Greece

Day 284: Kounali + Milatos Cave

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We drove up to Kounali for lunch at Susan and Jerry’s friends’ restaurant. Best. Moussaka. in all of Greece. You know the food is going to be good when another patron walks up to the waitress at our table to ask for the menu, and she responds “I am the menu!” Friends with Susan and Jerry, the chef came out to greet us, the waitress sat down with us after we were done eating, it was my favorite dining experience in all of Greece. Even if it did include the obligatory shot of raki before Andrew and I walked through an abandoned village, and then down the mountain to Milatos Cave and back to Susan and Jerry’s house.

The village just outside of Kounali was abandoned about twenty years ago, if I remember correctly. Susan and Jerry suggested we walk through it and it was interesting, but mostly because it made me wonder about the families who used to live there. Where are they now? If they wanted, could they come back to this little rock pile and claim it as their own again? Will it ever be inhabited again?

We walked back through Kounali and started to make our way down the mountain to Milatos Cave. Susan and Jerry clocked the walk right around five kilometers. Going down isn’t so bad, but it made me grateful that we didn’t have to climb all the way up to Kounali from Milatos.

The cave was a little daunting at first. There were lights strung up inside, but they weren’t working and it was pitch black looking in. I saw a scary movie as a kid involving a cave. I can’t remember what it was, but the cave bit has always stuck with me. Creepy. Needless to say, I pretty much clung to Andrew’s back while he led the way towards the light. Literally, as there was another opening through the cave, along the edge of the mountainside where the altar had been built. You can read about the history of the cave here, if you’d like.

We didn’t linger long, be being afraid creepy people were going to come out of the darkness and grab me and all. We made our way back down to Milatos slowly, stopping at times to admire the view, or watch the mountain goats nibble on their cliffside dinner.

Day 283: Milatos

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Waking up in friends’ (new friends at that) home after two nights spent in a hostel was a delight. We lounged. We drank drip coffee. We went for a walk around town. We ate a late lunch outside. We went for another walk. We sat by the sea. We went to a cafe and sipped on Mithos and downed an obligatory shot of raki before we went back ‘home’ to watch a movie. It was everything I envisioned a day in a little Greek village to be.

Day 282: Knossos

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Knossos, also known as the oldest city in Europe was the center of Minoan civilization during the Bronze Age. In other words, it’s super old and it’s the thing to see when you visit Crete. I’m not super familiar with the Minoan civilization other than it being responsible for the two early writing systems, Linear A and Linear B. Arthur Evans was the archeologist responsible for the discovery, the excavation, and the partial restoration of the palace. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t really expecting what we saw. I shouldn’t have been surprised there was so little… but in a way, I was. It was a bit like going to see The Temple of Artemus in Turkey. We saw, we took a picture, we left. That’s probably not fair to Knossos as there is a lot more to see than just one remaining column (as there is at The Temple of Artemus). We walked around for about an hour, perhaps more than that. I found the restored artwork the most impressive part of the entire palace.

Another impressive detail of the palace were the many levels. If I caught myself looking at the stairs at a certain angle, I liked to imagine it used to be an Escherian stairwell back in the day of the Bronze Age.

According to Greek mythology (I had to look this story up), Minos was the King who lived at Knossos. He had a labyrinth constructed for his son, the Minotaur. Maybe you’re wondering how Minos came to have a minotaur for a son. Let’s back up. Minos received a bull from Poseidon that he was supposed to sacrifice to honor the god in order to keep his power as king, not giving it up to his brothers. Unfortunately, Minos kept the white bull, and instead sacrificed another less pretty bull of his own. As punishment, Aphrodite made Minos wife fall in love with the bull that Minos didn’t sacrifice. His wife figured out how she could mate with the bull, and subsequently gave birth to a minotaur. Crazy, right?  The minotaur grew ferocious and ate men instead of other traditional food. Obviously this was a threat, so Minos had gigantic labyrinth constructed to hold the Minotaur (in or near Knossos). It’s said that Theseus (a prince from Athens) killed the minotaur with the double axe out of love, I think for Minos’ daughter.

There were a few double axes visible at Knossos, coincidentally the double axe is labrys in Greek. Which is, if you haven’t figured it out, it’s part of the world ‘labyrinth.’ I think that sums some of the mythology behind Knossos up. If it doesn’t, please ask Google. It’s interesting to compare the mythology to the actual ruins that are there today. There were so many stories within this palace and it was a bit maze-like. You would go up stairs and around a corner and be at a different level unable to get to the level just below you. This image below was the King’s room. There was a line to walk past and take a quick picture. Not a lot of explanation was given on the site, unless you had a guide with you. We were approached by one guide, asking us if we spoke German.

I’m not exactly sure how much is the reconstructed bits from Arthur Evans and how much was standing upon excavation. Either way, I appreciated what was there for visitors to see.

Since Turkey, and the archeological museum there, Andrew has enjoyed pointing out any and all ‘jugs’ on display. “So many jugs!” he’d exclaim. “Look at those jugs.” he’d wink. “Now those are some big jugs!” he’d nudge me- in the middle of the Istanbul, in Athens, and now in the middle of Knossos.

I gave up trying to be the mature, responsible one and asked if he wanted to take a pictures with those jugs. He rolled his eyes, like I was sooo immature, and then posed with a big smile.

