All clearly needing sleep, we slept until 11. We got up and around and without any knowledge of the city or the Greek language besides as map, tried to find the beach. We were very unsuccessful and wound up at the city center of Athens. I didn’t realize how much of a city Athens really is- it didn’t feel much like I had imagined Greece would, besides all of the Greek everywhere. We checked out the flea market, did some shopping, and got our first AMAZING AMAZING gyros. A huge chunk of lamb, tsasiki sauce, onion, lettuce wrapped in a super thick pita … ahh just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Yours too, I bet. Haha, sorry. We spent all day wandering the center. We also admired the Acropolis, which just sticks up in the middle of the city, with the Parthenon just chilling there in clear view. That’s another thing that reminded me that we were actually in Greece. Besides that, I couldn’t believe we were there! For dinner, Nick, his roommate, and other friends took us to their favorite gyro place- this time I got one with chicken (they put French fries right inside), and I got a taste of the Italian I had been missing with some berry gelato. That night, we hung out with Nick’s friends and roommates and had a great time getting to know them.
Day VIII Athens
Nick and us girls took a ferry to the island called Aegina (apparently the pistachio capital of the world- they were everywhere), where we got yet another gyro (I swear I could never get sick of those), and walked around the edge of the island looking for a beach. Unfortunately, we were again unsuccessful in our beach-searching, but walking around the island was gorgeous. Despite the overcast sky, the water and surrounding mountains were so scenic. Jess, Chelsie (who met us in Greece after the first half of her break with her family), and I caught a taxi back to the port and on our way to see some ruins that we saw from the ferry, we decided to be spontaneous and rent 4-wheelers to ride around the island! Jess and I have been talking about riding on a moped/scooter/a similar vehicle ever since we got to Italy so we could NOT pass this one up (also, since my knee was in a very unhappy state at the time, it was another excuse to do it). And ahhh! It was SO much fun! I let Jess drive because I loved riding and looking around/I get nervous/people in Europe drive much differently and I didn’t want to spend too much time getting concerned about not getting killed. So with crazy Jess behind the wheel and me behind her, we sped (er … that deserves quotations … “sped” … we floored at 40) around the island. We passed Carly and Nick and Elisha and Sarah and the best part was the surprised/confused/amused look on their faces when we rode by them! We passed/ got passed by lots of Greek locals as we drove around. Half of them shot us dirty looks because we couldn’t go any faster, and half of them smiled because we probably looked ridiculous. We rode towards the ruins found another great view of the beach, and then realized we were on a one-way road and could not follow the sign we had passed earlier that lead us to the port. We asked a Greek man on a moped who was stopped near us how to get to the port and because of his lacking English he couldn’t explain well, so he just said, “come with me,” and he lead us around to bring us back to the one way street. It was so kind of him, and how funny that must have looked- a Greek man on his nice moped, and three laughing American girls mounted on two incredibly slow and noisy 4-wheelers following him around the side streets of Aegina! Twice we passed some older men doing some landscaping, and we were laughing at ourselves because we could not believe what we were doing, and they stopped their work a just laughed with us as we were stopped at their intersection. I loved their Greek smiles- brilliant white teeth against their dark, sun-kissed skin. We waved at them both times and just could not stop laughing.
Satisfied with Aegina, we took the ferry back to Athens, and when we got back a big group of us went to a taverna (family restaurant-type place, only Greek) for dinner with Nick’s roommates and friends. I got a pretty decent chicken souvlaki and a Greek salad with incredible feta. Yummm Greek food. Afterwards, a couple of Nick’s friends took us to a really nice bar where we got drinks and hung out for a while. Went to a club in Athens- check.
Day IX
We climbed the Acropolis today! Saw the Parthenon! And all the other ancient ruins! And got a 360-degree view of Athens from the Acropolis- how beautiful. It’s another really ginormous city. Around the Acropolis there are lots of other ruins and old temples that we saw. Got yet another lamb gyro for lunch from the same place from which we got our first ones on Thursday (that makes 4 gyros in 3 days … oh yess), and Sarah and I went to go see the 198(3?) Olympic stadium, which is built on top of the old old stadium, and also the nearby National Gardens. It was nice to get away from the crowds.
For dinner, Matt (one of Nick’s friends) took me, Chelsie, Elisha, and Sarah to THE BEST meal I had in Greece. It was a little taverna hidden away from the center- as soon as we walked in I knew it was was going to be perfect. The way it was decorated with old photographs and classical musical instruments of Greek folk music made it feel like the real Greece I had been waiting for. The meal was a fixed menu, kind of like tapas- little plates with a little bit of everything. Tsasiki sauce, a seasoned beef in a sauce, beans, a cheese pastry friend thing, French fries, a pastry roll thing with ham and cheese, Greek salad, homemade bread, and endless house red wine. And, to top it off, there was live music! An older, beautiful woman sang and played the guitar, wonderfully serenading us with authentic Greek songs. She was so fantastic. Everything was so wonderful! The adorable old Greek men who served us practically chased us out the door on our way out, offering us more wine … hehee. Matt took us bakery hopping on the way back, stopping to get some baklava and a strange crème brulee-esque cake and some of that chocolate baklava and three different bakeries. When we got back, we grabbed Elisha and Nick’s other roommate Caleb and they took us up the hill near their apartment, up to the highest point in Athens. We were way above the acropolis- we could see it below us. We saw the entire view of Athens by night. It was just incredible.
So, yeah, Greece: check.
Day X
A drawn return to a very chaotic Perugia on it’s last day of the Eurochocolate festival. No, I didn’t stop to look around because a) I was exhausted, b) it was too crowded, and c) it was too expensive. But don’t you fear, fellow Waldmans, I can get Perugina chocolate here anytime I want and I may just save some of it for y’all.
4 wheeling with Jess, Aegina
me & the Parthenon, gyrossss
Afterthoughts of break:
Just kidding, I’ll spare you. It’ll be posted in a few days =)
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