Day One- Friday
I woke up at 6:30 am to make my way to Termini once again for my trip to Greece. We got on the bus around 9:30 and were on our way to Ancona, Italy where the port for our ferry to Greece was. This was a great way to start the trip, despite the five hour bus ride, because we first rode through the Apennine mountains that run down the middle of Italy. They were big, beautiful and snow-capped, almost like the Alps, but probably not as impressive. Then we made it to the Eastern coast of Italy and rode along the shoreline. We got on our ferry and left Italy at 4 pm. The ferry, we were told, was supposed to have a ton of amenities like caffes, bars, restaurants, shops, and even a cinema. All of these were not very impressive, and there definitely was not a cinema. Plus, food was expensive. Anyways, we spent the 14 hour ferry in air seats, which were small blue chairs we were expected to sleep on. So uncomfortable. I slept maybe a couple hours and woke up at 5 am and decided I wanted coffee. This is were my first Greek interaction happened. I asked the guy for a Greek coffee. He looked at me like an idiot and said "Do you even KNOW what Greek coffee is?" "yeah, of course I do" I replied. He reluctantly sold me the Greek coffee and it was exactly what I expected, bitter, dark, and grounds left at the bottom. I drank it all up. Needless to say the guy was impressed. Then, I noticed Charmed was playing on the tv. This was such a relief since in the air seating room only Greek soap opera, news, and infomercials were playing. Anyways, the whole experience didn't wear me out too much and we arrived in Greece at 8am.
Italy's Eastern coast
On the ferry during sunset
Day 2- Saturday
We got off our first ferry and walked through the ran to a short 1.5 hour ferry to the island of Corfu. The hostel we stayed at, the Pink Palace, sent buses for us and it took us across most of the island. Apparently not much is in Corfu except the Pink Palace. Anyways, it was raining that day so the Pink Palace wasn't running any activities so we were pretty bored. We got lunch- chicken gyro!- which took an hour since there were so many of us there with nothing to do. Then we sat on the beach and watched the waves. It was pouring so we went back to our rooms and got ready for happy hour. The pink palace served us an already paid for dinner- pasta with beef and amazing Greek Salad. I am now obsessed with Greek salad. And that was that.
Pink palace beach
The dinner spread
Day 3- Sunday
This was probably the best day of the trip! we got up early to sign up for a quad safari- that is a 6 hour ride on ATVs around Corfu, up a mountain, on the beach and off-roading. It was amazing especially the off-roading in the rain (when my left-hand mirror flew off and rolled down a hill). I was very proud of myself because I had never rode an ATV before and I did a great job, AND I wasn't very nervous on the mountain roads either. Our guide was native Greek and hilarious. They served us lunch on top of a mountain, took us to a bunch of look-out points, and to a caffe for apple pie and coffee. Afterwards we had to get dressed in pink togas for the toga party. First, there was dinner- chicken and potatos YUM. At the toga party they showed us Greek dancing, plate smashing, and introduced us to ouzo- Greek licorice tasting alcohol, which is gross.
me on the beach during the quad safari
our view off a mountain during lunch
toga party- greek dancers
Day 4- Monday
We woke up early once again with the intention of signing up to go kayaking. I decided to stay behind last minute with some new friends to lay out on the beach because it was gorgeous. Also, kayaking is not my favorite (capsized in a tunnel my last time doing it) and I was sure it would be harder in the ocean and I would fall behind. This ended up being a good idea because half the group came back really early complaining about how hard and crappy it was. Then we had to pack up, check out and go to dinner (not very good pork and rice). I did get a tan from the day though. After dinner we went back to the port to take a 1.5 hour ferry back to the mainland and then hop onto a coach bus for a 7 hour overnight ride to Athens
a better picture of the pink palace beach
watching my pals sail away on their kayaks
Day 5- Tuesday
After a terrible bus ride, we made it into Athens at 8:30 Am. The hotel made us breakfast- French toast and eggs. Then we took a walking tour of Athens led by our Bus2Alps trip leader. We say the Parliament, the national Gardens, the 1890 Olympic Stadium, The temple of Zeus, and the Acropolis. Everything was very cool but it didn't hit me that I was in Athens looking at this amazing stuff. The city is very similar to Rome because of all the ruins and it is just as dirty (if not dirtier) than Rome. Our leader gave a us a pretty good historical background about everything. The Parliament was originally built for the monarchy until they were kicked out for democracy, The Olympic Stadium was built in 500 BC then covered with marble in 300 BC. It was fully restored for the first modern olympics in 1890s (by the way, I hate ruins that have been "restored" they are not very authentic). The Temple of Zeus took 800 years to build and was finished by Hadrian and it only lasted 100 years. The Acropolis is just the Acropolis and the Parthenon is amazing! After the tour we went to a shop that makes custom sandals, I couldn't decide on a pair so I bought a bracelet instead. Then we got delicious 2 euro gyros and sat outside. We felt like we had seen everything so we walked back to the hostel. Athens has stores for everything- dvds, electronics, camping, journals, sunglasses, jewlery, spices, candy, etc. I said that a lot of times I don't know where to find things in Rome, but Athens has it all out in the open. I thought the city had a very cool vibe, though many others disagreed with me. Later, we went on a group dinner and got a ton of food- Greek salad, bread with tzatziki (which I ate everyday!), meatballs with fries, calamari, and for an entree mousaka and a fruit platter for dessert. And there was unlimited red and white wine. On the way home we noticed stray dogs following us apparently trying to protect us. They would run up at bark at people who got too close. Very interesting
me next to the guard of the tomb of the unknown soldier (in front of the Parliament) apparently this is a thing like in Britain)
Royal Gardens
Olympic stadium
me in front of the temple of Zeus
The acropolis!
