This part of mainland Greece reminds me of southern Italy. In fact it’s disorienting. The same stucco buildings and boxy storefronts next to abandoned buildings with overgrown greenery. No clouds in the sky, corn stalks, palm trees, olive trees and the pink and white flowering bushes line the highways.

Similar to Italy, we still see cyprus trees but not as prevalent. Typically around cemeteries. I continue to ask but Paul tells me I can’t have them line the driveway in Belmont as they won’t survive the winter.

A few times I’ve caught myself wanting to respond to people in Italian; we approach a store or street sign and I expect to be able to read it in Italian and can’t. Instead of small shrines commemorating mother Mary or baby Jesus, there’s tiny Greek churches on the sides of the road.

Similar to Italy, we’ve passed a lot of vehicles that gave us giggles, too.