Cruising the Aegean

Okay, trying to recap the last three nights will be a challenge since there is sort of a jumble to time and place and events going on in my head.

On Tuesday morning we visited Ephesus, Turkey.  Totally worth it.  Best site I have seen yet.  Again, someone stole the important stuff, but it doesn’t matter.  It is the most well preserved historic site we have seen.  It is vast and expansive and amazing.  I would go back. 

Home

That’s the thing.  Those of us who talk about this keep saying either they would or would not go back somewhere.  There are so many places I still need to visit, so re-visiting a place requires a different level of special-ness.  Ephesus has got it.  Istanbul, too.  Before those places, I was happy seeing it all one time and tucking the memories away in my brain.

We only had about 20 minutes back to the port in Kusadasi and it was a relief to get off the prison, I mean bus.  We boarded a ship and set sail for the Greek islands.

Our first stop was Patmos that very afternoon.  Patmos is obviously not too far from Turkey, but is a Greecian island, of the Apostle John fame and the book of the Revelation.  We saw the cave John is purported to have written his visions in, which reminded me of trudging through the Orthodox Church in Bethlehem.  We also visited a monastery.  The island is charming and remote (8 hours by ferry from Athens) and our sweet guide told us we should pick up some Patmos cheese pie in the village.  I found some and took it with me to dinner and shared it with our Australian and Argentinian table mates.  It was good (it stands to reason that all the food we have found for ourselves is gigantically better than the tourist stop slop we have been forced to choose from), really yummy.

Lindos, overlooking the Port Paul where Paul likely arrived

We sailed further south and stopped at Rhodes the next morning for the day.  We went to Lindos on Rhodes saw some more ruins and it was the tipping point for me.  I made it through the guide’s lecture but then, couldn’t make it down the steep hill fast enough.  It was a beautiful town, it was an awesome site, but I think I can’t listen anymore.  I just can’t.

We moved on down to the ancient city of Rhodes and walked around a bit there because it was closest to the port and we could go back and forth from the ship.  It was a cool city in which people still actually live. You have to have a special permit to have a car there, and even then can only have it if you live within the city walls.  Bonnie and I grabbed some tea at a little spot for the free wifi and watched different members of our group strolling by happy with packages in hand.

Map of the Ancient City of Rhodes

Yesterday it was Crete in the morning.  We visited the very very ancient Minoan Palace of Knossos.  But, I was D.O.N.E.  The progression of my symptoms were thus:  I first had the hand wringing, then I moved on to the swaying of the body back and forth, then I began the pacing.  I lasted an hour.  I would be terrible in a hostage situation.  I think, upon reflection, that what I was experiencing was withdrawal.  At first, I thought I had just discovered over the course of this trip that I am a really bad listener.  This was not exactly a new idea, but I didn’t think I was that bad that I couldn’t stand around for an hour and listen to the history of the Minoan’s.  Come on, that civilization rocks.  They pretty much started everything, it turns out.  Or at least, a lot of things.  Anyway, they are old…actually, I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t listening.  On a normal day in my normal life, this experience on the island of Crete would have blown me away.  But, missing my family took priority.  On the cruise ship, there was no wifi.  I take that back.  There was wifi if you wanted to pay something like 1.90 euro a minute.  A minute.  I can barely formulate a text in that time.  So, I had a burning yearning in my soul to touch base with Jeff and the girls, hear from my sister and so on.  I ditched the group and they are way smarter than me now and I am automatically disqualified from the Jeopardy Minoan Daily Double because I found an awesome cup of coffee and even awesome-er free wifi at the museum café for about 20 beautiful minutes.  The jitters totally subsided and even though no one was awake when I was on, I got to read the notes that had been sent the night before and send some new ones.

at the Knossos Palace

Back on the boat.  I haven’t said much about the cruise ship because there is not much to say.  It was a great way to get around the far flung islands.  Our leader on this trip mentioned that we should have been thinking of the ship as an upgrade from a ferry boat.  That explains a lot and enough.  The best part of the ship was meeting people from all over the globe who were on the same mission as us…see this part of the world. 

