Life is Good!: Still catching up on trip to Greek Islands!

19 June 2026 - update done!

17 June 2026 - did a few stories and updates - still working on it!!!

It is 12 June 2026 and we left for Greece on 12 May 2026 and returned 24 May 2026! Busy times since then. Sooo....I did the post for 13 May on our arrival and on it goes! Words, history and stories next when I get extra time:) And they are not quite in date order!!!

16 May 2026 - Athens to embarking our "sailboat" in Port Piraeus with 8 sails and hold 140 guests!!!

Visited the Athens National Archaeological Museum with treasures of ancient Greek art from pre-history to late antiquity; over 20,000 exhibits of sculptures, weapons, jewelry and tools to see the classical Greek civilization, and other civilizations that developed in the Aegean, beginning in the 6th millenium BC. So how many thousands of years is it??? And many of the statues were bronze and amazing!

Every day with our Back Seat travel buddies is a good day for laughs!

First modern Olympics took place in Athens in 1896 in this stadium.

14 May 2026 - Athens - hotel - 2nd night in hotel - first day of actual tour!

Our travel buddies son is named Christopher and grandson is Alexander same as ours so we decided we needed to have a little photo but no interest in going in to smell the cigar smoke from the Cuban cigars available there!!

Our travel buddie's name is Gregory aka Greg so of course I have to take a photo of this chain of fast food places in Athens.

With free time on our own and we got 8,600 steps before arriving at 6pm for the welcome dinner.

Statue by Olympic stadium.

Guards always on duty at the National Parliament building.

And they are serious about their duties.

15 May 2026 - Athens - Acropolis and Parthenon

To say good morning in Greek it is "Calamera".

The Parehtnon is located on Acropolis of Athens and from 438BC and the name Athens is dedicated to the goddess Athena who was fully grown from her father's brain Zeus after he turned her pregnant mother into a fly and ate her - long story and possible a myth????

Citadel reigns over the city in ancient splendor reflecting the glory that was Greek.

Visited the famous Acropolis and Acropolis Museum, built over an archeological site with artifacts that reach back to the Bronze Age a period that lasted roughly two thousand years, saw major advances in social, economic, and technological advances that made Greece the hub of activity in the Mediterranean.

17 May 2026 - sailing on Windstar to Mykonos and took tender to get to the island as our small ship cannot dock there We are 100 miles from Athens.

And here they are again - best travel buddies ever!

Mykonos Island is a barren, rocky island that dazzles beneath bright sunshine and starry nights. It is 100 miles from Athens.

This was our group of 5 on this trip - Ross, Dee, Greg, Linda and Linda's sister Carol.

On Mykonos Island we visited the 16th century church in the village of Ano Mera

The one Catholic church and monastery as most of Greece is Greek Orthodox religion.

Streets of Mykonos and it's good if it doesn't rain as the big "Pebble rocks" could get pretty slippery.

The best buddies on the bench!!!

18 May 2026 - Sailed to the country of Turkey or Turkiye in real word! Visited Kusadasi and Ephesus. Ross were there on our own in 2011 and I of course did all the planning for many years.

Docked in the port of Kusadasi, Turkey then a short 30 minute drive to Ephesus.

So so much religious history and today June 18 I listened to Bible podcasts of the book of Ephesians. The Apostle Paul visited Ephesus during his missionary journeys, establishing a strong Christian community there. His Epistle to the Ephesians, written while he was imprisoned, addresses the church in Ephesus and is considered a theological masterpiece, emphasizing the unity and purpose of the Church in Christ.

Ephesus is one of the world's best preserved classical cities revealing important vestiges of an ancient Roman civilization and in its heyday marble lined the streets, fountains flowed, and an eternal flame burned upon a sacred altar.

We walked on a tir and saw Odeon, Temple of Hadrian, Trajan's Fountain, the Arcadian Way and the two tiered library of Celsus - where we had the awesome evening dinner with entertainment by the Aegean Chamber Orchestra.

