Wed Sept 21- Our Last Hurrah!

We are in that "end of holiday" mode when you feel tense about all kinds of things like getting up in time to catch our plane, making our flight connections, and things that we have to do when we get home. We leave Kastraki early as we have a 5 hour drive to Athens. As it is close to lunch we decide to take a detour off the main road. We arrive at what we think should be a nice seaside town, instead it is a port with a huge, dirty refinery of some kind with smoking chimneys; not the kind of place for lunch so we head back to the main road and consider eating at a service center but as this is our last day we want something nicer so we turn off at the next town Thiva. We have to drive through the whole city to the downtown before we find restaurants that look ok. This must be a university town as the restaurants all seem to be bars. We finally find a nice spot and have a our last lunch. You can tell this is not a tourist area. The Peloponnese is not touristy either but it is a much nicer part of Greece.
I have booked Peri's Hotel from Trip Advisor comments that this is a nicer choice than the more expensive airport hotels. I know it is a small family hotel and that it is located in a residential part of a village. We wonder what we are in for when the GPS says turn right on unpaved road and we drive down a dusty lane then turn onto another but we see a nice looking building at the end of this country lane. Yes it's Peri's and the owner shakes our hands enthusiastically. The place is very small but spotless and our room has a queen bed which makes us happy even if it is super firm. Thrifty comes to get our rental car so we walk towards the town center where there are sea front restaurants. It's a long walk and when we spot a grocery store we buy some snacks and fruit and head back to our room. We're both tired of restaurants and dine on our balcony overlooking a field, some houses in various states of repair, and a distant view of the sea. We chat with our neighbours who are going back to New Zealand tomorrow. They were on the island of Crete on a walking tour. The wife is 69 and did 2 all-day hikes through gorges in the heat! She is good stuff! Interesting to hear how other travellers experience a country.
I go down to the desk to use the hotel computer to print my boarding passes and the clerk says "gotta run to the airport; you use my computer" so there I am at the front desk taking inquires from other guests who think I work there. You gotta love Greece!
We spend our last evening on our balcony with the planes flying over us knowing we'll be on one of them tomorrow winging our back to Canada! While it's great to be away it's even better to come home!!
Our Greek Adventure is coming to a close!

Tue Sept 20- A Most Awesome Place

<p>We awake to the sound of rain and it is much cooler. I wear my skirt and a top with sleeves so I don't have to wear the monastery skirts. You must have your legs and shoulders covered. All of Meteora including this village has been designated a sacred place in the eyes of the Orthodox church. The dress code only applies in the monasteries though. We visit the last 3 today. It is very foggy in the morning which adds a special effect to the experience, especially when we are crawling around the rocks at the Agia Trius and can't see below us. To get to this one we walked a long way down a stone path then started up a path that hugged the rock and tunnelled through part of it. It took us a long time to reach the top and we are out of breath. Worth it though as this one had a large rock area to explore. The ascent to Agios Nikolaos was also a challenge but we really likes this last monastery. It had several nice spots to take in the beauty surrounding us and we sat and absorbed it.
On our travels today we had a herd of goats cross the busy road and a local on a motorcycle tries to shoo them while other cars honk and try to pass. We just sit and enjoy hearing the music their bells make.
We decide to stop at a souvlaki place; the meal is so-so but they are filming for a TV show which makes lunch interesting. As we drive through the village the shopkeeper Christina smiles as we wave at her. The granddaughter is not there today. When we get back to our room we notice our mountains are now green from the rain. The second picture is our view.

