A Trip to the Motherland
If you have listened to the last 2 episodes of our podcast featuring Oswego State Men’s Hockey coach Ed Gosek and TEDxSUNY Oswego organizer Eason Lee, you were told that yours truly was on assignment. And I was on assignment! I was in Greece! This blog will take you through the two weeks that I was there with my mother visiting aunts, uncles and cousins and what that experience was like 30 years on from the last time I stepped foot in Greece.
I know that I’ve mentioned on the podcast in the past that my family is from Greece. My entire immediate and extended family are all from Larissa, Greece, both on my mother and father’s side. This blog will only feature my experience with my mother’s side of the family as that is who I predominately visited during my time there.
For the uninitiated, Larissa is the capital and largest city in the Thessaly region of Greece and is the 4th largest city in Greece. Larissa is nestled in a valley between the infamous Mt. Olympus (9,570ft/2,917m), the tallest mountain in Greece, and Mt. Kissavos (also known as Mt. Ossa - 6,490ft/1,978m). Larissa is approximately 120km (75mi) south of Thessaloniki and about 210km (130mi) north of Athens. The famous monastery Meteora is about 1 hour to the west of Larissa. Larissa is also one of the oldest cities in Greece and in Europe at approximately 8,000 years old.
Ancient Amphitheater Larissa
The trip started from Syracuse of course with a short flight to our nation’s capital, Washington DC. Specifically I flew into Washington Dulles which I could go on about how terrible of an airport that is, but I digress. I flew into Terminal A at Dulles and had to get to Terminal C for my connecting flight. This wasn’t going to be an issue since I had scheduled enough time between flights to ensure I didn’t miss my connection. I’ve learned my lesson from previous disastrous experiences flying into Dulles.
My flight to Greece would first go to Frankfurt, Germany. I’ve never flown to Frankfurt or to Germany for that matter so I was quite excited to see an airport I had not seen before. After a couple of short delays due to mechanical issues of the plane, I boarded and we were off. I was grateful that I chose an aisle seat and the seats next to me in the middle of the plane were empty. This meant I could stretch out and try to get some sleep. If you’ve never flown to Europe, it is basically like taking the red-eye back from the west coast to the east coast. Our flight path included a trip up the east coast through Eastern Canada (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland), before heading out over the Atlantic. European landfall was somewhere over Ireland before getting to the UK (flying over LIVERPOOL…..WE’RE GONNA WIN THE LEAGUE!). Frankfurt was just a couple hours away.
Frankfurt airport is a monster of an airport! Behind Atlanta, it’s the biggest airport I’ve been to. While my flight landed in time for my connection to Thessaloniki, I had to wait for my mother to arrive in Frankfurt. She was arriving with a different airline out of Tampa, Florida. Unfortunately, she had a longer delay and it led to us missing our connection to Thessaloniki. I wasn’t going to leave my mother behind by herself in Frankfurt with a huge language barrier. Before her flight arrived, I had to go to a different terminal to wait for her flight. In Germany, you must come back through a checkpoint if you go to a different terminal. It’s not the end of the world and it went smoothly. They don’t make you take your shoes off in Europe! Once my mother arrived, we went back to the terminal were our connecting flight to Thessaloniki was. We had to go through German customs and get our passports stamped before we changed terminals. While it was a pain to find anyone that could help us with our flight situation, we were finally able to get our tickets situated to a later flight on Aegean Air (ended up being Lufthansa) to Thessaloniki. We were three hours behind our original arrival time.
Finally, the motherland. We landed in Greece at 5:15pm local time in Thessaloniki. Total travel time to that point, including layovers, was approaching 17 hours. We still had about another 2 hours to drive to Larissa from Thessaloniki. After landing, we had to wait for the luggage for my mother and finally out we went to meet my mothers sister, Georgia and my her son (my cousin) Elias. They were beyond happy to see us and the tears were flowing. From what I remember, the airport in Thessaloniki had been upgraded, though we still had to get off the plane by stairs and into a bus to get to the terminal itself. It’s just the way this airport is set up. No change in 30 years with that!
