Month: September 2018

On the morning of second official day in Greece, I felt revitalized after my first sleep following my very extensive sleep deprivation. I didn’t get to relax, however, because we had to be at the loading dock for our cruise at 9 AM. Armed with my oversized bag and a vivid imagination, I was ready for 4 days in paradise.

My dreams were somewhat squashed whenever I saw my less-than-luxurious accommodations, however. The Celestial Olympia is not exactly a five star cruise line. I was put in a tiny room with three other girls. There was not even a tiny port hole to look out of. There was no place for our suitcases. There was barely enough room to stand in the bathroom.

I was in hell.

My parent’s two-person room seemed like a luxury suite. They even had a reasonably sized port hole.The point of a cruise is not to stay in your room anyway, though, so in hindsight it was not that big of a deal. At least there was AC.

While waiting to dock in Mykonos, my family and I relaxed at a bar that sat on the highest part of the cruise ship. While sipping cocktails (virgin for me), we people-watched our fellow cruisers. We witnessed an amusing group of bathing-suite clad cruise goers participating in a Zumba class. I have photos, but I don’t want to lose my blog’s PG rating.

As the boat sped along, I admired the bright blue waters. It almost looked as if someone threw a blue cool-aid packet into the ocean. I don’t know why, but I was expecting the ocean to be a shade of emerald. I would never have believed it could be so blue if I had not seen it for myself.

That evening, we docked into the Mykonos port. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place so white and clean. I don’t think I saw a spec of trash on the ground.

Mykonos is iconic for its windmills, which can be seen from anywhere on the island. They operated for nearly 300 years and were used in the breadmaking process. Today, some of these wind mills are houses!

Established in the 11^th century BC, Mykonos was a simple poor island. Today, however, it is infamous for its nightlife. Lindsay Lohan even has a beach club there. Unfortunately(?), I did not spot this childhood super star while on my tour.

And the Churches, oh the churches! They are on every corner in Greece, especially on this island. White and simple on the outside, on the inside no expense in spared.

Even though this island is ultra-commercialized, it is still a must see. Nothing can quiet match watching the sun set reflect on the bright white buildings while caressing a gyro in your hand.

P.S.. Did you know lamb gyros are apparently a American thing? (I know, I didn’t believe it either, Americans get everything wrong).

My first day in Athens was a whirlwind, to say the least. As soon as we landed, we boarded our tour bus and started our exploration of Athens, Greece.

Our first destination was the Monastriaki Flea Market, one of the most popular marketplaces in all of Greece. You can find everything you could want in this shopping center, from gelato to fine jewelry.

While wondering through the narrow, crowded streets, my mother and I spotted a beautiful ring. Illuminated in a jewelry case, it held an Ancient Greek coin with the face of Athena on it.  The saleswoman invited us inside, and we gladly entered the air conditioned store.

Athena’s youthful face shimmered from the silver ring. My mother fell in love. Whenever we asked for the price, however, the sale associate was reluctant to share. She finally wrote it on a piece of paper and handed it to my mother. Needless to say, we weren’t looking to spend 2k on a ring, so we told the sale associate that we were on a time table and booked it out of there. While shopping in the markets of Greece, a rule of thumb is that if the jewelry is contained in a glass case, it will most likely cost at least cost round trip air fair.

After a lot of searching, however, my mother, sister, and I were able to find some Greek-coin jewelry more in our budget. My mother’s ring depicted Athena wearing a laurel, my sister’s necklace showed Athena as a commanding warrior, and my necklace illustrated the symbol for Athena: the owl. Athena, the patron of Athens, is a symbol of wisdom and courage. The sales woman told me that in all Greek children’s schoolbooks, there is a picture of an owl on the front page. Today, I wear this necklace when I need some goddess strength to get through the day. You can get your own necklace similar to mine at this Etsy shop if you are in the market for some good goddess vibes.

Another must-have souvenir are leather sandals. These hand-made products can be found virtually on any street in a Greek marketplace. These sandals from Etsy are very comparable to the pair I purchased in rose gold. They are very comfortable once I got them broken in, and I definitely think the Hermes inspired design gives me from extra speed on my cross-campus hikes.

Even though I love shopping, what is even more interesting about Athens is its fast pace environment. Unlike State College (in most cases), vehicles will not stop for pedestrians. Motorcycles and mopeds weave in and out of traffic as if there is no traffic laws, which honestly would not surprise me. I would NOT recommend trying to rent any sort of vehicle.

I also naively thought that everything in Athens would be ancient or neo-classicaly designed, however, the 1970s took a bit hit on Athens. Next to an Church older than the United States of America, there would be buildings straight from the energy crisis. The people of Athen’s have tried to make these structures less of an eyesore, as seen below.

Our tour guide revealed to us this alley was created in response to the recent turmoil in Greece, as an attempt to beautify the city and get it back on track. While Athens was my least favorite destination in our trip, I can’t help but admire the resiliency of its people.

Now, we will get to embark on my favorite part of the trip: exploring the gorgeous Greek islands.

The classic teen film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was my first exposure to Greek culture. Who could not want to go to Greece after witnessing the handsome Costas save the helpless Lena from drowning in the crystal blue Aegan sea?  When my math teacher told me she was planning a summer trip for Greece through EF Tours, I immediately knew I had to go.

The first obstacle I had to overcome on my journey to paradise was my father. Coming from a large conservative Catholic family, I knew he would see my dream vacation as an unnecessary expense, especially since I would be attending college soon. Employing some careful rhetorical appeals, especially emphasizing my ethos as a strong student, I convinced my father to let me go. I was so convicting that he decided that himself, my sister, and my mother should come along as well!

Preparation is crucial for a successful vacation, and my mother and I immediately started researching what we would need for our ten days in paradise. We came across a blog post that listed the seventeen essentials vital for a fun vacation. We ended up skipping the female urination device, however. In hindsight, filtered water bottles were not that useful, because public water sources were hard to come by in Greece and bottled water only costs one euro. The packing cubes were essential, I don’t know how I used to travel without them! Unfortunately, the power adapter that the article recommended was not compatible with our hair dryer. Luckily, we had bought another one that worked from  Target days before our trip. My mother would have had an aneurism if she had to live ten days with air dried hair!

However, our biggest shopping challenge was finding the perfect pair of shoes. They needed to be stylish but comfortable, lightweight but structured. Finally, after weeks of searching, we finally found the perfect shoe: a leather sandal from Amazon. This shoe is one of my favorites (I’m actually wearing it in brown right now!) and they stood the test of walking at least five miles each day for ten days straight. I highly recommend them!

Before I knew it, I was boarding the plane to Greece. I had thought I would get a good snooze in on the plane to prepare my big adventure, but I was so excited that it was hard to shut my brain down. I ended up watching movies the whole plane ride. Watching Julia Roberts run around the world with no makeup on in the critically acclaimed Eat, Pray, Love are two hours of my life I will never get back.

Ten painful hours later, the cabin lights came on and we began our descent. Out the open window, I could see the city of Athens. And let me tell you, it was nothing like I expected.

But that’s a story for next week. Stay tuned!