Friday, May 15 On Tuesday morning we flew to Athens. We had gotten lucky and found plane tickets at literally half of what they normally cost. The recession must be really bad to get such cheap tickets during prime tourist season.

We landed in Athens on Wednesday in the late afternoon. Needless to say, it had been a long day of travel. The flights were uneventful. Traveling by plane always makes us appreciate how nice it is to travel by boat. Yes, sometimes travel by boat is miserable, too, but at least on the boat you aren’t cramped into small seats, can get some sleep, can eat or drink whenever you want, can watch a movie of your own choosing, don’t have to listen to screaming babies, don’t have to worry about lost luggage, and don’t have to smell people who have been traveling for 26 hours and need a shower (including ourselves).

Upon arrival in Athens, we went straight to our hotel in downtown, got dinner and crashed. We were up early yesterday morning so we could walk around a bit before meeting Andronikos. We picked a route that took us down streets we have never been on before so we could catch some new sights. We probably walked about 5 miles total and it was lovely. We talked about how much nicer the city has become over the years.

Athens is a fairly homogenous looking city, mostly 8 10 story blocky buildings dotted with Byzantine style churches. You can differentiate the newer churches from the very old ones by their placement. New churches fit the layout of the street. The old churches are in odd places, like hanging halfway out into the street, tucked between two other buildings, or an appendage off of another building. Here is an example of an old church in an odd place

Also, here and there you pass by an ancient ruin or two that has been recovered. Literally, in the middle of a sidewalk or between two buildings there will be a cordoned off area where you can see stone and marble pieces that date back several thousands of years.

We arrived at Andronikos’ apartment (Christi’s half-brother) and the three of us got lunch at a taverna near his apartment that has excellent food. After lunch, we walked over to a nearby park on a hill top. We sat outside and enjoyed the pretty view of the city until it was time for the two of us to head back to the airport to catch our flight to Crete. Here is a picture of Christi and Andronikos in the park with Athens in the background.

As always, we enjoyed our time with Andronikos. Andronikos is an incredibly knowledgeable and intellectual person, and we always have interesting and stimulating conversations with him.

Our flight to the island of Crete was delayed, and by the time we rented a car and drove to the town of Bali, we didn’t actually arrive at Costa’s (Christi’s other half-brother) until 2230. Of course, Costas and Christi felt the need to get caught up on the last 9 months right then and wound up staying up until 3:00 in the morning talking.

Staying up so late was probably a mistake. We were both zombies all day today. As the day progressed, more family and family friends trickled in, including Christi’s dad. It was really fun to catch up with everyone. We got the sense that most everyone was surprised that we actually finished our circumnavigation. We suspect that many of them thought we’d give up at some point along the way. Actually, it is probably more accurate to say that they sincerely hoped that we’d give up because they feared for our safety, and that they were relieved that we had finished and they didn’t need to worry anymore.