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I am proud to report that Mom and Dad survived their trip to Bulgaria (and Greece).  They are safely back home in the States with many, many, many memories (hopefully all good ones).  Our trip was amazing and it was beyond wonderful to be able to spend nearly two weeks together.  I have to say that I was incredibly nervous about their arrival, mostly because I had to go to Sofia by myself to pick them up.  The angst over my first solo Bulgarian experience was almost enough to give me an ulcer.  But, luckily for me Misho met me in Sofia and helped me buy all the proper tickets and get my parents from the airport (thanks again Misho). 

The rest of the Bulgaria trip was wonderful.  We had perfect weather and Mom and Dad got to see all the best of the Black Sea Coast.  I really couldn’t have asked for a more perfect week.  We even got to watch the dolphins (which I thought were a myth made up by restauranteurs trying to lure in unwitting tourists) frolick and play in the bay near Sozopol.  In the end, all of my angst was for nothing.  Mom and Dad enjoyed Bulgaria and we escaped to Greece with nothing but positive feelings. 

Greece was, simply put, amazing.  I had really low expectations for Athens because everything everyone had ever told me was that the city was overcrowded and dirty.  Maybe the clean-up for the Olympics in 2004 has stuck because I thought the city was beautiful.  When we first arrived it was Easter weekend so the city was deserted which made for some surreal experiences.  We enjoyed a midnight mass for Easter and generally loved strolling through the quiet city.  A special thrill was sitting on the Areopagus where Paul debated with the Athenian philosophers in the book of Acts.  All the other main attractions (i.e. the Acropolis) were closed but the lack of a crowd made up for the inconvenience.

Our cruise around the Greek Isles was equally spectacular.  The cruise itself was fine although it was like being tossed in the deep-end of American culture after a long time away.  It was rather funny but I felt some serious culture-shock being around my own countrymen and women.  Besides this cultural readjustment the cruise was quite relaxing.  The stops at the islands were all a mixture of wonder and sadness.  The places we saw each had their own unique qualities that made them fascinating and we never had enough time anywhere to truly appreciate everything that the individual places had to offer. 

Mykonos was our first stop.  It was a very pleasant little island filled with winding little alleys.  Every building was painted a blinding shade of white which made the walk through the alleys a bit disorienting.  It was a major tourist trap but beautiful nonetheless.  The next day we started off in Kusadasi in Turkey.  We took an excursion to ancient Ephesus which was beyond words.  I was expecting a small bit of spectacular ruins but the site itself is enormous.  It was a bonanza of amazing ruins and relics.  The truly amazing thing is that they are still excavating more. 

Following Ephesus we sailed a short way to Patmos.  There we got to see the grotto of St. John where he wrote the Book of Revelation.  It was a very special feeling to be in the cave/church/monastery (a feeling which was dampened but not ruined by our barbaric fellow tourists).  The rest of Patmos was simply beautiful as well.  It is a very sparsely populated island and filled with wonderful natural beauty.  The next day we landed at Rhodes.  We got up early and hit the old medieval town while it was still empty.  When you wander through the Greek and Roman ruins of Greece you often forget that the country has a Medieval past as well.  Rhodes looks like it belongs in France and not Greece.  It’s Medieval fortifications make for an impressive sight.  Even though it rained for most of the day (leaving us soaked and eating lunch at 11:00 just to get out of the rain) we ventured into nearly every nook and cranny in the old town. 

 

Okay, that’s all I have time for today.  I will finish this post ASAP!

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