Turkiye and Greece - May 4, 2026 - Epilogue

May 4 - Epilogue

Yesterday was a long travel day.  We began the day at 3:00 AM in Athens.  At the airport we passed through Greek customs and their version of TSA prior to leaving.  We passed by the ‘duty free’ shops without buying anything and made our way to the gate.  The flight was twenty minutes late leaving, but we arrived at Heathrow about ten minutes earlier than we were originally scheduled.  The landing was interesting.  This was the first time we had ever experienced a bounce.  Pretty impressive for an Airbus 320.  We were completely unimpressed with British Airways.  We upgraded our seats to “Business Class” in order to be more comfortable for the four hour flight.  However, their idea of business class is a cluster of three seats (just like economy) but with no one in the middle seat.

The next stop was London’s Heathrow Airport.  We passed through British customs and their TSA.  We did manage to find an American Airlines lounge and spent about an hour relaxing prior to making our way to the gate.  The nine hour flight to Chicago was uneventful.  I managed to watch three movies and take a couple of naps, maybe thirty minutes total (not enough).  I must compliment American Airlines, the cabin crew on our nine hour flight was superb.  They were very friendly, helpful, and professional.  Not a grouch among them.

We landed in Chicago and went through US customs.  A few months ago we paid for Global Entry.  This meant we did not have to stand in line for our passports to be checked.  It was done with photo recognition.  It took seconds instead of “however long it takes”.  Then we retrieved our luggage, told the customs agent we had no fruits, vegetables, plants, animals or animal products.  I am not sure what ‘animal products’ means, but I imagined someone trying to bring in a bunch of cow pies or something equally nasty.  We found another American Airlines lounge and relaxed for another hour and a half before making our way to the gate.

Our last flight of the day was to KC.  It too was uneventful.  Once we landed we had to wait for our one checked bag.  It made it to KC, and undamaged to boot.

We got home around 8:30 KC time.  Since Athens is eight hours ahead, our travel day was only twenty five and a half hours.  No wonder we were tired.

My least favorite excursions of this trip were the ‘panoramic’ tour of Athens.  This was due to the fact that you only got to see the sites from a moving bus.  Even then you had to look quickly as the number of trees and buildings that blocked the view of what you were actually trying to see.

My other least favorite was the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.  The interior was dark and uninviting.  The building was being renovated so there were massive amounts of scaffolding both inside and out.  This made viewing anything nearly impossible.  Finally the main floor was off limits to anyone except Muslims.  Viewing the entirety of the building was at that point not allowed.

My favorite excursions were the Blue Mosque, Ephesus, and the Acropolis of Athens.

The Blue Mosque was beautiful and impressive.  The structure itself was massive.  Even though it was an active mosque all us tourists were allowed in as long as you showed the respect that the locals wanted.  That is to say ladies with head scarves while inside and everyone should remove their shoes (to keep the carpet clean).

Ephesus was impressive in its own rite.  The archaeological site had only been maybe one third uncovered.  The ruins were pretty cool.  It never dawned on me that Ephesus was where the Apostle Paul had written his letters to the people of Ephesus, namely the Ephesions.  I had a ‘duh’ moment.

Of course the Acropolis of Athens was talked about many times during our educational experiences.  From world history to nearly any art history class the Acropolis was always mentioned.  Generally only the Parthenon was talked about, not the additional temples, buildings, or history.  It was good to actually be able to see the Acropolis in person.

All in all it was a good trip.  We were worn out by the time we got back home, but I believe that was primarily due to the travel.

I hope you have enjoyed the blogs.  I will continue to write them as we continue to travel.

We are both looking forward to our next adventure.