Meredith

Hey, everyone! My husband, Ryan, and I returned this past Tuesday from a wonderful two-week trip to Greece and Turkey. Following is our trip report - I hope you enjoy it, and I'll be happy to answer any questions!

Pre-Trip Stuff
I have been semi-obsessed with Turkey for a few years now. Between reading several fiction books based in Turkey and lots of good trip reports here, I felt like Turkey would be a great destination for us. We've been to Western Europe many times, and Turkey seemed to meet our interests, while also being a little bit more challenging than vacations we've taken in the past.

Convincing Ryan to go to Turkey wasn't hard, especially when I mentioned that it would be pretty easy to tag on some time in Greece as well. Also, we decided this trip would sort of be a 30th-birthday celebration for me, as well as a possible "last hurrah" before settling down and having some kiddos. So, we began to formulate a plan and eventually decided on an awesome itinerary: Athens, Santorini, Istanbul, and Cappadocia!

We have been exceptionally lucky with cashing in Delta frequent flier miles - in fact, we've now made four trips to Europe almost entirely with miles. We began to look for tickets for this trip in late February, a mere two months before the trip. Our choices, obviously, were very limited. But our travel dates were flexible, so we managed to nab tickets from Atlanta to Boston to Paris to Athens on the way there, and Istanbul to Paris to Philadelphia to Atlanta on the way back. This itinerary really sucked and involved a very long layover in Boston and a very tight one at CDG - but, free is free. So we booked them!

I mentioned on another post how we managed to vastly improve our itinerary. By persistently calling Delta and bugging them endlessly, we finagled our way into having only one layover each way (going through Paris), and we only had to pay $50 each in change fees. Score!! It took us until the day before departure to finally get the flights we wanted.

I admittedly am a chronic overpacker. Give me an inch of suitcase space, and I'll take a yard. But I am proud to say, I have changed my ways. We had booked a few flights on Olympic Airways, and I had read here and on their website that they had a very strict limit of 15 kilograms (33 pounds) per bag. We didn't want to have to pay any extra fees, and we also wanted to carry on our luggage on our trans-Atlantic flight. I can't believe I did it, but I managed to get everything I needed into one carry-on bag that weighed well less than 15 kg! Our plan was to wash out some things throughout the trip and actually pay to have some laundry done about halfway through the trip. This worked really well for us, and we both ended up not even wearing several shirts and pairs of pants. (Incidentally, Olympic Air did not seem to be enforcing the baggage rule for other people on our flights. AND our paper tickets said we were actually allowed 20 kilograms!)

One final pre-trip note before getting on to the details: a few days before departure, all the political stuff going on in Turkey broke wide open. The Turkish military announced that they would intervene if Parliament elected the presidential candidate with an Islamist background. Please forgive me if I'm bungling the specifics of what was going on - I never fully understood the situation, but I did begin to get worrisome visions in my head of tanks rolling down the streets of Istanbul. I was checking the news obsessively to see if Parliament had made any decisions, and I registered us with the U.S. State Department and printed out consulate information - just in case. Well, my worries were completely unfounded. As you probably know, things calmed down (for now, anyway) when Parliament decided to hold elections in July. I know I have vastly simplified this complex situation, and I do apologize if I've incorrectly summed up the situation - but my point is that it had absolutely no bearing on our time there or apparently on the daily lives of the Turkish people. We felt completely safe and secure the whole time we were there!

That's enough pre-trip info. On to Athens!

Meredith

May 2 - Athens
We left Atlanta the previous day, had an uneventful layover at CDG, and arrived in Athens around 2 p.m. The flight from Paris to Athens was nice - I really enjoyed seeing the Alps, Zurich, Venice, and the Italian Adriatic coastline from my window!

Arrival in Athens was smooth and very easy. We had carried on our luggage, so we headed straight for the Metro station just outside the arrival area - we had planned on using the automated ticket machine, but we couldn't figure it out. (I blame the jetlag, since it seems like others have had no problem with it.) No big deal - there was no line at the ticket counter, so we bought 2 tickets on the Monastiraki line at the counter for €10. The ride took about 45 minutes, and we got off at the Evangelismos stop to get to our hotel, the Hilton. Leaving the station, you can take either the left exit or the right exit to get to the Hilton, but we found exiting to the left was slightly easier in terms of crossing busy streets. Either way, it's a less-than-5-minute walk to the Hilton.

