yobosayo – Around the World Travel Blog – Follow us around the world

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1. I no longer need the edge of the pool to grasp onto when swimming. I can swim even when I can’t touch the ground (yes, I know. Technically if you touch, you aren’t swimming). Today, despite the clouds marching across the blue sky and chilling the morning air we went swimming on Kalemi Beach in Santorini. The one thing to note about the Mediterranean is that everything floats due to the high salt content. Mike floats without even moving his arms or legs. So that leaves me wondering…what happens when I swim in fresh water??
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2. Mike recently read an alarming fact– the average Greek eats 24 liters of olive oil per year. Can you imagine?? Italy and Spain rank up there too with 12L and 13L, respectively. So how does that factor into my realization for today? For starters, we’ve been away for 3 months spending most of our time in Spain, Italy and Greece. Secondly, I think I always knew this, but…I realize, I love olive oil. Lastly, it’s a good thing we weren’t in Greece for the whole time, as I could have been ingested up to 6 litres of olive oil–like drinking a 2Liter of Diet Coke each month of OIL! Unfathomable. Thankfully, tomorrow we are headed to Turkey. Apparently the average Turk only eats about 1.2L of olive oil per year. (photo: no amount of olive oil would help these suckers go down.)

3. Lastly, I haven’t posted our itinerary in a while, so it’s time I do.
Oct. 26-Nov. 9: Turkey, traveling to Selcuk, Antalya, Cyprus, Cappadocia,
Nov. 10-Nov. 24: Egypt, traveling to Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, Dahab
Nov. 24-Nov. 28: Jordan, traveling to Petra
Nov. 28-Dec. 4: Oman and UAE
Dec. 4-Jan 31??: Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, South Africa.

Carolyn extended a work trip and made a detour from Frankfurt to Greece.  Since our time together was limited, we picked Poros based on its proximity to Athens.  We wanted to be sure we did not spend our time in transit.  We rented a great little apartment in the heart of Poros town.       
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We spent our time doing what we know best… eating, drinking and lazing around.  Our movements the last four days centered around talking about our last meal, wondering about our next meal, and deciding if we should open another bottle of wine. 

*This was one of our best meals.  Roasted pork, roasted chicken, green beans in tomato sauce, fava beans in dill and tomato sauce, roasted potatoes in lemon, and chickpeas (which we clearly didn’t like).  We couldn’t wait to eat, so there is no pre-meal photo. 
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We got lucky with the weather.  In the mornings and evenings its cool, but during the day its warm enough to swim in the clear waters of the Mediterranean.  After a night of over-indulging, Carolyn and I woke up early one morning to go for a morning swim.  We alternated between running and walking to one of the far beaches so we would be warm enough to jump in.  The Greeks must think we are crazy.  Most of them are wearing jackets and bundling up while we are laying out on the beach.

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We also made some friends…

*There is one last thing that we spent hours debating during Carolyn’s visit.  Apparently the Greek plumming system is quite delicate.  The travel books (and our apartment) advise against putting any paper products in the toilet.  Stating, the plumming can be damaged by flushing “anything larger than a stamp.”  We decided, we’re Americans, but in partial respect to the Greeks, only used two squares a flush…

Before we headed to Poros to meet Carolyn, we stopped off at Meteora.  Built in the 14th century, there were 24 different monasteries perched upon the mountaintops.  The photos really do not capture the beauty and make tangible the incredible genius to be able to build on such difficult terrain.  Only 6 of the 24 monasteries remain, the rest have been left in ruins.  

Hanging out on our balcony overlooking the water with Carolyn in Poros.