Blogs from Meteora, Thessaly, Greece, Europe - page 5

Starting in Zagreb, Croatia. tomorrow: crossing into Turkey. through many countries; ha-ha we laugh in spite of the Balkan's cold fall and the heated fig factory. here is only a bit of what we have seen.... read more

after albania, we welcomed greece with open, loving arms! starting our exploration in corfu, we relaxed on the beautiful island for just over a week taking in the sights, beaches and fantastic food!.....from corfu, we toured the mainland enjoying the mountains, rivers and gorgeous, refreshing archeon springs. we drove to korinthos where we enjoyed perfect beachside camping....from there we took in the acropolis and spent a day enjoying the ruins! From Athens we decided it was time again for island hopping and started in paros, jumping over to santorini, naxos, mykonos, and samos. All this island touring was via large ferry..each port arrival felt like the normany invasion with hundred of honeymooners and backpackers running down the tail ramp of these massive boats. we found our favorite places were the lesser known areas of the islands. ... read more

It is time to head home. We were all a little down this morning. It has been such a great vacation that it is hard to think about heading back home. Daniel and I had five goals for our vacation and we easily met every one of them. First, we wanted to deepen our relationship with our niece, Rachel. Second, we wanted to guide Rachel through a life-changing experience that would provide her a newfound confidence to explore her own backyard and the entire world. Third, I wanted to learn more about Greek history and culture. Fourth, we wanted to have fun and relax. Finally, Daniel wanted a few more life birds. Mission accomplished! It seems the universe wasn’t ready to have us back home either. Our plane was delayed in Athens, which then made us ... read more

Here we are again on another ferry boat, 45 min drive from Athens and then 45 minutes on the ferry, again full of people going to the big island of Evia. We left the vehicle behind parked somewhere along the driveway. Staying at Papou and Yaya's house an apartment on the hill over a store a block from the sea, with a beautiful balcony looking out to the sea through the houses. How nice, with a nice view of the hills. (unfortunately here again they had a large fire just the day prior and one of the Canadian water planes went down hitting a pole and could not rise and 2 pilots were killed. Those darn fires. Oh I forgot to tell you, during the last 2 weeks the temperatures hit a whopping 43 to 44 ... read more

The ship and its 3400 passengers descended upon and overwhelmed the small Greek fishing village of Katakalon today. It was hard to believe that their quaint port full of modest fishing boats even had a place for the massive vessel to dock. I felt a little guilty taking over their town in this obnoxious, and I felt audacious way, but at the same time the whole town seemed to be about 30 shops supported entirely by tourist business. We walked along the beach and found the first signs of ocean life we’ve seen yet. We came across four fifths of a starfish, a dead eel, and many large jellyfish. This was exciting for us, after being 9 days at sea and close to concluding that the Mediterranean was incapable of supporting life. The reason to dock ... read more