Dear Apostolos,
We have been traveling for quite some time and now I have the opportunity to provide feedback on our wonderful trip. Thank you so much for arranging it! The accommodations were very good and the tour was well paced. The only thing I would do differently next time was allow more time, especially on Crete. Good job!
Blaine and I have spent two weeks in Greece and had a wonderful time. The first week was filled with the classical portion of the Greek mainland. I got so confused with the various gods, goddesses, foreign occupations and wars that I broke down and bought a book about mythology and spent a good part of some evenings researching the political history. It helped to orient us to this beautiful country.
In Athens and in Iraklion (capitol of Crete) we witnessed political demonstrations. They did not appear to get violent but we chose not to stick around in case they did. In Athens we also toured the Acropolis, Plaka (old city) and the National Archeology Museum. Amazing!!!
We had the most wonderful guide for the tour to classical Greece (Corinth, Epidarus, Olympia, Delphi and Meteora). His name was Yani and had unending enthusiasm and a vast wealth of knowledge. He was probably the best guide we have ever had. The group was also interesting. We traveled with people from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, England, Singapore, Malaysia and, of course the US. The group was a mixture of gay and straight people and reminded me a lot of the poeple who attend our UU church in Denver. Conversations at meal times were very entertaining! One night we ran into our guide, Yani and bus driver, Nicholas outside a Greek taverna. He invited us and several others from our group to join him. The wine flowed and at the end of the evening her refused to let any of us pay!
The second week we were on our own touring several Greek islands. My favorite was Mykonos because no cars were allowed within the town walls and everything was in walking distance. However, the hotel in Santorini was the fanciest place I have ever stayed. It had five swimming pools! We took a day trip to the island of Delos. It has the largest archaeological site in Europe and was the birthplace of Artemis and Apollo. Yesterday we went to Knossos, I city that was founded in 1700 BC.
Iraklion was the only place we had language difficulties and navigational challenges. Not much is in English and the roads were wound within the Venetian walls of the 15th century. The problem was solved by buying ticket to a hop on hop off tour bus. We sat on the upper level and were able to figure out where we were. We ate at this amazing place called the Fish Tavern which was cheap, good and overlooked the Venetian harbor.
Today we are off to Istanbul.
I hope everyone is well and happy,
Hasta pronto!
Felicita
Phylis and Cloyce
USA