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With the rain starting to fall more regularly, we decided it was time to head off again. After a quick hike up the M11, we once again found ourselves at Stansted Airport, this time travelling with longtime friends Jon and Jo, who would be staying with us for the first week. After an uneventful flightContinue reading “Salerno & Pompeii”

Rachel had her summer team meet-up, so we pointed the car south on Bank Holiday Monday for a late afternoon rendezvous over dinner with our youngest (and blondest), whom we hadn’t seen since his Athens visit in June. Needless to say, we had plenty to catch up on. After traveling for four years, I’ve gottenContinue reading “From the South to the North: Friends and Family”

It’s been hot here along the coast of the Peloponnese. Basically, if the wind blows from the north during the summer months, it keeps the temperature in the low 30s, which is manageable. But if it blows from the south, through the mouth of the Argolic Gulf, up from the Sahara, it pushes the needleContinue reading “Winding Down – Winding On: Greece to Cambridge”

We’ve moved on from the apartment where we’d been staying for over a month. As lovely as it was, we were starting to grow roots and besides, they had new guests coming in. With only a few days before check-out, we found a charming little villa owned by an incredibly warm and welcoming family. It’sContinue reading “Carved in Stone: A Weekend in Monemvasia”

I’ll be honest, I was selectively sociable before starting this chapter of my life. Unlike Rachel, who’s always enjoyed chatting with anyone and everyone, I’d often avoid eye contact if I didn’t feel like interacting, just to sidestep a conversation. Now though, I make a point, both at home and away, to acknowledge people asContinue reading “Olympia & Ancient Mesenne: Echoes Across Time”

We had originally planned to move up and across into Albania, but the pull of the Peloponnese has proven too strong—so here we are. We’ve settled into a beach routine: yoga and some stretching first thing in the morning, followed by a slow amble down the hill to our very welcoming swim spot. I’m aContinue reading “From Mycenae to Mystras”

We’d decided that we’d missed our window to explore the islands off the mainland—something better suited for spring or autumn. So, after quite a bit of deliberation, we chose to stay closer to the mainland and head west along the coast into the Peloponnese. Inspired in part by Race Around the World (which we’d watchedContinue reading “Xiropigado – finding our rhythm in the Peloponnese”

We were certainly exploring the city—our average step count was nearly 20,000 steps a day. With temperatures in the mid-30s, it wasn’t always easy, but we were all really enjoying ourselves. We’ve always found the Greeks to be warm and welcoming, and Athens was no exception. We spent time wandering through the historic sites aroundContinue reading “Walking through time”

It was an earlish start for us, with a pickup at 5:00 a.m. Although we’d booked a taxi, we both agreed our driver seemed more suited to robbing banks. He was fast—getting us to Stansted in about an hour, the drive just a blur. We thought that by taking a weekend flight, the airport wouldn’tContinue reading “Athens”

Six weeks have just flown by. I had to be in Guildford for a couple of weeks over Easter, and Rachel and Keith kindly invited us to base ourselves in Cobham. They have such a beautiful home and always make us feel so welcome. We didn’t do too much eating out as we normally would.Continue reading “A busy springtime in the UK”