Lucky Pierre Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Sunday it is!!! :D Stickers are good! I just found out that #3 is coming from the UK-might not make it before I leave... *sigh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Heh. Sort of strange but it looks like I will be going to that part of the world too. A couple of days for work. Ok. Istanbul not Greece and October not September but still that corner of Europe is the place to be in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Pierre Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 Just to confirm... Coordinate everything with DT and Mash for our Sunday meet and I will call them to find out where/when.. I'm not taking the lappy on this trip so will be at the mercy of i-cafes and what not to stay in touch except for phones... :) I'm totally jazzed... Pod.. get your ass to Greeze for this! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zollo Posted August 23, 2008 Author Share Posted August 23, 2008 At long last, a post. Thanks for the input, Mashiara, dalThor, much appreciated. I am reading up on Athens at the moment and am trying to make up my mind as to what to (feasibly) see in the few days I am there. I haven't booked accomodation yet, but will do so within a few days. There seems to be a dearth of proper hostels about in the city centre for reasonable prices I figure I'll go for one of those as opposed to paying a bunch of money for a hotel. Anyway, I am arriving on the 5th, Friday evening and leaving late afternoon on Monday the 8th from Piraeus harbour. It would be good fun to go do some things together during the weekend, I am up for it. Details could be fleshed out a bit closer to the date. I'll pm my cell phone number before then as well. As to what how/what/where: I am going to Antikythera for a couple of weeks to assist in the bird research project they have set up there, particulary in terms of raptor migration. Greek island in the middle of nowhere, good time of the year weather wise, massive waves of raptors, Greek food (did I mention I love any and all food? :P ) It'll be good times. Not sure about Crete yet, just that I will have little time and will have to properly visit that island another time. I got a ferry sorted to Kissamos but I only have 2 days after arriving there, on the 26th of September I intend to fly back from Heraklion. So that will most likely be a bus tour across Crete to get to the latter and an attempt to avoid the tourist trap sea resorts along the northern coast. Looking well forward to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LugaJetboyGirl Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Zollo, I spent several weeks working on Kythera two summers ago. It's a cool island, but anti-kythera is a different story. I know some archaeologists who worked there and it involved taking the boat way out and living in tents for weeks, since it is pretty much uninhabited. the greek islands are beautiful though. prepare yourself for lots of sun and swimming in the sea. make sure to bring a mask and snorkel. as for places to stay, i've stayed in the international hostel right in the plaka, but it seems to get more expensive every passing year. the last few times i stayed in a hostel, I stayed here: [url="http://www.hostelaphrodite.com/index.html"]http://www.hostelaphrodite.com/index.html[/url] Back then it was really cheap, but it's full of collegy-types off on their Euro-trips, looking for bars. I was never hanging around the hostel though, so it didn't bother me - cheap was more important. It's not in the city center, but it is right next to a metro stop - the Athens metro is super easy to navigate and I found it very easy to get to and from the hostel, just a few stops to get to Syntagma square or the Acropolis station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zollo Posted August 24, 2008 Author Share Posted August 24, 2008 [quote name='LugaJetBoyGirl' post='1492223' date='Aug 23 2008, 21.42']Zollo, I spent several weeks working on Kythera two summers ago. It's a cool island, but anti-kythera is a different story. I know some archaeologists who worked there and it involved taking the boat way out and living in tents for weeks, since it is pretty much uninhabited. the greek islands are beautiful though. prepare yourself for lots of sun and swimming in the sea. make sure to bring a mask and snorkel. as for places to stay, i've stayed in the international hostel right in the plaka, but it seems to get more expensive every passing year. the last few times i stayed in a hostel, I stayed here: [url="http://www.hostelaphrodite.com/index.html"]http://www.hostelaphrodite.com/index.html[/url] Back then it was really cheap, but it's full of collegy-types off on their Euro-trips, looking for bars. I was never hanging around the hostel though, so it didn't bother me - cheap was more important. It's not in the city center, but it is right next to a metro stop - the Athens metro is super easy to navigate and I found it very easy to get to and from the hostel, just a few stops to get to Syntagma square or the Acropolis station.[/quote] Thanks for that. Not sure I can stuff lots more in the backpack than what is already there what with optic equipment and the like. I'll see what I can do in terms of snorkeling :P. Yes, I know that Anti is rather different, one of the least populated Greek islands I believe, 50ish people at the last count. Accomodation etc there is sorted through the project so that'll work out. Less than 2 weeks now! