A Last Greek Roadtrip and a Last Greek Blog

Dear Friends and Family, Our days in Greece are fast disappearing. I think this will be the last communication from Greece unless something amazing happens today. We leave early on Monday, about 5 am to make the two hour drive to Athens Airport and get the car turned in. It’s funny, but as we wrap up this visit to Greece, I think our 7th, I can’t help but wonder if this will be the last time we see our good friends here. I don’t want to sound morbid, but Greece is minimum of two plane trips and Crete takes at least 3. We begin to wonder if it is worth the distance and expense just to find the sun! We’ll see. I do apologize for not doing a blog yesterday. We had done so little and were trying to get on the road for a trip down the “index finger” of the Peoloponnese. The Peloponnese is really three fingers and Ingrid’s sort of sits between the first two. So yesterday we planned to head southeast to that first finger. Thursday we made another trip to Napflio. We just enjoy sitting in the square and watching people pass by. It is such a pleasant spot. From there you can look up at the old palace that sits atop the hill

Also, as it was very hot on Thursday, we noticed a kind of cool invention. As we were drinking our wine, we suddenly felt very cool. It turns out that they have fans that have a water element mounted on the front that distributes a refreshing spray of water along with the moving air.

Very neat! Polley also got a very nice black and white scarf/shawl that I will no doubt photograph during one of her fashionable Parisian nights. Yesterday, as I mentioned we took a day trip. Our intent was to head to east coast, but we missed a turn (there are many unmarked road: TIG: “This is Greece!”) and end up going to our last destination, first! We stopped in the little coast town of Porto Heli. It is charming and the bay is filled with some rather impressive boats (yachts?).

We found a little café bar and enjoyed the sea breezes and the calm waters on this sunny, but cooler day

From there we headed east along the south coast road that ran right along the sea. It was a beautiful, but challenging drive with the seemingly endless twists and turns (not to mention the big, black German cars riding my butt).

After about an hour and a half, we came to the town of Galatas. It is not much to speak of, but across the water, maybe a quarter of a hour is the island of Poras. In looking across at it I was remind of seeing Venice

And, like Venice, it is a water taxi that ferries you there and back

So, as we prepared to catch a “cab,” I caught Polley in this pose with Poras as a backdrop.

For 1 euro each you get over in about 5 minutes. As we jumped out, I ask the “cab driver” for a teverna recommendation. He sent us to the OASIS. What a choice. The place was packed (always a good sign), many of them Greeks (an even better sign!) and we felt fortunate to get a table. We were not really very hungry, but they had a Dip Sampler Plate. Seemed like just the right amount. It was delicious, with a very garlicy tzatziki, a spicy cheese dip, a creamy white cheese dip and a very uninteresting eggplant dip (3 out of 4 did not seem bad). We then wandered about a bit, but knowing we had another 90 minutes to get back home, we caught taxi back, with the town in the background

Like our visit to Agia Galini on Crete, this is a charming town that I would certainly like to return to (if we ever return) and can’t believe we have not visited it previously. Anyway, it was home by about 5. We were very worn out and decided to make it an early evening. We did chat with Yorgos and Ingrid for a while and then went down the little Plaka taverna for a light meal before falling down for the night. Driving in Greece is exhausting and with a manual transmission on the windy Greek roads, it is truly a workout. It has been a good month in Greece. The weather has been great and we have enjoyed the meals and the sights. Very relaxing. Monday it will be on to France and I think that, after two calm, rural settings, we will be ready for 4 days in Lyon, France. We will fly to Paris and catch the TGV (fast train) to Lyon and should be in our apartment by about 4:30 pm. Only 9 hours difference between Paris and home. We will be closer to all of you. More from France!