| Shane's Wine Opinions |
| Our Trip to Turkey & Greece in July of 2008 |
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Leslie’s company recently sponsored our latest adventure in what was being
hailed as “The Fantasies of the Aegean Seas”. This trip would take Leslie
and me to Istanbul, Turkey for a day and a half, before setting sail on the
Seabourn Spirit, a small luxury cruise ship, to go Island hopping throughout the
Aegean Sea. This little extravaganza would include stops at Kusadasi
(Turkey), Symi (Greece), Crete (Greece), Mykonos (Greece), and Santorini
(Greece), before finally coming to a conclusion in the great and historical city
of Athens, Greece. It was supposed to be even greater than our trip to Italy
two years ago.
Now being like most naive Americans I suspect, we were not exactly looking
forward to the stops in Turkey. We had many preconceived notions as to what
it would be like and none of them painted a very flattering picture. To further
add to our pre-visit prejudice, the week before we were supposed to leave,
there was a terrorist attack in front of the U.S. Embassy in Istanbul. Oh boy...
we just couldn’t wait to get there with our American Flags a waving! Right up
until we arrived in Turkey, it was still unclear as to whether or not we would be
allowed to leave the boat while we were in Istanbul. As it turned out, the
attack at the Embassy was really a personal attack from some people that had
a beef with the Turkish Police that just so happened to be guarding the U.S.
Embassy. And so with that turn of events, we were cleared for the pre-planned
events for the following day.
After landing in Turkey, I was fully expecting a rough welcome through the
customs agency, but nothing could have been further from the truth. They
seemed to be quite eager to let Americans into the country. Outside a bus was
waiting to take us to the boat and to give us a quick historical lesson and tour
of the city along the way. In Turkey, I was told, they speak Greek or maybe it
was Latin, I couldn’t say for sure and further more, couldn’t tell the difference,
but a great deal of English can be seen all throughout the city. Signs were in
the local language as well as English, much like you would see here in Texas
with English and Spanish.
Did you know that Turkey is a very strong ally of the United States and the
people there really looked favorably upon Americans? I found everyone to be
very friendly and the city, for the most part to be somewhat modern, albeit
sprinkled here and there with older and more historic buildings. I also found
the city to be very clean, that is with the exception of the Bosporus, which is
the body of water that splits the city in two. The water stinks and I didn’t see
anyone jumping in to swim. We were also informed on the bus ride that
Istanbul is the only city in the world that lies on two different continents,
Europe and Asia. Now I can say that I’ve been to three different continents.
After getting settled on the boat, I’ll go into more detail about the ship shortly,
we just hung out, ate dinner, unwound, and what would become a common
theme throughout the trip, partied quite hard at the Sky Deck Bar. The next
morning we had to get up early for a tour of some of the great historical sights
of Istanbul. These included the “Blue Mosque” and the “Topkapi Palace”.
The first stop was the Blue Mosque and right outside was an Egyptian
Obelisk, which was kind of like a tall monument statue that was 3,000 years
old and in great condition. We got to enter the Blue Mosque, which for me
personally was the first time I’ve ever set foot into a Muslim holy place of
worship. It was quite impressive and ornate on the inside. The Topkapi
Palace was equally if not even more astonishing with all of the historical
buildings and artifacts. Our tour guide was a real take charge kind of a guide
and he didn’t spend too much time talking our ears off like the other guides we
had on the trip. Hmm...they were both female, wonder if there is any
correlation there? Unfortunately we were unable to stop and eat anywhere in
the city, the whole time we were there, to try the local cuisine, but it looked
similar to what they had in Greece. That afternoon we departed Istanbul and
headed out to the first of the islands on our tour which was also a part of
Turkey called Kusadasi.
