It is always the eager college student's goal to spend spring break in an amazing place, each year trying to exceed the other with a bigger and better location. Some look for the biggest party spots, others for the best beaches; this year, the winning spring break destination: Greece. Each place I go to is a unique experience mainly because of the people I go with and the fact that every day is filled from sunrise to sunset with a full schedule of sight-seeing; however this trip was quite the opposite: it actually felt like a vacation. It was filled with so much relaxation, gorgeous panoramas, ruins, sunshine and laughter. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my spring break namely in the Greek sunshine, a "hot" commodity in gloomy Florence. I truly felt like a bear coming out of hibernation. This is arguably the best vacation I have had yet in Europe. The pictures below are the certificates of a spring break well done:
We flew out of the Rome Fiumicino airport on Easter Sunday. Weather was rainy in the taxi on the way there; scaring us thinking that weather.com could have fibbed about the warm weather in Athens. Nothing was going to ruin our trip, which was confirmed when I was walking to the bathroom in the airport and saw these Emporio Armani ad with yours truly, Cristiano. God Bless you. Way to start off our trip.
This was Seren and my first time traveling together and we were really excited to be on a plane together!! On the plane landing in Athens where the sun was indeed shining, no chance of showers. We arrived (we being the boys; Matias and Zach, and the girls; me, Andi, and Seren) at the main bus stop where we got some yummy iced coffee (which I have yet to see in Italy) and found the way to our hostel in the center of town, which ended up being pretty nice and clean. We walked around Athens, down by the dock and ate a really good Greek dinner. Being that none of us speak a lick of Greek, and Alpha Chi teaching me the Greek alphabet only got me so far, we got a little lost on the way back to our hotel. We took the wrong bus and ended up a 6 euro cab ride away from the main metro station we were looking for. Nevertheless we found our way home.
The second day, we woke up early made it down to the port to buy our over night ferry tickets to Santorini for the following day and then headed to the Acropolis. From the Acropolis hill we were able to see the monumental size of Athens and catch some great photos. I found some Athens-sized dandelions, picked one, made a wish and blew. Andi captured the moment with her camera, which is cool because she has the very same picture of her blowing a dandelion at Stonehenge in England.
The entrance to the Acropolis: the sun shining through really made this picture spiritual.
Me standing in front of the Parthenon (the Temple of Greek goddess Athena) whom the Greeks considered their protector. Construction was completed in 438 BCE and now they are working on restoring the entire Acropolis.
It was about lunch time and we found a grilled corn vendor at the exit of the Acropolis. Yums.
Reader beware: the following two photos are disturbing and it should be known my intentions are not to offend anyone, but I have a responsibility to preserve the integrity of my experiences. One would think that the town center of Athens would be agreeable and busy with tourists and friendly locals. While the locals may be friendly in Athens, the town center was not a very agreeable area. Beside the nice shopping surrounding the main metro stop, a few blocks downhill, also where our hotel was located, let's just say it's definitely not the best area to be walking through at night. To illustrate the things we saw was much like the movie I Am Legend where the mutants were all huddled together in the dark making barbaric breathing noises. It was a similar eerie feeling and dark sight as we saw on the street, in the inlets of building entrances groups of people in the street shooting drugs. It was probably one of the most intense things I have seen, considering the fact I don't run in any circle where that would exist, although knowing it does exist all the time all around. It's definitely more discreet I'm sure, but it was just so impacting to see it out in the open with complete disregard to the world around them. Being as though we had to follow the same route to return to our hotel, the next day we walked by to see the ground peppered with syringes and blood. Literally, everywhere you looked there was a syringe or a splatter of blood.
Along with these syringes, there were prostitutes in broad daylight. I soon learned that prostitution is in fact legal and regulated in Greece. In 1999 Greece passed a law stipulating that all brothels must have permits. Persons who engage in prostitution must register at the local prefecture and carry a medical card, which is updated every two weeks. Most prostitution is dominated by Albanian refugees and immigrants.
