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May 29 SantoriniHello all! I am in Nice today getting ready to head to Montpillier tomorrow to cut Nice a little short as it has left me wanting more. Ohhhhhh. . . but before I say that can I just mention that while my autox friends were all racing somewhere on Sunday I am sure. . . I was watching the Grand Prix in Monaco in person!!! Sooooo cool! What a day that was. Back on the French keyboards so typing is a tad frustrating again. So you've heard about Mykonos now, here's the Santorini update:
Sunday around 1p I took the ferry (a Flying CAT 4--like that means anything to anyone) to Santorini. Very glad that I flew to Mykonos and didn't ferry. That ride would have been around 7 hours and this was around 3 I think and very boring. Very hard to get much of a view. What I could see looked like everything saw on my daytrip to Delos so I think it was a good move. When I arrived in Santorini George, of Pension George, was waiting with a sign to pick me up and take me to the pension. He was nice enough but didn't speak English so seemed a little anti-social. As we got closer I started to get a little disappointed because I thought, from what the online listing said, the place was in Fira, the main part of town. We turned the opposite direction from the sign but didn't go very far. I wasn't so disappointed for me as much as for Sam who I'd hooked up a room for there (the octopus-eating friend of mine from Mykonos) since I told him it was in Fira. Well fear not, as soon as I stepped foot onto the property I was amazed that I had this place for only 25 Euro a night!!
You'll see when the pictures are up but wow, still the best place I've stayed. The colors were amazing, white everything with azure blue trim and lush green foliage, the edgeless pool was crystal clear and perfectly inviting and the room was spacious with a perfect patio with an ideal sunset and sunrise view. Oh, and it was just a 10 minute walk to Fira and honestly it wouldn't have been any more exciting to stay there. Sam was thrilled with the place too and had beaten me there. He was going ultra-budget and talked them into giving him a smaller room for only 20 Euro. What a deal! I want to rent the whole place out and have a great big vacation sometime. Can't wait for you to see the pics of this place!
Sam had had just enough time to stop by a travel agency a block up and found out about a great cruise package deal for the next day that was an all-day deal that included a guided boat tour through the island (and mini islands of Santorini), a stop at the volcano in the bay and guided stops on the way to the top, boating over to hot springs, a lunch stop and then the final stop was the sunset at Oia. That was everything we wanted to do on the island and it was all perfectly coordinated, narrated and timed for only 35 Euro each. We went and snatched up our tickets right after I took a quick dip in the pool! Then we had a bite and walked around and looked for good sunset vantage points from our side of the island since it was about that time, took the requisite number of sunset pictures per the tourist code of ethics. Then we headed into Fira to find some nightlife. We stopped at this creperie to order. . . good guess, crepes. Did you know nutella is good on crepes too? What an amazing thing that nutella is!
Think I mentioned before, maybe not, that Sam bats for the other team, so we spent lots of time admiring adorable crepe waiter boy and tried to discern his orientation. Sam wanted to find a great gay spot so we asked him if he knew of any on the island and he freaked out. Was shocked we'd ask such a thing. We asked all of the bouncers at all of the bars/clubs we went to and got the same reaction. Was kind of funny yet sad. We'd even say that we didn't think they were gay, we were just looking. None on the island. Mykonos was THE island gay scene and Sam had missed the boat. Guess he'll just have to go back! We checked out all of the places and settled for most of the night in Murphy's, an Irish pub. It was where all of the drunk young students were hanging, every other place was dead. We had fun, danced a lot and the dj played really good stuff--lots of hip hop so Sam was in heaven. Other clubs we stopped by that were better the other nights were Coo Club, Enigma and the Music Box. I think in peak tourist season these are real hot spots and definitely my style. Think we made it home around 3.
We met for breakfast the next morning and headed to the bus stop for our boat tour. It was a little frustrating that it was 30 min late because we were so excited to go but once we got to the boat after picking up a busload of people from a number of stops we were ready to roll. The boat was beautiful and we got great seats up front. The weather was perfect--blue skies, just the right number of fluffy clouds and a tiny breeze, no crazy gale force winds. The volcano stop was about an hour and a half. Climbed to the top, had great veiws, lots of volcanic rock. Didn't see any lava but guess I can't have everything in one trip. Then when everyone was back in the boat we circled to the other side of the volcano island (which is situated in the elbow of the lima bean-shaped island of Santorini) to go to the hot springs. They anchored the boat about a 5 minute swim from the hot springs and we climbed a ladder down or just jumped off the side of the boat into the expectedly cold water that still shocked you when you got in. Then after swimming and feeling it get warmer we were in the springs. There was a lot of sulfer in the water and that made it really orange. Lots of white bathing suits and towels get colored by the springs. It was nice and cozy warm and didn't smell too much of rotten eggs. The swim back sucked because it just kept getting colder. But then we sunbathed dry in the toasty sun on the way to the next stop for lunch.
