 and I also spy some sailboats and beautiful water in a beautiful Adriatic coastal town.

One of my friends said, "This should be in their advertisements." Yes. Yes it should.  Birra Elbar, if you're listening, I will sell this to you for the price of my son's immunotherapy from his peanut allergy.

This man is relentless.

The promenade boasts a Nicolae Iorga statue.  He was a "historian and Romanian politician who contributed to the establishment of the Albania modern state, founder and head of the Romanian Institute of Archaeological Studies and Research in Albania, Sarande."

We got a big kick out of this. "Cultural Monument."  Thanks!

We really enjoyed kids doing crazy jumps off of the stairway to heaven on the beach in downtown Sarande.

Boom, splash!

And for his next dive, this young man will attempt the jump known as the "Flip into the Adriatic."

"And there he goes... it's a perfect jump so far..."

"And with the MSC Poesia in the background, he perfects the Flip into the Adriatic!  A 10.0!"

When you travel, do you look for the absurd as I do?  This tree grew here, and they just built the buildings around it.  No need to cut trees down, folks.

Swim lessons (or swim team drills) going on in the harbor.

We were only slightly sad that we had to end our last "day date."  We missed our babies terribly, but a day together in a new country is just so much fun!  I have (grand!) intentions of getting back to Albania... especially Ohrid Lake.  Stay tuned... I think next summer's grand adventure will either be a Baltic cruise, or the remainder of the Balkans!

Until next time, Sarande!

Athens, Greece

Ahhh Athens, Greece.  You're only my second favorite Athens in the world... behind the home of my favorite band of all time... REM!

Our day in Athens turned out to be NOTHING like I thought it would be.  Nothing at all.  In such a good way.

When we got off the boat, we knew that it would be a time sensitive day, so we grabbed a cab at the cruise port.  Immediately, Kostas, our cab driver, started asking if we wanted a guide.  My guard goes up. He's offering a tour of all of the sites of Athens, and will get us back to the cruise port in time all for 100 Euro.  He promises time for lunch and souvenirs.  I'm thinking to myself, "No thanks dude.  We can do this on our own."  But for whatever reason, Todd says, "Yeah, let's do it."  (Me shrugging.)  He later says to me, "We are short on time, it's hot and a car can get us to the sites much quicker than public transportation."  He's right.  And then our first stop in the cab on our way to see the Acropolis was this little pull off on the side of the road.  Kostas says, "Can I take a family picture?"  To which Todd responds, "Why don't you just put your feet in the fountain?"  (Man I hope someone gets that reference.....)

From the same spot high on the hill, this stadium can be seen and is where they held the TaeKwonDo and Handball events in the 2004 Olympics.  Now it's used for concerts and other events. 

Finally, we reached the famous Parthenon on the Acropolis as it is clear across the city from the cruise port.  Kostas said that he would wait maybe an hour and a half, and then we could come back and continue the tour with him.  That takes a lot of trust on his part that we wouldn't just stiff him!  My suggestion if you are traveling here in the summer:  get tickets in advance.  The line to get the ticket was long and it was VERY hot and there wasn't a lot of shade.  Once you get the tickets, entrance into the Acropolis was not a problem.  It's crowded at the top, but I imagine it's like that year round since this is one of the world's most famous sights.

It's a steep hike up to the Parthenon, but on the way, you can stop and check out the Odeon of Herodus Atticus. It is a well preserved theater that was built in 161 AD, but had extensive renovations in 1950.  They still do performances here and it's well known for it's great acoustics.

Aside from ballets, operas and plays, many famous singers and bands have played here, like Diana Ross, Sting, the Foo Fighters and Frank Sinatra.

It's not an easy hike to the top of the Acropolis, especially on a hot day.  Natalie needed to sit down in the shade after this and have some water.  Here we are at the steps that lead up to the Propylaea, or the gateway to the Acropolis.  Everything is made of marble including the pathway up to this point, so wear shoes that have good traction!

The view as you head up the steps to the Propylaea are amazing!  You can see the Hill of Philopappos on the left side in the distance with it's monument on the top (more on this in a moment.)

The Acropolis is the rock on which all of the monuments to the Greek Gods were built between 447 and 432 BC. The Parthenon itself, above, is 228 feet long and 101 feet wide.  It was a temple to Athena for 900 plus years before ceasing to be such due to the persecution by Theodosius II.  It later was a church (even a Roman Catholic church) and after the Ottomans invaded in the mid 1400s, it became a mosque.  It was heavily damaged in 1687 during the Great Turkish War when a Venetian bomb was shot off from the Hill of Philopappos.  It nearly destroyed the center and southern parts of the Parthenon. 

The Erechtheion has been used as an ancient temple, a church, a palace and even was the home to the Ottoman commander's special lady friends!

Restorations have been ongoing since about 1975.  Ask anyone who's ever been here if the scaffolding has ever come down since then!  The answer is probably no!

Me trying to look super happy while I'm melting in front of one of the most famous sights in the world.

Hey guys!  Look!  It's the Parthenon!

Back over at the Erechtheion, you can see the six Caryatids.  These female statues aren't actually the originals.  Lord Elgin of Scotland came to Athens and stole one of the ladies which later was sold to the British Museum, where it still stands.  The other five are in the Acropolis Museum (which we didn't have time to see) because the air pollution of Athens was causing too much damage to the statue columns.

Honestly, the crowds though.  Crumbling wall to crumbling wall in some spots. The views are hard to beat, though.

