Back home!

We're back in Boston (grey and drizzly at the moment), with thoughts of sunny Greece fresh in our minds.

I'll post more pictures/video this week.

Closing thoughts on Greece

We'll be returning back to the states tomorrow. Sonia and her mother are at the hairdresser's, leaving me loose in the city for this morning (hopefully I'll be able to find my way back to them!) Car-spotting is a good activity to pass the time, as there are lots of unfamiliar brands crusing the Greek streets: Opels, Skodas, good-old Audis, Corsas (?). And then familiar brands have unfamiliar models: the Ford Ka, the Nissan Sunny. Why don't we have cars named "Sunny"... or "Happy" or something like that?

We'll leave in the middle of the night (c. 3:00 am) for a long cab ride to Athens. I'm hoping for some good "shooting-star gazing" at the Perseid's shower. Every year they seem to say "THIS is the big one" and it always turns in to somewhat of a dud. But the stars are pretty bright over here -- and we did spot a nice shooting star a few nights ago.

Tomorrow will be a long day, but we've got travel-scrabble!

Island Life -- Greek Style

We've returned from a weekend tour of the island of Kefallonia (sp?), in the Ionian Sea. After seeing one too many "Captain Correlli's Cafe" establishments, I vaguely recalled that book/movie being set in Greece...

As it is high season, most of the hotels I looked at before we left Boston were already booked. Sonia's mother booked us on a Greek group tour ("A Pullman Tour", which means you ride around in a big bus). Imagine a bunch of Greeks singing (and dancing) as a bus careens madly around cliffs! We stayed at a Monastery as part of the tour, which would've been okay if it wasn't for the loud Greek festival next door, wailing away until 3 am. The tour itself seemed more focused on Greek churches than the lush beaches that we saw from the bus (though we did stop at a couple of beaches).

Oh and the bus driver was named Dionysus. For real!

Next island trip will be more self-guided, I think.

So we're back in Patras for our final stretch. Met another gaggle of relatives last night, as we dined at midnight. They seemed thrilled that I could pronounce, "Delicious!" in Greek ("Nostimo!").

Beaches and frappes for the rest of the week!

Off the grid in Greece!

We've been "off the grid" since arriving in Greece last Saturday. We had a whirlwind spin through Athens, before arriving in Patras -- 2006 European Cultural Capital!

A typical day:
-- wake up early, coffee with family outside in the yard
-- some sort of excursion (yesterday it was Olympia!) and/or beach stop to cool off from +100 temperatures
-- wonderful lunch
-- wonderful long nap
-- evening out on the town with more family (lots of "new" family here!)

I've been rationing my shooting, but I think I still have +1100 images left on my memory card. I've discovered the wonders of in-camera video editing to trim clips -- very cool. I don't know if I'll be able to upload any images before we return (we're in an Internet cafe with some slightly aged PCs).

I'm trying to pick up some Greek... but I'm finding it a very challenging language!