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Heavenly Sights You Must See In Athens, Greece!

A Few of Our Favorite Must See in Athens!

There truly is so much to see in Greece! We spent a couple weeks there in 2009 & let me tell you – unabashedly – there are hundreds of heavenly sights you must see in Athens Greece that we did not touch simply because of time constraints! Having said that, it is honestly one of OUR favorite trips!

It was time for another meet up with The Big Guy & Greece was the answer. Okay, I admit “Mamma Mia” played a huge part my desire to visit Greece! Ha.

We walked thru endless ancient ruins, drank cappuccinos & espressos galore [yes a lot like in Italy coffee consumption wise], saw a couple protests [calm ones], got lost one day [more on that below] & enjoyed a boat cruise one day. In short there is no shortage of sights to see…here are a few we enjoyed tremendously!

Island Hopping

We woke one morning to find it cloudy & cool so we decided to walk to the harbor to see what was going on? It was very quiet with the storm coming in but we did find one little shop open & in chatting with the owner, he told us if the weather was good ‘tomorrow’ the ships would be going out back out to sea. We ended up buying tickets for an island cruise & were told to be back at 10 the next morning if skies were clear. Luck was with us & we were able to board for a cruise adventure to two Greek Islands – Hydra & Paros! These will give you just a taste for island hopping in Greece! After all, there are only thousands of Greek islands so I’m sure you could easily find something waiting to be found by you!

Oh, before I forget, automobiles are not allowed on the Island of Hydra which, to me, made it one of the best hidden gems of Greece & how romantic is that! Horse & buggy rides [yes, we did], pack mules, or a slow leisurely walk….only truck allowed on island was the trash truck! As you can tell from the first photo below the walkways between buildings was barely wide enough to pass thru with your arms out.

This has to be one of my all time favorite ‘hidden gems” of the Island of Hydra. The stone steps were long & steep. The Big Guy & I were walking up this narrow stone walk when this gentlemen came out from between the buildings. He asked if I need a ride but I was good. Loved it!
White Greek Church on Hydra
White wash Greek church on Isle of Hydra harbor
Walls of Hydra
Walls of Hydra for protection defense. Beautiful little harbor!
Greek Isle Harbor
View of Paros from boat pulling into harbor, the water was so blue!!!
View from boat on day cruise.

Changing of the Guard Ceremony at Parliament

The Changing of Guards at Syntagma is ceremonial & takes place every hour every day & something that is more easily watched than explained. The Tsoliades [Guards] are a specially selected team that guards the Monument of the Unknown Soldier that sits at the Hellenic Parliament. They have to be certain heights, build, etc as every movement is synchronized with the partner guard which makes the movements slow & very specific. I wondered why the slow movement in the changing of guards but it is all part of the ceremony! Imagine watching a video in very slow motion. Nonetheless, it is still quite the show & really is a must see!

Changing of Guard @ Monument of Unknown Soldier
Changing of Guards – Tsoliades – can you see the synchronized movements? Very cool and disciplined…

Acropolis Ruins

There is a reason that the Acropolis is also known as ‘The City in the Air’! It sits high on a rock plateau overlooking Athens downtown. The first day we left the hotel for a walkabout had us looking down the street & up to the Acropolis. We easily walked the distance from downtown but there are quite a few steps so wear comfortable shoes. The plateau is home to several building which make up the Acropolis. Some were undergoing major facelifts during our trip as you can see by the scaffolding equipment below. Even with the fences up due to work being done, the architecture was amazing! Here are a few shots.

Acropolis
View of Acropolis from below
Athens Ruins-Columns
Partial columns – Many ruins sit throughout the streets below the Acropolis, this is only one.
Amazing views!

All in All

Our trip to Athens occurred several weeks after some not so friendly protests over I can’t tell you now but upon our arrival we saw boarded up shops & a few remains of fires. During our time there we even witnessed a couple calm protests of hundreds of locals over local politics at that time. Having said all that, we loved Athens. We found the locals very friendly. Two gentlemen who owned a jewelry store came out on sidewalk everyday & I swear they knew when we were walking down the street – always with a smile on their faces & eager to discuss country politics with The Big Guy!

On one of our walkabouts we were walking in circles it seemed. In old town Athens a lot of the streets run around and into each other around ruins & after a while it just made our heads swim trying to figure out where we missed our turn. All of a sudden the quietest little Nun in her brown habit appeared out of what seemed no where & simply motioned for us to follow her. We did. In & out of side streets until she got us back on the main street & as quiet as she first appeared, she was gone out of sight. Very surreal moment.

We would love to go back to Greece! Traipsing around other islands would be awesome but, even if we don’t get back there a second time, we have memories to last us a life time of this gorgeous country. It is definitely Bucket List necessity!

