Caroline & Debb’s Big Greek Holiday
Well, I’m currently in the throes of planning for my next big vacation. I had such a great time last year visiting Thailand and Vietnam with Deborah R., but this year I am travelling back to Egypt to visit my family. My good friend Caroline Puzinas [1] and I have decided to go back to Greece for a couple of weeks before I head to Luxor. She lives in Ontario and I live in Alberta (at the moment) so we haven’t had much chance to meet up in person for quite a few years.
Caroline has worked in mainland Greece before, and we both worked on Crete together (back in 2008).[2] This will be a reunion tour of sorts, with plans on visiting a bunch of sites neither of us have seen before, and a few that we already have. We’re curious to see how they’ve changed.
She and I met in 1999, at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations (NMC) at the University of Toronto, while we were both working on our undergraduate archaeology degrees. We have remained great friends ever since.
As way of introduction to my travelling companion I asked her to answer a few questions:
Caroline Puzinas (CP): I’m an archaeologist by training and experience who works mainly in film 🎞️now, but I never leave my love for history or archaeology behind! I love to travel as well and other cultures and hope on this trip to film some of our visits as a travel vlog of sorts with some themes to be explored.
DD: How many times have you been to Greece? For what reasons?
CP: Three times in total. Twice for excavations, at Mitrou & Knossos, and another time as a volunteer worker at the Canadian Institute in Greece (CIG), helping develop a database for museum collections.
DD: What is your most memorable site from those previous visits, and why?
CP: Mitrou where I excavated; a trench (not mine) soon revealed a burial pit, so that was quite exciting and a very great discovery! [3]
DD: What is your planning process for a trip?
CP: Some research online for sites, museums, etc., but besides packing and general travel prep, nothing too stressful.
DD: Do you have any specific goals in visiting Greece this year?
CP: To check out sites not seen before, and the western part of Crete in depth.
DD: Do you have any expectations/concerns?
CP: Not really, except for weather - as in no rain preferred! (We plan to be in Greece in late September/early October.)
DD: What is the number one place you want to visit on this trip, and why?
CP: Either Messene or Sparta, as I did not see either during previous visits, and I’m obsessed with Spartan history!
DD: What are your favourite things to do on vacation?
CP: Swim during the day and hit museums and tavernas at night.
DD: Least favourite?
CP: The time it takes to travel between towns or nations.
DD: Are there people in Greece you want to visit?
CP: Yes. Colleagues from the different Archaeology Institutions there who I have worked with before.
DD: Is there anything you wish to add?
CP: Besides re-visiting a beloved country and site of so much history, another purpose of the trip is to document with video and site/museum visits a brief history of a topic being ironed out by myself and Debborah, which we hope to air on YouTube during our journey.
Caroline is one of the loveliest, most talented and funniest people I’ve ever met. I’m really looking forward to this trip. If you have questions for either of us, or suggestions on things to do, places to eat, etc., please let us know in the comments below. We are planning to travel primarily in the Peloponnese and on Crete.
[1] Caroline’s LinkedIn and IMDb profiles.
[2] See my earlier blog post ‘Minoan Adventures’. Caroline will have a write up about her experience in Crete in a later post.
[3] I hope to convince Caroline to write more about her time on excavation at Mitrou!
