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We are starting our Road Scholar trip with a walking tour of the Acropolis of Athens where the Parthenon is located. The site is only a few blocks from our hotel. The weather is perfect-mid 70s predicted for today.

First, a bit of clarification. An acropolis is a fortification, usually the top of a hill with fairly steep walls to protect it. All Greek cities cities would have an acropolis. The residences of the royalty and temples used for religious purposes were located there. They became the center for community interaction.  In this case the famous Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess, Athena, dominates the site. There are several other smaller temples at the same location.we will be visiting them all as part of our walk.

Athena was the goddess of wisdom, warfare and handicrafts. Athena is the daughter of Zeus and is the patron goddess of Athens. The story of her birth is a bit of a stretch and I leave it to you to research it!

Even though we were in Athens after the tourist season there were still a lot of people visiting the Acropolis when we were there. I would hate to have been there mid-summer when the temperatures would have been 95 degrees with corresponding humidity and a lot more people! We are finding that the tourist seasons have been extended beyond the old normal times obviously to avoid the stifling crowds and weather.

After several hours wandering around the top of the Acropolis we descended and went to visit the relatively new (2009) Acropolis museum, where all the artifacts found on/around the Acropolis are on display. It is a very impressive exhibit and certainly worthy of more time  than we had to explore it. It covers the era from the Greek Bronze Age to the Romans and Byzantine era. The museum is actually built on top of ancient Roman and Byzantine ruins, some of which can be seen by the transparent glass floors in the museum.

A late lunch was at a nearby Greek restaurant where we started sampling the variety of Greek dishes we will be having over the next week. The rest of the afternoon was “free time” and we were on our own for dinner this night. In anticipation of that I sought out a local restaurant that offered not only traditional Greek food, but Greek music and dancing. It was a small place in the Plaka (old town) area of Athens where the streets are narrow and winding with little or no traffic. It seemed like a perfect place to absorb some Greek culture.

Tomorrow afternoon we will be boarding our ship and beginning our week long cruise through the Greek islands.

As many of you know we are big fans for food tours when we visit new countries. It is a fun way of learning more about the favorite foods of the culture. Although we had been to Greece before we had not taken a food tour on our first visit so we signed up for one this time. The Flynn’s joined us for this tour which we found on TripAdvisor: “Small-Group Greek Traditional Food Tour around Athens with Tastings”. Normally there might be as many as 10 people on a tour but today it was only the four of us with our local lady guide, Boula. She was a delight and we learned a lot about food customs in Greece. And there was way too much food during the 3.5 hour tastings.

After the waking tour we retrieved our luggage and went to the Divani Palace Acropolis hotel which the tour is using during our stay in Athens.

We met with our fellow travelers in the early evening before heading to a local restaurant for a group dinner. Normally a Road Scholar tour will have about 20 people. Because our tour includes accommodations on a 40 passenger boat the tour group numbers 40. As a result they have arranged for 2 tour directors who would each have responsibility for leading their group of 20. Our group of six were assigned to a group being lead by Androniki Stavroulaki, a native of Crete. Each group met separately with the tour leader for a “get to know you” session. We quickly learned that “Niki”,  as she preferred to be called was going to be  marvelous guide for our tour of Greece.

Tomorrow we begin our local tour of the marvels of Athens.

Steps for the day:  10,565. We should sleep well tonight!

 

 

 

 

 

We are heading to Athens, Greece today but not from our usual airport. As it turned out our nephew, Shawn Bishop, the youngest son of my middle brother (Rick) was getting married in  Merrillville, IN on October 11. As this was the wedding of the last of our nieces/nephews we wanted to participate so we headed to Chicago a few days ahead of the wedding to visit siblings who still lived in the area and attend the wedding.

So that accomplished we are heading to Athens from Chicago this morning. We are flying on one of our favorite airlines active in the region of the world where we are headed-Turkish Airlines. Better yet, it is on a 787 ( the successor to the famous 747) and we will be in business class. Flight time to Istanbul is about 10  hours, with a short Istanbul layover (1.5 hours) before the 1.5 hour flight to Athens. The reliability of modern aircraft is astounding. Our plane arrived from Istanbul at 9:40 AM and by 11:15AM we were on our way back to Istanbul on the same airplane!