The lunch stop looked a little suspicious because there are only 5 restaurants and they are obviously there only because the boat stops there as there are no people living on that part of the island. Sam and I had started talking to this nice couple from the English countryside, Guy and Daphne in the springs so we decided to lunch together. I asked the tour guide which restaurant spot was the best because he eats there every day and he pointed to the one we ate at without a moment's hesitation. What a great choice. All the food was fantastic. We decided to share some appetizers we'd all been tempted by but hadn't tried yet and had fun. Tomato balls are very greasy (fried) and aren't shaped like balls, fried pumpkin was delicious and not greasy at all--was just like eggplant and tatzhiki was an expected delicious delight. I choose Pasticcio for my meal and I still dream of finding some more of that very dish again in my life. It's like a pasta, cheese, meat casserole but that just makes it sound boring. Add a few cups of amazing to that and you'll start to get the idea. Did try it somewhere else on my last day and was very, very disappointed!
After lunch we cruised to Oia (pronounced Ee-a if you want to sound special) and paid 4 Euro to ride donkeys up this steep hill. I loved it! Kept saying that I just had no idea I'd be riding a donkey today. The craziest things just keep popping up on my trip! We shopped a bit, had some online and postcard writing time, ate salads for dinner and then ooh'd and aah'd at the sunset that really was as beautiful as everyone said it would be. When the sun slipped away at that last second behind the little mountain island in the distance the whole crowd broke into applause and cheers. Quite the sight. We all climbed into buses for the ride home and took naps. After our naps we got ready to go out and went to the same places and saw most of the same faces. Wasn't quite as crazy a night but there were more people out.
The next day Sam had a ferry to catch so we each did our own thing. The ferries went on strike so he wasn't sure if he would make it to his next island but he did. I rented an ATV for 15 Euro for the whole day. I tooled around the whole island all day and went through 2 tanks of gas. What a blast--highly recommend that on this island! Started by going to the Red Beach and fell in love with the Greek hottie on the towel near mine. Decided I would bear his children for him but didn't end up talking to him so I'm not sure how that is going to work out right now. They call it the Red Beach because the back drop is all red volcanic rock and the beach is red too. Gorgeous. Water was nice and warm, weather perfect yet again. I bought aqua socks the day before which make beaches a real joy now. Darn delicate Seattle feet. After sunbathing and people watching there for a few hours I headed to the White Beach of Perissa, you get the idea, and then to the Black Beaches qt Kamari on the other side of the island. Ate there and loved the giant crashing waves all down the coast which was a contrast to the calm waters of the other two beaches.
Tried to find a room in Paris (where I was flying the next morning) with no luck still which was making me a bit concerned since this is one of the 3 absolute worst months for finding hotels. Oh, did I mention that I received an email a week before that the government had shut my place down because it was, as they explained to me in my email, "made of too much wood and a big dangerous fire hazard". They refused to help me find a place. First big hiccup on the trip. I laid low for the rest of the night because had an early 7a flight the next morning. Didn't like getting up at 5:30a for it the next day but it did give me the chance to see a gorgeous sunrise from my patio so there was a positive to it. All right. Can't take any more of this crazy keyboard at the moment and I'm starved so I'll catch up with you later to fill you in on Paris, Chamonix, Switzerland and Nice. Hope all is well with you my great friends and family! I miss you more now but still not ready to come home. . . .
May 23 Mykonos--Part 2Saturday in Mykonos I decided to truly take as my "day off". I slept in until noon. Yes, really slept until noon. Felt great! I had lunch at a restaurant called "Kostas" and enjoyed an eggplant salad that suprised me when it appeared as something I would equate to a creamy tuna salad without the tuna. It was good, just not quite what I was expecting and not sure that I could exactly identify the flavor of eggplant. Then I had meatballs with tomato sauce. I love how they always have to work french fries in with everything in Europe. Cracks me up. Ordered meatballs and got 3 medium sized meatballs with fries on one side and rice on the other. They are always trying to work those carbs in!
One thing that I love about Mykonos is that every store, restaurant, whatever plays upbeat dance music 24x7. I'm sure that it would get old after awhile but for me, I was in heaven. Just kept me smiling which wasn't hard considering it was 85-90 degrees, sunny as all get out, a little too windy still and beautiful with every building painted white and all the doors and shutters painted the same turquoise blue. Then the white and blue was broken up by bright hibiscus flowers (did I spell that right?), pretty greenery, colorful scarves, bags, postcards and souvenier items. So beautiful! It was at this point that I think I started getting good at the concept of slowing down. Sad that it is a learned thing for me. But I'm slowly becoming a better student! I went to the bus stop to catch the bus to the other side of the island to go to the famous Paradise Beach--not Super Paradise because I'd heard from a number of people that it just wasn't as super this early in the season. I missed the bus by 1 minute--got there in time to see it drive away. The next bus wasn't for an hour. Rather than miss good beach time and not get there until 4:30 I coughed up the 7 Euro to take a cab there. Definitely worth it.
The beach was gorgeous. I can imagine it being insanely busy with barely an inch of sand visible from all of the sunbathers at peak times as they say but it was just perfect with about 10% of the beach in use. Yes, there were some nude sun bathers as all beaches in Greece are clothing optional. I only let the girls out for a few minutes as there were just not enough people around to feel like I blended in. Plus some of the gals there had some real knockers (I doubt that they were "real" ones) that I just couldn't compete with. Plus, didn't want to get any unnecessary sunburns! The water was warm and I swam a tiny bit and then dried off in the sun. Was fun listenting to all of the 20-23 year olds hit on each other and talk about their drunken past few nights and plans for this night. It was funny because the locals like to mess with the tourists and tell them that places are closed when they are not and give them the wrong hours. Being a well researched clubber and probably coming across as more of an adult I wasn't messed with but it was a hoot listening to them all trying to put their varied answers together to come up with the real story. And that was to go to Cavo Paradiso that night which was my plan.
