The Greek Island Fly-by....

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Turkey was such a relaxing stop for us. A real slow-down of the hectic pace we had been on since we hit the Middle East a few weeks back.

After nearly 3 months of traveling we both had set our eyes on home, and looked forward to our last stop: The Greek Islands.

We had originally planned to leave Greece on June 6th...but our plans changed just as we left Turkey.

My brother Shaun (Jess' new brother-in-law) has ben holding down the fort with our business...but after some exciting developments over the past few week we got an urgent message from home: Help! So both of us looked at it as an opportunity to get home and finally get settled-in...and an excuse to plan a future trip back to the Greek Islands.

So we changed our flight back home to June 1st and we started our journey from the Turkish port city of Kusadasi towards Athens.

Our first ferry ride was to the Greek island of Samos ( the home of the Pythagorean guy who made the equation you learned in 9th grade.). We got off the boat stored our gear and booked our next ferry ride at a local travel agent.

We then rented a small car and started our road tour of the island. Samos is the 7th largest of the Greek islands and has pretty diverse scenery. The beaches are beautiful, and the mountains have the most amazing views!

Our drive took us up to the little town of Valeodates way at the top of the mountain to relax, enjoy the views, and slow things down a bit. We sat on this narrow little street right out of the postcard photos and enjoyed some fresh squeezed orange juice and a round of playing cards.

We then wound down the sharp curves of the mountain road and headed to the other side of the island to a town called Pythagorion, named after the famous mathematician. The island has a very nice feel of comfortable coastal areas with great waterfront cafes, while having some really beautiful rugged mountain areas -- great contrast.

That evening we had to catch our ferry to the island of Paros, and we decided to take the overnight ferry to save time and money.

There were very few people on board, but they all spread out and they all smoked. So after trying to tough it out on the deck in economy class, we booked a private cabin (pretty reasonable really) and got needed showers and sleep!

At 4:30 the attendents knocked on the door and we got off the boat on the beautiful little island of Paros. The tempature at the port at 5:00 am was perfect -- but the little town of Parikia was still alseep other than a little bakery across the street from the port's gates. We had a nice little breakfast of ham and cheese in a croissant and hung out while we waited for the sun to come up and hotels to start opening their doors.

A little why later the owner of the shop recommended his friend's hotel right behind the bakery: Captain Manolis Hotel . We loved the little hotel, and again, just out of the Greek Island postcards. It was also very reasonable on the price. The owner let us check in at 7:00 am and stay until 11:00 am the next day while only charging us for one day. Sounds like a simple enough gesture, but you'd be surprised how sticky some hotels can be about that.

After a nap, we headed out to explore the island and town. Much of this first day was spent getting ourselves ready to come home. Time on the internet, phone calls, packing etc. However we did get to spend several hours of the late afternoon on the beach. Paros apparently has beautiful beaches all around the island, but there was a beach not 10 minutes walking time from our hotel so we saved on the car rental and headed over. It was a public beach however several companies set up beach chairs and umbrellas and for 5 Euro they were yours for the day.

We had more wonderful greek food for dinner at a small restaurant next to the beach and after a quick trip back to an internet cafe we turned in pretty early.

The next day was our final beach day of the trip so Jess wanted to make the most of it. We slept in and then immediately walked back to our beach from the day before. Other than a short break for lunch we just hung around at the beach reading and enjoying the sun. The water was a little cold to spend too much time in, but thankfully there was a constant breeze to keep things cooled down.

At around 7:30 pm our ferry arrived to take us to Athens. While our first ferry had seemed slightly crowded we had no idea what that word could mean until we arrived on this ferry. Our economy ticket didn't even buy us seats on this massive cruis ship/ferry. The seats available were a free-for-all for all economy passengers (and there were a lot of us) outside on the upper decks...in May the evenings were still pretty chilly so it was a much longer ferry ride than we were anticipating.

While trying to plan our trip through the islands and up to Athens we had talked to several different travel agents about our options. Each one quoted us outrageous prices on both ferry tickets and hotels so in the ended we decided to deal with things as we went. This worked out great (and we saved quite a bit of money) until we reached Athens...

We arrived at 1:30 in the morning to a full city. Jess knew that we wanted to stay in the Plaka which is the area right next to the Acropolis - therefore busy and expensive. After getting turned down at 4 different small hotels we happened across the incredible 5 star Electra Palace. We weren't planning on splurging, but they had a room and we were tired. Beside that it was our last night of the honeymoon so we figured we'd go out in style.

Not only were the rooms beautiful and the breakfast buffet out of this world, but there was an incredible rooftop pool/restaurant area. The view of the Acropolis from our roof was amazing. After breakfast when we were all packed up and ready to check out we stayed up there playing cards enjoying the view for an hour.