The flight was smooth and we arrived on time in Istanbul around 6 AM their time. I was amazed at how busy the airport was that time of the morning.

I was surprised that our short flight to Athens was also on a large wide body aircraft, a 777 in this instance. I was also surprised to see how many Chinese people were on our flight. There were multiple tour groups visiting Greece .

Greece has a population of 10.4 million and Athens has a population of 643,000 (urban population of 3.1 million). And as is common in most parts of the world they have severe traffic issues. It took us almost an hour to go the 33 km from the airport to the city. The one saving grace is that they are patient drivers and I heard very few horns.

Because of my status with Marriott I was able to get early (11AM)  check in to our room where we proceeded to catch up on the missed sleep on the planes. We limited ourselves to 4 hours so we would be assured we would be able to sleep tonight.

I commonly will ask hotel staff for restaurant suggestions and they came through with what turned out to be an excellent choice only a 10 minute walk from the hotel.

Initial reactions to Athens:  There is graffiti everywhere and the buildings are in disrepair, even the ones housing upscale stores like Nike. Sidewalks near the hotel need repair. Streets are narrow and clogged with cars. Surprisingly though, many of the streets are lined with healthy trees. So far what we have seen is not overly impressive from a visual standpoint.

We are scheduled to take a walking food tour tomorrow morning before meeting our fellow tour travelers later in the day when our formal trip begins. Now it is time to try to get a good nights sleep to get our bodies into the local time zone.

We first visited Greece in 2008 on a land trip. My recollections are it was a wonderful place to visit with a tremendous historical culture. Perhaps it was time to return; but when?  Summers can be brutally hot; autumn would be a more desirable time. Literature from one of our favorite travel organizations, Road Scholar suggested an October visit that included several days in Athens followed by a cruise in a small (49 passenger) yacht that focused on visits to some of the lesser visited Greek islands caught my eye! At our age we are liking the ability to only unpack once ot twice so a cruise seemed perfect. And we always love the educational content that Road Scholar trips provide. Mentioning the trip to several of our neighbors resulted in their desire to join us, so the three couples (Michael & Sheri Flynn, John and Elizabeth Koslezski, the Bishops) are convening in Athens on October 14 for the 1o day Road Scholar trip entitled: “Classical Greece: Islands of the Aegean”.

 

It should be a fun trip and a chance to relearn Greek history!

Several of us left the hotel at 5:30 AM for the airport, which was surprisingly quiet. My flight would take me back to Istanbul, then onward to Vancouver, Canada. Because I was flying business class I had access to the magnificent Turkish Airlines lounge at the airport which offered shower facilities and wonderful food and drink. It was a great place to spend the 4+ hours I had to kill between my flights.

The flights were on time and I had a leisurely drive back to the USA and Burlington, WA where I met Yvonne who had driven up with our son Steve, to attend the National Ultimate FrisbeeTournament which happened to be scheduled that weekend in, of all places, Burlington, WA.  Why the interest? Our granddaughter, Zoe, who just completed her Junior year at Cornell (Ithaca, NY), is on the Cornell women’s club ultimate team that qualified for the national tournament. Unfortunately the ladies did not fair well in the tournament (their senior members could not attend the tournament because of graduation) but we did get to see her play and visit with her.

Epilogue:

-This trip is not for the casual traveler. We spent a lot of time moving from place to place and days were often long. Having said that it is an impressive area of the world to visit!

-The trip exceeded my expectations. The food and accommodations were way better than I had expected. The tour leader and local guides were outstanding. I learned a lot about the people, their culture, the land and its history.

– I was overwhelmed by the history in this part of the world and their efforts to document it in their museums.

-MIR Corporation did a marvelous job. I would certainly travel with them again if the opportunity arises.

– I am certainly glad I made the effort to visit the “Five Stans”, and added them to my “Countries Visited” list which now stands at 110! Hopefully I can add a few more to the list before…..Onward!