The stairway to the sky was my favorite. Where did it once go? Anywhere? Nowhere?

The very first picture of this post is a close-up of the picture below. It’s restored, but you can see the original pieces of it are raised up from the background. I thought it was simply incredible. How did they know this was what it looked like? What if this is not it at all and they have fooled everyone? Regardless I fell in love with the design aesthetic. I tried to take a few more images of other pieces, but the glare on the glass on some was too much and it took away from the paintings themselves.

And then we were finished. We made our way out of Knossos and headed back to Heraklion to catch another bus to Milatos, where we would meet Andrew’s sister’s friend and husband who have retired there. Both well traveled, they knew how to make us feel at home and immediately took us down to one of their favorite cafes right alongside the sea. When the water got a little rough, the waitress, and their friend informed us that “the shower was for free.”

Day 281: The Fortezza of Rethymno

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The Fortezza of Rethymno is basically an old Venetian fortress. Its construction dates back to 1573, and then the Ottomans took over, and it was inhabited. A lot of the houses were destroyed during the war, and very little, aside from a small church and a much larger mosque with a couple of other buildings remain. It’s a short walk through the Venetian quarter, through the pretty streets (and sometimes past cute windows like the one below) up to the fortress on the hill above.

It’s fairly desolate within the walls of the fortress and there is so little that actually remains it makes you wonder just how big and grand it must have been when it was inhabited. I joked with Andrew that the large mosque built right next to the little church reminded me of North Korea building a taller flag pole across the DMZ from South Korea’s flag pole. We battled the wind throughout, and took multiple stops to simply admire the view of the beautiful sea below.

After the fortress, we found the most amazing gyro restaurant. Only Cretans seemed to be eating there and when the cook took our order in the most curt way, we knew we picked the right restaurant. The menu wasn’t in seven different languages. There wasn’t a sign in Russian. We were lucky there was English on the menu, but if you know us by now, you know that wouldn’t have stopped us from ordering a few different things to try even if it was us pointing to something in Greek without a clue what it was. What I won’t eat, Andrew will, so it’s a win/win for us both. We lingered, not wanting to be in the sun anymore, and had a few Mythos instead of strolling around more jewelry shops and squeezing through groups of tourists. After nine months of summer, I’ve begun to realize the importance of winter, and just like most of the Cretans, we snuck inside to rest- with another Game of Thrones episode of course.

Later that night, our favorite older hostel roommate returned to our room, promptly took off his shirt, and asked us where we were from.

“America?” he asked. “Aren’t you afraid to walk on the streets?” Confused, obviously, I asked him why would I be afraid.

“Because of all of the shooting. Everyone has guns in America. Isn’t it true?” I stopped myself from rolling my eyes, and instead we both gently laughed and informed him that not everyone has guns and that we aren’t afraid to walk around our country at all… Andrew and I were both answering at the same time, when suddenly he got rather indignant about Andrew’s grammar. Who knows if Andrew was right or wrong, as it’s more likely the older Dutchman misheard us speaking at the same time.

“You said much. It is many. I don’t think you are really American. You said much and it is many.” He wouldn’t let it go. Andrew was barely paying attention having signed out of the conversation after the gun debacle. The Dutchman kept repeating himself, waiting for Andrew to respond, to the point where I had to nudge Andrew and tell him of his poor grammar.

To which Andrew responded, “I AM American and I’m an English teacher, too!”

I was intrigued by the entire exchange, wondering if this was going to be our first face to face anti-American encounter of our entire trip. I was also intrigued from an English teacher’s point of view and from a traveler of nine months that anyone who speaks English as a second language would feel the need to point out someone else’s simple grammar mistake (one that Andrew probably didn’t even make in the first place).

It was so strange… and it didn’t stop there.

“You can go outside and work outside. Beds are for sleeping.” He said, looking at our open computers. We had been checking emails before watching another Game of Thrones episode (don’t judge) in bed before going to sleep. Until his arrival, we were the only ones in the room. We had headphones out. Watching a movie or an episode of tv in a dorm room this way has never been an issue. Granted, our bunkmates have always been under the age of thirty. Another girl came in at this point and ducked down so I could see her rolling her eyes after having heard him.

“Well, this is a dorm room, and you have your bed, and I have mine. I don’t want to go outside to be on my computer, I want to be here, in the bed that I am paying for, just like you are paying for your bed.” I said, in my most polite voice, you know, that kind of polite that probably won’t last long…

“But you are not sleeping, and that is what beds are for. Go outside on your computer.” He repeated himself.

“And dorms are also for keeping our clothes on, but you aren’t doing that, so it’s ok for me to be in my bed without sleeping.” I said, as Andrew slid his hand over to squeeze my leg. “If it’s a problem, there are four empty beds on the other side of the room, you can sleep there!” I tried again, to be polite. My new friend ducked down so I could see her and rolled her eyes again.

“Is there a problem?” She stepped in, demanding in French in the same I’ll-try-to-be-polite-to-you kinda voice. I could have kissed her. She motioned to the other beds and told him he could sleep there, but he seemed to let it go quickly thereafter. She motioned to me that he was crazy when he wasn’t looking. Andrew moved to the bed in between me and the Dutchman. We plugged our headphones in. Our new friend said goodbye to us before she left and throughout the rest of the night, others came in, opening up their computers to check their email before they went to sleep.