Me in front of the Parthenon, if you can't tell it was very windy that day
Mousaka!
Day 6- Wednesday
Once again I had to wake up early pack and leave at 6 am to drive to the Athens port. This time we got on a 7 hour ferry to Santorini. This boat was smaller but had better aspects than the 14 hour ferry- bigger seats and cheaper food. The way to Santorini was really choppy and many people got seasick, but I was good to go. We docked in Santorini at 3 pm. This island is amazing! The towns are on top of a cliff so we had to get on a big coach bus and go up winding roads on the side of the cliff. it was nervewrecking but the bus driver distracted us with info about the island. Like, the island is the caldera of the volcano, the entire top of the island is covered with hardened ash (dozens of feet high) from the volcano, Santorini makes white wine but because of the soil and the wind the vines are shaped like baskets on the ground. They actually look lilke graves. Also the last time the volcano erupted was in the 1950s. Our hotel was in Fira and was very cute. After we dropped our stuff at the hotel we walked to Fira's center- full of the white buildings with blue roofs- and watched the sunset. Then five of us went to a restaurant and ordered tzatziki saganaki, and fried zuchini to start. For my entree I had grilled octopus. Later we met the rest of the group at a bar, but were so tired we got back to our hotel before midnight!
sunset over the water and volcano
me with Fira behind me
Grilled octopus, kind of a scary looking tentacle isn't it?
Day 7- Thursday
We had seen a ton of signs for waffles, so for brunch we went and got some. Mine had apple slices and honey. Since it was off season and the island was empty, the owner was so appreciative of our service he gave us free cheese pie pastries. Some of the most delicious pastries I've ever had. We had wanted to go around the island and especially see Oia (where Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed) but we would've needed a car. We couldn't rent one since all the cars are stick shift and none of us know how to drive one. We also could've rented ATVs, but it would've been pricey and it was very windy that day, we probably would've been cold. So we joined the group for a bus tour of the island. it was cheap and took us to all the main sights. First we went to a winery for wine tasting- two white wines and a dessert wine that tasted like raisins. then we went to a red sand beach, I climbed down some rocks to get to the water. Afterwards we hit up a black sand beach, it got very windy at this point so we all went to into a restaurant for lunch. I had a small Greek salad of course. For sunset, we drove to Oia and spent a couple hours there and did souvenir shopping (everyone in my family is getting a keychain, you are all hard to shop for!) this town was exactly what I pictured Santorini as, very picturesque. For dinner we went back to Fira and found a rather cheap restaurant. I had pork souvlaki with fries, veggies, pita and of course tzatziki. Then we called it a night
me on the red sand beach
black sand beach
me in oia
just a beautiful picture of oia
Day 8- Friday
On this day I took a cablecar down the side of the cliff, hopped on a pirate ship looking boat and cruised to some hot springs. We had to jump off the boat, into the Aegean sea and swim to the hot springs. Probably not the best idea, it was cold and my breathing made me panic a bit, but I made it to the hot springs, which were not hot, lukewarm maybe. We swam back to the boat a cruised to the volcano, hiked the volcano, took some nice pictures, and came back to Fira, where the town was celebrating Greek independence day (this time from the Turks). We couldn't stay because we had to pack up our stuff and head right back to the port for our 7 hour ferry back to Athens
The cute old port in Santorini
Volcano
view of the "hot springs" from the volcano
Day 9-10
These final days we spent the night in Athens, drove 3 hours to the port in Patra. Patra is a scary place, immigrants crowd the port trying to find a way onto the ferry to Italy, they have to surround the area with barbed wire fences. I don't know where the immigrants were from but they were definitely desperate to leave Greece. Then we spent 21 hours on the ferry back to Italy, this time in a cabin so I could sleep properly. I was wide awake a lot of the time and spent the evening watching soccer with some people. I also woke up early to get coffee again, but a nice Greek man bought it for me!
It was nice to spend 10 days away from Rome, but also great to be back. I definitely won't miss boats, buses and ouzu but there are a few things in Greece I will miss:
ATVs
feta cheese
greek yogurt
gyros
big steaming cups of coffee
tzatziki
no homework