 

There were more things to see here and the day began by driving to the nearby town of Anau to visit the Seyit-Jemallidin, a complex structure that once included a mosque, madrasah and the mausoleum of Sheikh Jemal ad-Din. It dates back to the 15th century but was mostly destroyed by the 1948 earthquake that hit the area. The ruins remain as an important part of the history of the area and is often visited by pilgrims.

Nearby is a “sadaqa”, a charity kitchen that we visited where the community was in the process of cooking a meal for the people of the area. It was a fascinating encounter with the local caring people who were feeding those in need.

It was then back to the city for a driving tour of more local sights which included the first enclosed Ferris wheel I have ever seen. Unfortunately we did not get to ride on it! We also stopped at the huge Independence Monument Park , where, again, we were the only people there other then some workers. The base of grandiose monument is a hemisphere, symbolizing their traditional dwelling – yurts). The column is decorated with proud eagles and a golden spire with a crescent and 5 stars, symbolizing the unity of 5 Turkmen clans. The height of this building is 118 metres -derivative number is taken from the sum 91 and 27 (Independence Day October 27, 1991).

The last stop before lunch is at the Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex, a memorial complex to honor those killed in the 1881 battle of Geok Tepe (when the Russians took over the area), in World War II and in the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake.

Lunch was at a unique small restaurant (Gyzgala) that was tucked in among some clothing shops. It had been recommended to us by the US Ambassador we met the other day.

We had the rest of the afternoon off to relax and/pack as most of us would be leaving in the morning. I choose to treat myself to a massage at the hotel, which was incredibly inexpensive (<$40) compared to US prices.

Our farewell dinner was at the hotel and we bid Furkat, our local guide (Elias)  and our fellow travelers farewell and safe travels. My morning ride to the airport was slated for 5:30AM so it was an early evening for me.

Steps for the day:  5,393- another easy day.

 

We are scheduled to visit the ancient city of Merv, located about 400km from Ashgabat. To get there we will be flying to the nearby city of Mary, which seems like an very unusual name for a city in this part of the world.

In ancient times Merv was called Margiana. It existed over 4000 years and was an important part of the Silk Road between the 2nd and  13th centuries when it was sacked and destroyed  by the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan. Merv was a center of culture, religion and commerce in it’s heyday, rivaled Damascus and Baghdad as the major Islamic city. It was the melting pot for religion and ethnic culture before Genghis Khan sacked it.

We spent several hours wandering around the remains of the city and visited several mosques and mausoleums in the area before having lunch and heading back to Ashgabat by motor coach.

We returned to Mary around 1 PM for a late lunch before heading back to Ashgabat.

Never did understand why we did not fly back instead of taking the 4 + hour bus ride back. We did get to see the nearby Karakum desert as part of our return trip. And a funny thing happened as we neared Ashgabat. The bus pulled over for what we thought was simply a chance to stretch our legs. While doing so and while we were taking pictures of some local sand dunes the driver proceeded to take out a bucket of water and long brush and wash the front of the bus. Perplexed we asked why and he stated that if he arrived back in Ashgabat with a dirty bus he could be fined by the police! Another amazing tale of what it is like living in Ashgabat.

We arrived back at the hotel around 7 PM and we were on our own for dinner that night. Having had  huge lunch most of us simply passed and headed to bed. Tomorrow is our last day of sightseeing in the Ashgabat area.

Steps for the day: 5,901- another easy day.

 

It turned out to be a very busy day as we toured the local area. Our first stop was to an ancient site located not far (18km) from the city- the ruins of Nisa, the former capital of the Parthian Kingdom. The site dates back to the 3rd century BCE. It was abandoned in the 1st century BCE when hit with an earthquake.

From there on our return to the city we stopped to visit the large mosque and mausoleum of Saparmurat Niyazov, the first president of the independent Turkmenistan, who ruled from 1985-2006. He also gave himself the name of “Turkmenbashi (Head of Turkmen)”. The mosque, built in 2002-2004, is known as Turkmenbashi Ruhy Mosque and it is one of the largest in Central Asia. It can hold 10,000 worshipers. Niyazov was a bit notorious as he wrote a two volume book called the “Ruhnama”, claiming it as the second most important book after the Quran. He mandated it to be taught in all the schools. Adjacent to the mosque is a mausoleum where he is buried.