After Crete, I must not neglect to say that we arrived in Santorini.  The arrival was beautiful, because of the turquoise blue waters and the steep cliffs of the volcanic island.  From a distance, it looks like there is snow on the top of the cliffs, but as we approached we saw it was crisp white houses perched like birds on the rims.  We took a shuttle to Oie (pronounced eee-ah) and wandered this photogenic town gasping at the blue roofs and white homes that cling to the side of the cliff.  Couldn't be a prettier town in Greece, I think.  We grabbed a quick coffee in a little spot overlooking the water and reveled in our good fortune of being in Greece together with new friends.  I would go back to this place, for sure.

Santorini

Santorini

We have docked now and are on our last leg at Athens.  There is so much more to say and think about, but I am ready to get home and my mind has turned to that.  I will try to blog again the last day of this journey, but we will see. 

What can I say but I am grateful.  Each night as I have fallen asleep on this trip I have been reciting a prayer:  Lord, you who have given me so much, give me one thing more:  a grateful heart.  That is where I want to land every night as I drift off to sleep.  There is so much to be grateful for and the inconveniences only seem trifling and sometimes even a reminder of the good things I am missing.  What a gift. 

Until later.  

Touching base

Hello!  We are now on our cruise ship for a couple days and I will post again later.

Ephesus rocked. Greek islands so far are just what the dr ordered. Sitting at a little cafe now in Rhodes utilizing free wifi.

I'll be back soon.

Things Fall Apart

Things fall apart here in Turkey.  First of all, it has rained most of our trip.  It is cold, too.  I realize that this is not Minnesota and it is not the famed polar vortex but at day 7 of this trip the ugly starts to come out in all of us after long long bus tours and being dropped at ancient sites to tromp through in the rain.  Okay, I take it back, it really isn't the ugly that comes out, it is just at this point in our travels, some of us just don't have as much patience anymore with anything.  Me, for instance, I hate the food situation.  There, I said it.  I can't really complain because I am in Turkey, this is a trip of a life time and it is all good, but the food totally stinks.  I've eaten better at gas stations in Duquette, MN.  Our tour guide expounds on the olives, the fruit trees (peaches, apples, lemons, apricots), the fertile ground everywhere and yet, apparently it is kept from us.  We are sticking to the truck stops along the way, so what should I expect?  I am not in charge of this trip which has its bonuses, but also its downsides.  Food #1 downside.

Some of the group can't stand treks any more on slippery uneven stone (I guess what might they expect, there have been a few things that have happened in the past 3000 or so years that wear on your average ancient site) in the cold and rain.  Those women are sick and tired of being tourists.  There's also a gal or two who might just drop a complaint or two about the wonky shower situation, or the fact that mostly we cannot throw toilet paper into the toilet.  They should rename it little wastebasket next to the toilet paper, but that's gross.

Travel is romanticized, I think, as some grand adventure in which the eager traveler encounters the world, embraces it and returns home laden with souvenirs.  What really is happening, and likely happens during any type of travel, is that like childbirth, some of this stuff is painful and uncomfortable, but will be forgotten when the weary worn out traveler returns.  

But, I do think there are bright small moments in which going somewhere far away and pushing the limits of comfort rises to the surface and makes all the inconvenience worth it.  I have had many of those moments on this trip.  One today was standing in a shop outside of Troy and chatting with a 80 year old man who has lived his whole life in Turkey yet his favorite thing is the movie Tarzan.  We talked Tarzan and John Wayne, it was cool.  When I said goodbye, he patted his chest over his heart and said, "We all, we all are one in this world, we belong together."  I couldn't agree more.

Tomorrow we set sail on a ship for three nights around the Mediterranean Greek Islands, so today is our last day in Turkey.  Right now, we are driving through Ancient Smyrna.  It is huge and vast and like the many many other cities and villages we have seen the only pretty building is the mosque.  People really only live in apartments here, according to our tour guide.  The concrete block apartment buildings are everywhere and ubiquitous all throughout the many miles we have driven.  They remind me of pictures I've seen of the Siberean skyline, which is in Siberia.  It's weird, not pretty at all.  The mountains and the sea have no competition with the architecture around this country.