I like dorms. I like guesthouses that offer budget options. If I’m not sleeping in the dorms or even tents sometimes set up outside, it’s a great way to meet people and if nothing else, have a good story to share later on – be it good or bad. I also like the occasional night in a dorm because it makes me appreciate having our own room oh so much more.

Day 280: a morning in Chania, an afternoon in Rethymno

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Because half of the shops were closed on Sunday, I wanted to hit the market in Chania in the morning before we left for Rethymno in the afternoon. I shouldn’t have been, but still was surprised by how touristy the market was. After living in Korea for so long, and photographing the many (many, many) markets in Seoul, I’ve realized my preferred ‘local market’ experience is far from the typical tourists’ preferred experience. If I’m not jumping over puddles of murky fish water, walking past pigs’ heads, and getting elbowed around every turn by older patrons annoyed that anyone -let alone one with a camera should interfere with their daily errands it feels a bit disingenuous. A few shops weren’t as touristy as others, but only a few. Nearly all of the others sold boxed olive oil or raki gift sets for tourists to take home to their loved ones. Unfortunately, glass and alcohol aren’t so easy to travel with and my loved ones will be spared of any and all raki shots in the future. (This is a good thing, I promise.)

We wandered around Chania before our bus for Rethymno. Amazed at the remnants of an older city, like you can see here in this random archway half demolished tucked behind some shops on a pedestrian street. I also liked how many shops or even studios had open doors so you could peek inside a bit to see what was going on. Some were tailors, some were artists, framers, I lusted after their studio spaces and reminded Andrew that one day I will have my own… And then there was the graffiti. We may have escaped it on Santorini, but not on Crete…

Wandering around Rethymno (the last picture above) in the afternoon felt very similar to Chania. The Venetian quarter was full of little alleyways and mostly pedestrian filled streets in between shops. Mostly jewelry shops. Lots and lots and lots of jewelry shops. It was nice to wander, as it always is, but it didn’t seem to be as unique as I thought it would be in comparison to Chania.

Both cities were surprisingly expensive as well, especially compared to Santorini. A private room was nearly double in price, so we thought we’d be responsible ’round the world’ travelers and check out the youth hostel instead. ‘Youth’ was a relative term because it seemed half of the guests were old- like really old- men. At first we thought it wouldn’t be so bad, because despite it being a nine bunk dorm (Yes, you heard me. NINE BUNKS. Eighteen beds) it looked as if only four people were sleeping in the room. We turned in early to watch an episode of Game of Thrones and had the room to ourselves, when not ten minutes later, one of the 70+ year old men walked in. He took off his shirt and climbed into the bottom bunk less than eight inches away from mine and promptly laid down facing our- my direction.

Of course. Out of the seventeen other beds in the room, he had to pick the bed next to mine to sleep in. Andrew, being the gentleman he is, promptly asked if I wanted to switch beds and took one for the team sometimes facing him throughout the night.

Day 279: Chania

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Chania on a Sunday is quiet. Tourists are certainly milling about the second largest town on Crete, but many shops and cafes are closed and not as many people are working or are out running errands. It’s peaceful and calm, perfect for a stroll- especially after crowded Fira on Santorini. We walked along the water’s edge. We sat on a bench hoping we weren’t getting sunburned too badly. We ducked in expensive boutiques. We ducked back out when we saw the prices. We stopped for tzatziki (cucumber and yogurt dip). We wandered. We enjoyed the quiet town and appreciated the lack of hustle before the sun got the best of us (got the best of me) and we made our way back to our hotel just outside of town.

All of the restaurant touts tried, as expected, to get us into their restaurant. One cafe had a sign that proudly declared “No blah blah, just good food!” and then the waiter tried to get us to stop.

“But your sign says no blah blah!” I told him, and he laughed.

“Yes, I wondered why you stopped at that last restaurant… what is wrong with you? Take a look at my fish!” He told us.

The cafes in the back streets were my favorite.

They weren’t crowded, sometimes completely empty. More relaxed than the more obvious touristy restaurants on the waterfront. I especially loved this outdoor cafe decorated with old wooden doors. I have a weakness for old windows and doors. I blame the summer I studied in the south of France and the semester I spent in Italy. Old European doors are so full of character, it’s hard not to love them, isn’t it?

There were buildings in the old part of town that have not survived the wars, or maybe just time on an island when many younger generations have started going towards the mainland for education and careers. We’ve been told that properties stay within the family- so if the family leaves, the property likely stays in the family, but goes unused and sometimes forgotten.

Throughout our snack, we watched a family of four eat their lunch. They had two young girls, ages about five and two I’m guessing. They were not a fan of the cat that would come by waiting for some food to fall. The younger girl would yell at the cat until she saw others watching her amused and get really shy. The older girl would sometimes get up from her table and stomp her foot until the cat would run away. At first I thought they were Greek, but their aversion to cats it would seem would not make them Greek at all. As there are cats everywhere and sometimes if you’re paying attention there are little bowls of food set out for them.

There is also the occasional octopus or squid hanging out to dry.

I was proud of myself for getting the blog all caught up on Santorini. But I was also a little frustrated with myself for having spent so many mornings and evenings on my computer instead of relaxing and enjoying our time on Santorini even more than I already was enjoying it. As we get closer and closer to coming “home” we get more and more anxious about moving to a new city, and not having a job lined up, and of course, our savings dwindling down making this trip happen.

