This year, I am especially grateful that I was able to go on a trip of a lifetime to Greece! My awesome sister and BIL let me tag along on their family vacay! I would have been a fool to pass that one up. We spent 9 days in beautiful, Greece! It's hard to pick a favorite moment or experience...how do you choose when you're dealing with the ancient ruins of Athens or staring at the beautiful blue Aegean Sea from your villa in Santorini! I guess what I found to be most interesting were the locals and learning about the way they live....
Gus lived in Athens, and he was our driver. The amount of history that even the drivers know about the ruins is simply mind boggling. Although we did hire a tour guide, I'm pretty sure we didn't need one because Gus could have told us the same thing. He was so kind and compassionate, so to hear about his struggles with the economy crisis in Greece was a pretty heart wrenching. He was the only person working in his family of five, which included three adult children!! He said the unemployment rate for the older generation was about 20% and among people between the ages of 20-30 it was 50%. Pretty unreal...
In Santorini, I met George, who was our driver and tour guide. If anyone is reading this right now and ever plans on visiting Santorini...which I suggest all of you do...please contact me so I can try to help get you in touch with George. There's not a crevice of Santorini that he doesn't know. He's kind of the Rico Suave of the island. Ever the bachelor, he kinda just roams about the island in his Hummer being a Bad Ass with his collar popped. He's worked as a guide/driver with all sorts of celebrities...like Hrithik Roshan!!
While we yachted on the Aegean see, I met Eddy...He was the co-captain and chef on the yacht. His culinary skills were amazing...for a guy whose real profession was being a painter. He was pretty much a jack of all trades and he mastered all of them. When I interrogated...err, i mean, chatted with him, he told me about how he met his wife in Santorini. Apparently a lot of Japanese come to Santorini to get married, and she had come along with a couple as the bride's hair dresser. She met Eddy, they fell in love, and they got married!!...She never went back. How romantic!!! They've been married for three years, and this will be the first year he goes back with her to Japan. He said they work pretty much day and night for seven months out of the year in Santorini and then chill for five months and travel and do whatever they want. I could handle that...Don't think I didn't think about staying there.
So aside from the people and the beauty of Greece...the food was phenomenal. Gyros...greek salad...fried anchovies...the best seafood ever...and shrimp saganaki! Thankfully, I brought a few recipes home with me and can do a pretty close mimic...but nothing will ever compare!
Gus lived in Athens, and he was our driver. The amount of history that even the drivers know about the ruins is simply mind boggling. Although we did hire a tour guide, I'm pretty sure we didn't need one because Gus could have told us the same thing. He was so kind and compassionate, so to hear about his struggles with the economy crisis in Greece was a pretty heart wrenching. He was the only person working in his family of five, which included three adult children!! He said the unemployment rate for the older generation was about 20% and among people between the ages of 20-30 it was 50%. Pretty unreal...
In Santorini, I met George, who was our driver and tour guide. If anyone is reading this right now and ever plans on visiting Santorini...which I suggest all of you do...please contact me so I can try to help get you in touch with George. There's not a crevice of Santorini that he doesn't know. He's kind of the Rico Suave of the island. Ever the bachelor, he kinda just roams about the island in his Hummer being a Bad Ass with his collar popped. He's worked as a guide/driver with all sorts of celebrities...like Hrithik Roshan!!
While we yachted on the Aegean see, I met Eddy...He was the co-captain and chef on the yacht. His culinary skills were amazing...for a guy whose real profession was being a painter. He was pretty much a jack of all trades and he mastered all of them. When I interrogated...err, i mean, chatted with him, he told me about how he met his wife in Santorini. Apparently a lot of Japanese come to Santorini to get married, and she had come along with a couple as the bride's hair dresser. She met Eddy, they fell in love, and they got married!!...She never went back. How romantic!!! They've been married for three years, and this will be the first year he goes back with her to Japan. He said they work pretty much day and night for seven months out of the year in Santorini and then chill for five months and travel and do whatever they want. I could handle that...Don't think I didn't think about staying there.
So aside from the people and the beauty of Greece...the food was phenomenal. Gyros...greek salad...fried anchovies...the best seafood ever...and shrimp saganaki! Thankfully, I brought a few recipes home with me and can do a pretty close mimic...but nothing will ever compare!
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