Do you have those giant beans?

---

Athens

So I made it to Athens fine, in one piece! I actually met lots of nice people that spoke English on the way there, that were Greek, and so they told me lots of good stuff to do in Athens and when I got to Mykonos.

I took a bus from the airport which was simple, but then from the bus station had quite a walk to my apartment...that was fun dragging all my luggage! I made the mistake of buying wine when I was in Verona...haha not too smart now I have to drag it all over Europe! Oh well I can deal. Found my cute little hostel eventually though. Me and Ari caught up for a while and then napped then played with the kittens that were at the hostel and then took a walk downtown. We found a starbucks! Nice. Italy did not have those, at least not that I saw. Then we found somewhere to eat dinner and I had my first Greek salad. Yummm! Italy's salads definitely suck, that is not what they are good at creating!

After this we went out to one of the clubs in the southern suburbs of Athens, in Glyfada. It was huge, and set up very cool inside. It was also right on the beach! That night Julie also got in from Valencia. The next day we walked around Athens, saw some cool churches and whatnot, and then went up Lykabettus Hill by a funicular car. There was a cute cafe up there, as well as an awesome panoramic view of Athens! You could also see the water from up there and of course the Acropolis. Also on top of the hill is a stadium which looked like it would have awesome concerts in the summer! This was very cool. Then we went back and walked around Syntagma square, and walked through The National Gardens. The gardens were very big, and they are located right next to the Temple of Zeus and right across the street from our hostel. Lots of greenery! Then we walked past the Greek Parliament where we experienced the changing of the guards! This was cool, but it looks like the outfit they wore was SO HOT! Apparently it is quite an honor to be one of these people though.

After this we grabbed a yummy Greek dinner (I had dolma and some of those giant beans! and our waiter was absolutely crazy) and then went to a restaurant-bar place to watch the final UEFA Championship game of Germany and Spain!! This was really exciting and a pretty good game. Spain ended up winning so Julie was happy, but she was jealous that she wasn't in Spain to take part in all the celebrations. Then we went to bed since we had to get up early the next day to catch our ferry to MYKONOS!!!

Mykonos was lots of fun. We did a lot of beaching there and just enjoying the scenery. We also did lots of wandering through the town of Mykonos checking out all their little shops and getting lost on the cobblestone streets. Here we definitely had our fair share of gyros, we found one little place by the bus station that we went to everyday! The beaches we went to were Paradise Beach and Plati Gialos. Both were absolutely gorgeous and just a short bus ride away. The water was SO clear and a gorgeous green and blue as it got deeper. Paradise beach also had a little reef close in towards the shore that you had to walk over if you wanted to get out into the ocean. Julie and I did lots of swimming at both these beaches. It was all very relaxing! At Plati Gialos they also had a huge trampoline that was on this inflatable thing and it was out floating in the water, but we didn't go on it.

What was interesting about Mykonos was how many Italians were there! It almost did me better to talk to people in Italian first rather than try English. I was okay with that though because I got to practice it more. I guess that is where all the Italians go to vacation. It was cool though because we met some pro Italian soccer players! Overall Mykonos was a lot of fun and I definitely got tan which made me happy! Then we ferried back to Athens on Friday, July 4th.

For the Fourth of July Julie, Ari, and I dressed up in red, white, and blue dresses and went out downtown for dinner and just to hang out. We had a nice long dinner and then went back to our place to go to bed. Exciting Fourth of July! We got up early the next day though to do all our touring. We went to the Acropolis, and saw the Parthenon, took a long walk through the Ancient Agora and saw the museum there, and then saw the Temple of Olympian Zeus and then the Roman Agora. It was a long day with a lot of walking and it was sooo hot that day! It was pretty funny though because we were all delirious from the heat and being so tired. It was an interesting way to do our touring but I'm glad I did it with Ari and Julie because they made it funny! We did the last dinner with all three of us at Platanos, which wasn't too bad and we took our time with that which was relaxing. Then we explored the downtown area and found a bunch of Americans and Australians, and found the streets literally COVERED with Greek people. I guess that was THE place to be on a saturday night!

The next morning Ari left and Julie and I went to Glyfada to go to the beach. We went to one of the free beaches there, which ended up being a mistake because it was sooo crowded and very dirty. The water was also ssoooo gross. All we wanted to do was relax and go swimming, but it was so crazy and the water was too gross to swim in! We were only there for like an hour. Then we searched for a cafe to sit and relax in but it was Sunday, so of course everything was closed! So we finally went back to Syntagma square and found some Greek gyros, and I found HUMMUS!!!!!!!!! For all those who never knew, hummus is Lebanese, not greek!! So it is pretty hard to find in Greece. We then searched all over for a movie theatre, but they were closed during the day! So we went back to our hostel to shower and nap, and then went out in search of this vegetarian restaurant. We searched for an hour in the hot hot heat and then finally found out that it had burned down a year and a half ago! That would happen!! Aaah the day was not going so well. So we went back to this Asian restaurant that was Chinese-Japanese and I found some tofu. But I dont like Chinese food much so it wasnt that good....haha was a horrible day we had. That was definitely the worst day I had had in a really long time. Just about everything went wrong. The one thing that was awesome though was this Baklava place that made fresh baklava! I got some and it was sooooo yummy. Fresh and warm. YUMMMMMMMMM.

The next day we got up early early early to get to our flights out of the Athens airport. I flew into Rome and Julie flew home. My horrible day however didn't end yesterday! I was hoping to get to Florence early and get settled and get a nap in, but I arrived in Rome and found out that there was a huge transportation strike! So no trains to Florence. So I was stuck in Rome. But the buses weren't running! So I checked my bags at the train station and walked downtown. This was kinda far. I went to the little Indian community though and found some very yummy Indian food and then got some good gelato and then went to the Museo del Risorgimento, or Museum of the Resurgence, which was when Italy gained their independence. I hadn't been to this museum when I was in Rome, but it was very cool!

I did the long walk back to the train station and finally caught one of the few trains that was going to a train station just outside of Florence. I luckily got a ticket and finally got to Florence. Then I had to wait for DAYSSSSSSSSS for a cab at the train station. There were so many people trying to get them. 20 euro later I finally made it to my apartment around 6 pm. Only one of my roommates had successfully made it to Florence so far! The rest came in around midnight or the next day even! They had even longer days than I did and I think went through more hell than I did with the transportation strike and getting Florence. What an INSANE day I bet all the people at CEA were going crazy. Well time to walk up the Duomo, but I will give a Florence update soon! PAX

---

Comments

[Haben]

I plan to do that Trip
This was really helpful! Thanks so much. I'm going tjo Rome, Sicily, Athens, and maybe one of the Greek Islands this winter. It was nice to read about your trip, it helped me figure out what I want to do in those places... thanks again!