Spring Break: Greece!

Spring Break: this is going to be a long one so sit down and buckle up!
It started off on a shaky note; the girls (Jena and Amanda: two friends from college) were supposed to land in Torino Friday morning and then take the airport shuttle to the downtown area where I would be waiting to welcome them. After waiting 2.5 hours at the bus stop without seeing them, I had reached my maximum worry point (they don’t have phones so if we didn’t meet as planned how would we find each other?!). I texted my parents who were able to call Jena’s mom and find out that their flight out of the states had been delayed 8 hours. So 8 hours later I stood waiting at the bus stop again… But they apparently arrived earlier than I had planned and were wondering around the train station, thinking I would meet them there. Luckily, they were able to mime well enough to a janitor/train worker/Italian man and he let them borrow his phone to call my number. So we ended up meeting just fine (with only a few more gray hairs).

Saturday afternoon we visited my cute little neighborhood café before heading downtown for delicious gelato and shopping at the central open market. On the walk, I showed them some of the notable buildings and piazzas of Torino. Then we came home and made yummy pizza and packed for our “overnight” train to Rome. Basically everything from here on out went so surprisingly smoothly (you can stop holding your breath now). The train was fine (and not scary)… we arrived at 6am to Rome so we decided to sit at the station (outside a closed McDonalds) for the sun to rise before we ventured around the city. Our hostel was nice (with computers too). In the two days we were there, Jena and I showed Amanda all the famous attractions of Rome: Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Vatican, Roman Forum, and Coliseum (I went inside this time! It was great to see… very impressive. We even listened to the corny Rick Steve’s audio tour on our ipods while we wandered through the ancient stadium).
With our fingers crossed and our parents worried, we then headed to Greece! We landed at the Athens airport but then took a regional bus two hours outside of the city to Nafplio. It is a quaint little town and was a perfect first impression for Greece. There is a castle perched atop a cliff that rises directly out of the downtown area. We climbed the 999 steps (no we didn’t count, but that’s what the legend claims) to the top where we were rewarded with some great views of the bay and town. It was fun to get out and do something rather than just visit historical sites all day!

Nafplio offers many authentic “worry bead” shops. It is Greek tradition (in the ancient days probably started with a religious purpose, such as the rosary, but now is a secular habit). The beads are “clinked” together along the string and with each unique sound of the beads the owner thinks positive thoughts (“peace, protection, strength…”). After continually doing this (weeks?), the subconscious recognizes the “clinking” and the mind and body receive positive energy from the calming thoughts of “peace, protection, strength…” I liked this explanation the best (others merely described the beads as a way to relieve nervous, worry energy by playing with them). It was really cool to see so many local people actually using worry beads; sometimes I feel like I hear of “traditions” from other cultures but they don’t seem to be practiced anymore. Also, it used to be something that only the males did, but now it has expanded to be used by the women as well.

We also began our “good food” campaign in Nafplio… Greece treated us well when it came to food! The gyros (like pita wraps with grilled meat) and the baklava (pastry made from thin phyla dough layers, nuts, and a sweet honey sauce over the top) were probably my favorite, although the cream pies and Mousaka (dinner dish layered with eggplant, meat, potatoes, and probably some other stuff that I don’t currently remember) deserve an honorable mention. The place we stayed here was so cute! It was like a little bed and breakfast (by far the best “free” breakfast I have ever had… maybe even the best breakfast period). We were only there one night before taking the bus back to the city.

Next was Athens! You’ll be glad to know that we saw no rioting and no strikes. In fact, everyone was extremely helpful and most spoke English (which we were worried about before). We saw all the sites, but of course the Acropolis was my favorite! The view from the top of the hill is incredible and makes the impressive structures even grander. Unfortunately, our time got cut short on the Agora (why would they close at 3 on a beautiful, sunny afternoon?! I’m still confused) but we saw all the big stuff. AND at the hostel Jena got shocked by the electrical plug. She was unplugging her camera charger from the adaptor when it happened (and all the electricity in the room when out). Never had that happen before! (no worries, she took it like a champ… ). We liked seeing Athen’s ancient ruins, but the city itself was nothing special. In fact, it felt like an overcrowded, busy, dirty city (I think the population is something like 4 million, but don’t quote me on that. I know from our view on the Acropolis, the buildings were incredibly dense and stretched out over the hills and out of sight.) Interestingly, there were stray dogs wandering ALL over the city. They’d keep following us for blocks so of course we had them all named.

We ended our trip in Santorini: a perfect, relaxing destination to contrast the site seeing of the other locations. The island is very quiet this time of year, which we were thankful for. This meant fewer shops and restaurants were open, but it also meant that we were surrounded by locals and were able to enjoy the calm of the island without crowds of tourists. The first night we went to the neighboring town on the very tip of the island that is known for its beautiful sunset view, Oia. The views in Oia were absolutely amazing; I felt like all of my pictures should be postcards! We explored the town for couple hours in the warm sunshine before we settled on the cliff edge with a handful of others and watched the sun sink into the ocean. This was probably my favorite moment of the whole trip; the play of light on the ocean, the white washed structures of the town that clung to the cliff edge, the contrast of the buildings against the intense blue of the ocean and sky… it was great.

The next morning at the “hostel’s” breakfast (I say hostel loosely here… it was so nice! They even picked us up from the airport and dropped us off again at the end of our stay) we meet 5 other girls who are originally from the eastern United States but are currently studying in Florence. They were so fun and friendly; we all really hit it off. So that morning, we all (8 of us) climbed down the thousand-some stairs of the cliff to reach the old port. From there we took an afternoon boat tour on an old-style sailboat. Our first stop was the nearest island; it is a newly formed (within the last 500 years) volcanic island. We hiked 40 mins to the top and had an expansive view of the Aegean Sea and the surrounding small, uninhabited islands. Back on the boat, we headed to a hot springs located on the nearest of those “baby” islands. In order to reach them, you have to swim in the ocean from the boat to the spot where the warmer water dumps into the sea. We were told the water was 15 degrees Celsius, but being 8 adventurous girls on spring break, we took the plunge (notably, the only passengers of the boat crazy enough to give it a try). The water was such a cold shock! I started swimming frantically in hopes of reaching the warmer water faster. However, the water was so cold it kept my heart rate down and forced me to breathe in short wheezy gasps. We all made it to the “hot springs” (although I would classify them as “luke-warm-springs”) and back to the boat successfully. What a memory! AND… (Yep still more to this crazy boat adventure) When we docked in the old port, we all rode donkeys back up the thousands of stairs like they traditionally did to transport goods. It was a little nerve racking at first to trust this animal on such a steep and relatively narrow pathway, but it was a fun novelty to have experienced. The whole day seemed like it was straight out of a travel commercial. The next day was a little more low-key. We visited a wine museum where we also did a wine tasting. Then we relaxed on the black sand beach (although the day was not as warm as the others, so we didn’t stay more than an hour).

All in all, I left Greece wanting to go back again soon! It was so much fun to travel with my two good friends and to see such beautiful sites.