A Homer's Travel's Look Back At 2025

2025 was a mix. On the negative side there was politics. It sucked. This year successfully destroyed my news-junky nature.  By the fall, I was no longer paying that much attention to news.  I kept myself informed but I didn't dive deep into it.  An early year, low-grade prostate cancer diagnosis was a cherry on top of the crappy part of the year.

The positive side included a return to Guatemala where I spent my teenage years, the completion of the Wife's Camino, and a trip to the Balkans and Malta.  In general, these trips, and my life in general, were pleasant.  No major drama, no major issues, and a smooth year was a nice change from the last few years of turmoil. 

Let's look back at 2025, shall we:

• January:  Our Christmas cactus bloomed for the first time, weeks later than usual.  It's time sense, like mine, has been way off.  This would persist throughout 2025.  I had disappointing medical test results.  I explained how I rate books.  I avoided news on inauguration day ... but it still happened.
• February:  Despite avoiding the inauguration, I still Doom scrolled, which also persisted throughout the year.  We went to Guatemala for two weeks, a sort of homecoming for me (I documented the trip in March posts).  
• March:  While we were in Guatemala, the first snow and cold of Winter arrived and was missed.  I had a kidney stone removed.  The prostate biopsy done during the stone removal found the presence of low grade prostate cancer.  For some reason, this really didn't bother me.
• April:  Tariffs were announced and we divested.  I kind of regret doing that.  I thought about forming an escape plan.  Our roof finally had the hail damage from last July repaired.  I added more metal sheeting on the she-shed wall to hold our ever-growing travel magnet collection.
• May:  We spent a long weekend in Minneapolis celebrating family and antiquing.  I finally photographed the Great Britain and Guatemalan magnets.  We got a new Pope.  We had a houseguest.  We returned to Spain to finish the Wife's Camino.  The day we started walking would have been my Mom's ninetieth birthday.
• June:  We walked the Camino the entire month of June.  The Wife had no foot issues and we never took a break.  I worked through some issues that darkened my mood and surrendered to the experience.  This was the first month since I started Homer's Travels that I've never posted even once.
• July:  We finished the Wife's Camino including walking to Finistere and a visit to Muxia.  I decided not to document every day of the Camino.  We had a low-key twenty-eighth anniversary celebration as we were too tired to do anything.  Our dog-friend Cooper stayed with us for a week.  I turned sixty-two.
• August:   We went to an underwhelming Santa Lucia Festival procession.  The anniversary of my Mom's death came and went.  I celebrated my faithful backpack and its retiring.  I had another bad blood test and am now on diabetes medication.  An unwanted vole was found in a planter.  Starting in late July and through August and some of September I really didn't do much.  I had a period of powering down, quiet, and a lot of television watching.
• September:  Another doctor's appointment.  No bad news so that's good.  I posted about our Camino magnets. Another autumn arrived.  Another rapture did not arrive.  We prepared for another adventure.
• October: We traveled most of this month in Greece, Albania, Northern Macedonia, and Malta.
• November: I started documenting our Balkan and Malta travels this month.  Iago got a proper burial.  We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with family.  I had my last doctor's appointment for the year and I seem to be doing ok.  We had our first snow.
• December: 
• Hiking: 2025 was a good year for walking.  This year was my third highest number of miles walked at 1,043 miles (1,678.6 km) over 115 hikes, the second highest number of hikes since I started keeping records.  The Wife's Camino contributed a large chunk of those miles.
  
• Books: I set a goal to read fifteen books this year and, unlike last year, I met my goal.  I read nearly everyday including while we were traveling (which is odd for me) though I slowed down a lot near the end of the year.   Here are my Goodreads Stats for 2025.
• Concerts, Shows & Music :  We went to a few concerts this year. With the Wife, I went to Bob Dylan. I also went to Kansas and Rilo Kiley by myself.
  
  I listened to a lot of music this year - mostly during naps and on long airplane trips. According to Spotify I listened to 2,184 songs from 1,075 artists for 44,358 minutes, so I listened to fewer songs, from fewer artists, for more time than in 2024.  Spotify thinks I am sixty-nine years old.  This actually makes some sense since my taste in music came from my brother who was five years older than me.  Here is my Spotify 2025 Wrapped if you want to explore what the shuffle button did music-wise this year.
• I posted 93 times this year. Not as many as 2024 but good enough I guess.  As usual, I think I need to write more. 

