Its all Greek to me!

This whole blog does not have a ton of explanation. I will add more text later but to get it out to you ASAP. This is what you get. I will resend it out once I have finished. I hope this is ok for now.

We are home from our WONDERFUL vacation in Greece. We saw so much and did so much this blog is going to take awhile..... I am only going to put the best pics I took. I have 1500 to choose from so if you want to see them all I will have to send them to you.

We left on August 8th for Athens. After checking into our hotel (Adonis Hotel right in the Plaka) we walked the Plaka and the base of the Acropolis. We took a little train ride around town just to get a feel for the area, had dinner and settled in for the night.

Aug 9th we woke up EARLY and hiked up to the Acropolis archaeological site. To sum it up in one word...... AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! This site goes all the way back to 580 B.C. Then we walked over to the Parliament and watched the changing of the guard at the unknown soldier memorial. Lunch in the Plaka. Next we went over to the Archaeological Museum. We visited the site of Zeus's temple. Then the Roman Agora, walked and shopped in the Plaka. Dinner...... KEBAB. Yummy!!!! We did a lot this day. We were tired, but no sleeping in for us.....

Change of the guard at the unknown soldier memorial.

Isn't he handsome?!

Roman agora

Aug 10th. Up early again. Loaded our boat the "Aquamarine" from Piraeus. We went swimming on board first thing, the water was flowing out of the pool due to high winds and choppy water. The kids almost flowed out with it. The pool water was ocean water.... nice and salty. Our first stop was the Island of Mykonos, we enjoyed our time here. We walked everywhere. All of the homes and buildings are white. The kids were were petting this cute little puppy who turned out to be a real snot! He tore their clothes. walking along the street we saw a huge pelican. We loaded the boat after dark and went to dinner. Then to SLEEP!!!!!

Aug 11th, Early morning. Kusadasi Turkey..... we took a guided tour of ancient Ephesus. Our guides name was George. Sarriah and Parker got to sit on a camel right outside the site. There was this weird guy outside that I think fell in love with Sarriah, he kept touching her. Uhg! After the tour we went to a Turkish carpet demo, these carpets are so beautiful, they are all done by hand. We walked the town and then headed back to our boat where we had lunch. Patmos was our second stop of the day. we went to the cave where John wrote the book of Revelations and visited the monastery around it. Note to self..... Taxi services on this island is CRAZY!!!!! We went to the beach but didnt stay long. The water was really cold! We had dinner(Country club casual) on the boat Parker slept through it. Off to our cabins to sleep!

Aug 12th Rhodes. Oh Rhodes. This was my Favorite island we visited. It was so beautiful. We took a guided tour to Lindos to see the town and its ruins. We took donkeys up to the top. I thought my poor donkey was going to die under my weight! Lindos ruins stand on top of Mt Philerimos. The views were incredible! We walked down the mountain. To save the poor donkeys backs. The bus took us back to the best preserved midevil city in the world. We walked the old ally ways and stopped in a few shops before heading to the BEACH. This beach was beautiful. The water in the mediteranian is the brightest blue, its so salty you literally have to try not to float..... and best of all no sharks or any other crazy life forms. after the beach we walked the old wall back to the boat where we got dressed for the Formal night (we were pretty much the only ones who dressed up!). Then again off to bed because we are so tired and have to be up EARLY again in the morning.

Aug 13th First stop of the day, Crete. We arrived early in the morning and loaded a bus to the Knossos ruins dating back to 2000 B.C. amazing to think they had running water going directly back to their homes way back then. After the tour we went to the city of Heraklion. We didnt see much here seeing how we were so excited to finally find an internet cafe. Again we loaded the boat and had lunch. Second stop of the day was Santorini. This is where they say the lost city of Atlanis was. We decided to take the tram up to the top and safe the donkeys. This city was beautiful. It sat right up at the top of the mountain over looking the sea on all sides. Again all the buildings were brilliant white. We had to wait in a huge line to get back down and were a little late getting back to our boat where we had dinner. Then to SLEEP. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Tug boat pulling us out to sea.

Aug 14th Left our faithful cruise ship, went back to hotel Adonis, then took a 2hr bus ride to Cape Sounon where we saw the Temple of Posiedon you can see the ocean from every angle at the site. We took the bus to a near by beach, the water was really shallow so the kids and I could walk out forever, the water was very salty and I got a sunburn, the kids just tanned. We loaded the bus back to Athens. We had dinner in the Plaka.

Aug 15th, slept in till 7am. Took George's taxi service to Delphi ruins, went to the Delphi museum at site, had lunch (stuffed cabbage in lemon sauce ) in a pretty mountain town with incredible views. drove to St luke monastary. BEAUTIFUL!!! Drove back to Athens. Dinner in the Plaka. Kebab again. It never gets old. This day was great because it was a holiday and we got free entrance into everything!!! Greek's do it right..... kids are ALWAYS free.

My lunch. Stuffed cabbage (rice and seasoned hamburger) in lemon sauce. It was sooooooo good!

Parker and our tour guide. (George's cab comp.)

Aug 16th. Woke up at 5am, loaded our taxi and headed to the airport to come home. Good bye Greece!!!!!! Greece was beautiful even though the people were always friendly and we often walked up hill both ways in the blistering heat. This was probably my all time favorite vacation of all time. You just cant describe it in words. You just need to go and experience it all for your self!

This was just cute! Parker was worried about his teddy on our plane home so he buckled him in.