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Greece Take a Chance on
A UF Professor’s Greek Getaway
I
t’s a breezy, sun-drenched day as we look out from the top deck of our Hellenic Seaways ferry heading for the Greek island of Alonnisos. The aquamarine waters of the Aegean Sea surround my wife Robbie and me as we complete the last leg of a two-day voyage. We’re about to visit former Florida-living friends who invited us to see their new house and to celebrate a milestone birthday. Tamara Romaine and David Widmayer attended UF in the late 1970s and became friends through the German Club. After graduation they went their separate ways. David was
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OUR TOWN MAGAZINE
January/February 2020
S TORY A ND PHOTOG R A PHY BY JOHN FR E EM A N
hired to work for Volkswagen in Germany, but 26 years later he reconnected with Tamara in Gainesville. They married in 2006, making Germany their new home. Both were pretty settled – that is – until they took a trip to Greece in 2016 so Tamara could attend a homeopathy seminar on a remote island. “I went out walking,” Tamara recalled, “and within that first day I had this odd sensation that I belonged here — it felt like home. It felt like Vermont, Florida and Europe all wrapped up in one place — mountains and sea — which I love. I got goosebumps at the thought of living here. I asked David if he thought he could live here. He surprised me by saying he loved it.” Later