I Took My Daughter to Europe

When my daughter was fifteen, I decided that she needed to round out her education with an early European adventure. Telling her that we were going to Greece was no obstacle since she was used to my serious travelling bug. Without hesitation she began to call all of her friends to let them know that her Mom was taking her away for the entire summer and giving them her email address as she was already planning on taking her laptop computer. She knew that we traveled the old fashioned way. That is, we had accommodations waiting for us overseas.

That is really the most comforting part of traveling, knowing where you are going and that a house is ready for you. Since I had some idea as to what I would need, my shopping was done quickly and our suitcases were packed before our passports were mailed to us. In no time at all, our plane tickets to Cleveland Hopkins Airport were in the mail and our international tickets to Athens soon followed along with an itinerary of hotels and tour groups that our travel agent had arranged for us.

When I called our travel agent, I explained to her that I wanted a trip to Greece that would re-establish my daughter's roots with her mother's and father's heritage. She was told to arrange suitable tours for the two of us and, of course, accommodations. This is what she came up with:

Arrival in Athens from Philadelphia International. Pick up by Astro Hotel shuttle and transport to Astro Hotel in Athens, Greece.
Bus tour with tour guide to Delphi.
Bus tour with tour guide to the temple of Zeus.
Boat cruise to several islands including Aegina, Hydra and Porus.
Bus tour with tour guide to every ancient site including the beehive pyamid for the next two weeks.
Air transport to Rhodes, Greece. On our own for the next two months.

She knew that my knowledge of Rhodes was as old as I felt. Immediately upon being left on our own, I went by taxi to the harbor in Rhodes. There we enjoyed a sumptuous feast at one of the many delightful restaurants that line the harbor. From our vantage point, I saw a boat that goes directly to our home on a nearby island, Simi.
It wasn't long before we rejoined our luggage that I had the taxi driver deposit on the mooring at the harbor. Entering the boat, I motioned to one of the deckhands to help me with my baggage and went and bought two tickets. Knowing where our baggage was stowed, we then made our way around the boat and decided to sit on the upper deck. The trip from Rhodes to Simi is two hours in some of the roughest waters that you are liable to find.
Once we had cast off, we went to the main deck and ordered coffees, ham sandwiches called toast, and lemonades. We were soon within sight of the majestic rock that juts out of the Mediterannean, my birthplace, Symi, now changed to Simi. Upon landing, I had one of the deck hands who actually came up to me put my baggage on the dock and we went and sat and had a coffee at a cafe next to the water. Feeling our stomachs once again, I managed to find one of the islands taxis, in this case a pick up truck to drive us home. Once inside our home, I opened up some of the windows and hastened to find some local people that we knew.

Our time on the island were filled with excursions, to swimming off of yachts, to shopping in the nearby port of Dachau, Turkey, and other marvelous swimming areas of emerald seas and clear blue, cloudless skies. Our nights were spent in various restaurants that offered the gourmand cuisine for Simi has a history of the palate.

Occasionally, a famous singer from Italy would be featured in the island arena or a famous pianist breaking the majestic quiet of the island with ivory tones and perfect beat. We were also treated to a performance or was it two of the Theatro, a live burlesque kind of theater. Our two months there went by without a hitch including internet service where my daughter managed to maintain contact with her home. All too soon we were back on the same boat to Rhodes. From there we had planned a few days on the opposite side of the island that was populated by Italian speaking Greeks. While there we also toured the sites of Rhodes including the Butterfly Valley and Lindos. Again leaving myself in charge of the itinerary, I gave that task to our hotel manager who arranged taxis and trips and finally, our ride to the airport and Athens.

Once in Athens, we went back to the Astro hotel and stayed for a couple of days enjoying the company of the stately soldiers that guard the tomb of the unknown soldier, the parliamentary building and the shopping.

Our travel agent had arranged for our shuttle back to Athens airport and our return to Philadelphia.