Monday Sept 19- 2011 - On Top of the World

<p>We wanted to be at our first monastery early so we can climb it's 400 steps while it's cool and before it gets busy. The Grand Meteoron is the oldest and largest. The climb is fine as there are many spots to stop and take in the spectacular views. And who do we meet but Jim and Jean, again! <br>
There were no roads in the beginning so everything was hauled up with ropes and baskets including the monks! There are many buildings including a church with beautiful frescoes, monks quarters, and an Ossuary. Hey Grandkids-see if you can figure out what this room is used for and Grandpa will show you the picture when you get home! The grounds are beautiful and peaceful, all this perched on top of a rock 400 metres high!>
Well it was peaceful until the busloads arrive; there must have been 10. Bruce is very intrigued by their maneuvers in the parking lots and on the narrow roads.<br>
We climb a tree-lined path to the small but beautiful Roussanou Monastery, inhabited by an order of nuns. We get a couple from China to take our picture with the Baden Outlook, our local paper that travels with it's readers all over the world.
We lunch at the Panorama Restaurant - self explanatory and delicious. We go back to our room to relax on our balcony. I catch up on the blog- love having WiFi in our room. We take a drive and stop at the same store as we did yesterday. Today a little girl who reminds us of Ava is playing in the doorway. I ask her how old and she says 3. The old lady remembers us and says yes this is her granddaughter Christina. The old lady helps us pick out the best chips and I ask her name-she gives me a big smile and says Christina! I ask to take their picture and she tries to get little Christina to look at the camera but she is very shy of the camera. She looks up with a huge smile when we drive away.

.

We drive to an outlook to get some photos while the sun is setting. Our dinner at Gardenia near our hotel is very good. We take a walk around the town square. There are still families with young kids in the park and it's almost 10pm. Everything seems to be later here from getting up in the morning to bedtime.

Sun Sept 18 - Tunnel Vision

We throw our salty clothes (from the ocean and from sweating so much) into our bags and we're off in our trusty Fiat Panda. (FIAT=Fix It Again Tony!) We head northeast toward Prevasa thru Arta to Ioanina. The roads are amazingly good and this time they built many tunnels through the mountains so we don't have to drive over the top like last week! We are on our way to Meteora, the Monastic City of Rocks. On the way we stop at a small roadside cafe; the only customers are 3 old Greeks playing backgammon but we are hungry. One of the men gets up to wait on us and we point to our choices as he doesn't speak English. He sets our table then goes away. We figure he is the cook too. Sure enough, he brings our food, tzatziki, saganaki (the best so far) and tomato salad. An old couple drives by slowly and we smile as we sip on our wine. They turn around, pull in and ask if the food is good. Yes we say enthusiastically. They are greek too but speak a bit of English. I take a picture and he salutes me with his glass so I show him on my camera. As I prepare to take another one with Bruce in it he jumps up, comes over and toasts Bruce with a big smile for the camera. We all have a good laugh as we check out the picture. I love these moments. And 14.50 euro ($19cdn) for this finest of dining!
We can see the rock spires towering in the distance as we approach Kastraki but when we get close to them, we just cannot believe it. The pictures do not do it justice and I am very happy we chose to stay here for 3 nights!
Well I did have a moment of doubt about our hotel choice. We saw a sign for the Pyrgos Adrachti so Bruce turned around and squeezed up a narrow lane behind the place with the sign. We both thought the place looked dumpy from the front; well you should have seen the back! Depressed, I walk around to the front to find the office, knowing that we will just have to lose our deposit as we are not staying here. I start laughing out loud when I notice that there are big arrows on the sign pointing us further down the road!! Thank God. We hop back in and follow many more signs through steep, narrow, one-lane streets up and up till we arrive. This hotel looks much better and when the lady opens our balcony doors I get tears in my eyes; our view is beautiful beyond words! We are surrounded by towering spikes of mountain and we see 2 guys climbing towards the peak of one.
We decide to check out the area; there were 24 monasteries built over the years and six remain open today. There is only one that does not require climbing stairs, St Stefanos, so we choose to visit this one. The views make you want to give up all things worldly and enter monkhood. More on the monasteries tomorrow.
As we are leaving, who do we run into but Jim & Jean from the boat! What a small world! We decide to meet for dinner. In the village we stop at a store for some olives and wine and sit on our balcony watching the mountain climbers through our binoculars. After a late dinner we tumble into our comfy bed.

