Our wake up call wasn't until 8 AM this morning, so I got a solid 7 hours of sleep. That's two nights in a row! And it feels good. Breakfast was delicious at this hotel, with a full buffet bar. I had croissants with Nutella, watermelon, honeydew, and an over-easy-egg/cheese on bread.
We drove an hour on the bus to Phaestos, another ancient Minoan palace that just looked like a bunch of rocks. The only significant fact about Phaestos is that the famous disc with symbols, thought to be early script, was found there by archaeologists. It was extremely hot again, but it didn't feel as bad as yesterday. Nonetheless, I was still dripping down my back and legs.
After an hour at Phaestos, we drove twenty minutes over to the neighboring ancient village of Gortys, which was much smaller, but way cooler. The only structures worth seeing were the church of St. Titus built in the 6th century A.D., and a 6th century B.C. script, the newest version that is believed to have led to our alphabet today.
Finally, it was time for the beach! We were given three hours to spend at Matala Beach, where we first ate lunch. It was a crepe place but I decided to order calimari for 6 euro that wasn't very good. In hindsight I should have realized a crepe taverna might not specialize in seafood. Oh well, live and learn.
Located on the Libyan Sea, Matala Beach is surrounded by cliffs with caves dating back 7000 years ago. We had so much fun! There was one particular cliff that is used for jumping by the locals, so we decided to be true "travelers" and participate. The water was extremely clear with lots of rocks, and much colder than any of our other beach experiences!
The cliff is located probably 150 meters or so from the shore, so Meghan and I were the first to swim out there with one of the guys. The next step was to climb up the rocks to the top. On my first trip up I was thinking there was no way I could possibly scale the wet side of a cliff. It seemed a little dangerous, but I found that if I moved quickly and strategically placed my feet and hands in the crevases, it wasn't bad at all. Actually, by the fifth time I was a pro!
So once I made it to the top, looking down freaked me out a little. The view from the cliff was unbelievable. I so badly wish I could have taken my camera out there, but at the same time I will never forget what it looked like. The water was just sparkling, with the beach and caves on the left, and a huge cliff in front of us with tavernas built into the side. There was a sign on one of the walls that read, "Live today. Tomorrow will never come."
Prepared to take the plunge, we spotted some rocks to the left, but straight ahead and to the right was completely clear and very deep. Plus the locals were doing dives and back flips, and they were still alive. The first time, I just sort of spontaneously jumped because I knew if I thought about it too much I would psych myself out. So Meghan went first as sort of our guinea pig, because the girl is totally fearless, and then it was my turn. I took a couple of steps and just ... leaped! I didn't even notice that I was in a free fall for what seemed like forever because all I could see was the bright blue water below. It wasn't the most graceful of jumps and stung in a few places, most of all in my nose and throat because of the massive amount of saltwater I ingested. Talk about an adrenaline rush.
I managed to do it four more times and it only got better and better. My form improved to more of a "pencil", if you will, so that I had a smooth entry. Even so, my swimsuit top never once stayed on, but I always realized it under water and had enough time to pull it back down. One of the girls climbed to the top shortly after I did for the first time, and after my fourth jump, she was still there. She froze up and refused to jump despite all of us cheering her on. Let me tell ya, it was like trying to get a cat out of a tree; it just wasn't going to happen. Going down the rocks was way more dangerous, but that's what she finally resorted to because she realized a helicopter was not going to fly over to pick her up.
What a rush!! How many people can say they've jumped off a 30 ft. cliff into the Libyan Sea? Which by the way is only 115 miles north of Africa! After all the fun, Meghan and I got gelato in the town from a little bakery/gelateria, where the woman was so rude to us. Some of the Greeks are outright rude, and others are so hospitable and friendly, I don't get it. But anyhow, the gelato was triple chocolate and so creamy.
We had an hour-and-a-half bus ride home, on which all of us passed out. You could have heard a pin drop. I showered immediately to get the dried salt off me and then just hung out and made a PB&J sandwich for dinner.
We have an elaborate scheme for going out tonight ... I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Rethymnon: Day 1
I awoke this morning to Lynnea (our third roommate) tapping on my shoulder and saying softly “It’s time to get up.” This has become an every morning occurrence. I always wake up at the alarm, but never get out of bed right away. So I held in my frustration and mustered a “Good morning.” We had another crappy breakfast, then an hour bus ride to Rethymnon.
Rethymnon is Crete’s third largest city, right on the Mediterranean. It was occupied, and therefore influenced heavily by the Venetians and Ottomans, and is really beautiful. We are staying at Hotel Ideon, just across the street from the water. Our rooms weren’t ready when we arrived at 11 AM, so we set off on a tour of the city with Vangeli. It was pretty interesting and reminded me a lot of Venice (obviously). I photographed so many arches for my photo journal … I am arched out. We also climbed up the Venetian fortress and there were some awesome views of the city.
The worst part of the day was, without a doubt, the heat! It was the hottest day of the trip at about 110 degrees and I can’t even describe how much sweat I produced. My face was dripping, as were my shins and back. All of my clothes were sopping wet. It was just a very uncomfortable state. The most grueling experience was when we visited the oldest phyllo dough bakery in Crete. This little old man stood in a back room and we watched him throw the dough on a big wheel and spin it into shape. The room, however, had no circulation and I thought I was going to just pass out from the heat. But the baklava I got to taste afterward was unbelievable. It was way crispier than any I’ve ever had and didn’t fall apart.
We checked into the hotel at about 1 PM and were free for the rest of the day. Katula said some of us may get apartments, so we were pretty psyched about that. But I don’t know why Sarah and I bothered to think we might be one of the lucky ones, considering we’ve managed to have a problem with every single room we’ve had. They gave us the key to room 125 and said it was across the pool in a separate building. We approached and saw a medium set of stairs. I told Sarah and she started to groan, as we realized we’d have to carry our 50 lb. suitcases ourselves. So we made it to the top, only to find rooms 121 and 122. I saw another set of stairs, and this time both Sarah and I let out a groan. This was a big staircase. I was already sweating so it didn’t matter too much, but my suitcase was very heavy! Once I made it up, I yelled down to Sarah that there was a third staircase. At this point she sounded like a woman going into labor and we were both moaning the whole way up. I was wishfully thinking that maybe we’d gotten a penthouse apartment on the top floor, so you can imagine my disappointment when I opened the door to find one very small and stuffy room.
We bitched and complained for about fifteen minutes, and were furious when we saw the girls next door to us having their luggage carried up by the hotel porters. I took a quick shower to cool off and washed my clothes, so my mood was gradually improving. Once we discovered how to turn on the air conditioning, I even sort of liked our room. I went to visit the other girls in the apartment and have to admit I’m pretty jealous. It is three rooms and has a kitchen, so they decided we’re going to cook a big meal one night.
I headed down to lay by the pool, but immediately turned around because it was just way too hot. Even if I stayed in the pool all afternoon, it would still be miserable. So five of us went out to a crepe place, creatively called “Crepe Land.” I had a crepe with turkey, mozzarella, tomatoes, and corn. It was one of the best lunches I’ve ever had and I’ll surely be making another visit to Crepe Land, as it’s just around the corner. I’m giving my mom a new objective … learn to make crepes by August!
We then went in search of a grocery store, but were told everything was closed because it was Sunday. That’s what they do in Greece; close every store on Sunday. What do you do if you need something? Apparently you’re out of luck. We ended up finding a small market though and bought some supplies for PB&J’s, fruit, wine, and snacks to cut costs for the week. I have about 200 euro left, so can only spend a little over 20 euro/day, which is difficult. To be honest, I’m starting to get really sick of Greek food, so this will be a nice way to mix it up a bit.
I spent the entire afternoon in our room because it was just so miserably hot outside. A bunch of people found a wireless network down in the lobby, but I discovered that I can get it in our room, which might have made my day. Oh and the other great news of the day … we get an extension on our assignments! Rumor has it we get three extra days for our research paper and a week for our photo journal. I’m so happy I can just enjoy the rest of our time here, as well as my first few days at home, and then do the work.
Sarah, Kristyn, and I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches for dinner; had a little picnic around our coffee table. It was nice. I went down in the lobby to get some gelato and it was amazing! I had stracciatella (chocolate chip), and creme brulee. Usually you get one very small scoop, so for .80 euro more I could get a second. Of course I decided it was a good deal at the one place that gives huge scoops. It was worth it though.
The three of us started to get ready around 10 PM and had some wine in our room before meeting everyone else down in the courtyard. Boy, did we have a fun time! None of us was able to get the cork out of any of our three bottles. It took three of us holding and twisting and pulling to get each one out. We were laughing hysterically and documented our trials and tribulations with plenty of pictures.
Once we finally met up with people, the hotel lady screamed at us for bringing our wine downstairs. I didn't think they would let us bring our own wine anyways, so wasn't too surprised, but this lady was just rude! The staff at the last few hotels have been very nasty to us; whether it's our nationality or age, I don't know, but it's getting old. So we hung out in one of the rooms, just talking and whatnot. We took a little walk down by the water around midnight, and some of the girls asked us to go dancing, but we chose to come back and go to bed.
Tomorrow we have two ancient Minoan ruins to see and then an afternoon at the beach!
Rethymnon is Crete’s third largest city, right on the Mediterranean. It was occupied, and therefore influenced heavily by the Venetians and Ottomans, and is really beautiful. We are staying at Hotel Ideon, just across the street from the water. Our rooms weren’t ready when we arrived at 11 AM, so we set off on a tour of the city with Vangeli. It was pretty interesting and reminded me a lot of Venice (obviously). I photographed so many arches for my photo journal … I am arched out. We also climbed up the Venetian fortress and there were some awesome views of the city.
The worst part of the day was, without a doubt, the heat! It was the hottest day of the trip at about 110 degrees and I can’t even describe how much sweat I produced. My face was dripping, as were my shins and back. All of my clothes were sopping wet. It was just a very uncomfortable state. The most grueling experience was when we visited the oldest phyllo dough bakery in Crete. This little old man stood in a back room and we watched him throw the dough on a big wheel and spin it into shape. The room, however, had no circulation and I thought I was going to just pass out from the heat. But the baklava I got to taste afterward was unbelievable. It was way crispier than any I’ve ever had and didn’t fall apart.
We checked into the hotel at about 1 PM and were free for the rest of the day. Katula said some of us may get apartments, so we were pretty psyched about that. But I don’t know why Sarah and I bothered to think we might be one of the lucky ones, considering we’ve managed to have a problem with every single room we’ve had. They gave us the key to room 125 and said it was across the pool in a separate building. We approached and saw a medium set of stairs. I told Sarah and she started to groan, as we realized we’d have to carry our 50 lb. suitcases ourselves. So we made it to the top, only to find rooms 121 and 122. I saw another set of stairs, and this time both Sarah and I let out a groan. This was a big staircase. I was already sweating so it didn’t matter too much, but my suitcase was very heavy! Once I made it up, I yelled down to Sarah that there was a third staircase. At this point she sounded like a woman going into labor and we were both moaning the whole way up. I was wishfully thinking that maybe we’d gotten a penthouse apartment on the top floor, so you can imagine my disappointment when I opened the door to find one very small and stuffy room.
We bitched and complained for about fifteen minutes, and were furious when we saw the girls next door to us having their luggage carried up by the hotel porters. I took a quick shower to cool off and washed my clothes, so my mood was gradually improving. Once we discovered how to turn on the air conditioning, I even sort of liked our room. I went to visit the other girls in the apartment and have to admit I’m pretty jealous. It is three rooms and has a kitchen, so they decided we’re going to cook a big meal one night.
I headed down to lay by the pool, but immediately turned around because it was just way too hot. Even if I stayed in the pool all afternoon, it would still be miserable. So five of us went out to a crepe place, creatively called “Crepe Land.” I had a crepe with turkey, mozzarella, tomatoes, and corn. It was one of the best lunches I’ve ever had and I’ll surely be making another visit to Crepe Land, as it’s just around the corner. I’m giving my mom a new objective … learn to make crepes by August!
We then went in search of a grocery store, but were told everything was closed because it was Sunday. That’s what they do in Greece; close every store on Sunday. What do you do if you need something? Apparently you’re out of luck. We ended up finding a small market though and bought some supplies for PB&J’s, fruit, wine, and snacks to cut costs for the week. I have about 200 euro left, so can only spend a little over 20 euro/day, which is difficult. To be honest, I’m starting to get really sick of Greek food, so this will be a nice way to mix it up a bit.
I spent the entire afternoon in our room because it was just so miserably hot outside. A bunch of people found a wireless network down in the lobby, but I discovered that I can get it in our room, which might have made my day. Oh and the other great news of the day … we get an extension on our assignments! Rumor has it we get three extra days for our research paper and a week for our photo journal. I’m so happy I can just enjoy the rest of our time here, as well as my first few days at home, and then do the work.
Sarah, Kristyn, and I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches for dinner; had a little picnic around our coffee table. It was nice. I went down in the lobby to get some gelato and it was amazing! I had stracciatella (chocolate chip), and creme brulee. Usually you get one very small scoop, so for .80 euro more I could get a second. Of course I decided it was a good deal at the one place that gives huge scoops. It was worth it though.
The three of us started to get ready around 10 PM and had some wine in our room before meeting everyone else down in the courtyard. Boy, did we have a fun time! None of us was able to get the cork out of any of our three bottles. It took three of us holding and twisting and pulling to get each one out. We were laughing hysterically and documented our trials and tribulations with plenty of pictures.
Once we finally met up with people, the hotel lady screamed at us for bringing our wine downstairs. I didn't think they would let us bring our own wine anyways, so wasn't too surprised, but this lady was just rude! The staff at the last few hotels have been very nasty to us; whether it's our nationality or age, I don't know, but it's getting old. So we hung out in one of the rooms, just talking and whatnot. We took a little walk down by the water around midnight, and some of the girls asked us to go dancing, but we chose to come back and go to bed.
Tomorrow we have two ancient Minoan ruins to see and then an afternoon at the beach!
Free WiFi
We are now in Rethymnon on the island of Crete and just discovered we have free internet. What a lovely surprise!
So I have just posted my blogs from the past couple days and will continue to post throughout most of the coming week.
Hope everyone is well!
So I have just posted my blogs from the past couple days and will continue to post throughout most of the coming week.
Hope everyone is well!
Heraklion: Day 2
Today was a free day; the first whole day we've had to ourselves since Athens!
We had decided to go to the beach, so forced ourselves out of bed at 9 AM, despite dancing into the wee hours of the morning. The breakfast at this hotel was terrible – the first time I’ve really hated a meal on this trip. Also the first place to not have peaches for the yogurt! There was honey but it had a very strange taste.
After breakfast, we were waiting for the rest of the group in the lobby and one of the guys, Giuliano, had his legs up on the couch. A hotel manager came over and told him to put his feet down and he started to argue. Both of them were being rude and got into a pretty heated argument. The woman brought a couple of old men to yell at him, at which point I left the lobby in embarrassment. It was a double-edged sword – if it’s part of the culture in Europe that you don’t lay on a couch in a lobby, then the woman did have a right to say something and Giuliano should have let it go and put his legs down – but on the other hand, we are the guest paying for services so should be able to sit the way we want in a lobby. Basically both of them approached the situation poorly. Talk about a clash between cultures.
Katula wasn’t able to come with us, because his son, a U.S. ambassador, was flying in from Ukraine. He had showed us the bus stop and where to buy tickets, etc. but I knew we were in for a rocky trip. We bought the wrong tickets, then had to get the right ones, and when the guy took them he didn’t even look. So I spent five euro on bus tickets! The ride was a far cry from the torturous cattle cars we took to get to the beaches in Athens. We all got seats and it was only thirty minutes; so nice!
The beach was gorgeous, set on the Mediterranean Sea, lined with tavernas and beach bars. We splurged and bought ourselves beach chairs. I slept a bit, started to read Zorba the Greek (which I have to admit I will probably not get through), and swam a lot. The water was still clear, but more like the Atlantic at home, with lots of twigs and stuff. It was easily the hottest day we’ve experienced, well over 100 degrees. We ate lunch at one of the tavernas to get a break from the sun, and after a little more tanning action, packed up to leave about 3 PM.
Our return trip proved to be much more difficult. As we boarded the bus, two of the girls stayed behind to wait for Giuliano, who had run down the road to buy a ticket and hadn’t made it back in time. Hmm … okay, nice of them. We pulled up to the next stop, and who walks onto the bus but Giuliano! Simultaneously, every person exclaimed “Oh nooooo” and a gasp swept through the bus like a wave. Upon realizing what had happened, Giuliano laced up his sneakers and at the next stop, got off and started sprinting back to the girls at the original stop. What a twisted, worst case scenario!
But the fun didn’t stop there. We passed the stop at Liberty Square, which was supposed to be a couple before our hotel, so knew we were getting close. Two stops later, we didn’t recognize the area so decided to get off and walk. We walked straight up a hill only to be told it was the other way and then a left. We walked another half mile and were again told we were going the wrong way. The bottom line is that we were incredibly lost and couldn’t get back to the hotel. After 40 minutes of walking, I had had enough and resorted to finding a cab – but not many taxis were around. I eventually saw one going the opposite direction, threw my arm up in the air and sprinted across the street once he stopped. Two other girls hopped in, and for 3 euro, we were never so happy to arrive in front of our hotel. The rest of the group walked around for another 30 minutes. That cab was the best decision I’ve made!
I rested a bit and got cleaned up, then walked around Heraklion with Sarah and Kristyn. I got a lemon granita, which is kind of like an American slushie drink, and it was so refreshing. Then Sarah wanted a crepe, so she ordered one with Nutella/banana and the three of us ended up sharing it, bite for bite. It was the most delicious treat, all warm and gooey. We were just silent around the table; nobody could talk because it was so amazing.
