Kos Town Two

Our next stop on our architectural journey of Kos Town was the Roman Odeon. This theater has been reconstructed and is used in the summer for a concert and thespian series. Archeological digs continue on the site as more and more of the old structure is discovered.
























After that was the Casa Romana. This modern structure was built to resemble an ancient Roman mansion that stood on the site. Inside, rooms were built to house the surviving artifacts such as mosaics, wall paintings and sculptures.









This reconstruction, and a similar one in of a Stoa in Athens, are an amazing way to experience the sites. Not only is it protecting delicate mosaics, but it give the visitor a concrete picture of the ancient building.























Our last stop for the day was the Temple of Dionysus. By this point, all the ruins were starting to look the same to us. So instead or pondering the rubble, we were quickly distracted by a particularly ambitious group of ants.























This hoard had succeeded in literally carving a path on the ground and over some of the ruins. The long curvy trail is easily visible in the photo below and went on further than my lens was able to capture. Wicked cool!






















Oh, we also found a stone lion... it was neat. But those ants! Wow!
















That night we indulged ourselves with a seafood feast. Nick the Fisherman's is a small restaurant owned by Nick and his family who are... you guessed it... fishermen! Having been raised near the ocean, I knew that the closer a restaurant is to the catch the better. The logic stood to reason that Nick's fish would be good.

But it wasn't. It was phenomenal!

We started off with oysters and smooth clams on the half shell. This decision was made at the discretion of our waiter who walked us right over to the fish tank and said "You'll want these... and these are fresh today so these too!" Both of the bivalves had flavor that I have never experienced. No Tabasco or lemon juice need for these oysters. They were seasoned instead by simple liveliness and the bit of ocean sediment that still clung to the shells. The clams had bright vermilion muscles inside and a clean taste which foiled the oyster's grit.

The camera stayed at home for this amazing meal, by the way, but this review of the restaurant has some pictures including this one of our clams.

For our next course, we were whisked into the kitchen where our waiter proceeded to show us the day's various catches which were kept in a file cabinet-like cooler. We decided to go with something that we would be hard pressed to find back home: barracuda. The cook graciously halved the fish, which was about two-feet long and then grilled our half. The final product was served with an olive oil and lemon juice emulsion and proceeded to blow us away. Add to this crisp and cold retsina, white wine cured in pine barrels, and we had a perfect night.

Kos Town

After two nights we escaped from our all-inclusive experience... again by taxi thanks to an incorrect bus schedule. An hour later we arrived in downtown Kos Town and made our way on foot to our hotel. It was a breath of fresh air to deal with the friendly staff at the small family owned Imperial Hotel. After pulling together my stomach, which was still upset from the resort food, we headed out to see some archeology.





Our first stop was the Neratzia Castle. Built by the Knight Hospitaller of crusader fame, this 14th century castle sits on a pier in Kos harbor and is a great place to watch the boat come in and out. The knights, like so many other ancient groups, pirated columns from ancient ruins and used them to reinforce the ceiling of the castle gate.























Much of the stone the makes up the castle walls was also recycled from ruins and some of the ancient carvings are still visable, though many are flipped upside-down and sideways. Apparently the knight were more worried about invading Turks than orienting the ancient Greek character correctly. Go figure.



































Right next door to the castle is the famed Tree of Hippocrates. Though researchers have proven that the tree is not old enough to have been alive in the time of Hippocrates, the local continue to swear that the medicine man himself sat underneath it. It is like if Mainers discovered L.L. Bean was a vegetarian. I'm pretty sure we would still maintain that he was an expert hunter. Hey, you've got to make a living somehow. Oh, also Paul (as in the apostle who did all that traveling and letter writing) taught at the tree. Acts 21:2. Also not quite possible for a tree that is estimated to be about 500 years old.






















You'll notice on the picture that the white marble fountain surrounding the tree has not Greek, but Arabic characters. Eleftherias square, which encircles the tree, is also home to the Defterdar Mosque. Kos is 2.5 miles from Turkey so it is no surprise that this 18th century islamic house of worship exists.



Next we made our way to the Ancient Agora. This marketplace was initially built by the Ancient Greeks in 4th centurcy b.c. The same site was then rebuilt and expanded upon by the Romans. City planners used an early version of the city block model, standardizing the size of the lots.