At the beach I ran into Anestacio and he remembered me as if it were just a few hours ago. He was that bartender from Skandanavian. He made me promise to come to his bar first and he would give me a special gift! Don't think bad thoughts--he gave me a few free drinks and then a free t-shirt. There were a couple of fun bars on the beach that had dance music going on and fun bartender/dancer/mc's who kept getting drunk people to get crazy on the raised dance floors. Great people watching let me tell you. As was the chance to gaze and drool at hot young guys wearing nothing but dripping wet swimming trunks but I won't comment further as my mom and dad are both reading this blog! On the beach there were these straw sunbrellas and beach chairs spread all over. I figured there was a charge for them but didn't see anyone patrolling. I used one for about 10 or 15 minutes and a guy came over and told me that it was 3 Euro for the chair and an additional 3 Euro for the umbrella. I said no thanks and made my way to the shade of the bar where they were ready for me with a tasty Mythos beer. Wonder if I can get that in the states? Probably pricey. Want to know what the cheap import is in Greece and Italy? Heineken. Lot cheaper there than in the US.
After my long relaxing sun-filled afternoon at the beach I showered andhad dinner at a place called Momny Ntik (hey words I can spell in Greek using a regular keyboard!) and had the non-diet conscience choice of grilled cheese coated in sesame seeds and the chef's special amazing rigatone. The rigatone was unbelievable. Guess that's what you get with real cream and cheese and whatever other magic stuff he put in it. Guess it looked like I was really enjoying it because they sent over a complimentary glass of wine for me to enjoy too! Perks of going early in the season I bet. I went back to take a nap at the hotel because I planned on staying out until the sun came up that night. I got all dressed up--hair and all--and was thrilled that the wind died down to pretty much a light breeze finally! Headed out to Skandanavian Bar around 12:30a again and was warmly greeted with shouts, whistles and a bell at the bar by Anestacio. He quickly introduced me to some drunk guy from New Jersey, two gals from Minneapolis, a guy from France and a few other folks. I stayed down there for awhile and was given some free drinks (always nice!) and I had him make me his special "French Kiss" martini. He told me to stop by on my way back from the dance club upstairs for my t-shirt.
I headed upstairs and made my way to the back. Suprisingly there weren't as many people in there on Saturday as there were on Thursday night. Maybe there were more options to spread out to. It was still 80% guys which you would think would be a good thing but it was a tad uncomfortable to be a girl on the dance floor as you felt like a fish with a lot of lures in the water that you didn't want to bite on. I got a beer and sat at the couch in the back just people watching. After a few minutes these two cute, sweet guys saw me, smiled and sat on either side of me as if they'd been looking for me all night. They were a hoot! The first guy introduced them as Peter #1 and Peter #2. He was from Amsterdam (blonder guy in pic you'll see) and was in Mykonos for a month helping his dad with his travel agency business but really was using it as an excuse for a vacation. The other guy was his cousin and has lived in Mykonos for the last 15 years and grew up in Italy (1/2 Italian, 1/2 Greek). I loved hanging out with these guys. The were just geniuinely nice guys who wanted to have a good time and make sure everyone else did too!
They danced with me a bit and then grabbed other girls to dance (in a nice way) to get them involved on the dance floor. When creepy guys made a move, they slipped in and saved the day. We talked about all kinds of things. Amsterdam guy was a pro motocross racer but had to stop. Mykonos Peter (Petras really) worked here on the island and has a house here. They each bought a round of drinks for the three of us and seemed suprised when I returned the favor. They totally made my night. We talked and danced a lot. I was going to leave as close to 2 as possible to make it to Cavo Paradiso on the other side of the island on the earlier side but they said nothing happened until later. So I hung out until like 3a or so and then went downstairs to get my t-shirt. Got hung up there for a bit and ran into them down there. We said our goodbyes again and Petras said he's proabably see me at Cavo. I ended up taking a cab over to Cavo, got there around 4a, and was really impressed by the club. It is HUGE, gorgeous and spread out on many levels all on the seaside. Unbelievable! Only thing is that it wasn't very busy. Maybe 75-100 people, which would be good in a reguar club with 1 room but with this much space it was a drop in the bucket.
I got my free drink with entry and wandered around a bit. After a few minutes this cute 27 year old from Portugal insisted that I get on stage with him and his friends to dance. We danced and then talked for awhile and then moved over to the main floor. We were probably the only 5-10 people dancing at any given moment but it was all good. After a bit Petras came in so I hung out/danced with him and his brother (I think) for a long time. He's a great dancer and does his own thing like I do, not the boring club bop. Got a lot of good quality dance time in. This was the opening weekend of the club celebrating the first of 6 weekened nights of Spring Break with guest DJ's (not one I recognized this night). Eventually it started getting a little brighter, then a little brighter and you could tell the sun was getting close to coming up. I wanted to get a good look and get some good pictures so we went to the perfect spot on the stairs on the edge of the ridge. The sunrise was beautiful. Loved that it really never got that cold. When we stopped dancing I eventually put my coat on but I think that was more due to being a bit tired than anything. Was perfect snuggling on the stairs watching the sun come up at the coolest club I've been to with a sweet guy. We left around 6:30 or 7 and he was nice and drove me back to my hotel. What a nice guy!
