I had the great pleasure of visiting Greece in March 2001 and felt compelled to share the beauty of this country with my friends.

This is a summary of the log I kept while traveling. If you remain awake after reading it, there will be plenty of links for you to follow as well... or you can skip right to those if you'd like! Happy reading...

Getting There:

Flights were long, but fine. I had to go from Omaha, to St. Louis, to New York, to Athens. The plane left NY early due to weather (2 feet of snow that evening). I woke up just in time to see the sun rise over the Alps (above the clouds). The snow on the mountaintops glowed a bright orange from the sun. It was absolutely amazing! When the plane started to descend over Greece, I was instantly in love! I can't describe the feelings I had when I saw the mountains and the sea, but at least I finally realized what the color "Mediterranean Blue" really is!

March 5, Day 1:
I stayed at the Armonia Hotel in Vouliagmeni (south of Athens along the sea). Takis and I went to Sounio (south of Vouliagmeni) to the Temple of Poseidon (god of the sea) that was built in the 5th century BC. It's surrounded by the sea on 3 sides and is the most amazing place I've ever been! The weather was perfect and we sat on the rocks just watching the sea. I would have been satisfied if I had never gone anywhere other than there! But as you'll see, I did... It was in a restaurant near the temple that I ate octopus for the first time too! I wasn't sure I liked it then, but by the end of my trip, it would become a favorite.

March 6, Day 2:
The Acropolis. They have found items on the Acroplis dating back to 3500 BC! You climb a massive flight of stairs and enter the Propylaea (437 BC). SW of the entrance is the Temple of Athena Nike (goddess of victory, 420 BC). There's a beautiful view of the Odeion of Herodus Atticus, and the Theater of Dionysus. Inside is the Parthenon (rebuilt between 477 and 438 BC). It's beautiful now, and must have been even more amazing then... when all of the statues and friezes were in place (if you've heard of the "Elgin Marbles" they were actually stolen by Lord Elgin and reside in a British museum-you can sign a petition in the museum asking to have them returned to Greece). To the NE of the Parthenon is the Erechteum (406 BC). I spent hours walking through these areas trying to comprehend and absorb everything, but that's impossible!

On the way down I saw Katherine (my daughter's Greek teacher) waiting for me. She took me through the agora (ancient marketplace). We walked down a path they believe Paul walked when he came to preach, and we stood where the great Greek philosophers and debators stood to discuss politics and life. It must be hard to believe that words escape me when I try to talk about these things, but I can't begin to do them justice!

Katherine and I walked to Syntagma Square to the Parliament Building and watched the changing of the guard in front of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I'm not sure why I like this so much, but I went back at least 10 other times to see it (they do it every hour). We also visited the Plaka and Monastiraki.

We went to Metropolitan Square to visit the churches. The Church of the Panaghia Gorgoepikoos ("the Virgin Who Answers Prayers Quickly"), or Mikro Mitropolis, is the smaller church, built in the 12th century AD. They were working on the Megali Mitropolis when I was there, so there was scaffolding surrounding it, but it was still beautiful. I visited these churches many more times.

Takis and I went for ice cream, then for a drive, then for a walk in Athens. I saw the Parthenon by night, but unfortunately my pictures didn't turn out well. We tried to meet Katherine at a tavern, but were late getting there. Takis showed me a ship that's now a museum, and I saw a replica of an ancient trireme ship.. very cool!

March 7, Day 3:
Katherine left for the island of Rhodes. I went to Athens and visited Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Byzantine Museum, the War Museum, watched the changing of the guard (several times), and went back to the Metropolitan churches. While I was there I met a man who was a jeweler that cleaned the icons inside the church. He took me to some incredible churches in Athens and to the Tower of the Winds (octagon shaped marble tower, 1st century BC) and the Roman Agora.

March 8, Day 4:
I was tired! I stayed in Vouliagmeni most of the day, either reading by the sea or walking within a mile or two of my hotel. Takis picked me up for dinner, then we went to Pireaus (what huge ships!), he showed me the Naval Academy that he attended, we saw the changing of the guard at night, the Parthenon at night, etc. I love Greece!

March 9, Day 5:
Takis was on duty and Katherine was still on Rhodes. I went to Athens and bought some souvenirs, went to the Metropolitan churches, saw the changing of the guard, walked to the university in Athens, sent a few emails, etc. (This actually took many hours.. Athens is a big city!). I went for a walk along the sea when I returned to Vouliagmeni.

March 10-11, Day 6 & 7:
Takis and I drove to Nafplio (South Peloponnese). On the way I saw the island of Salamis, the Corinth Canal, and roughly a million or so olive trees, orange trees, vineyards, etc. Nafplio is beautiful (my 2nd favorite place in Greece). There's an amazing castle on the hill (Castle of Palamidi-from the late 1600s) where Kolokotronis was imprisoned. I really enjoyed walking through the streets here and visiting the shops. We walked through the city at night and visited the castle the next morning before returning to Athens. Nafplio was so peaceful and beautiful. Katherine was now on the island of Kos.

