31 December ’04, Friday. New Years Eve in Athens Greece…. We thought about going into town for the big celebrations with fireworks, but they stop running the buses, trams, and trains at 11pm. Unfortunately, that would put us about 15 to 20 miles away from “Bumble Bee” without any transportation except for a cab. Now a cab here in Athens would just about break the bank and that is if we could find one to get. Well, let’s back up a day or two… On our arrival here we bought a 4 day pass to 6 of the more sought after ruins in Athens. We really thought that we would have the time to see them in the first 2 days at most…well, that didn’t happen, as the weather had something to say about it. Wednesday we awoke to rain so we kind of just vegged here until about 3, and then we decided that since the rain had let up, we might as well head into town for a night time visit… What a choice that was. We had a wonderful time. By the time we got off the tram, it was just getting dark, so all the ruins were lit up and looking just awesome. We walked all around the major sites, stopping, looking, and reading about some, and also just people watching. About 8 we wandered into a large park in the center of Athens. They were having a Christmas celebration complete with a very tall and beautiful Christmas tree, Santa Claus, music, and lot’s of sweet booths (kind of like the Bite of Seattle). There was one booth that we just had to spend some money at…they were selling “Crème Brulee”…it was the best !!! Before we knew it, it was time for us to head for the tram if we wanted to get home before midnight. Yesterday we awoke to rain again, but we decided we would head into town anyway, so we ate a light breakfast and headed out. The night before, we had walked into an electronics shop just to look around…before we left, we had arranged to pick up a new 17” slim-screen monitor this morning. It was absolutely driving me crazy not having my computer working. We picked it up this morning prior to heading to The National Archaeological Museum. Doing this today, because of the wet weather, just seemed to be the right thing to do. What an incredible visit that was, we were impressed !!! “Jockyboy” of Artemision, which is a large bronze statue of the 2nd c. BC, that was found underwater. Another bronze casting that I was taken with, was the statue of Zeus. That was also found under water. Both of these were apparently found in shipwrecks and were in really good condition. After about 4 hours we had taken in the whole museum, so we made for home. This morning (Friday), we again donned out rain gear and headed out. This time we just had to see the sites that we had been putting off come hell or high water… What we went to see was “The Acropolis, the symbol of Athens, the sacred rock, linking the fabulous ancient civilization with the modern city. The monuments on the Sacred Rock date back to the prehistoric era and antiquity. We also saw The Temple of Athena Nike (Apteros Nike), The Propylaea, The Parthenon, which is a masterpiece it’s self, The Temple of Hephaistros, another architectural masterpiece, and the Roman Agora. Oh yes, we also visited the small and the large “Theatres”. You might say…We Saw It All !!
We had a little rain as we left “Bumble Bee”, but fortunately it stopped for the whole time we were at the ruins…BUT, on the way home…it really let loose. We’ll have some Champagne tonight and toast all of you …
Here’s to a HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR !!!!

29 December '04, Wednesday. This is going to be short...RAIN...WET CLOTHES...TO THE BATHHOUSE WITH THE WET CLOTHES TO DRY...ROOF LEAKS....
Get the table set up, and get the cards out. Who knows, maybe even start a puzzle. We were going through the radio frequencies and came across the Athens Inter4national Radio Station. Most of the time they broadcast English,, but French, German and Spanish is also part of the program...it helps while waiting for the rain to stop.

28 December '04, Tuesday. Off to the bus, the tram, and a full day in Athens. We were ready to soak this historical city in. Unfortunately, about 2 it started to rain. I apparently had more clothes on than Louise, as she really felt the wet and cold. Before departing, we did have a chance to visit a few of the “Antiquities”. Hadrian's Arch which was built by the “Athenianbs” in 131AD in honor of Hadrian. A close walkd away was the Temple of jupiter Olympus Zeus. At one eime it had 104 columns rising 17 meters or 57 feet. Today there are sstill 16 standing. This temple was started in 515 BC but was suspended until Roman Emperor Hadrian completee it in 131 AD. We also visited 3 Bysantine Churches. The structures are wonderful in architectual design and the icons and frescos are really beautiful. Those that we saw todat were built between the 11th and 13th century. We also visited the 12th centuryt “Old Metropolis” (the Old Cathedral). One thing about Athens, once you've arrived in the center, you are just where you want to be. We also toured Plaka...”the Neighborhood of the Gods”. We walked the very narrow streets enjoying all the color of the neo classical homes, and the well kipt little gardens. Next a walk through the famous Monastiraki Flea Market.

