May 6-7, 2025

May 6-7, 2025

Aimee read that a Mediterranean diet is good for her health so we decide to head there for our holiday. We are up very early to catch our first flight east from Tucson. We needn’t have. There are severe thunderstorms in Dallas and our flight is delayed several hours until the weather blows through. DFW is notorious for bad weather. It is probably not the best place to have a major airline hub. American cancelled many flights. Fortunately not ours. As we fly over the western tip of Texas, the area reminds me of the Nazca lines in Peru. Instead it is the roads and drilling platforms of the Permian Basin. The lines get denser as we near Midland-Odessa.

Our next flight is delayed an hour. Our flight to Germany takes us along the coastline of Lake Michigan past Mackinaw Bridge, one of the longest suspension bridges in the US. It connects the two halves of Michigan. On our descent into Frankfurt we pass the huge Opel car factory. It is the size of a city. For the first two hours I watched the movie 'Conclave'. By coincidence the actual Conclave to elect a new pope started today.

It takes us a while to make it through passport control in Frankfurt. It is a little chaotic. This is not the organized, efficient Germany of the past. We have another long layover till we catch our third flight.

Our flight path to Athens, Greece is down the Dalmation coast and over Tirane, capital of Albania. We arrive to beautiful weather. We take the shuttle to our hotel in the nearby Aegean Sea port town of Rafina. Our hotel room has a balcony overlooking the ferry port. Since it is late we have dinner of Bruschetta and Greek salad at the hotel restaurant. We are served a digestif of Mastiha afterwards.