Greetings from the Greek Isles!

Sunday, July 28, 2002
Greetings from Greece! Well, after much ado, we finally made it to Greece. We originally bought train tickets that took us through half of Eastern Europe in 55 hours... but we had some visa problems getting us through Yugoslavia. So, the day before we were supposed to leave Prague we refunded our tickets to Athens and bought a train ticket to Bratislava, Slovakia. That afternoon we bought one way plane tickets to Athens from Vienna. Fortunately, Bratislava is really close to Vienna. So, we called up some friends we met in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic and with 3 hours notice they met us at the bus station, rounded up some hashers and took us to their local pub. We were only in Austria for a mere 12 hours, but it was a great time! Thanks guys!

Everyone we have met who has been to Athens immediately says - spend one day at the Acropolis and get out to the Islands!! They must not be in the hash. We stayed for 5 days and has a great time! We went to 5 BBQ's, took a ferry to a nearby reclusive beach, and met up with the Athens Hash House Harriers. The great thing about Greece is all the random things you see... I'm sure you all know how I love a good story, especially if it's random and I can be involved!! Every morning when we woke up in Athens we heard this loudspeaker touting something or other. On the last day we figured out what it was... the Gypsies sell stuff from the back of pickup trucks, and this particular one was selling fruit! It sounded more like they were trying to evacuate the neighborhood. We thought ALL trucks sold fruit until we saw another Gypsy truck selling plastic chairs.

Now we are in the Greek Islands. We spent the first few days in Naxos. A really cute little island where ALL the buildings are painted white with blue trim. I'm convinced it's because those are the colors of the Greek flag, but I have no confirmation on that. In Naxos, the beaches are peaceful, the water is clear and a vibrant blue and it was so relaxing. We had a balcony overlooking the town where we ate breakfast every morning. There was also a Greek Orthodox church across the road that had Mass via loudspeaker every morning. Interesting. We have been on an island called Santorini since the day before yesterday. It's great fun here! The entire little island was covered by volcanic ash many years ago so ALL the beaches are black sand... and one is red!! Also, the entire perimeter of the island is rock and plummets to the shoreline, creating mountain side cliffs and views everywhere you look. The first night we spent in what we called the James Bond Bar. It had an incredible view of the shore, the donkey path, the old volcano, and the cave hotels, bars and pools. We went to the Red Beach yesterday and watched the sunset in Ia last night. We were supposed to go to a Beach Party that takes place in the wee hours every Friday and Saturday night.... but we um, fell asleep before we left and never made it!!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Greek Island of Rodos for a few days. Rodos is a mere one hour ferry from Turkey. We've heard about a few nice places to visit before we head up to Isanbul. I can wait to get there!! Everyone we have met on our trip who has traveled to Turkey says it is there FAVORITE place. So, my expectations are high... I'll let you know if the reality lives up to the myth!

Thanks for keeping in touch everyone and I'll be back online again soon.

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