Greece: week 1!

I clearly have been delinquent in my posting but felt it important to at least add a final entry on my latest and last trip. I just spent 17 days traveling most through Greece but also into Turkey. Here's a recap of the wonderful trip that I will never forget!
After a bit of a stressful commute to Heathrow, I settle in and begin to enjoy the fact that I have three weeks off work thanks to my gracious boss. I fly into Athens and land around 2:30 am so head straight to the airport hotel and get into bed. American Express, thanks for the points because there was no way I was paying that kind of money to stay at the Soifetel but cashing them in for this was well worth it!

Day 1:
Rachael arrives after a few mishaps with the plane in EWR so she was a couple of hours late. We get settled and agree upon a plan about getting into Athens and checking into our first hotel. We head into the city on the public bus which was a nice way to commute in so that we could see the sites. We finally get to the hotel which was really nice (and cheap!) and decide to head off to lunch since we hadn't really eaten yet. We made our way to the local square and found a really cute taverna that we could sit outside at. House wine- gotta love Europe for this- a couple of apps and main dishes later (2 hours to be exact) we finish lunch and head back to the hotel. Jet lag is finally catching up with us so we "sit down" and end up napping for two hours. Upon rising, we realize the day is killed so we just hang out in the room a bit before going back to sleep.

Day 2:
Acropolis day and the day we discover the general strike is coming! After breakfast, our really kind concierge informs us that there's going to be a national strike the next day given the economic conditions in Greece. Uggg..we were going to try and head to the islands the next day so this def throws a wrench into our plans. We decide it would be best to get down to the port and figure out when things would be running and where we were going to go before doing anything else. We got onto the subway and made it down there. After a bit of hassling, we book all of our ferries for the week (Piraeus, Santorini, Naxos and back to Piraeus). Comes to find out that the subway workers apparently take siesta or something like that so we had to cab it back to the main part of the city so that we could see the Acropolis. It's hard to explain the magnificence of the Acropolis unless you've been there. I can't urge everyone enough to make sure they go to Greece and spend time in Athens. You won't be disappointed. After some sight seeing and learning that the Acropolis has a million dogs, that like to sun tan, living there we decided it was lunch time. We found another nice Taverna not too far away from where we were that looked up at the ruins and allowed us to sit in the sun. We practiced a little Greek with the waiters and had a lovely meal. After lunch, we walked through the shopping district before heading over to Zeus' monument. Again, another really spectacular site. We go back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before heading out to dinner (there were a few hours in between lunch and dinner!). We found another nice place by the hotel and had a delicious meal. God, Greek food is amazing!

Day 3:
Since it was a strike day, our plans got pretty messed up. We wanted to go to the Archeological museum but apparently they went on strike as well. Arrgg..we ended up doing the hop on hop off bus so that we could see more of the sites and get some of the history behind it all. Before that though, we decided we should also spend some time getting our nails done ;) We found a nice little place and unlike most of Europe it was reasonably priced. The riot police were out and Rachael took a few pics of them marching- which they did not like and basically threatened to make sure she put the camera away. Fast forward and we head back to our neighborhood where a lot of the protests were happening and the concierge told us to avoid, we saw some of the destruction that the protesters caused during the day. It was unreal! They burned things, overturned trash bins, used spray and normal paint to destroy buildings. I don't think I have ever seen anything like that before. What Greece is going through right now is really sad and you can feel the pressure and despair in the air.

Day 4:
Off to Santorini! We had to wake up at the crack of dawn because our ferry was at 7am! So we got up and walked over to the port and got onto the boat and almost immediately fell back asleep. We had a decently long ride ahead of us and it was WINDY as all hell so the more we slept, the better! We arrived around noon and got into a taxi so that we could go to the hotel and check in. All went smoothly and Melissa did a nice job in finding us a hotel in Kamari beach called the Rose Bay Hotel. It was really nice as we had a porch of sorts and basically an apartment. Rachael and I decided that we wanted to see the volcano and take a boat ride that afternoon so that's what we did. Stupid me forgot sneakers so I climbed the volcano in reefs- not the best move. Volcano vs Jess, volcano kind of won. Despite the shockingly gusty winds, we climbed to the top and had amazing views of Santorini. We got back onto, what I called our Pirates of the Caribbean sail boat, and went over to the hot springs. We knew jumping into the water before the springs would be chilly but that's a massive understatement. Rachael and I braved it though and went in. You never know how fast you can swim until you are in freezing water like that. Once we got to the hot springs, it was lovely but brrr before that. We continued to cruise around and saw a spectacular sun set while eating some food and drinking wine. We even got a personal lesson on how to Zorba, music and all! The cruise was a lot of fun and am so glad we did it. Anyone thinking of going to Santorini, I highly recommend this Thalassa cruise---well worth the money! So we take the cable car back up- no donkey thank you- and go back to Kamari beach to grab food before going back to the hotel. We made our way into a gyro shop and made friends with the owners. We ended up staying until they closed and went with him and his cousin for a drink. We heard more about how the economy is changing the way of life in Greece and how tough things are for people. We also got our first taste of the Greek's dislike of the Albanian's. Eeeek!

Day 5:
Melissa arrived very early in the morning so the three of us continued to sleep a bit longer ;) After we got up we made our way over to the beach area to get some food. Despite some very strong wind, we had a really nice lunch. A little wine and a bit too much food. Yum! We then went down onto the beach to get some sun. This isn’t a normal beach though- it’s black rocks. Because the sun was reflecting off them it felt like it was the dead of summer in Florida when in reality it was about 70 degrees. We then spent a really nice afternoon sunning ourselves and relaxing before we went to one of the local wineries to see the sunset and try out some local wine. If you have not been to Santorini or not heard about their sunsets, it’s one of the things they are most known for. It really was an amazing site to see!

Day 6:
Another day of laying around on the beach and enjoying being on vacation. After a few hours of hanging around and enjoying the spectacular scenery, we got some lunch at our friends gyro shop before heading to the ferry. We left that afternoon for Naxos which was about two hours away. This island is known for it’s local produce, cheese, wine and just being a beautiful place to be. We got picked up by the dad who runs our hotel and before making to the hotel, we made a quick stop to pick up the oranges for the day. Our hotel room was basically an apartment and had a view of the beach. The family who ran the hotel could not have been more gracious and kind to us if they tried. At dinner, at their taverna, one of the brothers came over to chat with us. I am not sure if it was to see for himself how 3 girls could eat/drink so much or was just intrigued by 3 girls being on vacation and staying at their hotel. Melissa then made one of the funniest comments which then was followed by her saying how what she did was very similar to things her mom does J She said to the guy, “hey, there’s 3 of us girls and 4 of you and your brothers”. response, “alrighty then” HAHAHAHA. Nick then offered to drive us into town to go out for a bit while he went to visit a friend. Another bottle of wine later, we came back to the hotel to go to sleep. Quite a long day!

Day 7:
Today was another lay in the sun day and just enjoy the experience. We did as we normally did- sun, rotate, sun, rotate, lunch, sun. It was then time for Melissa to go and Rachael and I to head to the ferry to head back to Athens. You should have seen this airport. If you blinked, you would have missed it. The kicker was that they called it an international airport- I wanted to ask them if they’ve ever seen MIA or JFK? So, Melissa then was off and Rachael and I made our way to Athens.