I MUST go back to that club when there are lots of people. I am seriously thinking about how I can pull that off this summer. That's how much I loved it. Crazy I know. . . but what is a girl to do?!? Anyone want to come with--promise you the Greek Islands are amazing!! Sunday I got up at 11a, checked out at noon and did some last minute window shopping. As I walked by this jewelry store the owner Paulo (spelled Pavolo in Greek) recognized me from the other times I had walked by and wanted to chat. He gave me some tasty coffee cake his aunt had just dropped off for him and asked me all kinds of questions about my trip. Then he gave me a piece of jewelry, an evil eye, to protect me for the rest of my trip. He gave me all kinds of recommendations of places to go and things to do in Santorini because he lived there for about 10 years before coming to Mykonos a few years back. He was great. Then he showed me some of his jewelry that he designed and made. Beautiful of course but he wasn't expecting me to buy anything. I fell in love with a ring but needed to think about it so didn't let him know I was really interested. He sent me to a restaurant a block away called Taverna Antonini for some amazing Mousaka--wow kind of amazing--and I went back to tell him how great it was as he requested and ended up getting the ring. Nice token from a great island!
Then I grabbed my bags from the hotel and headed to the ferry dock to catch the Flying Cat 4 high speed ferry to Santorini! Oh Mykonos. . . I must go back. . . and soon!!!!!!! Was a hard place to leave. Especially since it felt like I was leaving a new circle of friends. Something that I think was particularly helpful that I went so early in the season. Can only imagine how crazy it gets there. . . must find out!!! Mykonos--Part 1I must start by saying that I must go back to Mykonos. . . when there's more tourists. This is the only place that I'm sure I'll say this on the entire trip! By the way, now I am writing while sitting in the internet room of my hostel in Geneva Switzerland. I sure do get around! So I made it to the right airport with plenty of time and thoroughly enjoyed my short 35 minute flight. The views were fantastic the whole time--from the coast of Athens through all of the Greek Islands that we flew over. It paid off to check into the flight very early because the gal offered me a free upgrade to the business class with a cushy leather seat next to the window in the second row. I felt like a VIP! Working on uploading pictures here but I'm not having a lot of success. . . hopefully you'll get to see them soon.
I hired a cab to take me from the airport to my hotel. The farther we kept driving in to the center of Mykonos Town the more excited I got--could my hotel really be this close to the shore and all of the action? Yesiree! I had a little trouble finding the place because the streets are all a jumbled mess and the locals don't even know more than 2 or 3 of the street names but eventually I was pointed in the right direction. The room was great and looked just like the pictures online. My bathroom and shower was nice and I had a big bed and tv that played a lot of Greek MTV equivalent so it was entertaining to keep on in the background when I was in my room. Although I must say this right now because it isn't in my notes because I was really hoping to forget it. . . while I was in Greece there was the giant Eurovision Song of the Year contest going on. Think American Idol--World Idol (don't groan, I know you all secretly watch it!) but for all of the countries that don't have their own version of MTV. Well they played the top 10 songs performances with bands from 10 countries over and over and over. . . on my last day in Mykonos the guy that sings (and yes you might as well see if it is on YouTube) "Yassou Maria" won. It was all over every single channel. Every minute of the day. And they kept interviewing him. There were even specials where they followed him around his daily life and this old reporter dude managed to keep up running with him for 45 minutes while interviewing him. He fought hard for that interview! The song is a bit catchy, a bit cheesy and not bad if you only hear it a few times but I heard it in a lot of clubs and on the radio too. I'm hoping to be done with it now.
Moving on, after settling in the room I went grocery shopping at a little market since I had a fridge and it was a good way to save some bucks or Euro if you want me to be specific. Then I wandered around a bit trying to find a place to sit and have some beers, write in my journal and have dinner. There were a number of places on the waterfront with a spectacular view and I decided to pick the place that only had one other customer. Don't know why but it just seemed like it needed some attention. The place was called Moby Dick's. I was going to sit outside but it was wayyyyy too windy. Oh, so let me make a quick note about the wind. So I guess the weather had been quite warm and windless for the past week. Well it was definitely still warm but there was a steady breeze going the moment I got there. By steady I mean gale force winds that I would put at 40 miles per hour (yes I liked my finger and put it in the air). Seriously, I don't know what the speeds were but you actually had to walk leaning into the wind or you could be knocked backwards. Let me tell you, that made for some crappy hair do's!
So I sat inside which ended up being a good thing because then the waiter came by and talked to me and this local guy who's lived on the island for 20 years or so, and then the owner. I stayed there for about 3 hours and got tons of writing done. They prompted me to go outside at the right times to go get great sunset pics. Gave me insights to life on the island, the gay scene (waiter was a flamer) and where to go later that night. Their recommendations matched what I already had researched and planned so that was good. They were just great people. The wife of the owner made me these great appetizers of flavored rice wrapped in grape leaves with yogurt--yumm and a few other things. They gave me so much I didn't need to order dinner. When I got my bill they only charged me for 2 beers. Then everyone took credit for treating me to something. That was so cool! Felt like they took me under their wing. I went back a few times during my 3 days to say hi and eat a few other meals as you'll soon read.
