Day 8: Cruising to the finish line.

 Without getting ahead of myself too much, it is starting to sink in that this part of my life is wrapping up. Sure, down the road, I may lead another student tour, but tonight is my last night in Europe with Saugus High School students and it was a beautiful one to remember.

We woke early to prepare for our cruise of the Saronic Gulf. Breakfast was as it was yesterday and most of us skipped it for a few extra minutes of shut-eye. The weather forecast predicted sunny and 70s, but that never really materialized. In preparation, most of the kids brought beach towels, bathing suits, and a change of clothing. A quick bus ride to the port and a long line of other travelers awaited us, but we quickly boarded and tried to find seats.

This section quickly filled up with tourists. The kids didn't want to sit with me, lol

The first part of our cruise was to the island of Hyrda. It was the longest single cruise we had as well. It took about 3 hours.  The ride was smooth and quiet. The ship had a huge waitstaff who floated about with speed taking orders and delivering snacks. I saw a few students ordering fries and got jealous, so I did too. It was a Pepsi boat, so I ordered a Ginger Ale too. 

Hydra is the most expensive of the three islands we'd be visiting, but is mostly known for being "carless."  They don't allow cars on the island. Goods are moved by donkeys or carts. It is all hills too.  I quickly made my way around and tried to find some of our kids. It was so small that they basically could finish with last minute shopping or get more ice cream.

Even though lunch was going to be served on the boat, I ordered a fresh pizza for the day

After about 1.5 hours, we boarded our boat again. This time our destination was the island of Poros. This island was even smaller.  The trip took about an hour or so and the boat transformed into a huge buffet line. There was pasta, salad, fish, chicken, and lots of desserts. I was content with the pizza I ordered (I don't really like buffets and this trip had a lot of them) so I was happy to just relax a bit.

Poros was basically one long boardwalk. It was filled with shops and cafes. The kids walked up and down and found ice cream and last minute souvenirs, lol. It was at Poros that I think we realized the forecast wasn't really going to clear up, sadly. It didn't rain and the temp rested in the mid to low 60s, so it was comfortable, but it wasn't warm. 

The clock tower high above the city

Laertis waiting for the kids to arrive to the boat.

Once everyone was back on the boat, we departed for Aegina. This is the largest of the three hours. We were going to have two hours here and this is the place where the kids could go swimming if they chose. It is also known as Pistachio Island. There are tons of vendors selling all sorts of stuff made with pistachios. At this point, fatigue had started to hit me, so I stayed on board for most of the time and watched our stuff.  I did run off to get a Diet Coke though.  I tried to snap a few pictures of the town, but it wasn't as photogenic as the others, lol.

A few of the kids braved the weather and swam

We boarded the boat for one last ride back to Athens. This cruise was about two hours. All told, we were gone for twelve hours today. It was relaxing and exhausting.  On the final ride, a bunch of people dozed off and you could tell a bunch of the kids were overtired. Our boat was followed by lots of seagulls and we even saw some dolphin cresting the surface of the water. By the time docked, the sun was setting and our group photo above couldn't be nicer.

We shared this experience with 19 folks from Carstairs, Alberta, Canada. They were an amazing group and after two days were started to become one big group. Our kids will find it hard to say goodbye. It reminds me of 2017's trip to Central Europe and our friends from Saskatchewan. While we are all tired and kind of homesick, we all also wish we had a few more days to hang out with each other in such a magical location. 

I am so grateful to their group leaders and adult travelers for welcoming us into their fold and being flexible to our needs when appropriate. I hope they feel similarly. I am also grateful to our two adult travelers, Mr. S and Janine Sullivan. They were so helpful and thoughtful to all of the kids. It honestly made my days much easier knowing I had their support. My gratitude extends across the Atlantic too. Karyn Huntsman, mom to one of our travelers and fellow traveler of mine back in 1994, provided every student with a goodie bag and a travel pouch...more than that, she has helped personalize items on the past three Eurotrips too....not asking for anything in return. The Saugus High School Alumni Association purchased sweatshirts for our group in 2015...they haven't missed a Eurotrip since. Their support has been consistent and unwavering. Our district is better off because of them.  This year, they allowed me to shift gears slightly and purchase lightweight zippered hoodies.  They look amazing and were perfect for this weather. My family and Friends on Facebook who have supported us since Covid...I love you all and appreciate everything you sent for our kids to use.  I know I am appreciated because you've proven it to me. 

