10 Days in Greece, Opa!

This post is quite overdue. I can't believe it has been nearly a month since my spring break ended, it feels like so much longer than that. Now that we have 7 more weeks left of school I feel the need to look back in order to hopefully give me the motivation to keep going forward. The end of the school year is tough on teachers and kiddos alike. So without further ado, here's my recap of my time in beautiful Greece!

I arrived in Athens on a gray and rainy Sunday morning without any real plans and totally unprepared for the chilly temperatures. Living in the desert for two years has crippled my ability to accept and properly prepare for cold weather, so I had only packed one long sleeve shirt and one pair of pants in my efforts to travel lightly. Big mistake, but I persevered. Arriving at the airport, I knew better than to fall into the trap of taking a taxi and getting 'taken for a ride', so I opted to take the metro into the city to find my hotel. After an hour on the train I got off at what I prayed was the right stop (in the freezing rain) and miraculously made my way the two blocks to the hotel without getting lost, go me! My hotel was really nice and close to the metro which allowed me to explore the city relatively easily. It was a little daunting that very little of the signage around town was written in English, it was like being functionally illiterate, but I managed.

During my time in Athens, I got to see some of the historic sites

Temple of Olympian Zeus

I had quite the adventure getting to the Acropolis and didn't actually manage to get to see it. I took the metro to the neighborhood within walking distance of it, Monostiraki, and decided to walk around and see the sights before actually heading to the Acropolis.

There was a flea market with all kinds of stores selling clothes, jewelry, wine, and things made from olive oil and the wood from olive trees.

the obligatory gyro/souvlaki

So after a little eating and shopping I decided to head over to the Acropolis. I didn't realize it was an almost 2 mile walk. Up hill. Luckily the weather was nice and the walk wasn't too bad, but when I got to the top I found that the gates were about to close. Stupid military time. The website said that it closed at 15:00 which I incorrectly interpreted as 5pm, and I arrived around 2:45 so I got to see the outside of the buildings and then start my walk back down the hill. Boo.

Herodes Theater

Another interesting thing that happened was on my last day in Athens. I took the metro to Syntagma Square to go to McDonald's because a) I like cheeseburgers a lot, and b) free wifi. So I was enjoying both in the second floor eating area when I noticed police in riot gear standing in the middle of the street. I didn't really think too much of it because I had noticed that police in Athens seemed to like to ride around on motorcycles and gather in large groups outside of coffee shops and restaurants to smoke and talk, kind of like a gang. But then other people started to gather and they had big sticks and chains and posters that I couldn't read and they looked kind of agitated and were yelling something as well. At that point I decided I should probably get out of there because I know better than to stick around when police and protesters get together. No sooner than I had gotten up to leave, the manager came in and asked everyone to leave because they were closing. It was a 24 hour McDonald's. Stepping out of there was like stepping into the weirdest scene ever. There were the police in riot gear, people marching and protesting, some people stopped to watch while others just went on about their business, and none of this stopped the homeless folks outside the metro station from their performances of Michael Jackson songs. I'm glad I made it to my hotel safely.

After that, it was time to catch a 20 minute flight to go and see what Santorini was all about. I may be a little biased because I've only visited one of Greece's over 200 islands, but I think Santorini is the best. It really is breathtaking. And super romantic.

the view from my balcony

at the top of Fira

I spent 6 lazy days exploring around Fira and Kamari and I couldn't have enjoyed doing nothing more.

I ate gelato

I drank bubble tea

I ate breakfast made by a cute little old Greek lady on this terrace by the beach

I laid out on the black sand beach

I went to the red sand beach

And I laid out by this lovely pool and read a bunch of books I don't remember :)

And then when I was just about ready to call it quits and go home, there was an airline strike in Athens and I got to spend one more day in beautiful Santorini! Winning!