Later that night I went to the Skandanavian Bar which is mostly a tourist bar with a bar area and an upstairs dance club. I think I got there around 12:30a or so--NOTHING starts early in Mykonos. The bar didn't even open until at least 11p I think. At the bar there was this crazy fun bartender named Anestacio who has probably been there for ages. He is a man that makes perky me look like I'm on sleeping pills. His energy was crazy fun and he was constantly dancing, blowing this whistle and trying to get everyone riled up even when there was only like 6 or 7 of us in the bar on average. After a few drinks most would move upstairs. Anestacio had an amazingly good memory. He asked every person who came in what there name was and where they were from. Then he would introduce them to everyone else in the bar name and place. He did this every night and remembered everyone. It was really quite impressive. I even ran into him at a beach on the other side of the island and he didn't even hesitate to remember "hey, hey it's Jackie from Seattttttleeee!". At the bar I met, thanks to him, and hung out with this pair Cass and Jordon from WA DC. They were fun and after awhile we went upstairs to the dance club. This trip was supposed to be their honeymoon but she called off the wedding a while back but they decided to go anyway. Couldn't quite figure out if they were still a couple or not but I just went with the flow. Was a little odd because it was 80% guys but at least they were dancing. Was a fun time and had a good night.
Friday I tried to sleep in a bit and made it to 9am I think. Not bad. Then I took an 11a boat to Delos Island where there are a lot of ancient ruins. The island is quite small but at it's hey day there were 30,000 people that lived on it. Trying to think of an equivalently small island in the Seattle area but can't quite get one the right size--that would be a crowded island let me tell you. It was really funny when we got on the boat. Maybe 30 of us in total. Most of us sat inside because of the continued insane winds. We of course wanted good window seats which wasn't a problem because there were plenty. But there were only 2 in the main section, one on each side, that had windows that opened. Perfect for picture taking because the windows were a little dirty with salt streaks. I missed getting the second window seat to a couple that ran to it. So I sat two rows behind. Let me tell you that I am VERY glad I did! As soon as the boat pulled out of our protected harbor and onto the open seas the waves were huge. Even seeing that, knowing how far up we were sitting in the boat, none of us expecting the GIGANTIC wave that came crashing through the window opening (8 inches tops!) and completely drenched the couple. They were lucky they didn't have their camera out yet. I got pretty soaked myself and still have salt stains on my bag. It was so funny!
When we got off the boat on the island I started talking to this guy and gal who at first I thought was a couple. Nope, they had just met on the boat and decided to team up and offered for me to join. I said yes of course. Sam is a 21 year old student from Boston on a 3 week vacation and Dot is my age and on a vacation with her husband from Canada but he didn't want to visit the island. We had a lot of fun because we all moved at about the same pace, traded off on navigating the little map tour and took pictures for each other. We all wanted to climb to the highest point on the island that was a healthy climb up this mini-mountain. Was well worth it. Was also the windiest spot yet! After the island trip Sam had a few hours to kill and we were both hungry so we went to lunch at Moby Dick's. We were very adventurous and had the octopus as an adventurous dish to share and then a pizza for a safe option. The octopus was unique. Very tough and chewy. Doubt that the grilling is what made it that way. Discovered it was better if you cut the tenticles off instead of eating them. No joke, the tenticles would suction onto your tongue a bit. These weren't little octopus legs or arms, whatever you want to call them, this sucker probably had a 4 or 5 foot span when in his or her prime. Dipped it in the lemony, buttery, spiced dip to help it go down better but can't say that I would jump at the opportunity to order it again. Was proud of myself for ordeing it and eating it.
Later that night I ate dinner in my room, read a magazine and watched some TV all to stall in order to get ready and then go out dancing. There's only so much shopping you can do. The shops stay open until like midnight, it is crazy. Poor people running them. They work 17 or 18 hour days 6 months of the year with barely a day off and then enjoy the rest of the year off in the off season. They like it. I went out around midnight and wandered around some of the local bars and stopped into the ones playing good music. Met some girls from NY spending a year in London and hung out with them for awhile and then left for Space Dance Club around 1:15am. It was just starting to get busy there when I arrived. Apparently there was a 12 or 15 Euro cover but I just walked so authoritatively in nodding at the bouncer that I didn't pay. Oh well, guess that's what all the cool people do! Hung out for about 15 minutes by myself nursing a drink when all of a sudden Dot ran up to me and invited me to sit in the VIP table they pirated. Of course I said yes!
They were a hoot and loved to dance which was good because not that many people were dancing. Music was great house/techno and had a great energy to it. They had smuggled a bottle of ouzo in that they bought earlier but I had to turn it down from my Athens experience. The club was very large, had giant video screens where they played videos of times when the club was really crazy (like later in the season!) and flashed to videos that did not match the songs that were playing. Lights and effects were pretty cool too. We spent a lot of time dancing and just had a great time. They were like Canadian raver dancers which was fun to watch and their ecclectic style worked well with mine since most other people did the stand and bop their head thing. I got a bit tipsy but had no problems making it back to my hotel around 4am. Great club--must go back when it is busier! Okay, now I'll start a part 2 so you can take a break and so can I! The PeloponneseTuesday morning I got up at and ready and waited for my car rental people to stop by with the paperwork and my rental car. I had enough time to purchase a map of the Peloponnese area--essentially the southwest mainland part of Greece that is like a fat penninsula. Turned out in the end that I didn't even need that map as the rental place gave me a couple of good maps. They were prompt and we filled out paperwork and figured out on the map how to get out of Athens and to my key places I was going. A few minutes later a guy showed up with my car. It definitely looked like a car that a local would drive. Hadn't been washed in about, 4 or 5 months, inside wasn't horrible but sure wasn't clean. At least I wouldn't worry about it being stolen or broken into hoping for tourist goodies! What kind of car you ask? Like a 10 year old Hundai something or other. I got a bargain for a car rental so I really didn't care. It had air conditioning and worked fine what more could you ask for. They were suprised that I could drive a stick which made me laugh : ). The only weird thing about the car is that I didn't like driving with the check engine warning light always on. They said it is always like that don't worry. Plus they have a 24 hour emergency line I could always call.
