Our trip to Greece & Turkey

May-June 2001

Here's where we went on our trip... we spent two nights in Athens, then followed the route below (clockwise) around the Peloponnese penninsula for 8 days. Athens is just off this map to the right. From Athens we flew to Istanbul for three more nights. We went home from there.

This is only a fraction of the 10 rolls of film I shot, but below are some of the highlights. And yes, I did learn Greek and some Turkish for the trip. Here's why.

-GG

The Parthenon- Athens. Unfortunately everything is roped off so you can't walk inside it anymore. Also note the extensive scaffolding due to reconstruction work.

Typical back alley in Greece... huge bougenvillas grow everywhere, and everyone eats outside in the warm weather.

Small port city of Ermioni on the Argolid Penninsula, from where we hopped to...

..the very cute island of Hydra, where no cars are allowed. Feels a lot like Catalina. Here we are enjoying Mythos, the national beer.

The famous Lion's Gate in ancient Mycenae.

Crossing the beautiful Paganos mountains.

Over the mountains was the city of Sparta, where I posed with this famous statue:

Nearby was the amazingly well-preserved ruins of the Byzantine Empire-era city of Mystra.

Turning South, we visited the Mani penninsula and its amazing caves at Pirgos Dirou, which we toured by boat.

Then we crossed to the Messinian Penninsula city of Koroni. This is its pristine Zanga Beach.

Cats are everywhere in Greece and even the mangiest strays get the royal treatment from the cat-loving Greek population!

The best part of Greece was the breathtakingly clear, blue water of the Aegean.

You could see it best at this beautiful beach in Pylos, which my picture could not do justice... so I bought this postcard.

A typical street in one of Greece's many beautiful coastal towns we stopped at.

Before leaving we also visited the ancient city of Olympia and then took a ferry north to Delphi.

Then it was on to Istanbul -- this is the amazing Blue Mosque. Loudspeakers announce the Muslim call to prayer five times a day, with chanting you can hear across the whole city.

Beautiful Iznik tiles decorate just about everything in Istanbul, most notably the interior of the Topkapi Palace (shown here), where the sultans lived for several centuries.

This is also Topkapi

A fruit market outside our hotel.

That's it for now! Thanks for looking!

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