Day 1 in the Greek Countryside...Oh My!!

Sarah, Michael, and I all breathed a sigh of relief when we finally left Athens yesterday morning. We are all in consensus that the archaeological sites are the best ever, but alas, the city is not! The graffitti EVERYWHERE, the people who don't speak English (we understand we are in their country, but we were told that "almost everyone speaks English - that's "bull-horse-hockey"), the general rudeness or lack of affectation of those from the city are simply off-putting.

I can attest to the charm and loveliness of not only the people of the country, but of the places we visited as well. Even if the country-folk didn't speak English, they understood us and went to whatever length possible to help us with directions. Thanks goes out to the woman at the petrol station, the man at the petrol station, the young toll booth worker, the walker with red-rimmed sunglasses, and all the others I don't seem to remember right now. God really is good, friends.

I made an international friend yesterday, too. Her name was "Jan" (can you imagine?) and she was from Australia. Poor girl fell and broke her arm in her hotel in Turkey before coming to Greece and her advice to me was never to fall in a foreign country. Amen, Jan - Amen. We met Jan and her tour group at three of the places that we visited - Sarah is a true "tour guide" - she planned all of it and in true tour guide fashion!

The pictures above are of Apollo's temple at Ancient Corinth and another highlight of our tour, the colosseum at Epidaurus. Both fabulous and worth seeing. The colosseum was heck on my feet - massive cobblestones and today my poor foot is feeling it. I found out before I left that I have "plantar fasceitis" (sp?) in my left foot and boy, do I not like it. I have said a prayer every night and every morning for not so much pain, and the ability to walk. I wasn't doing so well yesterday evening, sad to say. I have tried propping up my foot, but as any of you foot hurters know, it doesn't help much. I would love it if you would say a quick prayer today - I don't want to miss a thing!

Driving through the countryside was magical, except for our GPS, affectionately named, "Lucy." She has a British accent and we had to name her because, well, she talks to US, so we need to talk to HER. She says sweet things to us like, "Signal too low... Recalculating...Signal too low...Recalculating...Turn right...turn right...Signal too low...Signal too low...Signal too low." Do you sense the pattern here? Friends, please hear me - if you EVER travel in Greece, get a RELIABLE Lucy, and not the bumbling little fart that we have. I will give her props - she was right 1/3 of the time, when her signal wasn't "too low" and we praised her...and other times, told her she was a piece of crap and other times told her to shut up and other times just unplugged her. The Greek countryside is a force to be reckoned with and there are no I10's or I20's or I35's to go down - no 146's either.

We encountered sheep and goathearders yesterday ON THE ROAD - a windy, scary route that reminded me of when we used to visit Colorado and you had to keep your eyes on the road or you would promptly barf. Mother would be proud - I kept my eyes on the road and did not barf, but came close at times. The hearders were kind and waved at us because, well, it was either we get by or we hit their babies. Not an easy task on Michael's part, as he was driving. Michael does win the award for "Bestest Greek Countryside Driver Ever" - he was so patient.

Also, we encountered armed guards yesterday. On a road leading to Lord knows where. Scared us all to death and we promptly kicked it into reverse and got the "heck outta Dodge" - we were scared that they would pull us over or something!! We escaped and all is well, friends.

We made it to our hotel in Ancient Olympia late last night - we had reservations at the Hotel Antonios. It's on a hill overlooking some of the town. I'm about to eat breakfast and will blog more about it tonight. 'Till then, friends.