Getting out of downtown Athens wasn't too tough since the streets were pretty straightforward (even though it was all Greek to me--ha, ha, had to say that at some point!). I did make one wrong turn because I confused 2 words that spelled with the Greek alphabet were only one letter apart. I managed to find my way back onto the main road and was off and running towards Corinth and the Corinth Canal. Once I was out of the city things were prettier. I know when I crossed the canal but it wasn't possible to see anything from the road so I hoped I would have better luck on the way back. Had a few toll booths but made it through without problems. I must say that people are much better drivers in Greece. They do a much better job of staying in their lanes, using turn signals 50% of the time and generally seem to be aware of what the heck they are doing. I was passed by a number of people because my car would rattle a bit more than I was comfortable with at 120 kph (the speed limit) and then when it was 140 kph the car managed to hold together. Was passed by a Ferrari and a Lamborghini just outside of Corinth. Wished I was at least driving my car so I would have felt a little cooler. Miss you Cracklin' Rosie!
I liked the radio stations in Greece a lot better--they played 40% local music which was great for me. I get tired of hearing the same stuff I hear at home. Kept flipping stations and listened to Greek and Spanish pop music, folk music, other stuff that I'm sure they have a category for but I don't know. . . and lots of dance music. They love the dance music--house/techno style--here and I am glad they do. Had to stop for gas on my way to Mycenae (which pronounced in Greek Mykenes sounds just like my last name) because I only had 1/4 tank of gas to start and a nasty old man kept asking me where and what hotel I was staying in because he very much wanted to come visit me. Yuck! Old pervert!
I loved Mycenae! It was a perfect town of ruins. You could walk through and really tell, with the help of the signs, that this was the government building, this was a house and there were 4 bedrooms and a kitchen. It felt like an actual town, not just a few buildings and a lot of the ruins were like 1/2 walls, not just 3 bricks high. It was great. Particularly because there were the circular grave sites that were the first things you saw where most of the artifacts that I was drooling over in the National Archaelogical Museum were found. Just made that a full picture for me. Wasn't much new for me in the museum there because they'd sent all the good stuff to the big museum and I'd seen it. Also went to the Treasury of Atreus which is a giant dome inside a hill where the acoustics are fun to play with. Not much to look at though. I noticed that the bees look different here, long scrawny and mean looking, the ants are unusually large like they were affected by the nuclear power plant where Homer Simpson works and the men all say "I love you" as a lame way of hitting on you. Just not the kind of gentlemanly charm I was looking for by men 20+ years older than me.
Took me about 3 hours to get from Athens to Mycenae with the Athens traffic then about 45 minutes to get to Nafplion. I didn't have any problems finding Nafplion but wasn't sure at all where my hotel was and calling them hadn't yielded anyone who spoke English which was a very unusual problem to run into in Greece. I drove around for a bit looking for signs for Drepanon which was about 5 miles from Nafplion and where my hotel was but saw the signs for Palamide Fortress instead. It was only like 2 in the afternoon and it was one of the places I really wanted to visit so I drove up to the top of the cliff and went on in. This is the big castle fortress that overlooks and keeps an eye on the town of Nafplion. It is fantastic. Now I'd been to a number of castles by this point and none of them really felt like castles. This was a real castle. It was huge and filled with tons of rooms, a prison, grassy open fields, an armory, chambers, lookouts and all kinds of castle-elements. It felt like someone should film a movie there. They probably have at this point. I took lots of pics. It was the perfect castle visit!
After my castle experience I stopped at a gas station and asked directions and found my hotel. I was a little disappointed at how far out it was but heck, at that point I was having trouble finding a place that had availability so this place was good. When I was actually in the town there weren't enough people to justify the lack of rooms in my oh so humble opinion so who knows what that was about. As I drove up to the waterfront street the hotel was on I got an amazing view of whitecaps cresting on waves that crashed onto the beach with a background of islands, blue sky and fluffly clouds. Not so bad really, I do have a car and all! So I got to my room. . . eventually. The gal that worked there didn't speak English (at least any useful English) and my attempts at Greek got us no where. I got the key to my room and put my bags there. I complained to her that there was no power in the room. She tried to tell me, unsuccessfully, that I needed to put my key into this magic slot on the wall that triggered the lights and tv to work. She took me upstairs to show me. Then she tried to tell me where to park. She kept telling me and I repeated back each time to confirm that I needed to drive to the end of the road take a right and then another right at the tennis court and I would see the parking lot. I tried this 3 or 4 times and after circling an endlessly large block told her I couldn't find it. She walked me to the lot. It was then when I realized she meant the end of the "building" not the street. Big difference. And it wasn't obvious because I had to turn into a campground parking lot to get there. This place was a resort but wasn't fully up and running for the tourist season yet. I think I had the best room in the hotel on the 2nd floor with a patio view that overlooked the ocean. Perfect!
