The Island of Spetses: Time to Say Good-Bye

 I’m sitting on our hotel veranda on the island of Spetses, after just rearranging my luggage for the umpteenth time since tomorrow, we are headed back to the United States.  I’m usually ready to go home after a long vacation, but this time it wouldn’t take much to twist my arm to stay, at least for a little bit longer.  But we are already checked in for our flights, have our boarding passes and tomorrow we will take a quick, early morning ride on a taxi boat and then drive the three hours to Athens Airport. 

I have been thinking about the things I will and will not miss once I leave this beautiful country.  Here’s the breakdown:

What I will not miss:

1. The constant struggle of being a good steward for our environment and mopping up all the shower water on the bathroom floor.  I know that I have written about this before but I just don’t get it.  Many of the hotels we have stayed in have had notes in the bathroom asking its patrons to be environmentally conscious and reuse their towels.  Here, like so many other countries in Europe however, when taking a shower it is nearly impossible not to get the bathroom floor soaked because there is usually no impediment, like for example, a shower curtain, between the shower water and the bathroom floor. As a consequence, in nearly every hotel I have needed both used and unused towels to mop up the floors! I got soaked in one of the hotels when Bob was washing his hair and the water was running down his elbow onto my legs as I brushed my teeth in the sink next to the shower!  Another recommendation for the suggestion box: If hotels want their guests to be environmentally conscious, install some shower doors ASAP.

2. The 15 second lighting in public toilets.  Another environmental step usually taken in hotel public restrooms, is for the bathroom stall lighting to go off in 15 seconds when there is no movement within the stall.  I have found that 15 seconds is an inadequate period of time for any type of “settling in” to do what needs to be done. On several occasions, I found myself flailing my arms or vigorously bobbing my head so that the lights would go back on so that I could pull up my pants. Ridiculous.

3. Turkish toilets.  I only encountered two bathrooms that only had a hole in the floor and no toilet.  I am just too old and I will leave it at that. 

4. Eating…a lot.  When we get home, I am looking forward to my bowl of morning oatmeal and my lunchtime yogurt, fruit and a couple of pretzels. I have five days upon our return before I am scheduled to have blood work for my annual check-up and I am going to make healthy choices from the moment I walk off the plane at Newark Airport until the phlebotomist says to me on Tuesday morning, “Can I see your arms?” 

What I will miss:

1.Eating …a lot.  The food is so damn good here that for 12 days, my eyes have been bigger than my stomach—at least til the last day or two. Every day, we have eaten Greek Salad, at least once and each time I have tried to imagine replicating the salad because, while I’m bringing home some Greek olive oil and oregano, Homeland Security may look down on me bringing home a couple of pounds each of tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese that comes here in a block and not crumbled. And don’t even talk about the baklava—my suitcase wouldn’t be big enough for all I would like to bring home!

2. Easily walking a lot of steps.  We have hiked far less than we have in the past, but this is a walkable country and everywhere we went, we walked.  I’m hoping all those steps may have offset all that cheese we ate. 

3. Mark and Judy. We are very lucky to be able to travel with friends who not only have similar interests but are a whole lot of fun to be around. We laughed so hard during our rafting debacle, but frankly, our whole time together in Greece was one laugh after another. Bob and I see Mark and Judy frequently when we are home, but there is nothing like all of us having dinner together and then saying, “Breakfast at 8?”, because we all knew that the laughter will start up again the very next day.

4. Doris. Leaving Greece also means leaving Doris and there is no upside to that. First, we will obviously have to begin again making decisions for ourselves!  Being our guide for both of our Greek trips has been wonderful beyond measure.  We have learned so much and boy, have we laughed.! But it’s the friendship that only comes when people instantly connect, that I will miss.  And at least for a short period of time, being told where to be and at what time has been pretty great. 

5. The Greek people.  Yesterday, we were in a store in Spetses and the shopkeeper came up to us and asked if we were Americans. Other than Bob, in his very American New Balance sneakers, telling her that he was from Thessaloniki, we said that we were.  She immediately said, “ I knew it, because Americans are always smiling.” It’s fair to say that the same can be said for the Greeks.  This is a country filled with people, regardless of the time and circumstance, who try to get the best out of every minute of life.  There’s a lot to be learned from people who take it a little slower and enjoy the view.  And in this country, there are plenty of views to enjoy. 

Until we meet again!

PS: We arrived at the airport and Doris surprised each couple with a three kilo wedge of smoked cheese from Metsovo.  And so, the Greek eating will continue after we arrive home….at least after my blood work.