It’s been hard for us to strike a balance preparing ourselves (me blogging and working on my portfolio, and us both looking up neighborhoods in Brooklyn, sending out emails about possible jobs and/or connections, etc. etc.) and really enjoying the trip at the same time. We made some rules for ourselves to cut down on computer and internet time. We also started watching the most recent season of Game of Thrones. Which is partly why you haven’t heard from me this past week. But nearly a week more on Crete and then back on mainland Europe for the foreseeable future!

Day 278: Santorini to Crete

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Again, we put off leaving when we should have and opted to lounge by the pool instead. Taxis on Santorini are overpriced. But so are the buses, at least if we paid more than we should for a taxi we’d be able to swim and lounge for two extra hours. So we did, and then we made the long slog from Santorini to Crete, Chania to be specific. What was included in this long slog? One taxi, one ferry, one walk to the bus station, one three hour bus ride and then another taxi to our hotel just outside of Chania. We were greeted with a shot of raki. It’s like taking a shot of soju before crawling into bed. When in Crete…

Day 277: Moussaka on Santorini

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We were supposed to go to Crete today. We’ve been having more and more of these days lately. Days we’re supposed to do something, but then we… don’t. I think it’s a side effect of traveling for so long. Andrew thinks it’s a side effect of Africa, even though we’ve been out of Africa for a month now. We go through phases. Right now, the phase has been to slow. it. down. We were going to do three islands at least, but then knocked it down to two (Santorini and Crete). Crete is a bit bigger than Santorini, and neither of us are looking forward to moving more quickly around the island (sleeping in a different town every couple of days) so I was pretty grateful when Andrew agreed we could stay an extra day in Santorini. And I finally had my first moussaka IN Greece. It was pretty awesome, but to be completely honest, it might not get first place over the gigantic salads and fries with feta that we’ve had on the mainland.

I’m not gonna lie: (as you can tell by the day in a minute above) we didn’t do much. at all. We sat outside our bungalow for breakfast again listening to the sounds of the man next door go through his bathroom routine in the morning. And then it started to rain. The one day that we stay behind to enjoy the beach, and it rains… It didn’t last long, but the cloudy sky did and it’s been pretty cool most of the day.

On our walk back from dinner, we were invited to a beachfront bar that is going to have live music starting at nine. Being on the road is quite different than a two week vacation and we recognized how ridiculous we are when we rattled off our reasons (to each other) why we probably wouldn’t be attending the live performance:

me: Um, doesn’t she know that I’m watching Game of Thrones tonight?

Andrew: Doesn’t she know 8:00 is our be home by time?

me: We’re not on vacation for two weeks, we’re in it for the long haul: our budget doesn’t include expensive drinks on the beach!

Day 276: Sunset over Oia

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We spent some of our day here, being as lazy as we possibly could before having a late lunch and then trekking to Thira by way of the local bus to catch another to Oia.

We were told to arrive to Oia around seven to get a good spot. We were also told that the bus from Perissa to Thira only took thirty minutes. We waited for the bus for twenty minutes, it took at least forty to get to Thira, and we arrived after seven to Oia. Note to self: Next time just rent a motorbike or even a 4-wheeler because it will be cheaper and oh so much more convenient than the Santorini local buses.

Also, had I known that the entire island was going to turn out to see this most beautiful sunset, I just might have stayed home. Because when there are SO MANY PEOPLE around it really takes away from the beauty of something, natural or man-made. Andrew summed it up perfectly when he expressed confusion over how we, having lived in Seoul, surrounded by 10,000 people all. the. time. could get so frustrated with the masses of people we’ve been encountering since we touched down in Istanbul last month.

We wandered. We stopped in out of the way alleys with different views- not always of the sun setting- but without other people sitting on the walls around you or stopping in front of you to take a picture without warning or speaking entirely too loudly.

Daring to go to THE best spot, we weaved our way through the masses and then sat mostly on the far, lower wall where we really couldn’t see much. I snuck down and around to the other wall with the view and had to ask someone if I could step in front of them for a quick picture.

When Andrew came down to join me, it seemed a hundred others did as well, and I think I watched more people watching the sunset or photographing themselves in front of the sunset than I did of the actual… sunset. After handing my camera off to Andrew, we both gave up and walked around town instead. We ended up in a parking lot outside of town that had a few others sitting on the wall, an attempt to escape the masses as well. The sun didn’t exactly set, but more like disappeared into the clouds that had come. Even though we left THE spot early, we didn’t really miss much. It took an hour and a half to navigate the local buses back to Perissa, and then had to walk from the far bus stop back to our hotel. We were both kicking ourselves for not having rented a motorbike, but it was a lesson learned. And if you find yourself on Santorini anytime soon, stay away from the buses and rent your own bike or 4-wheel or even car while you’re here!

Santorini is beautiful. And we were told the sunset over Oia, the northernmost town on Santorini was absolutely a “must-see” during our stay. It was beautiful, I’m assuming so, because I couldn’t exactly see it behind the dozens and dozens of others who had come out to see the sun drop. Luckily, I could hand my camera over to Andrew who stand behind others and take a good photo when I couldn’t see and/or reach over them.