Ryan has status with Hilton, as well as lots of points to burn, so we take advantage of free Hilton stays whenever we can. On this trip, we spent two nights at the Athens Hilton and really enjoyed it. The Hilton is a big, modern hotel, and there were at least three international conventions going on while we were there. We had a room on the executive level and took plenty advantage of the executive lounge while we were there. (For people who frequent Hiltons - we thought this lounge was pretty nice, but the prize for best lounge in our experience still goes to the Hilton in Amsterdam, which we stayed at last year.)

Anyway, our room was clean and modern and comfortable. My only complaint about the hotel is that the staff weren't particularly friendly. They were certainly not rude or unhelpful, but they seemed just a little uninterested. In fact, in general, we found the Greek people to be more reserved than we expected. For some reason, I was expecting passionate, boisterous people, but that wasn't the case with the people we met. We never experienced any rudeness at all, but at the same time, no one was particularly outgoing.

The other bad thing about the Hilton is its location. It is not in walking distance of the major sites, but the Metro is so easy and close by that we didn't mind the location at all.

So once we checked into the Hilton and showered, we hit the streets of Athens! By this time, it was around 4 p.m., so we decided to spend the afternoon strolling around, orienting ourselves with the city, and leaving the big-time sightseeing for tomorrow. We headed back to the Metro station and bought two 24-hour passes for €3 each. Then we hopped on the Metro, went one short stop to the Syntagma Square, and walked through Syntagma Square. Then we headed down Ermou Avenue, enthralled by all the shoe shops. Ryan is in the shoe business, and it was interesting to see the brand he sells represented in many shop windows.

We then spent some time wandering through Monastiraki Square and through Plaka, until hunger and fatigue took over. From reading this site, I was keen to try the souvlaki at O Thanassis - YUM. We split a chicken souvlaki platter, a tomato salad, and a 500 mL bottle of retsina for only €15 - good stuff. I used the opportunity to ask our waiter how to correctly pronounce certain Greek words, particularly "thank you" ("efcharisto&quot. I tried my best to learn as many Greek words as I could, but sadly, I found even the simplest words pretty challenging. At least I tried!

After dinner, jet lag was really starting to set it. So we headed back to the Hilton and had a nightcap in the lounge - ouzo for me and wine for Ryan. Not that we needed help falling asleep, but that little bit of alcohol had us knocked out in bed by 9:30.

Tomorrow: the Acroplis and Ancient Agora!

Surie

Meredith-- your report is great so far! I was just in Athens and Crete with my daughter and we loved it all. We would love to go to Turkey too.
Can't wait to read more!

LowCountryIslander

Hi Meredith!

I'll be in Turkey in September this year, including Istanbul and Cappadocia, can't wait to read the Turkey portion of your report!

luv2globetrot

Hi Meredith!
I'm enjoying reading your report...boy, you're quick...
We got back from our trip to Greece on May 10th and I still haven't posted my report yet, but I'm working on it

We went to Nafplio, Santorini and Athens. We really enjoyed the architecture and learning about the history regarding the Turks, so much so that we are thinking about making Turkey our next trip in September, so I'm really looking forward to that portion of your trip report.

By the way, you have a great writing style, makes it very enjoyable to read

Keep it coming
Lisa

nrubens

I just posted about Turkey book recs. Which books did you read?

upstate_girl

Great report so far! I can't wait to read the rest. My friend and I leave for Turkey and Greece in three months.

SuperJ

This trip to Greece and Turkey was getting real interesting. My wife and I did Athens and Naples last summer. Had a ball; it was great. Ditto on your thoughts on the Greeks, not overly friendly. Plus getting around Athens is a challenge. The signs are not posted in a language other than Greek.

This summer we are looking at Turkey; in fact have booked flights into Izmir and out of Istanbul. With elections on the Sunday (7/21),we are headed back on the 19th my wife is a tad nervous,combined with the march in Izmir. Thought of changing the schedule spending days on the Turkish Riviera before heading up to Istanbul. Thoughts?

Meredith

Thank you all for the nice comments! I plan on continuing with my trip report from home tonight.

Nrubens - three books that I loved were "The Historian," "Birds Without Wings," and "Middlesex." Out of the three, "Birds Without Wings" is the only one that takes place almost entirely within Turkey. The other two are only partially based in Turkey, but they really gave me a flavor of the country and its history. I highly recommend all three.

