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Vacation to Greece
Below is a photo journal of my three-week trip to Greece (and to a lesser extent, London and Turkey) from Jul. 15th 2004 - Aug. 5th, 2004.

The trip was undertaken by myself, my brother (Matt), my mom (Cindy), my dad (Wally), my aunt (Lora), my uncle (Lenny), my ex-girlfriend (Jenny) and her parents (Barry and Susan).

To view a description of each picture, hold your mouse over the image. This requires a browser capable of viewing ALT text, such as Internet Explorer.



The island cruise (Jul. 17th, 2004)
We arrived in Athens and stayed at a Best Western called the Coral. Why is there a Best Western in Europe? Isn't Best Western supposed to imply "west?" Anyway, on the 17th of July we went island-hopping to Poros, Hydra and Ageana (these are just wild guesses at the spelling, by the way...most of the Greek names on this page are wild guesses). Below are pictures of this trip.

Jenny, outside of the Coral Hotel in Athens. Matt and Jenny on the cruise ship. Steve and Jenny on the cruise ship. A shot from one of the islands. Not sure what it is.

A really neat alley that Matt found on one of the islands. I waited for people to get off the stairs before I took the picture. A narrow street on the Poros island. That same narrow street, but with a view of the ocean. Wally and Lenny looking out over the water.
Jenny, sitting on a ledge. The big boat in the background is the ship that took us on our one-day cruise. The marketplace of Poros. The marketplace of Poros.
Matt and Lenny in Poros. Don't be fooled by the rocks that she's got, she's still Jenny on the dock. A weird self-portrait of myself. My mom thought it looked stupid, but changed her mind and likes it now. One last picture before we got back on the boat.




Athens and the Acropolis (Jul. 18th, 2004)
The next day, we went to the Acropolis in Athens. Acropolis loosely translates to "highest city." The Acropolis is up to a hill and overlooks the rest of Athens. I'm not sure if it's still the highest point in the city, but it sure felt like it from up there. There are many Acropolises/Acropoles/Acropoli (how do you pluralize Acropolis?) in Greece, but I got bored of taking pictures of them all, so most of my Acropolis pictures are from this one.

A shot of the Acropolis from below. There was a huge pile of rocks at the bottom of the Acropolis. Here are some of them. More Acroporocks. A small amphitheatre at the bottom of the Acropolis.

A carved stone at the bottom of the Acropolis. Another carved stone at the bottom of the Acropolis. After a bit of a hike to the top of the Acropolis, I took this picture of Athens from a hill. Jenny on her way up to the top of the Acropolis.
A beautiful shot from near the top of the Acropolis. Looking down, there's an amphitheatre below and farther away there is the city of Athens. Finally, at the top! Dad, Matt and mom with uncle Len ruining the picture. Another shot of the top. There is some reconstruction going on.
Jenny and mom taking a break. Mom, auntie Lora and Susan taking a break with Matt. One of the only nice pictures I was able to get of Matt on the trip! My dad up at the top.
A tired Jenny at or near the top. Steve at the top; I think that's the Parthenon in the background. Me again.

 After we left the Acropolis, we went elsewhere to a large amphitheatre. Mom and Matt in the middle.
Mom and dad in the amphitheatre. I climbed up to the top of the steps and took a picture of my family at the bottom. Mom climbing up the steps of the amphitheatre.

 Uncle Len surveying the amphitheatre.
Wow, what a cool picture! Me and Matt at the top. Me and mom. A shot of the amphitheatre with the sky in the background.




A circular tomb (Jul. 19th, 2004)
Didn't take many pictures the next day, but I did take some of a circular tomb we visited.

My aunt and uncle walking into the tomb. A cool photograph of the roof of the tomb. It was a circular structure and very dark inside. My mom, with the tomb's exit in the background.

  




Mystra (Jul. 20th, 2004)
Mystra is a castle of ruins high up on a mountain. The scenery from the top was spectacular.

A wall at Mystra. Some more walls... And more walls...

 And more walls.........................
A cool hidden archway I found. A wall next to the archway. The castle on the way up. This is Andrew, one of the guys on our tour. A neat guy from New Zealand.
Wow, what a view! Check out the little farms below. The view. What is this thing? A cricket or cicada? It was huge. When we left the ruins, we stopped at a small market and my parents had a drink.




Night and day in Pylos (Jul. 21st, 2004)
We went to a nice little tourist city called Pylos, which was right on the water. Very humid. Anyway, it was an absolutely beautiful city and I took some pictures that evening. The next day, we checked out some of the islands. There was a huge war in Pylos about a hundred years ago, involving the Greeks, the British, the Russians, the French, the Italians, and the Turks if I remember correctly. I think it was basically everyone vs the Turks. About sixty years after the war, monuments were constructed on some of the islands to honor soldiers from the war.

Partying in Pylos. From left to right: Susan, Lora, Lenny, Cindy, Wally, and Barry. More partying in Pylos. From left to right: Genetta (sp?), Andrew, Matt, Christine, Jenny, Andrea, and Ann. The next morning, we went to some of the surrounding islands. This is the island that had the French monument on it (see above for a description of what the monuments are for). An amazing shot of the water from the first island.
Wow... A natural rock archway with birds in the background. The top of the archway. And another tomb.




