The Euro is falling! The Euro is falling!
We're all loving France right now. :)
So, it feels like about a hundred years ago, but I
know it's only been a few days since I wrote from
Athens. I spent much of Friday wandering around,
trying to get lost. I wasn't too successful with
that, though, as I kept finding my way back to the
same part of town. But it was fun. My first quest
was a belt because I've already grown tired of hiking
my pants back up after every ten steps (budget
dining...). That was easy enough. Finding a
bookstore was a bit more of a challenge. I finally
ducked into a hotel and asked someone at the desk
where to go, and he walked me to the end of the block,
pointed to the next block and I thought my problem was
solved. Not so. That place was under construction,
wide open, but no people in sight. The hotel guy
offered an alternative location in a different
direction, so I tried that, but when I got there, a
sign on the door read "Closed until we open again."
It was going to be one of THOSE kinds of challenges, I
could tell. :) But it turned out that both shops were
the same, just in the process of moving from one
location to the other. Closed until they open. It
makes perfect sense.
Someone there sent me a little bit further down the
block to another open bookshop, and I found a
phrasebook. Unfortunately, the phrase I wanted most
of all ("No, excuse ME for thinking I should be
walking on the sidewalk, Mr. Motorbike Driver.") was
no where to be found. But the book does have two
pages of choice curses and insults, and luckily they
don't sound close to anything that I'd need to use
regularly.
While walking, a guy came up to me, smiling hugely and
saying "I like tattoos." Novelty, I guess? Who
knows? But we chatted for a minute and he wound up
giving me a business card for his father's restaurant
which was near my hostel. It stayed in my pocket all
day, but I eventually got hungry and decided to check
it out. Finding it was a challenge. I definitely
made up for all my attempts at getting lost earlier.
There are lots of little streets and side alleys
throughout Athens, all with very similar looking
sidewalk cafes and tavernas. I took one major wrong
turn and wound up in a little residential dead end
section right below the Acropolis. It was beautiful,
but not really where I wanted to be, so I doubled
back, stopping to play with one of the 100 or so
kittens running around Athens (it was playing with a
leaf and was too cute to pass by).
Eventually, I found the restaurant, and Stefano, who
put me at a table in (on?) the rooftop garden. Two
guys were playing music, there was a tiny dance floor,
and probably 50 people up there dining. When I
walked, I hadn't realized the nature of the ambiance.
But then I sat down and looked up to see the Acropolis
all lit up just beyond the "stage." It was pretty
damn amazing. And the music and food were great. A
large group of people kept getting up, dancing some
traditional Greek circle-dances, shouting Opa! and
having a blast. I got tired of sitting alone, though,
so I joined an American couple sitting next to me who
were at the end of their vacation.
It was probably 1:30 am by the time we left, and not
because we were living it up, just because Stefano and
the other waiter both disappeared for a long, long
time. We never got our checks, the couple never got
their second round of drinks or their dessert, but as
long as the music and dancing kept going, we didn't
really care. And so ended Friday.
Saturday was pretty uneventful. I checked out of
hostel #1 and headed across town to hostel #2. I had
to switch b/c our departure time for the islands was
ridiculously early and I knew there was no way I'd
make it for the 5:45am departure. I got another good
dose of getting lost, mostly because I thought it
would be okay to keep asking people for directions.
Not sure how many blocks I covered before finally
getting the brainstorm to head into a Dominos and ask
one of the delivery guys for directions. That got me
most of the way there, the rest I managed on my own.
I splurged on a private room ($25 Euros) and dumped
all of my dirty laundry into the bathtub. Soon, the
bathroom looked like a laundrette, but it never got
hot/dry enough for the clothes to dry. SO after I got
back from my lunch excursion, the man at the desk told
me about the American Laundry Service place down the
road. This is the business to go into in major
tourist areas. I paid $3 Euros to dry a load of
clothes! But it was better than carrying damp clothes
around. He sent me out with a "Make sure you find it
this time" after I'd confessed to not finding the
place he suggested I try for lunch.
By the time I finished with the laundry, it was almost
time for our info meeting for the Islands trip. After
that, a group of us went out for a cheap Greek dinner
at a nearby restaurant. I'd say that our group is
about 90% Australian, and the rest of us are a combo
of Canadian, American, and I think we've got one New
Zealander. Nice folks. We had a good dinner and
watched a group of boys play soccer in the churchyard
across the street the whole time.
On Sunday we had a super long ferry ride to the island
of Mykonos. It was about 6 hours of just sitting.
