Our Final Site

Karla is always on the ball! I finally got caught up enough to want to share some of our final moments in Greece - and she already had!!

I would like to add our Athens departure picture and the view from our Atlanta motel. Two things come to mind about this unexpected night in Atlanta - One is I always was confusing the date we were coming home and told everyone it was the 20th; two was Karla wasn't going to count having been in Georgia if she was only in the airport! What can ya say!

Doing this blog has been sooooo much fun, I have an idea that we will continue this effort to keep you up to date on how we are sharing this wonderful trip with friends, family and our school. So,

keep checking in now and then and we will talk with you some more.

Oh, just have to share this one more picture. Karla was so hungry for "American" food that we ordered pizza and salad for our last supper in Greece. Of course it was Greek Pizza!

Rats, can't figure out how to turn the picture!!

Our Final Site

We had the pleasure of meeting Bethlehem Georgellis, an author and illustrator from Australia. She has written two books for children featuring Zeus the Koala. Ms. Georgellis is one of the Greek Australian travelers we met on our tour. She took the myths from Greece and mingled them with the animals of Australia to create her books. She is working on a third book featuring Zeus theKoala.

We were 20 minutes west of Atlanta when the pilot turned the plane around. We headed back to Atlanta and the flight was cancelled. Something to do with equipment problems.....??? We had to stay one more night in Atlanta before finally getting a new flight out on Saturday. After 24 hours of no sleep we were welcomed by a comfy bed at the hotel furnished by the airlines.

Our last day was spent near Kalambaka viewing the monastaries that sit high up on the tops of unusual rock formations. Hundreds of years ago, the munks had to climb up ladders to get into the buildings. Some of the monastaries are now convents. We got to view the sanctuary and viewed the frescos painted all over the walls and ceilings. There were icons everywhere and very ornate chandeliers. Once again our guide explained everything perfectly. We couldn't take any pictures inside, but we have posted some photos of the outside. It is beautiful and breathtaking, but don't look down! We can see why they chose this spot to get away from civilization, but we are still in awe of how they completed such a place so high up.

Our Last Blog from Greece

Today is our last day in Greece. We aren't going to attempt to add pictures today, but will have hundreds to show you when we return.

We have met so many wonderful people! Our group was small--only 25 of us, so that made it extra special. About half of our group was from Australia. We learned that Australia has a large population of Greeks. Most of the Aussies were Greek Australians coming home for a tour of their home country. One of the Greek-Australians we met was a young teacher. We plan to keep in touch and possibly have pen pals. Another was an author/illustrator. We had the privilege of hearing her read the book she had written to us on the bus. We had our picture made with her and plan to buy several copies of her book.

Our tour director was the best! It was like traveling with a human history book. She was, of course, Greek and had the best accent.

Our bus driver, Nick, could take that large bus around the tightest hairpin curves!! Even when we were taking tight turns up high in Meteora, he handled that bus like a pro.

Last night we went back to the Plaka to have dinner--outside of course. Everyone eats outside everyday because the weather is so perfect everyday. We finally had Greek pizza and it was delicious!

We'll be headed to the Athens airport soon and will leave around 12:30 Athens time. We then have a 3 hour layover in Atlanta before finally getting to Tulsa around 9:45 pm Friday night. We are anxious to see our families--we miss them!!

Check the blog again in a few days and we may have added some pics of Kalambaka and our last day in Athens.

Adio,
Leslie and Karla

Our last stop before heading to the hotel in Kalambaka, was a brief visit to the site of the Spartan War. Sadly, it is now a highway area. There is a monument there now that was placed there by American Greeks. This picture shows Leslie standing in front of the monument just off the highway. There is a huge bronze statue of a Spartan holding a spear in the middle.

Today we stopped at the Gulf of Corinth for lunch. We all took a quick wade in the water. The water is beautiful and clear. We regret not trying the swordfish that was on the menu.