Tonight was a big group dinner in honor of one of the guys’ birthdays, so we made it a formal affair and everyone wore their nicest clothes. All 23 of us sat at a long table in a beautiful taverna. I had lots of white wine, so was feeling pretty good by the time our food came. I had the beef burgers, which is two beef patties with roasted potatoes. It was very tasty! Afterwards, the birthday boy bought us all a round of ouzo, which I took only because it was in honor of his birthday. I think ouzo is so disgusting; the smell alone makes me nauseas. Ew. Then there were some pastries, so I grabbed a chocolate cookie. The plan then, was to go back to the hotel and rest up for a bit before going out to the clubs at 12:30 – because like I’ve said, the Greeks don’t start the party until about 2 AM. However, almost everyone decided at that point to stay in and just go to sleep. The boys were very irritated, but I could not have cared less! It was so nice to get to bed at a decent time.
We had decided to go to the beach, so forced ourselves out of bed at 9 AM, despite dancing into the wee hours of the morning. The breakfast at this hotel was terrible – the first time I’ve really hated a meal on this trip. Also the first place to not have peaches for the yogurt! There was honey but it had a very strange taste.
After breakfast, we were waiting for the rest of the group in the lobby and one of the guys, Giuliano, had his legs up on the couch. A hotel manager came over and told him to put his feet down and he started to argue. Both of them were being rude and got into a pretty heated argument. The woman brought a couple of old men to yell at him, at which point I left the lobby in embarrassment. It was a double-edged sword – if it’s part of the culture in Europe that you don’t lay on a couch in a lobby, then the woman did have a right to say something and Giuliano should have let it go and put his legs down – but on the other hand, we are the guest paying for services so should be able to sit the way we want in a lobby. Basically both of them approached the situation poorly. Talk about a clash between cultures.
Katula wasn’t able to come with us, because his son, a U.S. ambassador, was flying in from Ukraine. He had showed us the bus stop and where to buy tickets, etc. but I knew we were in for a rocky trip. We bought the wrong tickets, then had to get the right ones, and when the guy took them he didn’t even look. So I spent five euro on bus tickets! The ride was a far cry from the torturous cattle cars we took to get to the beaches in Athens. We all got seats and it was only thirty minutes; so nice!
The beach was gorgeous, set on the Mediterranean Sea, lined with tavernas and beach bars. We splurged and bought ourselves beach chairs. I slept a bit, started to read Zorba the Greek (which I have to admit I will probably not get through), and swam a lot. The water was still clear, but more like the Atlantic at home, with lots of twigs and stuff. It was easily the hottest day we’ve experienced, well over 100 degrees. We ate lunch at one of the tavernas to get a break from the sun, and after a little more tanning action, packed up to leave about 3 PM.
Our return trip proved to be much more difficult. As we boarded the bus, two of the girls stayed behind to wait for Giuliano, who had run down the road to buy a ticket and hadn’t made it back in time. Hmm … okay, nice of them. We pulled up to the next stop, and who walks onto the bus but Giuliano! Simultaneously, every person exclaimed “Oh nooooo” and a gasp swept through the bus like a wave. Upon realizing what had happened, Giuliano laced up his sneakers and at the next stop, got off and started sprinting back to the girls at the original stop. What a twisted, worst case scenario!
But the fun didn’t stop there. We passed the stop at Liberty Square, which was supposed to be a couple before our hotel, so knew we were getting close. Two stops later, we didn’t recognize the area so decided to get off and walk. We walked straight up a hill only to be told it was the other way and then a left. We walked another half mile and were again told we were going the wrong way. The bottom line is that we were incredibly lost and couldn’t get back to the hotel. After 40 minutes of walking, I had had enough and resorted to finding a cab – but not many taxis were around. I eventually saw one going the opposite direction, threw my arm up in the air and sprinted across the street once he stopped. Two other girls hopped in, and for 3 euro, we were never so happy to arrive in front of our hotel. The rest of the group walked around for another 30 minutes. That cab was the best decision I’ve made!
I rested a bit and got cleaned up, then walked around Heraklion with Sarah and Kristyn. I got a lemon granita, which is kind of like an American slushie drink, and it was so refreshing. Then Sarah wanted a crepe, so she ordered one with Nutella/banana and the three of us ended up sharing it, bite for bite. It was the most delicious treat, all warm and gooey. We were just silent around the table; nobody could talk because it was so amazing.
Tonight was a big group dinner in honor of one of the guys’ birthdays, so we made it a formal affair and everyone wore their nicest clothes. All 23 of us sat at a long table in a beautiful taverna. I had lots of white wine, so was feeling pretty good by the time our food came. I had the beef burgers, which is two beef patties with roasted potatoes. It was very tasty! Afterwards, the birthday boy bought us all a round of ouzo, which I took only because it was in honor of his birthday. I think ouzo is so disgusting; the smell alone makes me nauseas. Ew. Then there were some pastries, so I grabbed a chocolate cookie. The plan then, was to go back to the hotel and rest up for a bit before going out to the clubs at 12:30 – because like I’ve said, the Greeks don’t start the party until about 2 AM. However, almost everyone decided at that point to stay in and just go to sleep. The boys were very irritated, but I could not have cared less! It was so nice to get to bed at a decent time.
Heraklion: Day 1
The alarm rang at 4:45 AM and we all dragged ourselves onto the bus in the dark streets of Thessaloniki. We arrived at the airport of Macedonia about 6:00 AM for our 7:30 flight and were all unhappy about being so early. Well, not to worry … because the Europeans don’t understand the concept of a line.
Katula herded us all to the check-in queue for Aegean airlines and told us to stay close and not let anyone cut in. We’ve all noticed that Europeans jump the lines, but didn’t really think anything of it. Sure enough, some guy came up the side and one of the boys played guard and wouldn’t let him in. At some point, they opened a third line and most of the people who had been behind us jumped up to the front of that. Our group was left in the middle line, which was not moving even a centimeter. Katula asked the check-in lady why we weren’t moving and she said they had announced the third line was for the Heraklion flight. We had never heard this announcement, so proceeded to just merge over – which really upset all of the Europeans, who had skipped the line only moments earlier.
It got pretty vicious and was unlike anything I’ve ever seen! We all watched some older guy just walk up to the counter in front of the line ropes and get checked in. The airline people don’t even try to do anything about it, they just let it happen. Another guy creeped up the side and cut in and people started yelling at him to move and it got pretty heated. I thought they were going to throw some punches. We finally battled our way up to the counter, and secured the sides of our group so that no one could cut. There was some comic relief though. The people in front of us asked Sarah if we were going to Heraklion, and she said, “No, Crete.” ... Heraklion is the capital of Crete.
We rushed to the gate, which said the plane was bound for Athens, but just took the staff’s word when they told us it was the right one. Some of us ran to get some breakfast. I got a Nescafe frappe and a potato pie (which was one of the best things I’ve eaten all trip!), but just as the rest were ordering, we were told it was time to board. We ran over, only to be told we couldn’t bring drinks on, so I gulped down my coffee. A bus drove us right up to the plane, and from there it was a little smoother. The flight was only an hour and I slept for most of it, but the people next to me never stopped talking! The Greeks are very animated, dramatic speakers.
The landing was cool but scary. It was one of those where you look like you’re going to crash in the ocean, but hit ground at the last second. And at the end of the flight, before I even stood up to get off, the woman was on her feet and pressing against me. I don’t know where she thought she was going to run with the cabin door still closed, but that seems to sum up the European mentality. They rush everywhere and lack respect for personal space.
From the airport, we went straight into the center of Heraklion to grab breakfast. Since I was one of the fortunate ones who had eaten at the airport, I skipped food and wandered around a shop with one of the girls. It had really cute, inexpensive clothes; kind of like Forever XII at home. I ended up buying a skirt. We walked down the road to the Heraklion museum with our new tour guide for the week, Vangeli. He led us around all of the artifacts and I actually enjoyed this museum. Everything was from the Minoan civilization, starting around 4000 B.C. They were very smart and way ahead of their time – some of the jewelry was amazing. And there was an ivory sculpture of a lion’s head, which indicates that they had traveled outside of Greece, since there are no lions here.
Next, we took the bus over to the archaeological site of Knossos, a huge Minoan palace. This, too, was pretty interesting because it was so big. There were gorgeous frescoes on the walls and it even had a plumbing system in the king’s quarters. And this was 4000 years before Christ! This is the oldest stuff we will see while here and it never ceases to amaze me.
By this time it was 1 PM and we were all starving. Katula said we would drive out to Arkhanes, a little town, for lunch. We arrived and Vangeli announced we were stopping in a small museum first. The word “museum” brought on a small groan that echoed throughout the bus. It ended up being only one room, the coolest artifact being the first – some coffins with real skeletons inside –, but after that I didn’t hear a thing. We tried to go to one of the two tavernas, but the old man’s wife was in the hospital so he wasn’t open. Obviously we then went to the other, where I sat at a table with six students and Katula. It was good company and amazing food, but pretty bad service. One woman was waiting on the whole place! I guess they hadn’t been expecting a group of 21, so we all understood. We ordered a little bit of everything – tzatziki, omelettes with potatoes or vegetables, chicken fillets, beef patties, some veggies, and dakos (more popular than the Greek salad in Crete, it’s a big crouton topped with tomato paste and feta. Yum!).
We stopped in “the best gelato place in all of Crete” according to Katula (which he says about every place he points out), but it was very good. I had some flavor with chocolate swirl inside, but I couldn’t really tell what it was. The bus driver said no food on the bus, so for the second time that day, I had to scarf down my food, which completely detracted from the joy of ice cream in the first place.
Finally, about 5:30 PM, we checked into Hotel Olympic near the center of town where we had spent the morning. The rooms are nice, probably near the middle but higher end of our hotels thus far. Sarah and I immediately took a nap and didn’t wake up until 9:15 PM! We were both just passed out. When we did get up, we showered and went to pick up pizza and some drinks.
The boys had found some clubs up near the waterfront earlier in the day and assured us it was no more than a 15 minute walk, so we followed them. It obviously turned out to be more like a 30 minute walk, but no big deal, I enjoyed the exercise. We went to a place called Desire, with a rooftop bar and dancing, where we all had a drink and sat around. Then we brought the party! We went downstairs in front of the DJ booth and moved some tables to make a dance floor. It was literally just us ten dancing in the middle of hundreds of Greeks staring on awkwardly. But we didn’t care; we just danced! We went to another place after, but it was full of sketchy men so we took cabs back around 3:30 AM.
Katula herded us all to the check-in queue for Aegean airlines and told us to stay close and not let anyone cut in. We’ve all noticed that Europeans jump the lines, but didn’t really think anything of it. Sure enough, some guy came up the side and one of the boys played guard and wouldn’t let him in. At some point, they opened a third line and most of the people who had been behind us jumped up to the front of that. Our group was left in the middle line, which was not moving even a centimeter. Katula asked the check-in lady why we weren’t moving and she said they had announced the third line was for the Heraklion flight. We had never heard this announcement, so proceeded to just merge over – which really upset all of the Europeans, who had skipped the line only moments earlier.
It got pretty vicious and was unlike anything I’ve ever seen! We all watched some older guy just walk up to the counter in front of the line ropes and get checked in. The airline people don’t even try to do anything about it, they just let it happen. Another guy creeped up the side and cut in and people started yelling at him to move and it got pretty heated. I thought they were going to throw some punches. We finally battled our way up to the counter, and secured the sides of our group so that no one could cut. There was some comic relief though. The people in front of us asked Sarah if we were going to Heraklion, and she said, “No, Crete.” ... Heraklion is the capital of Crete.
We rushed to the gate, which said the plane was bound for Athens, but just took the staff’s word when they told us it was the right one. Some of us ran to get some breakfast. I got a Nescafe frappe and a potato pie (which was one of the best things I’ve eaten all trip!), but just as the rest were ordering, we were told it was time to board. We ran over, only to be told we couldn’t bring drinks on, so I gulped down my coffee. A bus drove us right up to the plane, and from there it was a little smoother. The flight was only an hour and I slept for most of it, but the people next to me never stopped talking! The Greeks are very animated, dramatic speakers.
The landing was cool but scary. It was one of those where you look like you’re going to crash in the ocean, but hit ground at the last second. And at the end of the flight, before I even stood up to get off, the woman was on her feet and pressing against me. I don’t know where she thought she was going to run with the cabin door still closed, but that seems to sum up the European mentality. They rush everywhere and lack respect for personal space.
From the airport, we went straight into the center of Heraklion to grab breakfast. Since I was one of the fortunate ones who had eaten at the airport, I skipped food and wandered around a shop with one of the girls. It had really cute, inexpensive clothes; kind of like Forever XII at home. I ended up buying a skirt. We walked down the road to the Heraklion museum with our new tour guide for the week, Vangeli. He led us around all of the artifacts and I actually enjoyed this museum. Everything was from the Minoan civilization, starting around 4000 B.C. They were very smart and way ahead of their time – some of the jewelry was amazing. And there was an ivory sculpture of a lion’s head, which indicates that they had traveled outside of Greece, since there are no lions here.
Next, we took the bus over to the archaeological site of Knossos, a huge Minoan palace. This, too, was pretty interesting because it was so big. There were gorgeous frescoes on the walls and it even had a plumbing system in the king’s quarters. And this was 4000 years before Christ! This is the oldest stuff we will see while here and it never ceases to amaze me.
By this time it was 1 PM and we were all starving. Katula said we would drive out to Arkhanes, a little town, for lunch. We arrived and Vangeli announced we were stopping in a small museum first. The word “museum” brought on a small groan that echoed throughout the bus. It ended up being only one room, the coolest artifact being the first – some coffins with real skeletons inside –, but after that I didn’t hear a thing. We tried to go to one of the two tavernas, but the old man’s wife was in the hospital so he wasn’t open. Obviously we then went to the other, where I sat at a table with six students and Katula. It was good company and amazing food, but pretty bad service. One woman was waiting on the whole place! I guess they hadn’t been expecting a group of 21, so we all understood. We ordered a little bit of everything – tzatziki, omelettes with potatoes or vegetables, chicken fillets, beef patties, some veggies, and dakos (more popular than the Greek salad in Crete, it’s a big crouton topped with tomato paste and feta. Yum!).
We stopped in “the best gelato place in all of Crete” according to Katula (which he says about every place he points out), but it was very good. I had some flavor with chocolate swirl inside, but I couldn’t really tell what it was. The bus driver said no food on the bus, so for the second time that day, I had to scarf down my food, which completely detracted from the joy of ice cream in the first place.
Finally, about 5:30 PM, we checked into Hotel Olympic near the center of town where we had spent the morning. The rooms are nice, probably near the middle but higher end of our hotels thus far. Sarah and I immediately took a nap and didn’t wake up until 9:15 PM! We were both just passed out. When we did get up, we showered and went to pick up pizza and some drinks.
The boys had found some clubs up near the waterfront earlier in the day and assured us it was no more than a 15 minute walk, so we followed them. It obviously turned out to be more like a 30 minute walk, but no big deal, I enjoyed the exercise. We went to a place called Desire, with a rooftop bar and dancing, where we all had a drink and sat around. Then we brought the party! We went downstairs in front of the DJ booth and moved some tables to make a dance floor. It was literally just us ten dancing in the middle of hundreds of Greeks staring on awkwardly. But we didn’t care; we just danced! We went to another place after, but it was full of sketchy men so we took cabs back around 3:30 AM.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thessaloniki: Beach Day
Today was such a great day!
I'm sure I don't have to convince you that waking up this morning was nearly impossible. Only three hours after going to sleep, it was 7:30 AM and already time to get up. Our third roommate had to physically wake me, and I had to yell at Sarah to get her out of bed. I think half of the battle was that Sarah and I are both partially deaf from the club.
Breakfast was kind of funny because everyone slowly drifted in and our professor was just laughing at all of us. The boys apparently woke up 30 minutes late and had to run down -- they forgot most everything they had planned to bring to the beach. We were a rough looking bunch. Everyone slept the entire 90 minute bus ride. It’s never been so quiet!
We finally reached Sithonia, ranked one of the world’s best beaches according to Katula, at 10 AM. It was unbelievably beautiful and as we drove through town, Katula took on the role of tour guide and pointed out sites such as “pizza” and “hamburger.”
We found a public beach and all sprawled out, most of us sleeping. When I eventually felt as if I was in a frying pan, I made my way to the water. This water was without a doubt the best I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to really put it into words, but I’ll try … So when I wrote about the other beaches having clear water, I must have lied, because this was so clear that I could see my shadow on the sand below me. It was literally crystal clear, you could even see all of the fish and rocks swimming below. The temperature was perfect; so refreshing. And this is the part that’s hard to describe – the water just felt different, like the way your body moved. It felt fresh and pure, and took no effort at all to swim. Because of so much salt, your body just floats.
Four of us walked right across the street to a taverna for lunch. I had Greek salad and tzatziki with bread. It was really nice, but the flies here are crazy! They’re all over the food and I’m pretty sure they bite because I kept feeling little nips on my feet. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon in the water because it was so amazing. I swam out to the buoy a few times, floated, chatted, exfoliated myself with the grainy sand, and at the end of it all, had a thick layer of salt on my dried skin.
We all got some gelato before getting on the bus to head back to Thessaloniki. The gelato was awesome – definitely the creamiest we’ve had. At the gelateria, there was a little baby bird on the ground that had fallen out of its nest up above. It was so sad! We tried to give it some water but it was too afraid of us.
Once we got back, I showered and then set out walking through the city on my own. It was very liberating to be by myself – I think for the first time since we arrived – just doing everything on my terms. I went in a couple of shops – bought a scarf –, walked along the water front, and picked up some pastries from the most famous bakery in Thessaloniki. I was so sweaty when I got back I could have showered again!
Everyone was so exhausted from last night, we decided just to run to Goody’s (that fast food place) across the street for dinner. Then I packed up and have been hanging out since. We have a 4:45 AM wake up call tomorrow to catch our flight down to Crete … and then a full day of sightseeing before we check into the hotel at 3 PM. But the good news is that we are off on Saturday so have the entire day to ourselves. I can tell you what that will certainly include. Sleeping in!