There wasn't much to see. Every now and then a little
island would pop out of the sea, and tons of people
would run to the side of the boat (the size of a small
cruise ship) for a photo opp. We finally got off the
boat just after 1:00 pm and were met by AJ, a little
Australian guy from the Contiki resort where we'd be
staying. I asked him if there were any Australians
actually IN Australia right now, but I don't think he
appreciated the joke. Maybe he was just cranky
because he was so short... spiking his hair made him
look about 5'3".
We loaded up into a bus and made our way to the
resort. Yeah, the resort. I'm not sure if this was
the highlight or the lowlight of the trip. It's
definitely not anything any of signed up for. It was
like Lifestyles of the Young, Drunk, and Australian.
The place was gorgeous, and right on a beach, but it
was also a "cashless" place. Sure, we'll take down
your credit card info and give you this nice, little
card that you can just use for the bar or cafe, etc.
Cha-ching, cha-ching. Smart folks, those Contiki
critters. Drinks averaged about $6-8Eu and several of
my co-travelers didn't seem to think about how quickly
that would add up. Luckily, our group had arranged to
head into Thira (the main town) for the evening. We
were given a little tour of teeny tiny streets, some
cool windmills, and a waterfront section of town
called Little Venice becasue of the way the buildings
just end right at the water's edge. We also got to
meet one of the town's 3 resident pelicans. The one
we saw stood about 3.5 feet tall and was very aloof
(kind of reminded me of a certain Tibetan Mastiff I
know). If I ever get to a place where I can upload
some photos, I'll send one of him.
Anyhoo, we finished the walking tour, had dinner in
town (cheaper than our cashless meal at the resort
would have been) and then headed back for teh evening
entertainment (Greek dancing). The demo we got was
pretty neat, but I was much more impressed by the
people dancing at Stefano's place back in Athens.
Probably because it felt less contrived, and
definitely because there wasn't an Australian Emcee
trying to get the crowd into it by pushing $1Eu Ouzo
shots. (Ouzo is the anise-flavored liquor that Ian's
parents got snookered on in My Big, Fat Greek
Wedding.) After the Greek dancing, the bar opened up
to "regular" dancing, and about 10 of us stayed up to
boogie woogie oogie some more. The most surreal
moment had to be when the DJ played Sweet Home
Alabama. It just felt a little weird to be on an
island in Greece singing and dancing to Skynard. (But
I didn't let it stop me.)
On Monday, me and two other girls hopped the public
bus (which only runs about 5 times each day and is
always PACKED) back into town and walked around a
little bit more. On the island, all of the buildings
are bright, bright white, but the doors and window
shutters are painted different colors depending on
what the occupants wish to pay homage to. Some were
green (trees), terra cotta (earth), yellow (sun), blue
(sky), and aquamarine (sea). It's gorgeous,
especially on a bright sunny day like Monday was.
After our short tour of town, we headed back to
Contiki, and took a little kayak trip across our bay,
around a bluff or two, and to a quiet little beach far
from the throbbing bass of the constant-music at
Contiki. It was fabulous. The water was so clear and
blue and calm. We considered tying up at a rock-dock
to jump in, but didn't even though the water was
plenty deep for us to do so. We saw some cool birds
that I couldn't identify, and one that I'd swear was a
great blue heron. He sort of flew ahead of us as we
skirted the coast, then would stop and wait for us to
get closer before taking off again.
After a few hours, we paddled back in and found a spot
by the pool to waste a few hours until dinner which
was pretty uneventful. We found a little taverna
nearby with a great "Contiki" deal. I was protien
starved after the previous night's pasta and Moussaka
(a potato-y, eggplant-y lasagna kind of dish) so I
went for a pork steak (chop). It was deeee-lish, as
was the sampling of greek appetizers that came with
the deal. I couldn't tell you the names of what we
had (except for the potato salad), but it was all
really good. Our server took great care of us as
well. He looked a lot like Eugene Levy which we all
got a kick out of. After that, we went back to the
resort for a little music trivia night, and then an
early bedtime (staying out until 1 the night before
kind of did me in).
