It started with hanging out in Thessaloniki. We walked around the town and I showed Marc some of my favorite sites in the city. We went out to the taverna that night with all my crazy friends. Great time. Hilarious photos on facebook from that night, but maybe you had to be there to really appreciate those pictures.
The next day, we took a night train to Athens. This was Marc's first train ride! He's such a big boy now, taking planes, trains, and metros! Well anyway, the "best" part of the train ride was the fact that we had standing room only tickets. Which basically means, you can sit in a seat until somebody kicks you out. Well, we got to sit for about the first 2 hours. But the last 5 hours we were forced to find our own "seats." This is when I learned that I can fit into the little cubby shelf on the train! I was on the floor in the corner, under the shelving unit thing for luggage and Marc sat next to me. It was just wonderful.
We get into Athens and go to the airport to make our way to Santorini! I don't care how cliche and touristy this island is, I LOVED IT!! It was everything I ever thought Greece was (before I came). I definitely recommend it for any trip to Greece. Do yourself a favor, and go in mid-May. Not a lot of tourists yet and the weather is beautiful!
We ate at a taverna next to our hotel the first night, and we were the only people there. There was one Greek man that was running the whole restuarant by himself and he was pretty cool. We ordered some fish and it came just like a little plate of fishes that had been fried. Marc was too scared to eat them, so I pretty much ate the whole plate. We were trying to cut them up so we wouldn't eat the bones and the owner came over and told us to stop doing that! We were supposed to just pick them up, whole fish and all, and just eat them like that. So I did :) It was good. Then after our meal, he came and had a shot with us. I'm not sure what it was, but it definitely was NOT Ouzo. I know Ouzo by now and that was definitely not it. We also had some Santorini white wine with dinner which was amazing!!
The next day, we rented a 4-wheeler to explore the island. We drove to the red beach which was near our hotel. It was amazing! Not a good beach for swimming, but it's really pretty. The views all over the island were spectacular. Next, we drove to Oia. The whole way there was amazing views over the sea! This is where I wanted to go in Santorini. This city is built on the cliffs and there are the awesome blue-dome churches EVERYWHERE!! It was sooooooo pretty!! After that, we went to Fira (the main city) to watch the sunset from a roof-top taverna. We had some more amazing white Santorini wine with chicken soulvaki :) Marc's new favorite food!
*Blue dome church in Oia
Most amazing sunset... in the world, I'm pretty sure.
The next morning we woke up super early to watch the sunrise.
I thought the sunset was cool. I was wrong. The sunrise was even more amazing. We got up around 5:30 a.m. and hopped on our 4-wheeler. We made it to one of the black beaches of Perissa in 15 minutes. There was nobody there, and it was silent. We climbed out onto some rocks out into the water and waited for the sunrise. Perissa is on the east side of the island.
A little after 6 there was all of a sudden this amazing burst of orange and yellow coming up from the water. It was so amazing to watch it come up out of the water and light up everything around! Beautiful.
*Sunrise in Perissa
After that, we drove the 4-wheeler around the island a bit more because we didn't have to return it until 10 a.m. and Marc realllllllly liked it. LOL. My Wisconsin boy loved to drive a 4-wheeler around, who would have thought?
But then it was time to leave :( But our next stop was pretty amazing, Nafplio. This is a city in the Peloponnese, a few hour bus ride from Athens. It has old castles all over! We walked up to the big castle on the first day, and from up there you can see all over the city. It's up on a big rock, kind of like the Parthenon in Athens. It was Marc's first castle ;) It was huge! You don't really realize how far it stretches when you're down on the ground, and can't quite see all of it.
*View from atop the castle
The trek up there was pretty hot. Lots of stairs and sunny the whole time, of course. So once we were done, we wanted to go swimming! I heard that the beach at Nafplio isn't the greatest, but hey, it was water! It was pretty terrible. The waves were super high and crashing all over the place and the beach was like cement rocks. We ended up sitting on a wall somewhere so we didn't have to sit on the "beach". We jumped in once to cool off then got out pretty quickly. But we went to a much better beach later in the trip.
Next stop, Athens. I decided that if Marc comes all the way to Greece and doesn't at least see the Parthenon, then I will have failed him. So even though I really dislike the city of Athens, we went anyways. We went up to the Acropolis the first thing and I made sure we spent some time in the theater of Dionysus! Where theater was born...... Marc really liked that. I think he just wanted to show off to his theater friends where he got to go.
*Theater of Dionysus
After that, we walked around Athens a bit. Saw the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Ancient Agora, all the good old ruins basically. It was pretty sweet.
We get back into Thessaloniki at 2 a.m. and my roommate tells me that we are all going to go camping on the beach in Halkidiki the next day. So I wake up on Tuesday, go to my econ exam, and then tail it to the bus station to go camping on the beach!
We went to the tip of the 2nd penninsula in Halkidiki. If you look at a map of northern Greece, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's the 2nd "finger" of the 3 fingers of Halkidiki.
We rented little trailers and had a bonfire on the beach. We made Reese's smores! You make smores, but instead of Hersey's chocolate, you use a Reese's peanut butter cup. It's pretty good.
The next day we layed on the beach all day. The water is the most amazingly clear blue and the sun just shines all day long. Not a cloud in the sky. I want to go to Halkidiki one more time while I'm here because I'm going to miss it soooooooooo much.
*Me and Marc on the beach
Marc got sunburned to death, of course. So when we got home I had to go get him some aloe from the pharmacy immedately! Then we had some Gyros and he left this morning at 6 a.m.
It was the best time I think I've had here. Like I said, I know it's cliche but OMG Santorini was so amazing.
I'm leaving in 3 days and I'm really sad to leave! I definitely have to go to the beach one more time, while I still have it. After my exam tonight, I'll be done with school and will have all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to do whatever I want.
Before I came to Greece, I couldn't even believe that I was really coming. Now, I can hardly believe that I'm actually leaving. It doesn't feel real yet. Maybe when I pack up my room it will hit me... I'm happy to go home and see everyone but I really love it here. It's amazing and I'm so happy that I came. I know it wasn't my first choice, but now that I'm here I can't imagine if I had gone anywhere else!
And I'm even a little tan! LOL. This is the most tan I've ever been in my life... and I still look like a ghost. I just have a LOT more freckles and my hair is turning blonde! Well, you'll all see when I get home.
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