Spring Break 2011 started out as any other spring break--spending the night in the Paris airport with Sandy and Adrianna for a 7am flight, getting to Greece with no means of communication with Lea, and staying in an apartment in the middle of Athens. Typical times. No, I kid. I know that this spring break started and ended unlike any other break I've had in my life.
We spent the first 4 days in Athens, seeing some really old stuff like the Parthenon and Zeus' temple, drinking Ouzo and doing some shopping in the flea markets. It was wonderful having an apartment free of charge thanks to Lea, and not to mention having someone who is fluent in Greek to help us out. Lea, we owe the success of this vacation to you! We were able to make many meals, drink lots of wine, and eat a ton of spanikopita (a spinach-feta cheese-filo dough pastery) together.
Athens is unlike any city I've ever seen. It looks like someone was playing the Sims and went crazy on making houses that look the same. I've never experienced such urban sprawl. My favorite part was going up the telephonique to see a church and a panoramic view of the whole city...at sunset. It was such a highlight and was only made better when we went back to the apartment to reheat some traditional Greek food that Lea's grandma bought us--complete with moussaka, Greek salad and sirfried beans. Yum!
Urban. Sprawl. (Made better by the sun)
Lea, Coral, Sandy, Me, Adrianna
Thursday morning we boarded a ferry to Mykonos at 7h15 am, not knowing that it was going to be the roughest 6 hour ferry ride known to man. We luckily got first class tickets because the rest was sold out and were able to have couches the whole time. Without those couches and that carpeted floor, I don't know what we would've done. It was an orchestra of people getting sick, crying and waves splashing up on the bow of the ship. A baby was being passed between family members as everyone started getting sick, and eventually had to be passed to a stranger because there was no one left. The baby was as happy as can be. About 3 hours into this, the announcement was made that the "ship was experiencing bad weather and that the sun deck was now closed". Thanks for the warning, I really wanted to be up on the top of the ship getting pummeled by waves.
The sea finally did calm down and we made it to Mykonos to find our "hostel". Now, as a back story, I had no idea what I was booking when we left for Mykonos. On Hostelworld, it was called "Paradise Beach Resort Camping". Huh? It turns out that it is a resort, it does have camping but it also has resort-esque rooms. For 15€ a night each, we got one of those said rooms and a free breakfast and couldn't be happier. Made the whole ferry-ride fiasco worth it--and more.
The resort rented 2-person ATV's for only 15€ per 24 hours. It was a no-brainer! What better way to explore a Greek island than bad-assing your way around it on an ATV? We went pretty much around Mykonos. We climbed a mountain to a light house and some crazy rock structures, we saw bright blue waters contrasted against crisp white houses, we herded sheep with our vehicles.
One of the ATV's ran out of gas. We went to the gas station and the guy gave us gas from a plastic water bottle. Ohhhhh Mykonos. He was also laughing at us.
After a lunch and a beer on the beach, we got ready to hit the town. But, it was Good Friday and everyone was going to midnight mass. But don't worry, our taxi driver reassured us that after church was over, everyone would be out. Sure enough, around 2am, the bars and clubs were PACKED. That didn't stop us though, from hanging out with only Americans (2 from Los Gatos...weird) and successfully not meeting any Greeks. Oh well. We had fun.
The people who live on the island are more touchy than in Athens or France. Men will grab your arm as you talk to them or ask them for directions, and it is not creepy. That is just they way they act. Such a contrast to what we are all used to.
The next morning, Lea surprised us and island jumped to see us for 4 hours. What a sweetheart! We spent the day getting our stuff packed, eating breakfast and trying to show Lea the town, even though our ferry was in the morning. Sad goodbyes were said to Lea as she got off the first ferry stop to reunite with her family. Our ferry continued and we headed to Zeus hostel (appropriate name, right?) for the night.
The rest of the Greece trip (all 36 hours of it) had a completely different vibe from the first 6 days, so I'm going to do a different post about it.
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