Day #238 - Athens, Greece

Sun setting over Athens (Acropolis on far left of picture)

View atop Lykavittos Hill

Small church atop Lykavittos Hill

Archaeological Museum

Academy of Athens

Sunday, November 7th

OK - After this blog, I'm officially caught up. Very nice. I mentioned yesterday that I needed about 24 hours to recover - that's just about what I did. I slept in until about 12:30 in the afternoon. Then, I checked some emails and slept a little more until about 3pm. Solid. Perhaps I'm strange to do this. But, I've always needed some decompression time after periods of physical and mental stress. Not that I've been that stressed - but the trip back to STL, the marathon, the trip planning -- it wears me down mentally more than anything. Back in the game.

After shaking off the cobwebs, I headed out into the streets of Athens to see what I could find. My hotel is very near the Archaeological Museum - so I headed there first. There were many police officers on the streets today. More than I was comfortable with. So, I went over to one of them and asked if there was a safety concern for me to be walking in this area. The officer indicated that today is National Election Day in Greece. He told me that I was fine. Just checking.

Because of the election day, the museum was closed. Still impressive to see from the outside. I then walked over to Strefi Hill. I climbed to the top to check the view. Athens has alot of hills around the town: Strefi, Lykavittos, Filopappos, and the Acropolis to name a few. It's a relatively flat city with several bumps in it.

I then walked across the northern section of the city to Lykavittos Hill. This place was great. I had to stop for about 10 minutes and look at the peak. This is more than a little hill - it's the highest place in town and a substantial climb. I finally talked myself into making it happen. I figured I'd peak just about when the sun was setting.

The climb actually went pretty quick. I was sucking wind and sweating by the time I got there - but well worth it. There was a restaurant, a small church, and several balconies to look out over the city. This is a must-do while in Athens. There were many people sitting out in chairs viewing the sunset on my arrival.

After some great pictures, I slowly walked back into town. I came to the central metro station - Syntagma. Many people now filled the streets. Earlier - it was very deserted. Not sure what changed - but I like when there are others walking the streets.

I walked by the Academy of Athens and the National Library, then got some food from a street vendor, and headed back to my hotel.

A relaxing day. Tomorrow we'll start to get some momentum started again.

Day #237 - Cairo to Athens, Greece

Folks get around any way possible

The Nile River

Different world

Saturday, November 6th

Today started really early in Cairo. I was up around 4am. I spent about 3 hours in the hotel lobby working on my computer before leaving for the airport. I had a scheduled 10:20am flight back to Athens. Greg left in the middle of the night to return to the states. I'm back to going it alone for the next 16 days before meeting up with my sister in Milan, Italy.

My flight to Athens was delayed by about 2 hours. I spent alot of time in the airport reading my book - "The girl with the dragon tatoo". Excellent book -- I'm about 3/4 complete - it's getting good.

On arrival into Athens, I took the 30 minute shuttle into the city centre. I got over to my hotel around 4pm. Time to exhale. I've been in 'stick-n-move' mode for a little while --- I need about 24 hours to do little of nothing.

Here's to recharging the batteries and coming back strong. I'm including some departing shots from the streets of Cairo.

Day #236 - Cairo, Egypt

A view of the Nile River from the Hard Rock

Coptic Cairo

Inside the Mosque in Islamic Cairo

Mosque in the Citadel

Egyptian Museum (couldn't take pictures inside)

Friday, November 5th

Today we spent the entire day on the Cairo side of the Nile River. We headed into downtown around 9:30am with a new driver.

Our first target - the Egyptian Museum. Besides the pyramids, this is other place I wanted to visit while in Egypt. We toured around for 2 hours. Extremely interesting. We first headed to the second floor to look at the King Tut exhibit. King Tut is one of the most famous kings from the Egyptian past. His tomb was largely preserved. They had exhibit after exhibit - with all the items laid out. These included: jewels, statues, artistically-carved vases, jewelry, etc. The only thing not found in Cairo is the actual mummy of King Tut - this is found in the city of Luxor (in southern Egypt).

