A 5-day trip at Greece

Greece is where Olympic games  originated, a cradle of western civilization, and the birthplace of democracy. We are reminded about it every Olympic games, and we are referred to it once in a while in discussions. It had been a place in pictures, videos and TV screens until we visited Greece during this Thanksgiving week. 

We visited 5 places in Greece:  Athens, the heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful civilization and empire, and the current capital, Nafplio, a coastal city, the ancient Olympia archeological site, Meteora Kalabaka, where Eastern Orthodox monasteries were built on top of rock pillars, recognized as a World Heritage site because of its outstanding architecture and natural beauty, combined with religious and cultural significance, and Delphi, ancient town and seat of the most important Greek temple and oracle of Apollo. 

We used public transportation and our feet at Athens, we walked over 23km at Athens in one day. We drove outside Athens, we drove over 1200km!

Our driving trail at Greece

Day 0 - arrival at Athens

Arriving at Athens behind schedule due to flight delay. Go to Hotel from Airport by Train without transfer. Walked in the street, and visited a market.

Old town city streets are narrow, buildings are old, and food are cheap.

Day 1 Acropolis and other archeological sites at Athens

Acropolis of Athens is a must visit site...many ruins of ancient temples

Philopappos Hill - short hike from Acropolis with Views of Athens & the Acropolis, a stop by 
Prison of Socrates.

Mount Lycabettus - 277 meters above sea level, its summit is the highest point in Central Athens, a stop by unknown soldiers tomb. A great place for viewing Sunset!

Public transportation from hotel to Acropolis, and walked the rest of the way - 30k steps, about 23km!

Acropolis viewed from afar

Heroon of Mousaios

Athens' costal side

Change of Guards at unknown soldiers tomb 

Mt Lycabettus - viewed from Acropolis

Golden glow over Athens - viewed from Mt Lycabettus

Sunset at Athens - viewed from Mt Lycabettus

Day 2 - Nafplio, a coastal city, with two scenic stops on the way

About two hour drive from Athens. First Stop is Corinth Canal, second stop is Archaeological site of Mycenae. Nafplio itself is a neat coastal city, with side streets perpendicular to coast, many small restaurants. Great food!

Drove to Olympia, 200km away, arrived at Olympia in the afternoon - but late for the Archeological site

The Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. Completed in 1893, it cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth

In the second millennium BC (2000BC - 1001BC), Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization

a yacht by the shore at Nafplio

Bourtzi Fortress @ Nafplio

A side street at Nafplio

Day 3 Olympia Archaeological site and Olympia Museum

Olympia is  an ancient site and a modern town, a UNESCO World Heritage site featuring extensive ruins such as the ancient stadium, the Temple of Zeus, and the Temple of Hera.

The museum is good place to visit after the visiting the ruins.

Temple of Zeus - destroyed by an earthquake in 500AD 

The ancient stadium

Temple of Hera - the queen of all gods

Olive trees and olives

disc thrower

Day 4  Meteora Kalabaka

The Meteora is a rock formation in northwestern Greece, hosting one of the most prominent complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, the most uniquely beautiful landscape on this trip.

We arrived the night before in the light rain, and saw the silhouette.

On the morning of day 4 we hiked around the hotel in the early morning before going to the Monasteries. We thoroughly enjoyed the landscape and the amazing monasteries on top of the rock formation. 

Day 5 Delphi,  Temple of Apollo and the museum

Delphi served as major site during classical times for the worship of the god Apollo - Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more.

We visited  Delphi, the Temple of Apollo and museum in the rain.

Drove back to Athens and arrived at Athens in rush hour to return the rental car. Left for home early next morning

The Temple of Apollo -Ruins

The best preserved ancient Greek theater at the Temple of Apollo

The well preserved ancient stadium at the Temple of Apollo

Sphinx at the Temple of Apollo museum

Apollo - God of Oracles (Picture taken at Vatican Museum)

Manual Focus

My inability to take a picture in manual focus caught up with me at the most inopportune time.

At the end of October, a rare rhinoceros hornbill – believed to be extinct in Singapore since the last wild bird was spotted about 200 years ago – appeared in Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. It seems move there since people reported seeing it almost daily. I went there a couple of weeks ago. 

The hornbill was deep in dense woods. With helps from fellow bird watchers, we could only see it through small openings in the leafy branches. 

Using auto focus, I couldn’t see it through my high power lens! But I could see it with my naked eyes,  though not very clearly.  I asked a bird watcher, who got clear bird image of the bird on his camera. He said he used manual option to focus on the hornbill through the foreground. 

He told me what to do, and after a few tries, I finally saw the bird on my camera for only one time, and could not repeat the magic 😞.

I decided to learn manual focus.  With the help of Google and YouTube,  I finally learned how to change aperture,  shutter speed,  ISO, and select different options of focus.

To mock the real world scenario,  I put a baseball cap behind an artificial tree at home,  and tried to focus on the cap.

focus was on foreground 

Despite the lessons taken, I still could not focus on the cap. It turned out that even when I  selected manual, the focus is not automatically set at manual focus. What I need to do is to use auto focus first to zoom in on the cap, then change the focus to manual,  fine tune the focus. I  finally could focus on the cap consistently. 

focus was on the intended object. foreground was a blur

There are a lot to learn to take good pictures using manual focus. I made a good first step. Hopefully I will take a good photo of the rhinoceros hornbill wherever it is in the woods at SungeiBulohWetland.

Rhinoceros Hornbill at Sungei Buloh (from newspaper report)

 

Note:

Auto focus makes taking pictures easy, and 90% + of time I can take good photos. In fact, early this year, I  took a perfect photo of a blue tailed bee eater. 

