We arrived in Greece on the 6th of June on an Island called Rodos (Rhodes). It’s now the 12th of July and for more than a month now I have been racking my brain on what to write about this country… It seems there is no good answer. Mere words would not do this place justice. Its blue waters and many island would render anyone speechless. Therefore I have contrived a little dance. However, seeing as you can’t see it, I shall have to write something too. First of all (I’ll go back a bit), arriving in Turkey was a pretty major culture shock, coming from all the Arab countries we have been traveling through, but this was nothing compared to Greece. The first thing we noticed as we tied up in Rodos were the heart warming sounds of an accordion being played by a busker nearby. Wow! An accordion. So we sat on the boat that evening with a glass of wine, then two, then three and all was good. That is until someone pointed out that it was the same song being played over and over. The busker came back every day and sat by our boat and played that blasted instrument from morning till dusk. She was lucky that we don’t carry guns on board, because by the third day we where ready for some target practice. But the girl didn’t get us down too much. Nothing could have with the surroundings and the atmosphere of a Greek island. We spent two weeks on Rodos awaiting the arrival of Nanticha after her operation. Nadia and I (Tom) spent almost every day at a place called Kallithea Spas, splashing in the clear water and then up the beach for some lunch and a complementary glass of Ouzo at Jordan’s Beach Bar. Mmmm, sitting under the shade of grape vines, eating Greek salad and souvlaki, dipping fresh bread in Tzatsiki and washing it all down with a cold Greek beer. In the meanwhile, Mike and Oliver were slaving away working on the boat, though enjoying themselves in the evenings around the town. Getting back to that culture shock thing, we found that the island was chockers with Swedish people. Everywhere you turn there’s a sweed. In Turkey there were only Germans and in Rodos only sweeds. This wasn’t all bad. Five minutes from the boat (or fifteen if you follow Mikael), there was a strip of nightclubs run by Swedish people. It was like a whole little town on it’s own filled with partying 18-25 y/o Swedish people. I call it…Swedentown! We met some cool people working there and invited them over to the boat a couple of times and found ourselves getting free drinks in every nightclub on the strip. When we left Rodos we invited all these people (twelve in all I think) for a day sail down to Lindos and spent the day there with them, drinking partying relaxing. Next up was Nisos Nisiros, where we took shelter for one night before continuing to Astypalaea. Here’s where the dance comes in again… What a place! If you’re interested in seeing the real Greek Island living without the tourists, this is a big hit on my list. White houses, rolling hills, blue ocean. Old men sitting outside the cafes in the main street sipping ouzo, the women walking home from church, waiting, with a stern gaze for a smile as they walk past, then when they get one their entire face lights up with welcoming warmth. Fresh vegetables, local goat cheese, fresh local meats. No supermarkets (at least the way we know them), bougainvillea clinging to the white walls and Rosemary growing on the hills. We waited for better weather in Astypalaea for a week, and in my opinion it was time well spent. Next two stops were Andiparos and Kithnos. All nice places, but all over-nighters waiting for the winds to calm down. I should mention here, that the whole way (as is the set trend for Freja), the wind was blowing against us, constantly at 15 knots+ headwind and, our timing couldn’t have been worse crossing to Lavrion. Here we met a massive storm front and up to 36 knots of wind. Freja, of coarse, couldn’t have handled it better, Jessica slept through it and Nadia laughed through it. Lavrion is where we were forced to say goodbye to Nadia. Had it been a month already? It didn’t seem like it. It was here we broke our daily ritual of crawling out of our hatch in our bedroom at the front of the boat and falling into the cool ocean. One of us would wake up and “Out of the bed, and into the med!”. After Nadia left we stayed in Lavrion a few days and made some friends on a Polish boat called Sarcshi Diamant (Black Diamond) and Spent a couple of good nights drinking their homebrew vodka. After leaving Athens we crossed the incredible Corinth Canal. Not very old, but impressive none the less. After the Corinth Canal we met massive tree lined mountains. Not like any landscape we had seen so far. It reminded us a lot of Norway …in a way. So, now we are on the island of Korfu and my first good impression has not yet been terrorized by thieves, insects, heat or anything else that might come in the way of what might have been an otherwise nice day. Once again. Greece. Make a mental note to come here. And don’t just stay in one place. Jump on a ferry and island hop for a few weeks! You wont regret it …Just don’t come here to scuba dive. If you’re gonna throw away money, throw it this way…=) Thanks for visiting the site. I hope I didn’t go overboard with the pictures, but I hope you enjoy them none the less!