The theatre of Greece - 8 LAST

Santorini / Athens October 5-6, 2015

M. Gautham Machaiah

Officially, my holiday had ended yesterday. Today and tomorrow would be spent travelling back to Bengaluru.

My ferry to Athens was at 3.30 pm. For a moment, I toyed with the idea of visiting the town of Fira, but decided against it when I recalled how I had nearly missed my ferry in Mykonos.

One of the biggest drawbacks with all of us is that we do not enjoy doing 'nothing'. We always want to be in the midst of something. I had read somewhere that the time you spend enjoying doing nothing is not a waste of time. And that is what I decided to do for the rest of my time in Santorini—nothing.

I strolled aimlessly enjoying the cool sea breeze, soaking in the breathtaking view and taking some photographs. I returned to the restaurant in the hotel, occupied a sea facing table and simply spent my time staring at the indigo coloured waters, sipping some orange juice and reading. The time spent doing ‘nothing’ was as refreshing as meditation.

The car picked me up a 1.35 pm and dropped me at the port, which gave me enough time to have my last meal in Santorini—a grilled salmon. Unlike in the past, the embarking process this time was a bit of a mess and the scene at Blue Star Delos was straight out of an Indian bus stand. To make matters worse, we had to lug our baggage to our seat in the higher floors instead of leaving it in the holding area. 

In my previous blogs, I had written about signals from the Universe, which we often ignore. I was booked in the economy section and even at the point of leaving India something in the back of my mind told me that I should upgrade my tickets. This thought crossed me many times during the tour, but I put it away.

The sailing time between Santorini and Athens was eleven hours and it was impossible to sit in the discomfort of the crowded economy class for that long. I cursed myself for not heeding the message from the Universe. But as always the Universe came to my rescue. I learnt that there was a provision to upgrade the tickets on the ship itself, which I did for only five Euros. Then on, the journey was comfortable. 

I was to learn later that there were some convenient flights from Santorini, but now it was too late.

On reaching Athens at 11.30 pm, I was transferred to the President, a five star property, unlike the boutique hotels I had stayed in during the past few days. I had just had a sandwich on the ferry and decided to grab a quick bite before going to bed. I went to the plush lounge in the 19th floor which offered a beautiful view of the illuminated Acropolis Hill.

This is how my conversation with the hostess went:

"Do you have Greek salad?" 

"Yes, we do have"

"Ok, I will have a salad."

"But we cannot serve you a salad"

"Why not, you just said you had Greek salad"

"Yes, we have Greek salad on the menu, but we do not have it now because the kitchen is closed"

I did not know whether to laugh or cry. However, the girl was liberal with nuts and chips. When asked for the dessert, I was told she could offer only a particular flavour of ice-cream. It was a take it or leave it situation and I decided to take it.

The next morning (October 6), after a heavy breakfast, the car picked me up at 11.35 am (Please note, not 11.30 or 11.45) and dropped me the airport. The drive to the airport was beautiful. That was the only time I saw some greenery in Athens. Symbolically, as I clicked the last photograph on the way to the airport, the battery on my camera drained out.

As I was exploring the duty free area at the airport, a girl walked up to me from nowhere and handed over three pieces of chocolates. "This is for you," she said with a smile and disappeared as quickly as she had appeared. Perhaps, this was the Universe's way of bidding me bye.

I landed at Abu Dhabi four hours later and was transferred to the flight to Bangalore. One of my objectives of travelling to Greece was to see if there were any similarities between Greeks and Coorgs. Honestly, a week as a tourist is too short a time to make any credible analysis.

On the face of it, I would say I did not find any similarities to conclude that Coorgs are descendants of Greeks as claimed by some researches.  However, I did find some common factors which could not necessarily lead to any conclusion.

The Greeks and the Coorgs bear a strong resemblance to each other, especially with their height, complexion and sharp features. Both are a warrior class known to be warm and hospitable. Greeks have a high level or self-respect, often bordering on ego. Needless to say, just like the Coorgs. The Greeks too love pork and sausages. Making wines, jams and marmalade at home is a cottage industry in Greece like in Coorg. Both the places are known for their spices and oranges. And above all the most common feature—our love for coffee. 

My thoughts were interrupted by an announcement from the cockpit. After crossing different time zones, we were to soon touch down at 3.30 am (Oct 7). The immigration process was done in five minutes flat and I was out of the airport to be greeted by welcome showers in Namma Bengaluru.