I'm sure I don't have to convince you that waking up this morning was nearly impossible. Only three hours after going to sleep, it was 7:30 AM and already time to get up. Our third roommate had to physically wake me, and I had to yell at Sarah to get her out of bed. I think half of the battle was that Sarah and I are both partially deaf from the club.
Breakfast was kind of funny because everyone slowly drifted in and our professor was just laughing at all of us. The boys apparently woke up 30 minutes late and had to run down -- they forgot most everything they had planned to bring to the beach. We were a rough looking bunch. Everyone slept the entire 90 minute bus ride. It’s never been so quiet!
We finally reached Sithonia, ranked one of the world’s best beaches according to Katula, at 10 AM. It was unbelievably beautiful and as we drove through town, Katula took on the role of tour guide and pointed out sites such as “pizza” and “hamburger.”
We found a public beach and all sprawled out, most of us sleeping. When I eventually felt as if I was in a frying pan, I made my way to the water. This water was without a doubt the best I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to really put it into words, but I’ll try … So when I wrote about the other beaches having clear water, I must have lied, because this was so clear that I could see my shadow on the sand below me. It was literally crystal clear, you could even see all of the fish and rocks swimming below. The temperature was perfect; so refreshing. And this is the part that’s hard to describe – the water just felt different, like the way your body moved. It felt fresh and pure, and took no effort at all to swim. Because of so much salt, your body just floats.
Four of us walked right across the street to a taverna for lunch. I had Greek salad and tzatziki with bread. It was really nice, but the flies here are crazy! They’re all over the food and I’m pretty sure they bite because I kept feeling little nips on my feet. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon in the water because it was so amazing. I swam out to the buoy a few times, floated, chatted, exfoliated myself with the grainy sand, and at the end of it all, had a thick layer of salt on my dried skin.
We all got some gelato before getting on the bus to head back to Thessaloniki. The gelato was awesome – definitely the creamiest we’ve had. At the gelateria, there was a little baby bird on the ground that had fallen out of its nest up above. It was so sad! We tried to give it some water but it was too afraid of us.
Once we got back, I showered and then set out walking through the city on my own. It was very liberating to be by myself – I think for the first time since we arrived – just doing everything on my terms. I went in a couple of shops – bought a scarf –, walked along the water front, and picked up some pastries from the most famous bakery in Thessaloniki. I was so sweaty when I got back I could have showered again!
Everyone was so exhausted from last night, we decided just to run to Goody’s (that fast food place) across the street for dinner. Then I packed up and have been hanging out since. We have a 4:45 AM wake up call tomorrow to catch our flight down to Crete … and then a full day of sightseeing before we check into the hotel at 3 PM. But the good news is that we are off on Saturday so have the entire day to ourselves. I can tell you what that will certainly include. Sleeping in!
Thessaloniki: "Night" 3
I believe I left off just before last night's festivities began ...
We took our time getting the evening started. A few of us grabbed gyros up the block and then came back to the hotel and were online and whatnot. About 9:30 PM, Katula came running into our room and said there was a big concert going on in Aristotle Square with 100,000 something people partying it up. So we considered doing that, but some of the guys said they checked it out and it was mostly families with kids running around.
So we all met up in the mezzanine area about 11 PM to drink before heading out, because the drinks at bars/clubs are super expensive. Eventually we settled on going to club hotel out by the airport for lack of any other option -- we all really wanted to dance! So we hopped into some cabs and took the 20 minute drive out to all of the clubs, only to find club hotel CLOSED! What?? One of the drivers told us about another club called "Lido" that's very American-friendly. We walked over there and had to pay a 10 euro cover charge, but that included one free drink so not too much of a rip off.
It was totally crazy inside and extremely full of Greeks who don't dance. Our group of American college students, however, couldnt' stop dancing and were gettin our groove thang on! It was such a blast -- exactly the kind of night we wanted. The night wouldn't have been complete without a little drama, but all ended well. We hopped in cabs at 4 AM and didn't get to sleep until 4:30, but it was worth it!
We took our time getting the evening started. A few of us grabbed gyros up the block and then came back to the hotel and were online and whatnot. About 9:30 PM, Katula came running into our room and said there was a big concert going on in Aristotle Square with 100,000 something people partying it up. So we considered doing that, but some of the guys said they checked it out and it was mostly families with kids running around.
So we all met up in the mezzanine area about 11 PM to drink before heading out, because the drinks at bars/clubs are super expensive. Eventually we settled on going to club hotel out by the airport for lack of any other option -- we all really wanted to dance! So we hopped into some cabs and took the 20 minute drive out to all of the clubs, only to find club hotel CLOSED! What?? One of the drivers told us about another club called "Lido" that's very American-friendly. We walked over there and had to pay a 10 euro cover charge, but that included one free drink so not too much of a rip off.
It was totally crazy inside and extremely full of Greeks who don't dance. Our group of American college students, however, couldnt' stop dancing and were gettin our groove thang on! It was such a blast -- exactly the kind of night we wanted. The night wouldn't have been complete without a little drama, but all ended well. We hopped in cabs at 4 AM and didn't get to sleep until 4:30, but it was worth it!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words ... in Greece, Maybe Two-Thousand
Meteora
Racing in the ancient Olympic Stadium
Convent at Mystras
View from the Venetian Fortress in Nafplio
Fresh fish in Itea, below Delphi
At Meteora
My roomie and I on the cliff walk at NafplioThessaloniki: Day 3
We got to sleep in until 8 AM today!!! That hasn't happened since week one in Athens and it was especially fabulous because I went to bed at 1 ... so a solid 7 hours! Woo. We ate some breakfast and then the laundry guy pulled up on his vespa with a little locker full of laundry on the back. It was really funny; so European. It was 8 euro, but I am thrilled to have clean clothes to put on - washing them in the sink with detergent is a quick fix, but everything dries so stiff.
At 9:30 we took cabs up to the college, just like yesterday. Maybe I've just gotten used to the driving, but it wasn't nearly as treacherous as our first ride. Today's lecture was mostly about politics in Northern Greece and a little bit of media and pop culture. We discussed the "Macedonian Question" much more and I might write my research paper on it.
A big charter bus picked us up from ACT and drove us an hour out to Vergina. We ate at a sort of buffet taverna, where I got risotto pasta in tomato sauce for 5.50 euro. It was so delicious! We've all noticed that the bread up here is much better than down in the south of Greece. It was cool too though because once you paid, a guy would carry your tray out to the tables. Nice service.
Then we went to Phillip II of Macedon's tomb and it was probably my favorite site thus far. It was just buried under this huge mound hill, so kind of amazing that it was even found. The tomb is so ornate and crazy to think that it was build in B.C. times. We saw the actual tomb and all of the gold, weapons, etc. that were inside. I appreciated the value to my cultural heritage. Afterwards I stopped by a little shop and got a ring with the Macedonian symbol on it. It was a little pricier than I'd usually spend on a ring, but something so authentic and personal is worth it!
We got back to the city and ran in the supermarket for some wine and snacks. I've just been hanging out for a couple of hours because we're all pretty tired. Tonight we are going out to the bars and hopefully will find a club to go dancing at! Apparently all of the really popular clubs moved out by the airport because of summer noise regulations in the city. So we thought about going out there, but found out it would be 20 euro each way for cabs, so that got vetoed pretty quickly.
We are running down the street to grab gyros for dinner and then getting ready to go out!
I'm going to post some pictures tonight!
At 9:30 we took cabs up to the college, just like yesterday. Maybe I've just gotten used to the driving, but it wasn't nearly as treacherous as our first ride. Today's lecture was mostly about politics in Northern Greece and a little bit of media and pop culture. We discussed the "Macedonian Question" much more and I might write my research paper on it.
A big charter bus picked us up from ACT and drove us an hour out to Vergina. We ate at a sort of buffet taverna, where I got risotto pasta in tomato sauce for 5.50 euro. It was so delicious! We've all noticed that the bread up here is much better than down in the south of Greece. It was cool too though because once you paid, a guy would carry your tray out to the tables. Nice service.
Then we went to Phillip II of Macedon's tomb and it was probably my favorite site thus far. It was just buried under this huge mound hill, so kind of amazing that it was even found. The tomb is so ornate and crazy to think that it was build in B.C. times. We saw the actual tomb and all of the gold, weapons, etc. that were inside. I appreciated the value to my cultural heritage. Afterwards I stopped by a little shop and got a ring with the Macedonian symbol on it. It was a little pricier than I'd usually spend on a ring, but something so authentic and personal is worth it!
We got back to the city and ran in the supermarket for some wine and snacks. I've just been hanging out for a couple of hours because we're all pretty tired. Tonight we are going out to the bars and hopefully will find a club to go dancing at! Apparently all of the really popular clubs moved out by the airport because of summer noise regulations in the city. So we thought about going out there, but found out it would be 20 euro each way for cabs, so that got vetoed pretty quickly.
We are running down the street to grab gyros for dinner and then getting ready to go out!
I'm going to post some pictures tonight!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Thessaloniki: Day 2
We got up at 7:30 today and a laundry service came to pick up all of our dirty clothes. It was the best news yet this trip! I can't wait to be clean. Seriously though, I'm wearing my last clean pair of underwear. Breakfast at this hotel was pretty good - croissants, eggs, Nutella, and of course Greek yogurt with peaches. But they had hot chocolate too, so I made a mocha ... yum!
We called for cabs and took them in groups of fours up to the American College of Thessaloniki, or ACT. It was about 20 minutes and 2 euros/person away ... also easily the most dangerous cab ride of my life. I was pretty sure that when we were speeding up the right-hand lane towards the parked garbage truck, it was going to be the end for all of us.
We had a lecture with the good friend of Katula who is a professor of political science at ACT. He talked about the history of Thessaloniki, which is much different from the rest of Greece as it is so far north. Quite honestly, the five hours of sleep took its toll on me today and I could not keep my eyes open. I tried lots of things - drinking water, rubbing my eyes, fidgeting - but it was a struggle. After the break and an iced tea I woke up a bit and was interested because he was discussing the major controversy between Greece and Macedonia. It was really neat to hear because while I've grown up knowing I'm Macedonian, I've never really known anything about the country itself. I learned a lot today and understand the independence struggle much better now. We have another lecture tomorrow at the same place and time and with the same professor. Argh! But last lecture of the whole trip! Yay :)
Around noon, we caught the public bus up to an area with some places to eat. A bunch of us just went the cheap and quick route at Goody's, a Greek fast-food chain. It was actually far better and healthier than any fast-food in the states and I very much enjoyed my parmesan chicken burger. Afterwards, my friend Meghan and I went to a pastry shop and split some kind of chocolate tart. We thought it looked good so picked it out of the display, and the guy insisted on serving it to us on a plate with all kinds of additional chocolate decorations. It was like a cookie with fudgy, chocolate icing and then the middle was softer like cake, with chocolate ganache. So delicious!
We caught the bus back to our hotel downtown and had a couple of hours to rest, because I think everyone was really exhausted. At 4:30, we went over to Agia Dimitrios, the largest church in Greece, where St. Dimitrios was stabbed to death because he refused to renounce his faith. It was very ornate and beautiful and again we had to cover our knees and shoulders. While we were there, Sarah felt something run over her foot, and when we all looked we saw a huge, black rat the size of my dog Oreo. It was so gross! It just scurried under all of the chairs. Unfortunately the Greeks lied to Katula on the phone and closed within fifteen minutes of our arrival, so we didn't get to see the actual site of St. Dimitrios' death. Bummer, I kind of wanted to see it.
Some of us shopped around for an hour or so but the clothes were expensive, yet cheaply manufactured in materials like rayon and polyester. Ew. In fact, four stores in a row next to each other had all of the same selection, so we were disappointed four times and stalked by four different sales people. Oh I probably should have mentioned that everyone in Northern Greece hates Americans and don't speak much, if any, English. When we walk into a store, they stare and sometimes follow to see if we're stealing anything. Yesterday my friend Dawn's bag from another store beeped on our way out and I thought the security guard was going to hand-cuff her on the spot for not having her receipt as proof!
I came back, showered, then laid in bed for a couple of hours to relax. We met Katula and the rest of the group in the lobby at 9 PM and took cabs to the old wall of the town, or the Kastro, as the Greeks call it. We found a taverna overlooking the entire city and ate Greek salad and calamari -which wasn't nearly as good as the one we had on the beach a few days ago, but still tasty.
Dinner didn't end until 11:30 or so and then we all chose to walk the 30 minutes back to the El Greco. It wasn't bad though ... got some post-meal exercise and had nice conversation. We just got back about 12:30 and now I am so excited to finally go to bed -- especially after Katula told me I looked tired all day today. I think out of the past 16 days, I was the most tired today. So I'm off to bed until the 8 AM wake up call ... think of me when it's 1 AM for all of you back home!
Kali Nikta!
We called for cabs and took them in groups of fours up to the American College of Thessaloniki, or ACT. It was about 20 minutes and 2 euros/person away ... also easily the most dangerous cab ride of my life. I was pretty sure that when we were speeding up the right-hand lane towards the parked garbage truck, it was going to be the end for all of us.
We had a lecture with the good friend of Katula who is a professor of political science at ACT. He talked about the history of Thessaloniki, which is much different from the rest of Greece as it is so far north. Quite honestly, the five hours of sleep took its toll on me today and I could not keep my eyes open. I tried lots of things - drinking water, rubbing my eyes, fidgeting - but it was a struggle. After the break and an iced tea I woke up a bit and was interested because he was discussing the major controversy between Greece and Macedonia. It was really neat to hear because while I've grown up knowing I'm Macedonian, I've never really known anything about the country itself. I learned a lot today and understand the independence struggle much better now. We have another lecture tomorrow at the same place and time and with the same professor. Argh! But last lecture of the whole trip! Yay :)
Around noon, we caught the public bus up to an area with some places to eat. A bunch of us just went the cheap and quick route at Goody's, a Greek fast-food chain. It was actually far better and healthier than any fast-food in the states and I very much enjoyed my parmesan chicken burger. Afterwards, my friend Meghan and I went to a pastry shop and split some kind of chocolate tart. We thought it looked good so picked it out of the display, and the guy insisted on serving it to us on a plate with all kinds of additional chocolate decorations. It was like a cookie with fudgy, chocolate icing and then the middle was softer like cake, with chocolate ganache. So delicious!
We caught the bus back to our hotel downtown and had a couple of hours to rest, because I think everyone was really exhausted. At 4:30, we went over to Agia Dimitrios, the largest church in Greece, where St. Dimitrios was stabbed to death because he refused to renounce his faith. It was very ornate and beautiful and again we had to cover our knees and shoulders. While we were there, Sarah felt something run over her foot, and when we all looked we saw a huge, black rat the size of my dog Oreo. It was so gross! It just scurried under all of the chairs. Unfortunately the Greeks lied to Katula on the phone and closed within fifteen minutes of our arrival, so we didn't get to see the actual site of St. Dimitrios' death. Bummer, I kind of wanted to see it.
Some of us shopped around for an hour or so but the clothes were expensive, yet cheaply manufactured in materials like rayon and polyester. Ew. In fact, four stores in a row next to each other had all of the same selection, so we were disappointed four times and stalked by four different sales people. Oh I probably should have mentioned that everyone in Northern Greece hates Americans and don't speak much, if any, English. When we walk into a store, they stare and sometimes follow to see if we're stealing anything. Yesterday my friend Dawn's bag from another store beeped on our way out and I thought the security guard was going to hand-cuff her on the spot for not having her receipt as proof!
I came back, showered, then laid in bed for a couple of hours to relax. We met Katula and the rest of the group in the lobby at 9 PM and took cabs to the old wall of the town, or the Kastro, as the Greeks call it. We found a taverna overlooking the entire city and ate Greek salad and calamari -which wasn't nearly as good as the one we had on the beach a few days ago, but still tasty.
Dinner didn't end until 11:30 or so and then we all chose to walk the 30 minutes back to the El Greco. It wasn't bad though ... got some post-meal exercise and had nice conversation. We just got back about 12:30 and now I am so excited to finally go to bed -- especially after Katula told me I looked tired all day today. I think out of the past 16 days, I was the most tired today. So I'm off to bed until the 8 AM wake up call ... think of me when it's 1 AM for all of you back home!
Kali Nikta!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Thessaloniki: Day 1
We left Kalambaka about 8:30 AM this morning and it was a pretty uncomfortable four hour bus ride. This bus wasn't nearly as comfortable as the bright blue one we grew accustomed to last week and this guy's driving was crazy erratic after Kostas' amazing skills. We're all missing Kostas, Demetra, and Niki!
So I wasn't able to sleep on the bus and was in a pretty bad mood by the time we arrived. I was so hungry and just irritated with everyone around me so I went into quiet mode. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, located in the Macedonian region, densely populated at 1 million people. We arrived at our hotel, El Greco, right downtown on an extremely busy street, but our rooms weren't ready because we were early. So Katula took us on a quick tour of the city.
It is so cool here; way better than Athens! We took a beautiful walk around and it is so crowded here. We're about six blocks from the water -- this is the where the Aegean Sea ends to the north. It says Macedonia everywhere, so I think it's pretty cool to be here! I was talking to Katula about the Macedonia/Greece land issues; I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it over the week.
We went in search of a laundromat but couldn't find one anywhere! I desperately need clean clothes! We were all ravenous and grumpy so we stopped for a gyro. Maybe the best one yet. I've been online for like three hours now catching up, but we're going to head out to shop for a bit.
The shopping tanked because little did we know the stores close at 6 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays, so we weren't very successful. H&M had some cool stuff, but we have that at home and I can't justify spending money in Greece on anything other than authentic Greek stuff. We met up for dinner at 10 and went in search of a taverna on the waterfront but failed at that task as well. On the walk a very loyal rotweiler decided to join our group and protect us from any and all passerby. We ended up at T.G.I. Fridays, much to my dismay, and spent the most on any dinner yet - 14 euro - and that was one drink and splitting a salad! Outrageous. I was not happy but that's what happens when five extra people decide to tag along.
Then we went across Aristotle Square to a really cool bar with big couches outside. I just had one drink and then walked back to the hotel around 1 AM with a couple girls. I finally got to bed about 2:30 because the internet freedom got the best of me.
