It’s now Monday, March 2nd. It’s time to put this trip to bed with some thoughts and comments that didn’t find a place in the daily blogs. I took the last two days to find my way back to normalcy and today I actually feel like myself again. The trip home was basically uneventful but three flights, three airports, three layovers, an inordinate number of passport checks, picture taking biometrics and even fingerprinting makes for serious exhaustion! From a strictly consumer point of view for the flights we had both over and back, I cannot say I am impressed with either British Airways nor Lufthansa – adequate but nothing remarkable. At the moment, I remain a fan of Austrian Air.
In talking about the overall trip, Betsy and I agreed that Viking put together the itinerary in a very smart way because it only got better as we moved from port to port around the Aegean with our last stop, Nafplio, among our favorites and probably more of what we thought Greece was going to be like in the first place. Although each city had it’s own flavor, place in history and possessed an abundance of interesting structures or artifacts to see and learn about, I think I found the connection the entire country has to the mythology of Mt. Olympus and the Greek Gods fascinating. I loved learning the mythology in high school and to realize the entire culture of Greece REALLY does have a foundation in those beliefs was enlightening.
One nice surprise was that the vendors in Greece are nothing like those in Egypt!!! I was very glad to have the opportunity to browse without being brow-beaten! Something neither Betsy nor I knew anything about, on the other hand, was the profusion of feral cats that abound in every town. They are everywhere, people leave food out for them and there is a program to neuter as many as possible but it was somewhat disconcerting when you walked down a street and cats were above you on awnings, in alcoves along the alley or just curled up sleeping on the benches in a street cafe. We never saw any aggression but…. it was weird! Our fellow passenger cat lovers even started bringing them treats from the ship!
Speaking of the ship, I think Betsy described her first cruise with Viking perfectly – they are understated but elegant. They have made the effort to cover so many details in order to provide a comfortable, pleasant and thoroughly enjoyable travel experience. On one of our very first days on the ship we attended a “Welcome” event where we were told there were 490 crew and staff representing 39 nationalities. (Considering there are only 960 passengers – that’s about 2 staff for every passenger!!) I have always loved this international feature of Viking and I decided a quest to see how many of those nationalities I could meet during the voyage would be great fun. Soo – here’s my list in no particular order: Nigeria, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Malaysia, Sweden, Wales, South Africa, England, Scotland, Philippines, Hungary, Norway, Russia, India, Turkiye, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Myanmar, Peru, Thailand and Nepal!! 26! Not bad and what I found delightful is when I asked them where they were from, not only did they gladly tell me but then we had conversation and they seemed happy someone was interested in them! Maybe I’ll get them all next time!
Some final thoughts from this trip – In traveling to places that I’ve only ever read about I want to learn about the culture, the people and their history as much as I love seeing all the wondrous things and places these countries offer. The Greeks are survivors. They have maintained their “Greekness” despite being conquered multiple times. They celebrate their independence with grand celebrations and great pride and it’s 50 years younger than ours! They fervently practice their religion while fiercely holding on to the pagan superstitions of their history – the evil eye is everywhere for good luck and to keep the evil spirits away. They have literally carved their homes, businesses and Industry out of the sides of mountains since they live in a most unforgiving topography. There are those that choose to live, literally, on an active volcano because it is their home. They have recognized the need for energy conservation by the use of solar panels on every house, solar farms and even wind turbines. It is really inspiring to go to the place where so much of what built America originated. When Greece is referred to as the Cradle of Western Civilization, I have a much improved picture of why that is appropriate.
Where to next? Who knows but I have every confidence it will be great!
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