I will most likely purchase internet on our long flight tomorrow. It will probably be the last entry into what has become one of the most important chapters of my professional life. If I fail and this is my last post...I will save my last bit of gratitude to those of you who allowed me to take your children to faraway places. Thank you for showing them why I believe that one must travel to learn. 

Day 7: Today we walked in the footsteps of ancient Athenians...like, all of their steps!!!

 

Traditionally, in this blog, I will provide some type of step count for the miles we've walked. Our pace has been pretty chilly (except for changing hotels) and our feet have been spared. Today, Athena took her toll.  It really wasn't even close the most steps I've taken on tour, but it was by far the most we've taken on this tour.  On the bus ride back to our hotel, I saw 13k steps. Some of the kids reported their devices clocked 8-10 miles. Our feet are sore, lol, but it was all worth it.

We woke fairly early for this tour and went to breakfast. It was open at 6:30, so the real early birds lucked out big time! It was actually my favorite breakfast of the trip. It wasn't the best, but it had pretty cool options. They even had french toast...so I had to try it.

After breakfast, we promptly hopped on the bus and began our trek into the capital city of Greece. It was a long ride through traffic but as we approached the city, we stopped to pick up our guide for the day. Her name was Anathesia.  She told us to call her Nancy.  Like most of the bus/city guides I've had while traveling with kids, Nancy understands the assignment. She was relatable and tried to use humor to get the kids excited about the things we were seeing. The city, as you expect, is filled with history.  I snapped some photos from our ride. I don't remember all of the things we saw though! I am tired, lol.

We got the Guards of the Tomb Of the Unknown Soldiers changing their rotation

I thought I had a picture of the Olympic stadium, but it doesn't seem to be in my camera roll. One thing I remember her saying is that it is built of white marble. It is also built to the same specs as the original one. 

After the bus tour, we began our ascent to the Acropolis.  This is commonly mistaken as the building, but it is the entire thing. The acro translates to edge and the opolis translates to city.  It is on the edge of the city. See how that works! Politics comes from the affairs of the city.  Sometimes the politics of Saugopolis focus less on the affairs of the city and more on personalities, but that's a topic for my retirement book, not this blog. 

It wasn't that bad of a march up the hill, but it was super crowded. I am going to dump a bunch of photos without much comment. My listening device wasn't working well and I missed much of what Nancy said, sorry.  Because of the crowds, I stayed near to the end of our line to ensure no one got totally separated. We had an hour of free time and kids enjoyed every second of it. 

Our next stop was lunch and free time. Half of the kids, including the Canadian kids, seemingly went to McDonalds. My group of 6 went to a spot not far from the Acropolis Museum. It was delicious and another group sat right next to us. I ordered a mini pork souvlaki.  It was three tacos made up with souvlaki ingredients. It was not mini.

Our next stop was the museum and I never saw so many kids geek out for a museum, or should I say greek out. Quite a few of our kids really like their Greek Gods and they loved seeing the artifacts on display. On the third floor, there was a whole bunch of metal columns. They are placed in the exact dimensions of the Acropolis so you can see it in scale. They also show the reliefs that adorned each panel along the way. It was super impressive. As they built this museum, years ago, they uncovered a medieval town. They excavated what they could and you can tour it under the museum itself, how cool!

After the museum visit, we followed Laertis across the city to the Greek Cathedral, pictured above. It is right in the middle of a shopping district that also greeked out most of our kids. We had ample time for shopping, snacking, and people watching. Quite a few souvenirs were purchased and lots of kids had more bags with them than when we left the hotel.  Someone may have even purchased a suitcase for their souvenirs!!!

With free time over and the day nearly complete, we went to a restaurant in the same area. It served open faced gyros with shaved pork and a kebab made of beef and lamb. It was yummy. It was also fun watching a bunch of kids try it, like it, and then eat it all. It was funnier still, to watch them try it and not like it, lol!

We met our bus driver for dinner and went over tomorrow's plan for our final full day in Greece. We will be taking a single days' cruise to three of Athens' islands. It should be an amazing experience, but it is an early departure...so its early to bed for them all. 

I was really happy with today. These long walking days are tiring and can test peoples' nerves sometimes, but these kids passed with flying colors!

Mr. Lavoie, currently sitting in a hotel lobby with very few kids around and enjoying a Coca-Cola Light.