4 The HBCU Advocate Editorial Shaking off the Daily Grind in Greece


Volume 2 Number 6


Winter 2019


Artifacts from 17th century BC in Greece View of the port in Santorini from a bus BY ANGELA JONES I wrote about traveling to the


beautiful city of Berlin, Germany a few months ago. I did not mention, at that time, that Berlin was a stop-off destination while I was traveling to Greece. I toured Crete and Santorini, Greece.


From Berlin, I flew into Crete. As the plane approached the historic Greek island of Crete, its full beauty soon came into focus. Rocky and hilly, sea and sand, there was no shortage of landscape eye candy on Crete. As usual, I tried to use public transportation to ensure that I am able to spend an ample amount of time with the locals and to ensure travel costs are kept to a minimum. At the airport, I discovered that there was a bus that would take me to the center of the city of Heraklion where my hotel was located. The gentleman that I asked about the bus spoke English, especially the sharp and snappy version of it. As I tried to show him what the hotel address looked like on the phone,


he quickly pointed out that he could not look at the phone of everyone who approached him. Although I did not appreciate those sentiments at the time, looking back, I can understand how that could become a problem. Once we got off the first bus at the city center, we asked the next bus driver if the bus he was driving went to the hotel and he responded affirmatively. I’m not going to say that I went as far as documenting my surroundings with photos and videos after the driver let everyone off of the bus but me and my traveling companion and began driving down a desolate road but that is exactly what I did. I took photos of the bus, of the driver, of the bus ticket and plenty of video too. Needless to say, he dropped us off at our hotel unscathed. We decided to go to a restaurant next door to the hotel that night where I was served by a very opinionated waitress. I say that she was very opinionated because she insisted on telling me what to order after I told her what I wanted. She said “Oh no,


Santorini, Greece


that’s too much food.” I was actually planning to have the leftovers for breakfast but since she refused to give me what I ordered that did not happen. I am glad that she shortened my order because the pizza did not have a whole lot of flavor and the hotel breakfast was banging. I could not really enjoy the hotel breakfast buffet because we had to rush to take a ferry to Santorini, another Greek island. The ferry took a couple of hours


to get to Santorini, an island made from a volcano. The views from Santorini were spectacularly stunning. When one arrives on the island, a bus winds you around the volcano with majestic breathtaking views of cliffs and the bluest sea below. Although it is now dormant, Santorini is an active volcano. It last erupted in 1950. Santorini has a rich history, which is on display at the prehistoric museum there


called Museum of


Prehistoric Thera. This museum features artifacts dating back to 1700 B.C. I saw wall hangings, vases and figurines from 1700 B.C. that look like


Wall hanging 17th century BC in Santorini


they could have been made today. After viewing the hot items from


the prehistoric period, it was time to cool down by touring Santorini's many beaches. Anyone who has been to Santorini now knows that you do not go there for their beaches. There are much better beaches in other places in Greece. Santorini does still have beautiful beaches that include those with black sand, white sand and red sand. We took a boat and saw all three.


If visiting Santorini, allow


plenty of time for transportation once you are on the island. You will probably need buses, boats and taxis to see all that you want to see. After taking the clean and efficient ferry back to Crete, I was ready to relax on the beaches there. Crete has very nice beaches too and they are more along the lines of what you would see at east coast beaches in the United States, except the water is more blue and more clear. Photos from my Greece trip are available at www.the- hbcuadvocate.com.


The HBCU Advocate


Angela Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


Rae Willis, Graphic Designer Ida Davis, Contributing Writer Sales and information info@thehbcuadvocate.com Copyright pertaining to contents of this edition. All rights reserved.


TheHBCUAdvocate.com Angela Jones Writer | Public Speaker | Historian


LET’S TALK ABOUT IT.


Call 757-575-1863.


Our PAST. Our PRESENT. Our FUTURE.


Need a speaker for your next event? Invite The HBCU Advocate's publisher. She covers topics such as Paying for College, Women's Empowerment, Health and Wellness, African American History and more. Contact us at 757.575.1863.


This Black History Month & Women’s History Month, book Hampton Roads Messenger Publisher, Angela Jones, for school, church, and corporate speaking engagements.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16