Greece: Living on a dream of Gyros and Crepes

Wednesday, April 7,2010, we say Ciao to our amazing, unforgettable experience of living in a tent in Rome, and say Yahsu to Greece!

But before we get there, we had to get to the Rome Airport. This was an adventure in itself: we booked a cab to pick us up bright and early, and a little station wagon pulls up.

Welcome to the Cab Ride of Death...

So we manage to squeeze ourselves in with all of our luggage and we are off. Well I am pretty sure our cab driver used to race in NASCAR, because I have never experienced a car ride such as this.

First, our Cab driver decided to leave his left turn signal on the ENTIRE cab ride; mind you we only took right turns? Then we would be driving and he would decide to not follow his GPS and would suddenly take an off ramp; therefore cutting off all the cars behind us. One car got fed up with this, and decided to show us a couple "choice" gestures. Our cab driver decided to retaliate by making a gun shape with his hand and then pointed to his head in reference to the other driver and mumbled under his breath. Oh god.

From there we started increasing our speed, and before I know it my knuckles are white from gripping the side of the car so hard... I looked over at the speedometer which then read that we were going just over 160 Kilometers Per Hour.... roughly 100mph.

Well, needless to say with speeds such as those, we were at the airport in no time! (Thank god.)

Ok, so we arrive in Athens, and I could not be any happier!!! We begin our amazing time here by being upgraded by our hostel to an apartment suite. This is a wonderful surprise and boy what an upgrade! Our new hostel was actually an apartment that came with a kitchen, bar, seperate bed and bathroom, and living room with a couch, TV, and so much more! This place was amazing! Even if it was only for one night; we definately lucked out!

So we finally drug ourselves away from the TV and just grabbed a bite to eat, explored the shopping scene, and then explored a hill we found that overlooked all of Greece. Beautiful sights from every angle! It was amazing to be up there, but soooo dangerous because the rocks were so slippery for some reason! After another photo shoot, we opted to go back to our suite and enjoy some TV before our 4am wake up call to head to Mykonos!!

Ok so here begins the journey to Mykonos -

We grab a taxi at 5am to take us down to the ferries; where we then have to wait for our tickets, walk to the wrong port, and then eventually find our ship. HUGE. But nice; would have appreciated it more if it weren't for the fact it was 6 in the morning, we were exhausted, and we had a five hour trip ahead of us. No worries, a couple hour nap and an amazing Flocachino (frozen caramel coffee drink) later, we arrive!

So we get off the boat where we are greeted by typical Greece. I mean honestly it is exactly like something you see in a movie: houses of pur white with blue trim outlining the coast coming out at every angle. So beautiful! And then we look for our shuttle who also happened to be the owner of our guesthouse we were staying in.

We find him and are taken to our Guesthouse! Yes! Not even a hostel, a GUESTHOUSE. and what a place - a cute little building where we got a full bedroom with four seperate beds and our own bathroom and it included air conditioning, a fridge, decorations, and it was just picturesque. Love Love Love! And our window opened up to overlook the famous Mykonos windmills and the ocean... life cannot be more perfect.

So we settle in and then head out to explore what Mykonos has to offer! We walked through the "steets" which are basically alleys covered in hanging flowers and vines, sops, bars, restaurants, houses and so much more! It is adorable. I am in love and want to live here.

But then we realized we were hungry and here begins our Love of Gyros. The cheapest, and most delicious food yet! For only 2 euros, you get a full gyro filled with meat, fries, onions, peppers, and tazitki sauce - pure heaven.... (sorry guys, in case you haven't noticed... I like food. A lot.)

But we grew tired and decided to blend in with the rest of Europe and take a siesta before going out later that night....

Wow. well the Greeks know how to party. We didn't even leave till almost 1am and people were just beginning to go out! It was crazy! and I don't know how they do it because one drink was almost $16 us dollars. Unreal. But it didn't matter because it was SO MUCH FUN!

We mainly stayed at a place called Semeli's where we made friends and just danced all night. And we met so many people - and we realized that Greek people are the nicest people in the world! They are constantly looking to please others and just go out of their way to be friendly. Yep, this is definately my future home.

Well after an amazing night, we head back, but not before grabbing yet another gyro (better start keeping count...).

So we wake up today and decide to really enjoy this amazing weather by going to Paradise Beach! After a crazy bus ride where we met more people from Chicago, London, Spain, and California - we finally arrive to a beautiful beach! Well, since it wasn't tourist season yet in Greece, it was relatively quiet, but was so relaxing. and since we made friends; we just talked all day while getting the first glimpse of sun in months!

