My apologies to residents of Piraeus but it is not the most attractive city in Greece – constructed almost entirely from limestone and clay as a reminder of the Athenians fifty year love affair with concrete and cement. In the words of Mike Gatting (talking about Pakistan), this is not a place that you would even send your mother-in-law and we were pleased when the ferry slipped its moorings and headed out to sea precisely on time and our personal chill tanks started to fill with credit!
Have Bag, Will Travel 
Took us back to our ride in this exact route! I liked the “bench-hogging sleep-snatchers, aging grey-beards with bulging waistlines and sun kissed cougars strutting…” very accurate.
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Gorgeous read with noticeable lucidity in your writing.
Systematic discourse with an extended series of well-selected epithets to give a particular tone to your descriptions.
I was almost travelling with you on the Blue Star Ferry to Paros,my friend.
Loved your poetic vision you painted the sunset,enhanced with the advanced reference to the Rayleigh scattering effect and of course, Kim’s tragedy-like lamantation and the ability of her thoughts,transmited like electromagnetic waves to the sophisticated equipments of Dolphins and to their sensory skills…
To my eye, it functioned like a transmitter-receiver relation.
Adorable animals,endowed with high noesis,perception and intuition.
I also liked the name of the hotel you stayed in : Dilion ‘Δηλιον’ ,sorry that I use the Greek word,but,it means so much to me.
Delos and Homeric hymns to Delian Apollo …
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Thank you for your lovely poetic comment!
I’m afraid I hadn’t made the association with the name of the hotel. I visited Delos in 2005. I understand that visitors today cannot see as much of the site anymore and that some of the statues have been removed to museums but I’m not sure if that is true? Delos is rather overlooked in the UK where we know more about Knossos and Athens, I think it is probably to do with the French archeological connection.
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Delos is rather overlooked in the UK as you say.
How sad! If they knew what they overlook ! Or,they know more than you can imagine … I am afraid I will start another lamentation like Kim.
Please Andrew,I beg you. Don’t touch hot potatoes.The French Philhellenism,among others,were and still are eager to protect us and our Heritage,aren’t they ???
In the centre of the circular ring of Cyclades from cyclic(al) ,stands the tiny island of Delos,but,large enough to be studied.You have visited it and its Museum, I suppose,so you have personal viewpoint.
Only on 6 or seven km2, a Stadium,a Gymnasium,Temples,the Lion terrace
and … and …
Inhabited since the 3rd Millennium BC,a powerful spiritual centre in the 7th century BC,a major sacred site for the ancient Greeks,second in importance only to Delphi.
The French archaeological connections you mentioned, I am with you,
the FA school of Athens, started the excavations of the rich finds in 1873 and they are still threre.
Now,Delos is part of the World’s Cultural Heritage.
By the way,probably you know the meaning of Delos / ΔΗΛΟΣ= δηλος =
lucid,shining,glowing,distinct (from the Dictionary of the Greek Language)
written by H. G. Liddell & R. Scott . Indeed a monumental work,my friend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Greek-English_Lexicon
PS: Liddell was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, dean (1855–91) of Christ Church, Oxford and headmaster (1846–55) of Westminster School.
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Thank you for the reply and the valuable information. I liked Delos and would like to return but I have no desire to go again to Mykonos. I found the excavations and the reconstructions more sympathetic than Arthur Evan’s work at Knossos – but I liked it there as well. I have never been to Delphi. In 2002 and again in 2004 I visited Akrotiri on Santorini and for a small site I thought it was excellent – is it open again yet after the terrible accident?
Away from Greece I have visited Pompeii and Herculaneum but I must give special mention to Segobiga in Castila-La Mancha the site of excellent Roman ruins and the quasi-Greek archeological site at Segesta in Sicily.
Andrew.
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You managed to travel me to remarkable places of historical interest, away from Greece,Andrew.
I would like ,though,to comment on your quasi-Greek archaeological site at Segestra in Sicily.
Last time I visited Pompeii,Eriolano or (Herculaneum) and Sicily was in 1995
and was able for one more time to relive the history of Magna Graecia
( 8th century BC).
Croten,Campania,Catania,Calabria,Apulia,Taranto,Naxos,yes,Giardini Naxos with a temple of Apollo,Segesta with the Doric temple and the ancient theatre,Syracuse,Archimedes’ birthplace – ‘Eureka ,Eureka’ !!! Many cities,towns and villages around Mt.Etna with Greek names : Kefalou,Petralia,Taormina where in some of them they still speak Greek.We,Greeks,don’t feel like tourists there.
However,my favourite one is Messina.Yes,Messina in Sicily,founded by Greek colonists,from where if you draw a straight line on the map towards Greece’s place,it goes precisely to our Messinia in Peloponnese near Pylos where the Palace of Nestor was.A well known and well preserved archaeological site of early Mycenaean,Middle Helladic era.
Thank you so much Andrew for your reference to these excellent ancient sites and ruins that gave me the chance to mention my personal aspects and thoughts.
Well,enough of my rambling.I had better save some time and move to new destinations through your Greece 2011 posts.
Doda
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