Greece – Athens and islands
We made only a visit to Greece, but a memorable visit. It was the first flight to my family, in a well planned trip, rich in diversity, cultural opportunities and adventures.
1989 ia already getting too far, but most memories still remain, and it will be fun to compare the old sensations to the new standards of Greece, if I may return.
That would be great – this time, maybe skipping Santorini, Mykonos and Samos, and adding to Athens Creta, the north of the country, and… Montenegro! Why not?
Athens
Main door of Greece, its capital makes a mandatory part of any trip to this country.
There are a lot of “must see” in Athens, but also many small details and curiosities that advice the return, for a new look, a deeper look. I don’t know when, but I’ll be back, maybe out of peak season.
Mykonos
One of the mandatory postcards of Greece is a view of “Little Venice”, a very beautiful small section of the coast in this island.
However, Mykonos is much more than a photogenic detail, an island with history, nature, good beaches, and a touristy structure to keep animated the many tourists that demand it all over the year.
Naxos
Naxos is one of the biggest islands, but, from my previous readings, I knew that some other should be more interesting, and, since we had limited time, we had only a general view of the harbour in our way from Santorini to Mikonos.
Samos
It should have been the only island in our program, but I decided to split the week in three, visiting also Mykonos and Santorini.
Wise decision, since those two islands are, indeed, much more interesting than Samos, however, the couple of days spent here, with a short trip to Turkey in the middle, were also very appreciated.
Santorini
If I had to elect a single island to see, Santorini would be the one.
It has everything, but the walk on the volcano, the swim in thermal water, facing Thira at the edge of the cliffs, and the mules up and down to the harbour are memorable.
Don’t miss!
Bad day in Samos
We were in Mikonos, waiting for our flight to Samos, when Fernanda noticed a newspaper’s front page with a large photo of what seemed to be a plane crash and something like “ZAMOZ” as tittle.
I went to the company’s desk, and asked if it there was any problem with the flight.
The receptionist, nervously grabbed the counter’s edge and said:
“Olympic is the safest company in the world”.
“Congratulations! But did you have a problem, or not?”
She repeated the slogan, I insisted, and she whispered:
“Please don’t panic!”
“Please! YOU don’t panic, and stay calm. What happened?”
Finally she admitted: There was a crash in Samos, and 18 people were killed. I rushed to a phone (we weren’t using cell phones those days), and my father announced me that the crash was already known in Portugal, with my brother waiting for the list of passengers from the Greek embassy.
We proceeded without complaints. Accidents do happen, fortunately they are rare, with a great chance to happen in some other people’s flights. We just have to be lucky. We were! Sorry for the families who didn’t share our luck.