Check out all of my blogs from the past week below!
So I wasn't able to sleep on the bus and was in a pretty bad mood by the time we arrived. I was so hungry and just irritated with everyone around me so I went into quiet mode. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, located in the Macedonian region, densely populated at 1 million people. We arrived at our hotel, El Greco, right downtown on an extremely busy street, but our rooms weren't ready because we were early. So Katula took us on a quick tour of the city.
It is so cool here; way better than Athens! We took a beautiful walk around and it is so crowded here. We're about six blocks from the water -- this is the where the Aegean Sea ends to the north. It says Macedonia everywhere, so I think it's pretty cool to be here! I was talking to Katula about the Macedonia/Greece land issues; I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it over the week.
We went in search of a laundromat but couldn't find one anywhere! I desperately need clean clothes! We were all ravenous and grumpy so we stopped for a gyro. Maybe the best one yet. I've been online for like three hours now catching up, but we're going to head out to shop for a bit.
The shopping tanked because little did we know the stores close at 6 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays, so we weren't very successful. H&M had some cool stuff, but we have that at home and I can't justify spending money in Greece on anything other than authentic Greek stuff. We met up for dinner at 10 and went in search of a taverna on the waterfront but failed at that task as well. On the walk a very loyal rotweiler decided to join our group and protect us from any and all passerby. We ended up at T.G.I. Fridays, much to my dismay, and spent the most on any dinner yet - 14 euro - and that was one drink and splitting a salad! Outrageous. I was not happy but that's what happens when five extra people decide to tag along.
Then we went across Aristotle Square to a really cool bar with big couches outside. I just had one drink and then walked back to the hotel around 1 AM with a couple girls. I finally got to bed about 2:30 because the internet freedom got the best of me.
Check out all of my blogs from the past week below!
Meteora (July 19)
Meteora (July 19)
Once I actually got out of bed around 7:15 this morning, the pressing matter was to find a skirt or dress that covered my knees for the monasteries. I had only brought pants, but tried pulling everything down as low as possible to reach my knees. I ended up successful in a bright blue Gap dress, and Thank God, because the skirts they had at the entrance were awful! They were like dark, faded, plaid aprons. Ew.
Meteora is an amazing formation of rocks that developed under water. They are just massive rock mountains that used to be inhabited by hermits until 1336, when monks took over and built monasteries right into the top of the foundations. It is pretty incredible, as they are built right into the side of the rocks. Everything else around is very mountainous terrain, overlooking the towns below.
It was another gorgeous day; sunny as usual, but extremely hot – probably around 105 degrees. We did lots of walking and even more stair-climbing to get up to the monasteries, so sweated tons. It was just dripping down my back, face, legs … you name it. More brutal was the fact that I had to throw a sweater over my shoulders to be allowed inside. Both churches were very small and the walls covered with meticulously detailed frescoes. There was a strict “no photos” rule in effect, so I can only speak of what I saw. In the second monastery, all 24 of us crammed into a very small side room and I got so hot and claustrophobic that my professor suggested, in front of the whole group, that I step out.
We stopped in the village below Meteora for an hour-and-forty-five-minutes to walk around and have a big group lunch, since Niki and Demetra were leaving right after. We picked a taverna only because it was the most convenient and it ended up being a great choice! They said we would go into the kitchen to look at the food and then pick out what we wanted to eat. So we all piled in and this little, old Greek woman (who reminded me so much of my great-grandmother) came out to tell us about all of the dishes. The smell brought back such memories; it was like being in the kitchen during the Easter holiday when I was a kid. I settled on a vegetable ratatouille with rice and potatoes – the orange kind. It was delicious, and the little woman came around to all of our tables to make sure we were enjoying it! Such an authentic experience.
Then we had the rest of the day free so spent some quality time out by the pool. I stayed out less then two hours because it was just so hot. No matter how much I jumped in the pool, I just sat there baking in the sun. Eventually I came inside, showered, and just started working on my photo project. The theme I’ve finally decided on is: … arches. They are a big part of the architecture here, mainly because of the Roman and Byzantine influences. But I just think they’re really pretty and fun to photograph, so I’m going to do a sort of “History through the Arches” type thing – a look at all of the sites and towns through arches.
Dinner was at 8 PM as usual and this was our last buffet! I think we all ate like it was our execution meal because many stomachs were distended after dessert. Katula had a brief 30-minute meeting in the piano lounge to fill us in on the details over the next two weeks since we are officially at the halfway point. It sounds absolutely amazing … I am so excited for every day until we go home. Thessaloniki is up by Macedonia, so I am looking forward to learning more about the history between the two countries. Crete is going to be so cool – it is the southern most point of Europe, only 115 kilometers from AFRICA! And Santorini … need I say more?
I’m just lying in bed now. Last night I drank a lot of wine and only got six hours of sleep so I think I’m just hanging in on my own for the time being. I kind of have a sore throat too, so I’m going to pack up, maybe watch some TV and get to bed. Gotta rest up for the crazy Thessaloniki night life!
We leave tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM and have a four-and-a-half-hour bus ride. We will have wireless internet again so I cannot wait to post all of these blogs!
14 days down, 15 to go!
Once I actually got out of bed around 7:15 this morning, the pressing matter was to find a skirt or dress that covered my knees for the monasteries. I had only brought pants, but tried pulling everything down as low as possible to reach my knees. I ended up successful in a bright blue Gap dress, and Thank God, because the skirts they had at the entrance were awful! They were like dark, faded, plaid aprons. Ew.
Meteora is an amazing formation of rocks that developed under water. They are just massive rock mountains that used to be inhabited by hermits until 1336, when monks took over and built monasteries right into the top of the foundations. It is pretty incredible, as they are built right into the side of the rocks. Everything else around is very mountainous terrain, overlooking the towns below.
It was another gorgeous day; sunny as usual, but extremely hot – probably around 105 degrees. We did lots of walking and even more stair-climbing to get up to the monasteries, so sweated tons. It was just dripping down my back, face, legs … you name it. More brutal was the fact that I had to throw a sweater over my shoulders to be allowed inside. Both churches were very small and the walls covered with meticulously detailed frescoes. There was a strict “no photos” rule in effect, so I can only speak of what I saw. In the second monastery, all 24 of us crammed into a very small side room and I got so hot and claustrophobic that my professor suggested, in front of the whole group, that I step out.
We stopped in the village below Meteora for an hour-and-forty-five-minutes to walk around and have a big group lunch, since Niki and Demetra were leaving right after. We picked a taverna only because it was the most convenient and it ended up being a great choice! They said we would go into the kitchen to look at the food and then pick out what we wanted to eat. So we all piled in and this little, old Greek woman (who reminded me so much of my great-grandmother) came out to tell us about all of the dishes. The smell brought back such memories; it was like being in the kitchen during the Easter holiday when I was a kid. I settled on a vegetable ratatouille with rice and potatoes – the orange kind. It was delicious, and the little woman came around to all of our tables to make sure we were enjoying it! Such an authentic experience.
Then we had the rest of the day free so spent some quality time out by the pool. I stayed out less then two hours because it was just so hot. No matter how much I jumped in the pool, I just sat there baking in the sun. Eventually I came inside, showered, and just started working on my photo project. The theme I’ve finally decided on is: … arches. They are a big part of the architecture here, mainly because of the Roman and Byzantine influences. But I just think they’re really pretty and fun to photograph, so I’m going to do a sort of “History through the Arches” type thing – a look at all of the sites and towns through arches.
Dinner was at 8 PM as usual and this was our last buffet! I think we all ate like it was our execution meal because many stomachs were distended after dessert. Katula had a brief 30-minute meeting in the piano lounge to fill us in on the details over the next two weeks since we are officially at the halfway point. It sounds absolutely amazing … I am so excited for every day until we go home. Thessaloniki is up by Macedonia, so I am looking forward to learning more about the history between the two countries. Crete is going to be so cool – it is the southern most point of Europe, only 115 kilometers from AFRICA! And Santorini … need I say more?
I’m just lying in bed now. Last night I drank a lot of wine and only got six hours of sleep so I think I’m just hanging in on my own for the time being. I kind of have a sore throat too, so I’m going to pack up, maybe watch some TV and get to bed. Gotta rest up for the crazy Thessaloniki night life!
We leave tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM and have a four-and-a-half-hour bus ride. We will have wireless internet again so I cannot wait to post all of these blogs!
14 days down, 15 to go!
Delphi (July 18)
We had a lovely 6:45 wake up call this morning to pack up and depart for the site of Delphi. Breakfast at this particular hotel was okay – the eggs were awful and the peaches in the yogurt weren’t as fresh. But there was still croissants and Nutella, so all was at peace in the universe.
Today’s activity included the museum and grounds at ancient Delphi, the site of the ancient oracles in the B.C. times, and considered to be the center of the world by the Greeks. People would come from all over to speak with the oracles, whether to find out if a partner was faithful, or if they would have fortune in the coming year. Most came on the seventh day of the month when any question could be asked. The “oracle” was a woman, usually over 50, called the Pythia and was tended to by the priests.
The grounds had a temple dedicated to Athena (like every other site), a stadium for Delphi’s “Pythia Games” (a small scale Olympics), and lots of statues and treasuries for particular groups of people like the Athenians. Again, it was lots of rocks because they are ruins, but some of the columns were still in tact, as well as the theatre, which seats 5,000. The museum was pretty cool because it had many of those statues and other artifacts. A bronze statue known as “The Charioteer” is considered the most impressive piece, as it is completely original and in great shape. It had the weirdest eyes, like it was staring at you – and it was built in 478 B.C.! I tell you … the details these Greeks were able to carve out of a slab of marble just blows my mind. The reconstructed model of the site shows it to be very ornate and over the top.
The museum was alright because it was air conditioned; just lots of standing. But the site was all up hill and easily over 100 degrees, so I think I sweated my body weight. Seriously, we were all just dripping by the time we got to the top. We then went back into the town of Delphi and had 90 minutes to get lunch and walk around. Most of us ate at a cute taverna overlooking the mountains and even out to the sea. I shared a Greek salad and tzatziki/bread with another girl and it was delicious. But the tzatziki had so much garlic that I definitely shouldn’t talk to anyone the rest of the day.
We also got some good gelato (I got chocolate chip in a cone) and went in a cool store. They had the traditional Greek “worry beads” that all of the men jiggle around in their hands outside their stores. They were only 1.50 euro so I got one to hang up on my wall. Now we are back on the bus headed for Kalambaka – about a 4 hour trip – to see Meteora tomorrow.
We took a quick break at a sort of rest stop that would put all American rest stops to shame. This place had bathrooms (called “water closets” here), a market, bakery, buffet, espresso shop, and even tables with white table cloths. It was great. Then we hopped back on the bus for two hours, but of course since I wanted to sleep this time, Demetra put on extremely loud Greek music … and also Sarah Brightman songs, like Phantom of the Opera, and none of us could find the relevance.
We got to the Amalia Hotel in Kalambaka about 6 PM and immediately had to get ready for lecture and dinner. It is really nice, way better than the last two, and they were setting up for a big wedding out by the pool. Our lecture was supposed to be on Greek religion, but when we showed up to the non-air-conditioned sauna they assigned to us as a room, Katula said he’d heard some girls had wanted to learn about women in Greece from Niki. He took the boys to have a drink at the bar, while we ended up having an hour-and-a-half of “girl talk.” Katula even sent over some carafes of wine, so it was a good time!
Dinner was kind of the typical Amalia buffet, but the four-cheese crepes were to die for! And the chocolate gelato for dessert was phenomenal … I mean just imagine the richest, creamiest dark chocolate ice cream with chunks of chocolate. The best thing ever!
We spent the evening out on our connecting back patios, drinking wine and playing music. It was Niki’s last night so we all danced around and talked. A bunch of people ended up crashing the Greek wedding, which was apparently a pretty good time. I opted to go to bed instead around 1 AM.
I can’t believe that Monday will be the halfway point! It’s strange because I feel like we have been here so much longer than two weeks, but it’s also gone by so fast. I’m also going to splurge and send my clothes out to be laundered in Thessaloniki. I’d like to start the second half of the trip all fresh and clean!
Today’s activity included the museum and grounds at ancient Delphi, the site of the ancient oracles in the B.C. times, and considered to be the center of the world by the Greeks. People would come from all over to speak with the oracles, whether to find out if a partner was faithful, or if they would have fortune in the coming year. Most came on the seventh day of the month when any question could be asked. The “oracle” was a woman, usually over 50, called the Pythia and was tended to by the priests.
The grounds had a temple dedicated to Athena (like every other site), a stadium for Delphi’s “Pythia Games” (a small scale Olympics), and lots of statues and treasuries for particular groups of people like the Athenians. Again, it was lots of rocks because they are ruins, but some of the columns were still in tact, as well as the theatre, which seats 5,000. The museum was pretty cool because it had many of those statues and other artifacts. A bronze statue known as “The Charioteer” is considered the most impressive piece, as it is completely original and in great shape. It had the weirdest eyes, like it was staring at you – and it was built in 478 B.C.! I tell you … the details these Greeks were able to carve out of a slab of marble just blows my mind. The reconstructed model of the site shows it to be very ornate and over the top.
The museum was alright because it was air conditioned; just lots of standing. But the site was all up hill and easily over 100 degrees, so I think I sweated my body weight. Seriously, we were all just dripping by the time we got to the top. We then went back into the town of Delphi and had 90 minutes to get lunch and walk around. Most of us ate at a cute taverna overlooking the mountains and even out to the sea. I shared a Greek salad and tzatziki/bread with another girl and it was delicious. But the tzatziki had so much garlic that I definitely shouldn’t talk to anyone the rest of the day.
We also got some good gelato (I got chocolate chip in a cone) and went in a cool store. They had the traditional Greek “worry beads” that all of the men jiggle around in their hands outside their stores. They were only 1.50 euro so I got one to hang up on my wall. Now we are back on the bus headed for Kalambaka – about a 4 hour trip – to see Meteora tomorrow.
We took a quick break at a sort of rest stop that would put all American rest stops to shame. This place had bathrooms (called “water closets” here), a market, bakery, buffet, espresso shop, and even tables with white table cloths. It was great. Then we hopped back on the bus for two hours, but of course since I wanted to sleep this time, Demetra put on extremely loud Greek music … and also Sarah Brightman songs, like Phantom of the Opera, and none of us could find the relevance.
We got to the Amalia Hotel in Kalambaka about 6 PM and immediately had to get ready for lecture and dinner. It is really nice, way better than the last two, and they were setting up for a big wedding out by the pool. Our lecture was supposed to be on Greek religion, but when we showed up to the non-air-conditioned sauna they assigned to us as a room, Katula said he’d heard some girls had wanted to learn about women in Greece from Niki. He took the boys to have a drink at the bar, while we ended up having an hour-and-a-half of “girl talk.” Katula even sent over some carafes of wine, so it was a good time!
Dinner was kind of the typical Amalia buffet, but the four-cheese crepes were to die for! And the chocolate gelato for dessert was phenomenal … I mean just imagine the richest, creamiest dark chocolate ice cream with chunks of chocolate. The best thing ever!
We spent the evening out on our connecting back patios, drinking wine and playing music. It was Niki’s last night so we all danced around and talked. A bunch of people ended up crashing the Greek wedding, which was apparently a pretty good time. I opted to go to bed instead around 1 AM.
I can’t believe that Monday will be the halfway point! It’s strange because I feel like we have been here so much longer than two weeks, but it’s also gone by so fast. I’m also going to splurge and send my clothes out to be laundered in Thessaloniki. I’d like to start the second half of the trip all fresh and clean!
Olympia to Delphi (July 17)
We got up at 7:15 this morning, packed up, ate breakfast, and took the bus down the road to Olympia. Unlike any other site, except the Parthenon, it was absolutely crowded with people! Tour guides everywhere were leading their groups around. It wasn’t quite as exciting as I had anticipated when I saw the clay model at the museum yesterday. It was cool to know that I was standing on the grounds of the original Olympic games, but there was very little left of the ruins. Again, lots of rocks. The temple of Zeus sits at the center of the site, and a hotel for important people nearby; also a church and training area for the athletes.
The coolest by far was the 190 meter long stadium, where many events were held. Just outside the stadium are fourteen inscribed bases which used to hold statues. Demetra said that the statues were of those who cheated during the Olympic Games, because the punishment was as severe as winning was glorious. It was supposed to make future competitors think twice about doing the same.
About eight of us raced on the track, and as an athlete it was pretty cool. I came in second for the girls and fifth overall. A little disappointing, but my running has dropped off significantly since arriving here, and I didn’t want to pull a muscle or anything. I so wish I had brought my running gear because some of these areas would be great to run.
The running concluded our Olympia visit and we boarded the bus once again to head to Delphi. No one had really informed us of the day’s plan so I was surprised to find out that it was a four hour ride. They said we’d drive two hours, stop for lunch and a swim, and then finish up the hour-and-a-half. So we all slept the first two hours and woke up to Demetra’s voice telling us about where we were – Patra, the third largest city in Greece. We drove over the most famous bridge in Greece, which was just build around the 2004 Olympics, and looks identical to the one in Boston. We stopped there to change into swimsuits and were under the impression we’d be eating and swimming too. Nope. We got back on the bus and drove all along the coast, arriving in Itea (the town below Delphi) at 3 PM. We were all pretty unhappy because we were starving as we hadn’t eaten since 7:30 this morning and had been told otherwise about the plans.
But we found a taverna with tables on the Itea beach, maybe four feet from the water – the Gulf of Corinth. We were all trying to patiently wait for the menus, but they never came. The owner walked out with a huge display of fish (with heads) and explained each of them and the prices. Yessss, finally fresh fish! Three of us split a Greek salad, swordfish, and calamari and shrimp. It was all fantastic – probably the best meal so far. The calamari was indescribable and the best I’ve ever had. It was fried in olive oil, so very light and fresh; it just melted in your mouth. Can’t wait to have more of that.