The Seabourn Spirit was a cruise ship like no other, so I am told. Believe it or
not, this was my first time on a cruise ship. It is not a very large ship, with only
a capacity of 204 guests and it is not a “kid friendly” cruise line. There were
just 170 of us from Leslie’s company so that made it even less populated than
normal. Our room was a suite, but all rooms on the boat are called suites and
it was the smallest size available. That being said, it was huge! I mean in
terms of cruise ship suites. Big bed, a couch, table & chairs and a bathroom
with a bathtub and two sinks. We also had our own fully stocked bar and flat
screen TV with a DVD player and a Bose sound system. Oh yea, and a walk
in closet. We also had our own personal maid or stewardess, I don’t know
what you call her, but she would get us anything we needed no matter how
ridiculous it was. Also, twenty-four hour room service, which we took
advantage of nearly every day. We actually ate breakfast every morning in
our room with the exception of one day.
There were two restaurants on board the ship, one that was quite swanky and
another that was also very good, but not quite as formal. Both had menus that
were designed by the world famous chef, “Charlie Trotter”. The food was to
die for. Really very good and no matter what you wanted, we didn’t have to
pay a dime for it. That was also the case with the drinks and most of the
wines. Every time I would try a wine that I liked better than the previous one,
I would have them start putting that bottle in our room. I think the final winner
for the trip was a 2002 Arrowwood Cabernet. Once I had that bottle at a
dinner, I just told them to keep it stocked in our room for the remainder of the
trip!
All of the ships amenities were really neat, but hands down what made this
cruise ship and incredible experience was the service and crew. Within hours
of us boarding, everyone knew our names. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad
thing, but I am impressed anyway. Everyone was so friendly and you never
caught them looking frustrated or upset about anything. One particular crew
member was my favorite. Her name was Lena and she was a bartender from
Norway. (I can see my friends laughing at me right now...my favorite crew
member the bartender...go figure!) Anyway, Lena recognized that I was a wine
connoisseur and she challenged me to a blind tasting where I had to guess the
wine varietal and where the wine came from. I was one for three and my ego
was a bit bruised. The only one I got right was a Tempranillo from Rioja,
Spain. But hey, she threw in some obscure Italian white variety I had never
even heard of and I kept guessing it was a Pinot Grigio, so I feel I should have
gotten partial credit for that one!
The next morning we ended up in the port of Kusadasi. This probably was the
most spectacular day of the trip. Our first excursion was to the ancient ruins
of Ephesus. It was remarkable to see just how advanced these people truly
were back then before and just after the time of Christ. There were terrace
houses that had been excavated that were very remarkable and luxurious.
They even had a waste removal system. There was a giant ampeatheater
where the Apostle Paul once preached to the Ephesians. Just to stand there
was an unbelievable feeling. Later on the way back to the boat, our tour guide
(who by the way, never came up for air) roped us into a Turkish Rug
demonstration and sales pitch. But, seeing as how Leslie and I didn’t have a
spare $25k handy, we did not leave with one.
That evening we went back out to Ephesus for a classical music concert
amongst the ruins. The ruins were warmly lit and made for incredible
ambience. The men were dressed in Greek soldier outfits while the women
were clad in togas. Turkish wine, beer and cocktails were free flowing the
whole evening. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.
Just a couple of closing comments about Turkey. While in Kusadasi I had the
opportunity to drink two different Turkish wines. One white and one red. The
white was cool and crisp, similar to a light Italian white wine. The red was
fantastic and Turkey has every right to be proud of their wines. Big and lush
with rich red fruit, I am not even sure what style of wine it reminded me of. I
stopped in a little store on the way back to the boat and picked up a bottle of
Turkish red wine to take back with us and of course some Cuban cigars.
The other comment I want to make about Turkey is that it was extremely
gratifying to be there. All of our misconceptions about the country were
proven wrong. From a biblical aspect, it was the most relevant part of our trip
and that was really special. If you ever get the opportunity to go to either
Istanbul or Kusadasi, I can’t recommend it highly enough. The whole time we
were there, I was never reminded that the country of Turkey borders Iraq, a
place I’d rather avoid altogether!
The next morning we woke up in the port of Symi, a small Greek island that
was well known for their sponges. Real sponges that is and they came in all
different sizes. Symi was just a sleepy little village town, built up from the
water to the side of a large hill. The seafood was the biggest attraction on the
menus and it was quite fresh and good.
