A magical Mediterranean vacation COMPLETED - Page 26 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
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.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
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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Those are some great photos of the Acropolis and surrounding building below it! Some nice views of Athens as well. Just by yours and Mark's expressions, I can tell it is quite hot and you definitely seem quite uncomfortable being there! As much as you want to see this, I'm sure at the same time you want to get out of there and into some shade or back on the air conditioned bus!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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When I did a semester in London I used to write all my postcards while sitting in the room with the Elgin Marbles in the museum. Loved it. They were amazing. I can only imagine what they looked like originally.
Beautiful pictures of the Acropolis and surrounding buildings. It's so sad to see they have fallen to such disrepair. Mark and you look so hot in those pictures.
Liz
Those are some great photos of the Acropolis and surrounding building below it! Some nice views of Athens as well. Just by yours and Mark's expressions, I can tell it is quite hot and you definitely seem quite uncomfortable being there! As much as you want to see this, I'm sure at the same time you want to get out of there and into some shade or back on the air conditioned bus!
Definitely! It was very much a case of grin and bear it, as we were horribly uncomfortable that day. It was the worst day we had on this vacation as far as heat went.
When I did a semester in London I used to write all my postcards while sitting in the room with the Elgin Marbles in the museum. Loved it. They were amazing. I can only imagine what they looked like originally.
Oh wow - that is so cool! Actually, now you say that, we did talk about going back to the British Museum and we do have a couple of day trips coming up, so maybe we'll have to do that...
What an amazing view and I agree it's sounds like a wonderful bargain off a tour but that heat sounds terrible, you can see how flushed you look in your picture. Doing this tour in the AM seems to be the only saving grace as as hot as it is, I could only picture heading here in early afternoon.
What an amazing view and I agree it's sounds like a wonderful bargain off a tour but that heat sounds terrible, you can see how flushed you look in your picture. Doing this tour in the AM seems to be the only saving grace as as hot as it is, I could only picture heading here in early afternoon.
That's why we wanted to do the Athens on your own tour, so that we could get in there early. I've just checked the time stamp on these photos and it was just after 10:00am!
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Tuesday 8 July – part five: trying not to melt in the heat…
This building is the Erechtheion, built between 421 and 406 BC, located on the most sacred spot on the Acropolis. It’s believed to be where Poseidon left his trident marks in a rock, and Athena’s olive tree then sprouted, as part of their battle for the city. The temple was named after one of the mythical kinds of Athens. It originally had columns carved in the shape of a woman, and was built on a series of different levels.
Can you tell Mark was tired?
Here, he looks a little less tired at least…
As you can tell by the last photo, it was here that we found Mari and Raleigh, who had just been given 40 minutes of free time, which was ironic, given that they were on a tour and of course we had all the free time we wanted as well!
We wandered around with them, taking in the sights and the buildings, trying not to melt in the heat. I was really worried about burning and did keep checking my arms to see how hot they were. They felt really hot, but there was no way of knowing whether that was because I was out in the sun or because I was actually burning. I hoped with the amount of sun tan lotion I had put on earlier it was former…
From here, you can see a lot of the other ancient sites in Athens, and the city sprawling in front of you as well:
One we could see was Ancient Agora, which was the marketplace, and would have formed the political heart of Athens in around 600 BC. This is where real democracy was practised, and by that, I mean the practice of everyone voting on everything (Ok, women and slaves omitted – I accept that ), something that doesn’t really happen that much these days. The closest we get are Switzerland and California. Anyway, I’m straying from the point. You’d also have found schools, theatres and shops here, as this really was the centre of commercial and social life.
This is one of my favourite shots of the whole vacation. I know it doesn’t show much, but it shows I was in Greece, a new country for me, and it showed the blazing sun, and to me, demonstrates just how hot it was…
From here, you got more superb views of the Parthenon:
We also got some better views of the Erechtheion:
As we made our way down, finally we were back in the shade – and I cannot tell you how delighted I was at that! I stopped to take plenty of photos on the way, as now I didn’t mind being outside.
When we got to the bottom of the steps, we took a water break, and a chance to just relax. I cannot begin to tell you how pleased I was that we had both made it up there – and survived the experience.
Crazy to think the Parthenon survived for all those years up until just recently - well, relatively speaking. Such a shame.
I can just see the heat in every picture. Not a cloud in the sky! Makes for nice photos... but that's about it. That was tough - well done!
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Some nice views of Athens as well. Just by yours and Mark's expressions, I can tell it is quite hot and you definitely seem quite uncomfortable being there! 
As much as you want to see this, I'm sure at the same time you want to get out of there and into some shade or back on the air conditioned bus! 
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It was very much a case of grin and bear it, as we were horribly uncomfortable that day. It was the worst day we had on this vacation as far as heat went.
Actually, now you say that, we did talk about going back to the British Museum and we do have a couple of day trips coming up, so maybe we'll have to do that...
I hoped with the amount of sun tan lotion I had put on earlier it was former… 
You’d also have found schools, theatres and shops here, as this really was the centre of commercial and social life. 
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