What will 2026 bring? We are going on a southwest road trip which will include visiting with friends.  We are planning a Cape Town, South Africa trip in the summer and a northern European trip including northern France, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg in the fall.  Other than that we will be trying to keep our sanity intact and brace ourselves for what 2026 has in store for us.

Here's to a Happy, Prosperous, and Healthy New Year for all.  May you all find happiness in 2026.

First Bloom

Yesterday, despite it being late this year again, one of our Christmas cactuses has bloomed.

December 30th bloom.

Weekly Ephemera #167

• We had a quiet Christmas.  We went to see a movie ("Marty Supreme") which the Wife and I thought was Meh.  We ended the day with yummy steaks on the grill.
• I hiked three times this week for a total of 22.5 miles (36.2 km).  The walks were uneventful.
• We started watching "Stranger Things".  This is the last season and it seems to be a fitting finale so far.

Merry Christmas!

Weekly Ephemera #166

Not much happened this week.  Just a relaxing week overall.

• I walked three times this week and did a good 23.1 miles (3.2 km).  The walks were uneventful though I learned not to park under a tree.  My car was covered in sticky berries/bird poop.
• I watched a couple good things this week.  The first was the third installment of the Knives Out franchise. "Wake Up Dead Men".  It probably wasn't as good as the first one but it was still entertaining.
  
  The second thing I watched was "The Amazing Digital Circus".  While I watched this on Netflix, it was first available on YouTube.  There are currently 7 episodes and the episodes do not come out in a fixed schedule,  varying from one month to seven months between episodes.  The show is a bit twisted and the seventh episode blew my mind. 

Weekly Ephemera #165

• I walked three times this week.  The first one was ... interesting.  This is what happened:
  

  I was walking in a middle-class area in Omaha called Benson.  I noticed three boys, sixteen to eighteen years of age (not sure) at a corner.  One of them flagged me down.  Now, I often get asked for the time or someone asks for cigarettes or a light, so this wasn't unusual.  What he asked was unusual.
  
  Boy: Can I ask how old are you?
  Me: Why do you want to know?
  Boy: Are you forty-five plus?
  Me: Why do you want to know?
  Boy: I hear when old people think too hard the blood drains from their d!cks and they go floppy.
  
  Ok, The kid is being an asshole for his buddies.  I give one of my standard answers to assholes:  God Bless, Jesus loves you, or 
  
  Me: I'm happy for you.
  Boy keeps on talking about flippity-floppity d!cks, not getting it up, and stuff.
  
  He's sort of blocking my way though I could easily have gotten around him but instead I said:
  
  Me: So, do you sit around thinking about my d!ck all day?
  
  He kinda moved out of my way and I walked away hearing him ranting at me. I didn't really hear what he said but He did say M*therf*cker and fa**ot.  They didn't follow me.
  
  I'm not sure if I handled that the right way.  My last statement did confuse him a bit.  I think he saw me as an easy mark and me throwing it back at him kind of stopped him in his tracks.  I'm sure his 'friends' were having a chuckle, too.
  
  All I can say is, I'm happy it ended well.  Omaha has had its share of shootings and stabbings.  It could have ended much differently.

  For the week, I walked three times for a total of 21.7 miles (34.9 km).  The second two walks were uneventful.
• On Tuesday our garage door spring broke.  Fortunately we had it fixed by the end of the day.
• I put up the big balls in the oak tree on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we had a big wind come through.  I was finding big balls over a block away from our house.  I didn't find all of them either, though I did find one that wasn't ours, so I think I broke even.

2025 Malta Travels

Leaving the Balkans

We left Northern Macedonia returning to Albania.  We stopped at a park where we had a boat ride, drank coffee and drinks, while we fed the ducks.  We stopped at a park for lunch at a nice restaurant.

Our last night we had our goodbye dinner near our hotel.  We all would be leaving very early to home or, in our case, the island of Malta.

We arrived at Valletta the capital of Malta and were able to get in our room right away despite being early.  The Wife took advantage of the pool while I rested in the room.  I joined the wife and we ate lunch at the pool restaurant.

As we ate, we watched yacht crews preparing their boats for the 600 km Rolex Middle Sea Race.  The race would start the next day.  117 crews started and 110 finished.

Later in the afternoon we walked to old town Valletta previewing our walking tour planned for the next day.