Troy was on our agenda today and then later Pergamum.  Troy is famous for a love affair and battle, both mythological.  Pergamum/Bergama has wonderful ruins as well.  The ruins at these sites are beautiful and huge, but at both places, our guide has told the same story:  A German came along and stole the important artifacts.  They found the stuff that was stolen from Troy in Moscow, and you can see parts of Pergamum in Berlin...actually a whole temple to Zeus.  Not sure if these treasures were stolen under cover (although I don't think the best magician could even pull off stealing a whole temple) or right under the open eyes of the country folk who led the men right to the spot of the ruins.  The whole story has left me wondering if what happened was that Turkey was wrapped up in other matters and simply didn't realize, recognize or care at that moment what happened to their ruins.  Both sites are very important, but are not very organized nor do they seem exceptionally important to anyone but us tourists.  Troy especially was a little underwhelming.  It was pretty there, and there was a cool Trojan horse parked at the gates in which to snap a quick photo, but I wish there had been more...maybe even a museum store?  Maybe I ask too much.  Maybe I am too disney-fied.  Which is possible.

Pergamum/Bergama is gorgeous (except for the apartment buildings, of course).  The acropolis is what drew us there as well as the fact that it is mentioned in the Bible.  An acropolis is a fortification that sits atop the highest point of a city in ancient times and houses the important stuff.  So, we got on the most modern thing I have seen on our journeys so far...a gondola.  We took it to the top, it was raining and our hearts were sinking but we muscled our way over the rocky path and saw the breathtaking ruins.  For sure the most extensive we've seen.  It is clear that they don't waste time with wrongful death lawsuits here or negligence or OSHA or some such modern inventions.  

On that note, let me tell you about Joyce.  There is this sweet lady in our group who told us today (when we asked) that she is 78 and a half years old.  First of all, that might just be all you need to about her right there.  Until I hit my teens I designated my age in quarters and halves.  Then, I grew up and got too serious, I guess.  Joyce is still excited about being a half.  She was in a bad car accident in 1990 and was in a full body cast for a month.  The doctors told her she wouldn't walk again.

I don't think a gold medal athlete has anything on Joyce.  This sweet gal has never said she can't since we got here.  Five women turned back down the mountain when we got to the top at Pergamum today and Joyce, she stayed.  Someone commented that surely Joyce had been one that turned back when we heard a little voice saying, "No, I'm here!" When we turned around, we saw her with a mischievous smile on her face.

We walked on some of the most treacherous terrain in Pergamum.  Steep stairs through narrow little tunnels and overlooking high cliffs.  A false move seriously could be fatal...seriously.  Joyce just grabbed on to whomever was nearby and without a complaint, put us all to shame, she made it.  We cheered for her at the bottom, she was a superstar.

And, it was worth it.

Finally, I keep meaning to mention the millions of dogs and cats that are roaming free everywhere.  I have only seen one or two dogs on a leash, the other 999,998 are free to go where they please.  They all look fed and our Greek guide told me that they are all immunized and sterilized, which can't be true, because we saw a little litter of puppies guarding part of the ruins at Pergamum today.  Our guide keeps bending over to scratch the dogs and cats, but I wouldn't touch them for anything, and I am mentally noting not shaking hands with our guide.  They are dirty at the very least.  Not one dog seems aggressive and both dogs and cats dart in and out of crowds of people and traffic.  It is a melting pot here of animals and people, you might say.

We are heading down to our last night in Turkey now, one more hour to go on this blasted bus.  It is so inconvenient that they didn't put the ancient sites closer together.  I suppose they didn't think ahead much.  I will be sad to leave this Turkey behind in many ways, I don't know that I feel I really got to experience it all yet.  I know I will come home with a longing to return, especially Istanbul.

P.S.  We arrived at our last hotel in Kusadasi until we get on a boat to sail around for a few days and this town is a beautiful resort town.  Bonnie, my roommate and I wanted to stretch our legs and as soon as we dropped off our bags and passports (one of the many things about Turkey, they need copies of our Passports at each hotel...weird, feels like we are handing over our passwords to our life somehow, but we have no choice) we headed out the door, down a steep hill and made our way to the sea.  We made five dog friends two who followed us faithfully for a while and only went after each others' throat once, destroying my theory that they are passive.  But they soon learned we had no food to offer them and went on their way.   Beautiful Aegean Sea view, totally worth fearing our lives for a moment with the dogs.  We made it back to our hotel in time for dinner and now I am sitting in the internet cafe listening to some guy strumming a guitar playing some Van Morrison, then three men with fire and broken glass showing off and for the final entertainment tonight we have us a DJ.  Funny, the cafe has cleared out.

