Hello
Just killing time in the athens airport. They have free wifi. Score.
Their airport is set up strangely though. Once you pass through security there are nit any shops. No food places. No snack places. No airport bars. Nothing.
So confused.
The nice airport lady directed us to gate A7 where there was a tiny little kiosk pretending to be a coffee shop. I had 15€ to spend so I bought some motion, water, chips, candy and chocolate covered Oreos. So healthy. But that is all they had. And motion is good for you. And I can't spent euros at home.
So... Athens...
Our ferry from Mykonos got in a little late and we had to wait in a crazy taxi line to get a cab to the hostel. The cab driver had no idea where he was going and kept calling his friends and asking something about our street name and the area it was in. We finally arrived at the right street and the hostel had no signs outside but there were some guys sitting on a stoop and they said it was the hostel. Also one of the guys introduced himself like this: "my name I Alejandro, like the lady gaga song" awesome. Get it Alejandro from Argentina.
The hostel was okay. You had to pay for a hot shower and the water lasted seven minutes. And for some reason the showers were elevated from the floor and had drop ceilings. Real people can't fit in those showers Greece. Must have been a hostel catering to the midget backpacking population.
We went to bed and got up and went to the acropolis the next day. We heard that it cost six euro with the student card and twelve for regular people. We got to the desk and the lady asked Amy where we went to school and she said trinity college in Ireland so we got in free. We had noticed that European union students get tons of free stuff. Somehow this lady believed that we went to school in Ireland and just let us in. Woot.
We walked around and looked at(touched) old stuff. We couldn't walk around in the Parthenon unfortunately because it is covered in scaffolding. They are re-building it or something lame. I think they should leave this one alone and go build a replica somewhere else. Or a wax copy or the Parthenon for Madame toussades or whatever.
After that we ate some gyros and went to see Bad Teacher. Marshall from how I met you mother was in the movie and I'll see anything he's in. The movie was good. We were the only people in the theater, amy, paige(girl from our room) and I.
Next day we wandered around a little bit and packed up our life. I threw away my spanish shampoo and body wash after my midget shower last night and threw out my sheet towel and washcloths this morning.
We got up at 540 ish and left to get a bus to another bus to the airport. Saw the guards at some giant building doing a hilarious walk/ballet routine. They have giant puff balls on their shoes and swung their legs up to their face while walking around and pivoting. So great. Couldn't get my camera out, but I'll try to find a picture online later.
Got to the airport and made it through security, the guy was really confused by my hand sanitizer, but he let it go. Amy got randomly searched before entering gate 13. We were the only two people there. So funny.
Now we are just waiting for our 11:20 flight. We got here extra early because Amy wasn't allowed to check in online for some reason. But it worked out fine at the airport.
Time to eat Oreos for breakfast.
Bye! See you all in the states soon!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Petros and his pals
Update on the giant bird situation:
They are the unofficial mascots of Mykonos. There was one roaming around the island for a while and his name was petros. Petros got hit by a car in 1985 so they(those mysterious people who are always doing things) brought in three more giant birds to help keep everyone in line. Now there are three giant birds wandering around the streets. I think they are all still named petros. Or petras. But I don't want to get close enough to determine os vs as.
Also there are a billion cats here and I am thinking of filling a carry on with cats and nutella. It just feels like the right choice.
We are taking a ferry tonight to Athens. Leaving Mykonos at 7:25 and getting to Athens at midnight ish. I wish we had stayed in santorini for two weeks. The beaches here just could not compete. But there were giant birds, so I guess it was worth it.
Bobby, the pension hotel owner may or may not drive us to the port. I hope he does because I don't want to pay for a cab. I'm trying to not take any more money out of the ATM because I don't want to come home with euros I can't do anything with.
Athens plan:
Monday:
Look at acropolis.
Drink ouzo.
Tuesday:
Buy nutella to take home.
Pack bags for flight.
Wednesday:
Somehow make it to the airport by 9 ish in the morning.
Locate plane.
Check a bag.
Arrive at JFK around 3 ish.
Linger around JFK until 6 ish
Fly away home.
Arrive in Cleveland around 8:30
Sleep.
Or eat pierogies and chips and salsa.
And then sleep.
Hooray!
They are the unofficial mascots of Mykonos. There was one roaming around the island for a while and his name was petros. Petros got hit by a car in 1985 so they(those mysterious people who are always doing things) brought in three more giant birds to help keep everyone in line. Now there are three giant birds wandering around the streets. I think they are all still named petros. Or petras. But I don't want to get close enough to determine os vs as.