Before we even got the check, we decided to take a dip in the water. It was very refreshing, but we only got to swim for 20 minutes or so before having to go pay the bill. The hotel was only a 20 minute drive up the mountain to Delphi and it is definitely nicer than last night’s. Sarah and I showered and now are lying in our beds, pushed right next to each other, just hanging out. We have a lecture with Niki at 7 PM on the healthcare system here, and I’m pretty curious to hear about it …
Niki’s lecture was very interesting and now I know a lot about the Greek healthcare system, as well as the concept of free national healthcare in general. Basically, once a Greek citizen starts contributing to social security by working, they’re given free healthcare. If they become unemployed, like Niki, it is still good for two years. Sounds good on paper – free medical treatment for all. But … the lines to get in are ridiculously long and even with an appointment, it can take hours. As a result, many people pay the doctors “under the table” to ensure better and quicker care. The doctors already make 2,000 euro/month, but with the additional money, are extremely wealthy. Most of them work for the state to make that monthly money, but keep private practices on the side to make even more, which is actually illegal. Apparently Greece has one of the best systems in Europe, but it sounds like it still needs a lot of work.
The lecture was only about an hour and then we had dinner. This was probably my least favorite of the “Amalia” buffets overall, but the potatoes and pasta were still great. We hung out in one of the rooms for a bit, but decided to walk into town which is a block away. We found a bar called Agora, which was completely empty even though it’s a Friday night. They sat us outside on a big deck overlooking the whole mountain and gulf. We went all out and ordered some exotic drinks; I had a pina colada – which was nothing like the ones at home. It wasn’t blended, just over ice, and pretty strong but tasty. After one drink, four of us came back to the hotel as we have a bright and early 6:45 AM wake up call. I sure am tired of getting up so early and not getting enough sleep – the bus rides don’t quite cut it.
So on that note, it’s off to bed. Hopefully I’ll get to post these soon; I’m tired of writing to myself!
The coolest by far was the 190 meter long stadium, where many events were held. Just outside the stadium are fourteen inscribed bases which used to hold statues. Demetra said that the statues were of those who cheated during the Olympic Games, because the punishment was as severe as winning was glorious. It was supposed to make future competitors think twice about doing the same.
About eight of us raced on the track, and as an athlete it was pretty cool. I came in second for the girls and fifth overall. A little disappointing, but my running has dropped off significantly since arriving here, and I didn’t want to pull a muscle or anything. I so wish I had brought my running gear because some of these areas would be great to run.
The running concluded our Olympia visit and we boarded the bus once again to head to Delphi. No one had really informed us of the day’s plan so I was surprised to find out that it was a four hour ride. They said we’d drive two hours, stop for lunch and a swim, and then finish up the hour-and-a-half. So we all slept the first two hours and woke up to Demetra’s voice telling us about where we were – Patra, the third largest city in Greece. We drove over the most famous bridge in Greece, which was just build around the 2004 Olympics, and looks identical to the one in Boston. We stopped there to change into swimsuits and were under the impression we’d be eating and swimming too. Nope. We got back on the bus and drove all along the coast, arriving in Itea (the town below Delphi) at 3 PM. We were all pretty unhappy because we were starving as we hadn’t eaten since 7:30 this morning and had been told otherwise about the plans.
But we found a taverna with tables on the Itea beach, maybe four feet from the water – the Gulf of Corinth. We were all trying to patiently wait for the menus, but they never came. The owner walked out with a huge display of fish (with heads) and explained each of them and the prices. Yessss, finally fresh fish! Three of us split a Greek salad, swordfish, and calamari and shrimp. It was all fantastic – probably the best meal so far. The calamari was indescribable and the best I’ve ever had. It was fried in olive oil, so very light and fresh; it just melted in your mouth. Can’t wait to have more of that.
Before we even got the check, we decided to take a dip in the water. It was very refreshing, but we only got to swim for 20 minutes or so before having to go pay the bill. The hotel was only a 20 minute drive up the mountain to Delphi and it is definitely nicer than last night’s. Sarah and I showered and now are lying in our beds, pushed right next to each other, just hanging out. We have a lecture with Niki at 7 PM on the healthcare system here, and I’m pretty curious to hear about it …
Niki’s lecture was very interesting and now I know a lot about the Greek healthcare system, as well as the concept of free national healthcare in general. Basically, once a Greek citizen starts contributing to social security by working, they’re given free healthcare. If they become unemployed, like Niki, it is still good for two years. Sounds good on paper – free medical treatment for all. But … the lines to get in are ridiculously long and even with an appointment, it can take hours. As a result, many people pay the doctors “under the table” to ensure better and quicker care. The doctors already make 2,000 euro/month, but with the additional money, are extremely wealthy. Most of them work for the state to make that monthly money, but keep private practices on the side to make even more, which is actually illegal. Apparently Greece has one of the best systems in Europe, but it sounds like it still needs a lot of work.
The lecture was only about an hour and then we had dinner. This was probably my least favorite of the “Amalia” buffets overall, but the potatoes and pasta were still great. We hung out in one of the rooms for a bit, but decided to walk into town which is a block away. We found a bar called Agora, which was completely empty even though it’s a Friday night. They sat us outside on a big deck overlooking the whole mountain and gulf. We went all out and ordered some exotic drinks; I had a pina colada – which was nothing like the ones at home. It wasn’t blended, just over ice, and pretty strong but tasty. After one drink, four of us came back to the hotel as we have a bright and early 6:45 AM wake up call. I sure am tired of getting up so early and not getting enough sleep – the bus rides don’t quite cut it.
So on that note, it’s off to bed. Hopefully I’ll get to post these soon; I’m tired of writing to myself!
Olympia (July 16)
We are sitting on the bus en route to Olympia and I’ve decided to make the most of the free time. It’s a four hour trip and I slept the first half, but now I’m too uncomfortable. It’s a pretty bumpy ride; the roads literally wind around the cliffs.
We got to sleep in until 7:15 today, a whopping half-hour! We packed up and just left our luggage in the hall for the porters to take to the bus (this I could get used to …). Had some breakfast then loaded up.
Demetra just gave a talk about the ancient Olympics, which I found pretty interesting. I can’t wait to see the site; I’m going to write my research paper on some aspect of the games, but I haven’t narrowed it down yet. They started in 776 B.C. as a competition to honor the Gods – namely Zeus who lived on Mt. Olympus. Cities would send their best warriors to the five-day event, which started with ceremonies as we have today, and ended on the last day with all of the first-place finishers being recognized. Second place finishers were such a disgrace that not even their own dog would look at them. Oh yeah … and everyone participated in the nude!
More to come …
So we arrived in the small town of Olympia around 12:45 and grabbed lunch because we were all starving. We went to Café Olympia, which was similar to what we’d call a “diner” in the states. It had sandwiches, Greek specialties, and tons of ice cream desserts. I had cheese pie and tzasiki (can’t spell that), which were both very fresh and delicious. We walked around for a few minutes and I made my first souvenir purchase – two bracelets for myself, a total of 4 euro. I did find some things for my mom and brother, but realized I couldn’t buy anything because I hadn’t notified the bank that I was abroad.
We took about an hour-and-a-half tour around the Olympia Museum with Demetra, which was pretty cool. Most of it is original statues from the grounds that date back to the B.C. times. I can’t even wrap my head around that. They had the actual helmet of Militiades who fought in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, as well as tons of other helmets, pots, figurines, tools, and weapons. It was kind of weird though because we don’t have any of those things in the modern games, so I didn’t really associate what we saw with the Olympics. At least it was air conditioned …
After the museum, we drove five minutes down the road to the hotel, which was not nearly as nice as the Amalia in Nafplio. It was totally 70s retro with stucco walls inside the rooms and lots of bugs everywhere. We immediately spotted a spider on the ceiling and recruited one of the boys to kill it. And all of the cots collapsed! One of the girls sat on hers and it just folded in half. I was so grateful that we only had to stay there for one night.
I laid out by the pool for an hour or so until I was dripping with sweat and had to go in for a shower. At 6:30, we had a lecture with Niki on public education in Greece, but it was really just more of a discussion. You wouldn’t believe the school system here! It was hard to understand with her accent, but it sounds like elementary/high schools are very similar to the U.S., but it gets very strange when it comes to college. At age 17, they spend a year studying two books word for word in preparation for the college entrance exam. There is no such thing as multiple choices, so on the test they answer in full sentence form and it must be word for word, or it’s completely wrong. They can take the test only three times and where they score determines what they’re allowed to major in. For example, political science and archaeology require very high scores, while education not so much. Universities are almost all public and paid for by the government so students pay nothing. I wonder what effect this has on graduation rates? I feel guilty skipping class because my family is paying.
The bigger problem though, is after college in finding a job. Whereas we have co-op at our school and most students do internships, it’s not that way in Greece, but employers still require experience. So Niki has her degree in archaeology and a masters in communications but is almost 30 and unemployed. With all of the excavations here, she’s never set foot in one of them. If someone doesn’t pass the college test by their third try, their only option is private school, but that costs 12,000 euro/year and the average Greek person makes only 20,000. It sounds like the system needs some work …
After the hour lecture was dinner, which was pretty much the same as the last Amalia hotel. But the dessert was definitely better! We hung out by the pool and I finished off the wine I bought a couple days ago. There were huge cicadas and grasshoppers everywhere. I’m talking mutant creatures! So Sarah and I headed in to bed around 11 and I just watched some TV on my laptop.
Tomorrow we have the actual Olympia site and then transfer to our hotel in Delphi.
We got to sleep in until 7:15 today, a whopping half-hour! We packed up and just left our luggage in the hall for the porters to take to the bus (this I could get used to …). Had some breakfast then loaded up.
Demetra just gave a talk about the ancient Olympics, which I found pretty interesting. I can’t wait to see the site; I’m going to write my research paper on some aspect of the games, but I haven’t narrowed it down yet. They started in 776 B.C. as a competition to honor the Gods – namely Zeus who lived on Mt. Olympus. Cities would send their best warriors to the five-day event, which started with ceremonies as we have today, and ended on the last day with all of the first-place finishers being recognized. Second place finishers were such a disgrace that not even their own dog would look at them. Oh yeah … and everyone participated in the nude!
More to come …
So we arrived in the small town of Olympia around 12:45 and grabbed lunch because we were all starving. We went to Café Olympia, which was similar to what we’d call a “diner” in the states. It had sandwiches, Greek specialties, and tons of ice cream desserts. I had cheese pie and tzasiki (can’t spell that), which were both very fresh and delicious. We walked around for a few minutes and I made my first souvenir purchase – two bracelets for myself, a total of 4 euro. I did find some things for my mom and brother, but realized I couldn’t buy anything because I hadn’t notified the bank that I was abroad.
We took about an hour-and-a-half tour around the Olympia Museum with Demetra, which was pretty cool. Most of it is original statues from the grounds that date back to the B.C. times. I can’t even wrap my head around that. They had the actual helmet of Militiades who fought in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, as well as tons of other helmets, pots, figurines, tools, and weapons. It was kind of weird though because we don’t have any of those things in the modern games, so I didn’t really associate what we saw with the Olympics. At least it was air conditioned …
After the museum, we drove five minutes down the road to the hotel, which was not nearly as nice as the Amalia in Nafplio. It was totally 70s retro with stucco walls inside the rooms and lots of bugs everywhere. We immediately spotted a spider on the ceiling and recruited one of the boys to kill it. And all of the cots collapsed! One of the girls sat on hers and it just folded in half. I was so grateful that we only had to stay there for one night.
I laid out by the pool for an hour or so until I was dripping with sweat and had to go in for a shower. At 6:30, we had a lecture with Niki on public education in Greece, but it was really just more of a discussion. You wouldn’t believe the school system here! It was hard to understand with her accent, but it sounds like elementary/high schools are very similar to the U.S., but it gets very strange when it comes to college. At age 17, they spend a year studying two books word for word in preparation for the college entrance exam. There is no such thing as multiple choices, so on the test they answer in full sentence form and it must be word for word, or it’s completely wrong. They can take the test only three times and where they score determines what they’re allowed to major in. For example, political science and archaeology require very high scores, while education not so much. Universities are almost all public and paid for by the government so students pay nothing. I wonder what effect this has on graduation rates? I feel guilty skipping class because my family is paying.
The bigger problem though, is after college in finding a job. Whereas we have co-op at our school and most students do internships, it’s not that way in Greece, but employers still require experience. So Niki has her degree in archaeology and a masters in communications but is almost 30 and unemployed. With all of the excavations here, she’s never set foot in one of them. If someone doesn’t pass the college test by their third try, their only option is private school, but that costs 12,000 euro/year and the average Greek person makes only 20,000. It sounds like the system needs some work …
After the hour lecture was dinner, which was pretty much the same as the last Amalia hotel. But the dessert was definitely better! We hung out by the pool and I finished off the wine I bought a couple days ago. There were huge cicadas and grasshoppers everywhere. I’m talking mutant creatures! So Sarah and I headed in to bed around 11 and I just watched some TV on my laptop.
Tomorrow we have the actual Olympia site and then transfer to our hotel in Delphi.
Mystras/Sparti (July 15)
The 6:45 alarm rang right on schedule and it was up and at ‘em for another day. This time we had a two hour bus ride to Sparti, so everyone slept, but of course we were woken up by Demetra’s voice over the loud speaker with twenty minutes to go. She gave us a brief intro to the site we were about to see.
Sparta was the other big city alongside Athens back in the classical period around 400 B.C. After Sparta collapsed, it was replaced by Mystras, which fell to the Byzantine in the late 1200s. So the ruins are of the Byzantine city inhabited by 42,000 people in the 15th century.
Granted we were still walking around and being lectured amongst a lot of rocks … it was far more interesting than yesterday. There was a cathedral and monastery, both with beautiful frescoes painted on the walls. The despot’s palace is huge and architecturally gorgeous, but under a lot of reconstruction. My favorite part was the convent of Pantanassa, where six nuns still live today. One of them, who had lived there for 44 years, gave us Turkish delight and showed us a selection of hand-embroidered table cloths that they sell to support the convent. She was very sweet. The Greeks in general are very hospitable.
It was very hot outside – 104 degrees to be exact – and lots of walking along the hills, but overall a pretty enjoyable day. It was cool to see ancient Sparta; now I want to see the movie 300 when I get home. So then the bus picked us up and took us to the small village at the bottom of the ruins where there are only a few tavernas. We had some lunch (Greek salad again, obviously) and got ice cream, then drove the two hours back to Nafplio.
A few of us got dropped off in town and went to an internet café. It was pretty nice, with 50-some computers and big, comfy chairs. I found it relaxing to just sit there for an hour. We caught a cab back to the hotel for one euro each. I laid out by the pool for a little while then got cleaned up and had dinner. Niki and Demetra were at our table. Demetra is such a nice lady even though some of her lectures are boring. But I get it, that’s her job. Apparently she does tours non-stop every week from March to November, so lives in hotels. She’s not allowed to be married and has no family or schedule of her own. Ugh, but the job pays very well according to our professor. He says she makes equivalent to $20,000 a year, which is a lot in Greece. Interesting.
Afterwards, we packed up and just hung out in the courtyard drinking wine. Later when most people had gone in, three of us sat down with our professor and the staff assistant by the pool over more wine. What a class … when you can have a drink with your professor!? It was pretty funny.
At 12:30 I tried calling home again and this being my 11th time – mom finally answered! So I didn’t get to bed until 1 AM.
I think I have a new idea for a photo-journal theme. Since Katula didn’t seem crazy about my beach idea, I now have a back-up : arches. They’re everywhere and I love taking pictures of them or of scenery through them. I think I took 100 pictures of just arches today.
Sparta was the other big city alongside Athens back in the classical period around 400 B.C. After Sparta collapsed, it was replaced by Mystras, which fell to the Byzantine in the late 1200s. So the ruins are of the Byzantine city inhabited by 42,000 people in the 15th century.
Granted we were still walking around and being lectured amongst a lot of rocks … it was far more interesting than yesterday. There was a cathedral and monastery, both with beautiful frescoes painted on the walls. The despot’s palace is huge and architecturally gorgeous, but under a lot of reconstruction. My favorite part was the convent of Pantanassa, where six nuns still live today. One of them, who had lived there for 44 years, gave us Turkish delight and showed us a selection of hand-embroidered table cloths that they sell to support the convent. She was very sweet. The Greeks in general are very hospitable.
It was very hot outside – 104 degrees to be exact – and lots of walking along the hills, but overall a pretty enjoyable day. It was cool to see ancient Sparta; now I want to see the movie 300 when I get home. So then the bus picked us up and took us to the small village at the bottom of the ruins where there are only a few tavernas. We had some lunch (Greek salad again, obviously) and got ice cream, then drove the two hours back to Nafplio.
A few of us got dropped off in town and went to an internet café. It was pretty nice, with 50-some computers and big, comfy chairs. I found it relaxing to just sit there for an hour. We caught a cab back to the hotel for one euro each. I laid out by the pool for a little while then got cleaned up and had dinner. Niki and Demetra were at our table. Demetra is such a nice lady even though some of her lectures are boring. But I get it, that’s her job. Apparently she does tours non-stop every week from March to November, so lives in hotels. She’s not allowed to be married and has no family or schedule of her own. Ugh, but the job pays very well according to our professor. He says she makes equivalent to $20,000 a year, which is a lot in Greece. Interesting.
Afterwards, we packed up and just hung out in the courtyard drinking wine. Later when most people had gone in, three of us sat down with our professor and the staff assistant by the pool over more wine. What a class … when you can have a drink with your professor!? It was pretty funny.
At 12:30 I tried calling home again and this being my 11th time – mom finally answered! So I didn’t get to bed until 1 AM.
I think I have a new idea for a photo-journal theme. Since Katula didn’t seem crazy about my beach idea, I now have a back-up : arches. They’re everywhere and I love taking pictures of them or of scenery through them. I think I took 100 pictures of just arches today.
