Dave Out Loud Parthenon

Taking A Mental Health Day

 I went to Greece last month and it was an amazing trip.  It was a time to celebrate 25 years of marriage to my best friend,  I had an idea of posting about each day exactly a month later on my blog and then posting it on on mine and my wife's FB page.  Now, to be perfectly blunt, very few people consistently read my blog and none of my FB friends are putting any pressure on me at all to post everyday.  Yet I put pressure on myself to do it.  So when I didn't post yesterday and got one day behind on this self imposed deadline and decided I would do two days today, and as of 9:30 p.m. had not done either I began to freak out.  Why? I really want to post about every day, but who cares whether it's exactly a month behind?  Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves for no real reasons?

I think everybody goes off kilter sometimes.  Not exactly like me, but I don't always go off kilter for the same reasons.  But it is important that when I do go off kilter, I bring myself back.  When this happens, I ask God for help.  I ask my family for help and I make changes.  Sometimes it just means letting myself off the hook for something.  Sometimes it means not believing lies.  Sometimes it means changing my plans.

So, as far as my memories of the trip go, I hope to recount each day  on the blog and then on Facebook.  But I do that because I love writing and I loved the trip and for no other reason.  It's not going to have to be each day 1 month later like some self imposed a to z challenge. And If I never finish it, so what?  It was a good trip and Amy and I both know it.

There are enough pressure on us as a society, that we need to stop putting additional burdens on ourselves and our friends and family.

I'll be back tomorrow, or so, to tell you about losing my phone on the Island of Sifnos on June 11th and the other more interesting things that happened that day.  I kicked myself a lot for losing my phone, but that was not an important thing that happened that day. I kicked myself a lot for not posting yesterday, but that was not an important part of yesterday.  Today, I worked for 8 hours at the movie theatre and when I got home there was a tornado waning after dinner.  After our family got back from the basement, my time was better spent decompressing with the family than holing myself up with the computer just to meet some imaginary time requirements.  I just sometimes have to remind that to my foot when it wants to kick myself.  

OTTG 1ML Day 5

 Our Trip To Greece

One Month Later

Day #5

6/10/23

Our first full day in Sifnos.  We heard about Sifnos through a Greek travel agent Amy found on line.  I had bought Amy a guide book for the Greek Islands at Christmas time and Sifnos was not even mentioned.  This travel agent told us it's the island where the Greeks like to travel to on their holidays.  We found it instantly captivating.

Our hotel was on the bus route and also just a short walk from the port of Kamares.  Our hosts were amazing.  

We had breakfast on our patio every morning.

Where we would often see one of the 3 tortoises on the property.

We took a bus from our town of Kamares to Apollinia.  We then hiked back to Kamares from Apollinia.  These trail markers were invaluable.  

Here is footage of our hike

and a few pictures ...

OTTG 1ML: Day 4

Our Trip To Greece

1 Month Later

Day #4 6/9/23 Amy here. Our fourth day in Greece was more of a mess than the previous few days. Before the trip had started we had heard how you could run around the Olympic stadium, in the mornings before they started charging admission to see it. We had planned to do this, just to say we had done it. So when we got into the cab, and were chatting away with the cab driver, we were wondering why the ride was taking so long. It turns out there are two Olympic stadiums in Athens; the one we wanted to go to which was built in 330 B.C. and then excavated in the 19th century for the first two modern Olympics and the stadium that hosted the 2004 Olympics. We realized that she was taking us to the stadium that hosted the 2004 Olympics, rather than the one from the 1800’s. When we finally arrived there, and it was crawling with people we didn’t end up running. 

 Here is what we missed ...

   

 It was disappointing. But then we decided to walk around Athens for a few more hours until we had to catch the ferry to Sifnos. We got some tea and then decided to find a local library. We LOVE libraries (it’s part of the reason we saw the ruins of Hadrian’s library), and have visited many many libraries in our 25 years of marriage. This library, however, was open only by appointment, and the doors were locked. We were denied entry. While we were searching for the library as we walked around we came upon what looked like a protest. It turned out to be a college graduation. 

 After we could not get into the library we walked around some more and went to a Greek street food place we had learned about on the internet before the trip called O Kostas .

 It was amazing, and well worth all the misadventures up to that point. 

 We then walked back to our hotel, to retrieve our luggage before getting a cab to the ferry. I get seasick and wore these wristbands which apply pressure and they worked like a charm! No ill effects from the three hour ferry ride. We arrived in Sifnos and I immediately fell in love with Greece!

Our Trip To Greece,One Month Later: Day 3

Day 3: June 8, 2023 

Day 3 of our trip is the first day that started and ended  in Greece, and Oh what a day it was.  

Before I get into the details, let me say this.  When you plan a trip of this magnitude, you don't end up getting to do everything you planned.  One example of this is that we both wanted to take a side trip to Corinth.  Corinth is about an hour by bus from Athens and is a city where the Apostle Paul penned at least two letters to the local church.  I say at least 2, because 2 of them became books of the Bible.  In the end there was so much to do in Athens while still heavily jet lagged that we didn't make it to Corinth.  

All of our accommodations provide breakfast for us.  The place in Athens was your standard breakfast buffet with a Greek twist.  We ate breakfast and ventured out into the city. The first thing we did was get a sim card for Amy's phone that allowed us to navigate Greece better. The only form of transportation we used that day was walking, and clocked over 22000 steps. 

We exchanged money at an ATM and found like we had been told that exchanging at an ATM was better than exchanging at banks or currency exchanges.  There were many shops, restaurants,  open markets, and street vendors and it was quite a sight to behold.  We did a little shopping and then went to Hadrian's Library. It was created by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 132 so accolades to him for his construction are long overdue.  I know, a library joke.  It was either that or go Yo! Hadrian!

We purchase a multi-site pass at Hadrian's Library.  This also granted us admission to The Parthenon, and the Ancient Agora.  We had been told that if you but a multi-site pass to do it at a location other than the Parthenon to avoid the long lines there and we were very glad we did.  

After Hadrian's library we had our first meal at a restaurant in Greece.  I think this was the only time we ate inside other than at our hotel.  We tried many new foods while in Greece and Amy really loved all the Greek salads.  

After lunch we walked up the acropolis and we climbed up the Areopagus Hill also know as Mars Hill, I just posted a little about the significance of Mar's Hill on Thursday here is the link.  

Temple of Athena

Pathenon

Hadrians Library

GreekSalad

Mars Hill

View of Patrhenon from Mars Hill

Seeing these ancient structures and walking where they walked (the old people) was a bit overwhelming, and the significance was not lost on us. It was a reminder of God's greatness!