Taken in Parga with our dear friends Sam and Jane Hooi of Cardiff, Wales. Our last time to meet up with them was in 2007 in Malaysai. 
Taking a hike with Sean Murphy. He too is from Wales and is a close friend of the Hoois.
Our day of sailing to Paxos and AntiPaxos Islands aboard the Marco Polo Sailboat.
We were able to stop and snorkel at several locations - the water was crystal blue!! Gorgeous.
Every day we had delicious food to pick from for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
After leaving Parga, Richard and I traveled by car to Meteora. Which is about 4 hours east of Parga. This is where the Monks have built their monasteries back in the 1400 century way up on bluffs and rock tops. There are 6 monasteries today to visit with 4 of them being full working monasteries. Two of the four are convents with nuns and the other two have Monks in resident. 
Skipping back to Parga - coming back from our day of sailing.
Beautiful sunset in Athens on our last night before leaving for home..
Our first hotel in Athens after we arrived.
And my car awaits me ;)
Seeing the history of Greece was breathtaking.
Traveling between Athens and Parga we stayed a night in a little town of Patra. A harbor that does not have very many Americans frequent it we found out. Lol....loved it.
Sunset on the beach were we had dinner.
Graffiti is abundant in Greece - and some of it is quiet artistic.
The beach of Parga are beautiful.
Taken from our balcony in Parga.
This was from Castle Parga - what a view.
Castle Parga
Sam and Jane Hooi - beautiful couple.
This is a traditional picture taken of the little church on the Island through the window.
Parga at night from Castle Parga
This is a view of Parga at night taken from the walkway along the water.
All you have to do is select your dinner which I might add was brought in fresh that day! :) Heaven!!
Beach of the day.
Coming back from the beach by way of water taxi.
Our balcony view of the Parga Beach from our balcony.
From our hike we saw beautiful clear water.
Town of Parga from hike.
Para beach from the hike
And yes..this is proof - my husband can smile :)!
You will find little churches all over the place - and sometimes in very unusual places.
Along the hike.
Olive grove. They have the huge nets that they open up and the olives fall in to and then the workers beat the nets to get them to fall down the mountain from net to net.
We were very lucky to have witnessed a momma stork with her two babies. The locals did say this was a rare incident. But her two babies are doing well.
Precious! Momma feeding her babies.
The Marco Polo
Sam - leading the way.
The Blue caves - beautiful snorkeling.
Can it be any clearer? Not!!
Up close photo of the little church across from our apartment.
Jane and I before a dinner.
Love the colors of the houses and shops.
Dinner on the terrace.
Golf Beach - or small beach. One of my favorites.
Galfo beach taken from up at the restaurant you climb to for a lunch/dinner or just a drink.
Our hotel in Meteora. So pretty and quaint.
Owner of our hotel has this nice restaurant in the city.
Mountain goats doing their thing.
One of the Monasteries.
The most famous photo taken of the monasteries.
Another monastery.
Ruins from before the monasteries were built when the hermits lived on the side of the rocks.
Cable cars that connects some of the monasteries which the monks travel. Before this they climbed the walls vertically.
Wine cellar in one of the monasteries.
Lots of steps to get here...LOTS.
Inside a cathedral.
All hand painted. Gorgeous.
One of my fav pics. Note the monastery behind us over Richards left shoulder.
This is how they kept their water.
The town of Meteora.
Hermit dwellings.
A monk left one of the monasteries a few years back and resides now in the abandoned hermit dwelling by himself.
This is no doubt one of the best trips Richard and I have taken in our lives. Beautiful country and kind, caring and beautiful people. Can not wait to go back. I would like to thank Sam and Jane for sharing their favorite place with us and for showing us around while we were there. Just spending time with them again was the highlight of our trip. Until next time! xoxo
