After a fantastic week in Athens with a day trip to Delphi we’ve arrived in the breath taking island of Santorini/Thira. While our outstanding hotel here (The Sea Captain’s House in Oia) has wireless access on the deck this is the view so this is going to be a shorter entry than Athens deserves and there probably won’t be many (if any) updates this week.
Anyway, on to Athens where the views were also inspiring. The city is dominated by the Arcopolis which you can catch glimpses of from anywhere in town. Spotting the Parthenon while wandering the streets of the city is great fun and never failed to make us stop for a moment and contemplate the history and majesty of the place.
Of course the architecture is equally impressive close up.
While the Acropolis is definately the highlight, there is history around every corner. Here are just a few of a couple hundred shots we took as we wandered the city.
We took a side trip to Delphi the day before yesterday and the rugged beauty of the place combined with the well preserved architecture are a must see… Though George was disappointed that the Oracle waffled when he asked about a lady monkey in his future.
While the art and architecture are great what really sets Greece apart for me has been the people. Everywhere we’ve been the people have been helpful and friendly but the Greeks are in a class of their own. Just two examples to illustrate the point.
First after discovering that my current flip flops were rather blister inducing I set out to buy new sandals. We bought them from this fellow who’s father and fathers’ father were all sandal makers (his father is also a renowned greek poet). They adjusted them to fit my lopsided feet, added a strap and told us tales of the famous and everyday people who’ve come in to buy sandles there since the 1920′s.
The second example is Panos Plegas, a Greek ex-pat now living in Sweden who we met at the airport while wating for our flight to Santorini. Panos gave us lots of advice on what to see in Greece and when he left to catch his flight gave us a bottle of his family’s wine.
All in all we’ve had a fantastic experience in Greece so far and given the start we’re off to on Santorini we expect things to only get better…
Cheers,
Mark & Ali
P.S. Happy Mother’s day to all the Mom’s out there, particularly of course PEI Mom and Momma Betsie. And of course George adds Momma Nancy.
P.P.S. Happy Birthday wishes to Michelle and Kelli.
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