Oriskany (CV 34) - Naval Cruise Book

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Y .1 - , 7 L' 8315 '4 vi' . ? H as . -W.. L ,, 4 K f -f ....Qat.L.1.itL-f the glory that was Greece . . . REECE compared so favorably to the previous landfall at Sicily that many Oriskany sailors still think of Athens as the best liberty port in the Mediterranean. It didn't take so long to drop the hook at Piraeus. The people were better dressed, especially the women. Restaurants looked cleaner and menus offered greater variety. Bars sold American beer, although they charged steep prices. English words and United States accents fell on ears sharpened to recognize compatriots. The Creeks seemed to like Americans and had rolled out the carpet to welcome Oriskany officers and men. We were Allies. We were accepted. No one stared at us in the streets. Athenians had seen our uniforms and our Sport jackets before. They knew what we wanted, dinner and cocktails Hi the King George Hotel, Budweiser and a ham sandwich at the American Bar, music and dancing, Coca-Cola and coffee at the Navy Canteen, a hike through the world-famous ruins on the Acropolis and at Corinth, a swim in the Aegean Sea, and some quiet entertainment in the evening on the side streets. After Sicily we did not expect too much of Europe. But Athens restored S0me of our American regard for the Old World. In hotels and attractive restaurants, we tried steaks prepared in a way we had almost forgotten. And 9354115 the bill in tens of thousands of Greek drachmas, though equal to only' a few dollars in United States currency, made us feel like traveling millionaires, Because there had been thousands of American sailors in Athens before US and many more would come after, a recreation center off the beaten track was ready with dance floor and volunteer hostesses, sandwiches and dough- nuts and iced soft drinks. The Oriskany band alternated with musicians f1'0m other ships to keep Navy jitterbugs busy. Outside the high wire fences, young Greek fellows and girls solemnly watched the sailors eat and dance. In Shop windows of main squares and fashionable streets, some of the Enest pr0dllCtS of all Europe were on display. Economy-sized CMS looked like midgets at first. But the multi-gadgeted cameras, the p recious stones in jewelers' windows, the fine Swiss timepieces, the excellent fabrics of shirts and bathing trunks and suits and sheer negligees, perfumes in crystal, magnums of champagne and pinch bottles of whisky, matched the best New York could offer. Sailors parted with many beloved dollars in return for these even more desired luxuries. More than anything else, however, Greece will be rememberd for the Acropolis and other sites of ancient ruins. There was the Parthenon. Weather and adversity had softened the sharp lines cut by Periclean sculptors some 2,500 years ago. The marble columns felt sandy under fingertips. Still the great energy and unbounded imagination involved in its conception could be recognized whether up close or at a distance. A 130-mile bus ride took several parties to ruins outside Athens. The tour seemed to take as much walking as riding. The ancient Greeks had built acres of finely-chiseled structures in out-of-the-way places. All the walk- ing was taken in easy stride by the guides who moved from fallen capital to broken pillar like mountain goats. At Corinth, the abandoned marble city and its classic temples lay toppled on a plain sloping to the blue Aegean. Atop a sheer cliff behind the city was the Acro-Corinth, a fortified place of refuge for a people and a culture that has otherwise disappeared from the earth. Almost no free mementos were available. At Eleusis, sacred to forgotten mysteries, the guides pointed out a hollow rock once used to store the cups of ancient rites. Next to the rock was a smaller stone used as a cap to shut the safe. Both were obviously too big to fit into the busses. The precious relics were gone. Blocks of carved marble were scattered and symbols around, the smallest weighing at least ten pounds. Swimming at Kineta Beach, midway between Corinth and Athens, was ged over the centuries. There were no bathhouses but plenty of low unchan shrubbery and tideworn rock to make into dressing rooms. The clear water was ice-cold to the foot but good to exercise in. The bottom was stony and hard on the tender feet of modern sailors.

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'L A T H E Continued ,wr af if A e l . A A Ds. .5 -funn-. .4 I., Jaw... ,,',.Y,v, JF- ranks 4, ' 1 This was Corinth and we were there! Upper- Water down there below the pediment, the guide said in his broken English. Right-Romans built the arched wall to stand a thousand years: Greeks the temple to be remembered always. --QW 'F we ' f i ' The Sacred Spring, now full of leaves, was barred to the curious. Upper right-From the Acropolis, Athenians could see the mountains and the bay. Right-Modern Greeks still use this Roman amphitheater.