In our brochure there was a church that had some stone mosaic courtyard and
we made it our mission to find this church that day. By the way, Greece is
covered in churches, so finding the right one was going to be no easy feat. The
hill...well...it was a bit steeper than it actually appeared and it was hot! I think
we were all huffing and pouring in sweat. Ultimately it wound up being the
second church we came to. Now there are certain protocols you are supposed
to follow upon entering a Greek church and I printed out that list before we left
for the trip. Unfortunately, I left that list in our room on the boat that day so
we were completely lost! This poor old man could not speak a lick of English
and he was trying to steer us “Dumb Americans” around the church with
instructions in full Greek. Although it was awkward, it was a very rewarding
experience. He let us go up in the bell tower and that was pretty cool as well.
We ventured on to just one other church just to take in the views and then
headed back down the hill/small mountain for some lunch and a beer. The food
was really good and we kind of ordered items Tappas style. Sautéed
mushrooms, Greek salad and meatballs, just to name a few. They were all
good! We had to get back to the boat by 2pm so we didn’t get a lot of leisure
time. That was a common theme on our tour of the Greek islands and it
ultimately became the ultimate bummer about this trip.
The following day was spent on the largest of all the Greek islands and the
home of the Greek God, Zeus. Of course I am talking about the island of
Crete. Our adventure for the day was to take part in a 4x4 Jeep Treasure
Hunt. I am not kidding; we wandered all over the island and up the side of
mountains in a Suzuki jeep. Along the way, you had a visual map and had to
find your way around a series of trails and roads collecting various items and
answering questions about the island and the country. Some of these trails
were next to impossible to drive on and barely wide enough for the vehicle we
were in. Sometimes you were just a few feet from the edge of a cliff. That was
pretty spooky. The road was extremely bumpy and there were so many rocks
and potholes I swear there was a line of Chiropractors waiting for us back at
the boat! It was kind of hysterical to see all of these jeeps driving aimlessly
around the trails. There was about thirty-two teams or jeeps out there. There
were prizes for the top three teams that collected the most points along the
journey. We came in fourth! Enough said!
The next island in our Tour de Greece was Mykonos and all though it was not
as beautiful as Symi and Santorini, it was probably the most fun. And if not the
most fun, well then certainly the most expensive. Plenty of shopping and
actually some really neat clothing stores. Lots of restaurants and more bars
than you can shake a stick at. There are also a number of beaches on the
island, some are clothing optional. I didn’t make it over to any of those
beaches. I wasn’t sure if anyone in Greece was prepared to see their first
whale or not!
After a little shopping we stopped for lunch at one of the many restaurants
along the main water way. Our waitress was this little firecracker and she was
hilarious. I thought the food was very good, of course, it was extremely
expensive. All in Euros. Leslie had some mussels in a light wine sauce that
was really good and once again, the Greek salad did not disappoint. After
lunch we continued shopping and took some tourist photos of the ever popular
Mykonos Windmills and headed back to the ship for a siesta.
We went back out that evening in time to see the sunset. I believe I took a
Pulitzer prize winning photograph of the sunset and if you don’t believe it, just
ask me! It was a good thing we got those photos because it would be the only
sunset photos we took from any island, including the most beautiful of them all,
Santorini. After oohing and awing over the sunset we found a bar that wasn’t
over run with people and took it over for a while. It was here that I had my
first foray with the Greek beverage known as “Ouzo”. It is a cloudy mixture
that has a licorice aftertaste to it. I’d say it is an improvement over
Jaegermiester, but still requires a bit of getting used to. None-the-less, I was
happy to say that I at least tried it.
After a few drinks at the bar, the ladies ventured off for some more shopping
and I headed off to a restaurant for what is now my new favorite Greek food,
dolmades. Yummy! Speaking of Dolmades, there was a restaurant in
Mykonos called “Zorbas”. It was like I was back in Dallas again! We finally
headed back to the boat around 11:30pm and that would be the latest amount
of time we had on any island.
