Greece – The end

 

After 10 days in Greece, our journey had come to an end.  From Hydra, Nisha and I took a short hydrofoil ride back to Athens, and enjoyed one last delicious Greek meal of Gyros and Tzatziki.  We bought some last minute souvenirs and then headed to the airport that evening.  Our flight was not until early the next morning, but taxis from the city out to the airport were absurdly expensive.  To avoid this, we took the last subway out to the airport and slept there.  Many people had the same idea, actually it seemed that the airport was where it’s at, it could have been mistaken for a party there.  After a mostly sleepness night, we flew back to Zurich for another long layover.  We headed into the city once again, browsed the stores including the 3 H&M’s in the span of 2 blocks, decided that we wanted Thai food but settled for Chinese, and then headed back to the airport and napped there.  It was then back to Venice, where I spent the night repacking my bags, and then left the next morning back to the U.S.

Random Bits of Venice Part III

Some of my favorite things….

• Eating Gelato

• Eating Fruit Cups right before I crossed over the Rialto Bridge everyday on the way to work

• The random performers including this woman dancing with her puppet mouse to Jay-Z

• Cute dogs

• Shopping at the various coops after work.  This is where we bought our groceries.

• Our awesome ikea-ed out apartment

• Wandering around, finding new nooks, getting lost in the great city of Venezia!

Greece- Hydra

From Napflion, Nisha and I headed to our last small port town, Hydra, before heading back to the big city of Athens.  There were several obstacles in the way of us getting from Napfilon to Hydra.  Despite all of our advance planning, we weren’t exactly sure how to get from point A to point B.  To make things worse, I was incapacitated by food poisoning, but Nisha saved the day!  We had to take two busses, and a boat to our next destination.  I don’t remember much as I was napping the sick feeling away, but I do recall that the short boat ride to Hydra was super cute.  Throughout our Greek adventures we had been on high capacity ships and smaller hydrofoils, but this was an actual boat.  It was captained by a picturesque leathery tanned old man, with a white grizzled beard, a striped tank top, shorts, and a captains hat.  We nestled into the boat amongst locals and made our way across the water to Hydra, a popular day-trip location from Athens.  I have a thing about walkable cities, so I liked Hydra since no motor vehicles are allowed.  Nisha and I enjoyed dinner and a sunset along the waterfront, and took this day to relax from our grand Greek trip.

Greece - Nafplion

From Olympia we took busses through the countryside past wind turbines to Nafplion, a seaport town.  On the way there we also passed through a city called Argos which evoked memories of my childhood computer-game playing days.  I used to play a game called Wrath of the Gods, and the main character had to overcome various challenges based on greek myths, one of which was located in Argos.  Nafplion was a small town, very relaxed, and we stayed in a cute hotel.

In the evening we headed over to Epidaurus, a world heritage site, with a marvelous theater known for not only holding 15,000 people but also having such amazing acoustics that people in the back row of the theater can still hear the performance perfectly.  Even more amazing, this theater was built in 4 BC, and is still used today to hold performances sans modern audio equipment.

We saw a performance of Electra by Sophocles, click on the link to read a summary of the play (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra_(Sophocles)).  Basically in the past, Electra protected her twin brother Orestes from her murderous mother by sending him away.  The play explores Electra’s emotions about her dead father, and Orestes returning to exact his revenge.  As the play was in Greek, Nisha and I could not understand anything the characters were singing, but the actors were so emotionally charged that the performance was still very beautiful.  It was equally awesome to be sitting in the same theater that ancient Greeks also sat in to watch Greek tragedies.

You know when you’re in a room and one person breaks the silence by coughing, and then everyone else capitalizes on the opportunity to cough as well?  Likewise at Epidaurus, it was hot, sweaty, and we were sitting on cushions. Any readjustment of one’s seated position caused a squeaking sound.  Once one person decided to readjust, the whole theater decided to as well, and with the awesome acoustics of the Epidaurus theater, it temporarily overtook the performance.

Greece - Olympia

I really enjoy watching the modern day Olympics, both summer and winter, so to go to Olympia, the original site of the Olympics and learn more about the history of the games was a thrill for me!

An early wake up and 2 trains down into the Peloponnese Peninsula, and we arrived in Olympia, a one-street wonder of a town.  Our hotel was literally right across from the train station, or hut rather.  Off to the museum and sites!

First of all, in the archaeological museum they had awesome artifacts.  I was particularly enthralled by the abundance of Griffin pieces in the museum. Griffins have the body of a lion, head and wings of an eagle, and were believed to be powerful creatures.  I have so many pictures of all the Griffins I saw.