Sat Sep 17-All Good Things Must End

Yes today is our last full day aboard the "Kristen". What a memorable holiday. I must talk about the food. Simone the first mate and trained chef prepares amazing meals with great presentation! All this done from a small galley and as you are often at sea, preplanning is important. Happily the feta cheese has not been "goaty" as we are not big fans of goat cheese. Simone tends to buy sheep or cow feta. The tomatoes taste like the tomatoes we grew up eating. I will now be using eggplant in my cooking. Her desserts are delicious too. Every day around 5 we have the captain's cocktail which has given me some good drink recipes. Our only exercise is swimming, although getting your swimsuit on and off when you are in a small space and sweating seems to be a work out too. We did walk this morning as we were in port, one of only 2 nights.<br>
We have really enjoyed this experience but weather and your cabin mates would have an effect. We lucked out in both; you need to be flexible and Ok in confined spaces as the cabins are small. Tis a small price to pay to be able to see these wonderful islands in the Ionian up close. Today we found another beauty, Papa Nicholas bay with it's own cave and mountainous underwater scenery. A great place to end our most wonderful adventure. We head into the harbour of Nidri where we will disembark tomorrow morning. For our last dinner together we walk to the  Catamaran restaurant and treat our hosts to a Greek/Italian meal. Then we stroll the busy streets- everyone is out and about, shopping, dining and kids playing on their bikes even though it is after 10pm. We have a nightcap on the boat and talk avoid the great time we've had. We will always treasure our memories!!>

Sofia and Fiskardo -Friday Sept 16

We wake up to another perfect day in another perfect bay. The beach has pink and white smooth stones which sparkle in the clear water when we snorkel. I must bring some home as souvenirs. Our morning sail takes us to Sofia bay and the goats greet us. Bruce loves Greece because there are goats (and boats) everywhere. After lunch we get a good wind and the guys hoist the sails as we tack toward Fiskardo (Kefalonia). We pass a small island Dhiskado that looks like a submarine; so much so that the Germans bombed it during the war! (see picture) We then sail into Fiskardo, a happening scenic harbor town where we will spend the night. We all head to cafes to use Wifi. We enjoy people watching while drinking frappes, then visit the local museum and shop a bit but it is too hot. That's OK as the stores are open til midnight. We shop after dinner and enjoy sitting on our deck watching and listening to the action on the seafront sidewalks. It's hard to believe that this place will shut down in another month. It's hard to believe it's our second last night!

"Monk"y Business-Wed Sept 14

First -Happy 95th Birthday Mom!!
I hope Mom doesn't mind that I'm away for her big day-she instigated my love of travel!
It is wonderful to wake up and watch the sun rising over the calm blue Ionian sea. This is the life! I rarely know what time it is or the day! After another wonderful breakfast we snorkel for an hour, then we sail to a small deserted beach on the island of Ithica where Oddyseus hung out. Tonight we will spend our first night in port in the town of Kioni on Ithaca. We take a taxi tour of the island. Our driver takes us through small villages and tells us that there used to be 500-600 residents, now maybe 5-35 in a lot of them during the winter. The young people leave as there is no work. We wonder what will happen to these beautiful Greek villages! We visit a monastery and similar to the other one, only one monk and a very old couple that are the caretakers. We wonder what will happen when they die off. There was a young woman helping the monk to move a table from the chapel. Caroline is curious about this relationship and we recruit Jean ( who is the most tactful of our group) to ask our driver "who's the chick?" We have some good laughs about this over supper at the lovely Itika restaurant in the mountains. We had some more laughs when Randy told us his story about the demented aunt using the toilet sitting in middle of the rec room during bathroom renovations. Jim has another funny "plumbing" story so you can see things go downhill from here. And literally as our taxi driver takes us back to the harbour "the back way!"
One thing I haven't mentioned in my ravings is the camaderie you develop with your ship mates. We are lucky to be sharing this adventure with super people. We have learned alot from our fellow travellers and our crew. Another fun day on the Kristen.
Oh yes the chick is married to the caretakers' son.
Picture is of Kioni.

