Lasting Impressions

We are on our way home...first leg to Paris is completed and tomorrow we fly back to Canada. I have been thinking about what the lasting impressions will be from this trip. What sights, sounds, tastes will be reminders of France and Greece?
The Dordogne area of France will always be about Medieval castles on rock outcroppings, surrounded by the houses and shops of a Medieval village. Secondary roads so narrow that sometimes the buildings almost touched the road. Prehistoric drawings in caves. The Malbec wine of the Cahors region. Duck confit and Foie gras and the wonderful pork terrine on a baguette. Kind people who struggled with English because our French was so bad.
Paros will remain in our memories for its sparkling white buildings and narrow alleys covered in paving stones, with bright pink bougainvillea bushes. The barren landscape seems less so when you remember the olive groves and fruit trees. Ancient history is everywhere in the castle ruins, the ports, and the archeological digs. Moussaka, Greek salad with a slab of feta on top, black olives, cheap wine, baclava, are the tastes and smells that will stay. The gorgeous turquoise blue of the water against the volcanic rock or the golden beach is a picture in our minds.
Athens, a city of rich history, from the time of the Greek gods, provides photo opportunities at every turn. The city is dominated by the Acropolis, viewed as you come around corners, all over the old city. The immense size of the buildings built so long ago, has to be seen to realize what an achievement each one was for that ancient civilization. The graffiti of today also leaves a lasting impression.
These are some of the snapshots preserved by our brains as well as our cameras as we head home.Read more