I can't upload photos now, will tomorrow.

Half Day of Rest

Any where you want to go. 

Right now, outside my hotel window in Çanakkale, Turkey (look it up, it is in Asia across the Dardenelles) there have been horns blowing and lights flashing and lots of noise for a couple of hours.  It is loud and maybe we won't be sleeping so soundly tonight if it doesn't let up.  Apparently, a soccer team has won something important...man, I wish I knew more about Turkish soccer teams.  The people outside are pretty happy, maybe one day I will say that I was there in Çanakkale the day such and such a soccer team won.  Except, I still won't know what to say except...I heard the soccer team won.  If someone finds out what happened, let me know.

Blue Mosque

Anyway, our morning was filled up to the brim with more Istanbul.  We visited the famous Blue Mosque of the Sultan Ahmed (built 1617).  Beautiful.  We had to take off our shoes outside and carry them in a little baggie and as we walked in there were people evaluating if you were dressed appropriately or not.  I was not and had to wear a blue one size fits all wrap around skirt. that didn't fit me.  We also all had to wear scarves over our heads.  Walking barefooted into the mosque you step onto pretty carpets into a large place of worship with nearly no furniture and low hanging chandeliers.  The color turquoise is the color of Turkey (#2 after the red on the flag) and there are lots of blue turquoise mosaics in the mosque.

Inside the Haggia Sophia

We moved just across the street to the Haggia Sophia which was built by Constantine in 560-532 BC making the blue mosque completely modern by comparison.  It served as a mosque for 500 years and surprisingly the Ottoman's didn't destroy all the iconography, but covered lots of it up instead, unusual.  Now, Haggia Sophia is a museum and has a few items on display, but also is mostly about the architecture and beautiful decoration of the place.  The marble on the floor is worn into a deep trough from years of use and it is pretty awe inspiring to walk in a place that is over 2400 years old.  There was a display of Arabic Calligraphy on the outskirts and the artistry was beautiful, totally beautiful.

Haggia Sophia

Both the mosque and Haggia Sophia are humongeous.  That is probably what struck me most.  Huge.

There was a marathon apparently in town so we had to walk more today (hallelujah) and made our way to a rug shop and watched a demonstration on Turkish rug making.  Totally cool.  It was almost like watching a ballet the way the men at the shop unfolded the rugs with such flair and drama.  They showed us hundreds of rugs and had a woman come in with a rug she was working on and we got to watch her tie about 50 knots in about 10 seconds.  We learned about colors and styles and they buttered  us all up with tea, coffee or even ouzo if we wanted it (it was 10 in the morning, no takers) and a turkish pretzel.  It was actually perfect to have tea, eat our pretzel and watch the rug show.  Actually, maybe the best meal I've had in Turkey.

The performers

As for the food, it is totally a non-issue at this point.  I'm so over it.  We are getting tourist food at its mediocre-ist, and we are not even complaining about it any more.  Sometimes, actually mostly, I don't even know what I am eating.  Something vegetable-y.  A little meat, some rice.  Whatever.

We also went to the spice market.  We bought teas (apple tea is one of the more popular ones and is so good, so there is some food for you), and spices, of course.  The sales people at these places have the best lines.  They totally pour it on thick, it is cheesy and sort of adorable at the same time.  I wonder how many times a day they mention to someone how clever and intelligent they can sense they are.  Clearly, it has worked for hundreds of years, the spice market is booming.

Screen shot of mystery food from dinner.  Some were saying this is carrots
others claimed it was wienies.  The nice water called them sausages.   

The boring stuff:  after we left the spice market we ate what some might call lunch but I am choosing not to remember and then we hopped on our second home and drove 4 or 5 hours to Çanakkale.  We are here now and have a long day tomorrow.