Also there are a billion cats here and I am thinking of filling a carry on with cats and nutella. It just feels like the right choice.
We are taking a ferry tonight to Athens. Leaving Mykonos at 7:25 and getting to Athens at midnight ish. I wish we had stayed in santorini for two weeks. The beaches here just could not compete. But there were giant birds, so I guess it was worth it.
Bobby, the pension hotel owner may or may not drive us to the port. I hope he does because I don't want to pay for a cab. I'm trying to not take any more money out of the ATM because I don't want to come home with euros I can't do anything with.
Athens plan:
Monday:
Look at acropolis.
Drink ouzo.
Tuesday:
Buy nutella to take home.
Pack bags for flight.
Wednesday:
Somehow make it to the airport by 9 ish in the morning.
Locate plane.
Check a bag.
Arrive at JFK around 3 ish.
Linger around JFK until 6 ish
Fly away home.
Arrive in Cleveland around 8:30
Sleep.
Or eat pierogies and chips and salsa.
And then sleep.
Hooray!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Helmets
Safety first as I always say.... Or never actually say but whatever. Helmets!! You can imagine how awesome our hair was after this day.
1 week?!
Also,
Cannot believe I only have one week left. I was getting so tired in Italy of dragging my bag around and looking at stuff. But after relaxing in Greece for a couple weeks I feel ready for another two or three months! Now I know how to plan the next trip. Put a vacation in the middle and you will be ready to go for another couple months. Brilliant.
See everyone in a week!
Mykonos
Hello
Sorry it has been awhile we don't have very reliable Internet access here.
Santorini
We rented atvs and drove around the island for the day. It was great! we drove around little roads and up some mountain thing that had great views over the whole island. Took tons self portrait style photos with our helmets on. We went to the red beach which was a little black sand beach with massive red cliffs behind it. Really cool looking. Then we went to a lighthouse at the end of the island and watched the sunset surrounded by lovahs. Santorini is definitely a couples island. Snapped some pics of people doing hilarious sunset poses. Amy was fast enough to capture the titanic pose. Lucky.
We went to the beach the next day and walked down to the bubble pool bar. Never realized how awesome it is to lay around water in a comfy lounge chair. So great.
Left for Mykonos on Sunday. Took an eight hour ferry. Really rocky boat. Not so hot. They played the karate kid on whatever tv channel was on though so that was nice. I now feel like a karate champ, can't wait to use my new skills.
Our hotel/pension owners picked us up at the ferry port and took us back to their place. We are staying in a private room, two beds, bathroom, fridge, air conditioning. It is nice. Havent met anyone though. Well that is not true. I have had a great time making growling monster noises back and forth with a little boy here. Don't knw what language he speaks, but we both speak monster so it works out.
Mykonos town is really cute. Tiny winding streets that run into each other and turn into other streets. Tough to find our way around but it is so cute you don't mind being lost.
They have some giant pelican type birds here. Really giant. They roam the streets and wander into the fancy jewelry shops. The workers are not phased by it so it must happen a lot.
We have seen so many fabulous men in summer scarves riding around scooters. It is great. If an island had to have a tag line and santorini is for lovahs, I would have to say Mykonos is for gay lovahs. So excellent. A lot of the bars have drag shows and go go dancers nightly, but people don't go out until one and we haven't quite made it out yet. We get back from the beach or wandering around at 8ish when the sunsets and nap and eat dinner at ten and there is still so much time to kill that we end up sleeping. We are developing a foolproof plan for Friday which involves eating downtown and waiting to go out there so we aren't in our beds.
I think we were spoiled with the glory of perissa/perivolos beaches in santorini. They were huge and had umbrellas and chairs spaced out with large areas for towels on the sand. Not the case here. We went to ornos beach Monday which was okay. And paradise beach yesterday. The umbrella and chair situation in them was horrible. You cant just buy a drink and use a chair, you have to buy the chair set for the day as well. And they are packed in so close it is like an umbrella chair parking lot. We are going to try psarou beach today. The hotel owner said it wad her favorite.
We have been eating gyros, yogurt, Greek salad, spanekopita and things like that. Food is still pretty cheap here if you look hard enough. Lastl night we made our own salads in cups wee bought from the dollar store in Florence. Cut up tomatoes, feta, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Yum. Also have been drinking tons of motion. Delicious juice with a bunch of fruits in it. Seriously the best juice ever. Think, better than orange peach mango juice. Which is relly saying something.
Alright, I'll post some pictures on here soon. Otherwise fickr is up to date through santorini.
Time to eat and venture to the beach. Hope today's beach is better than yesterday's.
