Greece

With only one day between ports and trying to juggle class, readings, papers, journaling, travel planning and catching up on sleep, life on the ship is getting pretty hectic. I’ll try to capture what I did in Greece before landing in Istanbul but we’ll see how that goes.Personally, Greece marks an important point of this trip in a few ways. First, it’s probably the country that I was most excited for. I’ve heard so much about the beauty of the Greek islands, the party scene, and of course the world-famous historical sites. It’s also the last country I’ll be visiting that I’m at least somewhat familiar with. Many of us have noticed the general trend as we travel East through the Mediterranean: the languages become increasingly foreign to our ears, the letters begin to take on unfamiliar shapes, and our expectations of the countries become farther and farther from what we actually encounter. When we started out in Spain most of us could make a decent attempt to communicate with locals in their language and navigate through cultural differences without much difficulty. Words sounded at least somewhat similar, we could make sense of menus when we sat down to eat, and even non-verbal gestures usually got the point across. But from here on, as we visit Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, and Morocco, we’ll be leaving behind our familiar Western world. I’ve heard that even the simplest of gestures like nodding your head can mean the opposite in some of these countries. I’m excited to experience a culture shock that I expect will be even greater than what I went through moving from Japan to Hawaii, and again from Hawaii to New York. But enough rambling – I’ll tell you about my experiences in Greece.

Day One

I woke up at 7am feeling like a kid on Christmas morning but to my disappointment, I threw up my window blinds to see tall trees and buildings blocking my first view of the port of Piraeus – a stark difference from scenic Dubrovnik. We met up around 9am to get off the ship, but as friends invited friends our group grew and grew to a cumbersome size, and we spent far too much time waiting around for people to get ready. I’ve learned on this trip that you should never travel with a group of more than six or seven people. We walked through the busy streets stopping at ATMs and banks and then to find the station to pick up our ferry tickets. After the massive group broke apart into a more manageable size, we found the metro and got on a train to Athens to see the stadium used for the recent Olympics in Athens. We arrived to find a massive site that would’ve been impressive had it not been a complete ghost town. No vendors, no tourists – the stadiums and buildings were all locked up. We walked around trying to find something interesting but eventually gave up, and took the train to the market in the center of Athens. Here we finally found what we were looking for. We walked out of the train station and into the busy plaza and stopped dead in our tracks as we looked up and saw the Acropolis, sitting high atop the city. The impressive white columns of the Parthenon was visible even from far away, but the tour of the Acropolis was on the next day; today we would just wander around the market place. We sat down at a restaurant in a crowded alleyway and I ordered a chicken souvlaki and a tall bottle of Mythonos beer. I’ve never been a fan of Greek food in America, but the authentic version is absolutely incredible. Grilled chicken seasoned with paprika laid across a warm pita, with bright red tomatoes and sweet red onions covered in a creamy sauce of yogurt, olive oil and garlic: so, so good. We walked through the touristy shops for a while then took the train back to the ship. We showered, rested, and then hopped on a train back to the market. We walked around for a while looking for a good place to have dinner, and settled on an outside restaurant near the street, with dim lights and live music. Here I tried a moussaka, a traditional Greek dish recommended by a guide book. It looked like lasagna, layered with cheese, eggplant and beef – a bit too creamy and rich for my taste but it was something new. Looking for a bar we settled on a brightly colored lounge that was, strangely enough, completely empty. Luckily we had enough people in our group to make the place lively, and the bartender waited on us as if we were in the VIP section of a club. We had the whole place to ourselves, and had a great time listening to music while drinking tequila and the local specialty ouzo, a licorice-flavored spirit. We took the train back around midnight before the metro closed and made it early back to the ship, since we had an early start the next day for a tour of the Acropolis.

