ALOHA
One of the topics of conversation among soon to be retired people is the hope…
One of the topics of conversation among soon to be retired people is the hope…
Your retirement size can be larger than life or small enough to keep you incredibly happy. I am not talking about your physical size, but your actual everyday living philosophy and actions. Some travel extensively all over the world; some join clubs or groups that have a considerable number of activities; others volunteer and do other philanthropic work. And yet, many choose to spend their time gardening, looking out their window while sipping a cup of tea at the glorious flowers they planted.
We learned about the Panama Canal, back in our school days, and along with the significance of establishing a new trade route, I always thought it was an exotic place to visit. It did not disappoint when we took off for a fifteen-day cruise and saw firsthand what it looked like and how it functions. Retirement is looking better and better every day!
Aleko lives in Greece and is a fellow Retire-Ager. He and his wife have a home in Athens and a home in Nafpaktos. We have visited them several times over the past eleven years and this time, since Zaf and I are retired, we talked to him about his own retirement.
We moved into our new home back in September and spent a couple of weeks opening boxes that were placed all over the house. Keeping track of the box cutter was a chore! It was, nine out of ten times, forgotten under the endless wrapping paper and a couple of times we thought it was thrown away as we bagged it all up. I can’t begin to tell you how high the empty boxes were – they were a bigger mess when flat than when they were full.
I started to write this blog about the amazing, delicious Greek food we enjoyed throughout our retirement kick-off journey throughout Greece and there is so much to say and show I’ve got to do it in two separate blogs!
Throughout our travels we made some stops at places – basically a night out, a drive through or a few days stay while we were waiting to fly home. These come to mind as I reflect back to our journey throughout Greece. The best part of being there were the family members we visited with and sharing the experience.
Ever eat those delicious black olives in your Greek salad? This is where they come from. Those olives are called Kalamata Olives, so there you go!
There was no way we would come to Greece and not go to the place where my parents were born and raised. To me, this is where I feel most connected to this land. So we packed up and hit the road.
After an overnight ferry ride back from Crete, we drove about an hour and a half north of Athens to the island of Evia. We settled in our hotel outside of Eretria and planned our excursions. This included plenty of down time relaxing around the pool and on the beach as well as hitting up other popular towns, Kavala and Thassos.