Neptune fountain outside old Valletta, Malta.

Valletta, Barrakka Gardens, St. John's Co-Cathedral, and lower Valletta.

Our guide picked us up at the hotel and we went on a walking tour of old Valletta.  He explained the history of Malta and the city.  He pointed out government buildings and historical landmarks.  We stopped to have lunch in an outdoor restaurant.

St. John's Co-Cathedral.

After lunch we visited St. John's co-cathedral.  The cathedral is beautiful and full of Maltese history.  Our guide gave us a detailed tour pointing out sculptures honoring the builders and contributors to the cathedral.  The tour ended with a Caravaggio painting, 'The Beheading of St John the Baptist'.  Our guide pointed out things we would have missed and he made it interesting.  He covered the life of Caravaggio who led an interesting life.

Caravaggio's "The Beheading of St John the Baptist".

From there we went to the Barrakka Gardens overlooking the port and two old cities on the other side of the harbor which we would visit the next day.  This was also the place to view the start of the boat race.  Fortunately it was earlier in the day and the crowd at the garden had dissipated by the time we were there.  The view from the gardens was interesting as you could get a feel for the old architecture of the city.

Senglea, Malta seen from the Barrakka Gardens.

The day ended with a walk through lower Valletta, the less commercial and more pedestrian part of the old town.  We say normal life here with less tourism.

Vittoriosa City, Senglea Gardjola Gardens, Marsaxlokk, and Hypogeum

Narrow streets in Senglea.

Today our guide took us on the other side of the harbor to explore the other old cities.  We visited different parts of these cities learning about the history of the cities.

We visited the Hypogeum, an archaeological dig under the city.  The Hypogeum guide took our tour group through the digs pointing out religious and burial areas.  The tour was well done and very interesting.

We stopped at a park for a view of the harbor from another angle and we enjoyed the views and a lookout post.

We ended the day in Marsaxlokk, a traditional fishing town.  We visited the market and had lunch along the town harbor.

Island of Gozo, Calypso Cave Terrace, Salt Pans, Dwejra Inland Sea, Citadel Old Capital City, and Victoria

Today we left the main island of Malta for a day trip and took a fast ferry to the Island of Gozo.

We stopped at archeological ruins and explored the history of the islands.   We visited the Calypso cave terrace to admire a panoramic view of the bay and valley.  The cave itself was not open to visitors due to it being hazardous and damaged from previous visitors.

The salt pans along the Mediterranean sea.

From there we visited the salt pans where salt has been collected for many years.  The views from the viewpoint were amazing.

We visited the Dwejra inland sea and enjoyed more views of nature, cliffs, and arches.

Dwejra inland sea cliffs and arches.

The day ended with a tour of the Citadel and the city of Victoria where we learned history, and, naturally, went shopping.  The Wife and I are big travel shoppers though we usually have something specific to the location in mind.

Mdina Old Capital City, Rabat, Hagar Qim Temple, Dingli Cliffs, and Blue Grotto

Mdina old capital city.

The last day of our tour combined history and nature like most of the tour.  We first explored Mdina, the old capital city.  We walked through the narrow, winding streets learning about the history and culture of the city.

We toured parts of Rabat including a lunch of Pastizzi a specialty from the area. We did more shopping and visited a church.

We visited ruins of the Hagar Qim temple.  The impressive ruins  are partially covered to preserve it.  At this point I was a little ruined-out but it was still interesting.

Lastly we visited the Dingli cliffs and the Blue Grotto.  We were going to take a boat ride here but the wind made the seas choppy so we only say things from afar.

Free Day

Our last day in Malta was a free day.  We spent hours by the pool, me reading, the wife swimming, and we ate lunch poolside.  In the afternoon we walked back to old town Valletta and had some ice cream and finished our last minute shopping.

Our hotel pool.

The next day we returned home after three weeks on the road.  It went smoothly despite the government shutdown.  In the end, Malta was a nice way to end our adventure.

Photos can be found in my 2025-10 Malta Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #164

• It was an odd week for me.  I was in a do-nothing mood most of the week.
• I watched more episodes of "One Piece".  I still have a ways to go.
• I was going to walk three times this week but I ended up only walking once.  I walked 7.25 miles (11.7 km).  As I said, I was in a do-nothing mood.
• I tried to replace a spark plug in the snowblower but I simply discovered I am a crap small engine mechanic.  I gave up when I couldn't even get the boot off the spark plug.