Epidaurus & Mycenae (July 14)
Today did not start out favorably, from the moment of the 6:45 AM wake up call. It was so early, I felt as if I’d just fallen asleep and couldn’t pry myself from the bed. Sarah’s phone said it was only 5:45 AM, so we weren’t quite sure what to think. After a few minutes of debate, we decided to trust the hotel. We threw on our swimsuits and sneakers, and headed down to breakfast. It was a pretty good array of morning foods, but not as exciting as dinner. I had Greek yogurt with honey, some eggs, a piece of crème pie (yes, a breakfast food…), and best of all, a croissant with Nutella (so Italy 2006)!
We got onto the bus about 8 AM and drove 30 minutes to Epidaurus. And that’s when the day went a little sour. Almost all of us fell asleep on the way, but were woken unexpectedly to the voice of Demetra, our tour guide, over the bus speaker. Not only had she scheduled an unnecessarily early wake up call, but we had to listen to lectures on the bus!
Despite the facts I’m going to pass on to you readers, I’ll preface by saying that today was the most boring so far and could turn out to be the worst of the entire trip. So “practically” (the word used most often by our guide and incorrectly; I thinks she means “basically”), Epidaurus is an ancient healing site dedicated to the god Asklepios. (I asked the healing gods to cure my sore throat)
It’s most famous for the theatre, built in 4th century B.C. with a capacity of 14,000, known to have the best acoustics in all of Greece. We tested this out by having four students from our group get up on stage and sing “In the jungle, the mighty jungle…” I personally didn’t hear anything too special, but I guess it was impressive for the time period in which it was used. Demetra did rip a piece of paper and drop a quarter and we could hear both of those more loudly than normal. The theater is still used in festivals every weekend for the three summer months. We also saw the old hospital grounds where surgery was performed, the hotel, stadium, and temple dedicated to Asklepios. And of course the museum.
Everyone had already been dragging, but by this point we were starting to get hungry and bored as well. We hopped back on the bus for a 40 minute trip out to Mycenae. All of us slept the entire way, which was especially surprising because Demetra again took to the microphone. There was much rolling of the eyes.
Mycenae is the ruins of the ancient Mycenaean civilizations. The first attraction is the Treasury of Atreus, a large dome built without any mortar. The name is only attributed to Atreus, but thought to have served as the tomb of king Agamemnon. We then walked up through the famous Lion gates, into the palace ruins, with lots of royal tombs. Demetra stopped every 50 feet or so to explain the significance; she’s a very nice, intelligent lady, but between the exhaustion, heat, and hunger, we were all really struggling – it all just looked the same. But the most adorable stray dog found its way to us so that kept us busy.
However, I think the ultimate low-point came afterwards when she guided us through the museum, explaining all of the old artifacts – which were indistinguishable from every other pot I’ve seen in the past week. I reminded myself that this was the “8 credits” part of the month. I guess we are at school, but I’d so much rather walk around and explore a site on my own than be on someone else’s agenda.
Finally at 1:45 PM we got back on the bus and everyone was so crabby because we hadn’t eaten since 7:30 this morning. We drove back to town in Nafplio for the afternoon and split up for lunch. I went with three girls to a café next to the one we ate at yesterday. It actually had wireless internet, so I was able to get a signal on my iPod and checked my e-mail. Nothing exciting. I had another Greek salad, but it just doesn’t get old! We grabbed gelato afterwards and it was amazing – I had a really rich, dark chocolate and crème caramel in a cone.
Next up was the cliff walk and beach, which was so awesome I almost forgot about the miserable morning experience. When I say cliff, I mean flat, paved path along the water. It was once again the Aegean Sea and just a sparkling, clear blue with huge mountains in the background. The walk was very nice, but swimming was even better. It was a little painful because we went to the “rocky beach.” When they said rocky I just thought the coast was rocky with sand by the water. I was wrong. It is literally rocks on the ground without any sand, so kind of tricky getting in and out. I really stubbed my toe getting in the water, but got over it pretty fast. The swim was so refreshing and there were bigger waves than at the Athens beach. We hung out in the water for a solid 45 minutes, until my hands got all wrinkly.
At 6 PM, it was time to head back to the hotel, but we stopped at the local supermarket to pick up wine, water, and/or snacks. I think the one cashier was a little overwhelmed by a line of 22 Americans, but they sure did make a killing on alcohol sales. We came back to the hotel and I claimed the first shower because the Aegean is so salty I felt like I grew a layer of salt on my skin. Dinner was at 8 PM and just as fabulous as last night. We had some quality girl time over wine in the courtyard and then called it a night.
More bad news arrived tonight: We will be waking at 6:45 AM as long as Demetra the tour guide is leading us. We think she is here another week. Oh dear, the lack of sleep is killing me. But we are all excited that tomorrow’s bus trip is two hours each way. Today I really enjoyed looking out as we drove through the Greek countryside – I’m sure there’s more of that to come.
I don’t mean to sound unappreciative, because I am thrilled to be in Greece and learning so much, but just by reading this, you pretty much got exactly what I did out of our morning experience. It was a bunch of rocks. Just rock … after rock … after rock. Even the beach was rocks! Pictures would have been sufficient for Epidaurus and Mycenae. But the beach was amazing – I can’t wait to post some pictures.
We got onto the bus about 8 AM and drove 30 minutes to Epidaurus. And that’s when the day went a little sour. Almost all of us fell asleep on the way, but were woken unexpectedly to the voice of Demetra, our tour guide, over the bus speaker. Not only had she scheduled an unnecessarily early wake up call, but we had to listen to lectures on the bus!
Despite the facts I’m going to pass on to you readers, I’ll preface by saying that today was the most boring so far and could turn out to be the worst of the entire trip. So “practically” (the word used most often by our guide and incorrectly; I thinks she means “basically”), Epidaurus is an ancient healing site dedicated to the god Asklepios. (I asked the healing gods to cure my sore throat)
It’s most famous for the theatre, built in 4th century B.C. with a capacity of 14,000, known to have the best acoustics in all of Greece. We tested this out by having four students from our group get up on stage and sing “In the jungle, the mighty jungle…” I personally didn’t hear anything too special, but I guess it was impressive for the time period in which it was used. Demetra did rip a piece of paper and drop a quarter and we could hear both of those more loudly than normal. The theater is still used in festivals every weekend for the three summer months. We also saw the old hospital grounds where surgery was performed, the hotel, stadium, and temple dedicated to Asklepios. And of course the museum.
Everyone had already been dragging, but by this point we were starting to get hungry and bored as well. We hopped back on the bus for a 40 minute trip out to Mycenae. All of us slept the entire way, which was especially surprising because Demetra again took to the microphone. There was much rolling of the eyes.
Mycenae is the ruins of the ancient Mycenaean civilizations. The first attraction is the Treasury of Atreus, a large dome built without any mortar. The name is only attributed to Atreus, but thought to have served as the tomb of king Agamemnon. We then walked up through the famous Lion gates, into the palace ruins, with lots of royal tombs. Demetra stopped every 50 feet or so to explain the significance; she’s a very nice, intelligent lady, but between the exhaustion, heat, and hunger, we were all really struggling – it all just looked the same. But the most adorable stray dog found its way to us so that kept us busy.
However, I think the ultimate low-point came afterwards when she guided us through the museum, explaining all of the old artifacts – which were indistinguishable from every other pot I’ve seen in the past week. I reminded myself that this was the “8 credits” part of the month. I guess we are at school, but I’d so much rather walk around and explore a site on my own than be on someone else’s agenda.
Finally at 1:45 PM we got back on the bus and everyone was so crabby because we hadn’t eaten since 7:30 this morning. We drove back to town in Nafplio for the afternoon and split up for lunch. I went with three girls to a café next to the one we ate at yesterday. It actually had wireless internet, so I was able to get a signal on my iPod and checked my e-mail. Nothing exciting. I had another Greek salad, but it just doesn’t get old! We grabbed gelato afterwards and it was amazing – I had a really rich, dark chocolate and crème caramel in a cone.
Next up was the cliff walk and beach, which was so awesome I almost forgot about the miserable morning experience. When I say cliff, I mean flat, paved path along the water. It was once again the Aegean Sea and just a sparkling, clear blue with huge mountains in the background. The walk was very nice, but swimming was even better. It was a little painful because we went to the “rocky beach.” When they said rocky I just thought the coast was rocky with sand by the water. I was wrong. It is literally rocks on the ground without any sand, so kind of tricky getting in and out. I really stubbed my toe getting in the water, but got over it pretty fast. The swim was so refreshing and there were bigger waves than at the Athens beach. We hung out in the water for a solid 45 minutes, until my hands got all wrinkly.
At 6 PM, it was time to head back to the hotel, but we stopped at the local supermarket to pick up wine, water, and/or snacks. I think the one cashier was a little overwhelmed by a line of 22 Americans, but they sure did make a killing on alcohol sales. We came back to the hotel and I claimed the first shower because the Aegean is so salty I felt like I grew a layer of salt on my skin. Dinner was at 8 PM and just as fabulous as last night. We had some quality girl time over wine in the courtyard and then called it a night.
More bad news arrived tonight: We will be waking at 6:45 AM as long as Demetra the tour guide is leading us. We think she is here another week. Oh dear, the lack of sleep is killing me. But we are all excited that tomorrow’s bus trip is two hours each way. Today I really enjoyed looking out as we drove through the Greek countryside – I’m sure there’s more of that to come.
I don’t mean to sound unappreciative, because I am thrilled to be in Greece and learning so much, but just by reading this, you pretty much got exactly what I did out of our morning experience. It was a bunch of rocks. Just rock … after rock … after rock. Even the beach was rocks! Pictures would have been sufficient for Epidaurus and Mycenae. But the beach was amazing – I can’t wait to post some pictures.
Nafplio (July 13)
We left Athens this morning around 9 AM for our second destination – Nafplio. It was a two-hour bus ride, but we made a stop at the Corinth Canal about halfway through. I didn’t think I’d get at all excited about a canal, but it was really cool! Built in 1893, the canal provided the first waterway between Italy and Athens, so that ships didn’t have to go around the entire peninsula. They dug so far down, it’s crazy to look at, and the water is a sparkling green between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Corinth.
At that stop we got a great Nescafe Frappe and then hopped back on the bus for the second hour of the trip. The bus itself is pretty sweet! It’s really huge and high up – we all get our own row – and there is a second door that opens up at the halfway point (so cool!). There are also really big windows on all sides, as well as front and back, so we can look at the scenery.
We went straight into the town of Nafplio for lunch and a quick tour. The bus pulled up right next to the water and it was just gorgeous! We ate at an Italian place with almost the whole group and I just had potatoes with cheese – delicious, but can you say carb overload? Then Demetra, our new tour guide for the week, led us around the sites. As interested as I am in Greece, I must admit that everything she said flew in one ear and out the other. It was very hot and I was anxious to get to the pool.
Then we took the bus to a castle up on a cliff overlooking the town and ocean. The view was just indescribable. I took tons and tons of pictures, but none of them will do it justice. The water was a bright blue, with the town below and mountains in the distance. We proceeded to walk down all 1000 of the steps, which were cut out of a slippery stone, like marble, so we were very careful. My legs were shaking at the bottom, but I tried to hide it, being the only college athlete in the group.
Finally, around 4:00 PM we arrived at the Amalia hotel, three miles outside town. It is just a beautiful place, five-stars (equivalent to a nice Marriott courtyard in the states I’d say) with a pool. This is our first time expanding to three roommates, but luckily Sarah and I get to stay together – we just gain one. So we walked in to find one double bed. Hmmm… but later discovered they mixed up our room with the guide’s. Now we have three beds as we should, but got placed in a handicap room with essentially no shower. There is a shower head with just a drain in the floor and half a shower curtain, so after three showers, the bathroom was completely flooded. I’m talking water flowing out onto the carpet. Sarah and I always get the messed up bathrooms!
We all swam and laid by the pool for a little while before cleaning up for dinner. The great thing about the Amalia hotels is that they provide breakfast and dinner … buffet style. But I’m not talking cheap, gross buffet like the Dominican Republic – this was amazing! There were probably 25 different platters of food and my plate was full only halfway through the line. I had salmon, potatoes, salad, bread, pork kebabs, meatballs, veggies, pasta, and for dessert ice cream, watermelon, and a small piece of some delicious cake. And this is for the rest of the week! It’s so nice to just walk downstairs, eat, and not have to worry about spending money.
We hung out in the piano bar and then on the patio, drinking wine for a few hours. Now it’s midnight so I need to get to bed. We have a 6:45 AM wake-up call, courtesy of tour guide Demetra. Tomorrow is Mycenae and Epidaurus, then a cliff walk to the beach!
At that stop we got a great Nescafe Frappe and then hopped back on the bus for the second hour of the trip. The bus itself is pretty sweet! It’s really huge and high up – we all get our own row – and there is a second door that opens up at the halfway point (so cool!). There are also really big windows on all sides, as well as front and back, so we can look at the scenery.
We went straight into the town of Nafplio for lunch and a quick tour. The bus pulled up right next to the water and it was just gorgeous! We ate at an Italian place with almost the whole group and I just had potatoes with cheese – delicious, but can you say carb overload? Then Demetra, our new tour guide for the week, led us around the sites. As interested as I am in Greece, I must admit that everything she said flew in one ear and out the other. It was very hot and I was anxious to get to the pool.
Then we took the bus to a castle up on a cliff overlooking the town and ocean. The view was just indescribable. I took tons and tons of pictures, but none of them will do it justice. The water was a bright blue, with the town below and mountains in the distance. We proceeded to walk down all 1000 of the steps, which were cut out of a slippery stone, like marble, so we were very careful. My legs were shaking at the bottom, but I tried to hide it, being the only college athlete in the group.
Finally, around 4:00 PM we arrived at the Amalia hotel, three miles outside town. It is just a beautiful place, five-stars (equivalent to a nice Marriott courtyard in the states I’d say) with a pool. This is our first time expanding to three roommates, but luckily Sarah and I get to stay together – we just gain one. So we walked in to find one double bed. Hmmm… but later discovered they mixed up our room with the guide’s. Now we have three beds as we should, but got placed in a handicap room with essentially no shower. There is a shower head with just a drain in the floor and half a shower curtain, so after three showers, the bathroom was completely flooded. I’m talking water flowing out onto the carpet. Sarah and I always get the messed up bathrooms!
We all swam and laid by the pool for a little while before cleaning up for dinner. The great thing about the Amalia hotels is that they provide breakfast and dinner … buffet style. But I’m not talking cheap, gross buffet like the Dominican Republic – this was amazing! There were probably 25 different platters of food and my plate was full only halfway through the line. I had salmon, potatoes, salad, bread, pork kebabs, meatballs, veggies, pasta, and for dessert ice cream, watermelon, and a small piece of some delicious cake. And this is for the rest of the week! It’s so nice to just walk downstairs, eat, and not have to worry about spending money.
We hung out in the piano bar and then on the patio, drinking wine for a few hours. Now it’s midnight so I need to get to bed. We have a 6:45 AM wake-up call, courtesy of tour guide Demetra. Tomorrow is Mycenae and Epidaurus, then a cliff walk to the beach!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Just Checkin In
Hi!
We don't have internet at our hotel in Nafplio, so a few of us came into town and are using our 2 euro worth of time at the internet cafe.
Just wanted to say that I am alive and well. Nafplio is absolutely gorgeous! It's just a small town as opposed to the huge, urban city of Athens but I think we all like it better.
I've been keeping my blog on my laptop, so will update with posts for the past few days as soon as I get a wireless connection.
Tomorrow we head to Olympia and also transfer hotels as well. I'm pretty excited to see the grounds of the first Olympic games!
Hope everyone is well!
We don't have internet at our hotel in Nafplio, so a few of us came into town and are using our 2 euro worth of time at the internet cafe.
Just wanted to say that I am alive and well. Nafplio is absolutely gorgeous! It's just a small town as opposed to the huge, urban city of Athens but I think we all like it better.
I've been keeping my blog on my laptop, so will update with posts for the past few days as soon as I get a wireless connection.
Tomorrow we head to Olympia and also transfer hotels as well. I'm pretty excited to see the grounds of the first Olympic games!
Hope everyone is well!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Athens: Days 6 & 7
Saturday –
We woke up at 7:15 AM to leave at 8:00 for the beach. Apparently all of the Athenians head to the coast on the weekends, so Katula said we had to get there early. It was chaos catching the bus because we went to the wrong ticket stand and then all had to hurry to rush onto the E22 for Varkiza. Everyone was grumpy. As the bus was pulling up, all of these people were scrambling to get in front of the doors to get on quick for seats; so much so that two old men got into a screaming fight! The Greeks do love a good argument.
So it was a nice hour-and-fifteen-minute (standing) ride to the beach in the absolutely jam-packed bus. I have no idea how that many people fit, but it was disgusting. The Europeans don’t believe in hygiene the same way as us Americans, but it was well worth the trouble because it was beautiful! The water was crystal clear and there weren’t any fish, sharks, creatures, etc. because the Aegean Sea is too salty. It kind of felt more like a lake; just so refreshing!
The beaches charged us 4.50 euro for entrance, and that was the student deal; adults were 8 euro! And then on top of it, you pretty much have to rent a beach chair because there’s no space to lie in the sand, and that’s 5 euro. So the beach is not cheap fun in Greece. I napped in the sun for most of the day, but was in the water a good amount. The boys and I swam all the way out to the buoys separating the boats. We grabbed lunch at the “taverna” and I had spinach pie, which was delicious and reminded me of home. We also had these giant ice cream cones, kind of like the ones you just buy at the grocery, but they were huge and so good.
We stayed until probably 4:30 and then had to catch the bus back on our own because Katula had left earlier in the day. Despite having to stand again, the ride home wasn’t nearly as bad and we arrived about 6 PM. We set out in search of some drinks because buying them at the bars/clubs is way too expensive at about 8 euro a piece. Then we got all dolled up, grabbed gyros from our favorite place, and ate on the roof.