Day 275: The Red Beach on Santorini

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The Red Beach on Santorini is definitely a sight to see, walk along, or camp out for a little while. We drove our motorbike there in the morning and while we agreed, the beach itself isn’t exactly red… The volcanic red rock cliffs behind the beach put it in the running for most impressive beach I’ve ever been on. The water is so blue as well that it really is quite striking to see against the red rocks.

I was crazy about these random doors in the cliffs. So mysterious. I mean, who put them there, and when were they put there? Is there a house behind those doors? A secret passage leading to a magical land? Why wasn’t everyone else taking pictures of the doors and wondering what their purpose was?

We walked the length of the beach. We sat and watched the waves break and people passing by. Andrew rattled off a list of our friends, and then asked me which one I would eat first if the situation became dire. I’m not allowed to divulge who he named. I am allowed to divulge that I opted for one of the dudes, you know, because there’s probably more meat on their bones and maybe we could survive longer. These are the conversations we have after traveling together for as long as we have.

The water was cold. Too cold for me to get in further than my ankles. I had more fun bouncing around on the seaweed on the beach than I did in the water anyway. Some of the beach was sandy, a dark almost black sand like we have on our end of the island on Perissa. Some of the beach had smooth red rocks and when the tide would go far enough out, you could hear this little waterfall of rocks falling back into the sea that was quite beautiful to listen to.

Day 274: Thira, Pyrgos, and Firostefani

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It’s our nine month trip-aversary! We started our day off with a bowl of cereal and Greek coffee outside of our little bungalow in Perissa and then booked a motorbike for the day to explore the island. We started off in Thira (also known as Fira), tried desperately to be patient with the passengers of the three cruise ships that arrived right around the same time we did, had Mexican for lunch at a restaurant owned by a fellow American (Colorado) before heading to Pyrgos and Firostefani, and then headed back down to Perissa. I had no idea Santorini was so big and that there were different towns on the island. I always thought it was just… one big town on one small island. Wrong. There are fields in between towns and hills and even though it can take about an hour to drive from one end to the other, sometimes the island is so narrow you can see the sea on either side of you. It’s just as beautiful as it is in all of the pictures, and just as romantic as you expect it to be, that is, once you flee the cruise ship passengers shopping for their one of a kind Swarovski Santorini souvenir. (Now, say that a few times fast!)

We were told at dinner the other night that we have arrived before all of the other tourists. It’s right on the cusp of high season here on Santorini, and after two nights of being the only ones in the restaurant, we were enjoying the peaceful environs. And then, we arrived to Thira just after noon, and had to weave in and out of big (HUGE) tour groups following their poor leader waving a flag around, trying simultaneously to do a head count. Again, I could tell it was bothering Andrew and taking away from the beauty of the seaside town, so we left the crowded shop filled streets and headed for calmer and much quieter back alleys. These seemed to weave in and around hotels and guesthouses dotted with a few restaurants. Not many tourists cogged the little lanes and we were able to wander for the most part and really appreciate the beauty of Thira.

We could have explored more of Thira, but I didn’t want to get frustrated with the masses of people, so instead, we opted to check out a Mexican restaurant down the road, on the edge of Pyrgos. I know, I know, we should be eating Greek food while we’re in Greece. But you cannot underestimate the power of good Americanized Mexican food if you haven’t had any in a long, long while. It was expensive. But it was hands down the best Mexican (or attempt of) we’ve had on this trip. The owner is from Colorado and wasn’t surprised when we told her we hadn’t lived in America for awhile. She told us that Americans who visit Santorini these days are either “working in Dubai or stationed in Germany.” She seemed anxious for the American economy to get back on track so she would have more American customers.

We hopped back on our bike (this time Andrew let me drive) and headed to Pyrgos. It was empty. There were only a fraction of tourists milling about and for the most part we were on our own wandering through the quiet town. There were so many churches, I wondered how many priests live on the island and how often each of the churches are open. Do they take turns? Does everyone follow a specific calendar for when to go to each different church? Or is each church open to a specific and small congregation?

Some of the stairways led up and we always climbed them, wondering where they went. Most of the time we found ourselves on top of the churches or other houses of the little town. It was like an entirely different kind of open air city up on the rooftops. Andrew went exploring. I photographed the rooftops and wondered if and when we would get in trouble for wandering around above the city.

I couldn’t stop photographing this beautiful little town, so I’m just going to let the photos speak for themselves.

Afterwards, we were going to venture out to Oia, a town on the northernmost tip of the island famous for the best sunset view on the island. We were about halfway there and then realized how long it would take to get home in the dark- without jackets or pants. We decided to stop off at Firostefani instead and meandered around. Firostefani was more along the lines of Thira than Pyrgos and full of restaurants and what looked like fancy hotels. Happier with our visit to Pyrgos, we didn’t stay long and instead headed back towards Perissa to sit near the pool before it was too cool to stay outside barefoot.

Day 273: Perissa, Santorini

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We haven’t had many “We’re not going to do anything today” kinda days on this trip. We had a few in Turkey, but only one of them was by choice (the others due to the week we spent waiting for Andrew’s bag). These days are the most fun to have when we’re staying at a hotel with a pool, and even if we don’t take a dip in the pool, we can at least sit by it all day long. Which is pretty much exactly what we did in Perissa, on the southern side of Santorini. That is, until we got hungry, and went for a walk in search of good Greek food.

