Ciao From Rome...

The Land of “Uncle J”…Greece

A group of us, Krista, Leah, Linsay, Bree, and me decided to make a four day weekend for ourselves by skipping class on Thursday.  We left for Greece late Wednesday night and were arriving in San Torini, after a few hour layover in Athens, at 5:30 am just as the sun was rising it looked so beautiful.   Krista and I were staying at a hostel on the other side of the island than Bree, Leah, and Linsay so we made plans to meet up later at the beach.  The place we were staying at had a shuttle service so they took us to the hostel and the man working there was so nice.  Since it was so early he just gave us a key to the room and go sleep and we could check in later.  We went to sleep till 11 and then we grabbed lunch at a nearby place on the beach.  When we were leaving the restaurant the lady handed us each a Corona and told us it was on the house and to go enjoy it on the beach.  We headed out to the beach and started working on our tans.  Bree, Linsay, and Leah had rented ATVs and were heading to meet up with us since all of the beaches were on our side of the island.  They met up with us and we all layed out.  There was a stray dog on the beach that laid by us and whenever someone was coming near us the dog would start barking and in the case of some people growling.  It was like having our own guard dog.  A man was coming around offering a variety of messages.  We ended up getting a group rate and only had to pay 10 euro for a 40 minute back message.  Bree and Linsay went first and then the three of them left to go check out the Red Beach while they had the ATVs.  Krista and I kept laying out till around 5 or 6.  Then we went back to our hostel and got changed for dinner.  We went to another restaurant near our hostel on the beach where we ordered saganaki, a Greek Salad, and a baked potato to share.  For dessert, we both ordered the Greek Yogurt and honey.  It was sooo amazing.  I loved it and I ended up ordering it almost every day I was there.  We planned on going to a beach bar by our hostel at night but we were both really tired from spending the day in the sun and we ended up falling asleep.

On Friday, Emily met up with us.  I am so glad Emily came because it was the first time I really was able to travel and hangout with her and she is tons of fun.  We went and rented ATVs to take around the island.  We took them to the Red Sand beach and we hiked around there for a while.  Then we stopped off in a little town for some lunch where I again got the yogurt.  After that we drove them up to the lighthouse stopping at random places to take some pictures.  Then we just cruised around on them for an hour or so before it started getting a little chilly so we decided to head back to the hostel after doing a little souvenir shopping.  Linsay, Bree, Leah, and Bree’s Aunt (whom had flown in to meet up with everyone) were laying on the beach by our hostel so we went to join them.  We all bought a cocktail to enjoy on the beach.  Around 5 or 6 we all went back to our hostel/hotel to get ready for dinner.  We got ready and Krista, Emily, and I took a taxi to the middle of the island, Fira.  We were suppose to meet up at 9 for dinner but some people were running late so the three of us walked around the city for a while.  We went into this one shop were the lady was super nice and told us about what made some of the things she was selling unique.  We said we would go back the next day because we didn’t want to have to carry stuff around with us all night.  She ended up giving us each a little charm for good luck as we left.  By that time Linsay and Leah had arrived for dinner and the four of us went out.  We went to this really cute restaurant.  I ended up ordering this shrimp and avocado dish the waiter recommended and it was phenomenal.  It was the perfect summer dish because it was very light and refreshing.  After dinner we met up with Bree and her aunt to go out.  We went into one club where we all were exempted from paying cover but we didn’t like it and it was really expensive so we left and ended up at a bar called Murphy’s.  We had so much fun there just drinking and dancing.  All night I only bought 2 drinks but the bartender kept on pouring free shots for all seven of us which was awesome. 

On Saturday, Krista, Emily, and I had to get up early so we could catch the bus to do a volcano and hot springs tour we had signed up for.  Since we were early we decided to walk down all the stairs to the port we were departing from instead of taking a donkey.  It was a pretty long walk.  While we were walking, the people that run the donkey rides started moving the donkey’s down the stairs for the day.  It was like we were caught in a stampede of donkey’s and after they past us they left little presents all over the stairs for us to avoid.  We got to the bottom and waited a half hour before we boarded the boat for our tour.  The volcano was cool we arrived and hiked around for an hour on it before heading back to the boat.  Then we headed to the hot springs.  To get to the hot springs though you had to jump off the boat and swim 50 meters in about 17 degree Celcius water to get to the hot springs.  Emily decided to stay on the boat and take pictures and after a little bit of persuasion I convinced Krista to make the swim with me. It was frickin cold.  Krista and I made the swim there to discover that the hot springs were not so hot and were actually only a few degrees warmer.  By the time we had to swim back I was pretty much numb to it so I got to enjoy that part of the swim.  Even though I froze it was definitely worth it because who knows if I will be there again.  Then the boat took us back to the port and we opted to ride the donkey’s back up the steps which was a lot of fun.  Then the 3 of us did some souvenir shopping.  We went back to the store that lady had been at because Emily and I wanted these bags we saw there.  The lady’s son was working and he was also super nice.  He talked to us for a long time.  He gave us Cokes while we were shopping because he said, “You are from America, you like Coke.”  He also gave Emily and I a discount on our purchases and he gave us all a free pumice stone that he had recently collected from a beach.  Then we headed back to the hostel so Krista and I could catch our flight to Athens. I didn’t want to leave San Torini the people there were so amazingly nice and the weather and island were both beautiful.  Krista and I got to Athens and took a bus from the airport to a main square.  Since I work for Marriott I can sometimes get discounts on hotels so Krista and I ended up staying in a really nice hotel for the same price we would have paid for a hostel.  We stayed in that night and just kind of relaxed.

On Sunday, we went to see the Acropolis.  It was an awesome thing to see and I decided that I was going to write one of my Layers papers on it so I bought a book about it.  We stopped to eat and I bought yogurt one last time.  Then we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and catch a bus to the airport.

            Greece is a place I definitely want to go back to.  This is falls somewhere in my top 3 favorite trips I took while here.  It was just such a beautiful place and the people were so nice and helpful which just made it all the better.  I think getting to do a lot of outdoorsy types of things also help because I love doing that kind of stuff.  I am not really big on jam packing a trip with visiting a lot of historical places because I just get board after a while.