Stanford

Archaeological sites we visited

1. Sounion.  2. Athens   3. Eleusis   4. Thebes   5. Mycenae   6. Argos   7. Epidaurus   8. Tiryns    9. Sparta   10. Pilos   11. Olympia   12. Nemea   13. Delphi    14. Thasos    15. Istanbul   16. Troy   17. Pergamon   18. Ephesus   19. Miletus   20. Didyma   21. Knossos   22. Phaestus

Dear family,

The last time I wrote you, I was somewhere in Switzerland - I will start from there. My two traveling companions and I spent about eight days in that country, driving from Lake Constance through Liechtenstein, then west around the north end of the central Alps to the Finstarhorn area. We spent some time at the Jungfrau, rendezvousing with two Stanford girls, on a mountain, overlooking Interlaken, and then drove further west and south, describing a loop around the central alps (no roads cut through them.) At times we hit very high passes (some over 8000 feet above, sea level), and once I even skied along the road, the car following me. Coming up the Rhône valley, we drove south from this, as far as the road existed, and then took the train the rest of the way to Zermatt.

I could hardly recognize the old place. First of all the streets looked wider, the hills lower, and the Matterhorn, more prominent, all because of the lack of snow at the valley level. Secondly, many of the slopes were closed for the summer compared to what it is in the winter. Finally, the place was empty: we stayed at the magnificent youth hostel (not far from Sun Valley Lodge) with only about 15 other students: the hostel has over 250 beds.

We had planned on climbing the Matterhorn, but learned upon arrival that the attempt is possible for amateurs only late in the summer: still too much snow in June, and July. We therefore amused ourselves with hiking and less spectacular routes. I took the Gornergrat train one day to the top, and then a chairlift to stations further up, ending up on Stockholm (this lift was not open when we were in Zermatt last December); I sat until 2 o’clock, writing nasty postcards, and then spent the rest of the day walking back. I don’t know if I like Zermatt better in the summer or the winter, but, in any case, Jim and I will visit the place in August (that Matterhorn climb is still bugging me).

I left my skis in Zermatt to be repaired, and we three took the train back to our car at Saint Niklaus. Unfortunately, it had been towed away. You see, that day was a festival day, and even though I had parked on a side street, the parade hit every street in town: ergo, my car had to yield. Oh, well, it was a nice, colorful, native parade, and we thought we got our moneys worth.

Continuing further up the Rhône valley, we again turned south, again drove over a high pass, crossed into Italy, and back into Switzerland, and ended up at a fabulous youth hostel in Lugano, where we spent the night and the next morning sleeping, lolling in the pool, and soaking up the sun. Then a short drive further south, and we were in the oppressively hot and terribly uninteresting city of Milan, where I met Jim the next day. He brought me all kinds of wonderful news from home, that you were worried about me financially, etc. I was surprised and disappointed that he had no vitamin C tablets from you to give to me. Getting negligent over there? Don’t you care about my health or anything?

Well, Jim and I spent three days in Milan, seeing the cathedral and a few museums, and hitting La Scala for a performance of Atlantides by Immanuel DeFilla, modern and rather wild, with a chorus of 250 and a lot of pantomime and deep symbolism - we had to bribe the youth hostel manager to let us in that night, we came back so late.

After ditching my two other companions, who immediately got a ride to Athens from two cute girls in a Volkswagen, Jim and I decided, on the spur of the moment, but with reason, to visit Greece first, instead of Italy. We therefore, after an enjoyable, farewell, fling with the other boys, and watching a car race, at Monza, headed east, through Cromona, Verona, Vicenzi, and Padova, to Venice. We visited the Stradivarius factory in Cremona; saw some quite well preserved Roman ruins, including a large Colosseum in Verona (where we spent the night in a rather grubby student hotel); and looked for interesting sites, but found none, in Vicenza and Padova. Venice was, of course, fun: the glass factories at Murano, the Lido, Rigoletto at the main island (another bribe to the hostel), the grand Canal, the palace, and the piazza, all worth the trouble. But three days was plenty - anymore and the effect would’ve worn off, I think.

Our next stop was Trieste, where we changed dollars to dinars with a man on the street for 1 to 1000 (official rate, 1 to 750), and drove further to Rijeka for our first night in Yugoslavia.  Well, whoever said that Yugoslavia is expensive had his head wedged, as a Stanford expression goes. We spent successive nights in the fanciest hotels in Rijeka, Zadra, and Split, and the prices range around $1.50 per person for a double room.  Each night, however, the hotel band was directly below our window, so we did hear a lot of extremely bad music (ever hear the "continental twist", sung in Croatian?) Meals ranged from around $.80 (including wine) in the good restaurants, and bread and cheese prices are lower than anything I have come across yet. Particularly cheap are the pastries: the fanciest are about two cents each; a full cake goes to $.30, and chocolate cost four cents for 100 g. I am getting fat (and probably dysentery) the easy way.

From Ryeka we drove along the coast, heading for Zadra, where we planned on eating lunch. Then an interesting thing happened. Remember how you used to mention my accident proneness? It has been confirmed again. Coming down a gentle incline on the main road to Zadra at about 55 miles an hour, I saw a donkey cart coming towards me in the opposite lane about 1/2 mile ahead. I slowed to 45, just for safety's sake, and was about 150 yards from the cart when the horse shied, and crossed about 1/2 way over into my lane. I could see the farmer was frantic to get the horse back to where it belonged, but he couldn’t, so I slammed on the brakes and turned to the right to avoid the animal. Unfortunately, there was not enough room between the horse and my side of the road for my car to fit, so we slammed head on at about 40 miles an hour into a concrete piling, marking the edge of the road, skid sideways (the brakes are locked by now), and rolled over skidding another 50 feet or so. Jim and I emerged unhurt, and by some miracle, the horse and cart had not been hit, but the car wasn’t looking all that healthy.

Several dozen peasants immediately congregated, helped us out, kept putting hands on our hearts, etc., and then two hours of measuring, questioning, relaxing from the tension, and so on, followed. Thank goodness, I know some German! From the make of the car and the license plates, the officials had us tagged for Germans, and hence were giving us the cold shoulder, so we finally pulled our passports out and showed them conspicuously around. That did wonders.

After righting the auto, we discovered that it still ran, so Jim and I drove the remaining 2 km to Zadra, and left it at a repair shop (the only one within about 200 miles).  Since the car must be worked on for about five days (mostly fender and front straightening), we decided, after spending the night in Zadra, to take a bus the next morning, for Split, and, after a day they’re seeing Diocletian‘s palace, to travel to Dubrovnik by boat. We are now on the boat, and have been for five hours - three more and we hit the big city. We will spend a day in Dubrovnik, then skip back to Zadra (no buses, roads, or trains between Split and Dubrovnik), where our car will be waiting for us. I will pick up the police report there, and mail it, with my blessings, to the old insurance company. It should come to about $100. When I think how lucky we were that we didn’t hit the horse or the wagon (it had about five people), or that we didn’t hurt ourselves, I just stopped thinking all together.

Well, we will be in Athens around July 9, and Rome, three or four weeks later, but all forwarding is in order, so no sweat. Jim tells me that you forwarded big Sam some money. Big Sam says thanks, I’ll gladly accept it, but will probably not need it. You see, I am still as stingy. (You call it “careful “) with money as ever, so every penny goes quite a ways.

Well, back to the Greek books. I am starting Classical Landscapes, by Osbert Lancaster, as soon as I can snatch it Jim's hot little hands. And please don’t worry about me I’m in great shape, having fun, and learning lots.

Love, Sam

P. S. Say hello to the uncultured ones (Bruce and Len) for me.