Greece (Part 3)

We loved our days together in Athens!  Our Airbnb apartment was perfect.  We stopped in at a local grocery store for breakfast foods and coffee to make on our own.  The apartment was a 20-minute walk from the heart of the city, which was just right for us to get a taste of the local life but still enjoy the more populated sights and attractions all on foot.  We played a lot of games together during our down time.  Chickenfoot dominoes was the favorite!

My preference is always to walk as much as possible when we travel.  Otherwise we'd miss beautiful sights like this!

Rooke mistake: trying to see one of the historical attractions at the peak of the day.  Our visit to the Agora wasn't at the top of anyone's list, but we did it. =)

More walking in the cooler evening temps

We ventured out one morning to find the basketball court where NBA player Giannis Atentokoumpo grew up playing.  After having the court basically to ourselves and playing for a while, we stopped in at the cafe across the street and met the owner who showed kindness to Giannis and his brothers while they were growing up.  The cafe owner looked Rooke up and down, then said in broken English, "You play basketball?"  "Yes."  "I want a picture with you."   =)

Other travelers commented on Rooke's height and asked if he liked basketball.  Then they told him about a store we should visit.  I'm pretty sure Rooke could have spent hours here - ha!

Gyro pitas for lunch every day!

And gelato every day for dessert!

The e-bike tour at sunset was in everyone's top three memories.  E-bikes are SO MUCH FUN and our tour guide was awesome - such a great way to see parts of the city we wouldn't have otherwise visited.

Heading up to enjoy a delicious dinner on the roof of the restaurant in the shadow of the Parthenon - amazing!

 

Greece (Part 2)

Morning in Lindos: we started with a delicious breakfast at a super cute cafe.  Then Gretchen caught the bug that Rooke had and she needed to head back to the hotel.  She slept it off the rest of the day and, thankfully, was feeling much better by the evening when we landed in Athens.  Both Rooke and Gretchen were especially excellent travelers while being super sick - they pressed on and stayed with the team! 

After breakfast, we spent the morning walking around the Lindos acropolis.  The views were incredible!  And the history of that place blows my mind.

Our friend, Catey, was such a fun traveler!  We loved having her with our family for one extra day.

We flew from Rhodes to Athens, arriving a bit later than expected, but our metro ride to the Airbnb apartment went smoothly.  We dropped our bags and hit the crowded streets with the goal of sitting on Mars Hill as the sun set.

Reading Acts 17 while sitting on Mars Hill was an incredible start to our days in Athens.

Greece (Part 1)

Our family embarked on a very special trip to Greece!  The main purpose of the trip was to provide childcare during a meeting of Americans serving overseas in central Asia.  The workers traveled as families to gather in Greece for three days of training, teaching, and fellowship.  We went to make sure the kids were well cared for so the adults could participate in the meetings.  Our church sent a small group to join with two others churches who were volunteering in the same way.  It was a privilege to partner for a brief time with the overseas workers, and to serve as a family with others from our church.

Arrival at the airport:

Let's fly to Istanbul!

The goal was to stay awake during our layover before the second flight to Athens.  Rooke couldn't help himself!

Safe arrival in Athens!  Waiting for our hotel van pickup

The hotel was close to the airport, but we were all feeling this tired

If you ever need an affordable place to stay in Athens with great transportation to/from the airport, we recommend Tina's Apartments  The girls found a burst of energy and had fun taking photos among the beautiful landscaping

A common theme people commented on during our trip was his size - ha!

Exhausted and hungry, we forced ourselves to stay awake and rode down to have dinner on the beach.  We literally sat at a table feet from the Aegean Sea and enjoyed a fantastic meal!

A great night of sleep, quick breakfast, and back to the airport for another flight to Rhodes . . .

Once we arrived at the hotel and settled in, we made our way down to the beach.  Ryan tried to show us how to skip rocks!

The ladies worked to prepare our room for the kids!  Ryan was in charge of "security" for the adult meetings (which mostly meant he had to discourage European grannies from curiously opening meeting room doors they weren't invited to!).

The girls had a bit of time to play in the pool before our childcare duties began.

Rooke participated with the other youth and was blessed to make new friends!  

Bridgette reading to the some of the kids we took care of

Catey and I enjoying the sunset on our last night at the hotel

After childcare was finished, we checked out of the hotel and headed down to the beach for a quick dip in the water.  The colors were amazing!

Unfortunately, Rooke got sick in the middle of our last night and was out of it for about 24 hours.  He slept as much as he could for about 24 hours, then perked back up to enjoy the next stop of our trip.

We hired a van to drive our small team to the southeast side of the island and stayed one night in the quaint town of Lindos.  The views of the water were gorgeous, and we finally got to really swim in the sea!