Until then...

Istanbul...Constantinople

Well, here we are now after this and that in Istanbul...Constantinople.  The Greeks wish it were still called Constantinople we've learned...but, it is not.

lipton tea you can have all over the world

You can sing the song if you want, we can't find it on YouTube, it is blocked here (citing a law and code we don't know) so I can't tell you.

the little cafe/gas station
for lunch

 Anyway, Turkey is a whole different country than Greece.  Shortly after crossing the border, we entered into another pastoral setting but this time different.  Much more populated and much fewer empty half built buildings and there are people everywhere.  We drove through several towns with apartments lining hillsides and hugging the roads with the Sea of Marmara just over from the highway.  We ate at a cute little gas station on the way and had good simple food and learned that our Euros are no longer the accepted currency.  I guess we missed that news report in which we learned Turkey had not made it into the European Union yet.  I would keep this lack of knowledge to myself since I wouldn't want anyone to know how sadly behind on the news I am, but I am not alone, it seems, no one in the group (including our travel agent) knew that, so maybe you didn't either.

team pride from our guide Selçuk

We have a new tour guide, his name is Selçhuk and he cheers for Besiktas, one of the two Istanbul soccer clubs.  This is one more time I knew a little bit more about soccer.  Every time Jeff senses a lull in the conversation with a male from anywhere in the world, he whips out some soccer fact and has that guy in the palm of his hand.  Soccer...it magically brings the world together.  (I might market that line, don't anybody steal it.)  I asked our tour guide about the football club he cheers for and he brightened for a minute but lost interest in talking to me the second he realized I had no idea what else to say other than, "Tell me about your Football club."

Extensive information
regarding use of the toilet
hope I didn't get anything
wrong.

I sit in the front of the tour bus like a total grade A student mostly because I don't want to throw up again but it also means that the tour guide has his/her eye on me.  The problem with this is that a little after breakfast, during the four hours we drove this morning when our guide was really getting into the nitty gritty of Turkish/Kurdish/Ottoman history, I totally fell asleep.  I missed most of the narration.  I think I was okay by him though because when I woke up I looked over at him a little ashamed and he asked me if I was Turkish because, he said, I looked like a Turk...I totally should have gone with it since he would have then thought I fell asleep because I already knew it all.  I blew that cover though later when I asked him three questions in a row that he had already gone into in great detail.  He only tells us stuff once, so thank goodness for the internet.

Part of the fortification of old Istanbul

We arrived in Istanbul late in the afternoon.  This is one amazing city.  17 million people live here, SEVENTEEN MILLION.  That's a lot. AH-mazing.  For sure one of the coolest places I've seen so far.  It sits on the border of two continents (Europe and Asia) and is divided by the Bosporus Straights.  Like all of the other topography I've described, the city goes up up up from the water and the jamming together of apartments and beautiful mosques and palaces is breathtaking.  It is like an exotic European city.  The streets are narrow and lack organization of any kind, the city itself is a mishmash of colors, design and architecture.  We went to Topkapi Palace (visited relics, saw a huge diamond, some jewel encrusted daggers and there was so much more we couldn't get to, the crowds were huge)  and spent about an hour there but only saw the Blue Mosque and Haggia Sophia from the outside, we plan to visit there tomorrow morning.  Beautiful beautiful beautiful.  It doesn't have the feeling of a middle eastern place even though it is totally Islamic, it feels cosmopolitan and modern in one sense and ancient and reverent in another.  The call to prayer rings out over this very unique city, the reminder of where we are.

The view from the palace

The bazaar by door number 2

Finally, we were let loose in the famous Istanbul bazaar for one whole hour.   We were supposed to stay together, but I just couldn't stand it another second and bolted, telling someone I'd be back in a jiffy.  Two or three or four turns later I was completely lost and the headlines flashed through my brain for a second about a short Turkish woman who spoke like an American wandering for hours.  A pretty good movie could come of it, I think.  Then anticlimactically I found a police woman and asked her where door 1 to the Bazaar was (there are 21 entrances).  I hurried around and found a couple little tiny painted things as a memory of this place.  The man told me they were painted with cat hairs, which I bought hook, line and sinker since I've seen about a million feral cats around that would be useful for such a purpose.

