Today we will enjoy a city tour with the lovely Maria. After a hearty breakfast, served buffet style we met in the lobby to begin the long day of sightseeing, dining and buying. Our small group of four joined another group of 16 as we took our bus to the Acropolis. Since Cathy and I have been to the Acropolis on our last visit, we elected to leave the group and visit the air conditioned Acropolis Museum. Good move on our part since at 9 in the morning it was already 95 degrees heading to high of 107 by 2 pm. The Acropolis Museum is where the real artifacts from the Acropolis are housed. Here we saw the statues and reliefs that once adorned the lintel of the Acropolis and learned how they were restoring the ... read more

Today we leave for our 7 day cruise. Up at 7:30 for another hearty breakfast. Our bags out the door at 8:00 for a 8:45 departure. Well almost. We needded our passports today since we were actually leaving Greece for an overnight trip to Turkey. I usually keep the family passports, but today we each had our own. After breakfast, our bags in the bus, Cathy remembers her passport was packed in her bag! No big deal. They unpack the bus and pull out her bag. Now comes the fun part. She has no idea where in the bag is the passport. Unfortunately, she had to unpack the entire bag to find the passport burried in the bottom of the bag. So there she sat, on the suidewalk, clothes everywhere, can you imgine the wrinkles? After ... read more

Our first day in Athens was wonderful. The temperture hovered around 100 degrees F with calm winds.The Trafalgar tour guide was waiting for us right outside of baggage. It took less than 1/2 an hour to get our bags and clear customs. Detroit Airport could take a lesson in efficiency from the Greeks. Our ticket included a ride from the airport, usually in a bus, to our hotel. Oddly enough, we were led by the tour guide to a private Mercedes taxi and wwre driven to the Metropolitan Hotel on the outskirts of Athens. This was really odd since we usually expect to wait for others to arrive at the airport. This was great since we were at the hotel by noon. Our room was ready, so we took a quick shower and headed out to ... read more

Today we explore the relevance of the old adage "Murhys Law" if it can go wrong it will, at the worst possible time"....and it did. How can something go wrong already? All we did so far is get up, drive to the airport and check in.Well, check in was a huge issue. Let me explain. We arrived without incident to the airort, North Terminal, to check in at Air Canada. Air Canada has a code share with United. Yesterday, I tried to get my boarding pass on line as I always do, but was unsuccessful. I called Air Canada directly and was on hold for 1 hour only to be told that this flight was airport checkin only. Nice to know, so I just assumed that I woud check in at the airport. Arrived at 8:30 ... read more

We are now 11 days and counting to the trip to Greece. We received our Trafalgar folders with our full Itinerary and optional excursions. We looked through the excursions and chose the following for sure: Medieval walking tour of Rhodes, Savory Symi Bar B Q Cruise (why not!!),Dinner Meze Style in Psiri (you gotta eat!), traditional Greek Taverna with entertainment (you gotta Drink!), Bosphorus Cruise and Grand Bazaar (you gotta buy!!!), Ottoman Emprie and Byzantine Legacy (you gotta learn!), Ancient Ephesus through the ages, Santorini Volcano,and of course the Palace of Knossos. I am sure we will do others on our own. We will be aboard the MS Cristal....Google this ship and you can visit online what we will see in real time! We have the upgraded outside cabin view. Our itinerary is as follows: Athens ... read more