Day 272: Athens to Santorini

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We woke up at five to pack up, walk to the metro, take the metro to the dock, buy ferry tickets and board before our departure from Athens to Santorini at 7:25 AM. It was advised to get Economy tickets and sit in any free seats until you got kicked out by someone who paid for a specific seat on the ferry. Luckily, we never got kicked out of our seats and despite a noisy Greek mother and son, the ferry ride was rather painless! It was probably the biggest boat I’ve ever been on and to someone who has never been on a cruise ship, I was amazed that there was a coffee shop, a fast food restaurant, sleeping cabins, and airline like seating. We went out to see the ferry landing at Naxos and then again to see part of Santorini before we had to get ready to dock and get off the ferry. It was beautiful and so much better than any plane ride would have been!

Day 271: The Acropolis and more

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Another walking tour. This time from the “start.” I say “start” because we walked there. We walk everywhere. So, we started the walking tour off by sitting down, with a Nescafe frappe for me. It wasn’t as good as the one in Thessaloniki, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and then, we started walking. First through Syntagma Square, past the Parliament building, through the gardens, to the old stadium, then back around to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and finally, to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. It was a long, yet very awesome day. One of those days that makes all of the 12 hour bus rides worth it. One of those days that makes missing nachos and cheese coneys worth it. One of those days that makes not being as connected with old friends worth it. It was one of those days where I didn’t think about how I’m spending all of my money and I don’t have a job or an apartment or leads for either when we get back. It was one of those days where I was reminded that I’m continuing to make my dream of traveling around the world come true, and recognizing how fortunate I am to have somebody so wonderful to share it with.

Now I’ve come to value these days even more than I normally would because as the trip is over the halfway point, I have found myself sometimes getting caught up in negative feelings of how expensive this trip can be. How hard some of these long bus rides can be. How difficult it is to have a reasonable sleeping schedule when we’re sleeping in different places every other night. And how maybe everyone who thinks we are crazy for doing this trip just might be right. Sometimes I panic a bit about about being in my 30’s (barely) and how I don’t have a job, let alone a career, or everything else that is expected of someone my age. I even find myself getting frustrated over the lack of South Korean internet speeds in other countries around the world and falling behind on the blog. Sometimes, (aside from Andrew and the much appreciated almost daily emails from my cousin, Amy) maintaining the blog is the only “normal” I have of this trip.  It helps me process everything I’m seeing and motivates me to take pictures and videos and be creative even when I don’t feel like it. But, it can be a bit of a bubble at the same time. Having recently met up with Josh and Leanne, I was relieved when they said could relate to not always knowing what was going on in friends’ lives because of this trip. Everyone knows what’s going on with us and our trip because of our blogs, but that doesn’t mean we know what’s going on with them… with YOU! SO, as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Well, I’m taking a page out of their book. Comment. Tell me what’s going on with you. And if you do, I’ll send you a Postagram from Greece!

Now, back to our day: After my frappe, and Andrew’s coffee, we went to the Parliament building and ogled the guards and their funny uniforms. My favorite part? Their shoes. Who doesn’t love a good pom-pom?

We walked through the gardens on the way to the first modern Olympic stadium. It was everything I expected it to be. Big. Stone. Flags flying. We took a picture and headed to the Temple of Olympus Zeus. We were both in absolute awe getting closer to the ruins than we were the night before. The columns were gigantic and just knowing how old they were is enough to make you stand… and stare… and gawk at the possibility of how it was created without modern day technology. Later, Andrew told me visiting this site was his favorite part of Greece so far. I readily agreed it was mine, as well. There weren’t so many people around. We felt small and like we really were in the presence of greatness. I felt a little guilty I enjoyed it more than the Parthenon, but as you can see above, I’m not necessarily one to do or like what everyone else does or likes…

Some fun facts: The temple took around 700 years to complete. Hadrian had a statue of himself built right next to that of Zeus. They were the same size. Hadrian was so full of himself. (Ok, maybe that’s not a fact, but my own opinion…) When it was begun in 520 BC it was built in hopes to surpass the Heraion of Samos  and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus- the temple (what’s left of it) that we just saw in Turkey!

The column that has fallen was blown down by a gale of wind in 1852. I’m assuming that it has laid there ever since. Equally incredible is how the column is still impressive in pieces on the ground as it was standing up!

After a lot of lingering around the Temple of Olympian Zeus, we made our way up around the Acropolis and the Parthenon. I didn’t pay too much attention in my Greek Mythology class in college. Big. mistake. So I find myself absolutely clueless about the Greek gods and moreover about the difference between the Acropolis and the Parthenon. So. Let me attempt to explain. The Acropolis is the ancient citadel that contains several buildings, the most famous is the Parthenon- the one specific building that the mess of photos below is of. (Sorry, it was one of those buildings that I felt like I HAD to take a bajillion pictures of. Different angles and vantage points and all that jazz…) The Acropolis (the city-hill) and the Parthenon were constructed by Pericles sometime in the fifth century BC.