Our last island was like something out of a dream. The town of Fira on the
island of Santorini was nestled neatly atop the giant cliffs that overlooked the
water filled crater that used to be a volcano. Virtually every conceivable angle
guarantees the viewer an unbelievable breathtaking view. This is probably the
most photographed island of them all and with good reason. Once you get up
to the top of the cliff, you are able to see all over the island with very little
obstructions. It seems like there were two mountains, one at either end of the
island, with a few towns sprinkled in between. There is a red sand beach and a
black sand beach, which we made it to and it was quite pretty. I guess the sand
was black from crushed lava rocks made from the volcano a long time ago.
At the very tip of the island is a small village or town called “Oia”. The views
here were unreal and I venture to say that the sunsets here would be
unparalleled anywhere else in the world. To bad we never got the opportunity
to see one as we had to be back to the ship by 6pm. None-the-less, I got out
my camera and proceeded to take as many pictures as I could.
Now getting back down the cliff from the town of Fira to our boat would be no
small task and we basically had three options here. Four if you wanted try
your hand at cliff diving. Option one was a cable car system that took
passengers down to the bottom to the port. The line to get in one of these was
incredibly long so we passed on that. Option two was to take some smelly
donkeys down this winding staircase down the cliff. The people in charge of
the donkeys seemed to be cruel to the animals and we declined that option out
of principal. The last option was to simply walk down the stairs ourselves and
this was the one we chose. This was not at all a simple task. For one it was
very hot and we were already tired from walking around all day. The
cobblestone steps were slick from the heat and fresh donkey droppings, the
smell of which quickly made you forget about the spectacular views for the
moment. If you did not have on the appropriate shoes this would have been
impossible to navigate down.
Later that night we had a BBQ dinner on the boat just below the town of Fira.
There was an odd shaped boat that was slowly passing by very close to the
cliff. It did not get directly to the side of us until it had turned dark and just as
it did it started firing off round after round of fireworks to the sounds of the
American music that was being blared over our boats speaker system. This
was a fantastic touch by Leslie’s company and it really put the day over the
top!
The next morning we woke up and to my dismay, we had arrived in Athens and
had to leave our wonderful cruise ship, the Seabourn Spirit behind. A bus took
us to some historic sites like the 1896 Olympic stadium and then on to the
Acropolis and the Parthenon. It was pretty neat to be standing amongst
buildings the ancient Greeks had built to honor their gods, but they were
covered in scaffolding which took away a little of the luster. However, the
views of the city of Athens from atop the Acropolis, which was built on the
highest point of the city, were incredible and they afforded you with a 360
degree panoramic view.
The hotel we were to stay the evening at was a five star venue called “The
Grand Bretagne”. It was a beautiful hotel indeed, but the service was a let
down after what we experienced from the crew of the Seabourn. We all got
dressed up to the nines in cocktail dresses for the ladies and suits for the men
and met on the roof atop the hotel to enjoy libations and a gorgeous evening
view of the Parthenon all lit up.
After an hour or so we made our way down to a ballroom for a five course
dinner and Leslie’s company’s awards banquet. The food was once again quite
remarkable and there was some pretty good Greek wine being served. I was
quite pleased and honored when my wife’s name was called for “The
Southwest Regional Manager of the Year” award. It just put a nice cap to our
trip. Since we had to be ready to leave the hotel that night by 3:45am, we
really never got to sleep in our room and that was a huge bummer because as
it turned out, it took us about thirty hours to get home.
Once again we were treated to a once in a lifetime trip and some experiences I
will not soon forget. As you can see from the pictures, it was quite
remarkable. If you find yourself lucky enough to go to Greece, be sure to
spend a lot more time on the islands of Mykonos and Santorini than we did.
You really need to spend the night in both places to take everything in. Heck,
nighttime in Mykonos is the highlight of that island in the first place. I would
also budget a couple of days in Athens as well. It’s just too big to see in an
afternoon.