Second, my absolute favorite part of the Olympia Archaeological site was running in the original Olympic Stadium.  Below I am standing in the Crypt, arched passageway through which the athletes entered the Stadium.  Even though I despise running, like a true nerd, I decided to run the length of the stadium to emulate the foot races held there centuries ago.  While the stadium is nothing more than a oval shaped patch of sand, I got a kick out of lining up at the original marked starting line, and sweating my way across the dirt just like the original olympians!

Standing in the Crypt, mentally preparing for my run

Julia, the Olympian? 

 

The finish line!

Unfortunately, victory was not so sweet.  The wind and dusty field got the best of my camera, and sand got into my lens and burned my motor out.  Not to be deterred on our journey, our last stop was at the Olympia Sports Museum where Nisha and I filled our head with even more knowledge about the Olympic games.

Greece – Crete

From Santorini we boarded a large ship and made our way to Herkalion, Crete.  We walked to our hotel which was a good 45 minutes away through some of the main streets which true to my liking were void of cars, and pedestrian only.  Interestingly enough, the Venetians during their control of Crete built huge city walls around Herkalion.  We passed through these walls right before reaching our hotel. The venetian influences never end!  There was also a little Venice in Mykonos, and Napflion, a city we visited later in our trip also had a Venetian era.

The next morning we headed up to enjoy breakfast on the hotel balcony when Nisha and I felt someone staring at us.  I ignored the feeling at first, as we usually got stared at a lot in Italy and Greece, but then turned my head and saw….Paola, a co-worker of mine from my company in Italy, with her jaw dropped in surprise!  What are the chances of being in the same country, same island, same hotel, and eating breakfast at the same time?  Paola and her boyfriend graciously offered us a ride to Knossos, the island’s famous archeological site, since they were also planning to go there and they had a rental car!

 Outside of Knossos-Nisha, myself, and Paola 

Knossos is thought to be the former political center of the Minoan Civilization.  It was a cool site compared to other ruins we visited in Greece since they rebuilt a lot of site so it looked more than just a bunch of eroded stones.  It left less to the imagination, for better or worse.  There were lots of cool rooms, frescoes, columns, pottery, and structures at the site – explained in detail by our petite but enthusiastic tour guide (who Nisha also later saw shuffling around a few days later in the Athens airport!). 

After Knossos we walked around the city some more, and then headed to the airport to go back to Athens.  My e-ticket was robbed of all of its advanced technology at the ticket counter.  The airline employee pulled out a carbon copy machine and gave me a really antiquated ticket in exchange.  Oh well, as long as it works?

Greece – Santorini

Oh Santorini, my favorite island of the Greek cyclades, where to begin?!? This post has a ton of pictures to demonstrate my love for the place.

1. Santorini is a beautiful archipelago of volcanic islands.  I liked the cool dryish brown but rich soil landscape of the island.  It reminded me of this volcanic island I visited in the Galapagos.  There are also several famous beaches – black, red, and white beach with corresponding sand colors.

1. I loved the way the white-washed houses perched on top and on the side of the island.

 

• Nisha and I woke up super early to walk from Oia along the caldera path and enjoy the sunrise. We stopped at a bakery to grab some our favorite spinach pie spiral pastries.  Even though delicious, this attracted the attention of a dog, and soon another dog, and soon a herd of dogs was following us down the street!  They got excited an rammed into Nisha, injuring her already weak ankle.  We walked around a little more and then got a doctor to wrap up her ankle in Thira.     

1. We stayed at a really cute and cheap hostel in Oia.  Oia as a town is known for its beautiful sunsets, has ton of adorable streets and shops, and lots of picturesque churches.

1. In Thira, the capital of Santorini, there are more touristy shops, but also a cable car down to a port, which Nisha and I took.  To get back up the side of the caldera, we rode donkeys back up the 588 steps.  I was a bit hesitant to ride a donkey, but it was actually really fun!  The donkeys would walk really slow up the steps, and then all the sudden decide to charge up the stairs.  Sometimes they would walk right into walls or stop and eat shrubbery on the side of the path.  They couldn’t seem seem to make up their mind!

• We had to catch our next boat to Crete, but the bus from Oia was running way behind schedule, and we were going to be cutting it close.  As we descended down from the cliff to the port, we could be a boat, and hoped that it wouldn’t depart without us, or else the whole rest of our whole itinerary would be messed up.  We ran off the bus and grabbed our bags to find out that it wasn’t even our boat! Our boat pulled into the port half and hour later.

