It's all Greek to Me

The overnight ferry was very strange. Never before have I gotten seasick but being inside a little cabin while sailing through rough seas was not easy on my stomach. The food was really expensive and not very good but they were very accommodating to vegetarians which was really nice. We all went to bed in our little cabin after trying to wash up in our little shower which was very hard to keep your balance! The next morning we were told to wake up at 5:30 to see the sunrise while sailing through the Greek isles. At five Kathleen woke us up mumbling that there were toilets flushing and doors shutting so we needed to go. The four of us woke up and bundled up strapped on our cameras and walked out to find out we were still docked at our stop in Albania and it was pitch black. Haha. The desk staff must have thought we were idiots walking out in our pjs and coats with cameras to take pictures on the deck in the middle of the night. We went back to bed and woke up three more times to check and see how much sun was up and where we were. Most of the group woke and walked up on the top deck to see the sunrise (even though it was extremely cloudy and supppppeeeerrr windy we all had a lot of fun). The next day we arrived at our port in Greece around 1:30 p.m.

We met our tour guide Marisa and began our drive to Athens. On the drive back we stopped at a small rest stop where we saw one of the deepest man made canals and stopped to have a snack. Most people got pork and beef kebabs while Hillary and I found a snack that consisted of different nuts, vanilla, and honey covered in sesame seeds. They were really good despite the fact everyone called them birdseed.

We arrived at our hotel in the middle of Athens around five. Our room was one of the biggest and all of them were extremely nice. Marisa walked all of us down into the nice place to eat where we could see the acropolis all lit up above everything. While hearing instructions about the next day we experienced another attempt at pick pocketing by two small boys that reached into one of our group members pockets. After that experience we felt uncomfortable carrying much around with us.

That night we ate at a restaurant down in a side street and Hillary and I split one of the most delicious meals. We ate fried feta in honey and sesame seeds, fried zucchini balls, and grilled eggplant with spicy tomato sauce and feta. It was all very delicious. We went to a bar for a drink before heading back to the hotel. I tried Ouzo which is a white liquor made from aniseed that tastes like licorice. It is the trademark of Greece.

Our first day we got up early to go on a cruise of the Greek islands. Our first island was the island of Hydra which was absolutely gorgeous. The mountains surrounded the city and small harbor. A few of us got a cappuccino and sat by the harbor to sketch for the short stop. The second island stop was the island of Poros. Poros was known for its bell tower but there was a huge crowd and not much time so we stayed down by the sea to look in some stores and take pictures. On our way to the third island one of the other passengers thought it would be funny to start throwing food to the seagulls. Soon after he started, we had an entire flock of seagulls hovering over and diving down to us on the top of the boat. If you had any food in your hands you were a goner! The last island we visited was the island of Agina. Instead of going into the town part first, a group of us broke off and walked down to the seaside where we met two dogs that were the cutest friends we've met so far. We named them Apollo and Hercules. We walked to where the sea had steps into it and a few of us took our shoes off to walk into the Aegean Sea. It was freezing but so much fun. The dogs went in with us and we played games of fetch with them. After getting out of the water, we walked down to the city with our two friends where we stopped in a few stores. We found a small store of homemade sweets where we bought two for one Euro. I tried a crunchy hazelnut ball and a chocolate caramel peanut piece which the girl who sold them to us said was her favorite. We left to get on the boat and said goodbye to our two friends before boarding. We watched the sunset on the boat and sat realizing how lucky we are to be sailing the Greek islands in the middle of the school year.

That night we went to a restaurant that gave us a free shot of Mastika for our friends birthday. Mastika in pure form costs 2,000 euros for a kilo. Our drink was diluted with another liquor but was very good. It's hard to explain the taste but it tasted something like what I imagine a sweet tree would taste like. It was very good.

The next day we set off to see the acropolis which was absolutely amazing. To see that much history preserved and to see how much they know about what was there in ancient times was unbelievable. There was an amphitheater on the base of the acropolis and is restored so it has been used for concerts since the 1950s for huge stars like Frank Sinatra. The museum was neat to see the statues that were discovered and how they are cleaned with laser technology. The statues were so detailed and told a lot about the people they were modeled after.

After the acropolis we left to drive Poseidons temple two hours away. The temple was neat but there wasn't much to see. The views were gorgeous out to the sea. We got to see the place where they used to have sea battles for entertainment and had a cappuccino before heading back into Athens. That night we all went to dinner together to celebrate the two birthdays we'd had earlier that week. Chen and Jake got small brownie birthday cakes and we all got baklava which was delicious. They gave us shots for free of a hot and fruity tasting drink that was meant to be sipped and was very delicious.

The last day we visited Delphi which was a two hour drive from our hotel. Delphi was extremely pretty though. Delphi sat up about one thousand feet high in the mountains. The buildings were restored and the museum and archaeologists knew so much about what had once been in the ancient town. Delphi had been the site of he all-telling oracle. The amphitheater of Delphi was very impressive. We sat about 200 ft from the stage at the bottom and we could hear clearly what our Professor said while reciting a line from Shakespeare. It just proved that the Greeks knew so much about what they built and how things worked.

On our way back we stopped at a restaurant in the mountains where we ate a great meal before heading back to Athens. A group of us went out to shops with Rod our professor before stopping to get drinks and to eat our last dinner of gyros. I had a vegetarian gyro for a euro fifty and it was one of my favorite meals. We left early the ext morning to catch our flight to Turkey.