I can't say why it's taken me nearly a month to write about Greece, besides that a lot happened there and, for the most part, I didn't want to write about it immediately; I wanted a chance to stand back from it all and remember it, miss it, before I sat down and wrote.
The trip to Greece was totally last minute. Before coming abroad, I knew that Greece was the one place that I'd really wanted to go to while overseas. It's an exciting feeling that I felt, one week before spring break, napping in my hotel bed in Amsterdam, knowing that one week from that moment I'd be on spring break; that I'd definitely be somewhere, but totally unsure of where that somewhere would be.
Three days later it hit me: this was my chance. Loosely coordinating with different friends also traveling in Greece, I quickly booked my flights from Rome to Athens, Athens to Mykonos, and ten days later, Athens back to Rome.
My flight to Athens was that Friday, three days after choosing and booking Greece. I spent Thursday night in Rome, getting a taste of the nightlife there, before heading to Athens early Friday morning.
I watched Woody Allen's, "Bananas" on the flight to Athens, and all the communication hardships I've felt since coming to Italy and knowing no Italian ended - at least for the hour long flight -. I was sitting next to a man who spoke no English - not sure what exactly he spoke - I was watching "Bananas" with my headphones in; the movie, however, was so funny, that, even without the words, he couldn't take his eyes off the computer screen and neither of us could stop laughing. We were both in hysterics. So loud in fact, that we woke up his wife who was sitting next to us. We couldn't stop laughing, yet we couldn't say one word to one another - and he couldn't even hear the movie!
Upon arriving in Mykonos, I found myself in a strangely beautiful, Smurf-like land.
We quickly learned that we had come to Greece in the "no season...'Not high season, not low season, but no season,'" and found the white streets, white houses, bare trees, and white sky to be eery yet charming, strange yet calming, beautiful yet scary.
The town warmed up that first night and into second day, as sky turned from white to blue.
We rented ATV's and drove all day. Through the mountains, the beaches, the towns, the neighborhoods. It was a beautiful ride. Riding through the mountains was a very thrilling feeling; these weren't Appalachian Hills we were messing with. These hills looked like they'd come straight out of Lord of the Rings.
Dinners in Mykonos were wonderful. Each night we went to the port, where we'd eat on the water. Lots of seafood and wine, shrimp and desert; each night was very relaxing. I really enjoyed the after-dinner shot-like drink they'd bring us, "for digestion." Not even sure if there was alcohol in it, it tasted very licorice-like, and I noticed that my stomach actually did feel great after drinking.
We spent the next day or two on ferries, traveling from Mykonos to Santoirini. The first stop from Mykonos was Siros. It was a cloudy, freezing, and rainy day there, and after a long meal in a pizza joint to pass time, some of us set out exploring the island. It was freezing cold and raining hard, but before retiring to the coffee shop, I wanted to check out the city a bit. It was creepy, I won't lie; I walked all over the city and saw maybe three people but fifty, maybe even sixty, cats. Two people I saw, a father and son playing soccer in the street, were dodging these slow moving, fat cats with their soccer ball as they kicked it.
I turned one corner down a very sketchy looking street. Something attracted me to it; maybe it was the gloomy sky. Whatever. I turned. I was greeted by a huge pack of cats. They were all so fat, I had to do a double take, because I honestly wasn't even sure that I was looking at cats. I was. They walked around slowly, eying me as I walked through. The sky got darker as I turned a corner, and the cats began minding their own business, but they creeped me out. I turned the street and went to the coffee shop.
After leaving Siros, we spent a quick night in Naxos before boarding a separate ship that took us to Santorini.
The ferry in to Santorini was stunning. The island of Santorini is uniquely beautiful; it is situated on top of a huge open rock, miles and miles long. What a sight to pull in to that port!
Santorini was the island that I felt I came to know best, as we spent the most time there. Now that it has passed, I think back fondly to the late night ATV rides from town back to the hostel, the cold wind blowing in my face, pulling into the hostel's lot, and taking a dead silent moment to glance at the millions of stars in the sky and the sea calmly sitting very closely in front of me.
We rode the ATV's all over the island during the day. One day, we came across a totally deserted town, except for a single old man - and his donkey! ("For two euro, you can sit on my donkey and take a picture," he said. Of course I did.) It was interesting to wonder where the people in this town were. It was beautiful and up-kept greatly, some buildings were in the midst of renovation - yet no one was in sight. We drove to a side of the road restaurant that treated us with some real Greek food; not just Greek salads. I discovered how tasty snails are - it's like eating mussels but with more flavor, and I also discovered how easy it is to forget what snails are when ordering them (I can't even say how many times I mistook them for rollie pollies or caterpillars, asking many times for the wrong thing to be passed down).
We watched the most beautiful sunsets all over the island.
I spent Wednesday in Rhodes (you can read about that below). I remembered, as I was boarding the ferry from Santorini to Rhodes, overhearing some American college talk, so I joined in. We talked for a few minutes before parting and going our separate ways, but you can imagine how surprised I must have been upon arriving in Athens for the final night in Greece, opening my hostel room, and learning that my roommates were those same people on my boat to Rhodes.
Athens was a wild town. At night time, the people pack the streets, drinking and partying on the lounge tables that line the streets up and down. I'd never seen anything quite like it. Our hostel had a rooftop bar that overlooked the Parthenon. What a sight!
At day time, Athens was even crazier - well, at least for me. I decided to go on a mission and eat every snack at one of the food cartons. Great idea, (I ate a doughnut, a cinnamon roll and a doughnut all within ten minutes) until I went back to my hostel, desperately in need of the bathroom, only to find my old roommate friends (all girls) all straightening their hair getting ready for the night.
I can't tell you how many times I thought to myself while there, "I can't believe I'm in Greece." I have so many great memories of being there, but most of all, I remember the peaceful nights in Santorini - the wind blowing on the ATV's; a nice, quiet, midnight cab right down the island to the deserted port; the sunsets; the beautiful day trip in Mykonos - cruising through the highways up the mountains, down the hills, and around the oceans into fairy tale land (that is, until Starbucks popped up in the middle of nowhere!)
It was such a wonderful trip. I miss the nights in Greece and really hope I get to relive them one day again. Oh yeah, and those tomatoes. So fresh, you can chomp 'em like an apple, for real.
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