I went down to the town of Napflion again and checked out the shops and sat on the waterfront port enjoying a glass of local white wine at a p lace called Napoli di Romania Taverna. I would spell the name of the wine for you if there were Greek alphabet letters on this keyboard. The tapas they gave me were delicious fresh peeled cucumbers lightly salted and BBQ potato chips. They have some weird combinations here. I did some more window shopping, took pictures of a stunning sunset and the castle I'd been to earlier and then had dinner at a local place that the hotel recommended. The food was okay, nothing too special. Had tzatiki for an appetizer and then souvlaki for dinner. After I stopped by a cool bar that was playing good music for awhile and went home. The town was very charming and colorful. Lots of shops and lots of waterfront. You could see all kinds of fish in the water and you could look across the bay to see islands and mainland, cruise ships and local fishing boats. Can't say that I'd want to spend more than a day here though but maybe that's because I've been doing a lot of small town stuff and there's only so much shopping you can do!
Wednesday morning I slept in--a rarity for me--had breakfast delivered to my room and drove back to Nafplion for some last minute shopping (and buying this time) at some stores I saw on the way out, a trip to the post office and some postcards. I sent home a box that was the size of a shoe box and it cost 36 Euro to send home. Was told it would take about 4 weeks but guess it reached my parents in about 2. Not bad. Then I drove to Tolo which is nearby and saw some more beautiful ocean side and pulled over to put my toes in the water. The water was that perfect cool/warm temperature. Felt warm for the ocean but cool if you were going to just jump in! The sand was unbelievably hot and my poor little Seattle feet were in shock for awhile. Don't think I've mentioned the weather in Greece but Athens was about 80 and the Peloponnese about 85 and perfectly sunny. Then I headed along the coast up to Epidavros for the other big ancient ruins site. There is a giant auditorium there where if you stand at the top and someone stands in the center circle way down at the bottom and crinkles a piece of paper you can hear it. We didn't have it quiet enough for that to happen but there were some very giddy old ladies in a tour group who sang a couple of songs from their quartet days and I listened to them from the bottom all the way to the top and could hear them perfectly. Quite impressive! Not the singing so much as the auditorium structure, but the ladies were good too.
Then I drove back through the Corinth Canal and got a half a second peek down it--wow, wish I could have figured out where/how to get to a place to pull over and look at it for real. Tried but I couldn't. I stoppped at a little town and talked to a local named Maria for awhile. She really wanted to practice her English and was quite good. Said she learned most of it from watching tv and reading the subtitles. Then she took some classes to get a little better and is trying to earn her certificate now. Afterwards I made it to Athens fine but it took me 2 hours of being lost to find my hotel. It was dusk, the signs weren't lit, headlights don't aim that high, the map has streets in English and the street signs are in Greek. Don't correlate very well. Was the most frustrating experience I've had mostly because it took me 45 minutes to just find a place to park to try and find a pay phone to call the hotel or the car rental place. Turns out I was 3 blocks from the hotel. I actually knew that but couldn't tell how on earth to connect the streets to get there. Got good directions and laughed out loud when he said I'd find parking across the street from the hotel on the street for the car. I told him that I'd been looking for this spot for 45 min. I got to the hotel and was truly shocked to find 2 spots. That was creepy but in a VERY good way.
In retrospect I wish I had chosen to stay at the Athens Backpackers Hostel for the last night but I'd already made the hotel reservation with deposit that I couldn't get back and figured I might want a night in a private room. The hotel was bare bones but I did have my own bathroom. There were no outlets in the room which made getting ready in the morning more difficult. The room was right over the street and had a patio. When I opened the patio door the neon sign for the hotel was practically one of the walls to the patio. Very bright. Curtains worked well though. Not much excitement that night.
In the morning as I was looking through my flight info and remembering that when driving/lost I had seen that there are 3 big airports in Greece. . . I realized I should check just what airport I was flying to Mykonos from. Good thing I did. It wasn't the same one I flew into! Took the same amount of time to get there by metro but if I'd started at the wrong one I would've missed my flight. Onto the best part of Greece now. . . the Greek Islands!!! Athens--welcome to Greece!Did you see that? I got to create a new category for a new country! Okay, probably only exciting to me. I was suprisingly sad to leave Italy because I really, really loved it and felt like I was completely competent there and able to speak enough Italian to do what I wanted and have some basic casual conversations. Plus there were so many nice people, very good looking guys, beautiful things to see. . .will definitely have to go back. So I got on my plane to Athens (a Boeing 737-400 if anyone cares, not sure why I noted that) and got to sit in a very cushy leather seat with a whole row to my self by the window. It was a short and uneventful flight but they served delicious food!
