Greece

I spent two weeks in Greece in September - the first week with my friend T who has created the blog to end all blogs, and the second week on my own in Corfu, then Albania, then back to Athens and the drive home. I truly could not add anything of any relevance to T's amazing descriptions of our journey - at least the first week of it, which we traveled together, so check out http://www.travelathomeandabroad.blogspot.com/ to see where I spent the first seven days of my time in Greece.

For my photos, check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/15077479@N08/collections/72157602915736521/

Instead of description, I will, therefore, offer you teasers of the places I visited which will in no way edify you, but may entice you to look at the blog/photos, and if anyone wants to know more, just ask:

Thessaloniki [Day 1, 2: drive from Skopje, Macedonia to Greece;

great museums (an ancient Olympic gold medal - how cool is that);

a closed-for-development waterfront;

Roman and ancient Greek ruins everywhere, presumably

to the great frustration of urban developers;

Ottomans still around, well, at least through their minarets; not so late diners (restaurants quieting down by 11 p.m.) and some good food, but some salty food too]

Vergina [Day 3: reached by driving and "not turning anywhere" from Thess; underground museum center encompassing famous ancient people's tombs (Alexander the Great's father) & the belongings they were buried with; acres of partially excavated or currently being excavated ancient ruins. some watched over by Greek farmers who were lucky (?) enough to happen upon ancient tombs while running their tractors]

Dion [Day 3: more driving to foothills of Mt Olympus, an ancient Greek theme park waiting to happen - a huge Roman and ancient Greek and Byzantine settlement, excavated for the most part, but lacking tourist-friendly guides/signs; well preserved Roman baths; awesome mosaics; also a great museum with a lovely courtyard of more ancient statues; a restaurant, deceptively appearing as a tourist trap at first glance, but with the best eggplant dish in the world]

Meteora [Day 3, 4: drive to rocks, pinnacles, monasteries, almost inconceivable - needs

to be seen, to be believed, crowds and crazy bus drivers]

Galaxidi [Day 4, 5: drive over mountains to unexploited, nearly deserted

seaside village with few tourists and lots of elderly shopkeepers

and proprietors who are constantly shouting at one another - hard of hearing or just angry - you decide]

Delphi [Day 5: drive by largest olive grove in Greece to see - wow - the ancient stadium including starter blocks!, amphitheatre, temples, athlete training center, all built for an oracle]

Livadia [Day 6: drive to Frankish stuff, why were they in Greece and when? No idea - lost that page of my guidebook, but pretty park in center, and it's on the way to Athens]

Athens [Day 6, 7, 8: park car at airport; more ruins than should ever be seen in one day unless you like collapsing into fits of hysteria - but all amazing - a marvelous archaeological museum - and an absolute must try for a restaurant - Ksenios Zeus; fly to Corfu; T ferries to Naxos]

Corfu [Day 9, 10: reasonably priced flight from Athens; new fortress and old fortress meant lots of invaders; good food, good shopping, wild Medusa, boat to Albania]

Saranda/Butrint [Day 11: You're in Albania now; modern town under construction and ancient town under excavation -- really, really bad roads but really, really good bus drivers]

Corfu [Day 12: rocky boat ride back from Albania; a day at the beach watching octopus hunter and pack for Athens]

Athens [Day 13: pick up rentacar left at airport; IKEA - yes, that IKEA - needed some sheets and a vegetable peeler - probably didn't need to go all the way to Athens for them, but it was on my way home]

Dion [Day 13: a return visit to the town and an unexpectedly nice, and very blue inn, more than welcome after a four hour @*!# traffic jam on the Athens highway, and not-a-tourist-trap restaurant still has the best eggplant in the world]

Skopje [Day 14: to drop off rentacar; always remember when leaving Greece, do not underestimate how much the Greeks do not like the idea of a country called "Macedonia": no signs to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia whatsoever as you leave Greece (until you are 2 km from border), so find on your map the smallest village in the world on the Greek side of the border, and watch for signs to it off the Athens-Thess highway, otherwise you'll just keep heading in the direction of Turkey, until you realize something is amiss and have to backtrack 25 km, grrrr].