Weekly Ephemera #163

• I went to the doctor on Tuesday to discuss my blood test numbers.  I'd been disappointed with the numbers but, when I told the NPRN, she asked me why?  She said the numbers appeared stable and she wasn't concerned.  I will be staying on my medication at the same dosage.  I guess this is a good thing.
  
  I talked about my blood pressure.  The NPRN suggested I bring in my blood pressure monitor I was using at home and compare it with a nurse's measurement.  Turns out it was around twenty-four points high on the systolic.  The old 30+ year old monitor is in the garbage and I purchased a new one which I will start using this week.  The new one has some features that should ensure more accurate measurements, like it will take three readings and average them.  It also tests for AFIB which I do not suffer from, but it's nice to know it will be monitored too.
• On Thursday, Thanksgiving, I put up the Christmas tree, outdoor wreaths, garlands, and laser lights.  The balls will go in the Oak Tree later this week.
• On Saturday we had our first snow.  It snowed around 3 - 4 inches (8 - 10 cm).  The neighbor gave us her snow blower, like she does every year, but it wouldn't start, so I cleared our driveways by hand.  I have to say, the physical activity felt really good.
• I did not walk this week.  I just needed a break.
• I watched season two of "Wednesday" on Netflix.  I enjoyed it.  The Wife and I watched the latest season of "The Great British Baking Show."  The winner was obvious from the second episode.

2025 Balkan Travels - Northern Macedonia

Crossing the Border, Heraclea Lyncestis, and the drive to Skopje

After lunch in Florina, we crossed the border from Greece into Northern Macedonia (Macedonia became Northern Macedonia in 2019 after a dispute with Greece).  On our second long driving day of the trip, we drove through Turkish tobacco fields and towns on our way north.

A small portion of the mosaics of Heraclea Lyncestis.

Our stop of the day was the ruins of Heraclea Lyncestis, a fourth century BCE city that thrived until the Ottoman era.  A local archeologist gave us a tour of the ruins including beautiful mosaics showing religious and historical  stories.

We left the ruins and drove until it was almost dark.  We stopped at a vineyard to have dinner.  Our guide, an Albanian, kept warning us that the quality of food in Northern Macedonia was not as good as Albanian food.  My palette must not be that great since the food we ate in Macedonia was very good.

We ended the day in a very nice hotel in Skopje, capital of Northern Macedonia.

Skopje

Alexander the Great

Today we had a walking tour of Skopje.  We met our local guide at a fortress overlooking the old city.  The local guide explained the history of this capital city.  We walked to a nearby mosque and looked at the elaborate decorations.  Our guide walked us through old streets to the bazaar.

The bustling Bazaar full of both old and new shops included an old Muslim school and a hammam.  We had time to shop and the Wife bought some leather shoes unique to Northern Macedonia.

Mother Teresa

As we left the bazaar we passed statues of founding kings and Alexander the Great.

The end of the Skopje tour ended at a museum dedicated to Mother Teresa who was born in Skopje.  I'd never seen pictures of her as a young girl before.

We ate lunch in the modern downtown before we had some free time to shop.  Our bus picked us up and we drove a few hours to Ohrid.

Ohrid

Ohrid, a city on Lake Ohrid, is a nice lakeside city with a fortress overlooking the city.  The city is where the Cyrillic alphabet was developed by Saints Cyril and Methodius.

We met with a local guide and we had a walking tour of the old city.  He described the old housing style and the politics of the city during the different imperial eras.

Crystal clear Lake Ohrid.

We visited a pearl factory where processing pearls was demonstrated.  From there we visited an old Orthodox church.

Inside the Church of St Sophia.

After the church we rested at an amphitheater that is still used to this day for festivals.  We continued our walk through the hilly city as we visited the fortress looking over the town and lake.

Church of St John.

We toured the fortress and enjoyed the views of the city and the lake.  From there we walked towards the Lake shore.  We visited a small church perched on the edge of the lake.  It was not originally on the tour but our tour guide made it happen when the Wife showed interest in going in.

We then walked down to the shore and got on a boat which took us along the crystal clear waters of lake Ohrid pointing out points of interest including the prime Minister's summer retreat (formerly a communist leader's summer home).  The boat ride ended back in Ohrid not far from the restaurant where we would have lunch.

The church at the Monastery of St Naum.

