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Published: March 2nd 2009
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Last weekend my friends and I stayed in Athens and enjoyed some of the Carnival festivals going on here. We first attempted to partake in the Burned Meat Thursday festival but were unsuccessful in finding a taverna. We still ate meat, just in the form of gyros instead. Then on Saturday night we went to a parade. After the parade we got crepes. This was a wonderful experience because the waitress was absolutely phenomenal! First she was impressed that we capable of reading Greek (though it was very slow and we didn't understand most of it). She was happy to help translate what was on the menu for us. Then she asked us if we were from the North... as in from Scandinavia! It was great, she was so helpful and kind! Then on Sunday my friend Anouska and I went to the 2009 Dionysia Wine Festival of Athens. Over 160 vineyards from across Greece were represented. It was very interesting!
This weekend was AMAZING!!! We had a four day weekend and my friends and I planned to use it to explore Andros, a nearby Greek island. The night before we left we decided that there wasn't really a lot
to do on Andros and it would cost about the same to go to Syros instead. So we went to Syros on a bit of a whim! It turned out to be absolutely phenomenal!
The first day we had a picnic on the pier of the main port town in Syros. Then we explored the town, Ermoupolis. We ended our exploration by climbing a large hill up to one of the two famous churches in Syros. The views were unbelievable! After a bit of a siesta, we went to a shoe store where Anouska and I both found amazing boots for reasonable prices! Then in the evening we enjoyed gyros for dinner, followed by a cafe for a couple of hours and then we called it an early night.
The second day was remarkable! We tried to get ourselves to the village of Kini which is supposed to be beautiful. We talked to a handful of Greek people in our broken Greek in an attempt to make sense of the bus schedule, but we were unsuccessful in our attempts. We finally asked the representative of the ferry lines for help. He informed us that we had missed the
buses to Kini and suggested we take a bus to Galissas instead. Evidently this bus would take us on a tour of the villages in the southern half of Syros and if we decided to get off, Galissas was a nice place to stop. We opted to do this and were very happy to find a beautiful beach mere paces from the bus stop in Galissas! Anouska, Sarah, and I all took off our shoes so we could enjoy the sand between our toes. Anouska then told me that if it wasn't quite so chilly or if she had her swim suit she would go swimming. She said she was even tempted to just go in her underwear. I said I would totally be down with that, so the two of us went swimming! in the sea! in February! After swimming we enjoyed a picnic on the beach but then were rushed to get off the beach by a sudden and terrifying storm cloud. We just barely made it to shelter before it started to pour. As we ran towards a restaurant, Lynette screamed back to us if we wanted to stop. Anouska's response was, "Why not?" To which the
owner of the restaurant (who was holding the door open for us and ushering us in already) replied, "Why not? We are the only place open! So why not? Where else will you go?" We laughed, went in, and enjoyed hot beverages and a crepe!
It turned out that there was a carnival celebration in Ermoupolis (where we were staying) on Saturday night. We had seen the signs for an "80s Disco" and planned on checking it out. We just weren't quite expecting what we found. The entire town was turned into a party. There was music blasting in all the streets, streamers and confetti being given away for people to throw at each other, most people were in costume. There were dance platforms set up and we even passed face painting and a moon walk for the kiddies. All the bakeries in town set out free baked goods and the shops all provided free wine, juice, water, and sodas. We ended up not needing to go to dinner at all! We were out in the festival for four or five hours and danced for two and a half to three! It was amazing! Most of the songs were
ones we knew and we greatly enjoyed dancing! Many Greek people enjoyed our dancing too, or so one would assume from the people who stopped to take picture and video of us. Some even joined us and danced with us! It was great! As the festival was drawing to an end, a couple of groups of Greek men tried to get us to go to a cafe for drinks with them. We finally agreed to go with one group (they offered to pay since none of us had money on us) but the five of us girls agreed that none of us would drink anything with alcohol in it, we would stay together at all times, and no matter what the guys would not find out where we were staying. It was an interesting experience since most of the guys did not speak any English and between the five of us we have very VERY limited Greek skills.
The last day was the most gorgeous day on Syros. The sky was dazzlingly blue (as was the water) and everything looked amazing! We took a taxi to Apos Syros, the old town of the island, and enjoyed the views from
there as well as a leisurely stroll back down to Ermoupolis (leisurely in large part because we were all so incredibly sore from the hours of dancing the night before). We then soaked up some sun (I even got a bit burnt!) along the waterfront before catching our ferry back to Athens.
Then today in Athens there was a celebration for the holiday (Clean Monday) on Filopappou Hill. The festivities went all around the area beneath the Acropolis and included many vendors, lots of food (though not free this time), and rides for the kiddies. On Filopappou Hill there was a kite flying festival! So my friends and I bought an awesome kite shaped like a bird and enjoyed flying it from the hill! On the way home we stopped at the bakery for a traditional Clean Monday flat bread (as well as some other tasty treats)!
It was a WONDERFUL weekend!
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Andrea
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wow!
Dena your pictures are so beautiful! I wish I was there with you! I misssssss yoooooou!