Today (Tuesday) we left Mykonos for Paros. Our hotel
is great. Much quieter, not overrun with 19
year-olds, and run by this cool guy named Leo. In
fact, we're the only group here, which means I'll be
the only one hear after Thursday when the rest of the
group moves onto the next island. I'm sticking around
for 5 nights until the next group arrives. Just
because. I heard it was one of the quieter islands,
and tomorrow we're getting a bus tour. I'm going to
take some notes, then rent a scooter from Leo's cousin
and do some exploring. Right now, a few of the girls
in our group are getting a little massage from someone
else Leo knows, and then we're going to head into town
together for dinner and drinks at the harbor. A girl
could get used to this. :)
~Michele
So, it feels like about a hundred years ago, but I
know it's only been a few days since I wrote from
Athens. I spent much of Friday wandering around,
trying to get lost. I wasn't too successful with
that, though, as I kept finding my way back to the
same part of town. But it was fun. My first quest
was a belt because I've already grown tired of hiking
my pants back up after every ten steps (budget
dining...). That was easy enough. Finding a
bookstore was a bit more of a challenge. I finally
ducked into a hotel and asked someone at the desk
where to go, and he walked me to the end of the block,
pointed to the next block and I thought my problem was
solved. Not so. That place was under construction,
wide open, but no people in sight. The hotel guy
offered an alternative location in a different
direction, so I tried that, but when I got there, a
sign on the door read "Closed until we open again."
It was going to be one of THOSE kinds of challenges, I
could tell. :) But it turned out that both shops were
the same, just in the process of moving from one
location to the other. Closed until they open. It
makes perfect sense.
Someone there sent me a little bit further down the
block to another open bookshop, and I found a
phrasebook. Unfortunately, the phrase I wanted most
of all ("No, excuse ME for thinking I should be
walking on the sidewalk, Mr. Motorbike Driver.") was
no where to be found. But the book does have two
pages of choice curses and insults, and luckily they
don't sound close to anything that I'd need to use
regularly.
While walking, a guy came up to me, smiling hugely and
saying "I like tattoos." Novelty, I guess? Who
knows? But we chatted for a minute and he wound up
giving me a business card for his father's restaurant
which was near my hostel. It stayed in my pocket all
day, but I eventually got hungry and decided to check
it out. Finding it was a challenge. I definitely
made up for all my attempts at getting lost earlier.
There are lots of little streets and side alleys
throughout Athens, all with very similar looking
sidewalk cafes and tavernas. I took one major wrong
turn and wound up in a little residential dead end
section right below the Acropolis. It was beautiful,
but not really where I wanted to be, so I doubled
back, stopping to play with one of the 100 or so
kittens running around Athens (it was playing with a
leaf and was too cute to pass by).
Eventually, I found the restaurant, and Stefano, who
put me at a table in (on?) the rooftop garden. Two
guys were playing music, there was a tiny dance floor,
and probably 50 people up there dining. When I
walked, I hadn't realized the nature of the ambiance.
But then I sat down and looked up to see the Acropolis
all lit up just beyond the "stage." It was pretty
damn amazing. And the music and food were great. A
large group of people kept getting up, dancing some
traditional Greek circle-dances, shouting Opa! and
having a blast. I got tired of sitting alone, though,
so I joined an American couple sitting next to me who
were at the end of their vacation.
It was probably 1:30 am by the time we left, and not
because we were living it up, just because Stefano and
the other waiter both disappeared for a long, long
time. We never got our checks, the couple never got
their second round of drinks or their dessert, but as
long as the music and dancing kept going, we didn't
really care. And so ended Friday.
Saturday was pretty uneventful. I checked out of
hostel #1 and headed across town to hostel #2. I had
to switch b/c our departure time for the islands was
ridiculously early and I knew there was no way I'd
make it for the 5:45am departure. I got another good
dose of getting lost, mostly because I thought it
would be okay to keep asking people for directions.
Not sure how many blocks I covered before finally
getting the brainstorm to head into a Dominos and ask
one of the delivery guys for directions. That got me
most of the way there, the rest I managed on my own.
I splurged on a private room ($25 Euros) and dumped
all of my dirty laundry into the bathtub. Soon, the
bathroom looked like a laundrette, but it never got
hot/dry enough for the clothes to dry. SO after I got
back from my lunch excursion, the man at the desk told
me about the American Laundry Service place down the
road. This is the business to go into in major
tourist areas. I paid $3 Euros to dry a load of
clothes! But it was better than carrying damp clothes
around. He sent me out with a "Make sure you find it
this time" after I'd confessed to not finding the
place he suggested I try for lunch.
By the time I finished with the laundry, it was almost
time for our info meeting for the Islands trip. After
that, a group of us went out for a cheap Greek dinner
at a nearby restaurant. I'd say that our group is
about 90% Australian, and the rest of us are a combo
of Canadian, American, and I think we've got one New
Zealander. Nice folks. We had a good dinner and
watched a group of boys play soccer in the churchyard
across the street the whole time.
On Sunday we had a super long ferry ride to the island
of Mykonos. It was about 6 hours of just sitting.
