Last days of the trip of a lifetime

Back in Kuşadası, we had seen a statue at the top of a hill (see middle picture below) that we wanted to walk to and have a good view of the city. We got a little lost getting up there and as we're standing there trying to figure out where to go next, Bren says, "there's someone watching us up in those trees." We waited awhile and finally a little boy poked his head out and we asked him how to get to the top of the hill. He didn't say much, just kind of gestured for us to follow him, so we did. He was about 10 years old (see bottom middle picture below) and these streets were VERY steep. We had to tell him to slow down a few times for these old ladies. hee hee We went through a residential area and all of a sudden he says, "My mama." "Oh, hello," we say to the lady and through her house we go and continue to climb. Finally we reach the top and give him a few Euros each (I think that's the currency in Turkey - I can't quite remember now). He left and we took in the view.

As we were taking our pictures, we looked down and there was our little tour guide bringing MORE people up the hill. We wondered if he stood in those trees where he found us and helped many lost tourists. If so, he could bring in a pretty good salary for a day. :) If you look at the picture below, you'll see him with his next group just in the bottom of the picture.

After our walk up the hill we continued to walk to the other side of town to see what all the fuss was about this Ladies Beach we'd heard so much about. When we saw it (bottom right picture below), we turned around and went back to our wonderful, quiet beach across from our hotel.

Our last meal in Turkey. :(

The next morning we had to take a ferry over to a small island in Greece and then catch our overnight ferry back to Athens. We went to the docks and turned the corner and saw this boat (first picture below) and thought, "Sweet! This will be a nice ride," then realized, oh, not THAT boat. Look in front of that boat (click the picture to enlarge it if you need to). Yeah, a tiny little boat for the next hour and a half. It was actually quite nice, though. Below is my Turkish tribute.

This boat dropped us off on the island of Samos. We landed at a different dock than we needed to catch our other ferry, so we hopped in a taxi. Our taxi driver asked us why we weren't staying longer and we said we didn't realize it would be so beautiful here. He asked us if he could show us a little village to see what we were missing out on. Yup. Missing out. I think we all put Samos on our list of places to come back to and spend more time.

Our last meal together in Greece. Sniff, sniff.

Here comes our ferry. All aboard!

We didn't book in enough advance time to book a cabin, so we had to sleep where everyone else hunkered down for the night. Thank goodness for an iPod to drown out background noise.

Last stop at the airport in Athens waiting for our flight back home (Karen catching a few winks below). Since Bren had met us later, she was flying with a different airline. Karen and I asked to go on an earlier flight to get into London earlier than we were supposed to so we could actually go grab a hotel and sleep there instead of sleeping at the airport and it worked. Have you ever been on call for a flight? It's very exciting. She told us at the last second that they could get us on the flight but it's about to take off. RUN!

We got on just in time and said goodbye to Greece in the air.

This really was an amazing trip and I'm SO glad I went. I would recommend it to anyone. The question I get now is, "Where are you going next?" My answer ... Hong Kong. My sister and her family just moved there this summer and I'm planning on spending next Christmas with them there. Yes, there might be little trips between now and then, but I need to give my bank account a bit of a rest for now.

Thanks for going on this journey with me. Sorry it took me so long to finish it. I will try to be better from now on out. 5 posts for me in 2 days is pretty good!