So after a couple sandcastles and a pink panther drink that came in a watering can and meant for roughly 7 people; we head back for yet another siesta before going out that night with our new friends from California.

We began at Semeli's again, stopped in Mykonos bar and a place called Caprice's before we eventually ended at a place called Jackie-O's.....

Well Jackie-O's is not your typical bar. We go in and are greeted by ratio of roughly 13 guys to every 1 girl.... and it wasn't until we passed by a 6'5" man in drag that it dawned on us that we were in a gay bar.... Whoops.

No worries; ended up being an amazing night! We just danced on tables and made more friends who were very "generous" to us hahaha But 4am rolls around again and we decide to get our nightly gyro before bed yet again....

Well it is now Saturday, April 10, 2010, and we have to sadly leave Mykonos today... We pack up, grab some crepes and a gyro, and eventually head out of the most amazing place in the world.... So sad to leave, but thankfully we were still going back to Athens!

And here begins our 5.5 hour ferry ride yet again... atleast this time we met some guys and just made some conversation while playing some card games. Helped pass the time for sure.... Especially since when we tried to sleep, we were rudely awoken by a man who jumped on the ship to sell his youghurt nougats? yeah. and he didn't want to just sell them... no he felt the need to scream the same phrase over and over again in Greek roughly 4 feet from us. Wouldn't have mattered if he were farther away though I guess seeing he was THAT loud. Very tempting to trip him every time he walked by, but I resisted.

Well we dock yet again and we head to our hostel, still hoping we have an upgrade, but are unfortunately put in a 6 bed room where we find out it is a mixed dorm. Our roommate was a man from Australia who was just so uncomfortably awkward. Just kind of stared and wouldn't talk. Awkward.

Luckily we weren't there that much since we went out for dinner for some more gyros where we then meet a couple restaurant owners/workers. They let us sit at their place since it costs money to sit down and eat, and we made friends... again.

It was funny too cause later TK and I decide to see Athens nightlife, and end up meeting up with one of those restaurant workers from Plaka, Mario. He helped us and showed us around to the night scene. After walking for what seemed like miles of no one in sight, we eventually find streets lined with people!

Now this was an interesting experience since it was just TK, myself, and Mario. Well in Greece, blondes are apparently in short supply because EVERYONE was making comments to Mario... for example, "You my friend are a lucky man with those two!" Hahahahahha Mario responds, "Yes I know!".... well that didn't make things awkward!Haha especially since after those comments his stance changed, as if he were a "big, tough man" with Tk and I at his side.

But we go to a couple bars and clubs and had a great time! Made friends with the DJ, other awkward Greek men "getting their groove on," and so forth. A good night all in all until we had to walk home and my feet could not handle it anymore.... Oh the pain....

But we eventally make it home and go to bed at roughly 5am.

Well going out was a good/bad idea. Oh well, we head to our "free" breakfast which consisted of a toaster, a piece of bread and a tomato??? We made due though before our $8 walking tour where we saw the parthenon & Acropolis, 2004 olympic stadium, temple of Zeus, parliament, changing of the guard, and an amazing flea market/shopping area... Also had 2 more gyros. YUM.

But after the tour, we went on yet another shopping spree and got some more gelato, crepes, and gyros. Wow. But during all of this we were stopped a couple times by some Greek vendors, where one goes, "Where are you girls from? you are soo..... pale?" Hahahahaha everywhere we go, everyone knows we are Americans... not that it is necessarily a bad thing; but just weird? Oh well...

Then we walk around Plaka again where we run into the same restaurant owners and workers, including Mario. Well he comes and greets us as we eat yet another gyro, and he decides to treat us to some shots... well ok these weren't just shots... no they were basically poison. Tk could barely take hers down and I think Mario felt bad, so he shyed away hahaha

But we finished up, and headed back to get a good night of sleep in before our last day in Greece... Sad...

So it is our last day and our plans include: gyros (of course), gelato, shopping and the beach. Well, we technically did accomplish all of this... but the beach kind of turned out to be a bust since all the chairs were stacked, it got cold, and it was empty.... so we stayed a bit before heading back to Athens where we ended up seeing the restaurant workers YET AGAIN. Wow. we need to find a new part of Greece to explore or something hahaha

But we grabbed our final gyro and gelato before we said our goodbyes and headed for the airport.


So there it is - the most expensive, yet memorable 16 days of not only my experience studying abroad, but my life!

Now its back to the "Real World" where I get to go back to London and spend over a week with my parents!!

Goodbye Spring Break 2010, and hello last month and a half in London!