Pretty intense, switching gears. Buon giorno Santorini!! 6a.m. we docked in Santorini after a 12 hour ferry ride. We were exhausted to say the least and after two dramamine one would think I would be drowsy enough to sleep, which I was, but our seats did not recline and it was like an ice age took over our cabin, so needless to say being cold and uncomfortable all night wears on you. After getting off the ferry we were all eager to make it to our beachfront hotel and relax a little, which turned out to be a little more difficult than we anticipated. We dropped the ball a little when we soon discovered no one knew our hostel information which meant no one had called the hotel the night before to schedule a shuttle to pick us up at the port. Luckily, we found this really nice man with a van that owned a villa on the other side of the island and took us there where we could use his wireless to look our information up on my iPod Touch. Thank goodness for technology, definitely saved us from a worse headache we already had.
Finally made it to our hotel, Villa Manos, close to the island's capitol, Fira. Zach and Matias were hanging out in the courtyard while the girls got settled in, so we could go rent out ATVs.
Renting ATV's for €40 for 3 days was the best decision we made this trip. They granted us endless access to the island. We off-roaded on trails we found off the highway, which usually led to a beach. Plus, none of us have driven a moving vehicle in the last 9 months, so needless to say we were all itching to drive those things.
The first beach we went to was a black sand beach on the southern end of Santorini. The sand was pretty rocky, tickled and felt a little like a massage when I walked along the water. Seren, Andi, and I took a little walk along the beach while the boys aka monkeys climbed the hills behind the shore.
Close to black sand beach, we found a read sand beach. The color of the sand of these beaches depends on the geologic layer that is exposed. The sand and pebbles found at these beaches are solidified lava of various colors. Santorini or Thira, as the Greeks call it, is in the most active volcanic center in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc. There are boats that can take you to tour the volcano and swim in the hot springs.
One of the amazing elements I encountered in Greece were the unparalleled beauty of the sunsets. Our goal everyday was to see a more beautiful sunset. We found this abandoned church on a hill overlooking the ocean, climbed it and watched the sun go down on our first night in Santorini.
Our mob of ATVs.
Beautiful flowers.
For such a beautiful country, it only makes sense that it would be paired with a friendly culture and delicious food. We could all agree that Greek food was one of the tastiest cuisines we have encountered thus far in our travels, and not to mention it was CHEAP! Gyros were made a daily habit along with Greek salads. We stopped for lunch on the way to Fira at this little restaurant. The man who owned the shop was so great. He was an older man in his late 60s I would say, and not only was he super friendly, but he was pumping the Game for our listening pleasure.
Tribute to the Gyro.
While walking around Fira, we stopped and I found this ledge of a building to relax for a while, while taking in some sun. We ended up sitting here for two hours where I wrote all my postcards that I sent to my loved ones back in the US.
Staircase in the back of a cliffside house in Oia.
There were dogs EVERYWHERE in Greece. Luckiest dogs in the world I would say. They just hang out all day, roaming around, sleeping, being fed great food. They live the good life. I saw this little one peeking over the edge watching us figure out where we were going for dinner.
My favorite day in Santorini, we had been riding our ATVs all day, and earlier on we stopped to talk to one of the shop workers and he told us about this mountain on the north end of the island right before Oia where we could see the most beautiful sunset. We took his advice and climbed the mountain. Finally making it to the top, it was breathtakingly gorgeous. I felt like I had just hiked into heaven. We all took pictures and enjoyed the 360˚ panorama of the Aegean Sea.
The next day we road down to Perissa Beach after picking up some beer and relaxed on the sand and played around, consisting mainly of me being beat up by the boys as usual.
Standing next to the epic church in Oia.
Loved all the windmills peppered around the island. The architecture in Santorini is also very unique and is characterized by the low-laying cubical houses made of local stone and whitewashed with various volcanic ashes used as colors. The white color is used as an insulation to reflect the sun and keep the houses cool.
Doing my signature gymnastic pose.
Taking a break in Oia. Right behind us is the port where the movie, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed.
Cool picture of the boys messing around like always.
Overall, this trip was beyond remarkable. Great friends, delicious food, stunning panoramas, with constant laughter and fun. Time of my life. Now I can √ mark this experience from my life's Bucket List.New blog to come soon! Only 22 days left on this journey.
A presto,
Ash
