Poppy Stays Home. Greece! Part 1

Poppy had to stay home this time, because this is an airplane trip!

Time to go to Greece. It's a three-week extravaganza. A professional conference, a week in Athens and surrounds, and a seven-night cruise in the Mediterranean! 

Come along, as Little Sister Adventures heads across the Atlantic to the Greek Isles.

I took a couple days to get there, as I left from my small-town home airport and connections necessitated my going to Dallas and staying overnight before heading to Athens. 

In Dallas, I received a cup of chai while I waited for my Indian food dinner at the food truck.

Dallas Airport

America's Heartland. My photo app tells me that it's Arkansas down there. 

On my long overnight flight, I bought a premium seat just so I could be sure to have a comfortable window seat. The plane was not very full, so I needn't have worried. It was a good spot, though, and cocktails were included, so I started my vacation right with a bit o' bourbon.

I was able to curl up on two seats, as I had no one next to me in the two-seat row. I actually got a few hours of sleep.

Finally! The Greek Islands!

Trish and I enjoyed our first Greek meal at a place around the corner from our hotel. Grilled feta with honey, beer, and gyros. Yes, please!

Breakfast from the nearby bakery, eaten on our patio. Best spanakopita I've ever tasted!

Once in Athens, we hit the ground running. It was three days chock-full of professional papers being presented. It was a lot of information, a lot of wonderful speech-language pathologists from around the world, and one wonderful person with aphasia presenting keynote speeches, short-form presentations, and poster sessions. 

Brain: full. Body: tired.

Trish did great on her poster session! 

The event was at the Technopolis. Interesting complex. The auditorium was perfect for the conference. The planners took good care of us, with beautifully catered coffee breaks and meals.

It was fun meeting all the academic people that Trish has connected with in the Speech-Language Pathology/Therapy world, from around the world. There was a lot to learn; much is being researched in the field. Exciting stuff. 

After the last day, the conference organizers had arranged for us to be bussed to the Epidaurus Theater, the best-preserved Ancient Greek theater. 

The drive up:

Stopped for a break and refreshments. Toast and ice cream, if you desire. I bought a Dr. Pepper.

The Corinth Canal was built in the 19th century to ease transport across the area, but it never lived up to expectations. It's not used much, and never really was. 

Once at the Epidaurus, we were treated to a performance of Aeschylus's The Persians. It was powerful and transfixing. I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience it. The theater was amazing, and the performance was incredibly powerful.

Examples of the stone seats. We did have cushions, thank goodness!

Photos of the performance were thankfully not allowed! Here is the curtain call and the props of the libations that the Queen offered to Hades to summon the ghost of her husband, Darius, the father of the dumbhead Xerxes who dared to challenge the Greeks and lost the entirety of the Persian army and navy.

The next day, we had to change hotels, so after dropping our luggage at the new spot, we took the short walk to the Archeological Museum. I'll show you that in the next post. 

Opa!