Hotel Neon Lido Athens

... something scrawled on it. Even the white marble was defaced.
Our bus crawled up the hill to the Acropolis parking lot and we began our walk up to the top. This is some serious hiking and we had a few casualties by the end of the tour. One man fell and really whacked his arm. Lots o blood. And later his wife fell over backward and hit three more ladies and they all went down like dominoes. A black eye, bruises and scrapes. What a story when they get home!
The ...

... we hired a taxi and went to all the best places, its small, and easy to get around, then a vist to the old city,once again, so differnt but lots of shopping to look at , and a few small buys. Heaps of walking as the ship was a distance away. Geek people there were smiling and not pushy at all. Lots of typical "Zorba The Greek" men, large and bossy, though, on the ...

... to a private party for people who have cruised with this line as much as we have. The senior officers hosted a party in one of the private lounges. Very upscale! I guess we are now part of the upper echelon - at least here! We then had a wonderful dinner and off to bed for mom and dad, but Matt and Michael are off to the casino to try their luck. Love to all and more as the days progress! We are soon in Italy again, next stop Naples!

... and found a gift for me and then we traded because we wanted to at least be able to open one thing on christmas morning, so that it would feel like christmas. then we went to the market on las ramblas and it really was a sight to see. i loved it. we treated ourselves to some gourmet chocolate and bought veggies to make some sandwiches. it is so nice to not have to eat spanish food eveyday. i think i eat about half of what i normally do in cadiz, and about 10x the ...

... in the group of islands known as the 'Cyclades', where island names like Santorini, Mykonos and Ios, conjure images of golden sandy beaches, villages of white and blue trimmed houses, and long party nights. With every idea that was given voice, given life, my excitement became palpable. One idea that was hatched and nurtured was the possibility of renting a car. With the amount of luggage we were carrying, the embarking and disembarking of ferries, coupled with the size of some of ...

... spanakopita, and desserts--but were also happy to go to the market where the locals shopped and buy fresh feta, tomatoes, and bread to make Greek sandwiches. For a few days, we explored the rest of modern Athens by foot and by metro, visiting the Antiquities Museum at Ommonia station, the Agora across the rails from our hotel, the Temple of Zeus near Syntagma, the ancient theatre behind the Acropolis, and mineature tenth century Byzantine churches, which were ...

... stupid clouds) we then caught a bus back to our hotel. The following day we rented an ATV to explore the island and spent the morning shopping in Fira and spent soooo much money (all worth it though!). After dropping off our purchases at our hotel we then drove to a beach town on the other side of the island where we got caught in a downpour (not good for ATV'ing) so we had dinner at a covered beachside café, greek salad, tzakiki and souvlaki (over half of which I ...

... of Greece to share with you i am afraid. For the last 2 days we have been on a tour bus to Delphi and then today we went to the Argolis region. We covered alot and had many stops, so i will cut this down as much as i can... Delphi was fantastic. It is right up on the side of a mountain (Mt Parnassus?) and has glorious views out over the valley below. It is home to the Sacred Site of the Oracle of Apollo. I can't really describe what it was like ...

... series on them, we didnt get bored, and managed to get a little sleep during the night(not much). Seventeen hours later, at 11am the next morning, the announcement that the ferry would soon be underway was broadcast over the PA, and there was much rejoicing. After that it was another 10 hours until the boat reached Athens, so in total i was on that bloody ferry for TWENTY-SEVEN HOURS. You can now understand the title of this entry.

... on the 14th. To complicate matters further, we were due to be on a plane from London to San Francisco at 10 a.m. on the 15th. Thus, getting off of Hydra that day was critical.

Dianne was awake when I got back into the room from turning on the hot water. She was not comforted by the wind’s sound from outside our room. I told her that it was too dark to see the ocean from our room, but that it probably was very choppy. We both got ready and packed in near silence ...