Olives and volcanic beaches

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So here I am, on a bus heading from Greece to Turkey with Lindsay. Never thought this day would arrive when a year and a half ago we were dreaming up this adventure. My last blog, I had some rather large emotional few days and was feeling super low. Glad to say I'm over that slump and my passion and excitement for travel is back in full force!! I will say how awesome it is to travel with a friend! I love going alone and meeting new friends and putting myself out there, but there is something so great to be beside a friend who knows you and sharing the experiences. Also, while in Greece, I have hardly seen backpackers. So here is a tip, don't come here alone! Either you are old, on your honeymoon, or have young children and came to Greece... Or you are Lindsay and I 😊So we spent the first few days in Athens checking out the Parthenon and other ruins. Amazing!

So here is a story that makes me look really intelligent. We were standing in the Parthenon overlooking the city (awesome place, aside from all the restoration/construction) and I was like "where the heck is the acropolis"? Ironically enough, I was standing on the acropolis... Smart moment there for me. Best moment is when I asked someone where the acropolis was. (for all who don't know, that just means the mountain or rise in a city where a building is). K, advice, 2 days in Athens is enough. So, we hopped on a ferry and got ourselves to the small island of Santorini. This island is basically formed from a volcano and had black sand beaches. Imagine that, black sand! Beautiful! I said that the black sand was actually not as hot on your feet because of some scientific reason. Yup, not sure why I believed that because you could roast marshmallows on that! HOT! Ooh and as you walk into the sea, you are walking on hard lava which goes for 7 km. It is so beautiful standing in the crystal blue sea on slippery molten lava looking back seeing black sand and white wash Greek houses. It was the orthodox Easter while we were on the island. The sunday, we heard smashing dishes (this got us very excited because how Greek is that?!) and we walk around the path and a family is having their Easter celebration. They invited us in their home, fed us roasted lamb, wine, and taught us their dance (well, tried to teach me). Really a beautiful moment! They couldn't speak English either, except the drunk uncle with a lazy eye who could basically only say "very nice". Which now, has carried on between us and now everything Lindsay and I see is Very Nice! We hopped over to the island of Crete for a few nights. Crete is stunning as well (mostly all of Greece is beautiful though). Here is a miracle that happened while we were there. We hadnt booked any hotel because online there wasn't any hostel or cheap place in the search results. Most times you simply show up and find one for half the price, so this is our strategy. K, we showed up to this town (Chania) around 11:45 pm and the bus station is deserted. Not a great start. So I see this man getting on his bike and I go ask him where a lower cost hotel is. Get this, he had just been at the bus stop to pick up a Polish traveler because he is a host on couch surfing (where you open up your home for travelers-great website on a side note). So rather than just one traveler, he now had 3 of us sleeping in his home. Total answer to prayer because there was no hotels nearby and actually we had an amazing time meeting his friends and seeing Crete through a local perspective. And I've save the best part for last...it's called Meteora. I had no idea this place even existed (no shock cause I still don't research). It is like massive stone columns shot up out of the sky in the middle of a valley. The scenery is breathtaking and the most incredible part is the monasteries built on the tops of these. The entire day it felt like I was walking through a magazine of national geographic. 11 days in Greece and we are onto Istanbul. Greece summed up would be amazing feta/olives (which I'm proud to say, I taught myself to like)/tomatoes...aka Greek salad, really genuinely warm people (though they really don't like it if you put your feet up on a ledge or a table, that's a mega no no), crazy history, ruins it seems like on every corner, stunning scenery, and boy do they ever love their coffee and kabobs! Overall, Greece was a great intro to Europe

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