Leslie’s company is going to have one more trip like this in 2010. I am not
sure where it will be and what is in store, but I sure hope we get the
opportunity to be there!
hailed as “The Fantasies of the Aegean Seas”. This trip would take Leslie
and me to Istanbul, Turkey for a day and a half, before setting sail on the
Seabourn Spirit, a small luxury cruise ship, to go Island hopping throughout the
Aegean Sea. This little extravaganza would include stops at Kusadasi
(Turkey), Symi (Greece), Crete (Greece), Mykonos (Greece), and Santorini
(Greece), before finally coming to a conclusion in the great and historical city
of Athens, Greece. It was supposed to be even greater than our trip to Italy
two years ago.
Now being like most naive Americans I suspect, we were not exactly looking
forward to the stops in Turkey. We had many preconceived notions as to what
it would be like and none of them painted a very flattering picture. To further
add to our pre-visit prejudice, the week before we were supposed to leave,
there was a terrorist attack in front of the U.S. Embassy in Istanbul. Oh boy...
we just couldn’t wait to get there with our American Flags a waving! Right up
until we arrived in Turkey, it was still unclear as to whether or not we would be
allowed to leave the boat while we were in Istanbul. As it turned out, the
attack at the Embassy was really a personal attack from some people that had
a beef with the Turkish Police that just so happened to be guarding the U.S.
Embassy. And so with that turn of events, we were cleared for the pre-planned
events for the following day.
After landing in Turkey, I was fully expecting a rough welcome through the
customs agency, but nothing could have been further from the truth. They
seemed to be quite eager to let Americans into the country. Outside a bus was
waiting to take us to the boat and to give us a quick historical lesson and tour
of the city along the way. In Turkey, I was told, they speak Greek or maybe it
was Latin, I couldn’t say for sure and further more, couldn’t tell the difference,
but a great deal of English can be seen all throughout the city. Signs were in
the local language as well as English, much like you would see here in Texas
with English and Spanish.
Did you know that Turkey is a very strong ally of the United States and the
people there really looked favorably upon Americans? I found everyone to be
very friendly and the city, for the most part to be somewhat modern, albeit
sprinkled here and there with older and more historic buildings. I also found
the city to be very clean, that is with the exception of the Bosporus, which is
the body of water that splits the city in two. The water stinks and I didn’t see
anyone jumping in to swim. We were also informed on the bus ride that
Istanbul is the only city in the world that lies on two different continents,
Europe and Asia. Now I can say that I’ve been to three different continents.
After getting settled on the boat, I’ll go into more detail about the ship shortly,
we just hung out, ate dinner, unwound, and what would become a common
theme throughout the trip, partied quite hard at the Sky Deck Bar. The next
morning we had to get up early for a tour of some of the great historical sights
of Istanbul. These included the “Blue Mosque” and the “Topkapi Palace”.
The first stop was the Blue Mosque and right outside was an Egyptian
Obelisk, which was kind of like a tall monument statue that was 3,000 years
old and in great condition. We got to enter the Blue Mosque, which for me
personally was the first time I’ve ever set foot into a Muslim holy place of
worship. It was quite impressive and ornate on the inside. The Topkapi
Palace was equally if not even more astonishing with all of the historical
buildings and artifacts. Our tour guide was a real take charge kind of a guide
and he didn’t spend too much time talking our ears off like the other guides we
had on the trip. Hmm...they were both female, wonder if there is any
correlation there? Unfortunately we were unable to stop and eat anywhere in
the city, the whole time we were there, to try the local cuisine, but it looked
similar to what they had in Greece. That afternoon we departed Istanbul and
headed out to the first of the islands on our tour which was also a part of
Turkey called Kusadasi.
The Seabourn Spirit was a cruise ship like no other, so I am told. Believe it or
not, this was my first time on a cruise ship. It is not a very large ship, with only
a capacity of 204 guests and it is not a “kid friendly” cruise line. There were
just 170 of us from Leslie’s company so that made it even less populated than
normal. Our room was a suite, but all rooms on the boat are called suites and
it was the smallest size available. That being said, it was huge! I mean in
terms of cruise ship suites. Big bed, a couch, table & chairs and a bathroom
with a bathtub and two sinks. We also had our own fully stocked bar and flat
screen TV with a DVD player and a Bose sound system. Oh yea, and a walk
in closet. We also had our own personal maid or stewardess, I don’t know
what you call her, but she would get us anything we needed no matter how
ridiculous it was. Also, twenty-four hour room service, which we took
advantage of nearly every day. We actually ate breakfast every morning in
our room with the exception of one day.
