Greece was amazing. I want to go back! Actually, I never wanted to leave.
I came down with a head cold (fever, sinus headache, sore throat) right before leaving for Greece, which was no fun. We left at 4am Thursday morning and flew to Athens. The flight was the longest one we have been on compared to the rest of our travels. It was 3.5 hours, plus we lost 2 hours because of the time zone, so we didn’t get into Athens until around noon local time. We immediately hopped on the metro to take us into central Athens. Our hostel was a block away from the Acropolis, so a perfect location.
We got lunch, which was so good! I got a gyro plate and Greek salad, which isn’t served how a Greek salad is in the states. It has no lettuce, and is just veggies and cheese. It was so good- I seriously got one with every meal! I want to go back just for this salad!
Oh, and I had to stop and get some medicine and tissues because I just felt terrible! It was interesting trying to explain to the Greek pharmacist about my symptoms. She gave me something, which of course I could not read, but it seemed to help!
After lunch we put our stuff in our “upgraded” hostel suite and set off to explore the acropolis. One of the first things we noticed were all the dogs–everywhere! Just random dogs sitting and lying around the streets. They looked so sad and mangy, but most had collars and they weren’t super skinny like they haven’t eaten. It was so weird!
We walked up to the acropolis, which is quite the hike. The path is made up of a combination of stones, lose rocks, and large pieces of marble sticking up everywhere. The marble was SO SLIPPERY! I cannot even imagine what it would have been like wet. People were slipping left and right and falling on their butts! It looked painful and so dangerous. Sara slipped down the stairs at one point, but she luckily caught herself.
We walked through the entire acropolis, which was just amazing. We have learned so much about it in history class. It is crazy to actually see it in person. We saw the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus, which was interesting because they were having a sound check for a concert that was going on later that evening. We saw the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena, the Erechtheum, Propylaea, Temple of Athena Nike (but there was so much scaffolding from the restoration work it was hard to see it). It was crazy to think that everything was so old- the history there is astonishing. I cannot imagine how they built it- carrying all those stones up that hill. Then we walked through the Agora, to the Temple of Thision, which was virtually all in-tact. All the statues and stones with Greek carvings in them were so beautiful.
After walking through the remains of ancient Greece, we hiked up Mount Lycabettos, which overlooks the entire city. We walked halfway up and then took a trolly thing the rest of the way. Athens is beautiful. The weather was much cooler than we were expecting. It was a bit cold at the top of the hill with the wind! It was pretty much just an overcast day, which was fine. We were glad it was not that hot because we have heard horror stories about climbing the acropolis in the heat.
After Mount Lycabettos, we walked though two of the squares, Kolonaki and Syntagma, and shopped a bit. After all of our walking and shopping we were obviously hungry! So we went to get dinner at this place called “The Restaurant of the Gods”. Dinner was amazing, like all the food in Greece. We got complimentary shots of Ouzo after dinner too!
After dinner we went back to our hostel because it had a rooftop bar with the view of the acropolis. We went for a few drinks, and then headed to bed. I still felt terribly sick, and we had to catch an early plane to Santorini!
Speaking of early, we had to get up at 2:30 am, leave at 3:00am, walk to catch a 45 minute bus to the airport for our early flight. We flew Olympic Airlines to Santorini, which was only a 45 minute flight on a tiny plane. Of course there was a screaming baby the entire flight, which was miserable. No sleeping, now for the second night. I was never going to get better at this rate!
Our hotel picked us up from the airport at 7:15 am. We drove to Perissa beach, where we were staying. We couldn’t check in until noon, so we went out on the beach to try and sleep for a bit. Sara and I walked to the 24 hour bakery to try and get some hot tea because my throat was on fire and I was miserable! We got yummy pastries and walked back to the beach to read and take a nap.
It began to rain around 11am. The first rain in 5 months. I guess we brought it from London! We went to lunch, and then decided to go into Fira, the main town to go shopping. The rain was miserable and it was so cold- not what we were expecting of Santorini! We walked around for a few hours. The shops and jewelry were beautiful!
After walking around we went to dinner at Senor Zorbas, a Mexican restaurant that overlooks the Caldera. We unfortunately couldn’t sit outside, but oh well. Our waitress was from the states, and coincidentally, after talking, we found out she was from Cincinnati. She went to The University of Dayton, studied abroad in Athens for a semester, and just graduated in May. She decided to pack her bags and come back to Greece for the summer. She loved it, but he visa was expiring soon so she was headed back to the states. What a small world! Even though it was gross outside, the view of the Caldera was still breathtaking!
