For better or for worse, I believe my child is an artist, and not a day goes by that I don’t thank her teachers past and present for recognizing and encouraging that aspect of her personality. I’m not saying she’s the next Maria Callas, or that everything she creates belongs in a gallery; but hey, […]

One of my faults is that I when I plan a vacation, it is exhausting for the people with me. I enjoy jam-packed adventures, and mercilessly try to cram maximum enjoyment and sight-seeing into minimum time. Knowing this about myself, and taking into consideration the unrelenting heat of Athens in July, I planned a day […]

One of my careers before Curtis was working in the bookstore of the Getty museums. Prior to that I had little to no interest in ancient art (I prefer Surrealism and the Pre-Raphaelites,) but it was while working at the Getty Villa that I educated myself about it and grew to appreciate it. It was […]

Thank you, Casey Kasem! That’s right, folks, and I don’t mean Delphi, Indiana, although I’ve been there too.  Located three hours northwest of Athens, and tucked into the southern slope of Mount Parnassos, out of view from marauding ships, sits the spiritual center of the Greek universe. There is a myth where Zeus sent two […]

This is Asclepius. Well, not really. It’s just a statue, and anyway he didn’t really exist. He was the son of Apollo, and a demigod who had healing powers. Notice the staff at his side entwined by a single snake, his identifier; not to be confused with Hermes’s caduceus, originally a symbol of commerce, although […]

If you answered Nafplion, you are correct! According to mythology, the town was founded by Nafplio, one of Poseidon’s sons, and became the first capital of the modern Greece from 1823 to 1834. After our adventure in Mycenae, we were lucky enough to check into the lovely Hotel Amalia overnight, just outside of Nafplion, where […]

Slow internet connections will be the death of this blog. We have been doing and seeing so much, that I have to choose between blogging or sleep, and when I do get the chance, it takes forever to load pictures. As I type this, I’m sitting on the edge of the bathtub while Susan and […]

I had no plans of posting anything religious during this trip; I’ve always considered myself more “spiritual” than religious, and I view the Holy Bible as a good book as opposed to the good book, but my Catholic upbringing came into play by being in this area and served me well. So here’s a short […]

I’ll start with the cliff-hanger I left you with yesterday. Last night we saw Aristofaniade at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. On the left is a view of it from the Acropolis of Athens. On the right is a photo from the back of the house, so to speak, as it started to fill up. […]

We arrived in Athens yesterday afternoon after leaving the Dickinson’s (my in-laws home) in Blakeney at 4:15am, and then driving two hours to Stansted for our flight.  Thank goodness we had been in England long enough to get over our jet lag because Greece is another two hours ahead. After checking in, we managed a […]