Reflections

In spite of the fact that international travel really tries one's patience, our ten day trip to Greece, following in the footsteps of Paul, was great success!

• Our accommodations in the hotels and aboard the ship were just fine. We particularly liked the Met Hotel in Athens.We would recommend that to anyone visiting the city.
• Greek food is excellent but really is already familiar to us: olives, feta cheese, spanikopita; moussaka, excellent wine
• It was too bad that our schedule had us visiting Patmos, Mykonos and Santorini after dark.
• Greece is NOT a third world country!
• Using Euros is really easy. The exchange rate was about 1.15 - you pay $115.00 to get $100 Euros. The smallest paper currency is 5 Euros, so you end up with a pocket full of 1 and 2 Euro coins, which are hard to tell apart. There is no sales tax and prices seem to be in even increments of 1 Euro. Prices for things seem to be about the same as here, sometimes less.
• Continental Europeans and South Americans are noisy; Americans are courteous; Japanese are meek.....
• In the cities, particularly Athens, there is graffiti everywhere, mostly a reflection of frustration with their economy; high unemployment, etc; the rural areas were obviously in a depressed state with many abandoned buildings, closed up shops, litter everywhere.
• The "cruise" wasn't really. It was a boat to get us from one island to another.
• there will be many more as we digest!