Greece & Turkey!
We stored the RV in the Phoenix, AZ area (again) and headed on a land and cruise tour of Greece and Turkey! We feel very blessed to be able to live this life and explore. We try to take nothing for granted and thank God daily for all our blessings!
We flew into Newark, NJ on April 10th and met Jane’s sister Cindy. We spent the night in Newark as Jane’s mother flew in the next day. The night in Newark was a experience in an of itself. We secured a hotel room not far from the airport knowing we wouldn’t be staying very long as we arrived at 9:30pm and Jane’s mother came in at 9am the next day. We should have knew that the hotel we picked was not where we should be staying. First, it advertised that it was 3 miles from the airport whereas it was really 25 minutes. Secondly, when we arrived by hotel shuttle there was another patron having a screaming match with the receptionist and the receptionist was behind what looked like bullet proof glass. We attempted to leave but a young lady in the front lobby and the shuttle driver convinced us to stay. When we booked the room it was just two of us and then Jane’s sister decided to come in at the same time so we called about a month before and asked for a room with two beds and were told there were none. We decided to continue with our reservation as it was a King deluxe which came with a sofa. When we got to the room, it was filthy everywhere and the floor was uneven!! By this time it was 11pm. We noticed the sofa was a pull out sleeper and asked for a set of sheets. The receptionist said she’d get housekeeping to bring us some. After ordering dinner from McDonald’s (which was delivered on a bicycle) because it was the only place open, we realized we received no sheets. Jeanne headed to the reception area and asked about the sheets. The receptionist was on the phone with the manager and he said “no sheets”!! Needless to say, it takes a lot to upset Jeanne but when she got back to the room, we packed up, called for another reservation at a much better and much more expensive hotel, called an Uber and headed out. The receptionist and shuttle driver wanted to know where we were going. We told them we were leaving. It was then the receptionist said “come back in, I’ll give you a room with two beds”. REALLY?? Are you kidding me??? Needless to say, this hotel did not get a good review on Trip Advisor. The manager responded and essentially took no responsibility for the actions of his staff or himself! If you want to know what hotel send us a private message because you do no want to stay there, even for a hour!!
After a lovely stay at a better hotel we headed back to the Newark Airport to get Jane’s mother from her flight. We then headed into NYC where we stayed in a very nice Hampton Inn in Manhattan! We decided that being this close to NYC, we wanted to stay a couple of nights and see Broadway shows. We say Frozen and My Fair Lady! Both were awesome! We also took a tour of the United Nations which was very interesting, even for Jane who doesn’t usually like this sort of thing!!
After a fun couple of days in NYC we headed back to Newark airport to catch our flight to Greece. Our tour was with Smartours (headquartered in NYC) as we have taken 2 other trips with this company and we had a blast. We arrived 3.5 hours early as instructed (much to Jane’s mothers chagrin – she’d rather get to the airport and walk onto the plane – Old school ways!). It was a good thing we got there early to check in because between Jeanne, Jane’s mother (Joyce) and sister there are 4 hip replacements, two knee replacements and one shoulder replacement (not to mention Jane’s ankle fusion which has metal too) so it takes a good bit of time to get through security!! We met some of the folks going on the trip with us as we all headed onto the plane for a 11 hour flight to Athens. Of course it was an over night flight, leaving at midnight and arriving in Athens, Greece at 5pm! Sleeping on a plane is never easy (especially without adult beverages or medication)!!
Upon arrival in Athens, we met our tour guide Granville who was excellent and just so much fun to be around. There were 31 of us on the tour! After a good nights sleep we loaded onto our tour bus and headed to the cruise port where we boarded the Celestyal Cruises Olympia ship on our way to various places in Greece and Turkey. Our itinerary was great and the tour had us up early and to bed late seeing as much of the country as possible in the 5 days we had on the ship. Our itinerary included: Athens, Mykonos, Ephesus, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete, Santorini, Delphi and Olympia.
Athens, Greece
First night in Greece we had a nice authentic dinner at a local restaurant as recommended by our tour guide. The restaurant was within viewing distance of the Parthenon!