This is a great city.  We are in a hotel in the Asian side, so now I've visited Asia, I guess.  I will totally check that off my bucket list, but I will come back to Istanbul, I promise.

Top 10...or so

Shelly and me having our coffee

In honor of Shelly White, who is on this trip with me, I am going to come up with around 10 things I have learned so far while in Greece.  Shelly has been sending home lists of 10 things each day.  It has taken me three days to come up with ten because there is too much to process.  Shelly said one of the 10 things she learned was that she gets carsick...but not as carsick as me.  Glad I can be of service.

It turns out that originally, the group was supposed to fly into Istanbul on the 23rd of April and then spend a little time in northern Greece before getting on the ship to tool around the Mediterranean...see, I didn't know that because I signed up for this trip so much later.  So, instead of spending the last two days driving as we have (11 hours yesterday and 8 hours today), we would have been here one day less and seen a little more.  Truthfully, we have seen a lot of Greek countryside and only a few memorable monuments/relics/ruins.  Lots of Greek countryside, I repeat.

route from Friday April 25th

Greek Countryside looks a lot like the mountains of North Carolina countryside.  Pretty green covered mountains and some plains.  So, we have had all this driving time and it has given Maria, our tour guide until tomorrow when we cross into Turkey lots of Greek information to share with us.  I have retained a little of it.  I think I might have retained more if we had gotten out of the bus more than twice and actually walked around and seen, touched and smelt the different places we slowed down but still simply drove past.

For instance, I will never forget the green rectangular garbage can where I threw away my motion sickness bag on the side of the highway.  There was a blue garbage can next to it.  It was nice.

Anyway, I have learned more than 10 things, but since I am here and you are there and maybe are interested, I will share some of what I have learned so far.

1.  Those plains I talked about above that are surrounded by pretty green mountains:  those plains are where important battles took place.  The battles took place on the plains because that was often were the food was for both man and beast.  They would fight all day and then fortify themselves and their battlements at night.

2.  Most Greek young adults have moved out of the country looking for work.  There are some here, but in my very informal and unscientific survey, the tour guides' daughters are living abroad for work and the waiter at the restaurant we went to tonight is trying to leave for the Netherlands where he hopes to finish his masters and also get work.  Yes, the economic strain is showing from what I can tell here.  Many many many buildings are either half built or in various stages of disrepair.   So many.

3.  "OK"  means ola kala in Greek, which translates to "always well."

4.  There are over 6,000 islands that make up Greece.  We have seen them only from the bus so far.

5.  The major economic forces in Greece are 1. Greek merchant navy, 2. tourism, 3. agriculture, and 4. money sent to Greece from abroad (from Greeks who live outside of Greece, which I found to be telling and interesting).

6.  Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle who was tutored by Pluto who was tutored by Socrates, which means he had a pretty amazing education.

7.  Harry Truman is beloved by Greeks since he provided financial aid to Greece through the Marshall Plan and Truman doctrine.

8.  We saw in the distance a peninsula called Avadon where there are 20 monasteries by which no woman is allowed within 500 meters.  One must get a special dispensation to visit and stay no longer than 1 night at each monastery...only if one is a male.  Even if flying by helicopter the 500 m rule applies.

9.  The Apostle Paul walked nearly 1400 miles during his missionary journeys.  Which is about how far we have driven, or so it seems.

10.  Alexander the Great said:  "For me, any good foreigner is a Greek, and any bad Greek is worse than a barbarian."  I like that.

We drove another long distance today and were able to get to our hotel outside of Alexandroupolis by around 4:30 this afternoon.  We stopped to see the location where Paul baptized Lydia as one of the first converts in the area of Philippi.  We also saw a prison cell near the place where Paul may have been imprisoned and saw a beautiful amphitheater that at one time would have seated 12,000 people and is still in use today.  It was raining, though, so it wasn't as lovely as it could have been.

commemorating the spot where Paul baptized Lydia

the church ruins in Philippi

I really want to return to Kavala, a pretty town jutting up from the Aegean with houses and apartment buildings nearly standing on top of one another.  It was really pretty there.

