Hello All, Well, Andrea and I have spent the last two weeks island hopping here in the Aegean Sea. We haven't done a great deal of sightseeing, mostly just relaxing and hanging out. Below is a short description of each island we've been to with some pictures. We're heading to Crete later this afternoon and after we spend a week there we're flying to Egypt! Mykonos We spent about four days here and had a good time. We stayed at a campsite in a bungalow with a beautiful view of the sea right out our door. The accommodations were primitive, but [View Full Entry]

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Well, it's seems forever since my last blog. Last I wrote we were in Meteora which was wonderful. From Meteora we headed back to Athens to finally mail our third bag to the states. Four times we lugged that damn thing to different post offices - Mark was very happy to see it go ;-) Luckily I had purchased a $50.00 (yes...$50.00!!!!) Lonely Planet from a bookstore that was kind enough to give me two big book boxes as the post office had no boxes for mailings. We packed up our tent, sleeping bags and two jackets plus misc. stuff and [View Full Entry]

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After a few days on the island we think we may have mastered the art of relaxation! This is such a unique place we are absolutely loving it here!! We arrived Sunday early morning after a 26 minute puddle jumper flight over here from Athens. Yesterday we hit up the beach and just swam and layed in beach chairs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. As if laying on a beach isn't relaxing enough, here in Santorini they have BEDS and COUCHES with huge fluffy pillows right on the beach! It's a dream come true!! Our hotel is right on the Sea and [View Full Entry]

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Got a dune buggy today with Mom and drove all over the island. Went to Perissa Beach and the Red Beach then back towards the hotel to Kamari Beach. Just driving around mostly then went up to the mountain town of Pyrgos and checked out the crazy maze of streets and got lunch. Split a pizza and each had a drink. Can't believe I have never been up there. Maybe my favorite place on the island. Took a little nap this afternoon and then the whole crew drove to the other end of the island to Oia and watched the sunset [View Full Entry]

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So yes, I'm obviously in the Greek Islands still, happy as a clam. I don't want to leave them. So instead of thinking about that just now, I will take this 15 minutes and quickly tell you about Paris the second time around. I also forgot to mention a rather funny thing that happened. Jono and I were walking one day in downtown Berlin, and a girl passed us. My first reaction was "God, I hate that girl she's so tall and skinny! And she looks like Sarah Hoyles." We kept walking for a few seconds until someone tapped me on [View Full Entry]

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Our day started at 9:00 with a wait at the bus stop for our tour bus. We then headed for Pyrgos and the highest point on the island, Profitis Ilias. Most of us weren't terribly interested in the view of Santorini island from this vantage point as we had been there the day before but our guide, Dana, pointed out the Monastery (closed to the public as it is down to only three monks) which we thought we had missed but which was actually a very ordinary looking building that I thought was part of the military installation on the peak. [View Full Entry]

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Here I am, mxing up my geography again...posting photos of Egypt while writing from Greece. Considering the hours it would have taken to do this in Egypt versus the minutes it's going to take here, I think I have a good excuse this time. We've been in Greece for almost a week now. This was supposed to be the "relax and recuperate" part of our vacation, but despite the nice weather and great scenery (ink-blue sea water surrounding picturesque islands) Greece is a little fast-paced and impersonal for our liking. Admittedly, the island life is better than Athens so we're warming [View Full Entry]

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We rented a car to see Santorini and headed out with a really crappy map for Ancient Thera. Since our map only had two basic roads on it we initially ended up by the beach in Kamari and saw our first black sand. We looked up and saw the EXTREMELY winding road that led to Ancient Thera above us and headed up there. There were switchbacks every two or three car lengths on a cobblestone road and, as the driver, I kept hoping we wouldn't meet anyone coming down. We were lucky and made it to the top without any problems. [View Full Entry]

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We have just spent three days at Santorini since our last visit to the island some 8 years ago. The changes are enormous. The back of the island that swept from the caldera rim at between 300and 450 meters down to the airport and the sea, which was traditionally held in small farming blocks and country side, is now an extending urban development. New houses are being constructed everywhere but thankfully all are required to conform to Santorini house designs which at least restricts high-rise and non-Greek glass development. The other noticeable change is white and blue are not the only [View Full Entry]

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**See June 1 Entry [View Full Entry]

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