There were two restaurants on board the ship, one that was quite swanky and
another that was also very good, but not quite as formal. Both had menus that
were designed by the world famous chef, “Charlie Trotter”. The food was to
die for. Really very good and no matter what you wanted, we didn’t have to
pay a dime for it. That was also the case with the drinks and most of the
wines. Every time I would try a wine that I liked better than the previous one,
I would have them start putting that bottle in our room. I think the final winner
for the trip was a 2002 Arrowwood Cabernet. Once I had that bottle at a
dinner, I just told them to keep it stocked in our room for the remainder of the
trip!
All of the ships amenities were really neat, but hands down what made this
cruise ship and incredible experience was the service and crew. Within hours
of us boarding, everyone knew our names. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad
thing, but I am impressed anyway. Everyone was so friendly and you never
caught them looking frustrated or upset about anything. One particular crew
member was my favorite. Her name was Lena and she was a bartender from
Norway. (I can see my friends laughing at me right now...my favorite crew
member the bartender...go figure!) Anyway, Lena recognized that I was a wine
connoisseur and she challenged me to a blind tasting where I had to guess the
wine varietal and where the wine came from. I was one for three and my ego
was a bit bruised. The only one I got right was a Tempranillo from Rioja,
Spain. But hey, she threw in some obscure Italian white variety I had never
even heard of and I kept guessing it was a Pinot Grigio, so I feel I should have
gotten partial credit for that one!
The next morning we ended up in the port of Kusadasi. This probably was the
most spectacular day of the trip. Our first excursion was to the ancient ruins
of Ephesus. It was remarkable to see just how advanced these people truly
were back then before and just after the time of Christ. There were terrace
houses that had been excavated that were very remarkable and luxurious.
They even had a waste removal system. There was a giant ampeatheater
where the Apostle Paul once preached to the Ephesians. Just to stand there
was an unbelievable feeling. Later on the way back to the boat, our tour guide
(who by the way, never came up for air) roped us into a Turkish Rug
demonstration and sales pitch. But, seeing as how Leslie and I didn’t have a
spare $25k handy, we did not leave with one.
That evening we went back out to Ephesus for a classical music concert
amongst the ruins. The ruins were warmly lit and made for incredible
ambience. The men were dressed in Greek soldier outfits while the women
were clad in togas. Turkish wine, beer and cocktails were free flowing the
whole evening. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.
Just a couple of closing comments about Turkey. While in Kusadasi I had the
opportunity to drink two different Turkish wines. One white and one red. The
white was cool and crisp, similar to a light Italian white wine. The red was
fantastic and Turkey has every right to be proud of their wines. Big and lush
with rich red fruit, I am not even sure what style of wine it reminded me of. I
stopped in a little store on the way back to the boat and picked up a bottle of
Turkish red wine to take back with us and of course some Cuban cigars.
The other comment I want to make about Turkey is that it was extremely
gratifying to be there. All of our misconceptions about the country were
proven wrong. From a biblical aspect, it was the most relevant part of our trip
and that was really special. If you ever get the opportunity to go to either
Istanbul or Kusadasi, I can’t recommend it highly enough. The whole time we
were there, I was never reminded that the country of Turkey borders Iraq, a
place I’d rather avoid altogether!
The next morning we woke up in the port of Symi, a small Greek island that
was well known for their sponges. Real sponges that is and they came in all
different sizes. Symi was just a sleepy little village town, built up from the
water to the side of a large hill. The seafood was the biggest attraction on the
menus and it was quite fresh and good.
In our brochure there was a church that had some stone mosaic courtyard and
we made it our mission to find this church that day. By the way, Greece is
covered in churches, so finding the right one was going to be no easy feat. The
hill...well...it was a bit steeper than it actually appeared and it was hot! I think
we were all huffing and pouring in sweat. Ultimately it wound up being the
second church we came to. Now there are certain protocols you are supposed
to follow upon entering a Greek church and I printed out that list before we left
for the trip. Unfortunately, I left that list in our room on the boat that day so
we were completely lost! This poor old man could not speak a lick of English
and he was trying to steer us “Dumb Americans” around the church with
instructions in full Greek. Although it was awkward, it was a very rewarding
experience. He let us go up in the bell tower and that was pretty cool as well.
