| Here we are, the last day of the Month again, and I am once again up against the deadline to get out our monthly email. It has been a busy month as we spent twelve days traveling through Greece and the last two weeks in the Balkans. May is a great time to visit Europe and particularly Southern Europe as the crowds have not yet fully developed and neither has the heat. Today we are in Dubrovnik in Croatia and it is the first day that we ran into crowds. Okay, going up to the Acropolis in Athens was also a bit crowded, but manageable. This is our second visit to Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia and to Santorini in Greece. The first visits were all by cruise ship, and this time we are staying on land and spending a lot of time in each place we visit. So far, in addition to Dubrovnik and Santorini our trip also includes Mykonos, Delos, Athens, Delphi. Meteora and Ioannina in Greece, as well as many cities (to be named next month) in Albania, Ohrid in North Macedonia, Prizren in Kosovo, Kotor in Montenegro and Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Some people, including my daughter, have asked why are we traveling to Southeastern Europe and in particular why go to places that were once communist and recently fought in serious wars. Well hopefully this newsletter and our updated Greece Post, http://cosguide4travel.com/greece-best-places-to-visit/ will convince you to visit Greece. However, you will need to wait until next month for our updates on our trip through the Balkans. All I can say is that these countries are some of the most beautiful that we have ever visited. Also, we have learned an awful lot about the culture and customs of these beautiful places and we want to share them with you. We just need to find some time to gather our thoughts.
Greece: A Great Place to Visit Greece is truly a magnificent place to visit. If you are willing to get off the cruise ship and travel around on the land you will come to see that there is so much to do and see in this wonderful country. Please check out out newly updated post with some magnificent pictures: http://cosguide4travel.com/greece-best-places-to-visit/ We started our visit, like most people on the Greek Islands of Santorini and Mykonos. We stayed on each island for three nights in wonderful accommodations and then headed over to Athens. In Athens we hit many of the major tourist attractions and had some wonderful dinners. All of which are highlighted in the post. After Athens, we traveled to Delphi to see the Oracle, Meteora which is an incredible place and finally to Ioannina. There we learned about a famous Ottoman leader, Ali Pasha, who made incredible infrastructure investments for the people in this region and in Southern Albania. Actually, Ioannina is one of many places just outside of Albania, that is home to many ethnic Albanians. Meteora was our favorite place to visit because of the incredible monasteries that are built on the top of 300+ meter high rock formations. While there we also ran into a group of Serbians from Kosovo which gave us our first insights into the world we were about to enter. Next Month Next Month we will be updating our posts on Croatia and Slovenia and creating new posts for the rest of the Balkans that we visited. This will be a complete trip through one of the most interesting parts of the world, where Roman Catholics, Orthodox Catholics, Jews and Muslims all appear to be living in harmony. We will be sharing our first hand experience of what we learned and how the different countries are addressing their challenges. | 