A Natural Remedy -Thurs Sept 15

<p>&lt;p&gt;It was different to sleep in port as there were boats tied up on either side of us. No privacy at all so luckily the others were a quiet bunch. We have been going to bed early, likely the fresh air is making us tired. Today we have a long sail to the Island of Kefalonia where we will stay the night. After another delicious lunch and swim in a quiet bay, we dock in Eufima where today's tour begins. We visit 2 caves (we've seen enough now) then a monastery built over the cave of St. Gerassimo who gave up all worldly goods to live in it. His mummified body lies in the chapel and people come from all over Greece to kiss his feet which is a cure for many things especially mental ailments. Although I may have benefited, his feet did not look too appetizing as he died in 1579!<br>
Bruce and Randy crawled down the 20 ft ladder to his tiny cave and decided to hang on to their worldly goods! There is a beautiful new church built here and the grounds are lovely. (see photo) The last stop is a winery and then back to our boat. Our captain doesn't like staying in port so we sail to a nearby bay they discovered and named Honeymoon Bay after the 2 caves on shore. <br>
We had a delicious meal - traditional Greek Beef Stefado. Off to bed rocked by the waves and the moon shining through the hatch.</p>

Seasoned Sailors Tues Sept 13

Our Morning sail takes us to Formicula and we take the dinghy ashore to a deserted village which was abandoned after the1953 earthquake. Two buildings had olive presses, one would have been donkey powered. They must have been superstitious as we could not figure out why they didn't rebuild. Neighboring villages did keep the church going and it is now being renovated. We have lunch then take off for One House Bay on Atokos where we can snorkel and spend the night. Today we can sail without engines so Ewout and guys hoist both sails; sailing is hard work but very peaceful.
The rocky shore at our destination is perfect for snorkeling and I even dive and swim through a hole on the rock. Our sister boat Sensation arrives and we socialize in the warm waters (28c). Some go kayaking and some catch up on correspondence!!. Full moon tonight, shines on the white cliffs and makes us think we may be in heaven. This is one the most beautiful spots I've been in my life. So lucky and thankful!

Ship Ahoy- Mon Sept 12

<p>&lt;p&gt;How about waking up to the sun coming up over the mountain and the turquoise sea casting a glow from our open port. I looked down and the beautiful fish are swimming below. We are in a bay off Skorpios, Onassis' island. The island is still owned by the family and is guarded. There is a helicopter pad, a change house on the beach and we can see the roofs of homes. I try to imagine Jacquie and her children playing on the beach here. They say no-one uses it now- sad. After a delicious breakfast our captain tells us todays plans, then we pop in for a swim, batten down the hatches and sail to Formicula for lunch and a swim. In the afternoon we stop at a seaside village Little Vathi and do a bit of shopping and use the WiFi at the local cafe. Dad bought a hat with better sun coverage. The captain slows on our way out of the bay to show us a sunken airplane. The water is so clear here that you can see down over 50 feet.<br>
We sail for a few hours then stop in a small bay Port Leone on Kalomos where we will spend the evening. A swim, a lovely fish dinner (Simone is a great cook), and we spend the evening getting to know our mates. Off to bed early as we are all tired.

All Aboard

<p>Big day today as we begin our Tradewinds cruise out of Nydri Lefkada; We are both a bit nervous. We want to arrive early so we can sort out our stuff to take on the boat. Our GPS says we will arrive at 1pm and being we don't board til 5 we stop for a nice lunch in a seaside cafe. Still lots of time so we take the scenic road which is only 15 mins longer. Even if it's more we should be Ok. Very nice coastal scenery then we have to make a road choice, the GPS is strangely silent and the roadmap doesn't even show a road. We really question our choice when we seem to be on a goat path and then we are driving through a deserted village. We wonder what ever happened here as there must be 35 buildings along the roadside all in various stages of disrepair. We both start to sweat as we lose more time. I was sure I saw a sign for the Greek version of Lefkada which looks nothing like the English and we think we see our destination across the bay so we must be right. I almost have to get out to push a cow out of the way! It's coming up to 4 when we finally approach Nydri which is a fair sized town. Our RCI instructions tell us how to find Gouvin Marina but nothing seems to match up. I convince Bruce to stop at a gas station and I ask a guy at the pumps if he speaks English; yes, so I ask about the marina and he says "you are on the wrong island"! Well my heart drops then he laughs and says "I am from Tradewinds-those are old directions from our Corfu location. I could have hugged him. They take us to the location and we have to quickly unpack as they take our luggage back to the shore and store if for the week. Our cabin is very small but has a king bed! Tiny bathroom and we have 2 portholes,one is an escape porthole. It is like having an open aquarium- we can touch the water Our captain Ewout is from Holland and his wife Simone is first mate and chef.
Our shipmates are Randy and Katheleen from Medicine Hat and Jim and Jean from Houston, both really nice. More tomorrow.