In the afternoon we saw reconstructed "floating" homes used by people trying to escape persecution on the way to a monastery overlooking the lake.  At the Monastery we saw the rushing water that feed lake Ohrid from another, higher lake on the other side of the mountains.  The flow of water was impressive.

 

This was our last day in Northern Macedonia and the tour was nearly over.  Tomorrow we would travel back to Tirana.

Photos can be found in my 2025-10 Northern Macedonia Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #162

• We celebrated an early Thanksgiving at the Wife's Niece's house on Saturday.  We had a good time with good food.  We are grateful that they include the Wife and I in their celebrations.
• On the prior Tuesday, I took my first blood test since I went on Metformin for my diabetes.  Unfortunately, my A1C and glucose went down only a tiny bit.  I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday to go over the results.  I expect either an increase in dosage or a change in drugs.
• I walked three times this week for a total of 24.4 miles ( 39.3 km).  This was a good week.  This coming week, I am considering taking a day off from walking on Monday.  We'll see.
• I started watching "Alien: Earth".  I haven't finished it yet but I have mixed feelings.  It is interesting but I am having trouble getting excited about it.  Not sure why since this should be right up my alley.

Book: Douglas Rushkoff's "Survival Of The Richest"

After reading two fantasy books involving magic and sorcery, I decided to take a break by reading a book about the fantasies of billionaire techbros.  Douglas Rushkoff's "Survival of the Richest", about the fantastical views of some billionaires in the tech industry, is less entertaining and more frightening.

Rushkoff starts with an anecdote meeting some tech entrepreneurs whose main concern was how to maintain the loyalty of their security people after society collapses.  This was the first WTF moment in the book and they keep coming throughout.

By the end of this book I was really worried about how much power these deluded oligarchs have in their twisted hands.

I gave this book four stars out of five on Goodreads.  After reading this book I am worried and you should be too.

Books: Robert Jordan's The Wheel Of Time Books 1 And 2: "The Eye Of The World" And "The Great Hunt"

I have been remiss in keeping up with my book postings.  Since I read the first two books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series back to back, I will post about them together.

Book 1 of the series, "The Wheel of Time", is a very typical fantasy quest book.  A young man/woman with a modest farming/shepherding background is discovered by a wise mage/sorceress, and they go on a quest to defeat evil in some form or other, while collecting members of their adventuring party.  I have read/watched several examples of this type of story, "The Lord of the Rings" and the "Belgariad" would be such examples.  They are a well worn story, but reading these types of books is like slipping on your favorite fuzzy socks.

I generally liked the first book.  I'm not sure about some of the naming used in the book – Darkfriends? really?  Sounds like the super friends of something – but you learn to accept a lot of cheesy/corny stuff when you read fantasy.  I like the world that is being built and the history that has been revealed.  The story is pretty good if not a little formulaic.

Book 2 of the series, "The Great Hunt",  continues the quest moving along at a good pace.  The action and the story progresses, introducing new characters, and tightens the storyline as we approach the ultimate showdown, that will come further along in the series.

There are a few characters that are a bit infuriating.  Their behavior seems a bit off.  Would Perrin keep his abilities secret or would they have been shared with his close friends?  These can be overlooked but it does bug me at times.

In the end, I gave both books four stars out of five on Goodreads.  There are fourteen books in the series and I expect I will eventually finish it ... unless some grievous writing sin is committed.

2025 Balkan Travels - Greece Part Two

Ioannina and the Holy Monastery of Great Meteora

We crossed the border from Albania into Greece, one of our rare land border crossing, the others being Kenya into Tanzania and Brazil into Argentina at Iguazu falls.  Our first stop of the day was the city of Ioannina located on the shores of lake Pamvotis.

The Aslan Pasha Mosque built in 1612 CE.

In Ioannina we joined a local guide who took us on a walking tour of the old town founded by Justinian.  The tour ended at a high point where we visited the oldest Byzantine fortress in Greece.  We took in the church and mosque in the fortress and enjoyed the panoramic views of the lake and city.  After the tour we had lunch in a nice restaurant not far from the lake.

Lake Pamvotis from the fortress.

This would be a long day of driving.  Most of the afternoon was seeing the Greek countryside.

We arrived at the city of Kalambaka where we visited, with another local guide, the Holy Monastery of Great Meteora perched on a column of rock.  This and other monasteries, built here in the 1400's, are magnificent works of architecture and were the highlight of the trip.  There were originally twenty-four of these monasteries but only six remain.  The Holy Monastery of Great Meteora is the oldest, and largest of these marvels.

