We arrived in athens reallllly early, got to our hostel, and hit the road for FOOD..and by food i mean FETA. we had lunch at an adorable taverna and got a bunch of greek dishes- my fav part of eating in greece was how much sharing we did. every meal we ordered a bunch of small appetizer dishes like eggplant salad, stuffed grape leafs, greek salad, etc and then shared them all! so much fun! during lunch, i ran into a few people from tufts who were studying abroad in spain and also on spring break in greece and made plans to meet up with my girlfriends who were also there later. after lunch, we went to the ACROPOLIS! it was very crowded there as it was the day before easter but it was a very amazing site! the view of athens from the top was so gorgeous. after the acropolis we went to the acropolis museum to see all of the things that have been excavated from the site and it was really unbelievable. after the museum we walked around and explored the neighborhood of plaka where out hotel was located then we took a very needed nap. after waking up we went to dinner at an adorable restaurant with lots of feta and food and then met up with three of my girlfriends from tufts at a bar. it was so fun to see them and stroll down memory and talk about next year/senior year ahh! we left the bar before midnight so we could walk to find the easter midnight ceremonies. we stumbled into a huge square with a gorgeous church that was overflowing with people and candles. the flame of the candle is actually flown over from JERUSALEM from the church of the holy sepulcre where Jesus died and resurrected and then is passed to people throughout the streets and at churches. it was a very interesting ceremony part emotional and part celebratory.
day 2 in athens was EASTER! we slept in knowing lots of things were going to be closed and took the day to stroll around and explore the neighborhoods of monstariki and excharcia. we went to the national gardens near parliament and hung out in the sun for a while as well. then we went to the tomb of the unknown soldier which is a memorial for unidentified remains of soldiers. the tomb is guarded 24/7 by guards in funny and every hour on the hour they do a "changing of the guards" ceremony with lots of fancy footwork. theres only 2 guards so its not exactly buckingham palace but it was pretty cool. for dinner, we went to a restaurant about 25 mins away from our hostel and we got to see the university of athens and the public library which were gorgeous. already on feta and meat overload we opted for a pasta dinner with lots of eggplant included!
day 3: we got up before the sun and took a flight to Crete. we landed in heraklion, crete only to realize our final destination of Chania, Crete was a three hour bus ride west..o well the bus ride was gorgeous! our hotel in Chania was an adorable studio apartment, family run style. this is a very common thing in greece - we had a patio overlooking a beautiful little alleyway and a huge jacuzzi bathtub! our first stop in Chania was food (theme) and then we walked around to find the beach! forgot to mention this but the weather in athens was gorgeous! not hot like tel aviv but low 70s high 60s and perfect weather for sightseeing and walking around. Chania was a bit warmer and we were very happy to have some down time on the beach. unfortunately in the process of this beach day, my blackberry got stolen :( which caused a bit of stress and many calls/emails with mom and verizon but no worries all is well! no use crying over spilt milk, we went back to the apartment and took a nap (theme). then we went out for what turned into the best dinner of our lives. earlier in the day we had been propositioned by a tan greek man to eat at his restaurant later that night- he offered free wine and free dessert (sold). we returned and were greeted with a bottle of wine and nice albanian waiter named christian who took an interest in "presenting us" (giving us presents/alcohol for free). this culminated in ouzo - licorice nastiness that people like to take shots of. gross. but when in greece. we went back to our apartment and we were greeted by three boys from Chania- their bff is the son of the hotel owner and they come to play with her and watch her tv cause hes in the army. we said hi and had a brief engleek convo (english/greek) and went to our room. next thing we know the phone rings and the three boys invite themselves up to hang. we chatted for a few hours and had a lot of fun swapping stories and just getting to know each others cultures..and trying to explain why we are studying in israel. we then went to bed but made plans to go out with them the next night.