27 December '04,Monday. Yesterday (Sunday) we stayed with”Bumble Bee” all day. Fact is, if I were one to wear PJ's, I most likely would have stayed in them to bed time. Late last night we had another camper pull in. For the last 6 days we have been here on our won, and now, someone invades our territory... About 3, I saw our new neighbor outside having coffee, so I went out to meet him. Phillipe is a professional photographer who makes his home in Spain. Louise an I had him in (because we had a heater and it was getting very cold outside) for a drind and conversation.. As it turned out, he doesn't drink while he's out on a shoot. Phillipe started his job here at Meteora and will be shooting winter locations throughout Greece and Turkey. He has chosen to shoot winter this time out because other photographers don't like to get out and get cold. He travels in a 4 wheel drove Jeep and that is his camper as well. We thought we were small... Today we pulled up0 stakes and headed off to Athens. Our trip today was to cover about 360 km, so we took off early. Our main objuctive was to find our campground and set up in daylight....Fortunately, we made it. We had a beautiful drive with the mountains on our right and the sea on our left.

25 December '04, Saturday. Merry Christmas to All... There are times when your not with family for the holidays,and today is one of those, but today we tough it up...it's CHRISTMAS DAY and we're having a wonderful day. Yes, we would have loved to be with our family, but we weren't, so we had and did make the best of it. Yesterday we took “Bumble Bee” into the little town next door (1 km away). We were liiking for “camping gas”, which we had been out of for a couple of weeks. Maybe driving into town wasn't the best idea, but I didn't want to hand carry those gas tanks when full or empty as they get heavy really quick. Well Kalambaka is no different than any town or city in the states the day before Christmas... I just think it's the challenge to see how many cars, trucks, and buses can converge onto the streets at once. They have the “advantage” here because of those smaller cars and trucks. The disadvantage to all of us (although they don't show it as a problem), they double park, park on the sidewalk, park in the crosswalks, park at the corners and bumper to bumper. Now get this, we only heard someone honk their horn twice all day !!! No arguments, no hand signals (you know what I mean) and when you want to stop and leave your car...turn on your 4 way blinkers and walk away...leave...THAT'S IT !!!   I Love These People... Ok, back to finding our camping gas. Everyone we asked, “do you know were we can find Camping Gas”? Gave us directions to a campground...not good as we had already checked and none of them had any, besides we were all ready camping at one. It just so happened that I saw a truck pumping Propane into a business, so I grabbed one of my tanks and ran to him. He of course didn't have any, but he told me to follow him when he finished and I could get some. He gets into his truck on this skinny one way street and BACKS UP !!! He is running now against trafffic (that is backing against traffic), and the cars were getting out of the way, dodging in every direction imaginable, so I jumped right in behind (front) of him, and followed right through traffic. As we got right in the middle of town he stops his truck (and remember, he's still backing up) and gets out and immediately starts motioning for other cars to stop and for me to swing into this alley...that is were the gas can be found... WE CAN GET OUR GAS !!!  It was going to take an hour for us to get our gas, so we went on to find lunch. The sidewalks were even more crowded than the streets. Shoppers were everywhere. Now remember, this is a small town, very small...we were amazed at how busy the meat markets were, and they are everywhere ...people were lined up on the sidewalks and deep into the meat market. Everyone was looking for the same thing... A PIG or maybe a PIGLET to barbeque for their Christmas Holiday Dinner. The “Taverna" we found for lunch had 3 roasting on their spits when we walked in and had at least 6 to 8 more to go. Beside these, every back yard we walked or drove by had their pig roasting as well.

23 December '04, Thursday Yesterday they were calling for snow..today it didn't... Sooo, we set out for a long walk to see as much as we could in the “Meteora”. Most of the walk was up hil, but fortunately, it was gradual. Our first stop was after 45 minutes and then we had to clomb at least 10 flights of stairs to reach Agios Nikolaos Anapaphas, our first monastery. This monastery was built in the late 15th century. It sits on top of a smaller “obliged” rock. On the first floor we saw the chapel and refectory. Above were the “cells” for the monks. About 1527 the frescoes were painted by a monk Theophanis Strelizas. They fill the chapel and the refectory ...what a brilliant work of art. You want to sit and study the work until your eyes give out. But we also have to see some other monasteries, so down all those flights of stairs to the street far below, and start the hike up to the next one.; All the photo ops along the way made the walk seem much shorter than it was. As we approached our 2nd stop, a “Tourist Van” pulled up. As the bus unloaded and the troupe of 10 started up the stairs, we decided to follow. As we reached the gate, it said they were “closed”...Apparently this group had made special arrangements. Soooo, we ducked in behind and... Moni Agias Vararas Rousanou is now a Nunnery. We were welcomed into the beautiful entrance after climbing stairs for ever and then crossing a “dizzing” bridge. Once inside we were treated to a demonstration of wood mallet on a wood Beam (sounding like a drum), and a mallet on 3 metal hanging bars, which sounded similar to bells. I was very impressed. It was really beautiful. Then we made our way into the chapel. It was adorned throughout with frescos painted in the 16th century. There waas ver little light inside, so when they have their services the chapel is lit by candle light. As we “kind” of followed the group in we decided to leave and tour the grounds on our own before departing (we did pay our entrance fees...). At the heights we were at, the views to the surronding hills, valleys, and additional monestaries were stunning. All the monasteries close at 1:30 so we decided to head home and make some chicken chunk soup. The hike back may be downhill, but it was a long down hill. We had a full day and we were feeling it. Tonight I received a set back... My good ole “Gateway” decided not to star5t up....OH S...UCKS !!! The disadvantage to that is no spell check, no pictures, and tr5ying to read my handwriting.