The Holy Monastery of Great Meteora, situated on its column of rock.

In the evening we ate dinner at a nice restaurant.

Holy Trinity Monastery and Florina

In the morning we rejoined with our local guide and visited the Holy Trinity Monastery.  The monastery is accessed by a long set of stairs and a bridge.  From the monastery you have magnificent views of several other monasteries including a couple that are no longer inhabited.  We'd arrived early and we practically had the Holy Trinity Monastery to ourselves thanks to the local guide.

The Holy Monastery of Varlaam, this photo taken from the Holy Trinity Monastery.

After the monastery we headed to the town of Florina for lunch at a family's farm-to-table restaurant.  

To Another Border

After lunch we headed to the Greek - Northern Macedonia border.  The rest of this long travel day will continue in the next post.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-10 Greece Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #161

The defacing speaks volumes about the hate in people's hearts.

• The highlight of the week was a visit of the Wife's best friend on Thursday and Friday.  The wife and her had a great couple of days going out and watching a movie.  I stayed home and enjoyed the quiet of the house.
• I walked three times this week for a total of 21.2 miles (34.1 km).  This was a little shorter than last week but any week over twenty miles is a good week to me.  The picture above was seen on one of my walks.
  
  My blood pressure has also been in a more normal range for the last week or so so the walking appears to be helping.
• This coming week I have a blood draw to see if my diabetes medication is working or not.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed but I am also feeling a bit nervous that it isn't doing as well as I hope.
• Despite feeling a little nervous I have to admit that the past week or so have felt ... bright to me.  I have felt happier in general and content.  Not sure what changed, but it might have to do with me avoiding the news like the plague.  My tranquility may also be helping my blood pressure as much as the exercise.

2025 Balkan Travels - Albania

Travel Day:

We flew into Tirana, Albania and were picked up by our guide.  For the next ten days or so we would be on a tour with nine other guests, a tour guide, and a driver.  Like in Athens we got to the hotel early so we went looking for an ATM to get cash, had some drinks, and found an open air market to explore to kill time.  At one cafe we talked to a couple who had lived in the US for a while before returning to the Wife's native Albania.  They were very very complimentary of Albania and the people.

We checked into our room early and settled into our room.  The mayor of New York, Adams, was staying at the hotel ... or at least we assumed he was.  This was possibly one of the nicest and newer hotels in Tirana.

One of the views out of hotel windows (This is zoomed in, it was not this crowded).

In the evening our guide picked us up along with the other guests and we walked a couple blocks to a nice restaurant for our welcome dinner.  The dinner was a preview of what was to come.  Course after course of delicious food.  Half way through everyone was stuffed and the courses kept coming.  By the end of the evening I was sure they were trying to kill us by sheer volume of food.

The other guests – three couples, two sisters, and a single woman – were all pleasant and fun to talk to.  There would be only minor friction here and there throughout the ten-day tour.

Shkodra, Rozafa Castle, and Lezhë:

We got on our comfy bus and we headed to northern Albania.  The first stop was a factory where they make Venetian masks.  The company has been supplying the masks to Venice and other carnival locations since the late nineties.  The owner took us on a tour of the factory where the masks are made by hand in an assembly line fashion.  The masks were amazing, intricate, and beautiful.  We then went through the gallery which is an explosion of color.  I bought a small mask for my small collection of masks.

Venetian Masks made in Albania.

Next we went to the Rozafa Castle overlooking historic Shkodër.  The castle was interesting and the views of the two rivers and the city were incredible.

Our next stop was lunch at an organic farm-to-table restaurant in the countryside near Lezhë.  Again, they continued to try to kill us with abundance.  The multiple courses of food were fresh, plentiful, and delicious.  We commented about the quantity of food and I think our guide toned it down for the rest of the tour – we were grateful.

Part of Rozafa Castle in Shkodra and the Albanian flag.

We went out for dinner that night for yet another incredible meal.  Our tour company usually only supplies some special meals but this tour provided three meals a day and, frankly, this reduced the stress of having to find food on your own.

Krujë and Tirana:

We got on our trusty bus and we drove south to the city of Krujë.  Here we visited  Dervish monastery.  The guide translated as guests asked the caretaker questions about the monastery and religion.  The caretaker and our guide were surprised by the number and quality of our questions.  Yay us.