Kavala-a beautiful city on the Aegean

Finally, we arrived at our hotel and a few of us took a public bus into town and walked around, found a little cafe and had some fantastic coffee (me a double espresso, it was the best ever) and then, we wandered around until we found a little restaurant for dinner.  We couldn't face another hotel buffet.  And, this little restaurant singlehandedly resurrected my love of Greek food.  It was so good.  Not only that, but it felt like we had experienced a little of Greece the way it was meant to be experienced.

the  food that resurrected Greece for me

As I said, we leave for Turkey and Istanbul is our first stop tomorrow.  It might be another long day of driving.  I have loaded up on dramamine so I am good for the time being.

Good night.
  taking too long to upload pictures and I am tired, I will upload them tomorrow am...

a memorial (one of hundreds) that line the roadsides

BV, IV, AV

No, those aren't my attempt at writing to you in Greek.  Today was a bummer day, I mean, I am in Greece, so it was still awesome, but it had a couple low moments.  Let's just say I got tour bus sick...

I haven't chucked my cookies in years because of motion sickness, but today was my lucky day.  So, I am dividing this day mentally up into three segments...Before Vomit, Imminent Vomit and After Vomit.  Okay, it wasn't like I threw up all day but I had just had an awesome cup of espresso after our first pit stop about  two hours out of Athens and that's when we hit the mountain range.

Much of our route today, couldn't fit in Thessaloniki

Greece is 80% mountainous.  I think we hit a majority of it today and they don't mess around with slow curves around here, nor do they think twice about throwing in several memorial markers noting someone who either died or was in a terrible accident (I would have taken a picture of the hundreds we saw but frankly, I couldn't stomach it.)  A tour bus has two things against it:  first because you are up so high when you take a hairpin curve, you sway back and forth like the Sears tower in a windstorm; secondly, it has awesome shock absorbers which contributes to a bouncing motion when hitting potholes.  Yum.

We drove from Athens to Thessaloniki today.  We mostly drove with only a couple of stops and we started at 8:30 am this morning and arrived around 7:30pm.  It is funny sitting for two days in a row is killer.  I would way rather hike and walk and move, way less tiring.

This place is amazing because, well, it is the birthplace of Western Civilization.  Pretty much everything we do and say and think has been influenced in some way by someone from Ancient Greece.  The Greeks are crazy proud of this, and it is warranted.  Our tour guide, Maria, is a gem, and she filled us in on battles, unique natural phenomenon, philosophers, rulers and it was enough to make your head spin. (My stomach was spinning).  She is a font of knowledge.

In tribute to Boston, we drove by Marathon, site of the battle from which Phedipedes ran 42km or 26.2 miles to tell of the victory there and then dropped dead.   A warning to us all.   It was nestled just outside of Athens and surrounded of course, by mountains.  It was a hard marathon to run, I assume.

We learned some Greek phrases, but at that point, I was in cold sweats and sitting in the jump seat at the front of the bus while the bus driver was looking nervously over at me every 3 minutes.  I will have to follow up on those phrases later.

A view of Meteroa, which means suspended between space and land, like a meteor floating.
You can see one of the monasteries on the right, but there were many.  

The best places we visited today were Meteora, where many monasteries are perched atop jutting rock. It is beautiful, and heavenly.

We also visited Veria (or Berea) where Paul met with the Bereans as chronicled in Acts 17 and they evaluated carefully everything he said.  We went to see the three steps that they feel is the exact spot (more or less) that Paul stood and shared his Good News.

Thessaloniki in Greek road signs

Now, for the night we are in Thessaloniki, as I said.  We got here in time for dinner and a couple of us walked around the city for a bit after dinner even though we are gratefully ready for bed.  It is a very European city and I, of course, forced my companions into a little bakery where we all sampled some variations of baklava, it was the best, and also it was fun to walk around.

The little bakery we visited.  

My walking partners

I hope to see more of the city tomorrow, it is beautiful and cosmopolitan.  We have another full day tomorrow so I am heading off to bed now.

PS.  Sorry food didn't make much of an appearance in this post.  So far, it has been fair, mostly tourist stop foods.  I also wasn't hungry.