Finally, traveling again and it's all GREEK to US

It was long overdue but we have now finally restarted our serious touring schedule. We tipped our toes in the water last year with trips to Florida, Maine, California and Houston. And recently, in May/June, we graduated to a European trip, with 6 weeks in Greece. 

Several months of planning and discussions with  a great travel agency in Athens and with traveling companions (Dave & Shelly) put us on a path that included 4 Islands and a large chunk of the mainland. Six weeks focused on the mainland, bookended by 2 island stays (Santorini and Paros).  Our mainland explorations included:    

View from our rental in Santorini

• in-depth time in Athens  (9 days total),

  

  Caryatids of the Erechtheion on Acropolis Hill

• visiting Delphi to learn about/from the renowned Oracle,
• a couple days to appreciate and be amazed by the monasteries built on the tall shear stone edges of Meteora, 

  

  Monastery of Roussanou, Meteora

  
  
• exploring nearly deserted old villages, admiring the construction of ancient stone bridges-built without the benefit of concrete and appreciating nature in the Vikos Gorge (second to the Grand Canyon in depth) in Vikos–Aoös National Park in NW Greece (neighboring on Albania).

  

  Vikos Gorge from Beloi Viewpoint

• several stops on the Ionian Coast (that is the Sea on the Italian side of Greece) visiting nearly the full expanse of Western Greece  including Olympia, home to the Olympics,
• we then explored the rest of the Peloponnese Peninsula where we visited many fabled sites and visited with several business school classmates: Paul Varotsis and  Agnes hosted us in their home in Kardamyli, Mark Keatley and Rosemary joined us for the weekend  from London and Alejandra Martinez  traveled from Mexico City for our mini reunion and to join us for the rest of the trip.

  

  All of us in Kardamyli

Bottom Line:  We experienced more than most folks (including us if you assessed the situation last year) are even aware of and we made a big dent in that list for ourselves (and you, because we are sharing it in these postings). 

We’ll be updating this blog in chunks as we move around (through the photos). We’ll also post snippets to Facebook, as well.