Greece - Mykonos

I feel like Mykonos and I got off to a bad introduction, so hopefully someday I will return to the Island and it will redeem itself in my eyes.  Nisha and I headed to over to the Athens port where all the ships depart for the various islands.  We boarded a large boat and were on our way!  We didn’t exactly understand the announcements, since Greek sounds like nothing I’ve never heard before, but knew what time we were supposed to arrive at Mykonos.  When the time arrived, we got off the boat and searched for our shuttle to our hostel.  After being constantly accosted for 10 minutes by people trying to get us stay in their hotels while looking for the bus, a girl asked us what were looking for, and we told her we were looking for the Paradise Beach Hotel shuttle.  She yelled at us that we were on the wrong island, and to get back on the boat!  We temporarily panicked and ran back to our boat.  Right after we reboarded, the ship departed, and when we returned to our seats the men sitting next to us laughed.  Apparently, our boat was running behind schedule, and from then on we listened more carefully for the correct announcement.

Finally, we arrived in Mykonos, and caught the shuttle to our hostel.  It was not what I was expecting.  It was a combination sprawling campsite, cheap hostel rooms, and air conditioned hotel rooms.  The cheap hostel rooms were situated right next to the rowdy campsite and were literally pieces of wood put up to form a box, painted white, with two bare-bones beds, and a screen window.  The bathrooms were gross, and there were drunken parties going on at the beach.  The look on Nisha’s face captures my sentiment.

After not being able to sleep well, we ventured to the nearby beach the next morning.  Paradise Beach?  Questionable.  We headed back to the Mykonos port, saw famous Mykonos Pelicans and Windmills, and headed off to the more likable Santorini on a hydrofoil!

Greece- Delphi

To start off our Greece adventure, Nisha and I visited the first of several Greek UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Delphi.  As usual we woke up early in order to ship off to our destination and slept on the way.  We had some trouble finding the bus depot since it was located off the Athens map we had.  Even with the directions the hostel desk worker gave us, we got lost, and the people on the street did not speak any English.  We made it though, and a few hours later we amidst mountains and were in Delphi!

Standing in front of the Treasury of Athens.

Delphi is important as it was the location of the most important oracle in the Greek culture, the place where Apollo was worshipped, and was thought to be the center of the universe.

Greece – Athens

For our first real day in Athens we first visited the National Archaeological Museum in Morning.  There were so many archaeological artifacts from Greek history, it was equally overwhelming and equally awesome.  In the afternoon we visited the famous Acropolis.  Sitting upon a hill in Athens, the Acropolis is composed of a series of impressive temples and ancient structures.  The most famous structure upon the hill is the Parthenon, aka the temple of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and reason.  I’ve always dreamed of seeing the Parthenon, so it was pretty awe-inspiring to stand in front of it. 

During our various time in Athens, Nisha and I also explored the Roman Agora, the Ancient Agora, and walked around the nearby areas of Plaka, Thissio, and Monastiraki which were touristy,but cute and very walkable.

An assortment of photos – starting top left and going clockwise-View of the vast sprawl of Athens, Atop the Acropolis, Nisha in front of the National Museum, and the Theatre of Dionysus

Greece - Beginnings

To cap off our Summer in Italy and since the whole country shuts down while everyone goes on vacation for the month of August, Nisha and I decided to go to Greece for 10 days!  I’ve always been fascinated by mythology and Greek History, and this trip was a perfect complement to my time in Italy.

After a last day at work, we headed to the Venice Airport and were on our way in the wrong direction for an overnight layover in Zurich.  I was very impressed at how easy it was to get from the airport into the city, only a short rail trip, and was once again impressed how nice everyone was when we asked a women for directions.  We then took a tram to the hostel, which of course was really nice.  I hope to return to Switzerland for a real trip sometime as I heard all the hostels and sights are nice.

The next morning we headed back to the airport, and were off to Athens!  We took the rail into the city, which was quite far away, picked up our boat tickets for our island hopping part of our trip, dropped off our bags, and were off to explore!  We grabbed our first greek meal in Plaka, the overly touristy area, and walked around that area a bit before heading back to our hostel.

First picture taken in Greece! 

Our Itinerary for our trip:

• 8/2 - Zurich
• 8/3 – Athens
• 8/4 - Delphi
• 8/5 – Mykonos
• 8/6 – Santorini
• 8/7 – Crete
• 8/8 – Athens
• 8/9 - Olympia
• 8/10 – Nafplion
• 8/11 – Hydra
• 8/12 – Athens
• 8/13 - Zurich