Off to Illinois

The Bride to Be touring Athens.  The Acropolis is in the background.

It was a quick turnaround for the Old Lady. Arriving home June 12, I departed today, June 30. This time it is literally on the road with my van, Big Mama, GPS aka Greta, and Georgia the Trek Bike. Today I drove 8 hours and am still in the state of Florida. I’m in a KOA about 35 miles west of Tallahassee and only a mile off Interstate 10. It’s more rustic than most of the KOA’s I’ve experienced.. A rooster has been crowing. I guess it is saying goodnight. I wonder what time it will decide its morning.

Much of my time while in Stuart besides catching up on mail, bills, etc. was spent trying to put some order into the over 1100 photos I took on the trip to Greece. The computer gave me problems and my DVD slideshow would not burn on to a disc among other frustrations. I want to show the incredible beauty of Greece, the fascinating ruins that are everywhere, and the group that shared the 14 days of sailing and adventure seeking. There were so many highlights which hopefully can be illustrated in the photographs. Our group of 14 was amazing in their compatibility and comradeship. It’s a challenge to share small spaces and limited resources with people you don’t know. Of course by the end, we did know each other and the parting was similar to seeing a family member off.

I feel so fortunate to have experienced this country in so many aspects. The sense of how developed their ancient civilizations were was mind boggling. The Greek people are very proud of this heritage and of their beautiful country and I think that makes it particularly difficult for them to be the center of negative attention in the world financial crisis. The ones with which I spoke (and it was usually the topic of conversation) are as mystified as any as how it could have become so bad but also say supporting the immigrant population contributes to the governments burden.

I hope to write more about my experiences there but now my attention turns to the exciting weeks ahead. Daughter Emily’s wedding will be the 10th and we have almost daily dialogue on the many last minute challenges of putting together such a celebration. She must do a tremendous juggling act with all the wedding details and a challenging job. Hopefully it will all come together and appear seamless in the final moments.

Tomorrow I head up through Alabama, camping in Northern Mississippi at J P Coleman State Park. This is near the Tennessee border and close to the Shiloh battleground which I hope to revisit Friday morning. Later that day I will try to connect with some relatives and visit some family cemeteries.

Miami

After a return trip of 30 hours beginning with the evening ferry from Naxos ending with late afternoon arrival at the Richmond Hotel on Miami Beach I am recovering this morning by the hotel pool. What a way to end a fabulous trip. I am here to renew acquaintances with those in town for the AIA convention an organization with which Les was highly involved. Of course it also allows me to extend my vacation by four more days. My connections ferry, bus from Pireus to Athens airport at midnight, flight to Madrid and then on to Miami went smoothly and on time. I was very pleased with the ferry accomodations in economy class and the Airport seating areas had better facilities than my last airport overnight in Vienna. I look forward to getting back to my computer and posting photos of the trip. Blog entries from the iPhone are a bit of a challenge. It has given me a chance to share a few experieces of this wonderful three weeks.

Naxos

Ferry from Kos arrived on time for 7:30 departure. Hotel provided a ride to the dock. I was very happy to see luggage rack noted with destinations near the entrance. Loading ferries is a story in itself. Passengers arriving and departing hustle along the gangplank at the same time vechicles are loading and unloading. It seems to be much less orderly than my experiences with the Alaska and Canadian ferries but it works. The ferry was very nice with comfortable seating areas. I had a window seat. As we closed in on Naxos the wind increased and shortly after arrival it rained. It took a while to connect witH Marco who would take my suitcase up to Panorama Hotel in the Kastro (castle) area not accessible to vehicles. The photo is of the harbor from my balcony. The wind continued but the rain stopped causing the evening concert at the nearby Venetian Miseum to be moved inside but was a most enjoyabe two hours of local music and folk dancing concluding with audience dancing something I had wanted to experience the whole trip! This followed awonderful dinner at Lucullus where I treated myself to lamp chops in honor of my wedding anniversary . I also met a couple from Toronto there and we went together to the concert greatly enhancing my evening. What could have been a downer day was instead a real high. Tonight begins the long journey back to Miami. I can't say enough about how beautiful Greece and it's people are. I couldn't ask for a better experience!

Westward Bound

Our last leg of sailing was only 19 miles over glassy seas and no wind. Our crew was reduced by 2 more as Phil and Lynn had to move up their departure to avoid problems with a planned British Air strike. I'm sure Phil will have more details on the Sailing Greece Blog. We did make one stop at a shoreline hot springs sign of the volcanic activity of the past. Part of the group swam into shore to check it out. On returning to Kos we fueled up and took 151 liters. Docking in the very crowded marina was again with the assistance of the inflatable pilot boat. In the evening our hired captain Gilles arranged for transportation to a country taverna were the 9of us remaing enjoyed sampling many local specialities.
I stay tonight at a small hotel not far from the ferry dock where I'll leave Kos. The island has held many surprises including a significant archeolgical site I visited today The Asklepieion a medical sanctuary of ancient Greece. I'll post photos and more information when I can work from a computer; typing on the Iphone is tedious at best and only uses photos from phone. Photo above is part of Kos castle where we walked the ancient walls only 2 weeks ago. On to Naxos !

Symi 2

The entire group rose early Wednesday to see Emily off. We then left the Rhodes Mandravi harbor through the haze Our course allowed us to benefit from the light winds and we had a gentle sail sometimes augmented by the engine. Less than 5 hours we entered into the most secure harbor that I've seen on the trip Panormitti on the island of Symi. The land feature is the Monastery of Archangel Michael. The focus of the complex is a tall bell tower. Visitors are allowed to tour some of the facilities including 2 small museums & the very impressive church covered floor to ceiling with frescoes. We were beginning our visit when a large excursion boat off loaded hundreds of tourists. Fortunely they only stayed an hour, hardly adequate but leaving us and the other sailboats anchored there to enjoy the tranquility. However we were later entertained by 14 Italian sailboats as the anchorage filled.

Rhodes

After a fantastic sail from the charming island of Symi we are on a two day visit here one of the oldest continuos European settlements. Walked and shopped Old Town area yesterday and today will tour some of sites. It is Emily's last day. It's been wonderful to have her a part of the crew especially for me! I've put some emails for access to sail blog. If you have not received let me know. Made arrangements for the end of trip Saturday Kos Sunday 8 hour ferry to Naxos Monday night ferry to Pireaus arriving midnight hopefully bus to Athens airport for 7am flight.

Sailing Days

We took high speed ferry from santorini to Ios. The minute ride was a third of the time &cost 3 times. We enjoyed uphill walk to see Hora-the main village. Most shops closed-siesta time. Some of the group toured the island via atvs. Took local bus back up the hill for dinner Piperri run by an English man with a great menu and fun atmosphere (photo). Walked back down hill. 6am depArture after very little sleep due to a mooring line that squeaked & snapped all night. At 3:30 am An alarm started beeping No one responded so finally I got up discovering that the voltage was flashing & beeping. Not wanting to act alone I woke Phil (writer of sailing blog). We agreed to cut off the refrigertor. An hour later time to get up. Very lttle wind with following seas & 70 mile trip @ 8mph + fatigue made for along day,