The site is full of mosaics, including an impressively large and intact mosaic depicting the abduction of Europa. Most of the more intact mosaics are roped off and covered by lean-tos in an attempt at preservation. While exploring we were able to find a few on foot level, though, so to speak.



Alright... time for a break in the narrative. Stay tuned for part two of our archeological explorations.

Why the term "all-inclusive" makes us cringe

So after a long break from blogging... here it is. What you've all bee waiting for... a rant about our all-inclusive resort experience. Sure you might be saying: "No that's not what I've been waiting for at all! Give me ruins! Give me Bergkirchweih! Give me the Austrian alps!" Well tough. You'll have to weed through my rant first. (Though, I will point out that Ryan has imposed a set of ridgid deadlines for me over the next week so the good stuff is coming)

The day after our epic Kefalos hike, Ryan and I were ready to be pampered at what we assumed would be a relaxing tropical resort experience. How wrong we were.

Our misadventure started when we were led astray by our Google Map directions. We had successfully caught a bus in Kefalos that dropped us off in downtown Kardemena. Following the afore mentioned map, we began to trek the road following the beach west out of town. After an hour, and passing several resorts that were not ours, we began suspect that something was a miss. I wandered onto the grounds of one of the resorts that was preparing to open for the season and asked a confused looking man, "We are looking for the Midas Norida. Can you help us?"

He responded that our resort was on the other side of town, and that we had walked five kilometers in the wrong direction, all the while obviously amused by our misdirection. Frustrated, we headed to the nearest open resort and called a taxi to take us to the Norida. On a side note, taxis are very affordable in Greece and a god send when the logistics of your vacation go awry.

Hot and tired we finally arrived at the resort. Unfortunately our troubles were not yet over. We confirmed our reservation with the woman at the front desk, and received a booklet detailing what was included in our all-inclusive experience. Next came time to pay. We handed over our credit card. It did not go through.

Neither did any of the four other card we were carrying. Now being the savvy travelers we are, we had Bank of America's collect oversees helpline number at the ready. The people over at the bank put a speedy authorization on the card and said all would be well... but it wasn't.

The manager of the hotel proceeded to attempt to run our credit card for the next hour without success. His attitude towards us deteriorated by the minute, until he was flat out annoyed and incredibly rude. All the while, Ryan was on and off the phone with the bank. During one of these conversations, the customer service rep mentioned that they could not see any transactions coming through. Having worked in retail, and with creditcard machines, and with creditcard machine companies, I began to be suspicious of that it was not a problem with the card at all.

"Have you run any other creditcards today?" I asked the manager.

"Well... no," he said.

At this point we exchanged a knowing look. This whole mess was his fault... and he knew it. He exchanged some words with the desk staff and hastily left. The women behind the desk informed us that we should take the resort bus into town and withdraw money from the atm there to pay for our room.

Now if we had been a bit older... and more intimidating looking... and less tired... we might have demanded that they let us into our room and fix their creditcard machine. Instead be begrudgingly waited for the bus, headed into town, and easily withdrew the funds.

Twenty minutes later we returned to the resort and presented the cash to the woman at the desk. She then ducked into the back office to talk to the manager, who never came out to apologize to us, and started to count out our change. I was puzzled that the process took her an incredibly long time, until I noticed that she was paying us the twenty-something euro she owed us in coins.

This is when Ryan bent over the counter and began to laugh. It was that sort of crazed laughter that implies: "Are you kidding me?" And no, they weren't kidding. Just completely incompetent.

The two nights we spent at the resort proceeded in a similar fashion. As it was early in the season, much of the included activities (like water sports, tennis, and other sports) were not up and running. On top of that, the buffet style food made me sick in a way I have not experienced since traveling in the Middle East. That's right Midas Norida. Your food is on par with Cairo sanitation standards.

In the end we left feeling cheated of vacation time, but happy to get back to what Ryan repeatedly called "real Greece."

a rainbow from our Erlangen deck

There are more Greece posts to come, but in honor of the first day of Bergkirchweih... a rainbow!

First Day on Kos: Kefalos

Our flight from the mainland arrived in Kos at too-early am. The airport was small, but the town surrounding the airport was smaller. Unable to locate rental bikes or the local bus service we had read about, we decided to play the intrepid twenty-somethings and set off on foot to our first hotel on the western most point of the island.

