Golden Odyssey Kontari Chios

Destination 396<br><br>[Ferry]<br><br>According to the fact, that I already have travelled around Eastern Europe at the beginning of this worldtrip, there was little reason - or better said, little money left - to do it again. So it was planed to take one of those many ferrys connecting almost every corner of the european coast of the Mediterranean Sea.<br ...

Alacati, a very pretty little town with one main street, lots of eating places and very expensive hotels. We found a small place tucked away down a back street called Umit Otel after the owner. He was very nice and the place was very clean. You basically walk in through the garden gate into a paved semi covered area which is reception dining and chill-out area in the garden ...

... more lil villages before coming back into Chios (its actually called Chora but everyone calls it Chios as it is the island capital). FINALLY some down time! I used this to catch up on the blogs and hang out with Shawn and walk along the streets near the water. This is a slow day as mom and aunt Helen are getting some legal schmegal stuff taken care of and we have some free time to ourselves. Tomorrow we are off to Ephesus in Turkey and then Friday back to Athens.

Trying to get stuff from my Mac to an internet cafe PC! First try froze the sclerotic PC. Actually, I'll have to go back and convert the text to .pdf to transfer, I guess. Or, go on to a hotel or pension where my Mac does interface with the wireless modem, as in the present case it does not. Stay tuned.

... 3 to force 6 Tiercel sailed like a demon under gorgeous night skies which evolved into a spectacular orange sunrise over the Turkish coast and then a beautiful morning. The wind died when we were about 2 miles from Mithimna (AKA Molyvos). The reason we were on Lesvos at this time was to meet Rob's cousin Tim who was coming out to sail with us for the week. Two nights before we were due to meet him a 60ft motor cruiser squeezed in beside us. The ...

... ancient city of Troy was located near the western entrance of the strait and the strait's Asiatic shore was the focus of the Trojan War. It was also the scene of the legendary Greek story of Hero and Leander. Our last sea day was spent like the others. We went to Marlin Fitzwater's talk in the morning. This one was called "Stories I Tell My Friends ...

... is the nicest hostel/pansyion we have stayed during our travels. The owner, Don Rodgers, has created a beautiful place and he is incredibly hospitable. Melanie and I have a great view of the harbor and the sea breezes are great. UPDATE: On our second day, we rented a car and drove around the island. Visited a beautiful black pebble beach and two ...

... planned on sea days. We attended another lecture by Marlin Fitzwater. He showed us pictures taken by the White House photographers during his tenure as Press Secretary. He told some funny stories as well. The Crystal Society Welcome Reception was right before lunch. This is for first time cruisers with Crystal. We were given champagne or cocktail of our choice. The Grand ...

... A bearded bear of a black-robed monk is talking to a small party near the door of the cathedral and the only other people I run into are an elegantly dressed middle aged couple and two young men in white shirts and ties inside the narthex which turns out to be an ossuary. A large glass case along the wall contains maybe 50-60 skulls and piles of human femurs. A sign explains that these are the relics of the approximately 100,000 Greek residents of Chios ...

... minutes flat. The irony of it is while we are rushing on to the next thing we could easily stay in any of these places for a week, for a month, for a year. Anyway, for the purposes of relaxing and finishing up the paper, I couldn't think of a better place to be than on this tiny island in Greece right now. When we arrived last night things weren't looking quite as rosy for the group, however. After we got off the ferry in Greece ...