The drive from Thessaloniki to was nice, although, it was cloudy. As we were going south through Katerini, a very large mountain appeared. I asked my cousin which mountain that was and he told me it was Mt. Olympus. Even though it was cloudy, you could make out the top of the snow capped mounting. We stopped at a rest area in the Katerini region for a coffee and for of course, my mother and cousin to smoke a heater. Nothing says Greece more than a coffee and a cigarette! On our drive, I can say that there was indeed one very welcome change. The highway! When I was last there, there was no highway. That’s right, it was just a 2 and in some parts a 4 lane road where you had to drive on the shoulder in order for other cars to pass. There were no rest areas then. And there were tunnels that were bore through the mountains to cut the commute time down and make the drive safer. It was a welcome sight.
By the time we go to Larissa, it was dark so I wasn’t able to really grasp where we were in the city. My memory of the city was almost non-existent since the last time I was there so it was hard to judge where we were. The advent of technology helped though and I went onto my Google maps to check out where in the city my aunt’s apartment was. The area is called Neopolis (which means New City) and is within walking distance of AEL Arena, the home ground for AEL Larissa FC. By this time, it was time for sleep!
My first full day in Larissa started off with pouring rain. My mother and I were catching up with my aunt Georgia about life and about the family history. Because of the rain, we didn’t really do a whole lot other than eat, have coffee and talk, which was actually quite enjoyable. When the rain did eventually stop, I made my way to the city center with Elias to get some coffee (a common theme on my trip) and to catch a glimpse of the ancient amphitheater which was first discovered the last time I was in Greece 30 years ago. Until you see something like that in person, you take the world for granted. The ancient ruin was built around 3B.C. and they are in the process (for the past 30 years) to clean up the area and make it usable for performances, including music and theater. The street that is immediately in front of the amphitheater has been closed off to vehicles which was something that has changed. There are buildings to the east of the amphitheater that are planned for demolition as it is believed the amphitheater itself continues under the buildings. Remember, Larissa is about 8000 years old and is the modern version of the city is built on top of the ancient one. They also plan on demolishing buildings that impede the view from the city’s central square to give it the look that would have been around the times the ancient theater was in full use.
My second full day in Larissa featured a visit to the agora (the farmers market) where you could literally buy anything. We ended up getting a bunch of sardines, chicken and produce for less than $30. Meals for a couple days at least. After the agora, we went visit my mothers brother Giannis; my uncle. He lived closer to the city center in an apartment building with his wife and all three of my cousins Harry, Kosta and Christos (two of them each had their own apartment in the same building and the other lived at home). We did a lot of catching up with everyone and I ended up staying to watch soccer (because that is exactly what you do when you are with family in Greece!). I was happy to find out that my cousins and uncle were Liverpool supports like myself in addition to their Greek team alliances. After the matches, I went with my mother and aunt Georgia to the house they grew up in and boy was I shocked. I remember the first time I went to Greece, I was about 5 years old and that house was surrounded by small, similar homes with acres of fields behind it. I remember being chased by sheep and goats when I was little and my cousins and I would be playing in those fields while my grandfather was trying to corral the sheep and goats. There were also chickens that we chased around the entire field. Now, those fields are gone and the acres of fields have turned into apartment buildings and streets. Quite the transformation.
The following few days featured trips with my cousin Harry to a small village called Nikea and Farsala. Nikea is about 20 min to the south of Larissa and we simply went there for coffee and a change of scenery. We met up with his mate George who loves the NBA. He boasted about how much of a Kevin Durant fan he was but grew up like a Chicago Bulls fan like myself.
Farsala may be of interest to many to those that are mythology buffs. This little village is the birthplace of Achillaias (Achilles). In the center of the village, there is a sculpture/statue of him with his armor, shield and spear. Not far from there, there is a sculpture of a giant ant with a shield. If you know your mythology, you will know Achilles led a group of soldiers called the Myrmidons (the Ant Men). Another fun fact about Farsala is that this is about where the wall of Larissa ended (or begins based on how you look at it). It is safe to say that if you do any sort of digging in that area, you will find the city wall of Larissa not far from Farsala.
