A myth of Shaquillian proportions

As the legend goes:

Greek Reporter covering the 2004 Games:

Have you been to the Acropolis yet?

Shaq:

We've been to a lot of clubs, but I can't remember the
name of all of them.

***

My Greek island adventure ended as calmly as it began.
We did our volcano hike on Santorini, and I took lots
of photos from the middle of the caldera. We survived
the walk down the donkey trail, easily breaking my
streak of avoiding donkey-doo (it's hard to avoid when
it covers the entire sidewalk). I was wrong with the
number of steps. I said 582, but it was 588... I only
know this becuase they're labeled on the way back up.
Not that I even considered walking back up, but at one
point I did turn to look back and saw little white
numbers on each of the steps.

As volcanos go, Santorini's was neat. Lots of rocks,
big and little, up hill trails and down hill trails.
It only took about 30 minutes to reach the top, then
we had a look around before returning to our boat.
From there, we circled around the volcano island and
dropped anchor near one of Santorini's other islands
for a quick swim to a thermal spring. Nothing quite
like diving off of a boat into blue-green water and
swimming until it warmed to the temperature of a balmy
bath. We sloshed around in the mud, exfoliating with
the little chunks of volcanic rock, and trying to
one-up each other withthe amount of mud we could
slather onto ourselves. The swim back to the boat was
enough to remove the mud, and it was also enough to
shock our bodies with the colder water (what goes up
must come down). After the adventure, it was a crepe
lunch and then a rest by the pool before returning to
Oia for another sunset picnic.

The next day (Monday, I think) we caught the ferry to
Naxos which is the one "real" island we went to. It's
far less touristy than the others and is the only
Greek island with a stop light. We spent one of our
days walking around the shops, and both nights
enjoying good food and cheap drinks (one place we went
to had a nine-hour happy hour, but we only stayed for 2).

On Wednesday, we returned to Athens after a sweltering
5-hour ferry ride (we should have sat elsewhere on the
boat). Our group scattered a bit, but decided to meet
up for dinner. From dinner, we took an evening stroll
around Plaka, the district of Athens that sits at the
base of the Acropolis. Some of the crew had flights
today, and wanted one more chance for photos of the
Acropolis at night, so we wandered back up towards it.
To our surprise, the roads just below the site were
packed with cars, and really nice ones at that. The
closer we got, the more we could hear singing and
clapping coming from behind the walls of the Greek
theater (where Yanni did his "Live at the Acropolis"
thing a few years back). Lots of people were milling
about outside the gates, listening to the opera, so we
joined them for a bit, imagining the costumes and
performances that were just on the other side of the
wall. Tash (our new guide) laughed and said,
"Wouldn't it be funny if it was Pavoratti singing, and
we were just sitting here listening for free." That
got me wondering, so I took a wander around the
grounds until I found a sign listing all of the summer
performances. It wasn't Pavoratti, but it was Placido
Domingo. :) And it was fantastic.

We stayed through intermission, and had a blast
watching all of Greek stars (most with surgically
altered bodies) walk outside for a smoke and a smile
for the paparazzi. Of course we had no idea who any
of them were, but they were glammed up enough for us
to have lots of fun a la Joan and Melissa Rivers at
the Oscars.

Today I finally hauled my cookies to the top of the
Acropolis and had a look around. Absolutely amazing.
Unfortunately, and fortunately, it's in the process of
being restored, so scaffolding was as prominent as the
marble. And it was packed... PACKED... with tour
groups. The people watching was as entertaining as
the sights were interesting.

Not sure how I'm going to spend the rest of my two
days here. I'm sure I'll resume my quest for getting
lost again.

I sent a bunch of pictures home, and they will soon be
posted at www.michelesumma.com. (We knew it was only
a matter of time, right?) Thanks heaps to my Uncle
Frank for posting each of my "reports" as well as
photos from the trip and some graduation photos as
well. Peruse at your leisure. :)

Love to all,
Michele