To Athens we go!

This trip to Athens got off to an interesting start once we reached our hotel (setup by the company travel agent) on Thur late afternoon. We found the hotel to be quite dirty & in poor condition, located in a rather bad area near downtown Athens. When we went out for a late lunch, we observed drug deals & hookers on the street just outside the hotel. Needless to say, after reporting this to our home office in Cairo, the boss’ Assistant worked quickly before leaving work for the evening, to get us moved to a better location. We now find ourselves located out near the sea coast & just across the street from a city tram location…life is better & we overcome yet another hurdle in this exciting life of travel :)

On our departure out of Cairo, I was able to snap this pic of the definitive line between the desert to the west & the green of the Nile Oasis in which we live. Cairo is located at the far southern tip of this “V” shaped oasis. The Libyan border is about 350 mile to the west, across this vast desert.

Riding the tram into downtown Athens from our hotel took about 45 min with all the stops.

Here, we are just north of the Acropolis & if you click on this pic to enlarge, you can better make out the Pantheon at the top.

Ah, the beauty of the Lord's creation is again seen as the sun sets over Saronikós Bay, looking to the southwest off the Athenian coast.

Looking back to the northeast toward Athens, from a pier out in the bay.

Got tired of being limited to foot & public transportation, so I bought this Dahon folding bike that I can carry in our plane.

First evening with my new toy, I took a long ride along the coast through Athens. The coastal walkway reminds me a bit of the one in Chicago, along Lake Michigan, except that the skyline is absent of the massive high rise buildings of Chicago & the walkway is not nearly as bike friendly :)

Mikonos, Greece

Last weekend found us on a 3 day trip to Mikonos, Greece. As of lately, we fly every weekend...good that my family is home during the week when I am :)

Mikonos is a beautiful/hilly island southeast of Athens. There are many waterside resorts scattered about the island. Like most of Greece (especially the resort areas), the days are spent on the beach & the nightlife at clubs & restaurants gets hopping at about dark & continues until around 2am or so...long after I'm in bed asleep :)

Much of Greece is made up of islands scattered off the mainland, in the Mediterranean Sea. As we arrive from Egypt to the south, we begin our descent about over Crete. Here are a couple sunset pics from about 7,000' over some of the islands north of Crete.

Here's one of the locals I met while walking along the rocky coast outside our hotel. This little guy was only about 7" long, but trying to look tough in an effort to scare me off.

Took this video with my digital camera while snorkeling in the Mediterranean.

Early morning by the our resort pool that overlooks a secluded bay about 200' below.

Relaxing by the pool in the evening with my iPod & a glass of wine. I felt like I was watching a movie as the sun set over the bay below & I observed the crewmembers of several yachts, going about their evening duties to secure their ships for the night.

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it :)

Another glimpse into Pisa

Since we visit Pisa quite regularly & I've posted on it before, I only took a couple pics this time. Had to show Pisa in the spring & needed to post one of the NetJets hat in Pisa :)

Since the weather was GREAT there this time, we got out of the hotel a lot more. I actually found during my morning run, that the perimeter around the ancient city wall on the north side of the river, is a little less than 4 miles. I've jogged around airports larger than that! It's truly amazing how much they crammed within the walls of these old cities in Europe.

We also found (as expected), that as the weather gets nicer, the crowds get larger, prices rise & hotel availability drops!

Was another great trip to the Tuscan region of Italy & I always look forward to returning!

Here's a shot of what's left of one of the ancient Roman bath houses. In the background, you can see a part of the Ancient city wall. Surprisingly, much of the old city wall around Pisa is still stand & much of that is north of the River Arno, which bisects the city.

A taste of Cyprus

Our latest trip took me to the city of Pafos on the southwest coast of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. We were only on the ground there for one & a half days so we had to make it count. First day there, we headed across the street from our beach front hotel (Venus Beach Resort) to a place that rented various autos. We chose the open cockpit Dingo.

Cyprus has been independant from Great Britian since 1960 & although the primary language is Greek, we found that everyone spoke very good English. The people were all very friendly & helpful, as tourism is one of the primary industries of the island (along with wine production).

Cyprus is a great place for outdoors lovers to visit. There are many hiking & biking trails, as well as places to fish or just sit on the beach. In the winter months the Troodo Mountains offer cross-country & downhill skiing as well as my favorite, snowboarding. The peak of Mount Olympos is near the center of the island, rising to 6,400' above sea level.

This Dingo was made for off-road travel, but was a fun ride on the road with no windows & street tires! :)

That's right, since Cyprus was a British colony at one time, so they do drive on the left side of the road. Thankfully, I only found myself on the wrong side of the road once after traversing our way part-way around a traffic circle in a clockwise direction (rather that the more familiar counter-clockwise direction). This did of course cause a mass of horn honking & my quick response on the reverse gear! :)

Anas takes a turn at driving in the mountains & I find out that without an instrument panel on the left side of the vehicle, there is NOTHING to deflect the bugs away from one's face!

Now for a little snorkeling in the Med. The water was VERY clear & a little cool (by Egyptian standards, Anas said). Not a whole lot of life to be found here, but a good place to practice for me, before our planned snorkeling (& maybe scubba) trip to the Red Sea later this summer.

In this area, there were many small valleys in the rocks, that ran right up onto the shore.

Most of the fish that I did find here weren't more than about 6" long.

My Office

Here's a few pics of our plane (2001 Cessna Citation Excel) on the ramp in Naples, Italy. Fresh out of the service center in Paris, with a wash & buff job!

Paris, France

Got to enjoy a couple days in Paris while we waited for the Cessna Citation Service Center to perform some scheduled maintenance on our bird. Weather was pretty nice here with temps in the low to mid 50’s…much better that when I was last there in mid January.


I tried to get a good picture of the Eiffel Tower on the way into the airport, but the bumpy air was working against me. If you look real close you can just make it out in the top left quadrent of this pic.

Unfortunately we didn't go up in the Eiffel Tower because of the long lines. Will have to get there earlier next time.




Welcome to The Louvre. This is one BIG museum of mostly paintings & sculptures!

Yes, this is the real / original Mona Lisa (as far as I know :)

Me & Anas relaxing by a large fountain outside The Louvre.

Waiting for the metro.

They sure do have large metro cars here...two levels on some!