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Grand Tour of the Greek World, Spring 2024

Ah, Greece, one of the most important nations in the development of Western Civilization and one of the most historic places on the planet. How did I ever wait so long to make it there? Why will it be my 102nd country? It’s hard to say why it took me so long to get there. I certainly considered trips there many times before. One primary reason is that it’s far removed from the rest of Western Europe, so I didn’t get there in my early years of Eurail travel. I gave it serious consideration as a destination on several occasions, most notably in late summer/autumn of 2015. But then it was in the midst of its financial crisis with a crazy left-wing government in power, and I decided on the countries of former Yugoslavia and Albania instead. Or maybe I just wanted to add a larger number of countries to my total with that trip. I finally made concrete plans to go to Greece in the spring of 2020, a long trip of over two months taking in most parts of the country. And then Covid-19 happened, and the world shut down. I got credit toward a future trip with the tour company with which I had booked a tour in Crete, was able to cancel most reservations I made, but got no response from Turkish Airlines regarding my cancelled flight. Three and a half years later I received a $10 settlement check from a class action lawsuit against the airline for my $800+ ticket. I had not initially planned to go to Greece this year because of the limited number of days I can spend in the Schengen Zone (90 within a 180 day period) after my long winter travels in the Canary Islands and on the continent this past winter. I started looking at combining a shorter Germany trip with places like Albania and Cyprus that are not in the Schengen Zone. Eventually I figured out I could include Greece too while I was in the neighborhood, although on a somewhat less comprehensive itinerary than I had planned in 2020. Most notably I won’t be going to Crete on this trip and there will be somewhat less island hopping. My itinerary includes an 11-day group tour in central and southern Albania, followed by several days in Athens and then some island hopping in the Cyclades, then nine days in Cyprus, and finally three weeks touring the Greek mainland by car. Two friends will be joining me for different parts of the trip. And Greece and Cyprus will constitute my 102nd and 103rd country conquests.
Planned Dates
2024-04-26 to 2024-06-25
Countries
4
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