Monday, May 31, 2010

A Goode Vacation

Well, I've been back from the most amazing vacation for over a week but due to... absolutely nothing... I've yet to tell the world about it. Writing about the trip could turn into a novel but my goal is not to do that. :)

The parents arrived late on a Sunday night and Monday morning we woke up and made a walking tour of Sofia. Which, in true Bulgarian style, meant stopping at about three cafes and relaxing. I took them to the Alexander Nevski Church and we walked around a lot checking out the city. On Monday evening the wonderful Gabi and Yavor took us out to a great dinner so the 'rents could experience a whole table full of Bulgarian food!

On Tuesday we headed back to my village and they got to check out where I live and experience my life for a couple of days.



After our time in Bulgaria we flew to Athens, Greece where we were meeting up with some of my parents friends... my friends too, of course! We were blessed enough to be led on our tours by Dino Roussos who is a tour guide/preacher in Athens.  (And I went to ACU with Dino's son Stephen who I hadn't seen in years!)  In Athens we visited Corinth, Mars Hill, the Acropolis, the Plaka and Zeus' Temple.

Corinth Canal

Ancient Corinth

The Parthenon


After our time in Athens we boarded the Aegean Pearl Cruise ship and set sail to visit some of the Greek Isles.  Our stops were:
1. Mykonos (Part of The Bourne Identity was filmed - look for the windmills!)
2. Kusadasi, Turkey (Ancient Ephesus - which I had no idea was in Turkey)
3. Patmos (Monastery of St. John and the Cave of the Apocalypse)
4. Rhodes (Acropolis of Lindos and old-town Rodos)
5. Crete (Ancient Minoan Palace of Knossos)
6. Santorini (My favorite <3)

Mykonos

Ancient Ephesus (Turkey)

Kusadasi, Turkey

The Acropolis of Lindos (Rhodes)

Rhodes

Crete

Santorini

Santorini


After our fabulous island trip we spent another day or so in Athens before we took very early flights back to our respective countries.

Ancient Agora in Athens

It was an amazing vacation and I'm so thankful I finally got to see my parents after a year! While we were on vacation I celebrated my one-year anniversary of being in the Peace Corps! One year down, one to go! B25 for Life!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Veevsie, great synopsis, and I always love looking at the pictures.
Maybe when I finally post a few, I can pick some different ones...you know so people will know there are dogs, cats, chickens and horses in Eastern Europe...But why, why, why leave out the picture of Dino riding the donkey down the cliff?? That needs to be part of the official record!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing Veeves. I love it...but I would like to see the picture of Dino too! I'm so jealous of y'alls experience. I want to go some day. Love you!!!