2022 Late November - Brazil

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Keeping a Promise

Sao Paulo Metropolitan
Cathedral

The idea of our trip starts with Nicida fulfilling a promise she made to herself six years ago.  She mentioned it to me when we first met.

Six years ago she was recovering from major surgery, staying home for a month.  It happened during the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.  She couldn’t do anything during that month, so she watched the Olympics; eight to ten hours a day.  During breaks in the action, NBC filled in with special interest pieces; people, foods, places to go.  A hike up a trail ending on the top of a 2,769’ monolith overlooking Rio de Janeiro caught her attention.

2022 – Late May – Exploring Greece – Athens

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On the road

Acropolis

Our ride to Piraeus is smooth and uneventful.  We meet a friend of the family, and former taxi driver, he knows the best way to get across town.  We arrive at our apartment in less than hour.  Glyfada, a suburb of Athens is filled with shops, restaurants and cafes.  Locals are out enjoying their evening.  After emptying our bags and getting familiar with the apartment we head out to see what’s in the area.  Walking several blocks, we see the restaurants are full and curiously we see everything but Greek cuisine.  We start our search for a market.  After getting directions we find a mini market for water and a few basics to eat.  In addition to the mini market, we keep an eye out for pharmacies.  Pharmacies in Greece do Covid tests, which we will need within a day of our flight back to the States.

2022 – Late May – Exploring Greece – The Islands: Santorini, Mykonos

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Sunset on Santorini

We wake early for our Sea Jet ride to Santorini. The port is only a few blocks away, but we decide to use a taxi, the driver will know where to take us.  The line of people is long, and we get directed to another, shorter line, then are directed on to the ship.  We scramble with the other passengers finding a spot for our luggage.  We find the cabin quite spacious, with comfortable chairs.  We sit close to the ticket desk watching all the activity.  These somewhat smaller boats did not sail the past two days due to the high winds and turbulent water so lots of people are boarding.  Keep in mind ‘smaller ship’ is a relative term, it still has room for a few dozen vehicles.  The boat serves food, so we pick up a couple spinach pies for breakfast.  The ride is quite smooth given the water conditions the past two days.  We arrive in Santorini in two hours.

2022 – Mid May – Exploring Greece – The Islands: Crete

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Koules Fortress

Our flight to Heraklion, Crete leaves at 1130 AM from the Athens international airport.  We start our drive from Corinth, about 50 miles away.  Personally, I am concerned of having to drive through Athens, the airport is literally on the opposite side of town.  The only thing we have going for us is that it is Sunday, hopefully Athenians will still be in bed, or at least not on the road.

2022 – Early/Mid May – Exploring Greece – The Peloponnese: Olympia, Monemvasia, Nafplio, Epidaurus, Corinth

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On the road

Temple of Zeus

Passing over the Patras Bridge we enter the Peloponnese, a separate peninsula of land in the south of Greece.  The land quickly flattens out with many ranches, orchards and farms.  We see the Ionian Sea off to the west before turning east climbing back into the mountains approaching Olympia.

2022 – Early May – Exploring Greece – Thessaloniki, Nafpaktos

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Thessaloniki's White Tower

Driving from Litochoro to Thessaloniki the toll road becomes crowded.  It is the second largest city in Greece at just over 800,000.  Our hotel is within a mile of the waterfront.  The streets are crowded with moving and parked cars, with luck we find a place to park on our second tour around the hotel.  I have to use my parallel parking skills to park on the left side of the street, backing uphill into a tight spot.  We celebrate our success, no dents or scratches on our car or any of the ones we squeezed in between.  We pull our carry-ons behind us, check in and learn that by moving the no parking signs belonging to the hotel we can park just outside the hotel door.  One more trip to the car, a long drive around the block and we are set.

2022 - Late April/Early May - Exploring Greece - Delphi, Kalabaka, Litochoro

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Meteora/Kalabaka

It’s been a while since I posted any trips.  We have been busy doing things around the house, taking little trips around the area, and planning, scheduling and putting the pieces together for a five-week trip to Greece.  This trip was originally scheduled for Sept/Oct of 2021 but with Covid getting worse, hot weather conditions and wildfires going through Greece we postponed it to April/May, just before the Greek tourist season starts.

Early October – Kayaking, Bat Yak Dinner – Austin, TX

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Congress Ave bridge

We are on our way to the 3^rd annual Bat Yak Dinner.  This is an afternoon adventure based on seeing small Mexican free-tailed bats taking off from their Congress Avenue Bridge hangout at sunset.

Traffic builds as we approach Austin.  We closely follow one of our fellow kayakers; we are nervous about finding where everyone is meeting for the picnic.  The fortunate thing is our kayaking buddies are easy to spot – kayaks hanging out of the backs of trucks or on trailers are a helpful clue.

Late September – Kayaking, Pennybacker bridge area and Bull Creek

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We are heading into greater Austin for today’s adventure.  Approaching and actual driving through a small part of Austin means sitting on the I-35 parking lot along with other temporary two and three lane parking lots.  This activity reminds us of some of the details we lived through in our past, working life.

Early September - /Kayaking the San Gabriel River near Circleville

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Today is our second expedition with our new found kayaking group.  Waking at 6 to make the rendezvous I am dubious about this trip.  I have no apprehension about paddling; it’s the forecast high of 97+ along with my phone telling me it’s already 80.