[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[lightcycle]

It is a beautiful sunset, regardless of the throng of tourists surrounding us

As (very) slow overland travelers, we rarely move in tandem with that sweet spot of ideal weather as it migrates from the northern hemisphere, over the equator to the south and then back north again. Instead, we only catch high season wherever we are perhaps once or twice a year as it slowly approaches us from behind and then quickly blows past us.

Most of the time, we find ourselves traveling in the shoulder season or low season for tourists. We don't mind that much. We're not reliant on the availability and frequency of public transportation, it's way easier on our budget and best of all, we don't have to fight our way through the hordes.

So it's entirely by happenstance that we're in one of the most touristy places in Europe at the peak of its high season. The conditions are just perfect. There's not a cloud in the sky and the hot, sunny weather just begs for you to spend a day at the beach. But the crowds though...

Good evening, Oia. Hope to see you again when there's less people around...

 

[lightcycle]

My wife and I wish you and Neda all the best and will continue to follow your adventure!

Thanks, we appreciate it!

 

[skypix]

Hard to decide

Which is best...Your pix, Neda's smile, your punny tales, the locations.

Perfect for us armchair travelers. You two have made a lot of people happy

thanks

Don in New Hampshire

 

[lightcycle]

Thanks, appreciate the kinds words!

 

[profdlp]

Sitting here in the cold of Cleveland and seeing all that sunshine makes me wish summer would hurry up and get here. Thanks for the pictures! :sunny:

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/334.html

We are leaving Santorini with great reluctance. It's so pretty here and the weather has been amazing. Although we are taking our time through Eastern Europe, there is still an appointment we have to keep coming up on the calendar.

Riding back on the switchbacks to the main port at the base of the west cliffs of Santorini

One last look at the cerulean blue Aegian sea and sky

The ferry dock is crowded with tourists coming to and from the mainland and the other islands. Our ferry is slightly delayed, and we find a shady spot to people-watch while we munch on the pastries we had bought from our filo shop on the way down.

Mmmm... filo...

The strongest man in Greece is employed by the ferry company to haul the boats onto the dock by rope

Another 8 hour transit by ferry is made bearable by cross-stitching and a bit of blogging.

We've been on the road non-stop for many months now and I haven't been able to keep up with my documentation. The blog is many months behind, but the weather is just so good that we don't want to pause our travels, for fear that the rains will somehow find us in this corner of the world. All our friends in Western Europe have been PMing us constantly the last couple of months: "Are you in Belgium/Germany/Switzerland/UK? It's been raining for weeks now. Is this your fault?!?"

Nope. Not us this time. It's been sunny and awesome wherever we are. I feel like we've broken a curse or something!

 

[lightcycle]

We check back into the same AirBnB that we stayed in before leaving for Santorini. The owner is delighted at the gift of rocks from the Red Beach. Neda kept most of them for herself though. Because when you are traveling light, riding motorcycles around the world, you want to be carrying a tankbag full of rocks...

Do you want some help carrying that tankbag inside, Neda?

The next morning, we woke up to shocking news: Britain had just voted to leave the European Union.

The looming Brexit vote has been background noise in the news for the last few months now. It was a thing that was mildly interesting, but something everyone knew would just pass after the majority inevitably voted to Bremain.

It reminds me of the separatists in Quebec. Every 15 years like clockwork, they have a referendum about whether to stay or split from Canada. Then, a slim majority votes to stay. Everyone feels like their issues have been aired and it's business as usual for another 15 years...

Apparently not so, this time.

There's a lot of confusion and many unanswered questions - not just for me, a UK citizen traveling in the EU, but for many EU nationals currently living in the UK.

I've been in the Schengen Zone for over a couple of months now. Do I have to leave the zone once I hit 90 days? Or does the clock start today? We are planning to visit England later on this season. Will Neda now need a visa? How long will she be able to stay?

But more importantly, this has greater impact on our future. Europe has become a second home to us. We have so many friends and family here. It's one of the places we've thought about settling down in after our trip is over. But now we're a divided family. I don't know what my rights are to settle down in Europe. If we wanted to live in the UK, what are Neda's rights? I can't find any information on-line. This whole Brexit vote seems so ill-thought-out.

The news is full of people in the streets of UK hurling insults at minorities, telling them that because Brexit won, they had to leave the country immediately. Some of these minorities are UK citizens. Like me.

My wife, who was born behind the Iron Curtain shakes her head. "It seems like just yesterday we were tearing down walls in Europe. Now we're putting them back up." Neda is so smart, hard-working, socially conscious, always thinking of the greater good. She's the best of what Europe has to offer. Britain would be lucky to have her living there, contributing positively to that society.

I hope more information comes out in the following days. We may have to give the UK a wide berth. Scotland is now talking about separating and joining the EU. We may go there instead.

 

[lightcycle]

Sitting here in the cold of Cleveland and seeing all that sunshine makes me wish summer would hurry up and get here. Thanks for the pictures! :sunny:

Thanks! Hope it warms up for you soon in the 216!