Safe travels, Holly & Horace

Salvadoran Pupusas – What A Yummy Surprise!

Authentic Bean & Cheese Pupusas – Salvadoran pupusas – what a yummy surprise waited for us in San Salvador! Who knew flour could taste so good with just a few added ingredients?

We found this little restaurant off the beaten path in San Salvador & for the short week we were in the town this became our ‘go to’ spot for our evening meal! We loved this Salvadoran fried corn fritter, commonly known as Pupusas! We loved Guillermo Gamez! He was the cutest Chef/owner ever – just downright warm & friendly! 

Salvadoran Restaurant Sign
Restaurant sign of our favorite ‘go to’ for authentic Salvadoran pupusas!

The awesome thing about making them – other than minimal number of ingredients needed & how easy to prepare – you can experiment with the one or combination of many fillings including meats. My favorite was pupusa de queso or frijoles refritos…oh so good! For a little pupusa history check this out!

kitchen of Salvadoran
Making Salvadoran Pupusas

Chef Guillermo Gamez of this tasty little restaurant even invited us back to mix up a batch! So much fun! I am pretty sure since I wrote this original post that the restaurant’s proper name is Tipicos Del Comal. My apologies Guillermo if I am incorrect!

Though I cannot begin to tell you how we made the pupusas at Tipicos I did find this ‘authentic’ salvadoran pupusa recipe Bon Appetit! Recipe by Rick Martinez!

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup plus ⅓ cup vegetable oil, divided
  • ½ medium white onion, halved, broken up into individual layers (petals)
  • 1 15-ounce can Central American red beans or red kidney beans
  • Kosher salt
  • 3 cups instant corn masa flour (such as Maseca Instant Corn Masa Mix)
  • 4 ounces grated queso Oaxaca or salted mozzarella (preferably Polly-o; about 1 cup)
  • Salvadoran Cabbage Relish (Curtido) and Salvadoran Salsa Roja (for serving)

Recipe Preparation

  • Heat ¼ cup oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Cook onion, tossing occasionally, until pieces are charred on all sides, 10–12 minutes (oil will smoke and onion will pop, so be careful). Don’t stop cooking at “browned,” they need to go further.
  • Transfer onion to a blender, reserving oil in pan. Add beans and their liquid to blender and purée, gradually adding ¼ cup warm water if mixture is too thick and blender is struggling, until smooth.
  • Heat onion oil over medium. Transfer bean mixture to skillet and cook, stirring and scraping bottom of pan occasionally, until mixture is the consistency of thick Greek yogurt, 5–10 minutes; season with salt. Let cool (refried beans will thicken as they sit, and that’s exactly what you want); set aside.
  • Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat masa flour, 3 tsp. salt, and 2⅔ cups hot water on medium speed until dough is very thick and sticky (alternatively, mix in a large bowl about 1 minute). Let rest, uncovered, 15 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, mix cheese and bean mixture in a medium bowl.
  • Combine remaining ⅓ cup oil and 1 cup warm water in a medium bowl. Dip both hands in this mixture and rub your hands together to coat. This will prevent dough from sticking to your hands, and will hydrate dough as you assemble.
  • Divide dough into 12 balls (about ¼ cup each), keeping them covered with a damp towel so they don’t dry out. With 1 ball in the palm of your hand, use your thumb of the opposite hand to create an indentation in the center. Pinch sides to create a well for the filling (it should look like half of a coconut shell). Fill hole with 2 Tbsp. bean mixture. Pinch dough around filling to enclose (it’s okay if some is poking out), then gently flatten to a 4½–5″ disk, dipping your hands in oil-water as needed. Repeat with remaining dough and bean mixture (you may have some filling left over).
  • Cook pupusa in a large cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat until center slightly puffs up and pupusa is browned in spots, 3–4 minutes per side. If filling leaks out, simply scrape off pan after pupusa has cooked.
  • Serve with cabbage relish and salsa roja alongside.

If you go to this site, Rick demonstrates how to make these yummy pupusas!

Authentic San Salvador – What a Beautiful Surprise!

San Salvador, capital of El Salvador did not fail us. As previously discussed, we love to travel. It had been a year since our previous trip so it was that time. We wanted to take a short one week trip somewhere & we decided it would be in Central America – how to pick a destination?

This literally was pull up a map & ‘close your eyes & point’! El Salvador it is! Let’s just go to the capital & that is how we decided the country for this trip in 2013. It also runs on US currency so we didn’t have to worry about currency exchange.

Where We Stayed in San Salvador

So…with no itinerary & basically no research we were heading to El Salvador with the capital, San Salvador, our landing point. Checked out hotels in San Salvador on Expedia, made our reservations & we were off! Easy peasy.