day 4: HIKING. Crete is a great place to hike so we wanted to make sure we took advantage of this. in the morning our "guide" valerie picked us up and we drove an hour or so to the agia irni gorge. the hike was beautifu and the weather was perfect. Valerie was a bit of a failure at being a "guide" but we still had a great time. our hike ended at the med. sea and we had "lunch" and relaxed before heading back to Chania for a nap. we went out for dinner and were propositioned again by the same restaurant but we decided we needed to try a new place- big mistake as the place we went to had NO EGGPLANT and tried to charge us for wine (trust me, they failed at that). we headed back to the hotel and met up with our greek friends from the night before. they took us for coffee- a pre going out greek ritual. i thought they were lying until we came to streets that were lined with only coffee shops and filled with young people drinking coffee. we sat at coffee for a few hours before heading out to a club - we were pretty exhausted from hiking with Val so we didnt stay out late but it was really fun getting to meet some locals
day 5: we arose early and bussed back to Heraklion. our hotel was in the suburbs of heraklion in Chernoissos but unfortunately it was realllllly not in season to be there so there was not too much to do. then we did the best thing ever: went to the aquarium. aquaworld is the first aquarium in crete started by some rando scottish man. they had lots of turtles and fish and snakes. the girls held the snakes.. i pretended to for the sake of pictures. after the aquarium we headed to dinner at a place called new york bar and got burgers. sometimes you just gotta go home!
day 6: already halfway through we awoke early and took a ferry from Crete to the island of Santorini. we were picked up at the port by papa stelios and brought to our apartm
ent place in perissa beach. we had some lunch and then wanted to lay out on the beach but the weather was cooperating so we decided to adventure around the island. in great news, one the of popular ways to do this in santorini is to rent ATVs! so we rented two ATVs and ventured to the red beach -a beach with gorgeous red sand and rocks (due to lavaaaaa). after the red beach we went to the lighthouse of santorini which has gorgeous panaramic views of the sea that seem to go on forever. we returned to the hotel to shower then hopped on the ATVs for a 30 min ride into the city of Thira where we had the most delicious meal at "mama's house" - the food was traditional greek food but "mama" made the night she was the most adorable woman and told us we were pretty..i like. we ATVed back (a little cold) and went to bed
day 7: we went back to the port via bus. little did we know after the bus it was a 30 min walk down to the port (down a mountain). not only was the path down a montain but in the course of this walk we encountered 100s of DONKEYS and their poop. grossss. we all were moving soo quickly holding our noses and dying the whole way down. we made it! Santorni was formed/ruined by a volcanic erruption and the volcano is a popular site to visit. from the port we went on a boat to the volcanos. we did a short hike there and saw active and non-active craters. after the volcano we took the boat to the "hot springs". the boat was "not able" to pull up very close (miles) to the hot springs so we had to jump in the med sea and swim to the "hot springs". med sea was FREEEEZING! but we toughed it out for the sake of experience and made it to the "hot springs" which by my quotation marks im sure you can figure out were merely warm..awkward cause we swam in an ice bath to get there. o well still was awesome! we boated back and headed for lunch at mama's house. mama wasnt there though so we were sad cause papa didnt remember us :( after lunch, we showered and napped at the hotel and then headed to the airport with papa stelios. we had a 9pm flight to athens and returned to our original hostel for a nights sleep
day 8: we woke up early and athens and went on a tour of ancient delphi/the temple of apollo. the day started with a three hour bus ride to delphi with a group of 20 and a very chatty tour guide. we went to the museum of delphi first and saw all the amazing statues and things that have been excavated from the site it was amazing. next we walked around the ruins of delphi and learned more about the history and the excavation. our company then took us for lunch at a cute greek restaurant and then for a tour of a little village which was really a ploy to make people buy carpets at some shop. we werent fooled. the tour description mentioned wine and cheese which was a real motivation for us to join but that did not end up being a part of the tour and that was sad but nonetheless it was an amazing day and such a cool place to end our time in greece! after delphi we headed back to athens, took a long hangout break in a coffee shop and had our last round of feta at a greek taverna in plaka. we then headed to the airport and flew back to tel aviv landed at 5 am this morning!
basically the trip was amazing! i hope to go back to greece very shortly- it is a beautiful place and the people were so friendly and hospitable and the food was GREAT! there are so many places to see and so much history that it would be impossible to get it all done at once! it was a really successful trip and i felt way too adult to have planned an entire weeks vacation in there different locations! now my adult self is back in tel aviv for some good ol relaxation in the sun and o yea, a return to classes!
here are some pictures from greece!! i have sooo many more that id be happy to send to any of you! more updates to come! xo
street of tavernas where we ate the first night in athens
parthenon
first greek salad!
the four of us with the view of athens from the acropolis
hiking in the gorge
renting ATVs in santorini
red beach in santorini
the four of us at the ruins of delphi
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