gytheio . . .

you're on your own on this one.  i can't even recreate it after listening to it.  but it is stunning.  we took a side trip to the Diros Caves.  lee took that literally and tripped down the wet stone stairs.  no bueno.  otherwise it was fun except for the german lady who screamed at my for taking flash photos in the cave.  i looked for signs.  i really did.  saw nothing.  she screamed at me up one side and down the other and then apologized.

 we rode in a little punt.  very rocky.  very gorgeous.

 the guides spoke no english.

 this is the bay outside of the caves.

 and this is gytheio proper.

and this my friends, it lunch on a hook and no we didn't.  

we also stopped in a sweet little town on the way back to port but no one remembers the name of it.  i'll have to do some snooping around but it was a great place for a salute to the boys.

nafplio . . .

another greek island i cannot pronounce.  naff-plea-o but sort of garbled.  doesn't matter, i loved it.

from the bay, you can look up at two fortresses. we never really thought of scaling either one but as we got closer and closer to the lower of the two, we thought, what the heck.  gorgeous weather.  when we finally dragged our broken bodies to the top, we met another couple who had taken the elevator.  snort!!!!

i have a thing for windows.  and statues and alleys.

and wisteria that isn't wisteria.  lee corrected me.  here's the thing.  i know a tulip from a gladiola but that's about it and just goes to show, i grew up, up north.  so from now on, i'm just going to refer to them as pretty flowers because i can't spell them anyway.  here's to gorgeous flowers!!!

 more of them that flowers.

 in no particular order because that was taken from the top.

 more of them.  swoon.

 the view from 1/2 way up.

 over the other side of the mountain.  can you see that guy happily swimming along the shore?

 don't ask, i have no idea.  i zoomed in so i could share but it's in greek and my keyboard is not.

 almighty fortress . . .

 see, my obsessions are cropping up.

 gorgeous little town.

 slurp!!

 coming into the bay.  from someone who lives in florida, i love those mountains.

 my favorite . . .

namaste.

santorini . . .

it rains on an average of two days a summer on santorini.  we used one up.  didn't much matter, i'll take pictures in the rain or the shine.  color me happy either way.  most of these shots were taken in EE-a.  again with the phonetics.  it's spelled Oia but that reminds me too much of Orlando International airport.

most of these photos are from Oia, when we were less exhausted and less damp.

 but still classically greek.  love me some fira.

 also love red doors.

and more wisteria.

again, plenty more shots to share along the way.

Mee-kon-os . . .

if i spell it correctly, i pronounce it wrong.  was just as gorgeous as last time i was there.  except for the toilets, i want to live there six months out of the year.  heck, even with the toilet situation, i want to live there from may to october.  move over mee-kon-os, i'm coming back.

let's start off the day with a good breakfast on the fantail of the ship, ok?

that was lee's but mine didn't look much different and after that the food got even better so i kept forgetting to get shots.

and here is mee-kon-os with their stunning white walls.  oh my!!!

 check this dude out.  he has feathered feet!!

 don't you just want to stare at the quay forever?

and they have their own 'little venice' where you can walk into katrina's bar, sit on a balcony and drink a beer just like you did with the 9TS.  

wisteria is everywhere you look.

not the best shot of the windmills but since i took over 1200 shots, you'll see more i'm sure.

even the houses look happy.

more wisteria.

i'm going to ride this guy all over the island.

and i'm going to get a job in this store, i'm sure you'll understand.

 everything they sold was ultra cool.

 at least to me.

and it's my blog so that's all that counts.

dinner that night was in the polo grill which meant escargot, bleu cheese over boston bib lettuce and a filet mignon.  slurp.

we're here . . .

and the day has changed, but not our bodies.  off for the hour long ride to pireaus to catch the boat.  i would share the shots from the sky of our first view of athens but it was cloudy.  oh heck, i'll share anyway:

 we'd been watching the weather like hawks and the forecasts were pretty grim.

thankfully, it was dry in athens.  we boarded the boat, caught something to eat and waited on the pool deck for our rooms to be ready.

headed out to dinner in a daze.  nothing like a little lobster and shrimp to rev you back up.  i love that grill lobster is available in the terrace cafe every single stinking night.  oh slurp!!!!  finally after 28 hours, we hit the beds and snored happily.

we're off . . .

rod dropped lee off at 6:30 and this little adventure begins.  off to orlando airport.  ran into some traffic but not enough to make us late.  it's actually a case of hurry up and wait.  two old broads hopping on a plane for points unknown.  color me happy.  flight up to JFK unremarkable, which is good in our case.  and wait.  finally board delta for a sweet little nine hour flight to athens.  ugh.  couldn't find a book in the airport i hadn't read so i settled for crosswords, watching Brooklyn, eating and generally going stir crazy.  finally.  finally.  we land.  yay!!!!

going crazy . . .

picking up car rental, taking a class, running around with my head under my arm.  UGH!!!!