Love It!

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Athens is such an amazing city. The streets all seem to eventually lead to a square/circle. You can walk around a corner and stumble upon a small section of runes fenced off and covered in vivid greenery. There are small cobble streets and large city streets, new buildings and old ones. Graffiti that is beautiful enough to make you wish you could cover your house with it and street vendors selling pastries that make your mouth water even when you are full! I love Athens, it is my favorite city that we have been to so far. I love the food, people, art, history, architecture, weather... I just love it in general!
Our first day was semi wasted due to sleep deprivation and our second day started off the same way. Alex and I had been so utterly tired from the lack of sleep that we decided to not set an alarm and so we slept in. We got up about 11 and by the time we were dressed and walking towards the Acropolis it was midday. We walked towards the Acropolis but never actually made it there. We were pulled into a shop 😊 and after talking with the shop owner we found out that the Acropolis would not be open past 4pm and so we decided we would skip it that day. We ended up meeting up with the shop keeper later for drinks and decided he was kinda a creeper. After we had a drink of Ouzo(which is a favorite around here, a liquor that is flavored like aniseed which is similar to black liquorice) with him we parted ways as fast as we could! For dinner we went to a little cafe where we had musaka which is a traditional lamb dish here and was pretty good and we had a plate of olives! We also shared a bottle of Retsina which is a type of wine that they make here! Yum yum! We walked around for a while longer and then headed back to get more of our favorite, sleep! haha
The next morning we got up around 9 and went on the search for a laundry mat! We have been washing our things by hand in the sink and were ready to wash everything properly and we wanted to wash our sleeping bags also! We found a laundry mat just a little ways away. We put all out stuff into 3 loads and did our laundry! We finished around 1pm and after we took all our stuff back to our room we went on the search for some lunch! We found a little cafe down a side street and had coffee, Greek salad(tomatoes, cucumber, feta, olives, green peppers) and baked feta with honey and sesame seeds on it, which was AMAZING! It was a cold day, we walked around for a while and after getting lost in an area that was probably a little dodgy we decided to head back for the night. Once we got back we got online and picked an island to go to. We decided on Kea because it was close and said it had good hiking trails.
The next day we got up, packed and headed for the bus. The bus ride to the port took about 2 hours because of all the stops. We were dropped off in a small town near the Lavrio port where we had a coffee and some toffee ice cream while we waited for our ferry! The ferry ride was about an hour. It was cold but Alex and I stood outside on the top deck so we could take pictures as the sun set! It was beautiful. We landed on Kea in the dark and without a clue as to where we could stay. We walked just a few yards down from the dock where we found a little place open, we had a drink and shared a Lamb kebab. The restaurant owner was so nice, he found a room for us that was not far and not too expensive. He didn't speak much English but was so friendly! We tried to give him a tip for helping us out but he would not take it! He walked us down the port - just a short ways - and then we were taken up to our room. It was a little room above a hardware store!!!! It was so perfect! The guy who owned it was super nice and laid back. We were only going to stay 2 nights.... We ended up staying 4! Our room didn't have heat but we did have a perfect little balcony with a view of the whole port it was amazing!
We spent the next 4 days for the most part freezing but utterly happy! It was so relaxing, we walked around the small town, made friends with the local cafe owners and the grocery store lady! We watched movies on tv late into the night and slept in. Our 3rd day there finally brought some sunshine and warmer weather. Alex and I got up and went to the bakery, we got a fresh loaf of bread and some salami and feta cheese. We packed up our backpacks and asked the guy we were renting a room from what the best direction to walk was. He pointed us and we set off! It was an amazing hike! It was difficult with amazing views when you reached the top! We hiked all morning/afternoon. The clouds started to move in during the afternoon but luckily it didn't rain on us. At the top of one of our hills we finally saw the Sea and a spot that we wanted to sit for lunch. The closer we got the harder it was to get over to the area we wanted but we slowly winded our way there. Finally our spot was close in sight and as we rounded the next corner we saw that just before the spot we had picked was a small, hidden, secluded cove. We quickly changed course and headed for the cove! Neither of us had thought to wear our swim suites... We were not planning on swimming, it was not that warm out, but once we got down to the cove and saw how amazingly clear the water was there was No Way we were going to pass up the chance to swim in the sea. We stripped down to our knickers and got in! The water was Freezing!!! It was amazing, the water was above our waist and you could still see the bottom perfectly. We swam around until we could no longer feel our bodies and then climbed out of the water to dry off and have lunch. We didn't bring towels and we didn't want to hike back in wet close so we sat on the beach in our underwear and had our lunch while we air dried off. As the sun was getting close to setting we packed up and headed back. We found a road that winded around along the coast that eventually took us back to the port we were staying at. We got back just as the sun set. It was a perfect day.
The next day we woke up to rain. We packed our things and said our goodbyes. We took the ferry back to Lavrio and then the bus back to Athens.
Today we got up early and headed for the Acropolis. Such a cool place. They have lots of restoration projects going on at the moment so there were lots of cranes and things but not too crowded tourist wise which is the plus of visiting during the winter. Alex and I wondered around for a few hours and then went on the search for lunch. We found a little bakery and had a spinach and feta pie with some fresh squeezed orange juice and then we went on the search for chewy coconut sticks! Chewy coconut sticks are amazing! It’s exactly what it sounds like, a candy that is shaped like a stick and is chewy and made out of coconut and it is Divine!! Then we came back to the hotel to pack.
Tomorrow Alex and I leave for Rome. I have to say I will be sad to leave Greece. I absolutely loved it here and will be coming back in the future for sure! I am excited to see Rome though and it was not a stop on our original plan but since we cut Egypt short we were able to pick another place to go!

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Comments

[Bill]

well played Vanessa! You have the Parthenon in the palm of you hand!