Planes TRAINS and Automobiles

Today's plan is to drive to Kalavrita, take the train from there to Diakoftko and back. The guides say this is one of the best train trips worldwide, famous for running on cogs at times due to the steepness. So wouldn't you think it would be featured and well marked?? Not so. We had to ask twice and turn around several times. When we found the station the only small sign says Diakoftko so we think we have found it. As it's leaving shortly we quickly buy tickets and hop on. We slowly take off through the town then fields- Bruce wonders where these cogs are and suggests maybe we are on the regular local train. I get nervous until finally the mountains rise above us, we start a steep descent and civilization disappears. We wind our way down through a narrow canyon over many bridges and through tunnels; it is simply awesome. We just cannot believe they don't promote this more. Maybe Greece could pay off their debt if they did more promotion of their amazing sites. We noticed that Mystras had no signage to speak of either. In North America we'd have websites, marketing, signs miles before you get there and the commercialism that comes with it. This is just a train the locals use and share with the tourists lucky enough to find it! Oh well it certainly has local flavour.
Tonight we are staying at the Achilion Hotel a 5 min walk to the town square, cost only 45 euros. Kalavrita is a ski town so summer is their off-season.
I chose it as the reviews said clean, new hotel with larger rooms with balconies and the one reviewer was from Tilsonburg On!! We don't have the view that the last place did but it is sort of interesting listening to locals in their back yards and watching the local dog explore the vacant lot below us. Mountains do surround us in the background. Oh yes, we have a queen bed again; " super-dooper firm " must be a featured mattress choice in Greece.
We notice that English is not popular in this town, but they are very helpful.
We had dinner in one of the numerous cafes on the main square under a huge PLANE tree. A lovely town to visit but it has a sad history. In 1943 the Germans shot all the men and boys in the village,1200 ,who are memorialized by a large cross, and a museum. Unbelievable what people had to live through.

The Kings Castle - Fri Sept 9

I woke up before dawn, sat out to blog and watch the sun come up over Sparta. Breakfast arrives at our door in a basket then we're to the archeological site of Mystras. An king or emporer decided he wanted his house built high atop a mountain on steep cliff so they built him a castle, then he needed protection so they built a fort above the castle on the peak. Of course the people needed somewhere to live so they built a town around the castle all the way down this steep mountain. A lot of the buildings are still partially standing; you can still see the painted frescoes in the many churches. Of course it is the hottest day so far and the 3 hour experience almost killed us. The moral out of the story, make sure you are born into royalty not working class. We cannot understand how they ever built these amazing places in ancient times. The picture only shows a small part.
We have a delicious pizza for lunch under a plane tree in the nearby village square; yes the Greeks can make them too.
Went back to our room to relax and do laundry.

Some notes on Greece so far.

First of all the food:
Healthy salads, great appetizers; they use cheese alot which I love; good desserts but sweet.
To balance it out you walk alot.
English is common, not so much in remote areas. The people are very helpful.
Due to antiquidated plumbing you put your toilet paper in the garbage. Takes getting used to but the bathrooms have been clean.
Driving is fine if you are confident. We had no problems from the airport through Athens as it's all major highway. The roads have been good.
It's easy to adjust to their way of life. We got a good feeling right away.