Day Two

Got up at 7am for a ship-organized trip around tourist spots in Athens. I usually avoid the planned trips because they’re overpriced, slow and inflexible, but I figured it would be easier to get around such a big city on a bus than on my own. We first visited the stadium where the first modern Olympics took place in 1869, then drove to the Acropolis. We climbed the long stairs up to the entrance to see the beautiful ancient theater, then through the great columns of the gate to see the world-famous Parthenon. The roof and inside of the structure were completely destroyed and scaffolding covered one side for reconstruction work, but still it was an incredible sight. From the top of the Acropolis we could see Athens reaching out inland as far as the eyes could see. It really is a massive city – according to the guide 4.5 million of the 10 million people in Greece live in the city of Athens. After taking a bunch of pictures at the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena we took the bus to the National Archaeological Museum and saw historical artifacts, kouros, and other statues. We took the bus to the other side of the market and had some free time, so we got some gyros to go and ate at the park. Gyros are one of my favorite things from Greece – they’re a godsend for poor travelers like myself. They’re delicious, satisfying and really cheap; I probably had five during my four days in Greece. Anyway, we quickly saw the Temple of Zeus and got back on the bus to return to the ship. I had half an hour to shower and pack for a two-night trip to the island of Mykonos, which I booked weeks in advance. We took a three-hour ferry ride, stopping at the island of Syros on the way. The sun had set by the time we arrived on the island so we couldn’t see much, but we were all really excited to arrive. Instead of booking an expensive hostel or villa we opted to rough it and share a bungalow at a camping site: a great decision. A guy from Spain picked us up in a van and drove us to the camp twenty minutes away, and we talked to him about our experiences in Cadiz and Seville. A girl with an Australian accent showed us to our bungalow in the dark, and we dropped our stuff off in what was basically a shack with five beds. We got a few bottles of tequila and started off the night in our bungalow with some music, then walked about twenty minutes along the narrow roads towards Paradise Beach while admiring the stars in the sky. We arrived at Paradise Club to learn that just the cover charge was 15 Euros and that drinks were over 10 inside, so we got a few more drinks outside before going in. The inside was beautiful and packed with people. Loud techno music filled the large open area just above the beach, with a huge pool in the center. We were there until about 3am (though apparently you’re supposed to stay till six) and started to walk back. Unfortunately none of us remembered which road led to the campsite and we spent two full hours going back and forth, making our way along dirt roads and rock walls. As tired as I was I couldn’t really feel upset about the situation; the stars were out and we could see the lights across the island. Eventually we found our bungalow at around 5 am, but realized the person with the room key had gotten separated from the rest of us. We ended up popping open the screen window and climbing into our bungalow. The others had wandered onto some beach and fallen asleep on some chairs before finding the place at six in the morning, only to find us all somehow in bed without the key.

Day Three

No one in the bungalow woke until noon. After lying in bed for a while recounting our foggy memories from the night before, we got up and headed to Paraga Beach, which was just a few steps down from our camp site. Everything I’ve heard about the beauty of the beaches on Greek islands is absolutely true; I’ve spent ten years on Maui and still I’ve never seen water so green and clear in my life. Apparently the real partiers don’t get up until the afternoon because the beach was far from crowded. We swam around for a while then sat out on the big rocks protruding from the middle of the water, simply mesmerized. After lying on the sand, we walked back up to the store and had a quick lunch, then walked across the beach out to the rock cliffs extending out into the sea. Then we walked back to the campsite where there was a pool bar overlooking the entire beach and the water. We booked the bungalow with the thought of saving money, yet this lounge looked like it belonged in a five-star hotel. There were beanbags and lounge chairs surrounding the large pool, with a live DJ playing music all day. So we sat down, ordered a beer and just relaxed for hours. My favorite moment in Mykonos might be the moment the DJ switched from European techno to “Kids,” an MGMT song (one of my favorite bands) – I can’t describe how great it is to hear music you love on a random island thousands of miles from home. We went back to our bungalow, showered and took a bus to an actual town. It was exactly as I pictured it: every building is small and roundish, with whitewashed walls complemented by brightly colored doors and window frames. The sun was just starting to set when we sat down at a restaurant not ten steps from the beach, with a row of old-fashioned wind mills lined up on a hill behind us. I had a spaghetti arabbiata, a dish I became familiar with in Italy, which was prepared differently but still amazing. The tourists lined up against the rock wall to see the sunset, so I got up during dinner and walked over to the sand to get a better view. Watching the red sun sink into the sea is another experience I won’t forget. Once it got dark we walked around the narrow streets for a while until we found a liquor store, then bought some cheap (but horrible) champagne, which we took to the pier. There we saw an enormous pelican being led around as tourists snapped photos. We went out to a Scandinavian bar where we hung out, then went upstairs to the dance floor. After spending the rest of the night there I got a late-night gyro then took the bus back to the bungalow to sleep.

Day Four

Reluctantly waking early to check out, we packed up our stuff and got onto a van back to the pier. There we found a massive crowd of kids from the ship, some of them still visibly drunk at 10am. We boarded the ferry and made the long trip back to Piraeus, arriving at around 3. Exhausted and almost out of Euros to spend, I walked back around the port to the ship, stopping once to enjoy my last gyro. After two nights in Mykonos I was desperately in need of sleep, so I dropped all of my stuff in my room and took a nap. I woke in time for dinner and spent the rest of the night catching up on reading and homework.