Travel Highlights - Greece Türkiye

A full two years have passed since my last trip to Southeast Europe in 2019. The world was hit by the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, forcing everyone to stay home. Thanks to widespread vaccinations and the easing of the pandemic, I decided in March 2022 to take a 28-day independent trip to Greece and Turkey, starting on May 29th. Considering the geographical location, the flight from Greece to Turkey only takes an hour and 30 minutes, so I planned to visit both countries at once, saving two trips and making up for the previous two years of stagnation. One difference this time was that my sister-in-law was with us on the first leg of our trip to Greece, and having someone to travel with was a special pleasure.

2022/5 11-day self-driving tour in Greece

2022/6 18-day self-driving tour in Türkiye

Greece isn't a country where planning a self-guided itinerary is difficult, so most people visit Athens, Santorini, Mykonos (by boat or plane), and perhaps even Meteora (a five-hour train ride). After consulting itineraries from a reputable American travel agency, we decided to add Corinth (the biblical Corinth), Olympia (the birthplace of the Olympics), Delphi (the most important archaeological site in Greek history), and finally Meteora (the city in the sky). With these towns included, we could only reach these destinations by renting a car. Finding a rental car was easier said than done, as we planned to rent one in Athens and return it at the Greek International Airport. We could store our large luggage at the airport and then fly directly to Santorini. This method was very difficult to find a car. I tried several car rental apps but couldn't find one. Finally, I found a manual transmission sedan on https://www.rentalcars.com that would fit our planned itinerary. Due to Greece's geographical location, driving is mostly along the coast or in hilly terrain, making the manual transmission a bit arduous. The drive was about 1,300 kilometers.

Turkey is a vast country, larger than the state of Texas. Before planning to go there, I'd always heard it was unsafe. But when I looked online, I saw some British people transporting cars there for travel. Wei Li's friend (Lulu) went backpacking there for a month, but ended up staying there for four. These factors made me think that traveling by car should be very safe. Sure enough, the roads there were excellent, and the people were very kind. The only problem was that they were very ripped off (though we didn't encounter any theft or robbery). They were so poor, and they would try to scam tourists. Of course, even if they lost a little money, it felt good to give it to the poor people. I consulted extensively and included most of the famous attractions. Turkey is vast, and I didn't want to drive more than four or five hours each way, so I created the travel map you see today. The total trip lasted about 18 days. Another unique feature of this trip to Greece and Turkey is that we visited several cities mentioned in the Bible as being visited by the apostles. In addition to Athens in Greece and Corinth, where Paul visited, we'll visit Perga (Perga) in Turkey, where the apostle Paul and his companion Barnabas visited Perga twice; Antalya (Attalia, mentioned in Acts 14:25); Konya (Iconium, where Paul visited three times during his missionary journey); and the church in Ephesus, where the apostle Paul founded it. In Selçuk, Ephesus, there's the Church of St. John, said to be buried there.

The driving distance in Turkey is approximately 3,000 kilometers, and with the 1,300 kilometers in Greece, the total driving distance is approximately 4,300 kilometers (2,000 miles). These are two countries I have never been to before. I was a little worried at the beginning, especially when I was driving a manual transmission in Greece. Now I think that although there were dangers everywhere, we went deep into their remote villages and saw all aspects of the lives of the local people. This is an experience that cannot be experienced by joining a tour group. It is really very precious.

Photos by Jeff Huang