SuperJ - agree with you about the difficulty of getting around Athens, by foot anyway. Street signs are in Greek (obviously), and we found ourselves trying to sound out the letters to figure out where we were. Conversely, the Metro system is extremely easy to use, with all signs posted in Greek and English.

SuperJ, as for your question about revising your itinerary, I'm afraid I am no help - I don't know anything about Izmir or the Turkish Riviera. Perhaps some of the people on this board who live in Turkey could offer you some good advice.

Meredith

May 3 - Athens
We woke up refreshed and ready for breakfast! We headed to the Hilton lounge and noshed on croissants, smoked salmon, fruit, and cheese. I wanted to try some Greek-style yogurt - the lounge only had the kind in individual packaged servings, and it really wasn't that great. (Luckily, we had absolutely delicious Greek yogurt later on in Santorini!)

All filled up and ready to go, we hopped on the Metro and got off at the Akropoli stop, which put us right by the back entrance (south entrance, maybe?) to the Acropolis near the Theater of Dionyssos. We paid €12 for the ancient sites pass - this includes tickets to six ancient sites in Athens. I'm not sure if you can buy individual tickets or not, but I couldn't believe they only charge basically €2 to see the Acropolis. I mean, can you believe it? Here at home, I'm sure it would cost at least $30. €2 is an unbelievable bargain to see such amazing sites.

Anyway, we started off with checking out the Theater of Dionyssos, sitting on the ancient stones, and imagining what life was like in ancient times. Then we climbed up the hill to the beautifully restored Odeon of Herodes Atticus. By this time, it was around 11 in the morning, and the Acropolis was starting to get VERY crowded. (We had the best intentions of getting up early and beating the crowds, but when the alarm went off that morning, we decided we'd rather have a somewhat leisurely morning than rush out the door.) We joined the masses and began the slow crawl up to the top of the Acropolis.

The Parthenon is one of those places that even though you've seen a million times is still breath-taking when you see it in person for the first time. We were in awe and completely inspired by the history behind this marvelous structure. We examined it from every angle and wandered around the Temple of Nike as well. Oh, and apparently we were in the presence of celebrities while atop the Acropolis. Our Athens visit happened to coincide with the Final Four of the European basketball league, and some players from one of the teams were visiting the Acropolis the same time as us. One guy in particular, dressed in a dark green track suit, was giving out autographs and posing for a professional photographer who was tagging along with the team. I know one of the teams in the Final Four was from Greece - I'm assuming these guys were from that team.

We decided to skip the Acropolis Museum, partially because of the long line and partially because we were starting to get hungry for lunch! So after spending a good amount of time atop the Acropolis, we headed back down by way of Aeropagus (a big rock you can climb on for great views of the Agora and the Parthenon) and down towards Monastiraki Square for another visit to O Thanassis. For lunch, we each had a souvlaki sandwich to go, for a total of €3,40. OH MY. The souvlaki sandwiches are to die for!! This simple meal, which we ate while people watching in Monastiraki Square, was one of our favorite meals of the trip.

Time to explore the Ancient Agora! On our way to the entrance, we stopped at a little place called Cremeria Vienna for a chocolate gelato. Entrance to the agora was covered by the tickets we had bought earlier in the day. In the agora, we visited the museum inside the Stoa of Attolos - I thought they would pull one of our six tickets, but they did not. We just showed that we had the tickets, and they let us in. This museum is small, but the precious objects it holds are fascinating - definitely do not skip it!

After exploring the agora and the ruins of the temple of Hephaistion (which is in excellent shape but sadly covered in black pollution), we went to the Roman Agora. This was also a great site, but I have to admit that we were a little tired at this point and no longer interested in ancient sites. It was now late in the afternoon, and we thought a stop at an Athens cafe would be the perfect pick-me-up. We settled on a crowded cafe along Adrianou street in Plaka. I didn't record the name of the cafe, but it had a lot of outdoor seating, and it was packed with locals. We ordered two frappes for €3 or €4 each (can't remember exactly). We sipped our cool drinks and were entertained by the street vendors selling knock-off purses, sunglasses, DVDs, etc. - these vendors are all over the place, and they have their wares set up on a blanket draped over a cardboard table. It's an interesting system, as they can pull the blanket together into a big bundle and hustle away quickly whenever police are in the vicinity. And that is what entertained us as we sat at the cafe. A vendor came down the road warning everyone that a cop was on his way, and they all scooped up their stuff and scurried away looking like Santa with a big bag over his shoulder. The cop wandered through, and as soon as he was gone, the wannabe-Santas all returned and unfurled their bags once again.