Natalie was so hot, she almost passed out.  At that point, without having seen the entire Acropolis and being out of the water we had brought with us, we decided to call it a day and head back down to meet up with Kostas.  We didn't get to see the whole other side of the Acropolis.  Guess I'm just going to need to come back!  (MAYBE in a cooler month, though!)

Back down just below the Propylaea.  Going down is infinitely easier than going up!

Looking back up at the Acropolis, you can see on the right the Temple of Athena Nike (or Temple of Athena's victory).  It was built around 420 BC.

As soon as we got down to the ticket booth, we wanted desperately to buy some waters.  Todd stood in a long, crowded line only to find that they had NO WATER.  So as soon as we went down to find Kostas, he (without even asking) took us and bought us (with his own money) four ice cold waters!  He took us next to grab some souvenirs (you know we need to have our magnet and shot glass!) and then it was on to the Temple of Zeus.

The construction of the Temple of Zeus began in the 6th century BC, but it wasn't completed until Hadrian's rule in 131 AD.  To get an idea of how big it was... there were originally 104 columns.  Only 15 still stand (and there's one lying on the ground which was blown over in a windstorm in the mid 1800s)

We're still hot.  I love this shot of the kids at the Temple of Zeus (hand held fans and the Acropolis in the back ground.)

Hadrian's Arch (or Hadrian's Gate) in the foreground used to be the gateway from the center of Athens to the Temple of Zeus.  They think it was dedicated to the Roman Emperor Hadrian who was in control at the time.

Wasting no time, Kostas drove us over to the Panathenaic Stadium!  It was built (in it's current state) in 144 AD and it's the only stadium in the world entirely made of marble! (Superlative! Check!) It was built by Herodus Atticus (of the Odeon fame, above) and was the spot of the opening and closing ceremonies of the modern day Olympics in 1896.

Not only is this stadium the ending point of the Athens Marathon, but it also the last spot the Olympic flame burns in Athens before it is handed over to the host nation.

If you turn about 120 degrees from the Panathenaic Stadium, look what you see!  The Acropolis! Notice Natalie is still melting.  We had a group discussion of how hot Athens was on a scale of one to Colmar... and Colmar still wins for me.  Natalie says Athens is the winner, with Olympia a close second.

Little known Colleen fact:  I love REM.  Did you know that they played here at the MTV Greece launch party in 2008?  (Queue wistful sigh!)

I'm not sure if Kostas is an expert in time management (and I suspect he is) or if we were just lucky but we strolled right on up to the Greek parliament with a few minutes to spare before the changing of the guard.  You can't get too close to these guys (remember Sofia, Bulgaria!?  It's the same!  Don't get too close!) but Kostas asked if we could take a picture of the kids with the guard and they said we could.  (Just don't go above this step!)

Grant at the Greek Parliament, ready for the changing of the guard.  Notice the interesting shoes on the guard.  They are known as tsarouchia and weigh about 3 kilograms or about 6 and a half pounds EACH!  Other uniforms are worn on Sundays and official holidays.

There was about a 10 minute delay in the arrival of the new guard.  ("But of course there is..." said Todd.)  I'm sure the old guard was thinking, "Dude, I'm dying out here in this heat. Hurry your butt up!"  Two of them arrive, escorted by a third who will also escort the old guard away.  It's not quite as elaborate as the Sunday noon changing of the guard, but that was ok with us because it was brutally hot.

I'm not kidding.  It was really hot.

Here in Syntagma Square, the changing of the guard happens on the hour.  This special branch of the Hellenic Army known as the Tsoliades or the Evzones guard Parliament (and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) for an hour - and a total of three hours every 48 hours. 

Much like those at Buckingham Palace, the Presidential Guard must not move or show any facial expression.  Their movements are slow and precise during the changing, so that they can get the blood circulating in their limbs again after an hour of being motionless. When the old guard meets up with the new guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the old guard walks back to meet their escort.  

"Come on... let's get back to the barracks.  I need to hydrate!"

Leaving the changing of the guard in their khaki summer uniforms.

Kostas took us past the Academy of Athens, a big research university that was established in 1926.  Statues of Socrates and Plato sit near the ground, beneath statues of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and arts, and Apollo, the god of music and poetry.

Our last stop before lunch was breathtaking.  Kostas took us to Mount Lycabettus for views of the entire city.  This is a fantastic perspective of the Acropolis and how it seemingly towers over the city of Athens.  Legend has it that Athena was bringing limestone rocks to help build the Acropolis, but bad news came to her and she suddenly dropped the limestone which formed Mount Lycabettus.

"This country's eons old kids.  That's centuries to you and me!  Charming, isn't it?"

There's a funicular to get to the top, but if you have a cool cab driver, you can have him take you here to the viewing point. I'm not sure we have ever had so many family pictures taken in one day!  (Another cool musical note:  there's a big amphitheater up at the top of this mountain above us and some incredible artists have played there like Morrissey, Radiohead, Patti Smith, Ray Charles, Joan Baez, and Tito Puente, father of my friend Audrey!)

By this point, we were completely wiped out.  We saw WAY more than I ever expected to in a handful of hours in Athens.  Kostas took us to a little restaurant, kind of off the beaten path (but still definitely in the city) called Arsenis.  He said he takes his wife and 3-year-old here every Sunday and if we didn't like it, he would personally pay for the meal himself!  (Skeptical me is still like.... yeah, sure you would....)  But the meal was great and the beer was cold, so what's not to like!  This little girl wanted (and got) a cold Sprite in the worst way.  This poor child was never meant for the heat.

Athens... a city I was least looking forward to, had the worst expectations for, yet really loved!  As a history buff, there's so much more I want to do (again, perhaps on a slightly cooler day).

Until next time, Athens!