We ventured on to just one other church just to take in the views and then
headed back down the hill/small mountain for some lunch and a beer. The food
was really good and we kind of ordered items Tappas style. Sautéed
mushrooms, Greek salad and meatballs, just to name a few. They were all
good! We had to get back to the boat by 2pm so we didn’t get a lot of leisure
time. That was a common theme on our tour of the Greek islands and it
ultimately became the ultimate bummer about this trip.
The following day was spent on the largest of all the Greek islands and the
home of the Greek God, Zeus. Of course I am talking about the island of
Crete. Our adventure for the day was to take part in a 4x4 Jeep Treasure
Hunt. I am not kidding; we wandered all over the island and up the side of
mountains in a Suzuki jeep. Along the way, you had a visual map and had to
find your way around a series of trails and roads collecting various items and
answering questions about the island and the country. Some of these trails
were next to impossible to drive on and barely wide enough for the vehicle we
were in. Sometimes you were just a few feet from the edge of a cliff. That was
pretty spooky. The road was extremely bumpy and there were so many rocks
and potholes I swear there was a line of Chiropractors waiting for us back at
the boat! It was kind of hysterical to see all of these jeeps driving aimlessly
around the trails. There was about thirty-two teams or jeeps out there. There
were prizes for the top three teams that collected the most points along the
journey. We came in fourth! Enough said!
The next island in our Tour de Greece was Mykonos and all though it was not
as beautiful as Symi and Santorini, it was probably the most fun. And if not the
most fun, well then certainly the most expensive. Plenty of shopping and
actually some really neat clothing stores. Lots of restaurants and more bars
than you can shake a stick at. There are also a number of beaches on the
island, some are clothing optional. I didn’t make it over to any of those
beaches. I wasn’t sure if anyone in Greece was prepared to see their first
whale or not!
After a little shopping we stopped for lunch at one of the many restaurants
along the main water way. Our waitress was this little firecracker and she was
hilarious. I thought the food was very good, of course, it was extremely
expensive. All in Euros. Leslie had some mussels in a light wine sauce that
was really good and once again, the Greek salad did not disappoint. After
lunch we continued shopping and took some tourist photos of the ever popular
Mykonos Windmills and headed back to the ship for a siesta.
We went back out that evening in time to see the sunset. I believe I took a
Pulitzer prize winning photograph of the sunset and if you don’t believe it, just
ask me! It was a good thing we got those photos because it would be the only
sunset photos we took from any island, including the most beautiful of them all,
Santorini. After oohing and awing over the sunset we found a bar that wasn’t
over run with people and took it over for a while. It was here that I had my
first foray with the Greek beverage known as “Ouzo”. It is a cloudy mixture
that has a licorice aftertaste to it. I’d say it is an improvement over
Jaegermiester, but still requires a bit of getting used to. None-the-less, I was
happy to say that I at least tried it.
After a few drinks at the bar, the ladies ventured off for some more shopping
and I headed off to a restaurant for what is now my new favorite Greek food,
dolmades. Yummy! Speaking of Dolmades, there was a restaurant in
Mykonos called “Zorbas”. It was like I was back in Dallas again! We finally
headed back to the boat around 11:30pm and that would be the latest amount
of time we had on any island.
Our last island was like something out of a dream. The town of Fira on the
island of Santorini was nestled neatly atop the giant cliffs that overlooked the
water filled crater that used to be a volcano. Virtually every conceivable angle
guarantees the viewer an unbelievable breathtaking view. This is probably the
most photographed island of them all and with good reason. Once you get up
to the top of the cliff, you are able to see all over the island with very little
obstructions. It seems like there were two mountains, one at either end of the
island, with a few towns sprinkled in between. There is a red sand beach and a
black sand beach, which we made it to and it was quite pretty. I guess the sand
was black from crushed lava rocks made from the volcano a long time ago.
