My Big Fat Greek Fall Break

This past week was our Fall Break, and I spent it galavanting through Greece. My travel buddy and I arrived in Athens early Saturday evening and hopped on the metro. After switching lines and then taking a bus, we met our CS host at a bus stop near his house. We dropped off our stuff and then went out for drinks in the main square to get to know each other. We didn't stay out long because we had been traveling all day and wanted to get an early start in the morning for sight-seeing, but we did stay up long enough for our host to teach us how to properly cut mangos and pomegranates. The next morning we took a bus to the Akropolis and spent the majority of the day marveling at the vastness of the ruins. The first major thing we saw was the Theatre of Dionysus, and it just made my heart stop a little. It was incredibly surreal to look at the stage and think of all the history that had taken place right where I was standing. There are actually a lot more sites at the Akropolis than I had thought, but the big one was definitely the Parthenon. It was under construction when we saw it because there is a renovation project going on, but it was still fantastic. I have no idea how it was built in less than 6 years, but that's what they told us. Words cannot adequately describe how beautiful the view from the top of the mountain was, so pictures will have to do. While we were enjoying the view, we met another traveller who was backpacking through Europe. He invited us to go to the island of Crete with him, and who turns down an offer like that, right? So we grabbed a quick dinner of gyros and saganaki and then went to get our stuff from the CS house. We told our host of the change in plans then headed back to the tube station to meet our new friend. We had about an hour and a half before we had to get to the ferry, so we hung around the main town square for a while watching some street performers. Then we went to Pireaus to get our ferry tickets. It was an eight hour boat ride to Crete, so we spent a couple hours talking and sharing travel stories before napping on the deck. We arrived on the island in the wee hours and rented a car with the intention of finding a hostel. We drove for about an hour and then decided we were too tired to function, so we pulled over and slept by the beach. This system basically continued for three days- driving through the mountains, exploring beaches, and camping out in the car. I learned how to drive stick-shift, thanks to our amazingly patient new traveling friend. We went to Chania, Rethymno, and Heraklion. My favorite part by far was Lygaria Beach in Heraklion. We found amazing rock cliffs that looked out over the most beautiful coves of sparkling blue-green water that was so bright and gorgeous. It was so clear! You could see the rocks and coral all the way down to the bottom. We swam and snorkeled and even got a little adventurous climbing the rocks and jumping into the water.
The island wasn't too crowded because it was the end of tourist season, which suited us just fine because there were some times when we had the beach all to ourselves. We had a great time sampling the food and enjoying the beautiful views, and we even learned to speak a little Greek! On our last night in Rethymno we stopped at a roadside restaurant on the side of a mountain for dinner. We ended up staying for a while to charge phones and relax watching the sunset from the balcony overlooking the water. The restaurant was on the second floor of a two-story building that we later learned was the home of the family who ran the restaurant. They lived downstairs and maintained a farm and garden in the back of the restaurant, and we got to see them feeding the farm animals in the back.
The next day we said goodbye to our new friend as he left for Santorini, and we spent the afternoon relaxing among rows of palm trees by the water at the port in Chania waiting for the ferry back to Athens. An eight hour ferry ride later and we found ourselves back safely in Athens headed toward the city centre. Our second CS host lives right next to the Akropolis, which was quite convenient. We found his apartment around 6 am, said quick introductions, and then passed out for a few hours. When we woke up (from the best nap EVER) we got to know the other CSers who were staying with us. There were three 20-something biochem students from Uruguay, and three other Americans! They were also doing a study abroad program (in Hungary) and were visiting Greece for their Fall Break as well. That day we went back to the Akropolis with our new South American friends and did some more exploring around the Agora and some other ruins that we didn't get to see the first time around. Then we went back to the apartment and spent some time talking and getting to know each other before heading to our host's favorite bar for drinks. I tried ouzo, which is a traditional Greek favorite that tastes like black licorice. Not my favorite, but hey, cultural experience, right? We snacked on falafels and olives and cheese- one of the best meals of the trip. We spent the last night wandering around Athens and found a cute little park with a playground tucked away off to one side, and we spent an hour or two playing and waiting for the stars to come out.
The last day was a bit rainy, but we did manage to make it to the Temple of Zeus and to the Akropolis Museum with the American kids. We also decided to go for one last swim in the Mediterranean. One of the Americans was celebrating his birthday, so we took a picnic down to the beach to celebrate. The day we left, two Polish girls arrived! We met some really cool people on this trip, and it's a shame we couldn't have stayed longer. Then we had to rush back to the apartment to gather our things, say goodbyes, and catch the tube back to the airport. The flight home went nice and smoothly, and our good buddy Peter graciously drove us back home late Saturday night. All in all it was a fantastic trip, and I could not have asked for a better adventure. Cheeeeers!

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