Back to Heaven Thur Sep 8

We toured the Caves of Dirou today in a little boat. Very awesome and cool! It has been very hot here, usually 90F. Our destination is Mystra, ancient city ruins high in the Taiyetos Mountains near Sparta. To get there we drive along the beautiful coast to Kalamata, stopping to check out the villages of Stoupa and Karmydyli. The latter would be a great place to stay; we had a nice lunch on the sea.
Once we turned inland the road became very mountainous, this time with lush vegetation, and a challenging drive for Bruce as he maneuvered the hairpin turns as we climbed toward the sky. I worked hard too, clinching my toes into the floor boards and trying to keep my mouth shut. The road was busier and Bruce developed a theory about the greek people. They are always in a hurry on the roads but once they arrive, say at a restaurant, they are no longer in a hurry! This time our GPS take us right to our inn, The Mazaraki Guest House. Our room is a chalet, second story, very clean, with a fireplace due to the elevation and an amazing view from our balcony. We sat enjoying a glass of wine, overlooking Sparta and were serenaded by the nearby church bell every half hour.
We walked up a steep hill to a restarant with great food and fed our scraps to the resident cat.
He looked and acted like Ziggy, maybe in his second life. What a great choice, Greece!!

To HADES and Back -Wed Sept 7-11

After our Greek breakfast of hot hard boiled egg, toasted ham and cheese, cake and more, we take off to tour the Mani. We stop at an outlook and say hello to people leaving. Next stop they are there again so we joke that we may be following them all day. They are from Boston and are staying at Kyramai, a few doors down from us. I had checked it out and chose our inn over that one as a reviewer had commented on the small windows, dark rooms and high price (160E to 100E). We love our room with the balcony doors that left open, let you fall asleep to the sound of the waves. I regress, back to our day.
We wound our way along the shore and the mountains through deserted little villages and wondered who would ever live in this lovely but remote part of the world?? The landscape is rocks and stone fences, no greenery to speak of. Cape Tainaro is the most southern mainland point in Greece. There is a lighthouse at the point and in Greek mythology this is also one of the entrances to Hades. The guide says it's a half hour hike so we don our hikers and lotion as it's almost noon. It was hell just to get to this entrance hell, took 2 hours, in scorching heat over rocky terrain. The word hell was mentioned a few times. But we did it! I had to pee so crouched by famous ruins of Poseidon; that's a  memory I'll never forget!!
We had our first bad dining experience in an idyllic fishing village. At least the view was great!
Back at our room we had a swim at the nearby beach while it thundered in the distance. We relaxed in the bar while it stormed and chatted with Themis. We witnessed our first lightning strike on the cliff across the channel; Themis commented that Zeus must be angry! The hydro was out for several hours after that! We walked to the restaurant in the dark and who do we run into but the couple from Boston! We had a lovely evening chatting with them about travel. Even a challenging day ends great!

Amazing Race Day Tues Sept 6

On our way out of Nafplio we drove up the hill to Pallamidi Fort, put on our hikers and scrambled around the ruins. This is a huge complex, still in good shape. We were worn out from the experience and figured the attackers would have been relieved to get shot or captured after the long crawl up that mountain. We then head out of town south toward the remote Mani region of the Peloponnese peninsula.
The mountains hug the coast which makes for a very scenic and twisting drive. We get hungry and pull into a little roadside restaurant that is deserted. The waitress knows a bit of english and Bruce decided try the rabbit. I play it safe with Patiki the same casserole I had last night. Delish! The whole meal with a huge Greek salad and wine came to 23 euros, about 30 cdn. We turn inland at Leonidia and cross through the mountains. At this point our Gps becomes confused and we are on our own. We ask a local for directions but no english, they nod though so we continue on. This is the most remote scenic road we have ever driven. As we wind our way through the mountains we look way up and see a building clinging to the mountaintop. We wonder how anyone could have built this on top of such high steep cliffs and who could be so lucky to have a view like that. When we see a sign to a monastery we make a u-turn and take a narrow road to the Elonas Monastery. It's deserted but then we see a monk on a lower balcony having a smoke. (holy smoke!!) He quickly put it out, came up to greet us and waved us in even though we didn't meet the dress code. What a beautiful spot with a chapel that holds some famous relic that people keep stealing.
As the mountains become hills we stop for a herd of goats to cross the road and later cows. The road signs have no english and the GPS does not recognize any names I enter. We eventually arrive at Gerolimenas, a very small fishing village and our inn - the Stone Villa Laoulas. It is an old stone tower house characteristic in the Mani. Themis greets us and and shows us the room we booked and then the nicer room he is giving us, with queen bed and balcony over the water. He not only recommends a beachfront restaurant, he walks us there. I think its the same owner but regardless, very good. I had pumpkin balls! We return to our nice room and go out on the balcony to enjoy a wine. The spot lights shine on cliffs across the bay and top off an amazing day.