The Parthenon is the temple itself. It’s dedicated to the maiden goddess Athena, the goddess of everything. Seriously, you can look it up on Wikipedia. She knows everything. The best story about her, is the story of her birth. If you paid attention in your Greek mythology class, feel free to skip ahead. I read about it in the Acropolis Museum and thought it was awesome. Zeus, her father laid with Metis (goddess of wisdom) but then was afraid the child would be more powerful than himself. So he swallowed her. Unfortunately for Zeus, it was too late and Metis was already with child. I don’t know how much later, but Zeus was suffering from a headache and Prometheus struck an ax into Zeus’s head. Athena then burst out of his head fully grown, and armed.

I overheard another tourist say that was pretty much how her daughter came out and had to chuckle.

Every part of the Parthenon tells a story. There are relief sculptures all around it and there is a recreation of the sculptures in the Acropolis Museum below the Acropolis. It’s a wealth of information. There was even a video that recreated the Parthenon and described how it was destroyed (Persian invasion), then converted into a Church, then a mosque… The worst part of the Parthenon’s history was when a Venetians blew it up and then an Earl, or a Scottish diplomat (whichever title you prefer) removed some of the sculptures. Those sculptures are currently in the British Museum in London. Greece wants them back. But London hasn’t agreed. yet.

I overheard a woman exclaim that to get a picture of the Parthenon without anyone else in it the last time she visited was impossible. She was so surprised not many others were visiting the ancient site. Her guide said our timing was good, usually the cruise ships drop their passengers off at eight in the morning. We were there in the middle of the afternoon, around three.

I got tired of yelling at Andrew to get out of my shot all the time, so now I just take one with him in it. I’ve even started tagging the images on Instagram #andrewlookingatthings. Obviously he loves this idea. He says he doesn’t. But we all know he secretly does.

Day 270: Athens

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Greece has been one of those countries that has been on my list for awhile now. I tried to go when I lived in Prague, it didn’t work out. I looked up flights from Seoul, they were too expensive. It was one of the first countries on the “Round the World” list that I was not going to cross out no matter what. While Thessaloniki was nice, it didn’t really feel like we arrived in Greece until we were walking the streets of Athens this afternoon. Don’t tell Thessaloniki.

We arrived super early and even though we could walk from the station to our hotel, Andrew knew it wasn’t in the best part of town. Taxi drivers were telling us the three minute ride would cost us 10-15 euro. We took the metro, and probably ended up walking farther from the metro stop than we would have had we just walked from the station at dawn. Despite it being a “bad part of town” I wasn’t phased after some of the stops on this trip. It seemed quiet when we walked to our hotel before six. I was also looking forward to immediately crashing, as we were told we would be able to the night before. Unfortunately the attendant on duty did not seem to think this was possible and we had to wait. I had unintentionally stepped in pee on our way. So there we sat in the lobby, me smelling like pee, trying not to fall asleep until we were able to check into our room. An hour later, the shift changed and we were able to get a room, at least for the morning to shower and sleep.

By early afternoon, we were walking back out of our hotel, ready to hit the town. I still wasn’t thinking the part of town we were in was that bad until a man walked by with blood dripping down his face. Andrew was a few meters ahead (per usual) and I almost chuckled when I saw Andrew notice and react to the dude’s bloody face. Meanwhile, the dude seemed oblivious to the fact that blood was dripping down his face and continued to walk down the street, checking a message on his phone at the same time. It was like he was an extra in a television or film shoot and had fifteen minutes to go get a coffee or something. Only there wasn’t a set around. What might be more troubling about this encounter is how remarkably not phased we were. We just exchanged a look like “Did you see that?” and kept walking.

Our first stop was Monastiraki. It’s known as the ‘flea market’ neighborhood of Athens. Unfortunately it seemed as though tourist shops selling the same selection of trinkets had taken over the area and we were nonplussed. Andrew had a Lonely Planet walking tour on his phone, but the subway stop where the tour began was closed for the day, so we were more or less working our way backwards of the tour. Haphazardly working our way backwards as the tour quickly unfolded into a meandering of sorts.

Athens seems to be covered with just as much graffiti as Thessaloniki was. I kept getting distracted by the quality (in my opinion) street art mixed in.

As we were walking, looking for a church we thought we were near, a chef stopped to help point us in (what he thought) was the right direction. Then he came back up to us to ask where we were from. After we told him we were American, he informed us that he was from Pakistan. He had a few words for us about our country’s involvement in Pakistan and our media’s response to the American involvement in his country. English obviously not being his first language, I’m not quite sure what his message was. But he tried really hard to deliver it to us, and we listened, because it seemed important to him. We didn’t even comment or give a response when he felt he was finished. He thanked us for listening and then turned and walked away.

We continued walking and I couldn’t help but be intrigued and a little bit proud? of the interaction. Before I lived abroad, and probably before we started this trip, I was always quicker to talk. To make sure someone else knew my opinion about something. Andrew will tease me that I still am… But now, especially I think, with those from another country I’m quicker to listen.

A few stairways later, we found ourselves in the middle of an Anafi community of houses. It was like we had been suddenly transported to an island, not at all as though we were a short walk away from downtown Athens. Signs pointed up to the Acropolis, but all you could see was the wall and all you could hear were the birds and one older man watering his rooftop garden. It was serene and absolutely beautiful.

We walked down to the more traveled touristy roads and out towards the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

It was closed, but we could still sneak a picture through the gate. And a snapshot of another Hadrian’s Gate. We made our way back the way we came and stopped off to get a huge Greek salad (YUM), feta fries (YUM), and a gyro (YUM). As if that wasn’t enough, when we stopped at a bakery on our way ‘home’ the chef behind the counter laughed at me making fun of Andrew not being able to decide what to get. Then he came around to our side to hand us some little treats on the house.