The biggest difference traveling in Greece versus Italy for me (and it sounds bad but it is amazing how much I relied on it) was that Rick Steves doesn't cover Greece. I totally felt like a tourist having to figure out which way to go out of the terminal, figuring out how to catch a bus or a shuttle and where to buy the tickets, stand etc. His books are great and I had cheat sheets pretty much everywhere I went so I looked like I knew exactly what I was doing. I was quite proud of that actually. Guess I had to join the real world at some point. I did take the bus and then the metro without incident to find my hostel. The Athens Backpackers hostel which is one of the top 10 ranked in the world. The accomodations weren't that different from others I stayed in but the people that worked there were great and they are what make it fun. They were even snotty and didn't let some people who showed up without a reservation get a bed because "they just didn't seem cool enough to fit in here". A bit elistist for a backpackers haven but hey, worked for me.
My room had 7 beds and there were 2 or 3 people from Oregon there and a few from Chicago then Jeanine from Queensland Australia. Jeanine was a total doll and we ended up going out to dinner that night to a nice place called Tepina. We sat outside and chatted and people watched. She is presently living in the UK and traveling around on holiday. I love the food options in Greece. It is completely possible to avoid bread and get all the veggies and protein you want! So much nicer on the digestive system. I had a great chicken and veggie salad (had to save Greek salad for the 2nd day) and had a side of Feta. God I missed Feta cheese. I eat it every day at home. Much less salty here. It was a beautiful evening. Was kind of weird that there were a number of cats and dogs that continually wandered by. Think they don't do much about strays other than to put food out for them.
After dinner I hung out downstairs to write in my journal and enjoy some 2 Euro Mythos beers while watching some 20-21 year olds play drinking games. Was amusing. Played good music so was entertaining on many levels. Talked to Katie who is from the states (forgetting where in the midwest from right now) and is studying in Segovia, Spain. She wants to meet up with me in Segovia so we can hang out for a day since she will be done with classes. She can show me around! I liked her a lot--fun spirit and good peeps--so I know we will have a good time!
Monday morning I got up at 8, had a standard hostel breakfast of toast with jam, hard boiled eggs (they don't always have), juice and coffee. Not that I drank the coffee mind you! Then I walked the 2 blocks to get to the entrance to the Acropolis. I sure know how to pick the locations of places to stay! The Greek ruins were every bit as impressive as you would expect. I liked the contrast in styles, size and colors from having seen all of the Roman ruins to then seeing the Greek ones. I thought the difference in the way the ruins coexisted in the cities of Rome and Athens were very interesting. I loved Rome because it felt like a lively big city with lots to do. Present day Rome. Then it was like someone took a large map of ancient Rome and cut it up into a bunch of puzzle pieces. They jumbled up all of the puzzle pieces, removed about two thirds of them and just sprinkled them across the city. There were the big places with lots and lots of ruins to see but then you would be walking in some random neighborhood and there for a block was a blocked off place with large columns and partial walls. Was pretty cool. Athens on the other hand was an ancient city with a modern day city built around the large centerpiece ruins. Did not feel like I was just going to happen on some old ruin like in Rome.
Back to my journey to the top of the hill where the Acropolis is. On my way up the hill to the top where the Acropolis is I heard this odd rustling in the bushes. When I looked there was a giant turtle climbing around. Seemed like a totally random place for it to be. He was a good 2 feet in diameter. Was perfect hot sunny weather. There were all kinds of ruins in the area but the main things you might recognize that I saw here were: the Acropolis, Temple of Nike/Athena, the Agora, the Plaka and the National Gardens with the temple of Zeus. Very neat. After my trekking I had my Greek salad for lunch that I had been waiting for at a little taverna called Plakiotissa. It was quite tasty. Over my week and a half in Greece I had a number of them and they are all made the same. Lots of tomatoes, cucumber, a quarter lettuce, red onions sliced, green peppers and olives. I of course always had to order a side of feta to put on top. The dressing was a simple olive oil and vinager with a few seasonings if any. Tasty and so fresh. Yum!
The shops here have very aggressive salespeople and everything is negotiable and everything is on sale. Every person says, I will make you a very special deal. . . why you leaving. Was kind of funny. Saw a number of tourists get roped into buying stuff they did not want because they did not want to be rude. Too funny! After lunch I went to the National Archaelogical Museum. Was very excited to see this because they have the oldest relics in the world--things that are 6000-8800 years old. Amazing. I loved the way the museum was organized, all in chronological order. I spent the most time in the areas where things are 2000 years old or older. Amazing how so many things are in perfect or near perfect condition. Blew my mind. The coolest part was that there were a ton of items that were from Mycenae and Epidavros and that was just where I was headed the next day!
I took the metro back to the hostel and uploaded pics that I finally got to write about. . . oh yesterday! I had spne spinach pie for dinner and some food at the hostel--really good cook there. Impressive. Then I met a gal from California, moved from Nigeria when she was 19, who is a resident at a hospital but traveling for a few weeks in Europe. Her name is Uzo. Like Ouzo but without the first O she explained to all that asked. She and I had a great time hanging out and chatting about everything and everywhere we had been. She was very tight on money and wanted to get a drink and have them make it a double for her. The did it but only after making her get down on the floor and do 10 pushups. Was hilarious. Then because I had tried to slip the guy a Euro so that he would make her drink strong he gave us both shots of Ouzo. That was my first ouzo and thought it would be my last because I swear it tastes like licorice flavored lighter fluid. Was pretty intense. My sinuses were clear for an hour or two after. Have I mentioned I do not like licorice? Later the guys who ran the hostel convinced us to go to the Orange Bar around the corner which is where everyone, residents and employees alike hang out. Was fun place and we left around 2am. |
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