After dinner, which was SO GOOD, we started the challenge of trying to get home. We were halfway in between Fira and Perissa beach where we were staying. The weather was gross, and we were past the buss stop, so we had the owner call us a cab. Unfortunately he couldn’t get one, so we just went outside to try and wait to see if a bus or cab passed. Luckily we were able to get home after a bus stopped to help us!
I immediately went to bed because I still felt terrible and I really needed a good night’s sleep. We woke up the next day and it was SUNNY! Wahoo!! We headed out to the beach around 11, got lunch, and then spent the rest of the day at the beach and or pool at our hotel.
We got showered and ready to go by 6 to catch a bus to Oia, the northern most point of the island, where we had to go watch the sunset. We climbed to the top of this building to sit and enjoy. It was a bit windy (and cold), but the sunset was amazing. Pictures do not even do this place justice. You have to see it in person. After the sunset, we walked around Oia to shop a little and try and find somewhere to eat dinner.
We ate a delicious Greek meal, with wine and appetizers, salad, and pasta. So yummy! After dinner we headed back to Fira to go out for the night. We went to a few bars, had a few drinks, and tried to go to a club around 12:30. Nothing was really fun or happening. I guess we were too early- the party doesn’t really start till about 2. Everyone was exhausted, so we decided just to call it a night. We again, had to get up early the next morning.
On Sunday, we woke up to catch a 9am boat cruise around the Island. Before catching the bus we walked to the bakery again to get breakfast. We had the best donuts and baklava for breakfast- breakfast of champions, right? We got on a bus that took us to the port at the bottle of the Caldera- what a LONG, scary, drive down that cliff!
The boat cruise was just a half-day cruise that took us to hike the volcano and then swim in the hot spring. We told them all we had to wear were our sandals, but they assured us that the path to climb the volcano was paved. We should have had no problem. WRONG! It was not paved, and it was a bit of a climb! Luckily the view was worth it. The last time the volcano erupted was 50 years ago, so they said they are possibly expecting another volcano soon! Scary!
We hiked down the volcano and got back on the boat. It took us to the hot springs, which were kind of disappointing. We got out of the boat into the freezing cold water, and we were looking forward to going to the hot springs to warm up. Unfortunately the hot springs were not hot at all. Just dirty.
Then we headed back to the port after going around the rest of the Island. Then we immediately went to the beach to read and get some sun on our last day. The beach was awesome. It was black, from the lava, and the water was so clear. The beach was a bunch of tiny rocks, not sand, but as soon as the water started, there were no more tiny rocks. The entire ocean floor was one big rock that was SO slippery! Luckily we had rafts and so we floated out to sea and just relaxed on our rafts for a while.
We regretfully had to get ready to leave around 6:30pm for the airport. We showered one last time, and got all packed up. Some observations I made in Greece: There is little to no plumbing, so we couldn’t flush anything (not even toilet paper) down the toilet, and there was nowhere for the rainwater to drain. The showers were salt water, so even it soap we didn’t really feel like we were getting clean. Greece has no traffic laws. The drivers were crazy! Also, we felt so out of place because it seemed like everyone except for us was on their honeymoons. There were a million couples, and then us, a group of 6 girls. We didn’t really fit in!
We headed to the airport to find that our flight was delayed. This was the first time we had dealt with a flight delay- of course on the only legitimate airline we flew, and for the most expensive flight of the whole trip! Luckily we had a long layover in Athens, which turned out not to be long at all. As soon as we got the airport we had to run to the gate to catch our flight to London.
The flight was 3.5 hours and we arrived in London at 12:30am. By the time we got through customs and got home it was 2am. We were exhausted! I was anxious to get a good nights sleep, and not ready for class in the morning!
Overall, Greece was amazing! Magical. It was exactly what I thought it was going to be and more! I loved every second of it. I was in heaven with the beach, the amazing views, the sunshine, and the yummy food! If I only would have found a Greek boy…
Back to London, and back to reality. I am starting to feel a little better although I do not sound like it! The head cold has drained into my chest, so I have a nasty cold and no voice. I live on hot tea and some strange Greek cold medicine.
It is crunch time for school. I have my final studio presentation a week from tomorrow (AHH!!). I still have so much to do for it!
I went to HOK London today for a visit. I met with two young girls in the interiors department. They were so nice, and were working on some cool projects. They showed me around the (new) office, which was beautiful! It was fun to see the office and chat with them about design, office operations in the UK, and the differences between Europe and the US.
We have class tomorrow, and then on Thursday Sara and Emily and I are going to Edinburgh, Scotland just for the day. We found cheap flights (40 GBP roundtrip, which is $65). We are going to see the castle and the city, and then come home. It will be a quick trip, but it should be fun. Then Saturday we are going to visit Cambridge.
I can’t believe I only have about a week left. I am depressed just thinking about leaving and going back to school in Cincinnati…