Achilles
On the last Saturday in town, my cousin Elias and I went to the final home match for the local football club AEL Larissa. With a win against PAS Giannina, AEL would clinch promotion to Super League 1 in Greece. An exciting prospect but they have had trouble with PAS Giannina the last three meetings with them, drawing 1-1 in each match. It’s AEL’s nemesis. As I noted, AEL Arena is within walking distance from my Aunt Georgia’s apartment building. The match was schedule to kick off at 3pm local time and by noon, the area around the stadium was buzzing. While the stadium itself has a capacity of 16,000, it felt like the entire 150,000 population of the city was there. Tickets were only 10 Euro, about $12.00 and it was general admission in sections 3 through 10. Since the stadium is small, there isn’t a bad seat in the stadium and the site lines are quite nice. You don’t feel far from the pitch. We went in an hour before the match and the supporters section in the south end of the stadium was mostly full and they were in full voice. AEL led at halftime 2-0 and after the second goal midway through the first half, a supporter decided to rush onto the field and join the player celebration. He was quickly caught and escorted out of the stadium. In the second half, my cousin glanced over towards the supporters section and noticed that the same guy that rushed the field had climbed onto the wall next to the supporters section and scooted over so he could get in again. He went unnoticed and successfully rejoined the supporters. Gotta love it.
AEL ran out 5-0 winners on the day and the celebrations began in the stadium with a marching band and then an open top bus on the field where the trophy was eventually lifted by the captain. This was after the field had to be cleared of supporters that ran onto the field after the final whistle to celebrate. Scenes!! The bus eventually made its way to the city center where the celebrations went into the night.
AEL Monsters (Supporters Group)
Fans on the pitch following the final whistle.
The following day, I met up with my cousin Harry and his twin brother Kosta. They took me to the memorial that was set up across the train station for the horrific train accident that occurred two years earlier outside a village called Tempi. The news coverage of this accident continued from the time the accident happened to the day I left. And I’m sure it will continue until there is accountability in what happened there. 57 people died in that accident and about another 100 injured. Kosta asked if I wanted to take a picture of the memorial and I declined out of respect for the victims. Just one of those things that should remain out of photo albums.
On my final full day in Larissa, I hung out with my cousins, Kostas, Harry and Christos (my doppelganger). I also met one of Kostas’ daughters who was home from university and she met us for coffee in the city center. After coffee, we went and grabbed a gyro (yes, it’s pronounced yee-roh…..and be sure to roll your tongue on the “r"), which was 3 Euro. Yes, 3 Euro. Something that you would be charged a half year salary here in the states for. They gave me some gifts to take with me which I was super appreciative for. It was indeed difficult to say good bye to them.
I decided to leave Larissa the day before my flight since it was an early one and it would be more convenient for everyone. Elias took me up to Thessaloniki where we stopped for coffee on the water front and did some site seeing. On the waterfront, there is a statue of Alexander the Great on his horse, not far from the Lefkos Pyrgos (the White Tower). I eventually made my way to my hotel and said goodbye to Elias.
Alexander the Great, Thessaloniki
Lefkos Pyrgo, Thessaloniki
A short cab ride to the airport at 5:45am from the hotel cost 12 Euro. Not terrible I suppose but it was only a couple miles away. Security was no issues at the airport. Like I mentioned earlier, they don’t make you take shoes off but they do scan your suitcases and bags and make you empty your pockets like here in the US. It’s a much quicker process and the security in Greece and in Germany are much nicer than the TSA agents here in this country and it’s not even close.
An on-time flight from Thessaloniki to Munich. The flight, as it did on my way to Thessaloniki included wonderful views of the mountains in the Balkans and the Bavarian Alps. It was smooth sailing into Munich. After going through customs and enjoying a short layover, I boarded for Washington Dulles in Munich. Unlike my flight to Europe, this one was full to the brim. No real room to stretch out. The inflight meal consisted of an option of gnocchi and chicken. I chose the gnocchi which turned out to be a terrible decision (yup…..ended up getting very sick on the plane with about 30 minutes left on the flight to Dulles). After the episode, I felt much better but I was exhausted. A short layover at my not so favorite airport and made it home to a snow shower in Syracuse. Gotta love spring here.
So those are the highlights from my trip to Greece. I can say that in the 30 years between visits, not much has changed in Larissa. While you do have some new apartment buildings squeezed into an already crowded city center, and modern cars and amenities such as technology, the mindset/corruption/bureaucracy still remains. That’s the reason it’s taken 30 years to make a dent into cleaning up a monument that is over 2000 years old. It may take another 30 for them to realize the potential. All and all, the trip was amazing and the most important thing was seeing my family and seeing the joy my mother had when she saw her siblings. Until next time, καλή συνεχια, καλή ανάσταση, & Καλό Πάσχα.