We next paid an additional 100 African pound ($20) to go into the 2 Royal Mummy rooms. Wow! We saw about 20 mummies of famous kings and queens. The one thing that amazed me the most was how well they were preserved. The heads, shoulders, feet, and hands were exposed. (This was surprising to me -- I always had the picture of mummies completely wrapped from head to toe in my mind). The mummification process took 70 days. First, all the internal organs were taken out of the body except for the heart. The brain was removed through the nostrils by breaking the ethmoid bone. The organs were placed in a jar and often times set beside the mummy. They first put on a chemical called "natron". This was a combination of salt and baking soda. It drew out the liquid in the body and helped with preservation. This process took 40 days. Then, the "natron" was removed and oils were placed on the body. This portion of the process took 30 additional days.

We spent the rest of our visit in the museum hitting the high points. Tons os caskets, statues, jewelry, etc. There is no longer anything located below the Great Pyramids of Giza. All the items are now in the Egyptian Museum.

Next, we drove through Islamic Cairo. We went to the Citadel. This place was amazing. It was an enclosed area that held a mosque, a couple museums, and had great views of the city. We took our shoes off and went inside the mosque. Very similar to those I visited while in Istanbul. I wish I understood the Muslim culture better - it's unique.

We next drove over to Coptic Cairo. We visted a couple churches in this area. It's believed that the Holy Family came here during the Flight into Egypt - seeking refuge from Herod.

During our tranport through the city today, we were exposed to just how poor this area is. People filtered the streets and buildings were shoddy. As mentioned yesterday, the area right along the Nile River is impressive - large hotels, nice views. Getting further into the city is a different story. I thought maybe Cairo would be similar to other European cities - but it was more like Tanzania - just with alot of buildings. Certainly a neat place to visit - just for a short period of time however.

We ended the day at the Hard Rock Cafe. Greg & I completed our goal of visiting 1 Hard Rock on every continent (none in Antartica). We toasted our trip and had a great meal.

Back to the hotel for an early evening. Greg leaves at 4:40am for the states. I fly back to Athens and continue on with my journey.

Here's to Egypt - one of the most unique places on the planet.

Day #235 - Cairo, Egypt

Great Pyramids of Giza

Camels in the Sahara

Sakkara Pyramid

Hands over the Father and the Son pyramids

Limited leeping ability

My camel with a backdrop of the pyramids

The Sphinx

Belly-dancer on the Nile

Thursday, November 4th

Today was one of my most favorite days of the entire trip. It was extremely unique - I've never experienced anything similar in all my travels.

We met our taxi driver in the hotel lobby at 8am. He didn't speak English - but we had set the agenda with the agent last night. The driver would be with us all day - and would remain parked at each destination until we completed our tour.

First off, the streets of Cairo make downtown Manhatten appear like a small, country village. Wow! The other night, my fears in the taxi were irrational - largely created in my head. Today, I wasn't fearful at all - but I should have been. Our driver could easily have competed on the Nascar circuit. There is no way I can adequately describe what we witnessed on the way to the Pyramids - but I was laughing uncontrollably for about 15 minutes. Have you ever ridden on a really fast roller-coaster? If so, maybe you have experienced the uncontrollable laughing thing. Well - I wasn't in an amusement park - but it was just as fun.

We first made our way to the Sakkara Pyramid. This is known as the "Step Pyramid" - not as famous as the Great Pyramids of Giza, but much older. Really interesting. It is made of 6 steps. It's said to have been the burial place for both kings and queens. This is different than the Pyrmaids of Giza - as they have smaller pyramids for the queens. We had to drive to a nearby area and were allowed to walk into one of the burial chambers. I've seen this on TV specials. Reality is just as spooky. You have to bend over and walk down this narrow passageway that leads several meters underground. Once there, you could go into the different rooms by passing through these small tunnels. I struggled a bit (a couple days post marathon) - but I sucked it up for the team.

We were next brought to a picture shop. We were given some history on the pyramids. The Nile River separates the city of Giza (west) and the city of Cairo (east). It's like a Buda-Pest thing. The pyramids were constructed with stones that were brought to the Giza side of the Nile from Cairo when the river flooded. Cairo represents life, whereas Giza represents death. Greg and I negotiated pricing on a couple pictures made with authenitc paper from the area.

