Keeping up with the Greeks...

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...is difficult. The schedule of eating lunch at 3, dinner at 10 and bars and clubs not getting going until 12-1am is rather exhausting when you want to squeeze in some daytime sightseeing also (early too, given that many sights and museums close at 2pm).

So finally got down a little time for some more blogging. Been in Greece for 3 weeks already. Slowly made my way through a few places - Chios from Turkey as in the last blog, Delphi, Meteora, Santorini, and now in Paros.

My proudest moment in Greece - finding the Chinese consulate in Athens without a map, by metro and foot without a cab. Arrived very early off the ferry from Chios to Athens, so thought to try to find the consulate for my visa. It's far enough from the center to be off the tourist map in Lonely Planet and apparently I cannot find a kiosk that sells normal city maps. So Google comes to the rescue with exact map of the area and directions. (By the way, internet in Greece is quite expensive at 4 euros per hour at most places, hence the lack of blogging also.)

Then comes my least proud moment in Greece - getting to Bus Station B for Delphi. Picking up my luggage from the hostel, a Greek girl was also going to the bus station and we shared a cab. Sounds great except we went to the wrong station for me - A instead of B. There is no easy metro way to the long distance buses, and grabbing another cab, the driver could not understand where I wanted to go and eventually in mutual frustration, I just got off somewhere, which is luckily close enough to the station afterall.

Delphi in spring is a magical place, in the mountains that are covered in wild flowers. The town is tiny and you can walk from one end to the other in 5 minutes. Delphi site is located just 500 meters on the windy road towards Athens (the bus trip is about 3 hours). Given that it's low season, I thought the place would be peaceful and quiet with few tourist crowds. Well, not so many tourists per se, but therer were hundreds of teenagers on school trips, from Greece, and elsewhere in Europe. But being there early enough or late enough the place is still enchanting. There's a great restaurant in Delphi town on the upper main road (just 2 main roads there really), where there were so many things I wanted to try on the menu that I returned for the second dinner - rabbit with onions and then mussels baked with feta and tomato sauce, both very tasty.

Took the bus from Delphi to (another about 3-4 hours) the town of Kalambaka which is a base for Meteora, the monasteries built into rock cliffs. Met a bunch of interesting people on the way - Argentinian guy traveling for 2 months, an American couple who teaches international schools and is one the way from few years in Saudi to a contract in Burma, and a German guy who ended up traveling with me for a couple days in Meteora. We met another Spanish guy at the hotel and had a great fish roe dip, octopus, mousaka dinner. The day of hiking between the different monasteries could not be more perfect in weather - starting off in fog and mist with the rocks and monasteries shifting in and out of view. By late afternoon, the sun appeared for clearer pictures.

Going back to Athens, I took the train instead of bus, given that the train station in Athens is actually connect to the Metro. Stayed a night in a hostel - tiny little room with 6 beds, so hot enough to leave the window open, but it's also in party central on a Saturday night. I don't think enough the Ambien is enough to cover over the constant music and screaming into the morning (like 7am). At least the next day is an easy one lounging on the ferry for 7 hours to Santorini. The ferries in Greece are quite luxurious, like cruise ships really. Met a couple Chinese girls who are living in France and time passed quickly.

Arrived at Santorini to foreboding clouds which soon enough turned into thunder and pouring rain - not normal for this place at all. My little studio room is in Oia, 10 km from Fira, the main city on Santorini. In the rain and very early season for the islands, Oia was quite desserted, but even in the darkness of rain and night, you can just see how beautiful it could be. The next day's drizzle lured me into the endless jewelry shops in Fira, which I was very tempted to buy this gold and mosaic ring for 1000 euros (which thankful I did not eventually). I determined to stay on the island until the sun came out and thankfully it happened soon enough to prevent me from spending too much money in the shops. I am still amazed at just how beautiful the place is, every bit as pristine and glistening in the sunshine with its white houses, blue-domed churches and azure waters. There are also a bunch of wineries on the island and the volcanic soil and dry summers make particular varieties of grapes unique to the place - mostly white and visanto, a dessert wine. So staying in Santorini for 6 days is very easy once the weather improved. Sunny day 1 - did the "big walk" from Oia to Fira along the edge of the caldera with amazing views, but much uphill for the 10 km. Day 2 - cruise to the caldera on an old style boat. Very touristy but still fun, especially jumping into the "hot" springs which really involves quite a bit of swimming in the very cold sea and arriving at the not-so-hot shallower parts (fun in retrospect perhaps).

...the rest of the day to day in santorini, i can´t remember in detail just as now - given that the above is typed but not published about a month ago. I´ve been horribly lazy in blogging, partially due to the insanely expensive internet in Greece. Now I´m leaving Spain for Portugual, there´s a lot to catch up...

One more word about Santorini, it is the most beautiful place I´ve been on the trip.

Paros came after Santorini, not very touristy in mid-April still. The villages and harbors are still tranquil and beautiful. Many expats live there and I met a bunch joining on a walk between a couple villages on an old Byzantine path through fields of flowers, cows and horse, ending up in a lazy cafe´s backyard eating a surprisingly mostly vegetarian lunch. Took a day trip to Naxos, which is only one hour by ferry. More pics to come later.

Final stop in Greece was Athens, during the Orthodox Easter weekend (which this year is one week after the normal Easter). Went to too many museums the first couple days, and the later few spent lounging. I have to say that Athens, even the Acropolis, was not the most beautiful place. Too crowded, even during Easter when everyone go home to the islands and villages. Sort of anti-climatic after everywhere else in Greece.

I´ve stayed in Greece for almost a month in total, much longer than anywhere else. In some ways I feel a bit more connected with the place, in a superficial way of course. Met a lot of Greeks who are incredibly friendly and open. And met one old man who I ended up very much disliked. In retrospect (comparing to Spain only really), Greece seems to be a bit more chaotic than the ¨normal¨Europe, but my favorite place despite of or because of it.

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