I realized this morning that it has been 50 years since my first visit to Greece. I immediately searched for the diary and budget books that I had saved to record that special trip.
We arrived in Athens on October 27, 1973. It cost 3 drachmas (12 cents Can) for the bus ride from our campsite into Syntagma Square. Our first stop was American Express to retrieve mail from our families. We thought that it would be a good idea to purchase a Greek Monopoly game to refine our non existent knowledge of the Greek alphabet and language.
During the next two weeks we visited Sounion and travelled back and forth into Athens for mail and delicious donairs. Everyone, except me, decided to sell their blood for 320 drachmas each to help cover the cost of a ferry trip to Crete. I declined because my menstrual cycle was late and I was worried about pregnancy. The ferry was 1100 drachmas($44 Can) for our VW van and the two of us.
Our currency consisted of AmEx travelers cheques and a $4000 Letter of Credit. When we had used all of the travelers cheques we were forced to find a bank in each location. We would present the Letter of Credit to a bank clerk along with our passports as ID. Then we would wait while they placed a telephone call to our bank in Vancouver before giving us the requested amount of cash that was held in trust. Everything is so much easier now!
Because we were determined to keep our expenses to a minimum I kept track of every cent that we spent. Free camping on a beach at Agios Nikolaos on Crete helped to extend our stay in Europe.
Everyone except me was a smoker so part of our expenses went to purchasing cheap cigarettes. It was very uncomfortable when six people crowded into one of our vans to play cards in the evening with the confined space full of cigarette smoke!
On November 17th we learned of a 4:00pm curfew due to the Athens Polytech uprising in protest of the Greek military junta. For several days we stayed on the beach and did not walk into town but, finally, on Nov. 19th the curfew was lifted and we went in search of groceries and water.
We stayed in Greece, mainly on Crete, until January 7, 1974 when we crossed into Turkey to continue our adventures.
I will be returning again in September to celebrate my 50th anniversary with this special country!