Day 269: Thessaloniki, a walking tour

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Success is waking up before the front desk calls you to make sure you don’t miss breakfast. Success might not be drinking an Amstel after breakfast because leaving it behind in your hotel room refrigerator would be wasteful.

We began our walking tour from the post office (an expensive adventure I’ve finally come to terms with), making our way to the furthest point where the Lonely Planet walking tour began.

“Don’t look to your right.” Andrew demanded, as he held up his hands to shield my view.

“Is it on the walking tour?” I asked, already trying to look.

“Yes! Don’t look!” He insisted.

We made our way up the hill to the Kastra, basically a fortification of the city in ancient times. It provided an exceptional view of the city, and the sea below. There were a few chambers inside that you could climb up and read about the history of the walls and entrances. One room featured a lock and pulley gate system that would trap unwanted visitors below. The same room also had a couple “murder holes” which they would pour boiling water on the captors below. Andrew declared he would like a few murder holes of his own just so he can be like “Yea, this is my murder hole.”

We walked to a monastery, and then to a couple of churches. One monastery had a huge cage of peacocks outside. I counted at least thirty. I recognized their wails before we knew what kind of bird they were. Andrew rolled his eyes, but I was proud of myself and told him of my Grandmother’s neighbors who had a few peacocks when I was growing up. Aside from the outdoor cage of peacocks, everything else was closed.

To be fair, Lonely Planet advised to start the tour at nine. We started it at two.

 

We were able to go into The Church of Hagios Demetrios and walk through the crypt that was surprisingly not creepy at all. It’s pretty impressive, but what struck me more was the idea of a time when Christianity was illegal and its followers worshipped underground (in the crypt) in secret. Every Friday you can partake in a mass in the crypt at the church to get a feel for what those times would have been like. I expected it to be dark and a little bit morbid, but it was well lit and comforting in a way. More comforting than what seemed cold in comparison upstairs.

Then, not on the tour, but along the way was an old building that was either a mosque or a building that accompanied the mosque. (The security guard didn’t speak English and our Greek isn’t exactly up to par.) It was rather beautiful nonetheless and somewhat surprising that it stood in pretty good condition, but not being used, or so it seemed to us.

By the time we made it down to the same point where Andrew previously insisted I couldn’t look, I was tired. Cobblestoned hills, flip-flops, and a bum ankle don’t exactly go together and I was ready to sit down. And so we did, first for a snack that ended up being one of the more epic salads (aside from another pretty great one in India) of this trip and then later for a Greek coffee. I saw them everywhere during our walking tour. Glasses of what I expected to be foamy coffee goodness. It was just as good as I expected it to be.

And with a seemingly amazing combination of sugar and caffeine, it has kept me awake until now, 2:53 am, typing away on our overnight train to Athens. I may as well stay up until we arrive in the Greek capital in two short hours. What is it with these overnight buses and trains keeping all of the lights on during the night though? Why hasn’t someone introduced night-lights to these overnighters? Is it so no one misses their stop? The Turkish buses had attendants with everyone’s departure written down and they seemed to personally warn you when it was your turn to jump ship, er, bus. I guess the trains are too big to deal with that, at least in our class it was.

Day 268: Plans are a changin’

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Today turned into one of those days we tried to decide where we are going to be in Europe, and when. It wasn’t easy. I spent a couple hours educating myself on the Balkan countries. Andrew spent a couple of hours looking up flights to South America. We debated. We argued. We attempted to compromise. I edited down. Andrew looked at flights from Prague to Barcleona. From Prague to Paris. From London to Barcelona. From Germany to Cuba. The possibilities are endless. Somewhat.

It’s exciting, but sometimes a little bit daunting. We’re still not sure what exactly we’re going to do with our time in Europe, nor what we’ll be able to do with the last few months of our trip in South/Central America. Hopefully it will be just as much of an adventure as the past nine have already proven to be.

In desperate need of food and fresh air, we finally put the computers, calendars, and notes away. We made it out of our hotel late in the afternoon for a walk around a really quiet town. It was as if everything was shut down permanently, or closed for the evening by four o’clock. Also: everything, and I mean EVERYTHING continued to be covered in graffiti. Except most of the historical sites- which obviously provided a stark contrast to the modern apartment buildings surrounding something so ancient. So these additional pictures, and the second video of graffiti around the town is just to emphasize simply how abundant it is. Also, with everything being closed down- it seemed a more interesting subject matter compared to the closed- and sometimes chained shut doors.

Day 267: Istanbul to Thessaloniki

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If I had a dollar for every 12-hour bus-ride, I probably wouldn’t be over budget at the moment! I exaggerate. But here we were again, this time from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, and this time our drivers liked to smoke on the bus. It wasn’t so bad though and we actually arrived to Thessaloniki two hours earlier than we thought we would. By dusk, we were debating between the hotel with the mental institution-like room or the hotel with the nicer room with breakfast for 10 euros more. After we agreed on the nicer room, and then went out for dinner and noticed the crazy amount of graffiti on EVERYTHING. Fortunately, a few pieces of street art stood out on our walk home.