Flashback: Greece

Furlough Day 15! Will Congress reopen the government today? Signs point to…maybe.

I saw someone mention on Twitter this morning that today is the 10th anniversary of China launching its first manned space mission. Hearing that gave me an immediate flashback to sitting on the patio at a restaurant on the island of Santorini, Greece. That’s where I was 10 years ago, on vacation with Becca and Karen, when we heard that the Chinese had successfully become the third country to put people in orbit — and then added a crude drawing of an “errant Chinese space capsule” to a postcard Becca and I sent back to our coworkers.

Yes, we are hilarious.

The gallery where I posted photos from that trip is now defunct (has been for a while, and I’ll probably never get around to putting it back online) so I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane. Here are some highlights from that most excellent vacation 10 years ago…

Lunch at a cafe in Athens

Directionally challenged and in search of the Acropolis (har, har)

At the Acropolis

Things I remember about Athens:

We walked out of the airport and directly onto the street, i.e. there was no such thing as “going through Customs.” We wondered how on earth the city was going to be ready for the 2004 Olympics which were less than a year away. We saw a lot of ruins, including the Acropolis. The Parthenon was under construction/restoration and was mostly covered in scaffolding.

Fira, Santorini as seen from the ferry

Group shot along an alleyway

Me being all model-y at a red sand beach

Walking down to the boat amidst lots of donkeys

Another beautiful sunset over a blue-domed church

Sunset from Oia

Things I remember about Santorini:

We got there on a high speed hydrofoil ferry. We stayed at a guesthouse that we were told was “close to town” but was really a 25-30 minute walk away. (That didn’t turn out to be too big of a deal.) I dragged Karen and Becca all over the island trying to find a particular blue-domed church pictured on a postcard — and there are a LOT of blue-domed churches on Santorini. We hiked to the top of the volcanic island in the middle of the caldera, and could smell the sulfur. I got an update on the baseball postseason (evil Cardinals vs. heroic Astros) from the TV at a random bar.

Visiting the monasteries of Meteora

Overlooking Meteora

Obligatory triumphant pose!

Things I remember about Meteora:

It took us a whole day to get from Santorini to Meteora via Athens. We walked several miles along the road to see all the different monasteries. It was chilly and wet (as you can see from the photos). I thought the area must be very popular with rock climbers. There was a campground down by a river that looked like a fun place to be.

What a fun trip! I can’t believe it’s been 10 years!