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Today started oh so very early in order to make oh my gosh how early is this flight to Greece. 2:20 that alarm went off, and we all gladly got up to throw some clothes on and make our way downstairs to our 3:15 am cab that was really a mini-bus to head back to Munich International. For those keeping track, yes, that meant Jen was outside the airport for roughly 17 hours before returning, and in Munich for only about 20. How I'm typing right now is beyond me.
After some pretty darn decent for an airport breakfast food (Germany, you win on travel food quality), we boarded our Condor Airlines flight to Preveza, Greece. It was just an hour and 45 minutes in the air for this one, which felt like nothing after the transatlantic flights. Right upon take off, there was a great view of the Alps as we headed south. When I woke up an hour or so later, there were islands! Yep, my first views of Greece were of amazingly blue water, islands, and cruise ships.
Our first task was to even find our car rental place. Turned out to be the one that isn't in the airport at all. It's just across the street, and trust me, this is not a large airport. But it did involve walking along the entrance to the airport and crossing a relatively busy street. With all our luggage. But get there we did, and as is so often the case in smaller countries like this, although one car was ready to go, the automatic car the Bergs had reserved had not yet been returned. And when the Swedish family that had it finally showed up, it turns out they had basically broken it and the trunk wouldn't shut. So, they got a slightly smaller car, but once we got driving, Mike was quite glad for and less length on the car.
PEOPLE DRIVE LIKE NUTS IN GREECE!!!
All the roads are narrow, there are so many curves, no speed limits that I could see except on particularly wicked curves, and passing seems to happen from any direction at any point at any speed. Seriously - I was trying to turn left and had motorcycles simultaneously cut me off on both sides. I saw the one zoom up on my left and then started to correct right when I saw the other cutting across my path mid-intersection. At this point I am just proud to say I killed no motorcyclists today.
Once we found our way up the narrow and steep road to our villa, we met Spiros, the owner of the property, and having been up since 2:30 am, he was kind enough to lead us back down to Nikiana to find some lunch. you know, crazy Americans that are hungry at noon. Because nothing opens for lunch here until 1! So we basically found breakfast but at that point any food was going to be good. From there, Mom, Erica and I went to the grocery store to stock the kitchen while Steph, Mike and the girls followed Spiros back to the villa to get in. The text messages we got at the store from Steph let us know we were about to come "home" to an amazing place. And amazing it is! Plenty of room, a gorgeous pool, can't ask for more.
We spent the afternoon and evening relaxing, had a DELICIOUS pasta dinner, and pretty much went to sleep quite early. Everyone had been up since 2:30, I had been up since 2:30 on the first day after an overnight transatlantic flight!
Hello, Greece and thank you for such a beautiful welcome!
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