The Flag of Greece Each stripe represents a syllable in the phrase Ελευθεία ή Θανάτος (Liberty or Death) and are colored as the Aegean Sea, while the cross symbolizes Christianity in Greece.

Greece (Ελλάδα) - 2002

I arrived in Athens (Αθήνα) on January 12th, 2002 - a whole six days later than planned, after snowfall in Athens caused my flight to be cancelled!

I spent five months as an English teacher on the island of Lesvos (Λέσβος) and almost five more months working on the island of Crete (Κρήτη) at a water sports center on the beach.

I left the country on a ferry to Italy over the Mediterranean Sea in the early hours of October 31st, making the journey to London by bus.

These pages illustrate my time on both islands but, for the time being, not my visits to Athens.

The scenic Lesvos photos reflect that I spent much of my free time cycling around the rural island to see as many villages, beaches and countryside as I could, as well as popular toursit attractions, the best known being the Petrified Forest in the west.

Photos on the Crete pages show a different side to the Greek islands - that of a great summer holiday destination. The nature of my work and leisure activities here is shown in photographs which give the false impression that I was on vacation myself!

Ελληνική Δημοκρατία - Hellenic Repubilc

Greece Map

Greece is a country of many islands at the south-eastern corner of Europe in the Mediterranean Sea.

Lesvos is Greece's third largest island and lies in the eastern Aegean Sea. From the island, Turkey can be seen to the north and the east.

Crete is the largest Greek island and one of the southernmost.