Wednesday April 7, 2010- Thursday, April 8, 2010
The last minutes, we decided to cut our trip to Athens short and instead jump over to Ios, another greek island about an hour away from Santorini by ferry. Got on the ferry, and instantly regretted not planning ahead and bringing that Dramamine my mom had so cleverly packed away for me knowing my stomach’s aversion to any kind of movement. Spent most of the time in the bathroom wearing my goofy hat and looking like a train wreck while trying to nurse both my motion sickness and the hangover accompanying it. The minute the ferry pulled in, I raced off the boat to be greeted by a 20 something British guy who worked for our hostel and was there to pick us up. Honestly, one look at him along with his British accent and I knew someone was going to BOMO him by the end of the night. I also think he saw a group consisting of 18 girls and 2 boys and new he had hit the lottery for the night. Roomed with Courtney at the hostel and headed out to find a beach which was about a 20 min walk, or atleast it was supposed to be. After following the signs, we find our selves on the side of a mountain following a path that doesn’t look like it’s been used in the past 200 years. Realizing that it was too late to turn back, we forged forward and eventually found a beach, later to be christened “Magic Beach”. It was a gorgeous beach between some huge rocks that looked like it had been left there especially for us. Being that we were the only ones within 5 miles of this beach, we take the opportunity to do what anyone would do if they found themselves and all their friends on a secluded beach far from civilization; we hold the first Verona Olympics consisting of sprints, high jump, and rock toss. Maggie and Joanna find themselves victorious. Kaitlin initiates a sand castle which after people join in becomes the most epic sandcastle I have ever been a part of complete with stone walls, a mote, and a draw bridge. Then we thought it would be a good idea to build a four tier pyramid behind it as we took a picture, it wasn't. Maggie, Joanna, and I swim out in the freezing water and climb a rock to jump off. Hiked back up the mountain, encountered HUGE goats with large enough horns to make me fear goats for the first time in my life.
Dinner consisted of 2 euro gyros and 2.50 cokes. Went to the bar downstairs of our hostel where some 30 year old Canadian lady named Julie (or Judy, we’re not sure) served us up shots. The 60 year old owner showed up and bought us more shots. 10 shots deep and I was feeling tipsy so I’m going to go with the shots were not actually shots, but sugared water. Then she tells us that she has some friends that are excited to meet us. She fails to tell us that her “friends” are actually 40 year old burly greek men who stare at us creepily. The first bar, it’s just us on the island, because it is the low tourist season and we do “TICK TOC”, of course. “Celebration” comes on and Courtney runs into the bar and loses it. Julie Judy pushes us on her friends and it is incredibly awkward. We now wonder if she is some kind of pimp trying to whore us out to these men. Some of us go on to another bar afterwards and now Julie Judy is insanely persistent and we have a conversation that goes a lot like this.
Jj: Who do you want to fuck tonight?
Me: (looking around at the 10 greasy men gawking at me). My boyfriend.
Jj: (continuing to push) He’s not here is he?
Me: No, but he’s been there for 2 years. (stare her down and walk away)
She left me alone but continued to push my single friends who were about to cry lesbian so she would leave them alone. Finally, my friend Erin had to set our madam straight.
Jj: Who do you want to fuck tonight?
Erin: No one.
Jj: What! why?
Erin: Hey come in a little closer, let me tell you a secret “I DON’T FUCK RANDOM GUYS!!”
Julie Judy left us alone for the rest of the night.
The next day, we dragged ourselves out of bed and follow the signs to the actual beach. Halfway down the long windy rode, a van stops and offers us a ride to the beach. Climb in and wonder what children safety classes would say about this one. The driver is Australian and I am starting to wonder if anyone around here is Greek. The beach is really nice and there is a beautiful pool/lounge along it. I show off my killer volleyball skills (sarcasm) and we get ready to catch the ferry to Athens.
Athens:
Got into Athens late Thursday after a 5 hour ferry ride that wasn’t nearly as bad as the ride to Ios. Kaitlin, Erin, Courtney, Meg, Lily, and myself all roomed together. Our hostel was awesome and our room had a kitchen, living room, and flat screen so I’m pretty sure we got the upgrade that was supposed to go to the other group. Whooops. The next day, we took a walking tour around Athens and saw all the usual sites. The tour guide was slightly eccentric but it made the tour more interesting. I was surprised at how nice Athens was, I expected it to be kind of dirty and scetchy but it was actually very clean and pretty. Unlike Santorini, Athens tags all their strays with collars but it is still sad to see so many dogs without owners. The tour lead us to the Acropolis where we flashed our Erasmus id's and got in for free. Seeing the Parthenon was incredible, I still don't understand how it can still be standing. There was a great view of the entire city from up there too. We took a ton of pictures and when they started to get goofy, we started to get yelled at by the poeple working there. Joana took a picture just holding Tina, and this woman hisses "please be serious". We responded by giving each of ourselves an animal alter ego that we had to act out and take pictures of. More dirty glares, and it was time to go. Hung out on the "Rock of Democracy" for a while which is apparently where the founders of democracy came up with the idea, very nice. Later, we hit up the street market with 5 euro ray ban knockoffs, 1 euro pounds of strawberries, and 1.80 euro gyros. That night, the group all choose to different things. We pregamed in our suite and half of us decided that we would make the trek to where else: McDonald's. On the way there, we buy some beer form a street vendor and spot a club called "Lollipop", someone points out that it looked like a strip club prompting the only boy in our group to pull a u-turn and beeline straight for it. Mia, Kaitlin, Erin, Lauren, Kalyn, and myself give each other awkward looks and decide to follow Matt in. Turns out it was not a strip club at all but instead a dance club with approximately 5 other people in it, including the bartenders. Not a problem, I feel a fun night coming on. We decide to be bold and carry in our beers and to our shock, the bartenders say nothing. We dance, we drink, and we still want McD's. Finally make it at 3 in the morning and run into Americans we had met earlier in Santorini which seemed weird at first until you considered the fact that it was he only 24 hour McDonald's in the city and Americans are predictable. Order chicken nuggets for the first time in years and call it a night. 8 hours of traveling the next day to get back to Italy.
As for the strikes and riots in Greece, we were lucky not to encounter any of that.
Arrivaderci Grecia,
Ciao Cinque Terre
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