8 April 2009
Well my two weeks vacation to Greece has come and gone. During the two weeks it went by at a nice slow leisurely pace, now that it's over it seems like it went fast. Getting to Greece was quit painless. I met everyone in the airport which was nice since that eliminated me trying to figure out where to get off the bus. Dora took us out to dinner and introduced us to some of the Greek food we would be enjoying the whole time. The food was a lot better than I was expecting, but then again I've been eating cafeteria food for 6 months so everything tastes better if it's somewhat fresh.
Dora took us around Athens, showing us the Acropolis and old parts of town. We learned some of the history of what we were seeing from a Greek perspective which was fun. We tried hitting a couple sites from the movie 300 in order to reenact the scenes, but that kind of fell through. We had fun seeing the ruins and trying to imagine life under the wrath of Zeus and Posiden. We toured a couple islands just off the coast of Athens one day. The islands are amazing because it's just houses and buildings stacked on each other up the steep coasts. It's beautiful but I can't imagine enjoying a house where your balconey overlooking your neighbor to the underside of your house is your only 'yard'. But it was still beautiful to see.
Our second week in Greece was spent on the west coast in a little town called Pylos. We actually stayed in Gialiva which is across the cresent moon shapped inlet. We had two villas where we could cook and test out our skills with some Greek dishes. We did okay I think. It was nice being there and just relaxing, away from the hustle and bustle of everything else, walking up the coast and enjoying the outdoors.
On our way back to Athens we stopped by Olympia. I figured it would be this amazing bird nest of pillars and colasiums, but it was just a vast open area of earthquake crumbled temples. None the less it was still quit impressive to walk around a place where such an important part of our modern lives started from.
Everyone but Jake left to go back to work and school, Jake and I went to Santorini for our last couple days. Unfortunately the weather was pretty crummy and we had rain and socked in conditions most of the time. It was still amazing to see the island and how the buildings our just pilled on each other spilling down the cliffs to the culdera, the oldest on in the world according to one of our little guide things. We drove around the whole island, taking in the cloudy views from every vantage point. We meandered through the little town trying to picture just what it would be like packed full or honeymooners and other tourists. It's such a tight island to have so many tourists, but I suppose that's all part of the experience.
Getting back to my base will prove to be a little tougher than leaving. It all depends on flights and you just never know when they're going to be. I'm looking forward to getting back though because we're on the down hill slide now and I know it will be going a lot faster. Having a break is good for mentally preping for the final push!
I don't have enough time on the internet here to post pictures. Allison posted about 600 that she took with her fancy camera that actually takes good pictures, so hopefully you all get the link to that, until then just imagine really pretty places with happy people and that's us! I have some pictures for Iraq up too, I just have to remember how to make the link!
Dora took us around Athens, showing us the Acropolis and old parts of town. We learned some of the history of what we were seeing from a Greek perspective which was fun. We tried hitting a couple sites from the movie 300 in order to reenact the scenes, but that kind of fell through. We had fun seeing the ruins and trying to imagine life under the wrath of Zeus and Posiden. We toured a couple islands just off the coast of Athens one day. The islands are amazing because it's just houses and buildings stacked on each other up the steep coasts. It's beautiful but I can't imagine enjoying a house where your balconey overlooking your neighbor to the underside of your house is your only 'yard'. But it was still beautiful to see.
Our second week in Greece was spent on the west coast in a little town called Pylos. We actually stayed in Gialiva which is across the cresent moon shapped inlet. We had two villas where we could cook and test out our skills with some Greek dishes. We did okay I think. It was nice being there and just relaxing, away from the hustle and bustle of everything else, walking up the coast and enjoying the outdoors.
On our way back to Athens we stopped by Olympia. I figured it would be this amazing bird nest of pillars and colasiums, but it was just a vast open area of earthquake crumbled temples. None the less it was still quit impressive to walk around a place where such an important part of our modern lives started from.
Everyone but Jake left to go back to work and school, Jake and I went to Santorini for our last couple days. Unfortunately the weather was pretty crummy and we had rain and socked in conditions most of the time. It was still amazing to see the island and how the buildings our just pilled on each other spilling down the cliffs to the culdera, the oldest on in the world according to one of our little guide things. We drove around the whole island, taking in the cloudy views from every vantage point. We meandered through the little town trying to picture just what it would be like packed full or honeymooners and other tourists. It's such a tight island to have so many tourists, but I suppose that's all part of the experience.
Getting back to my base will prove to be a little tougher than leaving. It all depends on flights and you just never know when they're going to be. I'm looking forward to getting back though because we're on the down hill slide now and I know it will be going a lot faster. Having a break is good for mentally preping for the final push!
I don't have enough time on the internet here to post pictures. Allison posted about 600 that she took with her fancy camera that actually takes good pictures, so hopefully you all get the link to that, until then just imagine really pretty places with happy people and that's us! I have some pictures for Iraq up too, I just have to remember how to make the link!
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