Sorry it has been awhile we don't have very reliable Internet access here.
Santorini
We rented atvs and drove around the island for the day. It was great! we drove around little roads and up some mountain thing that had great views over the whole island. Took tons self portrait style photos with our helmets on. We went to the red beach which was a little black sand beach with massive red cliffs behind it. Really cool looking. Then we went to a lighthouse at the end of the island and watched the sunset surrounded by lovahs. Santorini is definitely a couples island. Snapped some pics of people doing hilarious sunset poses. Amy was fast enough to capture the titanic pose. Lucky.
We went to the beach the next day and walked down to the bubble pool bar. Never realized how awesome it is to lay around water in a comfy lounge chair. So great.
Left for Mykonos on Sunday. Took an eight hour ferry. Really rocky boat. Not so hot. They played the karate kid on whatever tv channel was on though so that was nice. I now feel like a karate champ, can't wait to use my new skills.
Our hotel/pension owners picked us up at the ferry port and took us back to their place. We are staying in a private room, two beds, bathroom, fridge, air conditioning. It is nice. Havent met anyone though. Well that is not true. I have had a great time making growling monster noises back and forth with a little boy here. Don't knw what language he speaks, but we both speak monster so it works out.
Mykonos town is really cute. Tiny winding streets that run into each other and turn into other streets. Tough to find our way around but it is so cute you don't mind being lost.
They have some giant pelican type birds here. Really giant. They roam the streets and wander into the fancy jewelry shops. The workers are not phased by it so it must happen a lot.
We have seen so many fabulous men in summer scarves riding around scooters. It is great. If an island had to have a tag line and santorini is for lovahs, I would have to say Mykonos is for gay lovahs. So excellent. A lot of the bars have drag shows and go go dancers nightly, but people don't go out until one and we haven't quite made it out yet. We get back from the beach or wandering around at 8ish when the sunsets and nap and eat dinner at ten and there is still so much time to kill that we end up sleeping. We are developing a foolproof plan for Friday which involves eating downtown and waiting to go out there so we aren't in our beds.
I think we were spoiled with the glory of perissa/perivolos beaches in santorini. They were huge and had umbrellas and chairs spaced out with large areas for towels on the sand. Not the case here. We went to ornos beach Monday which was okay. And paradise beach yesterday. The umbrella and chair situation in them was horrible. You cant just buy a drink and use a chair, you have to buy the chair set for the day as well. And they are packed in so close it is like an umbrella chair parking lot. We are going to try psarou beach today. The hotel owner said it wad her favorite.
We have been eating gyros, yogurt, Greek salad, spanekopita and things like that. Food is still pretty cheap here if you look hard enough. Lastl night we made our own salads in cups wee bought from the dollar store in Florence. Cut up tomatoes, feta, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Yum. Also have been drinking tons of motion. Delicious juice with a bunch of fruits in it. Seriously the best juice ever. Think, better than orange peach mango juice. Which is relly saying something.
Alright, I'll post some pictures on here soon. Otherwise fickr is up to date through santorini.
Time to eat and venture to the beach. Hope today's beach is better than yesterday's.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
24 hour bakery.
Greetings from paradise.
I am considering never leaving the Greek islands. Seriously. We got to santorini and were met at the ferry port by the hostel owner/manager and he drive us up the terrifying winding road to the hostel. We are staying two or three minutes from the largest beach on the island. The showers here are nasty, but who even cares??
We layer around on the black sand beach the first day, I keep getting a little confused when I look a the beach and the sand is dark, but it is so great. The water is crystal clear even when you go out to 8 to 10 feet deep. You look down and think you can touch, nope. Super far down...
Next day we took the bus to fira a main city on santorini. Cute little winding streets full of shops. Walked around there for a bit, got some falafel gyros and called it a day. They put french fries on the gyros here. I asked what was in the vegetarian gyro and one guy listed potatoes.... Soooooooo French fries? Delicious.
There is a 24 hour bakery about two minutes from our hostel. They have the most amazing things wrapped in philo dough. Spanekopita or however you spell it is only 1.90€ amazing! They have great desserts too! We have found that it is cheaper to buy pre made food here than to try and make our own. So easy!
Got some Greek yogurt with strawberries for breakfast, it is better here than at home.
The next day we took an all day excursion that included: walkng up a volcano, swimming in natural hot springs, riding a donkey up a volanic island and watching the sunset over santorini. All for 20€. so great. It is nice that the food and our hostel are soooo cheap here because we can actually afford to do things. Such a treat.
The volcano was a long, hot walk but the views from the top were amazing. Took tons of photos and am in the process of uploading them to flickr.