So this had been planned as our big night to go out dancing in Gazi, the clubbing area in Athens, but it didn’t turn out quite the way we’d planned. Niki met us at 10 PM in the lobby – she is 29, lives here, and will be joining us next week as our guide; the boys drool over her. All 22 of us took the metro (subway) over to Gazi and started out at a pretty chill bar called "Socialista," where we sat among three big couches and had some drinks. Around midnight, everyone started to get a little restless and wanted to go dance, like we’d been told. So finally we headed out to another place, but it was a rock bar that was too crowded to even move.
At this point everyone was starting to get frustrated, and I was so tired that my contacts were drying out; I could barely keep my eyes open. We were only at this place long enough to use the restroom before we explained to Niki that we had to dance … now! So we left and headed to this all-white bar that turns into a club at 2 AM. Niki finally mentioned that nobody starts to “club” – dance – until 2 … 3 … 4 in the morning. What?! How do the Greeks do it? I was wiped out by 1 AM!
At that point my objective was to get back to the hotel and go to bed. Everyone was just in a bad mood, so eight of us took the subway home at 2:30, and another few followed in a cab. Half of the group stayed out until 4:00 or 5:00 AM, and two crazy girls until 7:00!
It was disappointing that the night didn’t go as planned, but in hindsight I can’t say I’m all that surprised. I mean, going out with 22 people is not ideal; in fact, it’s way too hard. It's impossible to please everyone. And if the party doesn’t get started in Greece until 2 AM, we shouldn’t have met up until midnight. Basically we had expectations of going dancing and that wasn’t met at all so people got frustrated. Bummer, but oh well!
Sunday (today)-
I had set the alarm for 8:40 AM to go back to the beach this morning, but either I slept through it or Sarah turned it off right away, because I didn’t wake up! Apparently the girls also called our room and still we didn’t wake up. They left, but eventually some of the others knocked at 10 AM and that finally worked. We got ready pretty quickly, then ate some breakfast here, and ran across the street to get a Nescafe frappe. The people there were not very American-friendly, giving Sarah a very hard time because she asked for an “iced Nescafe frappe” and “frappe” means iced.
Six of us managed to buy ourselves tickets and find our way onto the bus back to Varkiza. This time when we got on, the foulest smelling body odor hit me like a wave. It was repulsive. I think I was standing right under this guy’s arm pit. We arrived around 12:15, so not too late. I was worried it would be too crowded to get chairs or anything, but we were able to find some and even located the rest of our friends. I spent most of the day reading from my National Geographic guide book about Greece. My favorite fun fact: Back in the early Olympic days, the men’s wrestling event was performed in the nude.
It was a little cloudy today, so I didn’t swim as much because I wasn’t as hot. We had lunch there again, and today I had the cheese pie (a lot like home) and strawberry granita (a lot like Italy). A bunch of people played beach volleyball, and commandeered a paddle boat from a group of Pakistanis. I just observed.
We left about 4 PM and suffered the most unbearable bus ride yet. Thank God it was our last! We were hot, sweaty, and crammed into this bus. I swear, it’s so ridiculous -- I’m jammed up against the five people surrounding me and there’s not another inch of space left … and then we stop and the doors open … and I think, “there’s no way even one more body can fit” … but it does. It smelled so badly and my skin was literally sticking to the girl next to me. At one point I was butt-to-butt with an old woman. It was an interesting experience.
Tonight we decided to do an exclusive dinner, which I feel bad saying because we didn’t include everyone, but it’s at that point where we all need our space. First, I ran out with two of the other girls because I had to purchase some essentials, like sunscreen and shampoo. We ended up in Monastiraki, but successfully navigated our way over to Plaka to meet the three others. We went to the trattoria place for the third time, and the six of us shared three Greek salads and three pasta dishes – pesto, carbonara, and veggie. It was really nice to just be the small group and not have to stress about paying and taking too long. It was so weird though, at dinner it started pouring down rain! We were sitting outside under a tent, but even got a little wet – it was certainly the first time we’ve felt anything close to a chill in Greece. Our professor said he hasn’t experienced rain in Greece in 17 years of spending summers here.
Tonight we just hung out and packed up. Tomorrow morning we are taking a coach bus to Napflio and stopping to see the Corinth Canal. It is going to be much different from Athens – not an urban area. Apparently we will be two miles from any stores, so we had to stock up on any necessary goods, like toiletries and/or snacks. We won’t have to take public transportation to the beach anymore either, as our new bus will take us everywhere. The downside is that we will no longer have internet, so no blogging for at least a week. I will keep writing in a Word document though, and post as soon as I have a connection again. I can’t believe week one/Athens is over! 23 more days…
I just thought I’d take this moment to reflect on how poorly I packed for this trip. Having already done a trip to Europe in the summer, I thought I knew enough to start packing only hours before I left. That was stupid!
We woke up at 7:15 AM to leave at 8:00 for the beach. Apparently all of the Athenians head to the coast on the weekends, so Katula said we had to get there early. It was chaos catching the bus because we went to the wrong ticket stand and then all had to hurry to rush onto the E22 for Varkiza. Everyone was grumpy. As the bus was pulling up, all of these people were scrambling to get in front of the doors to get on quick for seats; so much so that two old men got into a screaming fight! The Greeks do love a good argument.
So it was a nice hour-and-fifteen-minute (standing) ride to the beach in the absolutely jam-packed bus. I have no idea how that many people fit, but it was disgusting. The Europeans don’t believe in hygiene the same way as us Americans, but it was well worth the trouble because it was beautiful! The water was crystal clear and there weren’t any fish, sharks, creatures, etc. because the Aegean Sea is too salty. It kind of felt more like a lake; just so refreshing!
The beaches charged us 4.50 euro for entrance, and that was the student deal; adults were 8 euro! And then on top of it, you pretty much have to rent a beach chair because there’s no space to lie in the sand, and that’s 5 euro. So the beach is not cheap fun in Greece. I napped in the sun for most of the day, but was in the water a good amount. The boys and I swam all the way out to the buoys separating the boats. We grabbed lunch at the “taverna” and I had spinach pie, which was delicious and reminded me of home. We also had these giant ice cream cones, kind of like the ones you just buy at the grocery, but they were huge and so good.
We stayed until probably 4:30 and then had to catch the bus back on our own because Katula had left earlier in the day. Despite having to stand again, the ride home wasn’t nearly as bad and we arrived about 6 PM. We set out in search of some drinks because buying them at the bars/clubs is way too expensive at about 8 euro a piece. Then we got all dolled up, grabbed gyros from our favorite place, and ate on the roof.
So this had been planned as our big night to go out dancing in Gazi, the clubbing area in Athens, but it didn’t turn out quite the way we’d planned. Niki met us at 10 PM in the lobby – she is 29, lives here, and will be joining us next week as our guide; the boys drool over her. All 22 of us took the metro (subway) over to Gazi and started out at a pretty chill bar called "Socialista," where we sat among three big couches and had some drinks. Around midnight, everyone started to get a little restless and wanted to go dance, like we’d been told. So finally we headed out to another place, but it was a rock bar that was too crowded to even move.
At this point everyone was starting to get frustrated, and I was so tired that my contacts were drying out; I could barely keep my eyes open. We were only at this place long enough to use the restroom before we explained to Niki that we had to dance … now! So we left and headed to this all-white bar that turns into a club at 2 AM. Niki finally mentioned that nobody starts to “club” – dance – until 2 … 3 … 4 in the morning. What?! How do the Greeks do it? I was wiped out by 1 AM!
At that point my objective was to get back to the hotel and go to bed. Everyone was just in a bad mood, so eight of us took the subway home at 2:30, and another few followed in a cab. Half of the group stayed out until 4:00 or 5:00 AM, and two crazy girls until 7:00!
It was disappointing that the night didn’t go as planned, but in hindsight I can’t say I’m all that surprised. I mean, going out with 22 people is not ideal; in fact, it’s way too hard. It's impossible to please everyone. And if the party doesn’t get started in Greece until 2 AM, we shouldn’t have met up until midnight. Basically we had expectations of going dancing and that wasn’t met at all so people got frustrated. Bummer, but oh well!
Sunday (today)-
I had set the alarm for 8:40 AM to go back to the beach this morning, but either I slept through it or Sarah turned it off right away, because I didn’t wake up! Apparently the girls also called our room and still we didn’t wake up. They left, but eventually some of the others knocked at 10 AM and that finally worked. We got ready pretty quickly, then ate some breakfast here, and ran across the street to get a Nescafe frappe. The people there were not very American-friendly, giving Sarah a very hard time because she asked for an “iced Nescafe frappe” and “frappe” means iced.
Six of us managed to buy ourselves tickets and find our way onto the bus back to Varkiza. This time when we got on, the foulest smelling body odor hit me like a wave. It was repulsive. I think I was standing right under this guy’s arm pit. We arrived around 12:15, so not too late. I was worried it would be too crowded to get chairs or anything, but we were able to find some and even located the rest of our friends. I spent most of the day reading from my National Geographic guide book about Greece. My favorite fun fact: Back in the early Olympic days, the men’s wrestling event was performed in the nude.
It was a little cloudy today, so I didn’t swim as much because I wasn’t as hot. We had lunch there again, and today I had the cheese pie (a lot like home) and strawberry granita (a lot like Italy). A bunch of people played beach volleyball, and commandeered a paddle boat from a group of Pakistanis. I just observed.
We left about 4 PM and suffered the most unbearable bus ride yet. Thank God it was our last! We were hot, sweaty, and crammed into this bus. I swear, it’s so ridiculous -- I’m jammed up against the five people surrounding me and there’s not another inch of space left … and then we stop and the doors open … and I think, “there’s no way even one more body can fit” … but it does. It smelled so badly and my skin was literally sticking to the girl next to me. At one point I was butt-to-butt with an old woman. It was an interesting experience.
Tonight we decided to do an exclusive dinner, which I feel bad saying because we didn’t include everyone, but it’s at that point where we all need our space. First, I ran out with two of the other girls because I had to purchase some essentials, like sunscreen and shampoo. We ended up in Monastiraki, but successfully navigated our way over to Plaka to meet the three others. We went to the trattoria place for the third time, and the six of us shared three Greek salads and three pasta dishes – pesto, carbonara, and veggie. It was really nice to just be the small group and not have to stress about paying and taking too long. It was so weird though, at dinner it started pouring down rain! We were sitting outside under a tent, but even got a little wet – it was certainly the first time we’ve felt anything close to a chill in Greece. Our professor said he hasn’t experienced rain in Greece in 17 years of spending summers here.
Tonight we just hung out and packed up. Tomorrow morning we are taking a coach bus to Napflio and stopping to see the Corinth Canal. It is going to be much different from Athens – not an urban area. Apparently we will be two miles from any stores, so we had to stock up on any necessary goods, like toiletries and/or snacks. We won’t have to take public transportation to the beach anymore either, as our new bus will take us everywhere. The downside is that we will no longer have internet, so no blogging for at least a week. I will keep writing in a Word document though, and post as soon as I have a connection again. I can’t believe week one/Athens is over! 23 more days…
I just thought I’d take this moment to reflect on how poorly I packed for this trip. Having already done a trip to Europe in the summer, I thought I knew enough to start packing only hours before I left. That was stupid!
- I brought the outlet converter but forgot the crucial piece that fits in European outlets – Thank God for my roommate.
- The hair dryer I brought is over the max of 1800 watts – again grateful for my roommate.
- I somehow believed that two tiny, samples of sunscreen would be sufficient – I’m burnt and out 17 euros for a bottle of sun lotion!
- And at the airport, my suitcase weighed only 17 kilos when we’re allowed 25. I could have brought so many more clothes!
- It’s so hot here that I shower twice a day (so I’m going through my shower supplies in half the time) and I wear two outfits a day. I’ve been doing laundry in my sink but it takes a couple of days for the clothes to dry. I’m officially on "wardrobe repeat" … only three more rounds to go. I will be very dirty by the time I get home.
Until I get internet again…
Friday, July 10, 2009
Athens: Day 5
Well, the main reason we stayed out so late last night was because our professor made our scheduled trip to the Greek Archaeological Museum optional. He said that all the artifacts get old after awhile, and there are three more really good museums coming up. Needless to say, nobody showed up. We slept in until 10 AM, which was very nice, but considering the time we went to bed, still not enough sleep!
Sarah, Kristyn, and I decided to go out for a real breakfast because we’re getting tired of the same hotel food everyday – which isn’t bad, but you know … So the front desk of our hotel recommended a little place called "Diros" just down a few blocks. We were the only people in there, but I had a feta omelet and it was delicious. We had an interesting time figuring out the bill, being that it was in Greek.
Then we all met as a group at 12:45 to go to the "Elliniki Etairia" in Plaka. It is the environmental awareness and protection center in Athens and the location of today’s lecture. According to our professor, no mere tourist would get to have such an experience, but we didn’t really see it that way …
Okay, so it’s built into the side of the foundations of the original acropolis – kind of cool. But – there was no air conditioning and it was 104 degrees today! So we sat in a room with the windows open, just dripping with sweat for our lecture on immigration, trafficking, and domestic violence in Greece. The speaker was a woman who works with an NGO called "Action Aid", helping with domestic violence issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. They were definitely interesting topics, but between the heat and the lack of sleep last night, I was struggling to stay awake – and I was in the first row. My eyes just kept closing.
We were supposed to be having this wonderful meal cooked by an authentic, old Greek woman – which we pre-paid for with 12 euro each – after the lecture at 4 PM. But during the break Katula (our professor, no idea why we just call him by last name?) decided we should eat then. There were some sandwiches in saran wrap, a salad, cheese, and breads … surely this couldn’t be the nearly $20 lunch. Oh but it was. I wasn’t at all hungry because I had eaten a lot in the morning since we were told lunch wouldn’t be until later. So not only was the food not worth the money, but I didn’t even get any. Bummer!
After lecture, we were free for the day. We finally went in a few stores – saw some cute souvenir type things, but I want to wait to buy anything in Athens until we come back in August so I can see what else is out there. I took a nice two-hour nap, like most of the Greeks do, until almost 6 PM.
I took another shower and cleaned up for dinner. Twelve of us girls went back to the pizza trattoria from the first night. Once again, it was awesome! Then some people went bar hopping in the club district, but I stayed behind with some of the girls. We are leaving for the beach at 8 AM tomorrow and have to take a pretty long bus ride, so we didn’t want to be feeling crappy all day. We just got some gelato, watched an American-music-cover-concert in Syntagma Square, and came back to hang out in one of the rooms.
Now I better get to bed so I can be rested for the beach tomorrow! Can’t wait!
Sarah, Kristyn, and I decided to go out for a real breakfast because we’re getting tired of the same hotel food everyday – which isn’t bad, but you know … So the front desk of our hotel recommended a little place called "Diros" just down a few blocks. We were the only people in there, but I had a feta omelet and it was delicious. We had an interesting time figuring out the bill, being that it was in Greek.
Then we all met as a group at 12:45 to go to the "Elliniki Etairia" in Plaka. It is the environmental awareness and protection center in Athens and the location of today’s lecture. According to our professor, no mere tourist would get to have such an experience, but we didn’t really see it that way …
Okay, so it’s built into the side of the foundations of the original acropolis – kind of cool. But – there was no air conditioning and it was 104 degrees today! So we sat in a room with the windows open, just dripping with sweat for our lecture on immigration, trafficking, and domestic violence in Greece. The speaker was a woman who works with an NGO called "Action Aid", helping with domestic violence issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. They were definitely interesting topics, but between the heat and the lack of sleep last night, I was struggling to stay awake – and I was in the first row. My eyes just kept closing.
We were supposed to be having this wonderful meal cooked by an authentic, old Greek woman – which we pre-paid for with 12 euro each – after the lecture at 4 PM. But during the break Katula (our professor, no idea why we just call him by last name?) decided we should eat then. There were some sandwiches in saran wrap, a salad, cheese, and breads … surely this couldn’t be the nearly $20 lunch. Oh but it was. I wasn’t at all hungry because I had eaten a lot in the morning since we were told lunch wouldn’t be until later. So not only was the food not worth the money, but I didn’t even get any. Bummer!
After lecture, we were free for the day. We finally went in a few stores – saw some cute souvenir type things, but I want to wait to buy anything in Athens until we come back in August so I can see what else is out there. I took a nice two-hour nap, like most of the Greeks do, until almost 6 PM.
I took another shower and cleaned up for dinner. Twelve of us girls went back to the pizza trattoria from the first night. Once again, it was awesome! Then some people went bar hopping in the club district, but I stayed behind with some of the girls. We are leaving for the beach at 8 AM tomorrow and have to take a pretty long bus ride, so we didn’t want to be feeling crappy all day. We just got some gelato, watched an American-music-cover-concert in Syntagma Square, and came back to hang out in one of the rooms.
Now I better get to bed so I can be rested for the beach tomorrow! Can’t wait!
Athens: Day 4
First up was another lecture at the Hellenic American Union, this time with a famous Greek poet who teaches at an American college in Athens. He spoke mostly about culture and writings; Homer, the Iliad and Odyssey, etc. I’m thinking about doing my research paper on Greek culture portrayed in the media …
Then we walked 45 minutes over to the Panathenaikon stadium, built in the late 1800s for the first modern Olympic games. The opening ceremony and archery events in 2004 were also held there. It was incredibly large and had the five Olympic rings at its head – pretty cool!
We continued another 30 minutes into the small village that sits above and behind the stadium. It is very small and reminded me a lot of Italy; you forget you’re in a huge city like Athens. We ate at a taverna and had the best meal so far – Greek salad (of course), cheese pies, meatballs, tzatziki, bread, shots of raki, and watermelon. Then we stopped at the bakery across the street and I got a big piece of baklava to take back to the hotel. It was without a doubt the best I’ve ever had; juicy, sweet, and just amazing!
Sarah and I came back to nap before the night’s festivities, but overslept by an hour and fifteen minutes! We scrambled around but managed to get ready on time. About ten of us walked down the street and got gyros again from the take out place. They’re just so good!
