Kefalonia

Greece seems to be on holiday already...and its just June end.The Greeks take their holidays very seriously, something we are not used to..Holidays for us are either Religious or Govt, never planned.I see most of the guys here planning their August break, booking tickets on ferries to their favourtite island getaways...

We visited the Acropolis on the 12th..my second visit..but this time i had to pay my way in.
The "Free Sundays" rule is applicable only between October and March.

Finally managed to get the Vcd's of "D" , "Bunty aur Babli" with "Parineeta" as a bonus..fromour Pakistani friends in Pssiri.

Last week we got a long weekend on account of the Orthodox holiday of "WhitMonday" - just checked the name from the sd_calendar_dates table in the Finacle Treasury database.

Couldnt get the ferry tickets booked in time for Santorini or Mykonos - two very happening islands.We went instead to "Captain Corelli's" island of Kefalonia in western Greece.
It is the largest island of the Ionians - Islands in the Ionian Sea, and is considered as one of the most beautiful and authentic ones. It's a mountainous island with impressive landscapes, dense vegetation, long golden sandy beaches, a nice capital, traditional villages, beautiful orthodox churches, archaeological ruins, Venetian castles, a National park etc.
"Corelli's Mandolin" by Louis de Bernières was set in this island, which later got made into the Nicholas Cage n Penelope Cruz starrer "Captain Corelli's Mandolin". I have neither read the book nor seen the movie..though i would like to watch the movie now...n see Sami again in a diff way.

Kefalonia has one of the most famous beaches of Greece. Myrtos being one of them. It's a beautiful golden sandy-pebbly beach surrounded by vertical rock cliffs where the waters look as if the blue colour of the sea was mixed with bleaching water. It is really impressive...The island also proposes many other beautiful beaches. Some of these beaches have also been awarded by the Blue Flag, the European guarantee for their cleanliness...
We reached Sami a port town on the eastern side of Kefalonia from Athens on Saturday afternoon, got ourselves a furnished "Studio apartment" ..We visited the rare geological phenomenon of Katavothres, where the sea water pours into spectacular tunnels to reappear at lake Melissani (a semi underground lake with amazing colour waters) and also Drogarati cave, a large stalagmitic cavern with magnificent acoustics.

Next day we rented a Car - a Hyundai Atos [Santro in India] and went to the beach of Myrtos..which was amazing in all respects, the sights of an European beach has lots of things to offer than just sun and sand : )
Next went to AntiSami beach nearby...A great Greek experience in all...

The UAQ finally came to an end...with lots of accounting related issues raised..been a busy week this one..reached home around 10 daily.

Well the good news is the Reuters MRI interface is finally up...it felt real good to see those EUR/USD rates flicker in the FT MRS screens.The INR is getting stronger by the week...not being unpatriotic but that does not bode well for us, our onsite allowances in EUR will take a hit withthe EUR slipping..i just hope it doesnt go below the 50 mark..

Now my passport says i can stay in Greece till 25th sept 05, but still no sight of the work permit..

The SIT starts next week...hardtimes ahead. "

Athina

Within the sprawling city of Athens it is easy to imagine the golden age of Greece when Pericles had the Parthenon built. When the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were performed in the Theater of Dionysus. And when democracy brought all citizens together to decide their common fate on the Pynx Hill.Athens is built around the Acropolis and the pinnacled crag of Mt. Lycabettus, which the goddess Athena was said to have dropped from the heavens as a bulwark to defend the city. The suburbs have covered the barren plain in all directions and the city is packed with lively taverns and bustling shops.

Athens is not what it used to be. It is better. What they did to Athens to prepare for the Olympics turned a city, known for its faults as much as its assets, into one of the most walkable, livable, exciting, art, music and entertainment centers in the world.

The Metro, Coastal Tram and Buss services are very effcient to say the least..

Athens is a unique mix of Ancient and Modern Culture, here you see the anicient ruins along with the fast life of any modern European city.

Havent been to any party hot spots in Athens yet, though i plan to visit atleast one and find out for myself whether its wild night life reputation is well earned or not...but theres still time for all that.

The project at Aspis Bank, the reason for my "Business" travel to Greece, is going smoothly till now, we will finish the User Aquaintance exercise by the 17th, and then we move into System Integration Testing that going to be a tough one with many interfaces to take data from.

Today we plan to go to Pssiri, i badly need a haircut, and thats where we can get the cheapest haircuts. Why ?? well its an Asian locality in central Athens where you can find Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Iraqis and a few Africans too...Bangladeshis by far are the largest in number followed by Pakistanis, havent seen many Indians though. The haircut costs 5 Euros, as against the regular 10-15 Euros charged by those ubiquitous Salons.
The area is identified with shady activities that is so very "Asian", you can see people in small groups bargaining for smuggled Cell Phones or the odd handy cam, the sound of a patrol car gets them scampering for cover...

We also found a Pakistani CD shop, that guy can copy any [Well almost any hindi or english movie] you can think of in minutes and whats the price... Its a mind boggling 1 Euro per movie... I couldn't ever imagine getting a pirated copy of a latest Hindi movie for a buck, its cheaper than Mumbai.
Last week was Gangster week at our apartment with "Satya" and "Company" played back to back. today hopefully we should lay our hands on "Bunty Aur Babli", and "D" too if we are lucky.

Will catch up sometime next week .....

Restarting

I am back again on blogger after about 2 years...had created the blog in 2002 after reading about blogging in Chip magazine..but then could not update it and then lost interest.
Now i feel i am ready to blog my thoughts and hope to update the blog as regularly as possible.

Its been almost 3 weeks since I came to Athens, the weather has been great till now....
But the guys here tell us that its going to get hotter as the summer progresses...

It felt strange initially being in a place with so many "White" people speaking a language that was Greek[i had to use this one] to me...but that was in March when we had come here for the first time, for the Business Process Definition phase of our project at Aspis Bank.

This time around the city looks more familiar...and warmer [literally] than it was then...
Though still i constantly feel like the "Odd man out" when i am on the streets, at the super market or on a bus, but i guess thats because i havent been to many places [in fact none] where there are so many people who are from a different ethnic background [race ..if u may]

More about Athens and my project here later....