We visited a restored two hundred year old Ottoman era home where our very funny, and punny, local guide gave us an interesting tour bringing the home alive with culture and history.

A painting in the Ottoman house.

We had lunch not far from the monastery at another incredible restaurant.  The head chef, a stern woman, chewed out the staff often while we ate our excellent meal.  I'm sure this was just part of the kitchen's normal banter.

After our meal we had time to do some shopping in the town's bazaar.  We ended up with some stuff including an Albanian futball jersey for me. The Wife and I got a little lost in the bazaar but we managed to find the bus and the rest of the group.

A pillbox bunker.

We returned to Tirana and had a short walking tour of the city seeing the pillbox bunkers that were built by the paranoid former communist government.  We passed the local NATO offices and visited various historical parks and buildings of the communist era and the modern Tirana.

We took the bus to a restaurant for dinner and we walked back to the hotel after a very satisfying dinner.

Durrës, Ardenica Monastery, and Apollonia:

Ardenica Monastery.

After using Tirana as our base for the last few days, we checked out and took our bus to Durrës, a bustling port city where we visited an excavated Roman amphitheater.

From there we headed inland and visited the Ardenica Monastery with its thirteenth century frescoes and the beautiful views from its hilltop location.

After the monastery we had a very short drive to another farm/vineyard/restaurant for lunch.  From the veranda of the restaurant, where we ate,  you could see the Adriatic.

The next stop was the ruins of Apollonia.  The head archeologist of the site gave us the tour.  He was knowledgeable and funny as we toured the ruins.  The tour ended at another monastery and museum which we explored on our own.

The government building in Apollonia.

The day ended in our boutique hotel in the city of Gjirokastra.

Gjirokastra:

Gjirokastra Fortress.

We joined a local guide in Gjirokastra who took us on a walking tour of a poet's home and a restored private home.  We toured the house followed by the house's resident cats, they liked to jump on our lap every time you sat down.  The private home was amazing and we met the current owners of the house, who talked about the experience of people before, during, and after the communist era in Albania.  It was very interesting.

We took taxis up to the fortress that overlooked Gjirokastra.  From there our local guide took us through the military museum and prison.  Outside our guide sang us a folk song.  She had an amazing voice.

That night we had dinner at a restaurant perched on the ridge overlooking Gjirokastra.  As we ate we were serenaded by men in native costume singing Iso Polifonia.  The food was good and the singing was interesting and unique.  We decided the band name should be the Pom Pom Funcles (they had little pom poms on their shoes and they all looked like someones fun uncle – the link goes to a video the Wife took).

At this point we pointed out that our last three meals had been chicken.  The meals on this tour all had set menus.  Our guide apologized at the oversight.  This was the only issue I had with the guide except maybe for his dependency on ChatGPT for some historical information.

To The Border:

We left Gjirokastra on the first of two long driving days.  We reached the border with Greece.  The remainder of the day will be documented in the next post as we re-enter Greece and visit the monasteries of Meteora.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-10 Albania Google Photos album.

Weekly Ephemera #160

• On Tuesday the Wife power washed the deck.  This is usually my job but she insisted on doing it.  She did a better job than I've done in the past, which may explain why she wanted to do it.
• We finally, after over five years, buried Iago's ashes in the garden next to Homer.
• I washed my car for the first time in forever.  It still looks dirty.  I think I just washed off the first two layers of dirt and left two or three on the car.
• I walked three times this week totalling 22.6 miles (36.4 km).  I am happy with this distance and my blood pressure, which has been high since we returned from our travels, is back down to my 'normal' range.

2025 Balkan Travels - Greece Part One

Travel Day:

The view from our Athens hotel.

It is a long flight from Omaha to Athens, Greece.  We arrived late morning and took a taxi to our hotel.  The hotel was a few blocks from the acropolis, a near ideal location.  It was located near the acropolis, the acropolis museum, and a shopping area.  We were too early to check in so we left our bags at the hotel and went walking around the area.  We avoided the acropolis and its Museum since we would be visiting them the next day.  We checked out a small Orthodox church, some souvenir shops, and we found a cafe where we ordered some gyros for lunch.

We returned to our hotel and we'd only killed an hour so we had some drinks at the bar and, literally, fell asleep on the lobby chairs waiting for our room to be ready.  We got in a couple hours earlier than expected and we finished our naps in our room.  We finished the day with bar food.  