Feeling refreshed and revived by caffeine, we headed up through the Anafiotika neighborhood and wound our way down to the Temple of Olympian Zeus - another extremely impressive site! After spending more time at this temple, marveling over the brilliant engineering of the ancient Athenians, we were officially done with ancient sites. So we headed back to the hotel and sat by the pool! The Hilton apparently has the largest pool in Athens - I don't know if that's true, but it looked pretty big. The water was freezing, so we didn't even attempt to go in. Instead, we sat poolside and did some reading as the sun began to descend.

I don't think I have mentioned the weather yet. We were blessed with glorious weather for almost the entire trip (just two days of drizzling rain at the very end of the trip). The weather in Athens was perfect - if anything, I would have preferred it to be a drop cooler. It was sunny and probably close to 80 degrees during the day, and cooler but comfortable at night.

That night for dinner, we chose a place out of our Fodor's book called Taverna Filippou in the Kolonaki neighborhood. It wasn't too far from our hotel, but it was uphill - and I was wearing my cute gold sandals with heels - so we splurged on a cab. It was a pretty short ride to the Kolonaki neighborhood, which is on the slopes of Mount Lycabettus. Taverna Filippou was wonderful, and I believe we were the only tourists there. (Actually, we were one of the last tables to be seated - which we thought was weird because Greeks eat really late. We got there around 9:30 and thought we were early!) We had a hard time ordering because most of the things we wanted to order were not available. Our waiter was a little gruff with us because of this, but we realized later that there was a glass case with the dishes on display. Perhaps we were supposed to look and see for ourselves what was available?

Anyhow, we had Greek salad, 1/2 liter of house white wine, green peas in red sauce (anyone know what this dish is called?), stuffed zucchini for my entree, roasted chicken for Ryan, and an order of kataifia for dessert. All of that was only €29,50, and it was outstanding. The stuffed zucchini was the only thing that was just OK. But the roasted chicken was the most delicious chicken I've ever had, and on this night Ryan began his love affair with kataifia (which is very similar to baklava but made with shredded wheat inside of phyllo dough). He ordered kataifia often throughout the rest of the trip.

Up tomorrow: another day in Athens and a flight to Santorini!

starwhite2

Meredith -- I love your account. Can't wait til you get to Turkey.

Meredith

May 4 - Athens and Santorini
We started off our day with breakfast in the lounge (of course), and then we headed to an Internet cafe just about two blocks behind the Hilton. On a personal note, Ryan had interviewed for a job about a week before our trip, and he got the offer the day before our departure. Ryan told them he'd need some time to think about it and would let them know by e-mail whether or not he accepted. We discussed the pros and cons on the flight overseas, and Ryan ultimately decided to take the job! So we needed to make a stop at the Internet cafe so that he could accept the job. We paid about 60 cents for 15 minutes of Internet time. (Ryan starts the new job next week and is very excited. He put in his notice at his old job the day after we got home - awwwkward!!)

Upon leaving the Internet cafe, we headed toward the Mount Lycabettus funicular. Along the way, we stumbled upon a bustling street market in Kolonaki - I love European street markets! I forgot to mention in my previous post about the night before that after dinner at Taverna Filippou, we took a nice walk through Kolonaki and really enjoyed the area. There's a lot of upscale shopping and more shoe shops. (Judging by the number of shoe shops, Athenians must have huge shoe collections!)

We spent a few minutes checking out the street market (which was on Xenokratous Street in Kolonaki) and then continued on uphill to the funicular entrance. The funicular costs €5 round trip, and the view is vast. It's hard to believe just how HUGE Athens is! The smog is a real bummer, but you can still see for miles.

We left Mount Lycabettus and walked to Syntagma Square to check out the Parliament building. As we're walking along Vasilissis Sofias (a main drag leading to Syntagma Square), we see three guards dressed in their finery marching along the street - hey, it's the changing of the guard! We followed the guards to Parliament and watched for a few minutes as they did the changing ceremony. So here's a tip: if you want some great pics of the guards away from the crowds gathered in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, hang out on the left side of the building (that is, to the left if you are facing the tomb). The soldiers exit from the back of the Parliament building, walk along Vasilissis Sofias, and enter on the left side of the square.