Nearing an hour into our walk, we were still skirting the perimeter of the airport. We had hoped to see the island on our walk and had yet to view much more than road and barbed-wire fence. We did, however, learn that even at 7 am and on a small island, Kos locals like to drive fast. "Where are these people going?" was the question of the morning.

Just as the negativity was about to set in, one of the speeding cars pulled to the side.

"Hotel Fourtounis?" the driver asked in American accented English.

Tentatively Ryan said yes.

"Are you Ryan Buck?" queried the man.

"Are you Mr. Fourtounis?" Ryan called back.

Before we left Germany, Mr. Fourtounis emailed Ryan to find out what time to expect us a the hotel. Ryan replied with our flight time and our plans to either bike or hike from the airport. Foreseeing that the walk was not as nice as we expected, Mr. Fourtounis decided to keep a lookout for us while commuting from his home to the hotel. In retrospect, his gracious lift to the hotel saved us a ton of precious time that we put to use later in the day.

On the ride to the hotel, Mr. Fourtounis explained that he had studied in New York City for sometime when he was younger. Now he lives with his wife elsewhere on the island and commutes to Kefalos where he operates the hotel with his mother. During our stay we discussed on numerous occasions with Mr. Fourtounis the advantages to staying in a family run hotel, a point our time on Kos would go on to prove without a doubt.
















The town of Kefalos is situated up on a hill overlooking the harbor. Meanwhile, the hotels, restaurant and tourist shops are located on the harbor at the base of the mountain. The physical separation of local and tourist was right out of one of my old college texts: Dean McCannell's The Tourist.

When we arrived at the hotel, Mr. Fourtounis offered to to make us breakfast while we settled into our room. As it was early in the season, we had the place to ourselves, literally. After a good breakfast of ham, cheese, toast and hard-boiled eggs (a diet we have retained upon returning to Germany) we set off to do the only logical thing: climb the highest mountain we could see.























Now, before I continue, you have to understand the we were under the impression that the island was much smaller than it turned out to be. That being said, we set out for our hike with a liter and a half of water. Six hours, several Agios (those iconic blue and white temples), and breath-taking views later we found ourselves dry, town-less, and a long way from our hotel. It was at this point that we thankfully stumbled upon our very own white sand beach.

Paradiso is so remote that the dirt road leading to it has almost eroded into the hillside. When we finally made it down the mountain to the sand we quickly realized that it was just us... and the goats. Some welcome swimming and beach-combing under our belts, we decided it best to start the long trek (up the mountain, around the mountain and then back down again) into town.

















The journey back was rough. We were both dehydrated, hungry, and I was sunburned (Ryan's incredible vigilance with the sunscreen kept him unscathed... and white as the fallen snow). Our spirits were lifted, however, by the antics of goats roaming free throughout the hills.























If you've never had the pleasure of getting up close and personal with a goat before, know one thing: goats have a staring problem. They will look into your eyes like they are boring into your very soul. But just when you think they are preparing to either steal your thoughts or charge, they dart off down the mountain. The lesson? Goats are all talk... or eyes I guess.






















On our descent we got to witness the goats being called in for supper. A loan herder called into the hills, and suddenly the clang of bells echoed in the distance. Goats and sheep came running down the mountain in search of dinner, stopping only for a passing car or to stare at two tired hikers and their camera.

















When we finally made it down to the harbor, we stopped in to a tourist shop to buy some much needed water, Gatorade, aloe (for me) and $20 a bottle sunscreen (for Ryan... and my burnt spots). After hydration and showers at the hotel, we headed to the restaurant that Mr. Fourtounis recommended as "it just opened yesterday so you know everything is fresh."

Now it may have been the excessive exercise or the almost 12 hours without food, or both... but the meal we had was heavenly. The house wine, most Greek taverna's have their own, was cold and dry. The calamari was fried in olive oil in a lighter batter than you would think possible. We also discovered an ingenious culinary combination of muscles, tomatoes and feta called Muscle Saganaki. At the end of the night we were full, exhausted, and very happy.

Not bad for our first day on the island.

we're back!

We made it to Greece and back! Lots of photos and tales of our adventures to come so stay tuned!

p.s. That's Athen's Temple of Olympian Zeus in the background.

my first article from Germany is up

Click here to go to the Times Record's Web site and read the article.

a quick sunny shot from nuremberg

olympiapark, munich

for ben...

St Johann Nepomuk-Kirche: baroque church, munich

munich architecture: a few more shots

munich architecture: out and about one