I learned that "a fairy's toe" trick from a Canadian on the first day- since everyone in the tourist industry in Greece speaks English, they were so impressed when I said "A fairy's toe" at the end!
Greece = A good reminder that I don't speak Greek.
But I've never been to Greece before, and it was the best week ever- I LOVE Greece. The people, the weather (at least in late May/early June), the food, the prices... and Greece, since it's a little dangerous with the strikes/ riots and what not, has been suffering without a ton of tourists coming through.
And I went with one of my besties from Gonzaga (traveling with a friend always makes the trip so much fun!) Here was our itinerary, essentially stolen from a friend who went to Greece last summer:
Athens (1 night)
Hostels are great ways to meet people; we went adventuring with a Brit, a Wisconsin, a Syrian, and a French woman to different historical sights. For students (thank god!) most of the sites are completely free. We visited the Temple of Zeus (awesome), the Pantheon (AMAZING) and the Archaelogical museum. Also took an extremely dorky "Greek gods" picture in front of the Pantheon.
We took a 9 hr ferry that left at midnight to get to santorini- Naomi is a deep sleeper (lucky girl) but I, unfortunately, am not, so the trip was a little rough for me ;)
Our home for the night...
Then we went ISLAND HOPPING. (ps i love island hopping)
Santorini (2 nights- the famous island)
Two words: Villa Manos. The hostel was 25 euros a night for a suite with a kitchen with a beautiful pool outside and the nicest hostel keepers ever.
Santorini is gorgeous, with traditional Greek houses and lots of great restaurants. And Naomi and I took a one-day trip which included a drive to the top of the island, a boat ride in an old fashioned boat to the volcano and to some AMAZING hot springs (they were warm, yellow and smelled like sulfur), then a trip to see the sunset from the typical town (super overcrowded) of Oia. To get to Oia we needed to do a donkey ride. And donkey rides are surprisingly scary!!!
Amazing hot springs. Just a jump off the side of our pirate boat!
Ios (2 nights- the party island)
As an extremely drunk Aussie explained it to us, Ios is "30% Brit, 70% Canadian and 20% American". But there are a TON of Aussies on the island looking for work in the summer. Francesco's, the hostel we stayed at, has the reputation for the party hostel, and with reason. It was crazy.
Also we took a 3 hour trip off the main beach which involved kayaking, cliff jumping and snorkeling. Cliff jumping was so much fun! I have a small fear of heights so of course that means I am trying to jump from taller and taller cliffs, and this one was about 45 ft ;)
Our drunken Aussie wiseman ;)
Naxos (1 night- the quiet, boardwalk island)
We spent our last night island hopping on an island that I would very much describe as "family friendly". And Naomi and I decided to go all out for our last meal... which involved Greek salad, calamari (with eyeballs; yes, they were visible), red mackarel, mini ice cream and white wine... a LOT of wine. And the sunset seen from our table over the water was amazing...
Athens (1 night)
Returned there since we were both flying out of Athens International. Also witnessed firsthand a couple of problems Greece is experiencing, mainly the "lots of illegalness" part, as well as the "strike-so-bad-that-all-public-transportation-is-shut-down" part.
Moral of the story: Greece is my favorite place ever. Well, the Greek Islands, anyway. And such a fun adventure to have with a close friend !
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