Greece

Over the years, when choosing a place to travel to, I have created a list of attributes to make a decision. Sensitive to the aesthetics of geography and architecture, intrigued by history and its resulting societies, bewitched by language, and driven by food, these have emerged as the prominent criteria. Of course, every spot on the map in draped in layers of history and linguists the world over steep in the study of nearly every tongue. The question becomes WHAT history and culture do I want to delve into, what language (being only fluent in English and semi-competent in Spanish) do I want to bumble through?

Many places come to mind: Brazil, Ghana, Thailand, the Czech Republic. One country that often floats to the top of my mind is Greece.

The geography of Greece is ideal to me: a desert landscape of cactus and sun embellished by the rich Mediterranean colors of brilliant water, bouganvilla, and olive trees. There are white domed houses stacked on hillsides and crumbling pillars the gods supposedly stepped through. From the so-called birth of democracy to Socrates, the Ottoman Empire, and the civil war in the 1960's, there is a wealth of history to explore. My knowledge of the Greek language is nonexistent but I would relish it nonetheless and teach myself simple phrases. And of course, perhaps (to me) most importantly, are the dolmades, goat cheese, fresh olives, and bright citrus.