We leave Istanbul and travel by plane to Turkey's nemesis (word of the day) Greece. Thank goodness for all those math, physics, and engineering classes Kim and I took. I was concerned that I would never use my knowledge from them again, but here they have come in most useful. Greek Letters! Sure, we know what a sigma, theta and pi look like. And, we can sometimes translate that knowledge into reading a street sign! Unfortunately, the signs frequently are in interesting fonts, impossible for us to decipher.
Where in the world are Ethan and Siena? 
This is a city with one of the longest histories of any city in the world. People have lived in this city for over 3000 years. This is the birthplace of democracy, the birthplace of western philosophy, of western literature. The citizens wrote a constitution, had an assembly comprised of citizens, and developed a sophisticated society two millenia before America was "discovered". Wild to be on the same streets as Plato and Aristotle, Socrates and Sophocles, Pericles and Homer. It is named after the goddess of Wisdom, Athena: Athens. Ethan and Siena are behind the Parthenon, a large temple to Athena. It is the largest structure on the Acropolis, Greek for "high place in the city." It was built in the 5th Century B.C. and is a magical place. It is so beautiful that I'm going to put another picture of it here:
This is a city with one of the longest histories of any city in the world. People have lived in this city for over 3000 years. This is the birthplace of democracy, the birthplace of western philosophy, of western literature. The citizens wrote a constitution, had an assembly comprised of citizens, and developed a sophisticated society two millenia before America was "discovered". Wild to be on the same streets as Plato and Aristotle, Socrates and Sophocles, Pericles and Homer. It is named after the goddess of Wisdom, Athena: Athens. Ethan and Siena are behind the Parthenon, a large temple to Athena. It is the largest structure on the Acropolis, Greek for "high place in the city." It was built in the 5th Century B.C. and is a magical place. It is so beautiful that I'm going to put another picture of it here:
From Athens, we traveled to Paros, one of thousands of islands in Greece. There are small fishing villages, empty beaches, and hilltop churches. They seem to have two paint colors here: white and blue. We are in a beautiful home; in fact, it recently graced the cover of Greece's Home and Garden. We love the pace of life here. You walk to the butcher, vegetable market and grocer before each meal, and we plan on nothing between 2 and 5:30 (sometimes 6:30) when the island shuts down for a siesta. Can you see what this man is pounding? 
It is an octopus. Instead of throwing them on the ice, the way they do in Detroit, here they thrash the octopus to tenderize it. Evidently, they don't thrash it hard enough as, while it is delicious, the octopus is decidedly chewy. As for the rest of the food here, it is wonderful. Ethan can't get enough of the fried squid, ordering it whenever we go out for meals. Each morning, we walk to the bakery, a couple of blocks from our house, and pick up fabulous warm bread. Siena doesn't know how we will ever return to eating packaged bread again.
It is an octopus. Instead of throwing them on the ice, the way they do in Detroit, here they thrash the octopus to tenderize it. Evidently, they don't thrash it hard enough as, while it is delicious, the octopus is decidedly chewy. As for the rest of the food here, it is wonderful. Ethan can't get enough of the fried squid, ordering it whenever we go out for meals. Each morning, we walk to the bakery, a couple of blocks from our house, and pick up fabulous warm bread. Siena doesn't know how we will ever return to eating packaged bread again.
Reminders of past civilisations surround us here. We hike on a Byzantine road, through ancient
groves of olive trees. We take a day trip to Delos, a holy island, filled with ruins of temples. These lions are aligned to face the morning sun. The amphitheater's acoustics are so good, I can hear Ethan, sitting in the first row, tell Barbara to "smile" as I click this picture from the top. We stop at Mykonos in the afternoon. While lovely, we are a bit mystified as to why this island is "in" more than the other islands.
groves of olive trees. We take a day trip to Delos, a holy island, filled with ruins of temples. These lions are aligned to face the morning sun. The amphitheater's acoustics are so good, I can hear Ethan, sitting in the first row, tell Barbara to "smile" as I click this picture from the top. We stop at Mykonos in the afternoon. While lovely, we are a bit mystified as to why this island is "in" more than the other islands.
We are clearly here after the season. There are large, largely empty, parking lots, boarded up tavernas and inns, reduced bus and ferry schedules. Of course, this is to our liking, as there are no crowds. The only negative though, is the keg beer has been depleted. No place on the island has draught beer, so we drink our Mythos and Alfa in the bottle. The beer is excellent, like a not-quite-so-sweet Beck's. Prices are about $4 in a restaurant, $2 in the store. The wine is wonderful, except for the one with the handwritten label we try. Last night, we bought wine in a water bottle (1.5 L) for 3 Euro-- about $4.50. It was delicious. It is now the "house wine".
Next, it is on to Santorini!
We hope all is well with all of you, despite the financial market woes.
Yamas! (cheers in Greek)
The Beatties
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