How I Learned the Greek Alphabet

It figures, doesn't it, that I'd travel to Greece for ten days, and end up learning how to read Greek. In the touristy areas, like parts of Athens, signs for everything are written in Greek and transliterated into Hebrew. And that's how I learned the Greek alphabet.

I think the best part of the trip was Crete, which was beautiful, like most of Greece. The highlight was taking a really overpriced cab from our hotel to the Samarian Gorge, the longest gorge in Europe (16km). The drive over was stunning. Treacherously slim and wildly winding roads threading their way through the myriad of mountains on Greece's largest and southernmost island. The car spun around snakepath turns, climbed up and down hills, the gorgeous countryside spreading out and out and out from the windows, our eyes so happy. Green hills dotted with olive trees and goats, everything pristine and untouched all around us.

The gorge was even more breathtaking, if only because we were actually inside the beauty, instead of watching it from the window of a car. So many meters of sheer cliff and rock extending upward on either side of us, the mountains in the distance, toward the end a patch of blue that was the sea. Rocks--red, gray, black, white, and all kinds of shades in-between. A ravine running through the whole thing. Unlike hiking in Israel, not a piece of trash to be found anywhere.

In Santorini, a smaller island off the coast of Crete, a short hike led us to the Red Beach, where magnificent red sand spilled from the tall, red cliffs behind us, into the cold, glittery ocean at our feet. A longer, steeper, and hotter hike the next day lent itself to a gorgeous view of the island, a slumbering volcano and natural hot springs, the sea and sky such similar hues that it looked like one big blue blanket. At the very top, the ancient city of Thira, a pile of ruins thousands of years old.

Back on the mainland, we suffered the long, uncomfortable bus rides up north to Delphi and Meteora, where we were rewarded with more ancient ruins and views each more beautiful than the last. Delphi boasts the Temple of Apollo, among other things, and a view of mountains and lakes as far as the eye can see. Meteora has these weird, beautiful mountains that are skinny and flat on top, and reach up to the sky, poking through the dense fog. You can tour these centuries-old monasteries, but they're all really far apart and hard to get to without a car or bus.