Kate in Bulgaria

Experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer and some adventures on the side

Magic in Greece

Ah, don't you just love that rejuvanated rested feeling you get after a really really good vacation.  That spell that comes over you for a week or so that just makes everything else seem not so bad and makes even the fact that there are no vegetable in town ok.  I certainly do, although I think its starting to fade, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts and keep up the count down for the next trip that will hopefully be just as excellent.

So, Greece.  What can you say about Greece.  Besides the fact that I walked in places that are thousands of years old or that I stood next to Zues' temple  the sheer power of being where life as we know it basically began is quite a humbling experience.  Athens is a city of amazing character.  It has managed to figure out a way to embrass its amazing history without letting it make its citizens feel above the rest of us.  The city is a thriving metropolis that has every modern day convenience you can think of; its just that while riding on the Metro to another part of town you just happen to pass by the Agora or Zues' temple.  In fact when they were building the metro the biggest problem wasn't the construction through a city as old as man kind, it was the fact that every couple hundred yards they would have to stop because some new tomb or archeolgical artifact was found and the excavators would have to come in to document it all. 

Of course Matt and I did our fair share to support the locals, how can you not when you have amazing street markets like the Plaka and more stores then even I could handle.  Bless poor Matt he is good at waiting and letting me get my eye full of all the gorgous things that I know I am just meant to own one day.  You can stumble around Syntagma Square or Monastiraki for hours and never see the same thing twice.  Its just such an amazing city for so many reasons ( i mean how many places can you eat at mcdonalds and have a view of the Parthenon?) 

The first leg of our trip was really the island of Mykonos.  Matt and I took one of the many many ferries that leave from the port of Pireaus and arrived on Mykonos a short 5 hours later.  The ferries are amazing and rival pretty much any mass transport ferry in the world.  We are talking lounges, internet, movies, resturants, berths and dont' forget the souvenier shop. 

Upon arrival in Mykonos and our short drive to the hotel we were staying at, it really hit me that I was in Greece and on vacation.  We had spent the previous day (Sunday) walking around a slightly damp Athens after having arrived that morning from Sofia.  So to arrive to this gorgous island on a beautiful sunny day was really the jump start of the trip.  The view from the hotel was wonderful and even included a lovely palm tree that we used as our daily weather report.  Our timing on Mykonos landed us there during 2 days of high winds so depending on how far over the tree was flying, determined the amount of clothing we took with us for the day. 

Mykonos is a gorgous place and is exactly what you expect a Greek Island to look like.  White washed buildings with crayola colors for trim, cobble stone walkways that wind you all through the downtown neighborhoods that also act as shops.  There are cafes everywhere that offer you everything from Ouzo to fried octopus to the all time favorite Greek Salad.  There are pelicans that roam the streets and are the official mascot of Mykonos.  In the 50s a pelican came to live on the island and quickly became the town mascot and earned himself the name Petros.  While the original Petros passed on many years ago, there have been subsequent Pelicans that have moved in and the one I met is probably Petros the 7th or something.  They are the largest pelicans i've ever seen and are an amazing color of pink.  Even there bills are a combination of purple, pink and orange.  They walk around looking for handouts from anyone and even have a regular walk to certain resturants that pass out free fish.  The pelicans walk right into shops and resturants and as you can imagine are really good for the businesses that welcome them.

Me and Petros

a view of Mykonos from the docks.  The fishing boats as you can see are as colorful as the old men who sit and drink Ouzo at 9 in the morning

The next stop on our trip was supposed to be the Island of Santorini but due to the wind our highspeed ferry was canceled and we had to take another that detored to the island of Syros.  With a 6 hour layover what else were we to do but explore the island.  One of the many good things living in Bulgaria has done for us is make us experts at killing time.  Syros is so unlike Mykonos (even though its only a 1 hour ferry ride North-West) you might forget you were on  a Greek Island.  Syros is not a tourist island in the traditional way you would think, but has its own charms for those looking for more of the "real life" sort of experience.  A nice place to have had to kill 6 hours, but I was glad to be leaving at 9pm and headed to our real destination of Santorini.