Leaving the Syntagma area, we made our way to the Central Market. Hmmm, what to say about the Central Market? It was, to be expected, gross! It smells bad and has every body part you could think of on display. We really didn't enjoy it and left after just a few minutes - but it is certainly offers a view of real life in Athens. I guess it's just not for the squeamish.

Now it's lunchtime! We had originally planned on eating in the Central Market, because we assumed there'd be food stands there, but we were turned off by the smell. So instead, we walked back towards Monastiraki for some gyros. Now, here we made a mistake - we wanted a gyro sandwich, something like we had the previous day at O Thanassis. We decided on Sabbas (which is directly across the street from O Thanassis), and our mistake is that we decided to sit down for lunch rather than getting something to go. Once we were seated, we realized you can only get gyro platters when seated, not sandwiches, and the platter cost a lot more than we had thought we'd spend on lunch. We thought it would be rude to just leave the table once we realized we couldn't get sandwiches, so we stayed put. We both had gyro platters and an order of tzatziki and pita (which was fabulous!) for €21. The gyro platters were good, but it just wasn't what we really wanted, so we left feeling a little disappointed. We should have just gone back to O Thanassis!

At this point, it was time to check out of our room, so we took the Metro back to the Hilton and checked our bags at the front desk, as we had about six hours to kill before our flight to Santorini. We talked about spending the afternoon at the Archaeology Museum, but to be honest, we were tired and were not in a museum mood. Instead, we headed back to Kolonaki and did some more window shopping. We briefly popped into the Grand Bretagne Hotel because I read a lot about it here and wanted to check it out - beautiful hotel, but not really our style. (We prefer modern.) We spent the rest of the afternoon camped out at Al Buon Cafe on Milioni street and had frappes for €4 each. This was prime people-watching, as it was Friday afternoon and there were plenty of businesspeople wrapping up their week at the cafe.

Now, I have to confess - at this point, we were ready to leave Athens. In fact, if I could do it all over, I'd schedule our flight to Santorini for earlier in th day. One full day in Athens was really all we needed - the sites we saw the previous day were spectacular, but on this day, we were looking for things to do to kill time before our flight. Yes, we could have gone to a museum (as I had originally thought we would), but we had worn ourselves out the day before and just didn't feel like it. We killed a little bit more time wandering through the National Garden, and then we just decided to head to the airport a little earlier than necessary. So, put us in the "one day is enough for Athens" camp!

We took the X95 Express Bus to the airport, which has a stop right in front of the Hilton. It comes about every 20 minutes and costs only €3,20 per person. The trip took about 45 minutes in moderate traffic.

At the airport, we had a Greek baguette (feta cheese, olives, and tomatoes on a baguette) at a food court called Food Village. We were actually impressed with Food Village - it has a sandwich counter, a salad bar, a Sbarro's for pizza, a counter with classic Greek dishes, and a wide selection of desserts and drinks. In general, the Athens airport is pretty small and easy to get around.

Our flight on Olympic to Santorini was short and uneventful (just like I like it). Oh, a word on flights: on this trip, we did a lot of flying within Greece and Turkey. For this portion of the trip, we booked tickets on Expedia from Athens to Santorini, and then from Santorini to Athens to Istanbul, all on Olympic. These tickets cost us $400 each. (I had hoped we could take advantage of those €19 flights on Aegean - no luck there!)

Our hotel in Oia had booked a taxi for us, and the driver was waiting for us as we exited the airport. The drive to Oia was maybe 20 or 30 minutes long and cost us €25. Arriving at our hotel - Esperas in Oia - a guy was waiting to carry our bags down the looooong winding steps to our room. It was dark out (by now, it was about 10 p.m.), and the walk down those steps seemed especially long when we could barely see where we were going. Once we got to Esperas, we were immediately in love! What a fantastic hotel! We rented a studio for €174 per night and were in Room 107, which is apparently the largest of the three studio rooms. We absolutely loved it here. Our studio was two stories, with a small kitchen on the first floor, and the bedroom and bathroom upstairs. And of course, we had a great balcony that looked onto the caldera and Ammoudi Harbor below. In the moonlight, we couldn't quite see everything, but the light from the moon and stars bouncing off the sea made me SO excited to see the view in all its glory in the morning.

