In "The Odyssey," Odysseus wanders for ten years trying to get back home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, providing the Grateful Dead with the line: "What a Long Strange Trip It's Been." As the Queens Odyssey rounds the bend at the last enchanted island and, like Odysseus, heads for home, it is a good time to reflect on what we've seen and learned.

From our first encounters in Heraklion, the Greek people have remained generous, hospitable, and warm which it's hard not to be in such a climate. They are also so animated that a normal conversation can look like an argument. A real Greek argument is called a war. The Greeks have fought many wars, and in the old days used to win most of them. From what we've seen in the museums, their main battle strategy was throwing pots. 

The Greeks are a very unique people. Some of them use only a single letter for their first name -- their last names are so overloaded with them. For instance, our guide on the Acropolis, a slender and very intelligent woman, was named F. Spanakopitaspinachpiepapadopalous. She could hardly carry her name about with her. The Greek alphabet is a story in itself. It was on its way from Phonecia when it suffered a shipwreck and was rather badly mauled by tides, currents, and vowel-hungry calamari. When it was later found and put back together it looked like this: ÁÂØÄÅÖÃ! Kinda like what the archeologists did with the battle pottery in the museums. 

Greece, we have learned, is an olive oil culture. If Greece were to disappear completely, it could be reconstructed with three items: an olive tree, a grape vine, and a sheep. Make that 2 sheep! And we could throw in a dog or two for good measure -- they are everywhere in Athens. When he returned to Ithaca, Odysseus was first recognized by his faithful hound, AstroneWOOFapopadopalous, who had missed his master so much (for twenty years) that he died on the spot from joy. Athenian dogs will be faithful to you for a few blocks, then abandon you without warning, usually when you start climbing a hill.

Greece is built on one big hill that keeps cropping up in all the towns we have visited. When the Greeks find something that even remotely resembles a flat spot they set up tables and chairs and start selling lunch, which often includes things like calamari (batter fried rubber bands), grape leaves stuffed with meat or rice, sausages stuffed with no one knows what, and anything and everything that can be drenched in olive oil.

Like Odysseus we have had many adventures, met many interesting people, and had great help along the way. We were particularly impressed by the Greek Ministry of Culture with its exciting archeological sites and the extremely well designed museums. We've walked so much up and down the countryside that the tour is being subtitled the "Stairmaster IEP." For this we owe our gratitude to the Ministry of Silly Walks (see photo below).