Stepping off the edge

I love Greece. My first time here I traveled from Thessalonika in the north to Dephi to Athens then out to the Peloponnese, the ancient Olympia site and the islands of Hydra and Spetses on a sailboat then to Naxos, the largest of the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea for a few weeks.

My second time here was in December 2010 with my daughter Stefanie. She had been backpacking around Europe and I flew here from Edmonton. We toured around Athens then took a bus north to Delphi and Meteora. Meteora is a very cool place where 24 monasteries were established atop giant natural pillars from the second half of the 14th century.  Six monasteries and nunneries are still active and open to visitors.

We returned to Athens on New Year’s Eve to spend the night before our ferry to Santorini, one of the Cyclades Islands. After enjoying the fireworks, we went to bed as we needed to be up early the next morning to catch the subway to Piraeus, the port. As we walked in the dark at 6 am the 5 minutes or so to the station, out of a side street came 4 small men. Before I knew it they had grabbed my cross bag and were pulling it. The buckle came undone but I held on to it and fell to the ground. In those split seconds I realized that fighting for my bag could cost me my life. I let it go and they and my bag were gone.

Stef was hysterical as she helped me up. Others came to our rescue and told me to go to the tourist police. I said to Stef “keep walking”. We made it to the subway. We got on the train then in our confusion, realised we were going in the wrong direction. We got off at the next station and got on the right train. We made it to the ferry a few minutes before it sailed.

Fortunately, I had my passport, cash and cards in a money belt. The thieves got my camera, cell phone and a few other replaceable things. The money belt allowed our trip to continue, the only real loss was the photos of our wonderful time in Meteora and Dephi I hadn’t yet downloaded.

My back was sore from the incident but I healed and we had an amazing time on Santorini, staying in a cave hotel high up overlooking the volcanic island. I rented a car and we drove around the island to the village of Oia at one end and Ancient Thira at the other.

This trip, Keith and I headed to Piraeus via the subway in the dark of the early morning. I hardly slept the night before worrying about what could happen. Of course wore my money belt and of course we were fine.

And once on the ferry my worries were washed away by the turquoise Aegean sea!