We were next transported to the take-home symbol of Egypt -- the Great Pyramids of Giza. Once there, we were led to this area to discuss our options for tours. After about a 30 minute negotiation, we opted for the long tour on camels. I think we held out pretty well, we paid $36 for our tour - down from the orginal price of $100.

We mounted these camels around 1pm to begin our 2-1/2 hour journey through the Sahara Desert. This may have been the most unique time I've had on my entire trip. These things were tall. Slow - but tall. I have a history with a horse on a midnight ride back in St. Louis several years back that has made me gun-shy of riding any animals. I had a death grip for about the first hour until I relaxed. It tuned out well - "all good".

We made our way up this mountain which provided a spectacular view. The Great Pyramids of Giza consists of 9 total pyramids. 3 large pyramids for the Kings - the father, son, and grandson. There were 3 smaller pyramids beside both the father and grandson. The 6 smaller pyramids were for the queens. Our guide took some unbelievable photos of us in this area - some of the best of the trip (see above).

We then made our way over to the Sphinx - the protector of the pyramids. The Sphinx is the staute with the lion body. Really impressive. Supposedly, the nose was taken by Napolean and brought to a British Museum (not sure why it wasn't brought to a French museum). The Sphinx was smaller than I had imagined. Reminded my of when I first saw the Statue of Liberty (smaller than you would think).

We rode back into town, dismounted the camels, and headed back to Cairo. We met back in the hotel lobby around 6pm. We had a cruise setup on the Nile. Interesting. Cairo is not all that impressive - unless you're on a boat on the Nile River at night. Then -- it's amazing. All the main buildings, and some great hotels, all line the river through the main city centre. We had a dinner and watched some belly-dancers. Very nice.

The night ended out at the hotel pool with a couple beers. Today was one of those 'bucket list' days. Everyone knows about the pyramids, the idea behind it. I can say, without question, that visiting Egypt was 100% worth it based on my experiences today.

Day #234 - Athens to Cairo, Egypt

Great Pyramids of Giza

Sahara Desert

Streets of Cairo

Nile River (pronounced Neel River)

Hotel pool

Wednesday, November 3rd

I'm coming to you live from the Novotel Hotel lobby in Cairo, Egypt at 4:30am on Saturday morning. Sorry for the delay the past couple days - been busy.

Wednesday was a transition day. My brother Kurt left very early for the airport, leaving Greg to tour with me for a couple more days. We got out of our hotel around 10:30am, taking a shuttle over to the airport for our 1:30pm departure flight to Cairo, Egypt.

Cairo -- the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Sahara Desert, camels, mummies, pharoahs, the Nile River, the Egyptian Museum ---- I've always wanted to spend a couple days here. Greg & I set off on Wednesday to make this a reality.

We arrived into Cairo around 3:30pm. We had to purchase a VISA sticker at the airport for $15 before passing through customs. This is the 3rd country I've visitied on the trip where a VISA was required (Russia, Turkey). We were able to take a shuttle to our hotel. We stayed at the Novotel Hotel - very near the airport. Great place. I would recommend this place to anyone coming to Cairo. They have some nice restaurants, a couple pools, free Wi-Fi, and a great travel booth to help set up tours.

We arrived at the hotel shortly before 5pm. We set up 2 days worth of tours by talking with the booth in the lobby. We were really excited and relieved to have established an agenda which would hit all our target locations. I think 2 full days is just about a perfect time frame for a visit to Cairo.

Rather than venture out into the city in the evening, we decided to eat dinner in the hotel. We then had a couple beers out by the pool. The hotel is a popular spot for wedding receptions. We were able to see this unique ceremony - as they had a band and welcoming line in the lobby.

Here's to the start of a couple memorable days in Cairo. (I'm adding a couple photos from Thursday because I have many I'd like to post)

Day #233 - Santorini to Athens, Greece

Oia cliffs on Santorini

Red Beach on Santorini

The caldera of Santorini

Sunset in the Greek Isles (Kurt & I)

Sunset in the Greek Isles

Tuesday, November 2nd

We started our day mid-morning in Santorini after our little pary on the hotel deck last night.


