Month: October 2016

Sorry for the Lack of Posts

We’re back in Athens for the last time on this trip, after spending an incredible time in Nafplion, Greece.  What an amazingly quaint village in the Peloponnesus region of southern Greece.  We drove down on Thursday morning, visiting ancient Corinth on the way, and spent Thursday evening and Friday there.  Today (Friday) was (one of) Greece’s Independence Day celebrations, so it was really great to be there during their celebrations.  The food was great and the people were so wonderful.  Wow!!!

We get up at 3:30AM to go to the airport for a 6AM (11PM Friday Eastern Time) flight to Amsterdam.  We have an 8.5 hour layover, so we hope to get into town for a bit and see the sights before flying from there to Atlanta.  Looks like we’re supposed to get to ATL at 8:20PM.

I hope to post pics from our last leg in Greece tomorrow.

Wow, Turkey Is Awesome!!!

We’re back in Athens now, but wish we could have spent much more time in Turkey.  I loved everything about it!  Great people, great food, great sites.  And their infrastructure blew me away.  Easily the equal of the US.

Here are a few rough pics of what we saw in our quick 48 hours in Turkey:

Pamukkale, an amazing geothermal site that flows down from Hierapolis.
Pamukkale, an amazing geothermal site that flows down from Hierapolis.

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Hierapolis
Hierapolis

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Our view from the Doubletree. Kusadasai harbor with pigeon castle.
Our view from the Doubletree. Kusadasai harbor with pigeon castle.
The amazing baker. Best pita I've ever had! Cooked fresh in a brick oven.
The amazing baker. Best pita I’ve ever had! Cooked fresh in a brick oven.
The meat chef. Wow, were the kabobs great!!!
The meat chef. Wow, were the kabobs great!!!

I’ll write more about the meal we had at Oz Orfa later.

Ephesus Was Fantastic!!!

We went to the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus today!!!  It was just magnificent!  Certainly one of Trenna’s favorite places ever.  And very photogenic.

The Curetes Street down to the Library
The Curetes Street down to the Library
Her name is Scholastica. She gave them a hand rebuilding the baths.
Her name is Scholastica. She gave them a hand rebuilding the baths.
The library. Aw, Bubba, nobody goes there.
The library. Aw, Bubba, nobody goes there.
Trenna. Very ionic.
Trenna. Very ionic.
The Great Theater. Paul stood there and preached against Artemis. Like in a dream, I stood there and quoted Paul sharing the Gospel to the 25,000 seat amphitheater. Unfortunately, every seat was empty, except one, Trenna.
The Great Theater. Paul stood there and preached against Artemis. Like in a dream, I stood there and quoted Paul sharing the Gospel to the 25,000 seat amphitheater. Unfortunately, every seat was empty, except one, Trenna.
For some reason, everywhere we go is overrun with cats!
For some reason, everywhere we go is overrun with cats!
In the WC sink. Did I mention there were lots of cats???
In the WC sink. Did I mention there were lots of cats???

We’re in Turkey!!!

We just got to the Doubletree Hotel in Kusadasai.  The flight over was great.  The airport in Izmir (Trenna discovered that Izmir is the biblical Smyrna, one of the seven churches in Revelation!) was one of the nicest I’ve ever been in.  And the very expensive taxi ride from there to here was … very expensive.

Tomorrow morning we’ll figure out the plan for our visit to Ephesus and whatever else we’ll do.  There are numerous other ancient biblical cities within 100km of here.  I think the right answer is just to come back for two weeks and visit them all.  Here’s a good site that lists them.  http://www.bibleplaces.com/ephesus/

Goodbye Santorini, Hello Turkey!

Well, we just left Santorini and we’re sitting in the Athens airport awaiting our flight to Izmir, Turkey.  We’ll get there after dark and have an 80km taxi ride from the airport to Kusadasi, Turkey, which is around 15 minutes from Ephesus.  We’re staying at the Doubletree tonight, but not sure about tomorrow night.  Playing that one by ear.

I’m slightly more nervous about this part of the trip since it’s much more of an unknown.  I’m sure it will all be very interesting.  And a learning experience.

From everything I can tell, all of the more dangerous areas of Turkey are over in the eastern border close to Syria and in Istanbul.  So everything should be OK.

Pics from Santorini

Santorini is certainly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.  And October seems to be a great time to be here.  The crowds are light and the weather very nice, though a little cool for Trenna.  I already know we need to come back.

Our first morning in Santorini! Breakfast in Firastephani with a breathtaking view.
Our first morning in Santorini! Breakfast in Firastephani with a breathtaking view.
There are beautiful sights everywhere!
There are beautiful sights everywhere!
Trenna found us a great room in Oia.
Trenna found us a great room in Oia.
Santorini sunset
Santorini sunset
Classic Santorini shot after sunset.
Classic Santorini shot after sunset.

Off to Santorini!

I made a bit of a mistake regarding the time of our flight today…

We’ve done so much prep in so little time that my memory was incorrect about our flight today.  Instead of 6AM, it is at 7:20AM.  Not too much difference, but it cost us an hour of sleep and $20 extra upcharge for the cab ride since our 4:30 departure was in the elevated midnight to 5AM period.  Oh well.  Better early that late.

And it gave us a chance to try out the new Priority Pass lounge access that came with our new Visa Sapphire credit card.  This place is nice, quiet, and empty!  Had some coffee and oatmeal, along with free internet.

We should be off to Santorini in a little while!

We Had a Great Time at the Acropolis!!!

Sorry, no pictures.  Took lots of them with my Nikon, but haven’t had time to download them yet.  Super tired tonight.  Hope to be in bed before 9PM.  As mentioned in the first post, we have a 4:30 taxi to the airport for a 6AM flight to Santorini island.  We’ll be there two days.  Should be relaxing.  May be beautiful for pics if the weather’s right.

Trenna and I agreed that we both like Athens better than Rome, but really don’t know why.  Same time of year, so it’s a fair comparison.  Rome was so much more crowded.  The major sights in Rome were so over the top; Athens is much more real and natural.  But, be warned:  walking across a street in Athens is pretty much like playing Crossy Roads, only in real life!