A magical Mediterranean vacation COMPLETED - Page 24 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Catching back up.
Olympia looks so interesting.
I have only done Palo dinner once, but I won't be running back to it anytime soon.
The sunrise is just gorgeous...and I know it was probably 10 times better than the pictures are leading us to believe too.
You're spot on - don't you always find sunrises and sunsets are more beautiful in real life than when the camera captures them?
Yep, you did read that right, as essentially all you were paying for was a bus to drop you in Athens and pick you up again. That's why I was so amazed that we had a guide with us as well for that price!
All caught up! Looks like you had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets so far And great pics already from the photo CD! So sorry the tour wasn't timed to your liking, it's always the case when they try to please a large group of people it seems I did have to chuckle when you were complaining about the 90 degree temps though, as I came home to over 100! It was downright cold in Europe to me We did have a pretty awful time in Palo in 2012 to the point we didn't even finish our meal, I'm still debating if we will go next year. I don't think we tried brunch though so that might be the key!
You sunrise photos are beautiful, while the port area might not have been nice to the eyes you would never know by what you captured in those early morning photos.
Love the photos of Athens, so far I am loving what I am seeing. I just love the architecture.
All caught up! Looks like you had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets so far And great pics already from the photo CD! So sorry the tour wasn't timed to your liking, it's always the case when they try to please a large group of people it seems I did have to chuckle when you were complaining about the 90 degree temps though, as I came home to over 100! It was downright cold in Europe to me
How the heck do you cope with those sort of temperatures? Do you ever actually get used to them?
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We did have a pretty awful time in Palo in 2012 to the point we didn't even finish our meal, I'm still debating if we will go next year. I don't think we tried brunch though so that might be the key!
I'd definitely give brunch a go - we've always loved that.
You sunrise photos are beautiful, while the port area might not have been nice to the eyes you would never know by what you captured in those early morning photos.
Love the photos of Athens, so far I am loving what I am seeing. I just love the architecture.
Tuesday 8 July – part three: are we ever going to make it up there?
Before long, we were seeing columns that marked out temples and they literally were everywhere you looked, although ironically with roads running between them, which was a bit surreal. It reminded me of Rome in that respect.
We seemed to go round four sides of a square, but it was quite nice as we got to the Hellenic Parliament building and the soldiers outside it renowned for their unusual garb. The parliament has 300 members, each elected for four years.
We also saw Syntagma Square, where all the riots happened a couple of years ago over the state of Greece’s economy. Here I will say something. Greece has some absolutely amazing tourist attractions, and I assume they’re operated and owned by the government, in which case they honestly could charge more money for them to help get the income going from the visitors. I didn’t think the charges we had to pay today were really enough for what we saw, if I’m being honest here. Heck, they were good value for money, but if your country is having issues, it would be a way of generating more income. Just saying…
Suddenly, our guide told us to get ready as we were about to get off the coach and she wasn’t joking. We pulled up and it was time to get off, as quick as that. We were very impressed by the fact that we were each given a bottle of water again, a map and a sealed face cloth to take with us. They don’t have to do any of this, so it’s nice to see them go the extra mile.
I was intrigued to see these guys…
… we would later find out where they ended up.
We followed our guide up the road a little way through the Plaka area of the city and all the time she was telling us various things. She told us how to get tickets for the Acropolis, how much they were and where the ticket office was. Considering we had only paid $29 each for this, I was very impressed with what we got for that money.
Finally we were given the opportunity to go off on our own and like many of our party, we made our way up towards the Acropolis. We were told there were two ways to enter it, one of which was close to where we had stopped, whereas the other was further up the hill, but was less likely to be crowded. Guess which one we opted for?
The hill was a fairly gentle slope, but trust me, in vet hot weather, it felt more like a mountain to climb. Although it was only 9:30am by now, we were both feeling the effects of the heat.
We got up to the start of the Acropolis complex proper and I must admit I was having doubts about either of us making it, as it still looked so high up from where we were now, and we were already absolutely beat.
In this, you can see how far we still had to go and how high up the Acropolis is…
Ironically though, we had really done the worst of it already and, although the steps weren’t great to climb up, it was better in a way than the gentle hill. Strange, but true…
I got a bit confused here and ended up at the entrance, which I thought was the ticket office. Realising my mistake, I went off to get our tickets, while Mark waited in the shade. I was a bit worried when I got there to see a sign saying “no backpacks”, but I double checked with the guy who sold me the tickets and he took one look at my backpack and told me I’d be fine.
I paid the €12 ($16) each, which as I mentioned earlier, I thought was a bargain, given what we got to see for it. We literally only did the Acropolis with these tickets, but if we had wanted to, we could’ve gone to a number of other sights with the same ticket.
I thought the bus would just let you off somewhere central and then let you fend for yourselves. They really did plus this experience. Nice to be lead in the direction of the Acropolis before being on your own. Over the years the approach to the Acropolis has changed. The first time I went, in 1964, you could take a city bus that got you most of the way up the hill. That must have been a very long walk uphill in the heat!
That tour really was such a great deal! I'd like to see some deals like that on other itineraries!
You are right, that seems like a very low price to see the Acropolis, and with their financial troubles, they would do well to increase it even a little - with the number of people who visit each year, even going to $25 per ticket would likely mean a substantial increase to the government coffers.
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And great pics already from the photo CD! So sorry the tour wasn't timed to your liking, it's always the case when they try to please a large group of people it seems 
I did have to chuckle when you were complaining about the 90 degree temps though, as I came home to over 100! It was downright cold in Europe to me 
We did have a pretty awful time in Palo in 2012 to the point we didn't even finish our meal, I'm still debating if we will go next year. I don't think we tried brunch though so that might be the key!
Do you ever actually get used to them? 
It reminded me of Rome in that respect. 
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