March 12, Day 8:
Takis went to sea and Katherine returned from the islands. I met her at the bus station and we went to Delphi by bus. We got there late (because I had trouble getting a taxi to the bus station), so the upper portion of the temple was about to close, but we were able to walk through the lower portion (The Tholo.. the circular temple typically seen when there are pictures of Delphi - 4th century BC-where offerings were made in preparation to visit the Oracle in the upper site). Delphi is considered by the ancient Greeks to be the center of the world, and the temples there are amazing. There's an ancient gymnasium where people trained for the Pythian Games. We drank from the sacred Castalia Spring, which legend claims that anyone who drinks of these waters will certainly return to Greece and will have good health... all in the shadow of Mt. Parnassos. In the evening we went for dinner and heard a wonderful pianist perform (Yiannis Mexis) who performed everything from Beethoven, to popular Greek music, to Beatles tunes. He was great!

March 13, Day 9:
More of Delphi! Katherine and I visited the upper site including the Treasury of the Athenians, the Altar of the Chians, the Stoa of the Athenians, the Theater of the Sanctuary, the Stadium, and the Temple of Apollo. It took us hours to go through the site and the museum, but it was well worth it! In the afternoon we visited a couple that Katherine knows (Giorgios and Safira). Safira doesn't speak English, but we did ok! Before we left, Giorgios played several songs for us. He was wonderful! I felt so honored to be with such a wonderful family. We went to hear Yiannis play again when we left there.

March 14, Day 10:
We took the bus to Amfissa to meet Giorgios and Safira's son, Fonis. He has lived in the area all his life, and used to be a guard at the museum in Delphi. He's married, has a beautiful little girl (Maria.. we met her at the playground!), and is a guard and assists the archeologists at a new museum being completed in Amfissa. He gave us a personal tour of the museum (which is not open yet). It was a two-story building full of wonderful, ancient artifacts from Amfissa, Itea and Delphi. It was better than the museums in Athens! They had some amazing things.. some of which are one of only 2 such items in all of antiquity. He took us to a castle, to a beautiful church (Church of the Metamorphosis), and to several discoveries recently made in Amfissa (including parts of the ancient city walls in the basement of a house, a mosaic from a baptismal font of a Byzantine church in the middle of a section of town where they were digging to build a house, and a beautiful Byzantine mosaic on the floor of a place that someone had been living in!). I felt so honored to see these things! It was very wonderful! We also met Fonis' wife (Loki) and her parents, then he drove us back to Delphi. He showed us areas in the hills where you could see a slight line of the ancient city walls and took us to an area where a monastery had been built then moved.

In the evening, my Greek teacher's (Vasilis) parents took us to dinner in Itea. They didn't speak much English either! They were such a nice couple, and we had a great time! His father, Costas, realized that I understood more Greek than I could say at least! Oh.. and I had octopus again.. YUM!

March 15, Day 11:
We took the bus back to Athens. I went for a walk along the sea and spent some time watching a man fish. He eventually convinced me I needed to fish too (something I haven't done in more than 12 years). I didn't catch anything, but the fish didn't steal the bait from me either (they did from him!). I went back to Athens in the evening to meet Katherine for dinner. We went to her favorite tavern and heard some wonderful Greek music. There was a group of 50 or so middle school aged kids that came in (with 6 teachers). They were singing and dancing and having a wonderful time. It was nice to see them enjoying the traditional Greek songs so much!

March 16, Day 12:
22 hours of flying and changing planes.. YAWN!

Everyone asks if there's anything I didn't like about Greece. I guess it would be that so many people smoke. There's no such thing as a "non-smoking" section of anything as far as I could tell. Takis and Katherine don't smoke, but there was no way to escape it there. Also, the traffic is interesting. They have lines on the road, and signs (like "Stop") but these seem to be only for decoration. You drive where you want, when you want, at the speed you want. Double parking is fine, driving and parking on the sidewalks is ok in most places too. The streets are very narrow, and almost all cars are manual transmission, so I'd probably never be able to drive there! This was the perfect time of year to visit because there weren't a lot of tourists yet, the weather was nearly perfect and the flowers had started to bloom. The olive trees were full, and the almond trees were in bloom with beautiful flowers.

I didn't think it would be possible to love any place more than I loved Monterey, California, but there is certainly no place in the world like Greece. Everywhere I went I was overwhelmed by the history and beauty of the country and the generosity and kindness of the people. I've never felt more at ease and comfortable anywhere else in the world. I love the sea so much, and the sea is so beautiful there. I plan to visit there as often as possible, and I dream that my daughter and I can live there some day!