On the island, we chose to rent a car and see as much as possible. We first headed down to the Red & Black beaches on the southern portion of the island. It was surprising at the lack of people here. The official end to the peak season in the Greek isles is October 31st. This results in limited ferry schedules and some closed-down bars and restaurants. It was still neat to see - but I can only imagine the difference in mid-July.

We drove through the wine country and took in the unique buildings. There was a real prosperity difference in some areas of the island. Not unlike the states - but very noticeable in such a small area. We had a close call as a young boy darted out in front of us as we came around a corner. Greg was quick on the breaks or it would have been a very bad outcome.

After our drive through the southern and central portion of the island - we headed north to Oia. This place is known for its cave-like dwellings and also lays claim as one of the best sunset-viewing areas in the world. Swimming pools and jacuzzi's littered the western cliff bank. We all agreed that a return visit staying in one of these places is where dreams are made of. Sitting in your hottub with a glass of wine, in the right company, overlooking the sea below and the dramatic cliff face -- all would seem right in the world.

We headed back to our hotel and took the shuttle down to the port. We boarded our return ferry to Athens at 3:30pm. An awesome, short introduction to the Greek Isles, peaking interest for a possible return trip at some point in the future.

The return boat ride was nice - relaxing. Considering the many travel options: cars, trains, or planes ---- I like boats alot.

We arrived in Athens at Port Pireas at 11:20pm. This is when things got interesting. I write this next part very thankful to be safe and very much more aware of what I'll term the "taxi-cab dilemma".

I've often thought about scenarios that could happen in a cab. I'm not a fan. I use taxi's only when absolutely necessary. The idea of getting into a car with a complete stranger, who may or may not speak your language, who may or may not have good intentions, is questionable in my eyes. These fears came to fruition last night.

After departing the boat, there was a long line of taxi's waiting. Good sign I thought. I had the name of our hotel, address, and phone number written down on paper. I handed this to the first driver. We couldn't get the answers we wanted. We moved to the next cab. No luck. People were waiting. There was a "point man" running the show. We had little options - we had to go with the next guy.

Kurt, Greg and I entered the "taxi cab dilemma" around 11:40pm on Tuesday, November 2nd. I sat in the front by the driver, while Greg and Kurt sat in the back. Our destination was 48km away - Mare Nostrum Hotel. Kurt had a 6:30am flight on Wednesday. We wanted to be by the airport and our shipping arrival port was a significant distance away. Our driver was a middle-age, older guy - maybe 60's. He didn't speak English (Issue #1). He made a few calls while we entered the streets of Athens - he then handed me the phone. A younger girl was talking. She stated that our destination was "too far". I asked "What does that mean?" She talked a little more - but I was having trouble understanding her. Our driver took the phone and gave us an indication that things were OK.

We continued on - 30 minutes went by. All was well. We're starting to get into a remote area. We come to a stop sign. We looked to the right and saw a sign for our hotel -- we need to turn left. Our driver proceeded to go straight. We're confused - but figured we'd go with it - no worries - we're sure he knows a better way.

We proceed onward. We turn onto a more remote road. Our driver flashes his lights at a couple oncoming cars. They stop and talk with him through open windows. We continue on - no longer able to see any lights from houses, buildings, etc (Issue #2)

Fear is creeping in at this point. "Is this guy taking us out some dirt road where we'll meet up with his "crew", where we'll be beaten, robbed, and left for dead in a ditch somewhere". We verbally express our concerns to the driver. He can't understand us. We ask him to turn around. He continues on. We're starting to get upset. The guy is wiping sweat from his brow - he's visually shaken. We show him the number to our hotel and ask him to call. We're out of cell phone coverage (Issue #3).

He flashes down another car. What's happening here? At this point, Kurt, Greg, and I are talking to each other like the gentlemen is not in the car. We're talking out our scenario.

Then - the driver opens up the central compartment in the car. I have one hand on my seat belt and the other free if needed. I was ready for whatever he pulled out of that box. Out comes a cannister that looks like pepper spray. Again - all 3 of us are prepared for the worst. He opens it - his reading glasses.

Alright, I'm now 85% convinced that this guy is totally lost, can't speak English, and is not a fantastic problem solver. We all feel we're not in danger here - but we don't want to ride around the back streets of Greece all night. What do you do? He can't understand us. We have no phone coverage, we are in the middle of nowhere (can't get out of the car), and the driver is continuing to move further and further away from civilization.