Well we made it! We are in Greece. Not with out some problems. When we got to the Turkish border to leave, we hadn’t kept copies of our visas and custom forms. I know how stupid. We certainly have traveled enough to know better. Really the hassle could have been much worse. I cost us about 1 hour time and an additional $55. euros. Ouch! Live and learn. We are in Alexandropolis, a city of about 50,000. There are Christmas decorations and trees, and even a few Christmas songs on the radio.
We spent the last two nights in gas stations, last night it froze and we had frost on the inside windows. The sun quickly thawed us out and tonight we are snug in a camp ground right on the Thracian Sea. This campground has hot showers not solar heated which is a real treat for us. It is still cold we bought some gloves for Joel and a stocking cap for me today. We will stay here tomorrow and then head south to Thessaloniki. We hope to find some camping gas there. We are almost out and have no way to keep warm or cook if we don’t have electric hookup.
Had a great lunch today. Ate at a small stand by the ferry dock. Joel had a gyro and I had a sausage. Both were on fried pita with French fries and condiments on top and rolled up in paper. Soooo good. Tonight we had a pork chop dinner and tomorrow we will have bacon and eggs for breakfast. We missed our pork since they don’t eat it in Turkey.
We will miss the call to prayer and the wonderful people of Turkey. It is a remarkable country.

15 December ’04, Wednesday. We couldn’t find a campground last night, so we opted for a gas station. Now we have had some varying stays at gas stations and this one was another story. It was a story only because it was really cold outside and they said no to us using the electricity, even though I offered money to off set the cost. Well anyway, we absolutely froze before we got to bed. Now when we did get into bed, and it was early (8:30 of so), we went in fully dressed PLUS… I mean it was COLD !!! Sleeping was good, and we both got a good nights sleep, but getting out of bed this morning…well, that was tough. We got underway even before breakfast or, even washing our face. We wanted the heater on and we wanted it on NOW !!! We drove for about an hour and then stopped in the SUN !!!, washed up, made coffee, and had breakfast…all nice and warm. I forgot to mention, we had made it to the parking lot of the ruins of Troy (Truva). When we pulled in, there was a tour bus already there and unloaded. By the time we were just finishing up breakfast, the bus was loaded and pulling out…we were now the only ones there. This winter traveling and sightseeing has it’s pluses and minuses. The weather has continued to stay..bright sun in the morning to night, COLD to start the day and warming till you step out into the wind and then you recognize that the sun coming through the window has fooled you again…it is still COLD !! So we bundle up again like Eskimos.
Everything we have read about Troy has said that it is a very confusing site to go through. Well, they were right. It seems that there has been so many cities built on top of the other, that they kind of blend one into the other. Also there is no prominent rebuilt area that just stands out. The only prominent thing that stands is the Trojan Horse that an Italian architect thought the wooden horse might have looked like. This is the most photographed item on the site, and every shop for miles around is selling a 2” replica to as much as a 6’ wooden horse. The drawings from the site do have some merit to them, but even those are “educated guessing”. It is too bad that the governments of all the countries can’t pool together the finances to fully, or a close as possible, complete one of two of the most important ruins in each of these countries. What a marvelous thing that would be. Off to Greece or as close as we can get before it gets dark on us. Well, we got as close as 5km or about 1 mile and we pulled into another gas station for the night. This one had electricity for us so we can use our heater tonight….mmmmm.

