Friday

Friday, April 15th: Greece

Ahhh....Greece. I cannot believe I am in Greece. After a hectic evening last night, a very early flight this morning, a little trepidation about driving here, we made it to Nafplio, a small coastal town that is SO cute and so...so....well, Greek!

Greece looks (so far) just how we thought it would. Rocky hills and mountains, green grass and olive trees, white houses with red tile roofs and lots of flowers blooming everywhere. Pretty much anywhere these plants can get their roots in, they grow like mad!

Our hotel is Fabulous! It is a quaint little place; a two bedroom apartment with 3 sleeping upstairs and Anne and I downstairs. (Kayla's very good friend from college, Lauren, joined us this morning in Athens.) The hotel is built into the hillside. From the large patio, we have a beautiful view of the sea and over look the town below. Behind us are the ruins of an old fortress, part of which was built in the 3rd century b.c.e. It was heavenly with all the flowers and vines climbing over the ruins.

The town is super cute with lots of tiny restaurants and shops. Kayla, Lauren, and Megan climbed up to the top of another fortress on the hill for two gorgeous views of the sea on either side and the town below. It was around 850-1,000 steps. Anne and I took a nap instead! (Little did they know that we can actually *drive* up there! LOL!!!!

I do not think I realized how tired of Italy I was until I got here. The art, food, history, and wine are wonderful. So is most of the landscape. But the people were not very warm and in the cities, there is a lot of people pushing or cutting you off to get to where they want to go, motorcycles and cars zipping everywhere, large lines and crowds, etc., and that gets tiring. I honestly think it would be miserable in the summer heat (it is plenty warm now) and the increased crowds (again, more that I would wish for). I would never come here in the summer!

Greece so far has been quite pleasant. We were greeted by our host, shown our room, he drove our car for us to the parking area (thank goodness as the streets are so narrow where the hotel is!) and then offered us some freshly squeezed lemon-aid from their lemon trees while we overlooked the sea from the patio. How is that for service? :~) The people in town are happy to go out of their way to show you where something is and actually seem to like us. I feel like Italians as a whole are kind of like the French, without the polish that the French believe that they have. I do know that part of that is that people in cities do not seem as nice as their less rushed, rural counterparts, but overall that is my feeling on Italians from this visit.

If I was doing this trip again or just a trip to Italy, I would fly into Rome, see the major sights and then get out and spend a lot more time in Tuscany and Venice with a few days in Florence to see all of the art. Might as well finish up with the charm of Venice! :~)