Patrick

Those of you following my 5 month adventure in Europe will be glad to know that we did finally manage to get from Turkey to Greece, only one day late. The high winds had stopped the boats from Kusadasi to Samos, which according to locals is extremely rare, "the Turkish boats always run!" In any case, on Sunday, June 4 the boats started running again and we made it to the Aeolis Hotel with our private balcony right on the harbor in Samos. We liked the island and spent most of our three days taking busses to various points on the island and then hiking -- our favorite being a long hike up to the remote village of Manolates, then down into a valley and up the other side to an even more remote village called Vourilates. Otherwise, we spend most of our time learning to relax either on our balcony or at a cafe sipping coffee frappes, a favorite new drink. From there we took a hydrofoil to Kos, which is so far our least favorite island. It is essentially a charmless and overdeveloped island dedicated to housing thousands of tour packages (mostly German and British) in 60's style ugly hotels. During our two days there we did rent a jeep and toured around the island, but got most of our pleasure again by just relaxing in a cafe in the main square in Kos Town, watching the parade of tourists with fanny packs. (I guess the custom has stretched well beyond American tourists now.) Next we went to Symi for three wonderful nights at the Hotel Aliki where we had booked the largest room with a huge private balcony again right on the water. It was good we had booked it last December, because virtually everybody who comes there requests that room. There are a lot of day trips from Kos or Rhodes to Symi, which I can't imagine doing. Although the sight of that beautiful harbor with its neoclassic buildings scattered all the way up the surrounding hills is overwhelming, there really isn't much of anything to do there. The best time was at night, after the day trippers left and all the local fishermen and businesss people whiled away the evening at the cafes and tavernas. We also had two of the best meals we have had anywhere while there. One was at an old flour mill called Mylopetra (pricey, but fantasic food and service), and the other was at a small restaurant with an incredible wine cellar of Greek wines of limited vintages. The owner helps you select a wine according to your tastes and then helps select a meal to accompany it. (Actually I guess it normally works the other way round, but we started with the wine.) The place is called Hellinkonian, and is a don't miss if you are on Symi. Next was three nights in Rhodes staying in the quiet back part of the old town at St. Nikolis' Hotel, a wonderful place with great breakfasts on the roof, and the most helpful, charming hosts you could ever hope for. Although Rhodes is touristy, it is different from Kos, and we found it a little more upscale and more like a real city than Kos. The town of Lindos is worth a trip, just because it is so traditional Greek in style (despite it being nothing but rows of passages of souvenier shops). Again we rented a jeep and had a great time exploring this interesting island. Today we got up at 5:30 (gasp) to catch a flight to Athens and then to Chania on Crete, arriving at 10:15 in the morning without our luggage. It seems that Olympic Airlines forgot to put an entire cart of luggage on the plane (which they were already aware of and announced in Greek at the luggage carousel in Chania). Fortunately someone told us what was going on and we joined the 25 or so other passengers in the line for the one fingered hunt-and-peck typist to file all the reports. They say they will deliver our luggage to our hotel tonight, but since we rented a car here, we are thinking of trying to retrieve it ourselves tonight. We hope to hike the Samarian Gorge tomorrow, but can't if I don't get my luggage with hiking boots and casual clothes. <BR>So far then, our four Greek islands we would rate as #1 Symi, #2 Samos, #3 Rhodes, and #4 Kos. Of course, understand that we live practically on the beach in Florida, so we are not into sun and surf which might influence other people's opinions. We are not normally able to relax very well, but Greece is teaching us to do that successfully. Now if you will excuse me, I hear a coffee frappe calling me. Oh, and by the way for practical information: #1 Language has not been any problem --virtually everyone we have had any contact with speaks good English (but we do say the few words we know in Greek as often as possible which they appreciate); #2 there are ATM's everywhere and we have had no problems using them; #3 although we have done a couple of splurges, Greece is unbelievably reasonable -- not quite so much as Turkey, but close. And now, Kali-spehr-eh (that's how you say good afternoon in Greek --but not how you spell it.)

kk

Patrick, your messages are terrific! It's great having you post along the way. I forget what week you left, so I am wondering how far you are into your five months...about one month gone, maybe? I hope you will post some photos on s.fowler's photo webpages when you return. Thanks for sharing.

Thyra

Patrick! Keep the updates coming! I really want to know if you get your luggage back. Also kk, am I the only one who does not know how to s. fowler's photo page? Believe it or not, I've never heard of it, but I really want to see it.

s.fowler

The pages Patrick refers to begin at: http://it.uwp.edu/fowler/fodor.htm <BR> <BR>I'm looking forward to Patrick's pictures too!

Patrick

We left the US on May 1 to return on October 2, so we have completed our seventh week. Today was haircut day, as the local authorities were about to put us on the Cretan mountains along with the shaggy goats. Yes, we got our luggage from Olympic the same day. We decided not to wait for them to bring it to us, but instead drove out to the Chania airport at the time they said the flight would come in, and we were able to claim it there. Just a brief addition to this "part one" message: The Samaria Gorge was a WONDERFUL day. Despite getting up to catch the 6 AM bus which took almost two hours to get to the gorge from Chania, the hike took us about 5 and a half hours of some of the most beautiful scenery we've ever seen. You start from an altitude of about 4000 feet and end up at a secluded town and beach (obviously sea level) you it is definitely a mostly downhill hike. The path is clear and easy to follow with most of the steep parts providing rustic handrails, but it is rocky and people without real hiking boats had a much more difficult time of it. We were told on the bus that the temperature at the bottom of the gorge would be 39C (about 102F) but we don't believe it. It was someone hot, but not that hot and mostly we were comforted with pleasant shade and breezes. You also drink the water from the abundant springs (it's the same water you buy in bottles here) and can cool off in the little stream along the way. But I would not want to do it in the heat of August --assuming it is that much hotter then than now. More to report later. There have been very high winds the last couple of days so hope we aren't delayed on Thursday for our crossing to Santorini.