Start of Trip

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We have no time to add pictures right now. We'll add them later

Saturday, June 23rd - taking off

The only thing that sucks about traveling is the traveling. With this in mind, we loaded up the taxi at 4:30 in the morning and headed out to the airport. Daniel was dressed to kill: khaki traveling vest and pants, Australian outback hat, and ultralight shirt. Mary and Rachel started in on making fun of it, and the previously quiet driver chimed in “I thought you were going to Australia”, much to their delight. The airport was pretty standard issue. We did see a young girl get selected for the “air puff” screening machine. She squealed with delight when the air hit her, and giggled the rest of the way through security. We got to sit three across on the Portland to Newark leg which was nice, but we certainly would like to meet the sadistic &%##$%!! who designed the coach class airline seat. We had a quick layover, then over the pond to Athens. Mary sobbed at the in flight entertainment, while Rachel fell immediately asleep and was out for at least six hours (even missed dinner). Fortunately for them, Daniel was across the isle, so they didn’t have to listen to him complain the whole trip.


Sunday - Why do Greek cars have turn signals?

Arrived Athens, immediately hit with the oppressive heat at the airport. Everything went smoothly: The passport guy asked Mary for a date, the bags arrived quickly, and we found our way to the rental car shuttle. We had to wait outside for about twenty minutes and it was HOT. The shuttle driver gave Daniel his first glimpse of driving in Greece. Here is a summary. All signs, lanes, speed limits and various signals on the car are just a suggestion. The simple fact of the matter is that Greeks are profoundly shitty drivers. Mind you, they are not angry drivers--- no flipping of the bird or honking. Just a simple gentle drifting from lane to lane, through intersections without looking, turn from the far lanes because it gives you a wider turning radius, and if you need to park, just stop where you are and get out. We picked up our trusty steed without incident: A lime green Fiat Punto with a 1.2 liter engine that must have at least twenty horsepower. It is extremely hard to birdwatch while driving, and in Greece it is absolutely impossible. Driving through Athens, we would have gotten in at least five accidents if we didn’t actively work to avoid them. Once we got on the main tollway and got moving, it was not all that bad as the traffic was light. You also need to get used to the extremes of speed in the traffic. It is very common to pass someone going 30 kph while someone passes you going 180 kph. The scenery on the way down was very interesting. It is an arid rocky landscape with many mountains and a beautiful coast. Rachel especially liked the group of tanned, sweaty Greek boys stranded by a flat tire. Could we fit five more guys in the Punto? Too bad I couldn’t find a place to pull over. We finally made it to the small town of Xiropigado where we would be spending the next few days. It is north of Astros and south of Argos, that translates into “dry well”. We were met at our apartment by Brian, a very nice Brit who let us into our home for the next few days and gave us some tips about the local things to do. He proved to be a very valuable source of information and is really a nice man. After dumping the bags unceremoniously in the (very nice, clean) apartment, we followed the short trail down to the beach and hit the Mediterranean for the first time. It is absolutely fantastic. Warm, clear water with gentle waves and a gentle breeze. We should really get an Ocean like this back home. Lots of fish that kind of freaked Rachel out. Basically Daniel sat in the shade “ignoring” the topless women down the beach, while Mary and Rachel bobbed around in the waves. It was fantastic to wash off the essence of the airplane and the rental car. We then took a 5-10 minute walk into our small town for our first Greek dinner. We ate at the Blue Dolphin and the food was fantastic. The waitress spoke excellent English and was very helpful in teaching us how to say “please” and “thank you” without insulting anyone. We were lucky that this restaurant was serving food early as the Greeks generally don’t eat until 9 pm or so. Like the road signs, the menu was “just a suggestion”, and we finally just had them bring us whatever they had ready to eat. We had various scrumptious lamb and eggplant dishes and a nice Greek feta salad. Rachel decided she likes Greek food. We then staggered back to our place and crashed out in a comatose sleep for the next ten hours.

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