The hotel set on a beautiful side street with a gated entry! It did feel a little odd for the clerk to come out & reach through gate for our papers before she would open gates for us to enter from the street. More about this later in post. Beautiful hotel but the bed was small & almost as hard as rock. LOL. Basically a piece of wood with about a 2 inch piece of foam on top. Not the best sleeping but hey when in Rome….

Pario at Hotel El Salvador
This was hotel patio where we ate breakfasts. Looking directly at us above is the view while eating!

But what the hotel lacked in soft cushy beds, it all then made up for it in the patio where we took our breakfast meals! So calm. So beautiful & green! Extremely loud birds of all types chattering away all during our breakfasts on the patio. The walls around the patio were high & covered with greenery & wild birds. It would be a bird watchers paradise I’m sure. We thought we found a little piece of heaven that first morning. Just lovely & the food excellent.

Our Incredibly Wonderful Itinerary for San Salvador trip!

Although we did next to no research for this short one week trip & had no set itinerary for San Salvador trip, we were pleasantly surprised by how smooth the trip went & how much there was to see. And the locals? They were awesome – every person we met had a smile.

With San Salvador’s turbulent history, it continues to struggle with various issues including displacement by volcano eruptions, civil wars, emigration, etc. For an overall view of San Salvador check this out.

Here our some highlights for us.

First Walk About in San Salvador & Armed Guards!!!

As you all should know by now, we love to walk wherever we land. Each morning after we had our yummy breakfast at the Hotel we would set out on a walk – which direction should we go today? We found a huge University [one of many in the city of over 525k]. The neighborhoods were just beautiful for walking, really green & just gorgeous!

A very odd sight we saw was a huge gas station where you stayed in car & the employees would come out to gas your car & check under the hood! Brought back memories of my high school years driving where you didn’t have to pump your own gas. The BIG kicker was there was a lady in the same blue uniform as the employees but she was out on the corner of the street corner of station waving drivers in. I’m pretty sure that would work tremendously here in the states. Ha.

So there was something that caught us off guard – only for a minute. Although we were aware of San Salvador’s turbulent history, this still caught us off guard just for a second. It seemed every shop, restaurant [even McDonald’s] had an armed security at their front doors. What the heck? But after a bit, we realized it was just standard protocol at that time. By the second day of our walkabouts, the guards would wave back when we waved to them. All was good now.

Coffee Shop & Food!

Right across the street from the above gas station was a nice little coffee shop! I think on our second day there we met one of the college students coming in for her coffee. Tall, very pretty Midwest girl of 20 something came into the cafe & sat across the room from us. At some point she came over & asked where we were from as she had heard us talking.

Turns out she had decided she wanted to learn Spanish & she figured the best way to do that would be to immerse herself into the culture. Not sure why she picked San Salvador to do so but she had been there almost a year & was meeting her attorney to get her visa renewed? We asked her what her parents had thought of her move & they were on course with her choice of college. She had friends, her apartment & was quite comfortable walking alone. Importance of this? Just need to be cognizant of your surroundings & your limitations.

The coffee was great but the food!!! We found a little restaurant ‘Lo Tipicos’ on our first evening walk & this place was a goldmine to us. This was our introduction to authentic Salvadoran pupusas! Check out this short post for more info on where to go for real Salvadoran food & hospitality.

Land of Volcanoes – El Salvador

For as small as El Salvador is, the country has a huge number of active volcanoes. In San Salvador alone there are around 20 active volcanoes! We decided a hired driver would be the best way to check out some volcanoes & in general just see some countryside! We took this photo of Lake Coatepeque [a flooded volcano crater] from a look out point & it was just mesmerizing…

Lake Coatepeque
View from top of mountain to Lake Coatepeque!

In close proximity of Lake Coatepeque is the Parque Nacional Los Volcanes where took a walking tour of this volcano. Our driver dropped us off & we set a time for him to pick us up at end of day. He was on time! If you go to any tour by taxi please be sure that you make arrangements for him to either wait for you or a pick up time for him to be back to pick you up.

Entrance to Parque Nacional Los Volcanes
Toured the Parque Nacional Los Volcanes – Land of Volcanoes
Walking up Volcano path San Salvadore
The path leading up to volcano at Parque Nacional Los Volcanes.

I won’t lie. Even with the two of us loving to walk & with its high altitude [7,800 ft] it did give us reason to stop & take a breather every now & then. When we did this only the tour guide accompanied us though now they recommend security as well? Well worth the trip! The last eruption of Santa Ana Volcano was in 2005!

Our takeaway about El Salvador…

The Land of Volcanoes did not disappoint! We are happy that we decided on El Salvador for this last minute trip. It did not fail in scenery, food, coffee or locals! If it ever comes up on your wish list, just go!

Happy Travels!