 

[JulianT]

First it's been fantastic following along and watching this thread, thanks for all your effort, pictures and tales.

With regard to Brexit nothing is in stone as the politicians did not have a plan for what to do in the event of a leave vote so it will be some time coming.
I am a South African living in the UK on a British passport now, but my significant other is Hungarian and she is also very concerned.

Re the schengen visa the united kingdom is not part of the zone anyway to the best of my understanding.

 

[KE7JFF]

That is correct; The UK is not apart of Schengen; the reason given by UK Pariliment is because its an island.
My friends in the UK and France tell me pretty much the UK never really took full advantage of the EU, however they still need to resolve the few benefits it did use if they want to separate, which they could resolve by some long drawn out agreement.

 

[tonyjb72]

Hope you guys made it over here to Britain in the end. Won't be anything happening WRT Brexit for a couple of years yet....

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/335.html

We're very excited because we are finally visiting the Acropolis today! This is pretty much the main reason we are even in Greece! I know a lot of people head straight towards the islands for their vacations, but if you are into Greek temples and ruins, this is the grand-daddy of all Greek ruins.

Instead of riding, our AirBnB host recommended we take the subway into the city. The weather is sweltering... still over 40C. I was more than happy to be sitting in an air-conditioned subway car for the half-hour ride to the ruins.

The Acropolis is a temple that was built on top of a flat piece of rock that rises about 150m above the city

The name is actually quite descriptive. Acro means Edge and Polis means City. I'm a huge fan of etymology (which is the study of bugs). So Acrophobia, which is the fear of falling off heights is quite literally the fear of the edge.

Acrophobia

 

[lightcycle]

The one thing we *were* prepared for... crowds. A million people visit the Acropolis every year!

Everyone's photos of Santorini always show an idyllic, peaceful place, free of crowds; those lone blue-domed buildings gleaming in the orange sunset. Those Instagram pictures never show the tens of thousands of people *behind* the camera, beating each other with selfie-sticks while jostling for elbow room on that tiny island.

But the Acropolis... We knew this was the main attraction in Athens. So it wasn't a shock when there was a line up to actually climb the stairs to see the main ruins. I think we queued up for 45 minutes before we reached the top. It felt like we were lining up for a popular amusement park ride, except there wasn't any entertaining sideshows playing along the sides of the lineup...

One thing we weren't prepared for: That same hastily bubble-jet printed-up sign that we last saw in Delphi at the admission booth with the "new" prices listed. €20 for just the Acropolis. All the literature we found on the Internet said it should be €12, and I'm sure if I had pulled off the temporary piece of paper, the sign would still read €12 underneath it. It felt so unofficial and scammy. It just screamed, "Sorry we need the money, and we can't afford to print real signs. Also, we might need to raise the price again next month..."

The only way it could have been more sketchier is if the sign were to have been written in crayon... with €15 crossed out in red...

So obviously we paid. Doing our bit to prop up the Greek economy...

This isn't my first time at the Acropolis. My parents took us on a family vacation here, but I was only a small child when I visited. I do remember the ruins, but I also remember that the most interesting part were the rocks strewn at the base of the ruins. I remember playing at these rocks while my parents walked around. It would be a few more years before I started reading any Greek mythology and would probably have better appreciated these structures then.

The main temple at the Acropolis is dedicated to the goddess Athena.

And then the lightbulb went off... Athena... Athens... *duh* Never made that connection...

Neda says, "Really, you didn't know that Athens came from Athena?!?"

no i r dum neda

 

[lightcycle]

This smaller building is called the Temple of Athena Nike

If you look closely, you can see kids in the back of the temple assembling Air Jordans... Whew! So hot here, I'm sweating...!

The heads of state would gather at the Acropolis for important meetings. Meanwhile, their bodies stayed behind in Athens.

"So is this one better than the Pula amphitheater, Neda?"
"I'm hot. Can we sit down?"

Taking a break from the heat

Neda is in no mood to be comparing amphitheaters right now. It's too bad, because this next one I think could have given the one in Pula a run for its money...

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus - they still hold performances here

Elton John played here recently, in 2010. Also Sting in 1996.

Neda pipes up, "Sting also played at the Pula Amphitheater!" Ah, there she is!

 

[lightcycle]

The Erechtheion, a temple on the north side of the Acropolis site. The six statue/columns are part of the Porch of The Maidens

Although the bricks have been reconstructed, the contrast between the new and the old is very pleasing

The unbuilt section of bricks in the middle looks like a Tetris game in progress

Acropolis was totally worth it! It was so grand and brought back a lot of my childhood memories of Greek gods and heroes. This is another thing that Neda and I share in common. She's always been a bookworm and she was into Greek mythology as well when she was younger. There's nothing like walking around old ruins to really fire up the imagination! Three-headed dogs guarding the entrances to temples and a minotaur lurking behind every corner!