Neda Olympia

... t shift my bike into first. Bring a large hill that we needed to start up, that was an important part. Brian adjusted, but then I couldn&#8217;t shift OUT OF first. Back and forth and adjustment after adjustment we went. Then, after one adjustment, the ratcheting in my grip shift system let go completely. <br><br>This was a developing problem Brian&#8217;s been watching for awhile now and encouraging me to fix ...

... collumns and ruins rising up all around. Dates of 7th century BC are hard to imagine&#8230;700 years before Christ? This is the ancient history he was taught in school?<br><br> Wandering around I tried to imagine the grandure of what is not basically rubble. The temple of Zeus was the most awe inspiring. Huge masses of collumns which had toppled in 500 AD. One collumn has been re-created ...

... I didn&#8217;t know what to do...<br><br>I felt this trip slipping away through my fingers and I was completely devastated. <br><br>I am not ready to give it up! Now is when we have the time and the money, and we&#8217;re HERE for goodness sake! I can&#8217;t let it go, not yet. But I also don&#8217;t want memories of bad times and rushed travels like Italy. <br><br>It would be so easy to ...

... with some creative photo cropping. In reality the &#8216;off season&#8217; Greek beach is littered with trash and very unappealing (at least in this area). But even so, there was a good-humored man to took whatever change we had in our pockets for payment and let us stay without any paperwork or receipts. With an added invitation for a beer, that&#8217;s all I need!<br><br><br>

... didn't overpay to see it. <br> Afterwards, we went back to the ship in time for its final departure headed back for Venice. From Venice we head to Rome for a few days, back to horrible prices for food and overpriced...everything. We have a day at sea tomorrow, so I plan to stuff my gullet with as much food as I possibly can so I can pay for as little food as possible once back in Italy. The cruise ship will soon be sorry it ever saw the likes of me!

... more tourists than we have seen at one sight almost the entire trip. (With the exception of The Pyramids and The Taj Mahal!) We spent a long time in the shade next to Zeus' Temple where the kids sketched while I read The Odyssey aloud to them. This has been our way of slowing down and absorbing the sights as we go along. We stop to look, sketch, write in journals or on postcards and of course, take pictures. While ...

12/01 - We started our tour today to some outer areas of Athens &amp; Greece. Our first stop was at the Corinth Canal. The scenery is really beautiful here, very mountainous on one side &amp; coastal on the other. Then onto the Theatre of Epidauros, it's famous for it's remarkable acoustics. It is still used today in the summer months for concerts. From there to ...

... WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN IT'S NOT ONLY COLD, BUT RAINY AS WELL, AND WINDY AS WELL? Modern O.: That's an easy one. I call to Dimitrios in Patras and go sleep in his warm, dry apartment that doesn't blow over on its side when it's windy like my tent did. I was at Dimitrios' place for five days last week, but I missed my olive orchard, and now I'm back in Kaminia. JUSTIN: WHAT IS THE LEAST-GLAMOROUS ASPECT OF LIVING IN A TENT IN AN OLIVE ORCHARD IN JANUARY? Modern O ...

... museum. Like many museums, it told me very little about the site I was standing on. Ancient Sparta is a place dripping with history, full of fantastic stories and a unique way of life. At the 20th item in the museum that said "Pot, 5C BC" I gave up and continued to my next destination, Mystra. Mystra is a hilltop Byzantine city full of churches, monastery ...

... to idealize the games a lot, and although the winners did not get any money, they got more than just an olive wreath. There was fame and benefits like tax exemption and free food for the rest of their lives. Their home city would put up a statue of them and really just dote on them in general. Unmarried women were allowed to watch the games, but the only married woman allowed to watch was the priestess of Hera. The men all completed naked, and eventually all the ...