Athens and Santorini

Ah! I can't believe how the time has been flying. I realized it's been almost a week since my last post, and I hardly even realized that the time was going by at all.

Athens ended off quite well. We ended up spending a day at the beach which was fabulous, with the exception of the fact that all three of us got burned. I had a head to toe sun burn which was painful to say the least. It really irks me though, because you can ask the others, I had sunscreen on. A lot of it. 100mL of it! It's just me being snow white...although, now I'm quickly becoming a gorgeous golden brown... :) Beth got pretty dark right away, and Bradley has some crazy design going on on his back...he tans a little differently than most...but we're working on evening it all out! Ha ha.

The day at the beach, despite the hot sun and burns, was really realxing and a good start to our chill time in Greece. Now, I know that not everyone who goes on vacation finds it a good way to spend valuable time, just laying on a beach. But with all of the things that we're going to do all over the place, we find that beach time, playing in the water and laying in the sand, is one more of the highlights of the trip, and a piece of the experience puzzle that you just can't miss.

Our last day in Athens was spent in pain, with sunburns stinging everytime one walked, climbed stairs, sat down, or stood up. Laid down, changed clothes, or realy did anything. However, for the remainder of the day we walked around and saw a few things that we thought we should mention.

1. PDA's. So for those who don't know; a PDA is a Public Display of Affection. Here in Athens, they are everywhere. People are kissing in squares, and on streets, and in very uncomfortably full buses, and just wherever they'd like. Now, I can totally understand a peck on the lips or cheek, or holding hands for a bit, but really. Tonsil hockey while glancing at rip off parada bags in the middle of a packed square for twenty minutes is beyond ridiculous. I just want to say - I don't approve.

2. Mimes. I know that we are a little pampered with the amount of good theatre art in Edmonton, but I also know that throughout the world there are very talented mimes. You know, those guys who paint themselves all one colour and stand still with a variety of entertaining tools, and then you put money in their boxes and they move for you? Well, don't look in Athens for a good one. It's quite funny actually. These people dress all in white (all of them!) and often hold red flowers. Then they stand on a box, or in a corner, or just lay down on a step, and they wait with a can in their hands. They also move around and look at people, they never stop moving in fact. Why would you give them money just for wearing white clothing? Because that is basically what their trick is. Interesting anyway. Worth mentioning in my opinion.

3. Grumpy old men. So, we've all seen the movie. I just want to say that these old Greek guys take the cake for being grumpy. They walk onto a crowded bus, go right up to some young punk kid and shout at them or hit them with a bag or cane until they stand up and give him their seat. And everyone does it because they are afraid of these old guys. The best is in line ups. The men will be stuck at the back of the line...walk to the front...and complain about how very long the line up is and how the world is so unfair and everyone needs to move for them...and then some poor soul will swap places the the guy and wait another 15 minutes in line they just waited in.

4. Dogs. I know that tons of places around the world have dog issues. I understand that they run rampant and are gross and diseased. But here in Athens, they are mostly clean, and they almost always have collars...but no owner in sight. They are all big too. Retrievers, Labs, big shaggy dogs and the like, but all seem to be well taken care of and fat and healthy...but they run around all day doing whatever they please. We can't figure out who these dogs all belong to, or who takes care of them, but it's different than any other place we've seen.



So, anyway, to finalize our last day in Athens, we enjoyed a play. I mentioned it before. Aida. But unfortunately, we didn't know what was going on for any of it...and, what's worse, we got their early for the show, but the show started a full hour after when we thought it did...so we were really really early. Regardless, it was done in the Dyonisus Ampitheatre, and was beautiful. The moon was out, and you could see the outline of all of the decripid stone arches, and you knew you were experiencing something that someone experienced hundreds and hundreds of years ago. It's pretty cool. They play itself we only stayed until 11, which was intermission, having misjudged the length of the show, and the start time, and a few other things. And we had to catch a stinkin' early fairy in the morning. So, we don't know what happened in the end. It's ok though, because we don't know what happened while we watched it either. We certainly put in our guesses, but no one is really sure...


So. After a long long fairy ride, we arrived in Santorini! It's beautiful right off the top. We are greeted by a man named John holding a sign with his hostel name on it. He is a husky man, with a red face, and a permanent smile. His english is not good, but he is gracious and kind as he offers to load our bags into his can and drives us to the hostel. The drive up is exactly what you'd picture. A winding road going up up up a steep hill...buildings stacked on the hill, or rather perched, and are painted mostly white, with clean straight lines, and rounded archways. We pass a donkey. Awesome!!!