There wasn't much to see. Every now and then a little
island would pop out of the sea, and tons of people
would run to the side of the boat (the size of a small
cruise ship) for a photo opp. We finally got off the
boat just after 1:00 pm and were met by AJ, a little
Australian guy from the Contiki resort where we'd be
staying. I asked him if there were any Australians
actually IN Australia right now, but I don't think he
appreciated the joke. Maybe he was just cranky
because he was so short... spiking his hair made him
look about 5'3".
We loaded up into a bus and made our way to the
resort. Yeah, the resort. I'm not sure if this was
the highlight or the lowlight of the trip. It's
definitely not anything any of signed up for. It was
like Lifestyles of the Young, Drunk, and Australian.
The place was gorgeous, and right on a beach, but it
was also a "cashless" place. Sure, we'll take down
your credit card info and give you this nice, little
card that you can just use for the bar or cafe, etc.
Cha-ching, cha-ching. Smart folks, those Contiki
critters. Drinks averaged about $6-8Eu and several of
my co-travelers didn't seem to think about how quickly
that would add up. Luckily, our group had arranged to
head into Thira (the main town) for the evening. We
were given a little tour of teeny tiny streets, some
cool windmills, and a waterfront section of town
called Little Venice becasue of the way the buildings
just end right at the water's edge. We also got to
meet one of the town's 3 resident pelicans. The one
we saw stood about 3.5 feet tall and was very aloof
(kind of reminded me of a certain Tibetan Mastiff I
know). If I ever get to a place where I can upload
some photos, I'll send one of him.
Anyhoo, we finished the walking tour, had dinner in
town (cheaper than our cashless meal at the resort
would have been) and then headed back for teh evening
entertainment (Greek dancing). The demo we got was
pretty neat, but I was much more impressed by the
people dancing at Stefano's place back in Athens.
Probably because it felt less contrived, and
definitely because there wasn't an Australian Emcee
trying to get the crowd into it by pushing $1Eu Ouzo
shots. (Ouzo is the anise-flavored liquor that Ian's
parents got snookered on in My Big, Fat Greek
Wedding.) After the Greek dancing, the bar opened up
to "regular" dancing, and about 10 of us stayed up to
boogie woogie oogie some more. The most surreal
moment had to be when the DJ played Sweet Home
Alabama. It just felt a little weird to be on an
island in Greece singing and dancing to Skynard. (But
I didn't let it stop me.)
On Monday, me and two other girls hopped the public
bus (which only runs about 5 times each day and is
always PACKED) back into town and walked around a
little bit more. On the island, all of the buildings
are bright, bright white, but the doors and window
shutters are painted different colors depending on
what the occupants wish to pay homage to. Some were
green (trees), terra cotta (earth), yellow (sun), blue
(sky), and aquamarine (sea). It's gorgeous,
especially on a bright sunny day like Monday was.
After our short tour of town, we headed back to
Contiki, and took a little kayak trip across our bay,
around a bluff or two, and to a quiet little beach far
from the throbbing bass of the constant-music at
Contiki. It was fabulous. The water was so clear and
blue and calm. We considered tying up at a rock-dock
to jump in, but didn't even though the water was
plenty deep for us to do so. We saw some cool birds
that I couldn't identify, and one that I'd swear was a
great blue heron. He sort of flew ahead of us as we
skirted the coast, then would stop and wait for us to
get closer before taking off again.
After a few hours, we paddled back in and found a spot
by the pool to waste a few hours until dinner which
was pretty uneventful. We found a little taverna
nearby with a great "Contiki" deal. I was protien
starved after the previous night's pasta and Moussaka
(a potato-y, eggplant-y lasagna kind of dish) so I
went for a pork steak (chop). It was deeee-lish, as
was the sampling of greek appetizers that came with
the deal. I couldn't tell you the names of what we
had (except for the potato salad), but it was all
really good. Our server took great care of us as
well. He looked a lot like Eugene Levy which we all
got a kick out of. After that, we went back to the
resort for a little music trivia night, and then an
early bedtime (staying out until 1 the night before
kind of did me in).
Today (Tuesday) we left Mykonos for Paros. Our hotel
is great. Much quieter, not overrun with 19
year-olds, and run by this cool guy named Leo. In
fact, we're the only group here, which means I'll be
the only one hear after Thursday when the rest of the
group moves onto the next island. I'm sticking around
for 5 nights until the next group arrives. Just
because. I heard it was one of the quieter islands,
and tomorrow we're getting a bus tour. I'm going to
take some notes, then rent a scooter from Leo's cousin
and do some exploring. Right now, a few of the girls
in our group are getting a little massage from someone
else Leo knows, and then we're going to head into town
together for dinner and drinks at the harbor. A girl
could get used to this. :)
~Michele
posted by Frank | 5/31/2005 06:24:00 AM
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