Due to our very late arrival (3am) on Santorini, we missed the famed Caldera (volcano) view.  No worries though,  the next day when Matt and I walked into the main town of Fira, we were smacked with one of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen.  The town of Fira itself is beyond cute.  Much different then Mykonos and in my opinion much better.  Fira sits right on the cliff of the crater and is like a town built on a mountain.  There are different layers of streets and each winds its way up to the top and for the hearty soles all the way down to the port at the bottom (600 stair steps down), or for the more adventurous, one donkey ride down.  We hadn't been in Fira an hour before I made the announcement I wanted to move there and work in one of the little shops.  Fortunatly Matt wasn't as easily swayed by the spectacular sites and kept us moving along to see the rest of the island.  Our 2nd day full day on the island we took a full day boat tour.  The boats take you to the active volcano (active as in it could not in it does) where we were able to walk up to the craters and walk on hardened lava.  We were carried to a hot spring and to another island that was cut off from the main island during the big eruption that created Santorini as it is today.  This small island is called Tharissa and only has about 250 residents.  Matt and I climbed up to the top (about 750 steps) and enjoyed our free packed lunch while looking out over a million dollar view. 

The Caldera View from Fira

a view of Fira from across the channel

After lunch we got back on the boat and went up to the northermost town on the main island.  The town of Oia (pronounced Ia) is renowned for its Sunsets and is the most expensive part of the island.  The sunset we saw while sitting on one of the white washed stone walls that winds up the island was indeed magnificient.  I'm sure the other 300plus people watching it also agreed.  It looks like you can reach out and touch the sun it seems so close. 

Sunset at Oia

Our last day on the island we went to one of the beach resorts that are famed for their black sand.  Now I admit I was a bit skeptical, but they are indeed made of black sand, or more specifically very small black pepples and rocks.  What it actually is is crushed lava that overtime wore down and formed a beach.   The sand is very hot, and as you can imagine becomes more so in the Summer and if you look just a little bit at the rocks you can find pieces of lava that look like they just came off of the crater. 

 

 Black sand beaches at Kamari Beach

After a very quick flight back to Athens, Matt and I spent the remaining 3 days of our trip touring the city.  We had opted to save this for after the Islands but part of me wishes we had done it first.  After the total relaxed pace of life we had on the islands, it was a little hard to force myself to get into museum mode and big city life.  Nevertheless we saw all the main sites and enjoyed our time in Athens.  Due to a transit worker strike the day we were to leave we ended up having to stay an extra night and then have a lengthy layover in the town of Thessaloniki.  They call this the 2nd capital, but in my opinion it doesnt' hold a candle to Athens. 

celebrating Zues

 

Matt and I at the Parthenon

 

The entire trip was wonderful and while Athens and the Islands were much more expensive then I had anticipated, it was well worth every penny we spent.  If I had to do it again I would probably spend less time on Mykonos and more time on Santorini; next time I think.

The pictures I've posted are just a few of the ones we took.  The rest are on Matt's site and you can access them by going to www.claygolf.com 

I encourage anyone who is able to go to Greece.  The sites of Athens are of course a must see, but the Islands is where the magic lays. 

 

posted by: ksension at May 17, 2006 16:15 | link | comments (2) |

An easy way to get to Matt's site to see the pictures fromf Greece is to go to  the " Links" section on the left side of the screen.  Click on  "Matt's Site for Bulgaria and Golf School" -  will take you right to his site.

posted by: ksension at May 13, 2006 10:56 | link | comments |

I'm back

I'm going to post sometime tomorrowish, but until then, you can go to Matt's site and see all the pictures from Greece.  

All I can say is Greece is an amazing and varied country and I am ready to move to Santorini.  It is one of those places that you have to see to really appreciate the absolute beauty of it.  The pictures we took can give you an idea, but there just isn't a camera in existince that can capture the breathtakingness of it all.

I'll go into details later, but for now enjoy Matt's site and all of our pictures.

http://www.claygolf.com/

posted by: ksension at May 12, 2006 20:10 | link | comments |

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