As part of the check-in process, Amy (the evening receptionist/manager at Esperas) talked us through "orientation" - she explained how to get to town and told us all about the hotel. Amy was so delightful - she was clearly eager to help us out any way she could and make our experience enjoyable. In fact, everyone we encountered at Esperas was extremely helpful and friendly.

We hadn't really eaten much that night, so even though it was pretty late, we wanted to find some food and drink in town. Amy steered us to the only bar in town - I never did learn its name in Greek, but I think it translates to "Butcher's Room" or something like that, named after the big butcher hooks hanging above the front door. We loved this bar! I had the most amazing mojito (even though it pretty expensive at €10), and we also had three beers between us and a ham sandwich. All of this was €23.

My favorite thing about this bar was the music. They have a little DJ booth back in the corner, with a huge stack of CDs. On this night, the theme seemed to be pop music, sung in Greek, with a salsa beat. The songs were pretty diverse - "Killing Me Softly," a new Franz Ferdinand song, an old U2 song... all sung in Greek with a salsa beat. So weird, but I totally loved it! If only Sirius satellite radio had a Pop/Greek/Salsa station.

Tomorrow: Hiking from Fira to Oia!

luv2globetrot

Hi again Meredith,
So I found it interesting that you guys skipped the Archeological Museum...so did we!
After an entire day in Athens exploring all the ruins and some of the other museums, plus the fact that it was the very last day of our entire trip, we just were not in the mood for another museum. But I have to admit I felt a bit guilty about skipping it.
Glad to see we're not the only ones

Also, we arrived in Santorini around 1pm on Friday May 4 and we did the hike from Imerovigli (where we stayed) to Oia on that same Saturday as you guys did it in the other direction! I wonder if we crossed paths???????

Lisa

SuQue

The Archeological Museum in Athens was a highlight of our month in Greece.It made the rest of the trip so much more meaningful. Don't miss it next time.

camelbak

Love your trip report so far.

We have been thinking about a Greece/Turkey trip and this is just making me want to go now!

Thanks again. Looking forward to reading more!

Meredith

Lisa and SuQue, I feel a little guilty about skipping the Archaeological Museum, too. I am sure it's an amazing place - but if we had gone on that particular day, I don't think we would have enjoyed it. We probably would have been pining to sit at an outdoor cafe all day. Oh well - there's always next time!

And Lisa - no way about the hike in Santorini!! That is too funny! About what time were you on the trail? I'll post more details about this later, but we started in Fira around noon and got back to Oia around 3:30. We passed many couples along the way - was one of them you?? What a small world.

luv2globetrot

So, I guess I misread your post. I think I assumed that because you guys stayed in Oia that you did the hike FROM Oia TO Fira. So, I see now that you walked in the SAME direction as we did.

We stayed in Imerovigli at Iliovasilema (which we loved!) and on our first day on the island we walked to Fira and back.
So on the day we did the hike we just walked from our hotel to Oia.
We left our hotel at 11:15 and arrived in Oia at 1:30. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Oia. We LOVED how picturesque it is and we took hundreds of pictures!!
We left Oia around 6:30 so we could be back on our balcony for an evening of wine, cheese, tzatziki, olives, crackers, etc, etc to watch the sunset and then await the stars...it was heavenly! That's what we did all 4 nights!!

So we were wandering around Oia the same time you guys were there. It IS a small world!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip

pmok

Hi Meredith,

I'm so glad I stumbled onto your post, because my friend and I are leaving for Greece and Turkey next week! Cannot wait to hear more so we can use them for reference. Thanks for sharing!

adamsparks

I second Birds Without Wings as an excellent book to read prior to going to Turkey. A wonderful sequel is Turkey Unveiled which cover the timeframe from Ataturk until about 1995. It gave me terrific insight--and understanding into the politics of modern day Turkey. Meridith I leave for Turkey in 1 week and hope you get to your Turkey account soon!

Meredith

Hi, everyone, and thanks for the continued nice comments. For those of you leaving soon on your trips, I will try my best to get to the Turkey portion of my trip within the next week!

And Lisa, too bad, I guess we didn't actually pass each other on the trail. But we still may have crossed paths somewhere in Oia!