Well, this is it - the thrilling conclusion to my Greek trip. There has not been much information to date -- and I'm skeptical this post will change that much. We really did so much and I thought of so many witty things to say but now that it's over my heart is just not into it anymore. It's over. For example: I'm not going to say that Greece is in a constant state of construction but I'm actually going to need some proof that the Acropolis is in fact a ruin and not simply a work-in-progress. Ba-dump-dump. Haha. I got a million of them ....
Anyway, where were we? Oh that's right - we had finished visiting our 100s of Greek relatives and we were off to the beach! Just the family were headed off to Affisos, in the Pelion region based on the recommendation of a cousin. It was super nice - POLI OREA! What's this then? So nice that now YiaYia, PaPou and an aunt were coming as well? Okay, so no time to ourselves but still - the beach! It lived up to the hype - it was a small town but our hotel was right on the water, lots of good restaurants nearby and a beautiful beach with unbelievably clear water. So, we headed down to the main beach and plunked down our $8 euro for an umbrella and a couple of chairs. Good times! Next day, more of the same. It was day three when a local tipped us off (it helps to travel with people that speak the language) that there was in fact a more private a beautiful beach even closer to our hotel that only the locals knew about. Well, that is were we spent the rest of the time. Well, most of us. I just simply cannot do the beach thing day after day - I actually tired of it. I actually went for a hike, read some English newspapers (which I paid dearly for) and occasionally visited the rest of the famn damily at the beach. Anyway, it was clearly the high point of the trip and much sunning and funning was done. I would highly recommend the town of Afissos is general and the 'Hotel Olga' in particular. The food was great and Mrs C. and I were even able to take a trip into Volos one evening to have dinner at the very same restaurant we went to on our honeymoon.
From here we said a farewell to our relatives and back to Lavrio to get ready for the trip back. We spent the day before our departure in Athens and did a little shopping and took in the brand-spanking-new Acropolis museum - a must see for anyone planning a trip. So, in closing - the trip back absolutely sucked. We had to leave the house at 2:00AM to drop off a rental car and make a 5:00 flight - with a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam. I must have been puked on a minimum of 10 times on the way back and then a luggage carousel broke when we finally got to Toronto, meaning we were there an extra 3 hours before our 2 hour drive home. In total it was almost 30 hours door-to-door. UGH! While I won't debate that it was a trip of a lifetime I was absolutely thrilled to be back. It took our family the entire week to get back on track, just in time for about 60 of our closest friends to come over for a BBQ on Saturday night. Why yo may ask? Why it was Lil' Canucklehead's first birthday party!
Why yes - he does love cake! Anyway, it has been an exhausting time but I'm hopeful things will truly be back on track soon. Thanks for sticking with in my extended absence and I will be back soon. Hope you are enjoying the summer and all the best.
CHEERS!