The view from our hotel balcony, as you can see, was pretty magnificent.

Athens City Tour:

The next day we'd booked a half day tour of the acropolis and Athens.  We met our guide after breakfast and we went to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon.  Our guide was knowledgeable but had a bit of 'college student' feel to him.  He gave us a nice tour of the amphitheater, Parthenon, and other government and religious buildings built on the acropolis.  I have to say, while the Parthenon was impressive, it didn't quite meet my expectations, though I think it may have been the crane and scaffolding, part of a renovation, that knocked it down a notch in my book.

The Parthenon on top of the Acropolis.

We next got in a van and we had a driving tour of Athens passing important buildings and historical monuments.  The tour ended at a viewpoint of the city.  Athens is a nice enough city, but compared to a few others we have visited, it is kind of middle of the road.  I was expecting the city to have an older feel, like Rome, but it didn't.

The Caryatids, female sculpted pillars, are part of the Erechtheion temple.

Our guide dropped us not far from the Acropolis museum.  We ate lunch at the museum before walking through the exhibits.  I wish we'd had a guide besides the audio guide.  It was ok but we are not museum people and the audio guides were a bit too wordy for me.

Delphi Tour:

The second full day in Greece was a tour of the Delphi Oracle temple.  We had a new guide and she was awesome.  She was obviously a history nerd.  She knew her names, places, and dates backward and forward.  Her one quirk was her extremely dirty glasses ... I couldn't tell how she could see through the smudges.

A lion attacking a gladiator at the Delphi Museum.

The drive to Delphi is about two hours with a snack, drink, and toilet break. Our guide pointed out historical places along the way telling stories and mythology connected to each.  We arrived at Delphi and we started with the museum.  Despite the Wife and I not being museum people, we have found when you have a guide it makes all the difference.  This museum was small but very interesting with the help of our guide.

After the museum we did a walking tour up a path that took us through the structures where the female oracles, high/drunk on natural gases that seeped up from the ground would give cryptic predictions that were 'interpreted' by male priests.  The one thing this place needed is a coin operated Oracle that could spit out people's fortunes.  It would be a big money maker, for sure.  The walking tour ended at the highest point at the hippodrome.

The town of Arachova.

We tried to stop at Arachova, a bustling ski resort of a town, for lunch but it was packed.  One place we tried to get in had angus steaks from Omaha on the menu.  Here we were thousands of miles away in Greece and we had meat from home.  We chuckled about that.  We ended up eating in a nice place out of the town away from the crowds.  We both dozed a bit on the way back to our hotel.

Corinth Tour:

On our third day, our Delphi guide became our Corinth guide.  The weather, which had cooperated for the past few days, was a bit drizzly today, but it didn't slow us down at all.  The drive to Corinth is short, about an hour.  On the way, we visited the Corinth canal.  The canal was dug to bypass the 430 mile (700 km) trip around the peloponnesian peninsula.  The idea started in the seventh century BC but wasn't actually completed until 1893.  Before its completion, ships were often carried overland to shorten the journey.

The Corinth canal.  No boats were going through it when we visited it.

We next went to the ruins in Corinth.  Our guide expertly explained the history and the importance of Corinth in ancient history.  She walked us through the ruins and the museum, again giving expert explanations of all the structures and exhibits.

The Corinth ruins.

One thing that was funny was, both the Wife and I were wondering about 'rich Corinthian leather', a selling point for car interiors back in the '70s.  We were both afraid to ask our guide so I googled it.  Turns out 'rich Corinthian leather' was actually manufactured in New Jersey and was a creation of an ad agency.  We both got a laugh at that and were thankful that we didn't ask our guide.

We stopped at a local street food place on the way back to get a quick and portable lunch on the way back to Athens.  We enjoyed Souvlaki in a pita wrap.  Very yummy.

Back in Athens, we went walking around the pedestrian street near the acropolis and completed our souvenir shopping for Athens.

The first four days in and near Athens were pretty good.  I know some of this post seems to make it feel like I didn't like it, but everywhere you go there is always a mix of good and bad experiences and, in Athens' case, the good outweighed the bad.

The Next day we would be going to leave Greece and fly to our next destination, Tirana, Albania.

Pictures can be found in my 2025-10 Greece Google Photos album.