Do You Know Your Peleponnese from your Dodecanese?

I could study a map of Greece for hours to see where I would like my next trip to be, but I have been caught out by which islands are in which region, so I have found this map to help! I intend to get a large map of Greece on my wall and stick a pin in to every place I have been until there is room for no more!



You Always Remember Your First Time...

My first trip to Greece was in October 1995, I was 18 years old and fresh out of college. I had always a desire to travel, and many of my childhood memories involve looking through travel brochures and filling out the forms at the rear of the brochure with fake names, little did I know that this obsession would lead to a long career within the travel industry.

I left college and had no real desire to go to university at the time, so with my parents on my back, I went out and got a job. I applied for a YT scheme at Lunn Poly, and out of around 400 applicants, I was one of ten lucky trainees who were offered a job.

I joined the Travel Agency in July 1995, and by October, I was offered the chance to take a Thomson travel concession to anywhere I wanted up to a budget of around £300 per person. October is probably not the best month to travel to the Ionian islands, but I had always wanted to experience Greece. I had been to Spain and Portugal, and wanted to try something further afield. I was warned not to go to Zante (Zakynthos) because of the weather and it being the end of the season, but I never listen to anyone, so I booked the holiday and departed from Birmingham on the last flight of the season, infact the numbers were so low on the flight, we picked up some people from Manchester airport on the way out.

My peers were right, it was wet, cold and damp, and that was just the apartment, but it did not change my fascination for this strange country. The writing, the language, the conversational shouting and the food were just for starters, and this is where my love affair with Greece began.

I would love to know about your first time to Greece - so please, leave a comment on the page to tell me where you went and a memory from the trip!

KALO MHNA!

Kalo Mhna! If you are in Greece on the 1st day of month, throughout the year you will hear this greeting being shouted at people. It means 'Have A Good Month". It sounds like 'Kalimena' so go ahead and try it our for yourself.

Greece Is The Word

Welcome to my new blog dedicated to God's own country... Greece. There is an old joke here that when the people of the world went to God to ask for somewhere to live, he duly dished out the four corners of the Earth. He gave the English - England, the Americans - America, the Australians - Australia, the Germans - Germany, the French - France, and so on. When all was done, God sat back and admired his handy work, until there was a knock at the door. It was the Greeks. He had forgotten to give them a place to live. He scratched his head and thought, and then smiled. He offered them the one fillet of land that he was keeping for himself,  and so they went there to live, happily ever after, that is until the Greek crisis came along!

I hope you enjoy reading my blog, as much as I enjoy writing it for you. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to see anything included, or comments for me.

Sto Kalo,

Fiona