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Published: November 5th 2006
We flew into Athens on Oct 30 to some misfortune. It was cold and rainy and we found ourselves at the luggage claim belt a bit longer than expected. The belt was empty and Ryan's bag didn't appear. So while we were already tight on time, we had to put in a claim and then run to the metro, which we just made. They actually had to reopen the doors for us. It was about a half hour ride to the Port of Piraeus where we scrambled through the rain to purchase our tickets and find the ferry. It wasn't hard to miss...it was basically a small cruise ship. After taking ferries in Nicaragua and Honduras we had some misconceived expectations....much to our delight. It was a gorgeous ferry with restaurants, tvs, dvd/movie rentals cushy seats, etc. It definitely made our five hour ride much more luxurious than we'd anticipated.
Five and a half hours later, we arrived into the port of Naxos (one of the biggest of the Greek islands) where the hotel guy awaited us in the rain with the hotel sign and a sign reading "Ryan Neal." Although it was raining, we felt we were finally getting
the vacation we'd waited for...I mean, a greek island, our own escort, our own little apartment (one room, but we had our own bathroom and our own kitchen and tv!!!). It had been a long day, so we went to bed so we would be refreshed for the following day....Halloween.
Well, I woke up Halloween morning and I appeared to be dressed in my costume...a gross, alien-type creature. I awoke in the night scratching my arm, so when I awoke I checked my arm and saw a TON of bites. Then I checked my other arm, my chest, my back, my legs....even my neck and face!!! COVERED!!! But oh well, we headed out to make the best of the quasi-sunny day...
We ventured along the shore back to port to see the town. A cute, little village with 6000 residents and all the buildings were white with blue trim. Too cute. The majority of shops, restaurants and hotels were closed up for the down season. We spotted numerous moto-rental places and we got excited to rent a quad when the sun came out. We also climbed the hill by port to inspect the "square" that we see on
all the postcards of Naxos. Turns out, that's the extent to what we discovered about it...a big, hollow square with chunks of white marble laying around the base of it. The white marble from Naxos is actually famous for being the white marble of which the Venus de Milo was carved. After that, it started to get cold, so we headed back to the pad. But most importantly, first we rolled into the grocery store and bought our Halloween treats...afterall, what's Halloween without candy?! So yes, we spent our Halloween on a greek island with drinks and chocolate and CNN (the only English channel).
Well, day two was worse...all around (with the one big exception that Ryan got his lost bag). My "bites" which were counted at over 300 were inflammed and itched, and the weather was colder and wetter. Fortunately, we found a hospital for my "sickness" and they stuck me with an IV!!! NOT at ALL what we'd expected. So then I got my meds, doctor's advice, and we went home to CNN.
Basically, over the five days on the island, the weather just got worse...colder and wetter. A huge cold front moved in over all
of Europe. My "bites" or rash or whatever the doctor says it is got worse. But lucky for us, CNN never let us down AND one station had movies in English on at 9pm. Sooooo, our "exotic" greek island turned into holing up in our small "apartment," eating, watching CNN and playing cards. Not quite what we had planned.
Next Up: Athens, Greece; Nov 5, 2006
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McFee
non-member comment
Oh My
What ashame. That would have freaked me out. 300 bites. I hope you are feeling better now.Greece still looks beautiful despite the weather. I guess you guys are pros at card games now huh? hahaha.Have fun on your next adventure.