Day 2- Dreams become Reality

When you spend alot of time planning, the real experience seems almost unreal. When I woke up and sat on our balcony watching the sunrise over the Mediterranean, I had to pinch myself. We had breakfast, a swim in the warm sea then drove a very scenic road to Epodauros to see the ancient outdoor theater. Built in the 3rd century BC, it has perfect acoustics so Bruce could hear me 54 rows above when I quoted a few lines from the Desiderata in a normal voice. Then on to Nafplio a very clean, beautiful city with 2 forts and an old district with stone and marble streets. We feel like Amazing Racers as we wind our way through city streets. Guidebook says our B&B street may be too narrow to park so we do the last block on foot and we are very pleased with ourselves when we turn into a narrow alley and see the sign for Pension Dafni. Our room, up narrow stairs, is small but newly decorated with a comfy queen bed (both seem rare in Greece) & a balcony. The owner gives us a map and some tips and we're off on foot through beautiful old town streets. After our lunch of Greek salad we sit at the harbour and spot a small fire in the hills. We watch as it grows and a second one starts. The locals seem concerned as it grows. Planes arrive and start dumping water as we sit watching the action. We walk the long boardwalk along the bay and almost die of thirst- it is very hot. We go back to the harbour to watch the sun set and the fires still glowing in the hills. A very good dinner of Greek casserole, our first taste of Ouzo and we call it a night.

Our Journey Begins

<p>Gotta love Aeroplan! An amazing flight in pod seats. We actually had a good sleep - short though. A short stop in Zurich which looked beautiful but nothing like the turqoise sea as we landed in Athens. Walked off plane, No customs, met our Thrifty guy, a few quick tips on Greek driving and we are on the road in our Fiat Panda. After all the warnings in the guide books, the drive through Athens was OK. They were picketing at the toll booths which was a benefit, we did not have to pay! The map showed a scenic route parallel to the highway so we took that. Our GPS lady (Maggie) got a bit excited but why drive on a freeway when you can wind your way along the sea through little villages! Yes Greece is dirty, they don't believe in picking up garbage, but there is something about it; we love it already! We came upon a narrow WET bridge which we crossed, and realized is the Corinth Canal. I had read about this and had hoped to find it. It lowers into the water and the ships enter the canal over the top of it. A ship had just passed, thus the wet bridge, so we missed seeing it go through, but we sat and had a glass of wine in the seafront cafe and reflected on our luck to find this unique spot. There was chanting coming from the church across and some kind of celebration; we thought maybe funeral or wedding so we walked over. A lady saw us take a picture and motioned us over. I thought we might get told to leave, but she gave us a piece of cake!
Our room at the Kalamaki Beach Hotel is basic,clean and after a buffet supper we fall into bed. There was some kind of party at our hotel too and we fell asleep to the sounds of Greek singing and laughter! I think the Greeks like to celebrate!>

Getting Down to the Crunch

Packing....arrrgh.

The Countdown

Travel was simpler before technology. I just had to remember to pack my journal and my pen. Not so simple this time. I have spent hours researching the best type of technology to take with me on my travels. With lots of help from friends and Becky at Bellworld I am taking a Samsung Galaxy on my vacation. It will be my phone, computer, video camera, journal and e-reader. A lot to ask from one small item! I am practicing at home first to ensure I know what I'm doing. Other than my keyboard sliding all over the place when I try to edit and not being able to see what I am typing it is going very well. I fear I will spend most of my vacation typing on a little screen rather than seeing the wonderful country of Greece! I may end up throwing my Galaxy Superphone into the Ionian Sea!!