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenryng Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 [quote name='Zollo' post='1491934' date='Aug 23 2008, 10.38']As to what how/what/where: I am going to Antikythera for a couple of weeks to assist in the bird research project they have set up there, particulary in terms of raptor migration. Greek island in the middle of nowhere, good time of the year weather wise, massive waves of raptors, Greek food (did I mention I love any and all food? :P ) It'll be good times. Not sure about Crete yet, just that I will have little time and will have to properly visit that island another time. I got a ferry sorted to Kissamos but I only have 2 days after arriving there, on the 26th of September I intend to fly back from Heraklion. So that will most likely be a bus tour across Crete to get to the latter and an attempt to avoid the tourist trap sea resorts along the northern coast. Looking well forward to it![/quote] Sounds like you are going to have a good time. And this is for your job, huh? I can think of worse jobs. Although the inclusion of boats pretty much kills it permanently for me. No can do. Which raptors, and are there any other species in general that you will have to be looking for? Is this particular job one of the many that you mentioned having put in bids for some months ago? [quote name='LugaJetBoyGirl' post='1492223' date='Aug 23 2008, 16.42']Zollo, I spent several weeks working on Kythera two summers ago. It's a cool island, but anti-kythera is a different story. I know some archaeologists who worked there and it involved taking the boat way out and living in tents for weeks, since it is pretty much uninhabited. the greek islands are beautiful though. prepare yourself for lots of sun and swimming in the sea. make sure to bring a mask and snorkel. as for places to stay, i've stayed in the international hostel right in the plaka, but it seems to get more expensive every passing year. the last few times i stayed in a hostel, I stayed here: [url="http://www.hostelaphrodite.com/index.html"]http://www.hostelaphrodite.com/index.html[/url] Back then it was really cheap, but it's full of collegy-types off on their Euro-trips, looking for bars. I was never hanging around the hostel though, so it didn't bother me - cheap was more important. It's not in the city center, but it is right next to a metro stop - the Athens metro is super easy to navigate and I found it very easy to get to and from the hostel, just a few stops to get to Syntagma square or the Acropolis station.[/quote] I was going to berate you for not having told me that you had already gotten yourself over there before, but it occurred to me that, in retrospect, you did mention it to me at one point, and also that it is my own damn fault for not following up on the conversation in Denver like I kept meaning to. The fact that you are going back for school there is particularly neat. What exactly is your itinerary, anyway? Are you stationed in one town and make multiiple trips out from there? I was guessing that you would have to travel, but I realized that places may be closer to each other over there than I realized. That, and the fact that with so much history having happened there, you may need more time to adequately cover an area, also. Have you been to Rome yet, as an aside? So, basically, tell me everything. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zollo Posted August 24, 2008 Author Share Posted August 24, 2008 No, it is not for my job, haha, that'd be grand, getting paid for all this. Just a way for me to combine some holiday time in Greece with something I like doing a look lot: being out and about studying nature! It is a good spot for migration, so in principal anything that passes by (there'll be passerine ringing taking place as well, that'll be ace, been a while), but as far as the expected raptor species go (not exhaustive): Honey buzzard, Long-legged buzzard, Levants sparrowhawk, Lesser spotted eagle, Imperial eagle, Booted eagle, Bonelli's eagle (resident on the island), Eleonoras falcon (one of the biggest colonies in the world on the island), Osprey, Red footed falcon, Lesser kestrel, Lanner falcon, Marsh harrier, Montagus harrier, Pallid harrier, Egyptian vulture etc etc :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LugaJetboyGirl Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 [quote name='Fenryng' post='1492588' date='Aug 24 2008, 08.52']Sounds like you are going to have a good time. And this is for your job, huh? I can think of worse jobs. Although the inclusion of boats pretty much kills it permanently for me. No can do. Which raptors, and are there any other species in general that you will have to be looking for? Is this particular job one of the many that you mentioned having put in bids for some months ago? I was going to berate you for not having told me that you had already gotten yourself over there before, but it occurred to me that, in retrospect, you did mention it to me at one point, and also that it is my own damn fault for not following up on the conversation in Denver like I kept meaning to. The fact that you are going back for school there is particularly neat. What exactly is your itinerary, anyway? Are you stationed in one town and make multiiple trips out from there? I was guessing that you would have to travel, but I realized that places may be closer to each other over there than I realized. That, and the fact that with so much history having happened there, you may need more time to adequately cover an area, also. Have you been to Rome