I was in the midst of adjusting to a new job when Giovanni and Silvia, the excellent curators and heart and soul of Dolphin Biology Conservation in Galaxidi, asked if I would like to return – I couldn’t say yes fast enough. I’ll miss them more than I can imagine this year.

It might have been a long (for Europe) flight to Athens and an even longer bus back to Galaxidi, but it was worth it. Three weeks of early morning coffees (not Greek this time – if you’ve ever had a Greek coffee you’ll know and it you haven’t you don’t need to find out), preparing and catering for eleven marine biology undergraduates and the lovely supervisors, tours around the area to share the Greek culture with the students (many of whom hadn’t stepped foot outside of America), wine in the evenings with my dear Italian friends, and snatching moments to prepare files to match dolphin fins in between (reliving three weeks of doing just that the year before). It wasn’t relaxing in any normal holiday way, but a gorgeously different pace of life and just what someone who doesn’t like sitting still needs. Getting to know the students and their aspirations, the lecturers and their wealth of knowledge, planning and preparing meals for 15, and sharing time with friends.

Galaxidi is just one of those small Greek towns that grips your heart with its olive soaked roots and grows comfortably with treasured memories. Living with crumbling soil under sandaled feet, wild hair blowing in the hot breeze (whens its not up in a knot to avoid that clammy feeling), golden sunshine warming a freckled face sans makeup, the joy of being surrounded by nature and a chest full of laughter. I was hard pressed to pick only five images, so here are ten of my all-time favourites from this holiday.

Highlights from this part of Greece include Delphi, an ancient olive grove, the Greek countryside, Nafpaktos, the monastery of Hosios Loukas, and quaint Galaxidi of course!