After college I spent 5 years in the Navy, 3 at sea where I was gifted with several visits to Hawaii, Japan, and Hong Kong. Last two years I spent stationed in southern Spain. While there I made several trips to Morocco, and briefer visits to Gibraltar, France, Norway, Germany, UK, Netherlands, and Switzerland. When I was discharged I drove through France, the length of Italy, and then into Greece, and Turkey, visiting Istanbul and quite a bit of the coast. Of all that traveling the two countries that in retrospect I think I liked the most were Italy and Greece. Italy is just a beautiful country, loaded with history and views of the Mediterranean. Venice is great and Rome is just one awesome site after another, but maybe it was just me, but Greece, and particularly Athens and the Acropolis, were in their way even more ancient and awesome.