yet, as an aside? So, basically, tell me everything. :-)[/quote] Athens will be my home base, although we will be traveling all over the country as well; while some places are pretty close, getting to Crete and places like Samothrace is no easy two-hour haul. I'm there from September to June 2009. Yes, I've been to Rome, but, no offense to any Italian BwBers, I like Greece much more. That's just personal opinion though - I saw too many people get robbed in front of my eyes to feel really welcome or comfortable there. It's one thing for a tourist to be treated with disdain, it's another to be treated as prey. Anyways, I'll document everything on a blog, starting with the BwB Athens Meet. Maybe we can get some pics of Zollo taking pics of raptors in front of the Parthenon :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenryng Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 [quote name='LugaJetBoyGirl' post='1493101' date='Aug 24 2008, 19.14']Athens will be my home base, although we will be traveling all over the country as well; while some places are pretty close, getting to Crete and places like Samothrace is no easy two-hour haul. I'm there from September to June 2009. Yes, I've been to Rome, but, no offense to any Italian BwBers, I like Greece much more. That's just personal opinion though - I saw too many people get robbed in front of my eyes to feel really welcome or comfortable there. It's one thing for a tourist to be treated with disdain, it's another to be treated as prey. Anyways, I'll document everything on a blog, starting with the BwB Athens Meet. Maybe we can get some pics of Zollo taking pics of raptors in front of the Parthenon :)[/quote] Um? Blatant thievery, with some frequency? As in, purse snatching? I find that surprising. Yes, please, on the blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LugaJetboyGirl Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 [quote name='Fenryng' post='1493185' date='Aug 24 2008, 21.15']Um? Blatant thievery, with some frequency? As in, purse snatching? I find that surprising. Yes, please, on the blog.[/quote] - momentary thread jack - Blatantly theivery, yes. So blatant that Locke Lamora would be ashamed. I saw one guy steal a woman's purse at the Termini Metro Station, and take off running. All these peeps took after him, but I don't think he got caught. I also came across an American with his family at the Etruscan cemetery at Tarquinia - he was standing at his rental car, the window smashed, calling out to the woods in tears, asking for whoever stole his laptop to return it because all of his personal information was on it. I did want to smack him for being stupid enough to leave his laptop on the back seat, which you sure shouldn't do in the US, but the sight of a grown man, crying and begging to some thieves who were long gone, in front of his kids, was pretty horrible to say the least. My mom and I also almost got caught in one of those scams you always hear about. We were going into the metro station, but some guys in 'metro' uniforms were standing around telling people the metro was closed in that location because of technical problems. In order to get where we wanted to go, we needed to take the public bus around the corner. Of course, there was a group of dudes at the bus stop waiting for all of us tourists. Once we were on the bus they swooped in - they had me backed up into one corner of the train, seperated from my mom. I just held my bag in front of me like a life-line, and tried to look like a tough-don't-mess-with-me-American-chick-who-will-kick-your-ass-if-you-front. I am 99% sure they got this little old man's wallet out of his back pocket, but I was busy with my own troubles at the time, so wasn't able to intervene on his behalf. I still feel extremely guilty about that. This all happened in a matter of like four days, so suffice it to say I didn't leave with a great impression of Italy. In contrast, I lost my bag in Greece once by complete accident, a really really stupid fucking thing to do - the next day I found it at the police station. Someone had turned it in, complete with all my credit cards AND my [i]PASSPORT[/i]. That doesn't happen everyday, that's for sure. I loved Greece before that, but I really really loved Greece afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalThor Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Our plans for Sunday include meeting LP and his wife at the port at around 8:00 and heading for the Acropolis, Plaka and maybe the Agora. We can arrange to meet downtown (at a train station or whatnot) if you like, have lunch, whatever. If you two are interested we can do something on Saturday as well - even the same things if you can't make it on Sunday. There's plenty to do, museums etc. Point being, whatever [i]you[/i] want to do or are interested in is what we'll be up for. We'll exchange numbers and work out the details as time progresses. Zollo, what you're doing sounds exceptionally cool. I grew up in a bird friendly family and truly enjoy them. (In suburban Detroit we had, among other things, a sparrow hawk that would frequent the back yard searching for breakfast. Now all I get are basically flying rats - pigeons and seagulls, with some sparrows and whatnot thrown in every once in a while.) LugaJBGirl, you're doing something archeology related? That too is very cool. It must be great to be able to do it in a place with such history. Mashiara and I concur with your assessment of Rome. The sights were great but everything else was somewhat less than stellar. We both look forward to meeting you and spending time some time with other boarders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LugaJetboyGirl Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 [quote name='dalThor' post='1493373' date='Aug 25 2008, 02.36']Our plans for Sunday include meeting LP and his wife at the port at around 8:00 and heading for the Acropolis, Plaka and maybe the Agora. We can arrange to meet downtown (at a train station or whatnot) if you like, have lunch, whatever. If you two are interested we can do something on Saturday as well - even the same things if you can't make it on Sunday. There's plenty to do, museums etc. Point being, whatever [i]you[/i] want to do or are interested in is what we'll be up for. We'll exchange numbers and work out the details as time progresses.