Today was a down day. We walked up into Fira and strolled around shopping and sightseeing the sites, churches, overviews, and myriads of up and down walkways. There are only two main streets in Fira, with a few connecting ones. The rest are dozens and dozens of narrow walkways up, down, and across, mostly crowded with shops, taverns, and people. There were two major cruise ships in port today, so it was even more crowded than yesterday. We ate lunch in a placed called Ouzeqi, where I had dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), Manoli had tomato balls, and we both had a [View Full Entry]

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After walking about a mile to get 2 capuccinos for breakfast, I asked Poppy to call for the 4-wheeler. About 10 minutes later, I was getting the low down on 4-wheelers, then went back to pick up Manoli. We headed out about 9:30am... two old folks on a 4-wheeler! Along the way, we stopped at the Santos Winery just outside Pyrgos and took the tour. Very interesting and only 3 Euros for both of us. We also sampled some Vinsantos, their best wine. Yum! I actually liked it and usually dislike wine. We arrived at Pyrgos and against my better judgement, [View Full Entry]

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Woke up pretty much on time and headed for the port. Arriving early, we had capuccinos at a cafe across from the port and decided to buy lunch there too. A couple of "pies" (greek sandwiches) at 1.70 and 1.90 each. We'd been told food was expensive on the ferry, but it turned out we could have bought the same sort of food onboard for just a bit more, and they would have been still warm. Oh well, live and learn. We boarded the ferry, along with several hundred other travelers, and cast off. The trip was not that bad, but [View Full Entry]

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After a long restless night, we went downstairs to wait for our walking tour. At 9am, the lady told us the guide had called and wasn't coming, so she refunded our money, gave us a map, and some information to take the tour ourselves. So, off we went to see the Acropolis. We decided to check out Hadrian's Library and buy a combo ticket for 6 Euros to see the Acropolis and other sights. Lo and behold, everything was free on Saturdays! After seeing the library and the Roman Agora, we headed up the hill to the Acropolis. We'd met very [View Full Entry]

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We left Pensacola on time, after a near catastrophe.. I left my backpack in the Jeep. After failing to contact Tanya to return, Monica got her on her cell phone. She was already returning because she forgot to give us our anniversary card. The flight from Philadelphia was long (9 hours) but smooth. We slept very little on the plane, arriving in Athens at 9am Friday. Upon arrival we discovered that my suitcase hadn't made the trip with us. Saturday morning and w'ere still waiting for it to be delivered! We took the airport express bus, for 3.20 Euros each, to [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick note to let all know we made it to Athens. The Athens International HI hostel is pretty typical. More later this evening when we've seen something to write about! [View Full Entry]

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Kali Mera! My wife (Manoli) and I (J.C.) are on our way to Greece and the Greek Islands. Taking the 6am flight out of Pensacola for Atlanta, then Philadelphia, and finally Athens. I'll try to make an entry every day, with some interesting photos. Feel free to communicate. See ya in a month...almost [View Full Entry]

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For Nickie Campbell et al, I tried to reply via email but it was returned. We booked our tour of Central America thru Tucan Travel. J.C. [View Full Entry]

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Since I didn't convince Manoli to do another tour, the ruins of Uxmal, today was pretty much a chill and do nothing day. First we went further downtown to the main market, where they had dozens and dozens of booths selling meat, fruit, vegetables, handicrafts and anything else you can imagine. Next, we decided to head uptown to the ritzy district and check out the local Wal-Mart. Very different in both appearance and products from the stores back in the U.S. We bought a bunch of local fruit; papaya, mango, watermelon, cantelope, oranges, pineapple, and a strange guanabana. We also [View Full Entry]

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After having our free coffee and toast breakfast, we boarded the tour bus for Chichen-Itza. The trip took a bit more than 1 1/2 hours. We all bought our 95 Pesos entrance tickets and wristbands and again I paid for a video pass (35 Pesos this time). Our first stop was the Temple El Castillo. This is the temple where the stairs look like a serpent on each side during the vernal equinox. Very cool, even without the serpent shadows. The guide gave very good explanations (ours was in Spanish for Manoli, but they also provided an English guide) as [View Full Entry]

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