By this point, our driver is almost crying. He's continuing to wipe sweat from his brow. He's guzzling water -we all think he could have a heart attack at any time. We now know he's more scared than we are. We are trying to help the guy as a team - he can't understand anything we say.

It's now nearing 1am. We've been in the cab well over an hour - the trip was to take 40 minutes. Kurt is in the back seat - he just checked his blood sugar - it's 60. He's downing a snickers. The payrate is nearing 100 euro - we were told it would be roughly 60 euro for the trip. What do you do?

We decided our best bet is to ride this out. If we come across a car maybe they'll help us. We did finaly get the driver to turn around and go back where we came from. Once we entered civilization again, the guy flashed down a car. He gets out and goes over to them. He comes back in and we proceed to go back the same way we just came from. "Is this guy just a great actor?" "What's his intentions?"

Kurt, Greg, and I are extremely uneasy going back the same way. We just let it ride. What else do you do? Finally, about 15 minutes later, we come to this larger road - the guy makes a left and 10 minutes later we arrive at our hotel.

We ended up giving him 20-30 euro less than the posted rate - which seemed to appease him. We got into the hotel at 1:15am. Kurt got 2-1/2 hours of sleep - leaving the hotel at 4am for the airport.

Really, this scenario turned out fine. It's just what could have happened. If this guy had bad intention - who knows? If anything, it makes you think. It's that feeling of vulnerability - not having any control of the situation - scary business. Language barrier, lost on a deserted road, 1am in the outskirts of Greece, unstable/irrational driver ----- an intersting night in Greece.

Day #232 - Santorini, Greece

Sunset in Santorini

Sunset in Santorini

Overlooking the cliffs of Santorini

Entrance into our shipping port

Greece Flag on our boat ride

Enjoying the day after the Athens Marathon

Monday, November 1st

Excellent day today! We had an early wake-call in Athens. A little sore from the race, but feeling really good - all things considered. Then, we took a taxi at 6:30am headed toward Port Pireas. We arrived to board our ship (BlueStar Ferries) - set for our destination of Santorini, Greece.

Our group separated today - as Liam & Kim went north toward Meteora and the Delphi, while Kurt, Greg, and I went south to the Greek Isles. Everyone is on a slightly different travel schedule because of commitments back home - so it just worked out that way. Another great trip with Liam & Kim. We wished each other well -- I'll see them soon in North Carolina.

The Greek Isles - a place I've always wanted to visit. Which one do you go to? How do you get there? These were questions we've thought about and researched the past couple months. On Saturday before the race, we stopped into a travel agency. Kurt & Greg only had a couple days to spend. Therefore, we decided to go with one of the best (or, arguably one of the best islands per our sources). We decided upon Santorini.

We boarded the ship for our departure at 7:35am on Monday morning. We would spend the better part of the day cruising around the Greek Isles. Our arrival time in Santorini - 3:30pm. Long boat ride - but we stopped at 3 different islands along the way: Paros, Naxos, and Ios. It was perfect for our scenerio. We were able to sit back and relax while resting our legs, and see the sites along the way. Very nice!

As we arrived into our destination port, we were greeted with huge cliffs towering from the Aegean Sea. Spectacular scenery. Our hotel had sent a driver to pick us up for transport into the central town of Fira. We dumped our gear and headed out.

Wow - this place might have produced one of the best sunset views I've ever seen. We walked along this upper shelf viewing the sunken caldera below. You could see out over the volcanic islands (there are 2 smoldering comes within the sunken 6-mile wide caldera). Really incredible sites.

After sunset, we walked into the main town. We found a restaurant overlooking the bluffs. A nice dinner punctuated with some white wine - as Santorini produces 36 varieties of grapes on the island. We then headed back to the hotel arriving around 9pm. He met up with a group of 5 people from Houston, Texas (We had met them earlier at the travel agency and on our boat). We were joined by a couple from China. We spent the next 3 hours sitting out on the deck of our hotel, drinking some "free beer" from the hotel refrigerator, and telling stories until late into the night. Excellent day in the Greek Isles!