International Travel To Beautiful Yucatan, Mexico!

Yes, our international travel to beautiful Yucatan, Mexico will be our first stop! Merida will be the first stop for international travel on our grand adventure! Tickets bought -Check! Initial housing set up – Check! We are so psyched right now. We have been patiently waiting all through 2020 for the world to get back to normal & finally decided what will ‘normal’ be? What the heck, lets buy tickets & get a flight. So we made the decision to jump out on our grand international travel in May of this year! Coming from south central Texas, we are ready for whatever type weather greets us!

How Did Mexico Make The First Top for International Travel?

Mexico has been on our Bucket List since day one for our first stay. Not any city in particular had priority over another at first. But after research, watching videos & hearing from expats who made the jump, Merida seems to fit all our wants for our first jump. Of course, other cities we had considered were Mexico City, Lake Chapala, Ajijic & more but in the end Merida seemed to be calling our names in regards to what we are looking for in a longer stay. I’m not saying we will not but we may well visit these cities at another time.

Pueblo, for instance. The photo below is calling us. How lovely are the colors! We’ll see if they get a visit from us?

colorful houses in pueblo, mexico
Once we leave Yucatan we would love to check out these Pueblo colorful houses

We love the warmness of the Mexican culture & that was our main draw along, of course, with all the gorgeous sights to see. Really, just because it was our first stay our of country we decided to stay closer to US for the first jaunt. Other countries that were top contenders are still on our Bucket List – Portugal & Thailand are definitely up for an extended stay as well. Back to Mexico….

Why Did Mexico Rate at Top of Our List?

Quite simply, economically it is a no brainer when you compare Mexico to the U.S. for so many reasons. If you are a homeowner as we were until January of this year, you know the forever costs to maintain a house & the bills that go along with it. Real estate taxes, personal taxes, insurance for health – auto – property, utilities, groceries alone are absolute necessities for day to day life. If you are in the lucky percent who have great employment that allows you health & the monies to support your family then you can count yourself lucky.

Don’t get me started on the “keeping up with the Jone’s mentality” of folks who have to have the next best material item on the market but continuously complain of debt, etc. Phones, electronics, gadgets, please my brain goes numb just thinking of the dollars blown by folks everyday just trying to keep up with the next. What does this get you? More bills, higher credit cards, having to work longer to pay off those cards, etc. Just doesn’t make sense to us.

We were one of those families who maintained a somewhat low key lifestyle. We have at times splurged on ‘things’ like the Suburban or iPhones but were able to pay down quickly or in full vs making monthly payments foreverrrrrrrr. As I have mentioned plenty of times before it was all about setting goals & a budget to allow The Big Guy & I to not have to work in order to travel internationally albeit on a budget. We set our goals to pay off what we owe, sell everything & move [or at least do some extensive international travel] instead of just living our years out. We want to LIVE our years enjoying every moment making memories & not really have a care in the world other than to worry about which country to visit next. After having traveled & seeing how others live in foreign countries for much less our eyes were opened.

Mexico Flag
Flag of Mexico

Mexico is just one of the countries that checked off everything we have been looking for us. Basically Mexico was a YES for almost everyone of our Top 20 Concerns we put together prior to our selecting a country for a stay. We have an initial 3 week place when we land in May but plan to be out & about looking/comparing if we want an apartment or small house to rent for balance of our stay. We are also going to look at hotel rentals as that may well be an option as well. Follow us on YouTube as we check out the housing options once we have landed!

Merida – How we decided on our initial Mexico city!

It sometimes feels like we just did closed our eyes & point at the map! There are so many cities we want to visit in Mexico that honestly I see us spending as much time as possible in that country. You saw the photo above of Pueblo! What’s not to love about that photo?

San Miguel de Allende was initially going to be our first stop. The big pull was the Monarch Butterfly migration but that is basically from November to March – outside of our time-frame on this first visit so that will be another trip.

Monarch Butterfly
Monarch Butterfly

Mexico City was given some serious thought but again maybe a shorter stay would be warranted for this city in the future. From what I’ve read it looks like we probably should do a week to ten day stay here but even in a short few days I think we would be able to see a lot with

All three cities addressed MOST of all our desires along with many other cities but Merida was the over the top choice for our initial international travel on a budget!

Here is what we know…

We do not want to be close to the US & Mexico border, Baja peninsula or in a heavily touristy area.

We knew we wanted to be close to a major airport for our initial flight. We did want to have access to travel options for walkabouts & to be able to educate ourselves within the locals, culture & language. We have specific sights we want to see in the Yucatan – ruins, anything nature, water, etc.

Bottom line, we liked everything we have been hearing & reading about Merida & thought why not? Here we come! 45 days & counting!

Happy Travels! Follow along to see what we see.

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