May 20 - Greece Holiday Recap

Got up about 9:00 and dashed off to the market.

Cosimo (my new buddy from Toronto - he used to work at the same company as I do now) was happy to talk about anything and everything, as usual.

Liz and Eoin rented a car and hit the beaches. Eoin has promised to fill me in on the Leaf score (Game 6) as soon as they return. Jane, who is much better today, just requested Jon and Vangelis (good choice, babe).

It was the perfect song for the mood - "I'll Find My Way Home". We had. We made bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch and since then it's been a case of 'soak in the view'.

While doing that, Jane met a knew dog friend. She was a lovely dog and we gave her a bunch of milk, a ham and cheese pastry, some Pringles, half a loaf of bread, water, and the deed to our house. Then, puppy crashed out on our patio with us for the rest of the afternoon.

Our new puppy friend

At this point, after eighteen days in Greece, I think that it's time for some of our casual statements and observations about this country. In no particular order:

  1. The views are great no matter where you are
  2. They have great potato chip flavours here (Oregano and Paprika!)
  3. Santorini Mou, I love you
  4. They don't hate tourists - even if they think you're American
  5. I wish we were rich and didn't have to work
  6. They have fries with everything
  7. Chocolate ice cream is really good here
  8. Bounty Ice Cream Bars!
  9. The mainland has shrines on every corner of the road
  10. Lemon Fanta
  11. Almost everyone speaks English
  12. We came to Santorini and didn't see a sunset... and didn't care!
  13. Athens is as bad as everyone says, but the Plaka is great
  14. Just sitting on the patio watching the swallows fly around is effective time management
  15. Living in caves makes for better sleeping
  16. The driving in Athens is horrendous
  17. If the Greeks were able to invent plumbing so long ago, why haven't they improved it?
  18. Don't even mention the showers
  19. Bouzoukia music isn't bad
  20. Our place in Oia is amazing
  21. We prefer filter coffee
  22. We might make Nafpaktos our second choice of place to live
  23. The cave houses of Santorini win
  24. Guys with loudspeakers should be pelted
  25. Jane did a fantastic job setting up our vacation
  26. Antique stores with AMAZING stuff
  27. Writing postcards at Erato

In full relax mode in Santorini

I just found out the Leafs won Game 6 in overtime - woohoo! Your turn Jane, I'm going for some Heinekens.

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Well Rob, you've certainly done an amazing job with the Journal and I'm glad you've enjoyed the vacation as much as I have, hasn't it been wonderful?

Greece certainly is magical, isn't it? I've loved everything I've seen of Greece since my first glimpse out of the plane (er, excuse me John), and we've certainly met some wonderful people every day of our trip.

I just want to stay right here

I don't think I'm ready for a wrap-up, I want to savour every moment still.

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Okay, I'll take over for a bit. For our last night on Santorini, we're planning for a candle-light dinner on the patio. Jane doesn't care if we eat ice cream for dinner, but I bought some breads, cheeses, meats, and of course, beer. It should be lovely. I'm not ready to leave. I don't want to leave. I want to live here.

Well, at least we have the Plaka district tomorrow, but this is worlds away from that.

We miss our guys at home, so at least we have them to look forward to. It's been very easy to totally forget about the things that seemed important at home - our jobs, the Leafs, timetables, plans, whatever. We haven't watched any TV, we've only seen a few newspapers, and the CD's we brought with us only came out while in Santorini. For all we know, the Kosovo problem is over or World War III may have already commenced - who cares? This is the life.

We've decided to pose a question to ourselves and that is...which leg of the trip was your favourite? And the answers are:

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Any 'favourites' on this trip are difficult because it has all been so great. Santorini is so dramatic and beautiful and it feels like we've done more of a 'locals' thing since we had no inclination - and later no way - to leave our balcony. Santorini Mou was a wonderful experience, especially the back room with Marcus playing.

I'll have to pause for a bit now, because speak of the devil and he's just strolled through the front door.


.. A while later...

Naxos was great - I'll never forget the hospitality of Dimitrius and Nikki and the friendly atmosphere of the Hotel Grotta. Sunsets turned out to be the nicest there and it was such a quiet pace. Getting lost on the mountain was a laugh and 'baring it all' on the beach was an experience (and a pleasant one!). But, if I have to chose a 'favourite', it's the Mainland Tour. I loved seeing all the wonderful archaeological sites and we met great people (not that that part didn't continue). Perhaps because everything we experienced was for the first time in Greece - the hospitality, the gifts, the magic, the people - it was just so special.

I particularly enjoyed;
  1. Walking about and getting lost in the Plaka
  2. The wildflowers and the scent of the Peloponnese
  3. Mycenae and seeing the Lion's Gate
  4. The serenity and magic of Olympia
  5. The exhilirating drive up the mountains of Parnassos
  6. The clouds coming in at Arachova
  7. All our friends - Tony and Colleen, Marie, George and Sonia (my other-side-of-the-world 'sister')
  8. A brief glimpse at Nafpaktos
  9. Writing postcards in the courtyard at Erato
  10. The first beach ... and rushing through our lunch to get to it
  11. Our tour guide Effie, and the bus-driver Tassos
  12. The "second-class" tourists - all OUR friends- getting bumped up to "first-class"
  13. My Shirley Valentine moment at dinner with the offensive tourists
  14. The magnificence of Epidaurus and the hilarious story that later ensued
  15. Watching the moon over Olympia
  16. Replacing my Nana's butterfly broach
  17. Our photo on the starting line at Olympia
  18. Delphi
  19. Rob enjoying Delphi and continually hunting for undiscovered treasures
  20. No other tourists at the Temple of Athena
  21. Tony wandering off to paint
  22. And, although it almost made me sick at the time, I know I will enjoy my beautiful new coat for many years to come, to remind me of all this and the much more that I haven't written. Of course, there's still tomorrow...
And you, hon?



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He said: Well, it was going to be the same one that you picked, and for all those reasons and many others that you failed to mention.
  1. Everything that we saw was extraordinary - from ruins to hotel room views.
  2. Everybody (maybe not everybody), we became very good friends with- and I'm positive that we'll keep in touch with many of them.
  3. It was a great night when all seven of us found the little Antique shop in Delphi while on a hunt for Metaxa.
  4. Also, the fact that our original four day tour effectively tripled in duration, just without Effie, Tassos, and the bus.
  5. The beautiful mountains and the invigorating climbs.
  6. We had lots of laughs on top of it all.
  7. It was also great to see that Jane was completely stress-free and was clearly absorbed by Greek culture. She has become quite good at speaking the language, and was able to give me all kinds of background info, such as archaeological facts or historic tidbits.

Right, enough reminiscing, as it turned out Eion and Liz returned from dinner at about midnight and came in for a nightcap. We stayed up for a while, but it's a travel day tomorrow, so we crashed out early.

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