At the very tip of the island is a small village or town called “Oia”. The views
here were unreal and I venture to say that the sunsets here would be
unparalleled anywhere else in the world. To bad we never got the opportunity
to see one as we had to be back to the ship by 6pm. None-the-less, I got out
my camera and proceeded to take as many pictures as I could.
Now getting back down the cliff from the town of Fira to our boat would be no
small task and we basically had three options here. Four if you wanted try
your hand at cliff diving. Option one was a cable car system that took
passengers down to the bottom to the port. The line to get in one of these was
incredibly long so we passed on that. Option two was to take some smelly
donkeys down this winding staircase down the cliff. The people in charge of
the donkeys seemed to be cruel to the animals and we declined that option out
of principal. The last option was to simply walk down the stairs ourselves and
this was the one we chose. This was not at all a simple task. For one it was
very hot and we were already tired from walking around all day. The
cobblestone steps were slick from the heat and fresh donkey droppings, the
smell of which quickly made you forget about the spectacular views for the
moment. If you did not have on the appropriate shoes this would have been
impossible to navigate down.
Later that night we had a BBQ dinner on the boat just below the town of Fira.
There was an odd shaped boat that was slowly passing by very close to the
cliff. It did not get directly to the side of us until it had turned dark and just as
it did it started firing off round after round of fireworks to the sounds of the
American music that was being blared over our boats speaker system. This
was a fantastic touch by Leslie’s company and it really put the day over the
top!
The next morning we woke up and to my dismay, we had arrived in Athens and
had to leave our wonderful cruise ship, the Seabourn Spirit behind. A bus took
us to some historic sites like the 1896 Olympic stadium and then on to the
Acropolis and the Parthenon. It was pretty neat to be standing amongst
buildings the ancient Greeks had built to honor their gods, but they were
covered in scaffolding which took away a little of the luster. However, the
views of the city of Athens from atop the Acropolis, which was built on the
highest point of the city, were incredible and they afforded you with a 360
degree panoramic view.
The hotel we were to stay the evening at was a five star venue called “The
Grand Bretagne”. It was a beautiful hotel indeed, but the service was a let
down after what we experienced from the crew of the Seabourn. We all got
dressed up to the nines in cocktail dresses for the ladies and suits for the men
and met on the roof atop the hotel to enjoy libations and a gorgeous evening
view of the Parthenon all lit up.
After an hour or so we made our way down to a ballroom for a five course
dinner and Leslie’s company’s awards banquet. The food was once again quite
remarkable and there was some pretty good Greek wine being served. I was
quite pleased and honored when my wife’s name was called for “The
Southwest Regional Manager of the Year” award. It just put a nice cap to our
trip. Since we had to be ready to leave the hotel that night by 3:45am, we
really never got to sleep in our room and that was a huge bummer because as
it turned out, it took us about thirty hours to get home.
Once again we were treated to a once in a lifetime trip and some experiences I
will not soon forget. As you can see from the pictures, it was quite
remarkable. If you find yourself lucky enough to go to Greece, be sure to
spend a lot more time on the islands of Mykonos and Santorini than we did.
You really need to spend the night in both places to take everything in. Heck,
nighttime in Mykonos is the highlight of that island in the first place. I would
also budget a couple of days in Athens as well. It’s just too big to see in an
afternoon.
Leslie’s company is going to have one more trip like this in 2010. I am not
sure where it will be and what is in store, but I sure hope we get the
opportunity to be there!
| Picture Pages |
| The Seabourn Spirit |
| Lena |
| Turkish Rug Salesman |
| Port of Symi |
| The Island of Crete |
| The Island of Mykonos |
| The Island of Santorini |
| Fireworks off of Santorini |
| The Parthenon - Day |
| The Parthenon - Night |
| Turkey/Greece Home Istanbul - Turkey Kusadasi - Turkey The Seabourn Spirit Symi - Greece Crete - Greece Mykonos - Greece Santorini - Greece Athens - Greece |
