Jim and Carol's Adventures: Winter in Greece

Here are a few photos with text down below.......................

Caryatids - gorgeous sculptures of Greek women supporting a temple at the Acropolis in Athens

Jim enjoyed being a student after months
of directing and teaching in Tanzania

Rain kept the tourists away and soothed our
overheated bodies.

The sun finally came out so we
could enjoy
our rooftop terrace overlooking Athens

Zeus's temple - huge pillars that dwarf the trees

The new Aropolis Museum was a fabulous place for seeing original
sculptures taken from the Parthenon to preserve them.

We had a gorgeous day for seeing the Parthenon

Having left Tanzania on December 10^th with mid-90 degree F weather and 90% humidity we were thrilled to arrive in Athens, shivering in its cooler, wet clime, devoid of tourists (they may have been the warmer, smarter folks but we were happier). We delighted in exploring ruins, museums and eateries ready to woo us with traditional Zorba music, wine and delicious green salads. We walked miles through the windy, cobblestone streets of old Athens, exploring structures that majestically told of the culture that had flourished well before the arrival of the Romans and Christians into the area. It was fascinating to realize that the stone masonry so eloquently preserved a heritage that the Tanzanians had lost over time due to the use of different building materials. The island of Crete seduced us away from the city for a more relaxing time in sleepy villages on the sea. Wild coastal hikes shared with goats, traditional food (think olive oil, goat cheeses, rustic breads and olives) mixed with backgammon games in front of a fire and hiking in a deep gorge all managed to soothe our spirits. It was the perfect respite for us with no ability to do work without computers and only the day to day routine of easy paced exploring of a world we’d always wanted to visit. The Greek people were friendly, eager to share their local lore, teach us some basic language skills and they were accepting of our eccentricity of traveling when all other tourists avoided their lovely harbors and villages. On the northern coast of Crete we stayed in a Venetian mansion on a quaint harbor (Hania) as we sipped wine on our balcony. We drove through the mountainous interior of the island to a small coastal village (Hora Sfakion) with two restaurants competing for our nightly meal. It was a time to reconnect with each other and begin the slow integration back into the western world. Delightful! Our next blog post will take you to our final leg of the journey where we meet up with our daughter, Tela, for 3 weeks in India.

Love from Jim and Carol (catch us in our next blog post in India)