Mykonos, Greece
Our first stop on the cruise was Mykonos and unfortunately it poured rain, but we pulled out our umbrellas and headed out to see the sites!! We did have some breaks in the rain but that just created “rivers” down the roads. Needless to say, our shoes were soaked. Thankfully most of us brought a couple of pairs of shoes – except Jeanne!! It was quite a sight watching her dry her shoes with the hair dryer!!
Kusadasi & Ephesus, Turkey
The cruise ship stopped in the port of Kusadasi and we headed on our bus tour to Ephesus. Here we toured the ancient city of Ephesus. This is where Paul spoke with the Ephesians and to whom he wrote the letters which is the book of Ephesians in the Bible. Jane and Jeanne were fortunate enough to take this tour in 2012 and in this trip we saw new archaeological finds. There are ongoing archaeological digs which reveal more exciting finds each year! Its a fascinating city which shows an extraordinary depth of understanding of engineering and planning. Needless to say, Jeanne is always interested in the water systems in ancient cities. They had running water and sanitation removal over 2000 years ago. While Jane was very much interested in the ruins, she of course paid a great deal of attention to the stray dogs that hung around. They are stray however the staff takes care of them so they all have collars and are well fed and cared for!! That’s a good thing because Jane couldn’t figure out how to get them all on the plane home! Of course every where we went there was shopping where you could pretty much find any souvenir you wanted including “Genuine Fake Watches”!!
Patmos, Greece
We visited St. John’s Monastery and Grotto (Cave) of the Apocalypse. The cave is believed to be where St. John received his visions from Christ recorded in the Book of Revelation. This is now an active church. We also walked around the town of Patmos which was way up above the harbor providing beautiful views of the entire city.
Rhodes, Greece
In Rhodes, we visited several sites with ruins – The Acropolis of Lindos and the Citadel of the Kights and the Grand Master’s Palace. One of the ruins we visited had peacocks running around the entire place. Rhodes was a beautiful city that had lots to offer the tourist. We fit a lot into a few hours but it was spectacular.
Crete, Greece
We didn’t have a lot of time in Crete but while there we visited the Palace of Knossos which has a maze of 1,500 rooms which is linked to King Minos and mythic characters such as the Minotaur and Labyrinth.
Santorini, Greece
We visited the beautiful Island of Santorini. This is an utterly breathtaking island. It has whitewashed houses, narrow streets and outdoor cafes that line the steep cliffs. We visited the Oia Village which is on the very top of the islands.
Delphi, Olympia and Athens, Greece
We completed the cruise part of our tour and headed back towards Athens passing through several cities on the way including Delphi, Nafpatkos, Mycenae, Arachova and Olympia. These small cities and towns have narrow streets, housing that sit high on the side of a mountain, fabulous restaurants and very kind people. Olympic village was fascinating and awe inspiring to think and see where the Olympics started so many years ago. Our final stop was in Athens where we visited the Parthenon! If anyone reading this has the opportunity to take a tour of Greece and Turkey we encourage you to do so. They are beautiful countries that have so much history and so much to offer visitors. We enjoyed meeting our new friends on the tour: Howard, Judy, Mike, Pricia, Roy, Barbara, Alan, Cindy, John, Harv, Gail, Mark, Marian, Kim, Summer, Lynn, Beth, Beatrice, Luisa, Stephanie, Sylvia, Donna, Kim, Audey, Sherrie, Peter and Janice!
After a great tour we headed home on a 10 hour flight to Newark, NJ. We stayed the night at a local hotel, then we all headed our separate ways. Jane headed back to Phoenix whereas Jeanne headed to Fairfax, VA to spend some time with her mother who wasn’t doing well. Thankfully she is doing better and fighting hard to gain her strength back.
Once Jeanne returned to Phoenix we loaded up the RV and headed to Death Valley National Park area. We have several places scheduled in the next 6 weeks before heading back to Virginia for the month of July. We’ll report on the upcoming weeks soon! We hope you all are enjoying our blog and our adventures. We feel blessed that we have the opportunity to do this. We do miss our family and friends and look forward to see you all soon! Until next time….
JBs Joyful Journey 