Best Things in Greece

In early June, Amy and I, and Rebecca's friend Philip, joined Rebecca in Greece, where she had been singing with her college choir. I had never been there before -- what a varied and marvelous part of the world! A few highlights:

Above: the Parthenon, sitting atop the Acropolis, at night. I had no idea how sprawling Athens is, or the way in which the Acropolis rises above the city, visible almost from everywhere. One imagines that 2000 years ago, above a smaller city with smaller buildings, the Parthenon must have seemed even more immense than it does now.

Below, one of the alleys that winds from old Athens up towards the Acropolis.

The olive trees (these in Crete) were growing everywhere we went in Greece. I love the shadows below the trees in this grove.

We spent three days on Santorini, an island in the Aegean Sea. The island is a C shape, the remnant of an ancient submerged volcano; the white houses and blue-capped churches sit on the rim of the island, looking from the distance like snow.

The tourist industry has kept some handcrafts alive in Greece. This woman, like most people we met, was incredibly friendly.

The bright sunshine and hot weather brought out beautiful flowers in every hue. This incredible flower is usually "nipped in the bud;" the capers we eat are the pickled buds of this plant.

There were street cats and dogs everywhere. They weren't exactly wild; while they didn't have owners, they were surviving on food and water put out for them by many Grecians.

Most of all, what caught my attention about Greece was the colors. The water, the sky, the flowers, the buildings, everything was blue and white and dotted with yellows and reds and greens. The gemstone reflections we occasionally saw in the sea seemed a reflection of all of Greece.