Olympia (Jul. 22nd, 2004)
Olympia is the home of the original Olympic stadium. Although most of it is just ruins now, it's still quite an impressive site. Additionally, there's an Olympic Museum which has a ton of amazing statues, including a famous statue of Hermes (messenger of the gods) and Dionysus (god of wine).

Some pillars at the Olympic stadium. Some neat shadows from the pillars. One of the pillars from the ground up, with the sky above. A cool arch leading into a part of the Olympic site.
From the Olympic Museum. The statue in the middle of this series is Zeus. A carving; I think it's Hercules (or Heracles). Zeus. More statues.
More statues. Another relief of statues; the statue in the middle is Apollo. More statues. More statues.
Apollo, god of the sun. More statues. Another view of the Apollo group of statues. Another statue.
Another statue. Another statue. A famous statue of Hermes (messenger of the gods) and Dionysus (god of wine). Dionysus is a baby in this picture and is next to Hermes. A famous statue of Hermes (messenger of the gods) and Dionysus (god of wine). Dionysus is a baby in this picture and is next to Hermes.
Nike, goddess of victory. Nike, goddess of victory. Me looking up at a statue. Me looking up at a statue with Barry ruining the picture.




The Ruins of Delphi (Jul. 23rd, 2004)
On this day we saw one of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the ruins of Delphi. Check out this gallery for some awesome pics.

A pillar at the bottom of the ruins of Delphi. My aunt Lora at Delphi. A view of the mountains from the ruins. Another view of the mountains.
The Temple of Apollo at the ruins of Delphi. An amphitheatre at the ruins of Delphi. Looking down onto Delphi. Mom and auntie Lora running a stadium at the top of the ruins.
Dad sitting down at the stadium. The stadium at the top of the ruins. The tour group. From left to right: Matt, Jenny, Andrew.
Barry. Uncle Len and Auntie Lora. From left to right: Matt, Jenny, me.  




Kalumbaka (Jul. 24th, 2004)
Kalumbaka is a picturesque city below a large, smooth group of mountains. Nuns and monks built monasteries on the top of the mountains. Here are pictures from one of the monasteries.

The monastery. Looking out onto the valley. Down into a ravine.  




Cruise Ship (Jul. 25th, 2004)
At this point in the trip, we boarded a cruise ship for a four-day cruise.

Cruise ships at night.      




Turkey (Jul. 26th, 2004)
We spent an afternoon in Turkey. A very cool place, but I could see it getting on my nerves after a while. You can't really trust anyone here; the shopkeepers all view you as a walking wallet.

A sign outside of a pay restroom in Turkey. "Genuine Fake Watches?" Matt on a camel.  




The next day (Jul. 27th, 2004)
Not sure where this picture was taken.

Matt and me.      




Knossis, Crete (Jul. 28th, 2004)
Crete, home of the mythical Minotaur. These pictures were taken at Knossis.

Looking onto the ruins of Knossis. Knossis. Looking through a missing brick hole onto trees.  




Night kittens in Athens (Jul. 30th, 2004)
Having finished our four-day cruise, we took a walk along the water at night in Athens. The city is full of stray cats and dogs; a ton of cats were out and about on the beach. Some pictures shown here.

Night kitten! This cat was not happy to see me. A baby. In the background is the mommy/daddy cat from the other picture, still not happy to see me.  




Bye bye British! (Jul. 31st, 2004)
Jenny, Susan, and Barry went back home as we returned to the UK. Their vacation was over, but my family still had four more days to spend in London before we returned to Vancouver.

From left to right: Matt, Jenny, Susan, Barry.      




London calling (Aug. 1st, 2004)
Here we are in London! This was a busy day; we saw the British Museum, the Tate Modern Gallery, and Picadilly Circus.

A hotel nearby where we were staying (ours wasn't as nice as this) A street in London. Neat sign. Outside the British Museum.
Diskobolos! The MINISIS Inc. branding mark! This isn't the original statue, it's a copy. However, it's a very old copy. Another view of Diskobolos. Me and Diskobolos.

 A courtyard in the British Museum. This is a huge, huge complex. The inner courtyard is enclosed with a glass roof.
The inner courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard was a huge library. This is the ceiling in that library. The top of the library. Books in the library.
More books. The dome on top of the library. Outside, a shot of the glass ceiling in the courtyard. A cathedral; I think it was St. Paul's.
A statue outside the cathedral.

 A sculpture of a giant spider in the Tate Modern Gallery. A little shopping area in London. Not sure what this building is.
A castle, whee. Picadilly Circus. Another shot of Picadilly Circus.  




The Natural History Museum (Aug. 4th, 2004)
On this day we saw the Natural History Museum. Wow...how come all the cool museums are in Britain?

The National History Museum from the outside. The entrance of the Natural History Museum. Dinosaurs! A large scorpion.
A neat sculpture of a globe with an escalator going through it. A statue of Atlas. Not sure who this is. Statue of an astronaut. Reminds me of MTV.
Statue of a scientist. Reminds me of Intel commercials. A darker picture of the globe.    




Well, those are my vacation photos. I came back, and was surprisingly unjetlagged upon return. My impression of Greece was generally a good one. If you want to have a good time and absorb a bit of history, Greece is a great place to do it. I personally preferred Italy, but the history in Greece was so significant that you could practically see it in the air.

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