Greece

So we ported in the city of Piraeus, Greece, about twenty minutes by train outside of Athens. The very first thing we did when getting off the ship was wander around for about an hour looking for our ferry company to purchase tickets for Sifnos, the island we booked our hotel at. Once we purchased our tickets, we headed into the city via the train. The heat of Athens was absolutely ridiculous; on our way to the Acropolis we saw about five tourists literally on their backs, being doused with water because of heat exhaustion. I heard that it was actually 115. It sounds high but it really felt like it. We pulled ourselves up the huge hill that looks over Athens to the Acropolis, originally built as a temple to Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, the patron goddess of Athens. For having been built in the B.C. era, and having survived Christian, Muslim and Ottoman raids and alterations, the carvings and magnitude of the building astonished me. We tried to stay as long as we could stand the heat before heading downhill to the Acropolis museum, which opened about two years ago. The museum was built above an ancient archeological site, an old state house from around 500 BC. The museum floors were made of glass so that you could see the ruins and excavating still going on. Within the museum, all the statues and artifacts from the Acropolis were put back together and housed in glass and open-air cases. We watched an interesting movie that explained the construction and then the destruction of the Acropolis over the centuries, mostly because of religious tensions. I couldn’t believe that the amazing works of art were so old and yet so intact. After the museum we cooled off with an iced coffee and headed back to the ship to meet up with some friends for dinner. We headed to the “hip” part of town and dined on grape leaves, grilled veggies, lamb, olives, croquettes, yogurt, fried feta, and ouzo light- absolutely delicious. Then a nightcap before heading back to the ship.



The second day we woke up early to catch the ferry to the island of Sifnos, about 170 miles south of the mainland. The ferry was like a giant airplane on the inside, complete with a breakfast/coffee bar and restaurant. We sailed for about 3 hours before porting on the island, about the size of Staten Island. Our hotel was bright white with blue shutters and trim, which matched all other buildings on the island. We think the entire island had no more than a few thousand inhabitants. After picking up Serena from her hotel, we went straight to the beautiful sandy beach by our hotel and relaxed for long time. Everyone on the island seemed to be driving mopeds, so unwittingly thought it would be a good idea to rent some. The rental man made us drive them in front of him before signing the paperwork, and unfortunately Chrissy failed horribly. She kept full throttling the accelerator while keeping her hand clenched on the break, which caused Serena and I to crack up and the owner of the place to refuse to rent to us. So, dejected, we walked across the street to rent a car. I was the only one who knew how to drive a stick so chauffeured the ladies to a small town in the middle of the island called Appollonia. There we ate some gelato and shopped for a while before exploring the southern part of Sifnos. After driving on the winding mountain roads, we finally made it to the northern fishing village to a restaurant that we heard was delicious. The owner and his family ran the place, and spoke no English, but we were able to point to the fish we wanted from his catch of the day and watch him grill it up. The island had so many goats, donkeys, and sheep wandering on the roads I had to keep the car in second gear pretty much the whole time.



Day 2 on the island was pretty much a beach day. After a delicious breakfast of crepes we took the car to the southern beach town and swam and tanned. After purchasing some pottery made right in the local shops, we returned the car and settled in to our beach. The Aegean waters were extremely warm, and from what we could tell, we were the only American tourists on this part of the island. Not much else happened this day, except for great food and lots of sun- exactly what one should expect when traveling to the islands.



Our final day in Sifnos was full of beaches, shopping, food, and talking with the locals. We met a Greek man that was so excited we were from New Orleans that he bought us a round of pomegranate liquor he made himself in his restaurant. We talked about how both his son and daughter had graduated from the London school of economics and now waited tables in his restaurant because the Greek economy is so horrible- much worse than the U.S. Our ferry left that night at 11:30; we returned to Athens well rested and well fed.



Our final day in Greece, my coughing symptoms took a turn for the worse, which prompted me to make a visit to student health, where they diagnosed me with Serena’s Bronchitis. So, basically I’ve been cabin ridden coughing until my head feels like it’s going to explode, drinking my weight in water. I hope the antibiotics kick in soon.