We also visited an area called the Terrace Houses on top of a hill....and yes we had to climb many glass steps up with handrails but only 87 irregular stone steps down with no handrail.

Original floor in the ruins and yes at one time it was the "floor of many colors"

These toilets reminded me so much of the couple times we have visited Auschwitz/Birkenau where the Jews were deported and many sent to gas chambers.

Next stop - what else but a rugmaker visit. And I remember doing this in the past and yes they try to sell but are not pushy and the rugs are not cheap but are absolutely beautiful.

This is a "weaver" making something!

Same place and we had lunch at this local restaurant and watched the carpet demonstration.

Our port landing was in Kusadasi and famous for carpet making and some date back over 3,000 years. All carpets are woven by hand. The Europhorus River is here, and Kusadasi is the 2nd largest port in Turkey after Istanbul. Famous for pine honey 80% in the world, fruity olives. Cleopatra was a doctor, shipload of olive oil from Ephesus, famous for pomegranates, quince and is the fig capital of the world

This is where we had our wonderful dinner and yes it did get dark at the two-tiered Celsus Library of Ephesus

19 May 2026 - island of Patmos, Greece - Monastery, Cave of the Apocalypse

The island of Patmos is an important Christian pilgrimage site for its role in the writing of the Book of Revelations in the Christian Bible. The tour out of 3 we chose was called Monastery & Cave of the Apocalypse. Visited the capital cityh of Chora and toured the fortress-like Monastery of St. John the Theologian and museum and also visited the Grotto of St. John known as the Cave of the Apocalypse where tradition has it that John of Patmos received visiong from Jesus that became the Book of Revelations. Also is a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

So the young woman in the front got to be friends with me and asked if she could call me Mom#2. Of course and she is in her late 40s and her mom was just turning 80 as I will in 2027! She was born in Brazil and has a 20 year old daughter

20 May 2026 - Wednesday - Island of Santorini, Greece

Santorini is an ancient volcanic caldera , multicolored cliffs and a sparkling blue sea. The volcano was from 1600 BC and caldera means "on a crater" so yes we did walk on a crater! The size of Santorini is 26 square miles with 27,000 population and during tourist season they have 7,000 workers and 100,000 tourists. Off the ship to take a motorlaunch to Athinios port for a tour to the archeological site of Ancient Akrotiri which predates Pompeii by about 3,000 years! ..and then to Ola famous for it's blue-domed buildings.

I guess in the last few years Santorini has been overwhelmed by tourists so the local government started bus parking lots to keep out the cars. By law we had to park here and climb old pedestrian paths, often uneven or cobblestone or slippery marble slabs. Steep inclines and no handrails but we did it!

And yes I'm known by our travel buddies as the Ice Cream Queen or the Striped Shirt Lady so they all watch the streets for ice cream places - this one was great local made and of course I had 3 scoops after all the climbing!

21 May 2026 - Thursday - on Windstar ship - stop in Monemvasia Island off the Peloponnese's east coast that was separated from the mainland by an eartquake around 375 AD. Nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the Est".- and I had never heard of it before. It is a small village on a rocky outcropping, take a tender from the sailing ship then a private mini-bus to actually get to the village as it was too far to walk! The old town requires walking on rough cobblestone streets with steps up and down with steep inclines.

Monemvasia has been rules by the Byzantines, Venetians and Ottomans before becoming part of indpendent Greece in the 19th century.

We did get to tour the kitchen on the ship and they are busy staff!!!

This is an interesting tree we passed on our walk and I kept looking to see if anything crawled out of all the holes but didn't see anything.

How beautiful a view!

And yes more cannonballs.

This is our group of total 42 people and all good and no nasty complainers!

That evening the crew entertained us by dancing, singing and everything.

22 May 2026 - Nafplion (also known as Nauplion), a quaint Greek seaport town in the Peloponnese once the capital of Greece; then Mycenae, Epidurus - last day of tour and getting off our "large" sailing ship. It is considered on the most beautiful and romantic towns in Greece.