Block Leave to Greece!

This past week, Jay and I took our last block leave together to Greece. We flew into Athens and stayed on the mainland all week. We arrived in Athens late Friday night and then had to take a 45 min. train ride to our stop. Luckily our hotel was only about 5 blocks from the stop so it wasn't a far walk. We got in to our hotel about 10:30 and then decided to walk around outside for a while. The next day we got up after sleeping in late and walked around the city. It was a cloudy day and rainy most of the day. We were able to walk around the city, but the views and pictures weren't great so we used the next day to take pictures and actually go sight seeing. On Sunday we walked around the city and got to see the major sights. We took the Hop On Hop Off bus around the city. We then got to see the Acropolis and overview of the city. We also saw many sights such as the Agora, the Placa, Syntagma Square (with the changing of the Guards and Parade), and of course the US Embassy which we see in every country.

The next day we took the train back to the airport, picked up a car and drove to the Peloponeese Penninsula to a port city called Napflio. It had great views and really good food.

At one restaurant Jay had a greek meal while I had pizza. We also had a dessert consisting of a Cookies and Cream shake as well as honey glazed donut holes and ice cream. It was really good. That night we also walked down to the beach and Jay even got in the water and swam around for a few minutes.

The next morning we left and drove to the ancient outdoor theater of Epiderimus. This was a neat theater that had perfect accoustics. The smallest sounds could be heard clearly even at the very top. It also had a ancient 100m track that still had the starting line.

After leaving the theater, we drove to the Corinth Canal which was a manmade canal that was built in the 1800s to allow boats to pass through. The canal was absolutly enormous and standing on the bridge looking down almost took your breath away.

After leaving the canal we drove north along the eastern highway to the city of Theramopoly which was the ancient battlefield of King Leonidious when the Greeks defeated the Trojans and is portrayed in the movie 300. After leaving the city, we drove farther north, over the mountains. We stayed there that night and left the next morning for Meteiora. This is an area with 6 monasteries that are built on top of mountains and out on cliffs. These were some really spectactular sights.

That night we drove to the southern city of Pireas and saw the cruise ships. We couldn't find a hotel in Pireas so we drove back to Athens and found a hotel for the night. It was right on the water front. When we woke up in the morning, we opened the curtain and were greeted with an absolutely amazing view. We both just stood there,The next morning we drove to the airport, dropped off the car, and began our flight home.

Not a very good picture, but the best we could get. This was a very bitter-sweet time for us, realizing that time is getting short!

To see a whole bunch more pictures, go to my picasa account. I don't have them labeled, but maybe someday soon.