After a somewhat protracted absence from international travel I find myself in a position to travel again. For over a year family responsibilities, as they should, have take precedence over any travel aspirations. However, as summer wound down the stars seemed to align. My dad has settled nicely into his new apartment and many of our other commitments seem under control, meaning there’s a window available for travel. One month to be exact.😊
We looked at various travel options with the caveat that our destination needed to be relatively accessible to home should we need to return early and it also needed to be warm enough to wear t-shirts and shorts! The last being my personal caveat.😅 These parameters pretty much ruled out many places that we would both have liked to visit. We seriously considered a return to Japan which we last visited in 2017 when we spent time as tourists before walking the length of the Shikoku 88 Temple Henro. However, we decided that the increased airfares created by the ignorant choices of an unstable world leader coupled with higher than normal typhoon risks made Japan a less desirable destination this fall.
We also considered a return to Spain to wander through an area that previous travels and Caminos had missed, but decided to put that option on the back burner…for now.😊
We eventually settled on a late season return to Greece. Last there in 2017 with my sister Kathy for a month, it met all our criteria. Easily accessible to home, typically warm weather in October and diverse enough to have some adventures while also allowing moments to recharge our batteries. And many fewer tourists! Flights were comparatively cheaper than Japan and the idea of a summer weather extension was particularly appealing.🌞
This will be my fifth extended travel to Greece since 1975. My friend Ken told me not to feel guilty about this indulgence. So I won’t.🙂 Thanks Ken.
Given the lateness of the season we decided to focus on the southern part of the country. We plan to arrive in Athens midday October 6th and drive directly to Kalamata on the south coast of the Peloponnese. From there we will work our way slowly through the SE part of the Peloponnese Peninsula and then back up to Athens for a flight to the Island of Kos, located just off the southern Turkish coast.
We plan to spend our last two weeks exploring areas of Crete that we missed in 2017 before finishing up with a couple of days in the now familiar and welcoming Greek capital of Athens. You might have noticed that we will more or less travel north to south. This should hopefully provide the best chance to stay ahead of the fall weather and permit late season swimming opportunities in the Med that Annemarie is particularly looking forward to!
I’ve decided to post here along the way, and I’ll see how this develops. Please feel free to tag along!
Cheers! Or should I say, Εβίβα!🍷🇬🇷
Geoff
