Linda and Ann Go To Greece to Find Their Roots

This summer (2006) Ann (Gough) and I (Linda Bakas) fulfilled a life-long dream to go to Greece to see the land where my dad and her grandparents were born.  We went with our daughters, Eleni and Alice.  Ann's daughter Eleni recently graduated from North Carolina State and is a civil engineer in Raleigh, NC.  My daughter Alice had graduated from high school and is now a freshman at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.  It was so thrilling to step off the plane in Athens, see all the signs written in Greek and realize we were really there.  My two weeks of studying Greek were no help when our taxi driver to the hotel spoke not a word of English (though I was pleased when I could read a road sign – Exodus/Exit – sure, that seems obvious but remember it was in the Greek alphabet).  But she got us to our hotel, the Acropolis View, and stepping out on our balcony there it was, the Acropolis. 

We did climb to the top of the Acropolis the next day, and then later in the week we visited the ruins at Ancient Olympia.  Those things were really cool (well, cool in a 95-degree sort of way), but our trip was not about ancient ruins or island resorts.  We had planned a road trip through Greece to find our roots.  We thought we could brave driving – it would be okay once we were out of Athens, because Athens has a reputation for having crazy bad traffic.  A reputation well earned.  Greek drivers will always just pass you if they see a slight opening, as lane lines are just a suggestion.  Motorbikes buzzed around like flies and would zip between us and another car or truck seeming not a bit stressed about that (like we were!).  And of course there is the reading of road signs and such in Greek.  But we made it out of the city, and live to tell the story. 

Ann's grandparents were both from a small city called Aliveri on the island Evia, a few hours from Athens.  She had the names of cousins and cousins-in-law, who still lived there, and the waitress where we stopped for lunch was so very nice to help us locate them.  We spent the afternoon with two older Greek ladies and one younger who spoke no English and one who did speak fairly well and did all the translating.  Again my two weeks of intense study were of no help, but it was fun to try and pick out words that I understood.  One cousin actually still lived in the house of Ann's grandparents, and then we also went to meet the parents of the cousins-in-law in their traditional Greek house.   It was just so interesting to meet them all and see what their world is like. 

The following day we headed off toward Olympia, with the plan to find my father's small mountain village along the way.  I had done most of the research and arrangements for the trip, and Alice, Eleni and I were the map readers, but Ann did all the driving.  Now I owe her big time forever.  I knew it would be a bit mountainous, but she'll tell you the entire country is covered with mountains.  Anyway, the region we drove around in was (Peloponnese peninsula).  Even when we were on the coast, in the pictures you see water and then mountains on the other side of the road.  And of course very little 4-lane highway, mostly it was narrow winding roads on the edge of a mountain.  We were feeling very lucky that our trip was after the 2000 Olympics when they improved many of the roads!   Finally, finally, we actually found my little village of Voutsis.  Since my dad died when I was 17, and information we had about his home was sketchy, for most of my life I didn't even imagine I'd ever be able to locate where he was from.  But we did it, and it was very thrilling and emotional for me.  I did not have any information about relatives who might still live there, and although we did stop a young woman and ask her, she did not know.  But that was enough for me just to be there and see what it was like where my dad was from.

After finding our roots, and seeing the Acropolis and Ancient Olympia, we were ready for our final couple of days to just relax.  Our last stop before returning to Athens was the port city of Nafplio.  It is an ancient city, the first capital of Greece before Athens, and much of it is narrow little streets filled with shops and restaurants.  We climbed up up up a hill to our rooms in a pension, to open the windows to a magnificent view of the city and the harbor.  Back down the hill the other way was the beach.  It was rocky rather than sand, but had a beach house with restaurant so we could stay all day and get a cool frappe (iced coffee made with Nescafe served everywhere in Greece) and some souvlaki for lunch.  Ann shopped part of the day, while Eleni, Alice and I just soaked up the sun and floated in the Mediterranean.  

Back to Athens for one night before our flight out, we walked around, shopped for souvenirs, and stopped to say hello to Rita, the wonderful shop owner who helped Eleni by calling, and sending her to, a pharmacist for a virus or something she had in one eye when we first arrived.  That friendly encounter that we had early on our first day really made us feel like we had indeed come to our parents and grandparents homeland.                                                                                                                                      - by Linda Bakas Baker

Linda did a great job of telling our trip. I am glad she left out my description of how hot it was climbing up the Acropolis. But no matter how hot it was it was well worth the climb.  I don't really have much to add except to say, and this part will get a little sappy, that this was a dream that started a long time ago.  Linda and I probably didn't voice it at first but I know we thought Greece when we first realized that we were both of Greek heritage way back when we were "little kids".  I am not sure when the dream of going started, maybe it was when we both attended Ellsworth or maybe when we first lived together in Iowa City.  I just know we have thought about going for a very long time.  So finally making it happen and with our daughters (this is the sappy part) are those great moments with your friends and family that you can hold in your heart forever.                 - by Ann Gough Iverson Sullivan