The place is fantastic. It's a 3 minute walk from the beach, it's less than a minute from two grocery stores, or even three, and it's right beside a 24 hour bakery...which I'll mention in a bit. The room is private with three beds. Something that we haven't had yet and is very much appreciated. Two mirrors, a kitchenette (so we can buy some groceries!), and a clean pool. It's ideal. With white walls, and windeing staircases in a few directions leading to different terraces and rooms. It's beautiful!

So, we settle in and take a walk to the beach. I'm telling you, I've never been so relaxed. We find some cozy beach loungers offered by the local restaurants if you buy something , but it was late enough in the day that no one cared if we bought or not, so for a while we just sat and listened to the water rush and crash onto the black sand...yes, awesome little black rocks that make up the black beach we frequented while here. There aren't even sea gulls around th ruin the calm. It's intense and I couldn't help but feel blessed. Really blessed. Like, how did I even get this chance? Thankful and blessed.

We also had a visit to the grocery store where we bought fixings for a greek salad, and I bought some fruit and gouda for myself to eat. Lovely meal we had, and it lasted a couple which was nice.

We were going to rent scooters the next day and see the island, but were heavily advised not to by the owner who suggested ATV's because the roads were different. After a short test drive with the scooters, we decided to go with the ATV's which are more sturdy and won't slip on gravel or tip when they fall into pot holes. Safety first!

The first day of driving was mostly exploration. We went up some cool hill and we ended up going to the capital - Fira - as well. A few little shops around there, but nothing special. They do have a lot of jewelry made from lava which is rather cool. I didn't buy any because Im not into jewlery really, but trust me, it's neat. For those who might not know, the lava is from explosions from the volcano that Santorini is built on.

So, we had another beach day after that. And jsut laid out in the sun. It's so great to be able to do nothing, with no plans, no expectations, no requirements, no clock or alarm...you should try it for a while if you haven't. Our burns were mostly still covered up, but the parts that are healing are turning really pretty colours.

We also went to the bakery. Now I've got to say that I'm currently disappointed at our bakeries after having food from this place. The donuts are not only wonderful, but also huge!! like, as big as my head! And covered in sugar....delicious sugar. They also have these things that are called Chocolate Croissant's. Basically, it's a croissant, baked in oil and honey, so it's dripping with them, and then when it's fresh out of the oven, the fill it to the brim with chocolate!!!! It's a heart attack waiting to happen, and rich as anything you've ever tasted, but it's so so so so so so so good!!! Needless to say, we a regulars now.

We rented ATV's for a full day again. This time we went on a killer drive to a place called Pharos. It's got the most fabulous view or at least one of the most fabulous views that I've seen in my life. Priceless. And the pictures won't even begin to describe how lovely it all was. I'd say, buy a place in Santorini, and live in Faros, and you'll never want to be anywhere else.

We also stopped in at the Red Beach. It's really crazy. There are huge tall mountain walls made of red lava rock, and the "sand" is the black and red rock put together...very strange, but beautiful. The Red Beach is is a secluded spot so the water is really nice and quite warm, and it's all just cool.

At the end of the day we drove an hour long ride up tp the North part of the Island to a little town called Oia (IA). It's a fantastic little town, full of beautiful white buildings with blue domes (as is the norm around here, especially for churches). It is also the best place to watch the sun set, according to our Hostel owner and a hoard of tourists who were also there. We sat on a step, beside a wall, on a walkway overlooking the ocean, and watched the sun set. Picturesque. I mean, do moments get any better than that? It's amazing.

We've had another day yet at the beach, and our burns are all healed up, making way for new ones. Bradley looks like a flying squirrel with brown paint ran into his back and splattered. I'm mostly brown, and Bethany is almost black...well, really dark brown anyway. In fact, today at the beach, some beach boy waiter came up to her and said "You're really black. You do not need anymore sun!" it was quite funny. She was a little annoyed I think, but I relaly don't know how she could ever get much darker. I mean, don't people plateau?

Anyway, Santorini is fabulous. It's indescribably beautiful, and it's one of the coolest places I've been, but it's really hard to explain how. Hopefully you come to picture night and enjoy some of the photos we were able to take. That might be all we can do to show you.

A couple things here to mention.

1. Topless women. Women here love to be topless. They are not ashamed. Some women, try to be unashamed, but you can tell they're only doing it because they can here and not at home...but mostly topless women are everywhere (on the beaches anyway).

2. Architecture. Is awesome! We found a whole hill of cylindrical houses with windmills attached to the front. Plenty of cool buildings to see.

Anyway, we're off to Ios in the morning, a new Island, new possibilities, and I'm down to three minutes. So, cheers. Love you all, miss you tons, and catch you soon!