GREECE

Did I mention that Ted and I took a trip to Greece? I came up with this brillant idea a couple of years ago....the year we turned 40, we should go to Greece. Ted's grandma is the first-generation born here and we keep in touch with the relatives there. Thanks to Panos' persistence, we did it. And what a trip it was! Ted's grandma (Yaya) was able to make the trip with us, and we stayed with cousins that lived in Athens. Panos and Soula (3rd cousins our age) took Ted and I on a four day trip out of Athens to different spots in Greece. We drove 600+ plus miles on our excursion. Here is just a sampling of this once-in-a-lifetime trip!

COOL VIEWS

A small, well-known feature in Athens (ie The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis)

View from on top of the Acropolis

Ted and I on a beautiful, deserted beach in Elafonesos. While Ted and I were frolicking in the water, Panos and Soula sat on the beach in their jeans. At 80 degrees, it wasn't warm enough for them!

One of the spectacular views from the many mountains we drove over! Thanks to Dramamine, I had no car-sickness... This is Monemvasia....a fortress that was built while Turkey occupied Greece. It's now a resort, and UNBELIEVEABLE. There are 34 unique sleeping rooms.

The view from just outside our room at Monemvasia, having our regular morning frappe's, seaside

Hiking up the mountain at Monemvasia

And the breath-taking view, from almost the top

While in Athens, Ted and I had our own apartment on the 4th floor of Nancy's house (Panos's sister). This was our view from the patio (Acropolis)

OUR HOSTS

I must say, Greek hospitality is overwhelming. Frankly, Americans can't hold a candle to it. We spent many evenings at different cousin's homes, where they had dinners for us. And by dinners, I mean DINNERS. FEASTS. Like the one-time-a-year-Thanksgivings here. They REALLY liked for us to eat. A LOT. They couldn't understand that it wasn't physically possible for me to have third and fourth helpings of everything. Ted, on the other hand, did just fine. I did pretty well with the wine though :)

This is where we spent a lot of our time in Athens, on Nancy's patio with her parents, Vaggelis and Katina. In this photo is Vaggelis, Yaya, Nancy and Ted.

One of the dinners mentioned, where all available cousins gathered to celebrate our visit.

During our time out of Athens, one of my favorite things was to visit the family "villages". This is where families used to live before many of them moved to Athens. This is Soula's family village, where many of the locals stopped by to visit and chat with the "Americanos". Even though Ted and I couldn't speak Greek, and only Panos could speak english, we had a great time drinking frappes, greek coffee, and getting to know each other!

One of our days by the sea, with our INCREDIBLE tour guides, Panos and Soula. LOVE THEM!
Again, one of the family dinners. Please notice the food. The entire, 20 foot table was COVERED with food.

One of our shopping excursions with Ya in downtown Athens. Of course, we had to stop to eat!
Here is Panos, Soula, and their children, Katerina and Vaggelis. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!

So there it is. It was hard to pick which pictures to post, because the whole trip was such a great experience. To the entire GIANNAKOPOULOS family, thank you, thank you, thank you! When are you coming to the U.S? We're waiting!!!!