Hello everyone! Because Greece involved going to so many different places and seeing different things, I figured doing one post for the country would suffice. I expect it'll be a long one, though.
ATHENS
The flight from Rome to Athens involved us getting up at 330 AM, getting ready in the hostel, and hoofing it over to the bus station. Steve and myself, along with close to 50 other travelers, stood outside Roma Termini (central station) for nearly half an hour until the 430AM bus to Ciaopino airport showed up.
We arrived in Athens at about 930 in the morning, and one thing was immediately clear - Greek made absolutely no sense to us. I had rushed a fraternity, sure, so I could piece together how words SOUNDED, but their meaning was beyond me. We hopped a bus to the city center and started to take in the landscape. Athens, at least the outskirts, reminded me a lot of Arizona, or maybe Texas. Very few trees, an intense dry heat, and massive Hills off in the distance accompanied our ride. After having been in Italy for a week, we felt pretty comfortable navigating foreign cities, but we had no freaking idea where we were when we got off of the bus. The city center was surrounded by light blue, white, and tan buildings that, to me, all seemed very 'greek'. We managed to find our way through the train system and ultimately came upon our hostel: Hotel Zorbas. It was a decent place with clean bunks and, for the first time in our trip, WiFi in our bedrooms! Steve and I met our new roommates for the evening, Andrew and Sean, and then proceeded to crash for two hours. We got up around 1, showered, and headed for the acropolis.
(I feel it's important to interject and mention that, on a whole, our experiences with Greek locals were much more positive and welcoming than were our interactions with Italians.)
When we got into the Metro in an attempt to find the acropolis, we realized that the directions given to us made exactly zero sense. Lucky for us, a friendly Greek woman was standing near us waiting for the train. She ended up missing three (yes, THREE) of her trains in an attempt to get us headed in the right direction. We exited the metro and we're greeted with a massive Plaza, with people selling all sorts of tourist related souvenirs, as well as food and fresh produce. A turn to the right left us in sight of the acropolis, which truly towered over every other part of the city. We hoofed it through alleyways, up staircases, and down narrow streets, all the while flanked by those stereotypical white washed Greek buildings. Ultimately we found the staircase, which set us up the path to the top. I guess we had taken the back route, because when we hit the Midway point we were greater by a flood of tourists from all corners of the world. We followed the current to the top of the path. A set of massive marble pillars, as well as a decaying marble gateway, marked our arrival at the top of the Acropolis. Having walked through, we were both immediately surprised by the number of ruined temples present at the site. To our right stood the Parthenon, a massive marble structure which I'm sure you're all familiar with. In addition, there were at least three other, small temples I'm more advanced states of disrepair. Steve and I spent nearly half an hour waking around, snapping photos and marveling at how these structures had been able to withstand time for nearlg 2500 years. The only thing that was able to pull our attention from the temples was the breathtaking, 360° view of Athens. I've never seen a city 'shine' like Athens did; I hope the photos do it justice.
We had a quick bite to eat that night in a local neighborhood, and the next morning were up at 5AM to catch a ferry to the isles.
MYKONOS
We rode the metro for about 45 minutes to Piraeus, the port in Athens, and boarded the 5 hour ferry to mykonos. We found seats on the upper deck, next to two college girls from UC-Boulder, and spent the majority of the ride exchanging tips, stories, photos, and downing a couple beers (hey, we're on vacation, and it was 5 o clock somewhere..).
We arrived in the port of Mykonos and were presented with an island packed with white walled, blue roofed homes from the sea to the Crest of the hills. We bid farewell to our new friends and took a jam packed van to our Hostel, the Paradise Beach Resort. Our room was a little bungalow that was little more than 2 beds and a door that locked, sort of. The resort, however, was home to two all day beach clubs, a bar/lounge, and the number 17 club in the world (the grand opening of which was that night, as fate would have it). After decompressing for a bit, we hopped the public bus downtown. My expert negotiating skills landed us with two ATVs, probably the two worst ATVs on the island, for about 15 dollars American per night.
The next two days were a flurry of partying, lounging on the beach, mosquito bites, and exploring the whole island on our ATVs. The views were incredible, the people incredibly friendly, and the parties beyond all expectation.
IOS
On the morning of my 22nd birthday we packed up all of our gear and headed for the island of Ios. Our hostel, called Francesco's, was less than a block from nearly every club on the island. Sweet. The only thing that put a damper on our excitement for the night of birthday partying in one of the most famous party places in Europe was what we thought were mosquito bites. When we walked into the hostel, the owner, Francesco, immediately asked us if we had stayed at Paradise Beach. When we confirmed, he asked to see our bites, and after some examination had the pleasure of informing us that we were both infested with bed bugs. We were given a room significantly farther away than anyone else's, and together Steve and I had to spend the next hour or so removing everything from our bags, spraying it down, and then bundling anything that could be washed in airtight bags. Great start to a 22nd birthday. With all that unpleasantness behind us, though, we were able to grab some dinner, have a nap, and then head down for a hostel hosted pub crawl. We met a ton of characters, including Jake, the 19 year old Australian bartender and Alex, the bus driver from New Zealand who could party harder than anyone I've met. Long story short, the evening saw us club hopping until nearly 5AM, before struggling to find our way home.
Day 2 began with the discovery Porkis, home of the best freaking Gyro I've had in my entire life. If manna from heaven was greasy and deep fried, I'm fairly certain it would taste something like this. For the next 24 hours we proceeded to live off of nothing but Porkis and alcohol (if you think
I'm kidding, I can assure you that I am not). When we left It's the following day, we both agreed that we could have spent a week there and still not been satisfied, the place is incredible.
SANTORINI
We booked ourselves one night on the island of Santorini, as it was the closest place to Ios with an airport, and because it was supposed to be beautiful. Sailing into the port revealed that Santorini proper is shaped like a crescent moon. Within the Crest, in the 'bay' are the remains of a massive volcano that I surmise helped to create the island. Sporadic, 5 minute downpours, as well as massive rainbows, accompanied our 45 minute switchback-centric ride up the Cliffside and across the island to Perissa, home to our hostel and the world famous black sand beach. That evening involved the two of us relaxing, with Steve ultimately making a solo trip to the north side to photograph one of the sunsets that Santorini is so famous for. (pictures of the sunset will be included in the next post - still need to get them from Steve). We had to get up early the next morning for our flight from Santorini to Munich, Germany. All in all, our time in Greece was a whirl of great food, awesome parties, strong drinks, and some of the friendliest most fun-loving people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. If you ever have an opportunity, go to Greece. You will not be disappointed.
More to come, love you all!
P. S. Next post involves beer, sausage, saurkraut, Bavarian sunshine, and food poisoning!
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