The hot springs were kind of nasty. Not hot enough to not feel like swimming through pee. And there were some bright orange rocks that got stirred up with the water so we all ended up covered in orange slime. I can count it as something I have done now.
We then took a ferry to thirassia a small rather deserted island. Payed five euro and rode donkeys up a steep winding cliff side. The donkeys were hilarious. They just do whatever they want on the walk up. Kept ramming me into the concrete wall and the bushes on either side. Such a crazy experience.
Thirassia was gorgeous in the little collection of houses and churches. Saw a lot of cute kittens lounging around.
Then we went to oia to watch the sunset and wander around. Oia was nicer than fira. It was exactly what you would picture when you think or Greece. Beautiful white buildings with blue accents and large domed churches popping up all over the place.
Sunset was really pretty too, unfortunately there was a lot of fog so we couldn't see the sun sink into the water, but I got hundred photos anyways.
Today we went to the beach. Walked twenty minutes down to a bar on the beach that had a pool with a bubble section and great lounge chairs on the beach. You buy a drink and lay around all day. We got frappes. Big hit in Greece. Instant coffee, water, milk and sugar blended together and served with ice. Delicious. Got a ridiculous sunglasses tan today because it was too bright to lay around without them on. Brilliant.
Tomorrow the plan is to rent scooters or atvs and ride around the island. Can't decide which one I want to get... I have always wanted to ride a scooter around Europe, but an atv would be easier to drive I think. I'll just decide whenever we get to the rental place.
Time to FaceTime Jennifer. Byeeeeee!
I am considering never leaving the Greek islands. Seriously. We got to santorini and were met at the ferry port by the hostel owner/manager and he drive us up the terrifying winding road to the hostel. We are staying two or three minutes from the largest beach on the island. The showers here are nasty, but who even cares??
We layer around on the black sand beach the first day, I keep getting a little confused when I look a the beach and the sand is dark, but it is so great. The water is crystal clear even when you go out to 8 to 10 feet deep. You look down and think you can touch, nope. Super far down...
Next day we took the bus to fira a main city on santorini. Cute little winding streets full of shops. Walked around there for a bit, got some falafel gyros and called it a day. They put french fries on the gyros here. I asked what was in the vegetarian gyro and one guy listed potatoes.... Soooooooo French fries? Delicious.
There is a 24 hour bakery about two minutes from our hostel. They have the most amazing things wrapped in philo dough. Spanekopita or however you spell it is only 1.90€ amazing! They have great desserts too! We have found that it is cheaper to buy pre made food here than to try and make our own. So easy!
Got some Greek yogurt with strawberries for breakfast, it is better here than at home.
The next day we took an all day excursion that included: walkng up a volcano, swimming in natural hot springs, riding a donkey up a volanic island and watching the sunset over santorini. All for 20€. so great. It is nice that the food and our hostel are soooo cheap here because we can actually afford to do things. Such a treat.
The volcano was a long, hot walk but the views from the top were amazing. Took tons of photos and am in the process of uploading them to flickr.
The hot springs were kind of nasty. Not hot enough to not feel like swimming through pee. And there were some bright orange rocks that got stirred up with the water so we all ended up covered in orange slime. I can count it as something I have done now.
We then took a ferry to thirassia a small rather deserted island. Payed five euro and rode donkeys up a steep winding cliff side. The donkeys were hilarious. They just do whatever they want on the walk up. Kept ramming me into the concrete wall and the bushes on either side. Such a crazy experience.
Thirassia was gorgeous in the little collection of houses and churches. Saw a lot of cute kittens lounging around.
Then we went to oia to watch the sunset and wander around. Oia was nicer than fira. It was exactly what you would picture when you think or Greece. Beautiful white buildings with blue accents and large domed churches popping up all over the place.
Sunset was really pretty too, unfortunately there was a lot of fog so we couldn't see the sun sink into the water, but I got hundred photos anyways.
Today we went to the beach. Walked twenty minutes down to a bar on the beach that had a pool with a bubble section and great lounge chairs on the beach. You buy a drink and lay around all day. We got frappes. Big hit in Greece. Instant coffee, water, milk and sugar blended together and served with ice. Delicious. Got a ridiculous sunglasses tan today because it was too bright to lay around without them on. Brilliant.
Tomorrow the plan is to rent scooters or atvs and ride around the island. Can't decide which one I want to get... I have always wanted to ride a scooter around Europe, but an atv would be easier to drive I think. I'll just decide whenever we get to the rental place.
Time to FaceTime Jennifer. Byeeeeee!
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