Our next stop was back in Ashgabat where we visited the National Museum of Turkmenistan, a huge complex dedicated to telling the detailed history of the area and its people. It is an impressive display.  We were led by a local guide for an all too short visit to the museum. I was amazed at all the historical artifacts on display there and would have enjoyed spending a lot more time studying the history of the area. One fascinating thing that occurred during our visit was a chance to meet the US ambassador to Turkmenistan, Elizabeth Rood, who happened to be at the museum while we were there. She stopped by to have a brief chat with our group.

From there we stopped to visit the Russian Bazaar for a brief visit. During the era of Russian rule it was used exclusively by Russian elite. Now it is open to all. It was not as extensive or busy as other bazaars we had visited.

Lunch was followed by another trip outside the city to visit a horse breeding farm devoted to the famous Akhal-Teke horses, arguably the oldest cultured breed of horses in the world. Supposedly they lent their genes to the development of both the Arabian and American quarter horse breeds.

As we drove to and from the sites we visited we continued to see the elaborate stunning white marble buildings in the city and noted the absence of people! I joked that the city was really a Hollywood movie set and not a real city.

Dinner brought yet another surprise as we were entertained by local dancers who performed a ritual wedding ceremony where we were encouraged to participate by dressing in local clothing  and joining in the dancing. It was a lot of fun.

The long day ended by driving through the city after dark to see the many lighted buildings before returning to our hotel.

Steps for the day: 10,588. Must have been that high because of he dancing at the wedding!

I forgot to mention several things about our visit to Karakalpakstan. As we were on our bus driving to Nukus our guide, Furkat, gave us an extensive history lesson about this whole area, starting in the 6th century BC, when the Persians ruled the area. His story took us through the rule of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, arrival of the Hindus in early AD, Islam in the 8th century, Timur, the Russians in the 19-20th century until final freedom in 1991. There is a heck of a lot of history associated with this region of the world!

By the way, some time in the 12-14th century checks were invented here. Why?  Robbers knew that the extreme value of silk resulted in a lot of cash being transported by the caravans. Carry a check rather than cash and the problem goes away.

Other facts made known by our speaker:   There are 1,000,000 hectares (1 ha equals 2.47 acres) of cotton grown here which requires a lot of water. Also there are 100,000 km of irrigation canals to feed these crops and 37 % is lost simply through evaporation, which helps explain why the water issue even a larger problem for the area.

We have a busy day as we need to cross another border (Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan) and then fly to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. As a result we found ourselves leaving the hotel at 6AM. Our good luck at crossing the border ran out today as it took almost 4 (yes, 4 hours) to cross into Turkmenistan. Part of the reason is they require you to take a Covid test, plus pay for a visa ($106 total in cash) as part of the crossing process. The hassle with the Covid testing was a joke as far as our fellow travelers who are doctors said. Because they hardly swabbed your nose there was no way a positive test would be recorded.  Anyway you waited to get tested, you waited until the results come back all stuffed in a room with no place to sit ( I finally used my suitcase); then you had to fight a bunch of locals, who do not recognize the concept of queuing, in getting your passports stamped for entry. We even had our local tour guide trying to hasten up the process but it was darn slow.  Once that was done (about three hours later) all we had to do was cross the “no man’s land” to the other border which we had done easily in the other crossings. It was longer here (3-4 football fields) but for some reason they would not let anyone walk; you had to wait for a small, rickety old bus to make a round trip to carry people and luggage to the other border. That was another scrum as we impolitely had to push our way onto the bus, hand our luggage to those already on board and then stuff ourselves onto the bus so we could stay together as a group. It was hilarious. We started the process at 9:06 and finally arrive in Turkmenistan at 12:58PM!