It was a pretty hot day so we made our way quickly up to the Acropolis, took our pictures and headed back to find water and shade. The Acropolis is really something to see however our favorite view was from the rooftop of our hotel - with diet coke in hand.

Jessica's sister Kristi studied in Athens a few years back so we had to check out Kristi's old stomping grounds. Jess had been there at the beginning of Kristi's trip to Athens and was able to follow her nose back to the street and apartment she remembered. For us it was a nice way to get out of the touristy Plaka area around the Acropolis and see another area of Athens.

Our last dinner while sitting in a Plaka cafe was bittersweet. Both of us were excited to get home, but not even close to being ready to end our uninterrupted time with eachother. So, for the last time on our adventure we grabbed our bags and made the trek to the airport.

Athens' Metro system got a major overhaul for the Olympics a few years back. They even have a direct line to the airport which was convenient and cheap (10 Euro total for the two of us). We knew we had a LONG day ahead of us as our flight didn't even open for check in until 2:50... and we arrived at 10:00 pm.

Thankfully our flight change worked out (although we did have to pay a rather hefty sum to KLM) and by 4:00 am we were on our way to Amsterdam. After a few hours in Amsterdam and a final game of rummy (it was close, but Larry won...) we went through the enema that is boarding a flight to the United States.

Each passenger and those traveling together are stood at a podium facing the European version of the TSA and interrogated! I'm not kidding - Jess and I basically laughed in the woman's face over some of her questions:

1) Did you pack your own bags etc...
2) Where have you been on this trip - um thats a loaded question...
3) Where is your itinerary and why does it say June 6th instead of today June 1st?

Because we have a business emergency that we need to get home for.

4) Who do you work for? What kind of business is that you own? Isn't there anyone else there who can take care of the problem???????

It was at this point that we couldn't help ourselves, but laugh in the woman's face. Either that or Jess who has perfected her annoyed look and was very tired was about to start screaming. We eventually got through without any jail time, but it was close.

The direct flight to Portland was long, but with ON-Demand movies, games etc. on your own personal TV screen the trip went pretty quickly.

Jessica's Aunt Valerie and cousin Katherine picked us up from the airport with flowers and groceries for the house in hand. Then we were off to the all important first lunch home - Mexican food. You can find it here and there around the world, but nothing like home.

There is no way to describe how perfect this trip has been. From the weather, to the transportation, the people we met along the way, our health, the opportunities we had to see awe-inspiring sights...and the company. I couldn't think of a better way to start off this amazing marriage than with an amazing honeymoon.

After this incredible trip its hard to believe, but we're sure that the best is yet to come.

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Photos

The Acropolis!
As seen from the rooftop of our hotel - the Electra Palace.

The best view of the Acropolis
In my opinion at least. This is another shot from our hotel in Athens.

Beautiful Paros street
It was impossible to capture how beautiful all the streets were in the town and Island of Paros. Narrow, all white and blue with beautiful pink and red flowers growing out of random cracks in the walls - I loved it!

Our little beach umbrella :-)
Our final beach days of the trip were spend next to this umbrella on a beach that was in walking distance to our hotel.

Paros Port
This picture was taken from our beach spot back towards the town of Paros...on Paros Island.

Monastery
Our drive around Samos took us up a mountain past a village to this Monastery. It also offered some beautiful views of the Island and Agean below.

Theatre at the Acroplis
The ancient theatre has been renovated and is acutally the venue where my sister, Holly (Kristi's best friend) and I watched Romeo and Juliet the ballet in 2005.

Temple of Nike
This is the temple you have to walk through to reach the Parthenon.

Sprawling Athens
The view of Athens from the Acropolis is something to see. No building in the city seems to rise higher than maybe 5 floors so it spreads out in all directions.

Vizantino Taverna
Kristi, Holly, Cassi and I spent many hours in this little cafe in the Plaka in 2005.

Rummy break
On our last day of the trip we found a little church with a table out front and nobody around. The perfect spot for a few hands of our favorite card game.

Hunting for Kristi's Apartment
With one long day to kill in Athens before our red-eye flight we decided to hunt for my sisters apartment from a few years ago. It was fun to see it again, but mainly it was nice for us to get away from all the tourists and into a few normal neighborhoods.

Our last honeymoon dinner
At a bustling cafe in the Plaka we enjoyed a few more Greek dishes before heading to the airport. After so many wonderful evenings together just like this one around the world it was hard to believe this was our last...for this trip anyway :-)

Catching a few z's in the Athens Airport
This was right before some jerk serving coffee told us that it was \"FORBIDDEN\" that we sleep here. Well, hello at 2am who is fighting us for these seats?

Found it!
Krisit's apartment that is - I followed my nose and there it was :-)