Not to bore you with a history or biology lesson, but you might be interested in the fascinating drama of what silk is all about. If you don’t read any further, ponder this: Just one ounce of silkworm eggs contains 40,000 eggs (1,500 eggs per gram). The worms from those eggs will eat 3,500 pounds, […]

Perhaps you have never noticed that over the millennia, religion has been at the forefront of all history. Before “history” was even recorded there were poems and stories, learned, repeated, changed and eventually accepted as fact. Homer’s Odyssey and The Iliad are classic examples. Since there were no cameras or other means of recording what “was”, all religion in some way are based on mythology and the interpretation of mythology.

During the last few months in Europe we had seen more than our share of churches and monasteries, but as we drove through the valley north of Kalambáka we saw the first of the amazing monasteries of Metéora, balanced on what seemed to be totally impossible rocky pinnacles and cones, surrounded by sheer cliffs. The mind first asks “how”, followed by “why”. We parked and stood looking up at one of the greatest sights of mainland Greece. Metéora literally means “middle of the sky”, “suspended in the air” or “in the heavens above”.

Back on the mainland of Greece now, our first stop was the beautiful city of Athens; a place with so much history it literally drips out of every stone. We could give you a history lesson on Athens, but if you have never been there, or even if you have, the photos here may inspire you to go, or bring back fond memories. Athens is one of those cities in the world on a short list of “must visit”.

Tearing ourselves from an idyllic camp near Elafonissis on the far southwestern tip of the island, we headed through the mountains on a tortuous highway that looked like a snake going crazy. Are there any straight roads on Crete? Our next stop was Chania (Xania).

OK, my long Mexican 70th birthday adventure is over except for my memories. Now, as I promised, we are picking up with our Trans-Eurasian Odyssey, which will eventually take us through 26 countries and over 40,000 miles, across impassible deserts and over 15,000-foot mountain passes, through the Stans, China, Mongolia and Siberia. Hold on for the ride.

Leaving the Peloponnese and heading to Piraeus, the Athens harbor, we had to cross the famous Corinth Canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea. Cut through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, it effectively makes the peninsula of the Peloponnese an island. Several rulers in antiquity dreamed of digging a water passage […]

Going way back to Greek history classes in high school, Monika has a vivid memory of the Lion Gate at Mycenae, so naturally this was a must-see stop. In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centers of Greek civilization, a military stronghold that dominated much of southern Greece. According to legend […]

Driving north towards Mycene and Corinth, we could have followed the freeway, but we had read in one of our guidebooks about the little alpine village of Kosmás on the coastal route.  It was a pretty easy choice. Heading into the Párnonas Mountains, the tortuous two-lane road was very steep. Second and third gear travel […]

This jewel town is located on a small island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, separated from the mainland by an earthquake in 375AD and now linked to the mainland by a short causeway. Founded in 583 by people seeking refuge from the Slavic and Avaric invasion of Greece, the site had a powerful […]