Santorini, Greece
Suzanne and I managed to get in some “island-hopping” around the Aegean for our 35th anniversary in 2008.
All of our journeys are self-planned, and we always seem to get along just fine without guides or having to travel in confining tour groups. We enjoy the flexibility to explore out-of-the-way locations and interact directly with locals that such independence offers us. Plus, not to brag (O.K., I am bragging a little), the trips we go on are much cooler!
This particular trip was no exception, although it did include one memorable six-hour road trip on a cramped Turkish public bus and one sea-tossed voyage on a rusty Greek steamer in order to visit some of the disparate sites in the allotted time.
The “photo journal” for this exciting trip to the archaeological treasures of Greece and Turkey has been posted as a slide show on the Picasa web-based photo album program featured by Google. The presentation is in two parts. Two more presentations featured in other blog postings — Trip to Germany, Bosnia, and Croatia (2009); and Trip to France (2010) — have also been made available on Picasa.
One note of caution: As you may have noticed, I am one of those. . . you know. . . “boring history buffs.” As such, I couldn’t help myself but provide a fair amount of historical and cultural context in my Picasa web albums, both in the captions and with some additional explanatory slides and maps (used more extensively in the presentations on our trips to the former Yugoslavia and France). I realize that some may appreciate this background detail, and others might not — especially those with the usual excuse that their high school history courses were taught by their off-season football coaches. (“Hey, you clowns need to listen up, because today I’ll be going over some important locker-room procedures in ancient Greece.”) For any unfortunate considering himself to be in this latter history-doesn’t-interest-me-that-much category, I say unto thee: “Thou goatish clapper-clawed barnacle!” (Apologies to the Bard of Avon.)
When you are ready to view the presentation, click on the following links to get to the two photo albums of our memorable journey back to the Greco-Roman origins of Western civilization:
- Part I (Athens, Santorini, and Rhodes)
- Part II (Marmaris, Ephesus, Samos, Patmos, Mycenae, Nafplio, Sparta, and Corinth)
Tip for viewing photo album on Google:
Select “F11” on the top row of your keyboard (for PCs) to fill your entire screen with the picture.
Enjoy!
– Bruce
Bruce Slawter.com 