Grey-headed Fish Eagle

The first time I saw Grey-headed Fish Eagle was in 2021, when I visited Little Guilin. I could not see it clearly from naked eyes or from my camera - it was too far. I saw it from a bird photographer's big lens. Later that morning, I saw a pair of grey headed fish eagles flying around and heard them making calls.

In 2023, I bought a big lens,  a Tamron 150-500mm F/5-6.7 lens, and put it in use at Singapore Quarry, where there is a known nest for grey-headed fish eagles. With this big lens, I took many great pictures of grey-headed fish eagles. One or another fish eagle just perched on top of  a tree stump, looking around.

With the big lens, I could see its hooked beak, penetrating eyes, brownish chest, white belly and grey head. After quite somewhile, It flew to the pond water surface to catch a fish, and apparently for this time, it was empty taloned. 

These are the two locations that I saw grey-headed fish eagles - mostly solo, and quiet. 

In early October, we went to Little Guilin again. Bringing my big lens with me, we looked forward to seeing the eagles again. We did not spot them initially, but knowing where it would perch, we kept looking from different angles, and finally saw an eagle on the tree by the cliff, where it was before!

It was interesting to know that we could only see it at certain angles.

A couple weeks later, I heard a hoarse barking call near Keppel Wetland at Singapore Botanic Garden. I looked around for a minute or so, and finally saw a big bird perched on a bare branch of a big tree across the pond from where I stood. It was a grey-headed fish eagle! First time I saw grey-headed fish eagle at the Garden. 

The following Saturday, when I was at Keppel Wetland, I looked up at the same tree, I saw a grey-headed fish eagle, quietly perching on a tree branch.

no big lens this time, but it was clearly a grey-headed fish eagle

A grey-headed fish eagle moved to Singapore Botanic Garden!

There are ponds here with fishes. Many kingfishers live here, why not fish eagles? 

Is this migration natural or man-made? Either way I am pleased, and hoping to see it catching fish one day.

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ChatGPT revision

That’s a beautiful field note — full of genuine curiosity and appreciation for nature. Here’s a shorter, publication-ready version — concise, reflective, and with a natural storytelling tone suitable for a nature blog, newsletter, or magazine feature:

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The Grey-headed Fish Eagle

My first encounter with the Grey-headed Fish Eagle was in 2021 at Little Guilin. The bird was perched far away—barely visible to the naked eye. A fellow bird photographer let me look through his powerful lens, and there it was: regal, still, surveying the world below. Later that morning, I saw a pair gliding above the cliffs, calling to each other across the lake.

Two years later, with a new Tamron 150–500mm lens in hand, I visited Singapore Quarry, where these eagles are known to nest. This time, the details came alive: the hooked beak, grey head, brown chest, white belly, and those sharp, watchful eyes. I watched one launch from its perch, swoop over the pond, and rise again—empty-taloned but magnificent.

I’ve seen them now in two places—Little Guilin and Singapore Quarry—often solitary and quiet, always commanding. On a return trip to Little Guilin this October, I found one again on its familiar tree by the cliff, visible only from just the right angle, as if reminding me that nature always reveals itself on its own terms.

Weeks later, a familiar hoarse cry echoed across Keppel Wetland in the Botanic Gardens. I looked up—and there it was, perched high on a bare branch. A Grey-headed Fish Eagle, right in the city’s green heart. It’s appeared there twice since.

Perhaps it has moved in, drawn by the ponds full of fish and the company of kingfishers. Whether this shift is natural or man-made, I’m simply grateful—to witness its quiet majesty, and to know that even in the city, wildness endures.

Coney Island

Coney Island is located at northeast of Singapore and between the mainland and Pulau Ubin. It was acclaimed to be rustic with 80 species of birds.  The first time we visited the small island was about 4 years ago, at the end of 2021. The highlight then was watching long tailed parakeets. 

We visited Coney Island again on a pleasant, Sunny Sunday October 19, with  my Tamron lens in a backpack. We walked along the shore on the southwest side of the island. We saw and heard long tailed parakeets flying overhead, but did not see them anywhere close.

Walking slowly and stopping when I heard bird chirps, I spotted two baby spotted doves, quite a few Asian brown flycatchers. There were many butterflies flying in the bushes, and around blooming flowers. 

they were on the ground foraging before flying away from us to perch on the tree branches

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Just when I was thinking that I had no use of my big lens, I heard unfamiliar bird chirps then saw something moving high up on the main trunk of a tall pine tree - it was a flame backed woodpecker. I installed the big lens and started to flow it with my camera. It moved pretty fast and helically, in and out of my views. 

This one had a red crest - a male flame backed woodpecker. I saw the woodpeckers quite a few times before,  but never heard them chirping.  it must be mating time for them.

It flew away, and I saw a couple more flame backed woodpecker.  Another flame backed woodpecker came into view, it had the black and white strips at its head, brownish back, but no red crest; its head was all black. That was a female flame backed woodpecker! The first time I noticed the female flame backed woodpeckers in my bird watching.

Then I saw two woodpeckers get close to each other, on a branch way above me. It was backlight, I could only see their silhouette. 

The northeast side of the island is the beach side. It was high tide this morning, and the beaches were mostly under water. From there, southwest tip of Pula Ubin was in sight across the water. It should be a good place to Kayak to from nearby Punggol point Park.

It was a slow, pleasant walk, 7 km total on the island.

a male flame backed woodpecker

this one had red crest

submerged beach

Notes

1. Construction of Outward Bound Singapore Campus

There was construction 4 years ago when we first visited Coney island. We were annoyed by the constant loud noises from driving piers into ground. 4 years later the construction was not completed - from Google map we could tell that  the campus occupies about 1/5 ~ 1/4 of the island. 

2. Bug bites - use bug repellent if you are prone to bug bites. There are many bugs on the island.

3. Right by the island, a big HBD community, Punggole point cove was just built.