[/quote] *cringing at the idea of being in the Pireaus at 8am* Maybe I might meet you directly at the Acropolis :) I'll be getting a Greek sim card for my phone on the 5th, so I'll PM you guys my new number when I get it. I'm up for whatever on Saturday as well. Any ideas what you might want to do Zollo? The Acropolis and Agora seem like a good idea for Sunday, so if you want to do the same on Sat, that's cool too, although you might want to consider seeing the kick-ass National Archaeology Museum on Saturday, maybe the Temple of Olympian Zeus, etc. There's alll sorts of things to do in the area of the Acropolis, like the Theatre of Dionysius (where Sophocles and Euripides got their tragedy on). Or we can just meet up somewhere and decide what to depending on how we feel that day. I'm really flexible when it comes to this sort of thing - i'm up for whatever. Yay archaeology! I'm looking forward to hanging out, guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 [quote name='LugaJetBoyGirl' post='1493667' date='Aug 25 2008, 18.18']*cringing at the idea of being in the Pireaus at 8am* Maybe I might meet you directly at the Acropolis :) I'll be getting a Greek sim card for my phone on the 5th, so I'll PM you guys my new number when I get it.[/quote] We would not dream of asking you to join us at Pireaus that early. It's going to be hard enough for us to get there on a Sunday with the trains running less often, it might take us a full hour. We just didn't want LP and his wife to have to navigage the train/metro system on their own in the very few hours they'll have in the city. Their cruise ship leaves at 5, if I remember correctly, so they'll need to be back well before that. Meeting at the Acropolis would be great. I'm looking forward to this as well. I wanted to become an archeologist but fate and the way our system is set up made me a teacher instead. No major regrets. I still drool over all things that have to do with archeology though and going around in the sites and the museums is something I hugely enjoy. Zollo, the Archeological Museum is really awesome. But whatever you want to do is fine. We're flexible too. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LugaJetboyGirl Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 [quote name='mashiara' post='1493754' date='Aug 25 2008, 12.22']We would not dream of asking you to join us at Pireaus that early. It's going to be hard enough for us to get there on a Sunday with the trains running less often, it might take us a full hour. We just didn't want LP and his wife to have to navigage the train/metro system on their own in the very few hours they'll have in the city. Their cruise ship leaves at 5, if I remember correctly, so they'll need to be back well before that. Meeting at the Acropolis would be great. I'm looking forward to this as well. I wanted to become an archeologist but fate and the way our system is set up made me a teacher instead. No major regrets. I still drool over all things that have to do with archeology though and going around in the sites and the museums is something I hugely enjoy. Zollo, the Archeological Museum is really awesome. But whatever you want to do is fine. We're flexible too. :)[/quote] Awesome. I'm getting excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 I'm getting excited too and I'm not even going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalThor Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 [quote name='beniowa' post='1495037' date='Aug 26 2008, 16.50']I'm getting excited too and I'm not even going![/quote] So get on a plane dammit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 [quote name='dalThor' post='1495114' date='Aug 26 2008, 09.50']So get on a plane dammit![/quote] I'd really love to. Unfortunately it would require a dip into my savings of at least $2300 not including the hotel. :cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalThor Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Zollo, any idea what you might want to do for Saturday, if anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zollo Posted September 2, 2008 Author Share Posted September 2, 2008 Sorry, took me a while to get back, absolute madhouse here in terms of work. Anyway, yes, I am up for the Saturday. To avoid duplicating the Sunday, I am currently thinking of the Byzantine Museum, the National Archeological Museum, the National Gardens, the Athens Planetarium, depending on how busy it is etc., no race against the clock to tick off the boxes! :P I am also interested in the Dionysiou Aeropagitou street, although for all I know that is cluttered with tourists galore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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