We immediately had lunch and then proceeded to the Dasoguz airport for our short (about 1 hour) flight to Ashgabat. Once there we were exposed to the “unusual” way of life in Turkmenistan.

Local money was our first education. The official rate to convert USD to Turkmenistan dollars is about $3.5 TMT to $1USD. However, the street market is anywhere from 15-18TMT to the dollar. Even the hotel offered 18.5! Needless to say we all did not use the formal channels to convert money.

Next surprise. Turkmenistan is rich in oil and gas. As a result some previous rulers decided that all the major buildings in Ashgabat shall be made with white Carrara marble. No cheap marble allowed. Furthermore, all cars in Ashgabat must be white (white is the color of peace was the rationale)! You can be fined or punished if you have a wrong color. I did see a silver one and asked the local guide about that. He facetiously (?) said the person probably worked for the government. People can be fined and even have their cars confiscated if they are not white. Even the trucks I saw were white.

And that is not all. An earlier ruler liked the color green so he mandated that all the roofs on homes had to be green! Yep, everywhere you look you see bright green roofs!

Another rule: If you were not born in Ashgabat or worked for the government you could not live there. Our local guide was born in another city and said he cannot move to Ashgabat. And when he comes to the city he has to park his car on the outskirts and ride public transportation in the city. Now that is spooky.

It sure looks like our visit here will be interesting to say the least.

Steps for the day: 5,861, another easy day.

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Our trip is sold as a visit to the “Five Stans”.  However we will be visiting a 6th “Stan” although it is not an official country. We are going to the capital of the autonomous region of Karakalpakstan, home of the Karakalpaks, a Turkic people more closely related to Kazakhs than to Uzbeks. We are headed to Nukus where cotton is king and a shrinking Aral Sea has decimated the local fishing industry.

Education for the day: What is an “autonomous” region? An autonomous region is a part of a country that has a degree of self-governance and can make decisions independently from the central government.

Karakalpakstan is in the northwest portion of Uzbekistan and has a population of about 2 million. The people are referred to as the “black hats” because of the distinctive black hats worn by the men.  It was a thriving agricultural and fishing area but both industries are in trouble. They have relied heavily on irrigation for their crops and global warming plus Turkmenistan’s building of a major water canal that will divert more water will make water even more of an issue in the future. Also the dramatic shrinking of the Aral Sea has virtually killed the fishing industry in the country. The area borders on the edge of a desert which does not help matters.

We are here to visit the famous Igor Savitsky museum complex, often called the “Louvre in the sands” it is really several collections and we will visit both.

A bit of background on Igor Savitsky. He was born in Ukraine in 1915 and was initially trained to be an electrician. He took private drawing lessons and after 1934 took further studies in art. He visited Nukus in 1950, fell in love with it and lived there until he died in 1984. In the late 50’s and early 60’s he collected Karakalpak cultural items and convinced the locals to create what is now the Nukus museum. He was the curator. His other passion was collecting avant garde works of Russian painters (most of whom were exiled  by Stalin and other Russian rulers). Quite often families of former banned painters gave Savitsky paintings of the outlawed painters for the museum. There is supposedly an excellent documentary called “Desert of Forbidden Art” that documents his endeavor.

We first went to a building that contains the archeological, cultural  and folk art artifacts of the Karakalpakstan people, a former nomadic culture.

After lunch we then visited the art portion of the museum, which contains the second largest collection of Russian avant-garde art, second only to the Russian museum in St Petersburg.

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Back at the hotel we had a late afternoon lecture by a local scientist who discussed the tragic story of the demise of the Aral Sea and the ongoing problems with water in the area. The once thriving fishing industry is totally gone because of the demise of the Aral Sea.

Dinner was at a nearby home restaurant where we were in for a bit of surprise. First as we approached the front door we were met by a group of men who performed several dances for us. Once inside, we were further entertained by a local ensemble who played traditional instruments, and sang traditional songs. All of this along with another great dinner and some local vodka!

Tomorrow we are leaving Uzbekistan and headed to the last Stan on the list: Turkmenistan.

Steps for the day:  5,317- an easy day!