At 8:15, we headed over to the acropolis for a Greek music festival in the Herodes Atticus theatre. The music, a full orchestra, was not so great, but the setting was fantastic! It was an incredibly high and steep seating arrangement, with the Parthenon all lit up to our left, and a view out on Athens in front of us. But at one point there was a bat flying around … ah!
Our guide, Niki, met up with us there and her friend, a local Athens news anchor, came along as well. One of the other girls and I got a picture with her and were chatting about how she likes her job and everything. We went straight to Plaka and sat down for some drinks with the whole group, including our professor. Two glasses of wine and a cone of gelato later, we transferred to the bar across the square that has the great sangria. Everyone started to really have a good time…
Apparently a huge, bright red spider crawled up one of the girls’ arms at the table. AHHH. I freaked out when she told me it was a tarantula. I’m searching for a spider killer in the group who will protect me!
At like 1 AM we were convinced by some guy to go to his club and walked in to find it almost empty except for a couple American girls and maybe five Greek boys. We danced to American music for probably an hour and just had a blast. It was completely random but really fun, and kind of a good workout. We were all disgusting and sweaty! Somehow we found our way back to the hotel, but didn’t go to bed until 4 AM.
Then we walked 45 minutes over to the Panathenaikon stadium, built in the late 1800s for the first modern Olympic games. The opening ceremony and archery events in 2004 were also held there. It was incredibly large and had the five Olympic rings at its head – pretty cool!
We continued another 30 minutes into the small village that sits above and behind the stadium. It is very small and reminded me a lot of Italy; you forget you’re in a huge city like Athens. We ate at a taverna and had the best meal so far – Greek salad (of course), cheese pies, meatballs, tzatziki, bread, shots of raki, and watermelon. Then we stopped at the bakery across the street and I got a big piece of baklava to take back to the hotel. It was without a doubt the best I’ve ever had; juicy, sweet, and just amazing!
Sarah and I came back to nap before the night’s festivities, but overslept by an hour and fifteen minutes! We scrambled around but managed to get ready on time. About ten of us walked down the street and got gyros again from the take out place. They’re just so good!
At 8:15, we headed over to the acropolis for a Greek music festival in the Herodes Atticus theatre. The music, a full orchestra, was not so great, but the setting was fantastic! It was an incredibly high and steep seating arrangement, with the Parthenon all lit up to our left, and a view out on Athens in front of us. But at one point there was a bat flying around … ah!
Our guide, Niki, met up with us there and her friend, a local Athens news anchor, came along as well. One of the other girls and I got a picture with her and were chatting about how she likes her job and everything. We went straight to Plaka and sat down for some drinks with the whole group, including our professor. Two glasses of wine and a cone of gelato later, we transferred to the bar across the square that has the great sangria. Everyone started to really have a good time…
Apparently a huge, bright red spider crawled up one of the girls’ arms at the table. AHHH. I freaked out when she told me it was a tarantula. I’m searching for a spider killer in the group who will protect me!
At like 1 AM we were convinced by some guy to go to his club and walked in to find it almost empty except for a couple American girls and maybe five Greek boys. We danced to American music for probably an hour and just had a blast. It was completely random but really fun, and kind of a good workout. We were all disgusting and sweaty! Somehow we found our way back to the hotel, but didn’t go to bed until 4 AM.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Athens: Day 3
I woke up a good while before the alarm again today, probably around 7 AM. We went to the Hellenic American Union for a lecture at 9:30 with a professor in foreign policy, I believe. He talked about Greece from the early 1800s when they were ruled by a monarchy, to 1974 when democracy really began. It was actually really interesting, much more so than I had expected, but it was so hard to stay awake just because of my lack of sleep, and the speaker was not quite enthusiastic. We got a break halfway through the three hours and took some coffee and cookies up to the roof for another nice view of the acropolis.
Afterwards, we all split up for lunch. I walked around with four girls trying desperately to find a sandwich shop. We circled the block and ended up finding a place right around the corner from our hotel. It was really chaotic and I wasn’t sure the employees spoke English, so I just pointed to something that looked the most like a gyro. I’m still not sure what it was … I think lamb with a sweet, cream-cheese-type-sauce, tomato, lettuce, and mustard. Interesting. We just ate in bed during our break because it was too hot outside.
Around 2 PM we walked back over to the acropolis for our special appointment at the new Greek Acropolis Museum. Apparently this is a really big deal because it’s only been open for two weeks and “the whole world is talking about it,” according to our professor. The glass floor was built upon an old Athens neighborhood, so that was pretty cool to see. There were still steps and seating areas in tact. The museum was neat – tons of original statues and remains from the acropolis/Parthenon. Some of them had been very much restored. What amazes me about these objects is that, first of all, they’re still in tact, and second of all, they were found at all. Some of them were from 400-500 B.C. That’s crazy! As cool as it is though, there are thousands of artifacts, so after the first 100 they all start to look the same.
As we were leaving the museum, there were men trying to sell us parasols. Well the police sped up on their motorcycles and the guys just took off at a sprint. The police chased them but they ran through the bushes and out of sight. It was totally bizarre to see, but completely relevant because just this morning in lecture we were discussing the rising issue of immigration in Greece. There are 600,000 – 700,000 male, illegal immigrants and the government can’t really do anything about it because it’s hard to catch them, and even if caught, Greece officials don’t know where to send them back to because they have no papers. A lot of it is due to the Iraq war because tons of immigrants fled to Greece. I found it all very interesting. I might even take a foreign policy or political science class this year.
So then we were free for the rest of the day. About 12 of us went to an outdoor café for some coffee. Today I went with the Cappuccino Freddie, which I liked much more than the Nescafe Frappe – this was much sweeter. Sarah (my roomie) and I walked around for a bit … bought some wine and little notebooks for our tours. It was a really nice day, but again very hot at 100 degrees. We came back to the hotel for a few hours to cool off, rest, and get clean.
About 14 of us met at 9 PM for dinner. Tonight we just walked down the street and got take-out gyros for 2 euro, and brought them back to eat on the rooftop with some wine. Once we got kicked out, headed down the street to the same place we picked up our dinner, and sat down for some drinks. We just got red and white wine for the table, but it was awful, tasted like water. Ripping off the stupid Americans again …
Tomorrow is a morning lecture and then a tour of the ancient Olympic stadium!
Afterwards, we all split up for lunch. I walked around with four girls trying desperately to find a sandwich shop. We circled the block and ended up finding a place right around the corner from our hotel. It was really chaotic and I wasn’t sure the employees spoke English, so I just pointed to something that looked the most like a gyro. I’m still not sure what it was … I think lamb with a sweet, cream-cheese-type-sauce, tomato, lettuce, and mustard. Interesting. We just ate in bed during our break because it was too hot outside.
Around 2 PM we walked back over to the acropolis for our special appointment at the new Greek Acropolis Museum. Apparently this is a really big deal because it’s only been open for two weeks and “the whole world is talking about it,” according to our professor. The glass floor was built upon an old Athens neighborhood, so that was pretty cool to see. There were still steps and seating areas in tact. The museum was neat – tons of original statues and remains from the acropolis/Parthenon. Some of them had been very much restored. What amazes me about these objects is that, first of all, they’re still in tact, and second of all, they were found at all. Some of them were from 400-500 B.C. That’s crazy! As cool as it is though, there are thousands of artifacts, so after the first 100 they all start to look the same.
As we were leaving the museum, there were men trying to sell us parasols. Well the police sped up on their motorcycles and the guys just took off at a sprint. The police chased them but they ran through the bushes and out of sight. It was totally bizarre to see, but completely relevant because just this morning in lecture we were discussing the rising issue of immigration in Greece. There are 600,000 – 700,000 male, illegal immigrants and the government can’t really do anything about it because it’s hard to catch them, and even if caught, Greece officials don’t know where to send them back to because they have no papers. A lot of it is due to the Iraq war because tons of immigrants fled to Greece. I found it all very interesting. I might even take a foreign policy or political science class this year.
So then we were free for the rest of the day. About 12 of us went to an outdoor café for some coffee. Today I went with the Cappuccino Freddie, which I liked much more than the Nescafe Frappe – this was much sweeter. Sarah (my roomie) and I walked around for a bit … bought some wine and little notebooks for our tours. It was a really nice day, but again very hot at 100 degrees. We came back to the hotel for a few hours to cool off, rest, and get clean.
About 14 of us met at 9 PM for dinner. Tonight we just walked down the street and got take-out gyros for 2 euro, and brought them back to eat on the rooftop with some wine. Once we got kicked out, headed down the street to the same place we picked up our dinner, and sat down for some drinks. We just got red and white wine for the table, but it was awful, tasted like water. Ripping off the stupid Americans again …
Tomorrow is a morning lecture and then a tour of the ancient Olympic stadium!
Photos
Mt. Lycabetus
Moussaka
New friends. Kristyn, me, and my roommate Sarah
View of the Parthenon from hotel
View of Athens from the ParthenonAthens: Days 1 & 2
I can't believe we've only been in Greece for two days! It feels like it's been weeks, like we've been in some kind of time warp or something.
Monday night we went to dinner at a pizzeria in Plaka, a cute area with lots of restaurants. All 22 of us sat at a big table and had wine, Greek salad, and pizza. The salads here don't have lettuce; just cucumber, tomatoes, red onions, and feta. It's all very fresh and delicious. The pizza wasn't as good as in Italy, but that's to be expected. It was still good, but a little thicker than the traditional Italian pizza. They brought out a complimentary dessert, and I'm not sure what it was ... a thicker cake with honey sauce, maybe?
Then we came back to the hotel and everyone was going to hang out up on the roof, which looks out to the Parthenon. Everyone else had already bought wine or liquor earlier, so four of us went in search of wine at 11:30 PM. We had the hardest time finding any, but came across a restaurant that was willing to sell us a bottle, open it up, and give us cups. Good deal, right? Well the joke was on us, because when we showed it to our hotel receptionist, he laughed in our faces and said it was too strong, that the "construction workers" drink it. Ha...
So we all got to know each other a little better, but headed to bed around 1:30 AM. We turned the TV sleep timer on for 30 minutes and that's the last thing I remember- I passed out so quickly! I slept straight through the night until about 6:30 AM I think, when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep because I wasn't tired, and it was too noisy outside.
Yesterday (Tuesday), we toured the Parthenon and ancient agora, and then climbed Mt. Lycabetus. We got ready around 8:30 then headed down to the cafeteria in the hotel - there's free breakfast everyday. It was pretty good. I had yogurt with honey, croissants, and peaches. The yogurt is a little lighter and fluffier than the Greek yogurt sold in the U.S.
The Parthenon is the temple of the Greek goddess Athena, considered the protector. It was from the classical period and is seen as a symbol of democracy. It sits on the acropolis- the highest point in any city. Next to it is the temple of Nike - the Greek word for victory and meaning behind the athletic brand. We bought tickets, then climbed to the top amidst the crowds of people. It was in the upper 90's and just so hot. We were all really gross and sweaty, but took lots of pictures anyway. The view of Athens was beautiful - you could see all the way to the Aegean sea and in the other direction, lots of mountains.
Next was the ancient agora, which was mostly just ruins. Some of them were Roman style from when the Romans occupied Greece. After walking through a quick museum (which to be honest was all pottery and got a little boring), we sat outside and fed a stray dog. There are strays everywhere in Greece because they represent freedom. It's sad, but the state provides healthcare so I feel better about it. Our professor said that the dogs will attach themselves to you and attack anyone who approaches, so not to give them too much attention.
We were all starving and some restaurant owner shoved a menu in our face and convinced us to eat at his place. That's what they do here... because it's their only income, they recruit people. We all spread out among three outdoor tables and had Greek salad (again) and I tried the moussaka for the first time. It's kind of like Greek lasagna, with eggplant, potato, beef, and cheese layers. Very good, but a little heavy for lunch. While we were eating, tons of people would come up to our table trying to sell something or playing music for money. The worst was the kids; they looked only 5 or 6-years-old and the owner kept pushing them away. I gave a little girl playing the accordion a .50 cent euro. One of the other students tried to give money to a girl selling kleenax without taking the kleenax, but the little girl refused the money without making the trade. It's amazing the sense of pride in only a child.
We came back to the hotel to get freshened up and rest for about 30 minutes. At 3:30, we set out for Mt. Lycebetus, which is actually the highest point in Athens, so we're not sure why it's not the acropolis. It was a long walk there, and an even longer, very strenuous hike to the top. Most of us walked up, and about 7 people took the cable car. I was the first girl to arrive at the top - absolutely dripping in sweat - but I loved it. It was a great workout! At the top there was a church and a restaurant, where we all sat down for coffee. The big thing here is a Nescafe frappe, but I was mildly disappointed. I'm not sure exactly what's in it, but it was a little strong, and has lots of foam at the top. But it was so very European to just hang out over coffee for awhile.
We were free for the night, but decided to to go dinner and out as a group anyway. We met up at 9:30 with the intention of getting gyros from a kiosk, which are supposed to only be 1.80 euro. But some guy said he could seat all 18 of us so we agreed and the set us up in the balcony. Well, once we saw the menu we realized it was far more expensive to eat-in because the gyros were 8 euro. A couple people were frustrated and started arguing with the old guy taking care of us and it was very uncomfortable for those of us who are non-confrontational. In the end, he gave us a huge discount and was very nice. However, we've decided that sitting down with 20 people may not be the best idea - as nice as it is to all be together. And a couple people are very controlling...
Then we got gelato (chocolate chip) and sat down outside of a bar for drinks. I had sangria - it was great. We just hung out there until about 1 AM and then came home and watched some of the Michael Jackson footage.
Monday night we went to dinner at a pizzeria in Plaka, a cute area with lots of restaurants. All 22 of us sat at a big table and had wine, Greek salad, and pizza. The salads here don't have lettuce; just cucumber, tomatoes, red onions, and feta. It's all very fresh and delicious. The pizza wasn't as good as in Italy, but that's to be expected. It was still good, but a little thicker than the traditional Italian pizza. They brought out a complimentary dessert, and I'm not sure what it was ... a thicker cake with honey sauce, maybe?
Then we came back to the hotel and everyone was going to hang out up on the roof, which looks out to the Parthenon. Everyone else had already bought wine or liquor earlier, so four of us went in search of wine at 11:30 PM. We had the hardest time finding any, but came across a restaurant that was willing to sell us a bottle, open it up, and give us cups. Good deal, right? Well the joke was on us, because when we showed it to our hotel receptionist, he laughed in our faces and said it was too strong, that the "construction workers" drink it. Ha...
So we all got to know each other a little better, but headed to bed around 1:30 AM. We turned the TV sleep timer on for 30 minutes and that's the last thing I remember- I passed out so quickly! I slept straight through the night until about 6:30 AM I think, when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep because I wasn't tired, and it was too noisy outside.
Yesterday (Tuesday), we toured the Parthenon and ancient agora, and then climbed Mt. Lycabetus. We got ready around 8:30 then headed down to the cafeteria in the hotel - there's free breakfast everyday. It was pretty good. I had yogurt with honey, croissants, and peaches. The yogurt is a little lighter and fluffier than the Greek yogurt sold in the U.S.
The Parthenon is the temple of the Greek goddess Athena, considered the protector. It was from the classical period and is seen as a symbol of democracy. It sits on the acropolis- the highest point in any city. Next to it is the temple of Nike - the Greek word for victory and meaning behind the athletic brand. We bought tickets, then climbed to the top amidst the crowds of people. It was in the upper 90's and just so hot. We were all really gross and sweaty, but took lots of pictures anyway. The view of Athens was beautiful - you could see all the way to the Aegean sea and in the other direction, lots of mountains.
Next was the ancient agora, which was mostly just ruins. Some of them were Roman style from when the Romans occupied Greece. After walking through a quick museum (which to be honest was all pottery and got a little boring), we sat outside and fed a stray dog. There are strays everywhere in Greece because they represent freedom. It's sad, but the state provides healthcare so I feel better about it. Our professor said that the dogs will attach themselves to you and attack anyone who approaches, so not to give them too much attention.
We were all starving and some restaurant owner shoved a menu in our face and convinced us to eat at his place. That's what they do here... because it's their only income, they recruit people. We all spread out among three outdoor tables and had Greek salad (again) and I tried the moussaka for the first time. It's kind of like Greek lasagna, with eggplant, potato, beef, and cheese layers. Very good, but a little heavy for lunch. While we were eating, tons of people would come up to our table trying to sell something or playing music for money. The worst was the kids; they looked only 5 or 6-years-old and the owner kept pushing them away. I gave a little girl playing the accordion a .50 cent euro. One of the other students tried to give money to a girl selling kleenax without taking the kleenax, but the little girl refused the money without making the trade. It's amazing the sense of pride in only a child.
We came back to the hotel to get freshened up and rest for about 30 minutes. At 3:30, we set out for Mt. Lycebetus, which is actually the highest point in Athens, so we're not sure why it's not the acropolis. It was a long walk there, and an even longer, very strenuous hike to the top. Most of us walked up, and about 7 people took the cable car. I was the first girl to arrive at the top - absolutely dripping in sweat - but I loved it. It was a great workout! At the top there was a church and a restaurant, where we all sat down for coffee. The big thing here is a Nescafe frappe, but I was mildly disappointed. I'm not sure exactly what's in it, but it was a little strong, and has lots of foam at the top. But it was so very European to just hang out over coffee for awhile.
We were free for the night, but decided to to go dinner and out as a group anyway. We met up at 9:30 with the intention of getting gyros from a kiosk, which are supposed to only be 1.80 euro. But some guy said he could seat all 18 of us so we agreed and the set us up in the balcony. Well, once we saw the menu we realized it was far more expensive to eat-in because the gyros were 8 euro. A couple people were frustrated and started arguing with the old guy taking care of us and it was very uncomfortable for those of us who are non-confrontational. In the end, he gave us a huge discount and was very nice. However, we've decided that sitting down with 20 people may not be the best idea - as nice as it is to all be together. And a couple people are very controlling...
Then we got gelato (chocolate chip) and sat down outside of a bar for drinks. I had sangria - it was great. We just hung out there until about 1 AM and then came home and watched some of the Michael Jackson footage.
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