14 December ’04, Tuesday. On the road this morning and heading north. We will visit Pergamum at Bergama and then head on. We will have a fairly long drive up to Izmir and then head up the coast about another 45 minutes to Bergama. The last time we were in Bergama, we were with Bonnie and Doug and we needed to find a bank-o-matic…no one had any money and it was dinner time. Well, we found the cash and we had our dinner. Today we have a little money left so we passed the machine and headed for the top of the hill. Pergamum is high on the hill overlooking the valley and Bergama. In the glory days of Pergamum, all the valley area’s now were the sea and sea ports. Pergamum was a large city of about 15,000 people immediately in the city area and many more spread out in the hills below. The site is laid out pretty well, but as far as the ruins… there is very little rebuilt. It does have a fairly large amount of columns standing and they have cross members on most of them. Other than that, you have some foundations, books, information boards, and your imagination. The weather today was sunny, windy and cold as heck up on top. The way were dressed, you would think we were looking at some ruins in the farthest north of Alaska instead of Turkey. The drive back down the hill and into Bergama was really interesting in it’s self. The streets and the roads were very narrow and as we approached the town the buildings came right up to the side of the van. The buildings are very old and give you the feel that there has been a community here for a long time. In fact Bergama (Pergamum) has continually been occupied since 3000 BC. That is a long time… As we pulled into town there is a large brick ruin right next to the road…The Red Basilica. In Revelations, St John he Divine wrote that this was one of the seven churches of the Apocalypse, singling it out as the throne of the devil. It has a hole in the podium in the center which allowed someone to hide and appear to speak through the large cult statue. This was originally a temple to the Egyptian gods in the 2 century AD. Tomorrow…on the road to Troy

13 December ’04, Monday. 41 degrees, my feet are freezing, and I’ve got to find that heater fast ! That was first thing this morning and then it was fried eggs, toast, and coffee for breakfast. A quick wash up of the dishes, re-pack the van for travel and head off for our second visit to Ephesus. We visited Ephesus in October when Bonnie and Doug were here with us, but it had so much to see and offer, we decided that we had to make another visit while we were close. Kuºadasi is just 15 km away, so it was an easy morning ride. Just a little recap: Ephesus is among the best places in the world to get a feel for what life was like in Roman times. This time we started out where we finished and made an afternoon of it. As we passed the gymnasium of Vedius (2nd Century AD) we came upon “Harbour Street” which ran from the bay to the “Grand Theatre”. Last time we were here, Harbour Street was closed (this time someone had removed some of the tape) but today we wondered all the way to the end. The “Grandest Street” in Ephesus was all large marble slabs that were laid out to make this wide street very impressive to say the least. There were shops along the sides a nymphaeum (fountain and pool) and the triumphal columns that all added to make this a grand site for it’s visitors and merchants. When we made it to the end we found a path that we followed through some tall weeds and plants and then right in front of us we came across The Church of Mary (or the double church). It wasn’t one the list of places to visit as they had it kind of “out of bounds”, but we just happened to find it through the “back door”. This was the find of the day as far as I was concerned. It was wonderful. As you come through one of the entries, you are met with a large “Baptismal”…it is absolutely stunning. Then, we saw some of the first signs of “Christianity”, a cross. We have been in a lot of ruins in Turkey and have only seen but a few. This church definitely had some to show. As we wondered further into the ruins, we came across the “Baptism Pool”. It was set in a 6 or 8 sided room with a rectangular pool in the center. Steps led down into the water from each end. At each wall around the pool was a large cross carved into the slab marble walls. Louise mentioned that “this would be a wonderful church to have a wedding in”,just as it stands today, and it would. In our tracking through the undergrowth, we came across a young man who was hunting for mushrooms. He said that during the summer he worked at the Ephesus site as a digger for the researchers. He was telling us about his work and his young family with 2 children and how hard it was to keep food and clothes on their back during the winter, and that is why he was out hunting for mushrooms. He was showing us some special locations that we might normally miss and then we were saying our good-bye’s and he dug out this little sack. In the sack he shook out about 6 or 7 coins. “I find these coins when I dig, and the museums have so many of them, they don’t want to give us anything for them any more”….”I need the money for my kids, and I will make a offer to you…” Wellll, we bought some….you know, we had to help. After we left, we were heading down the road and Louise was reading out of one of our travel books, and she comes up with this; At Ephesus, you may be approached to buy “ancient coins”, which, despite their grimy appearance, are actually modern. Some genius discovered that when coins pass through the digestive tract of a sheep or cow, them emerge looking convincingly aged….WHAT ??? Why that dirty…WHAT DID WE PAY ???? I’m going back to find him !!! Well, we knew that someday, someone would get to us, and it might as well have been him…you know, he’s got these kid’s…