First of all, I want to apologize for any glaring punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes. I'm writing this on a bus while trying to listen to my tour guide's Bulgarian-English explanation of Bulgaria's economy. That aside. Greece….
My first stop in Greece other than Piraeus, the port city where the MV Explorer docked, was the small island of Mykonos. We caught the 5:45pm ferry from the port terminal, a 7 minute cab from our Cruise terminal. And man were we thankful for that cab, it was our only cab ride of the entire 5 days in Greece. The staff and faculty on the MV had thankfully warned us that the entire taxi service in Athens was going on strike the second day we were docked. So were we glad to be getting out of Athens.
The ferry we took to Mykonos was more like a plane than a boat. We had assigned seats, snack bar access, and most importantly, air conditioning. The four hour ferry ride was peaceful and relaxing, but didn't hold a flame to the relaxation we would get at our hotel in Mykonos. When we arrived at the terminal at 10:30pm, we called our hotel and got a free shuttle to our 4 star hotel on the south side of the island. Hotel Acrigiola was right on the beach and was beautiful, even in the dark. We owed a lot to Madison Hurwitz and her mother for booking it.
The next morning, we did absolutely nothing and it was glorious. We went to the free breakfast and then straight to the crystal blue water and the bright white beach. I can honestly say I have never seen such perfectly clear water. There's a reason Mykonos is famous for its beaches. We had a delicious lunch at our hotel's restaurant, which is well respected even among the locals. I had some delicious lamb gyros and went straight back to the beach. And that pretty much sums up my day. We had dinner at the restaurant at our hotel again and it was, again, delicious. After dinner, we went downtown to Mykonos' old city and had some more gyros at a local pub. Even better, now that we were back on the Euro, they were cheap! We explored all over the small town that looked exactly like the Greek Isles are supposed to. We went to Little Venice and the Mykonos windmills. Wandering through the small, twisting, streets was awesome and really fun. One of the guide books we read said that downtown Mykonos was made to explore and it was so true. After dinner and downtown, we caught a bus to Paradise Club and spent the night listening one of the coolest DJs around.
The next morning, we checked out of our hotel at 11am but thankfully didn't have to leave the hotel's area (which was good because our ferry didn't leave until 9:20pm)! We spent another relaxing day on the beach and caught the bus in town, just in time to meander around a little bit before the fantastic Mykonos sunset. After sunset, we waited at the port's ferry dock and thankfully ran into a Semester at Sea planned trip! We were thankful because they had a charter bus waiting for them to drive them back to our ship after the ferry docked. We on the other hand, did not. And because of the taxi strike, all 6 of us were going to walk the 30 minute trek to our ship. Thanks to my plea to Dean Hellwig, we caught a ride on their bus and were spared the agony of carrying all of our luggage halfway across the city. '
The next morning, we wanted to go to Delphi. However, the taxi strike threw another kink into our plans. We found out, about an hour too late, that in order to get to the long distance bus terminal, we had to get to the metro station (a 20 minute walk). Then take the metro to the local bus station (20 minutes). Then take a bus to the long distance bus station (25 minutes). We found all this out at 11:45 and the last bus for Delphi leaves at 1. So, we decided to see the sights of Athens instead.
But first we met up with Madison's best friend from Vandy, Patra. Patra's whole family has spent their whole life in Greece and Athens so it was refreshing to meet and get advice from her and her parents. They told us a back way to get the Acropolis and then had to go meet their grandparents. We said good-bye to Patra and went to Athen's flea market, the Plaka. We wandered through the streets and dabbled in all the hilarious and touristy shops. After a while we became hungry, and following the advice of my friend and roommate Steven Johanson (who spent the spring of 2011 in Athens) we went to a Taverna just off the main flea market streets. At this taverna (or restaurant) I got some delicious Mousaka. Which had a strange sweet, pumpkin flavor but was still DELICIOUS. After this great meal, we walked the 1000 vertical feet to the top of the Acropolis.
Once on top I was in shock. I couldn't believe I was actually standing on one of the most historic sites in the world. All around me were ruins that were over 2,500 years old and I couldn't help but be impressed. The entrance to the acropolis was impressive and had huge columns and an impressive marble roof. But, the Parthenon itself was HUGE. Just as impressive as my professors and teachers had always told me. The only downside was that there were cranes and all kinds of scaffolding inside and outside, ruining my pictures. But it was still incredible. My friends and I took our pictures and enjoyed the view of the entire city. We could even see the port of Piraeus. It was beautiful.
After a while, we walked back down the heights and took a stop at the ancient Agora, which we figured out was something like the forum in Rome. However, this Agora was not really all that ancient. John F. Kennedy had funded the reconstruction of it in the 1960s… But it was still really cool. Then we walked around the Plaka again, doing some serious shopping. We were just trying to bide our time until our after dark plan. We walked around all over the old city and eventually ended up in the National Gardens. The day ended really well when we saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. In English. With Greek Subtitles. In an outdoor theater. In the National Gardens of Athens. An awesome day, capped off by a great movie.
The following morning, after a free breakfast. I left the ship by myself and took the Metro downtown to the Acropolis station. I had to change trains and time it perfectly so that I could… Meet up with my good friend and roommate Cole McIsaac! His family was on a Celebrity Cruise around the Mediterranean and our itineraries crossed in Athens. Meeting up with him was great. It was nice to be surrounded by southerners again haha. With him and his family, we went to the Acropolis again, but I am so glad I went the day before because when we went the second time, I felt like a sardine. There were 5 cruise ships in port and all of them brought tours to the acropolis before noon. It was crazy crowded. But still awe inspiring.
After the acropolis, we went to the New Acropolis Museum which was just down the hill. The new museum was also really crowded but we eventually got inside. The museum was really cool because it had a lot of original statues that had been removed from the Parthenon to preserve them. It was also kind of sad because there were a lot of replicas and plaster casts of statues. The originals of these statues are located in the British National Museum because a British Lord had removed them without the permission of the Greek people. In the New Museum, they have big open spaces to put all of the statues when the British give them back, however unlikely.
Once we were finished with the museum we went to the Plaka and caught up with some other members of Cole's family who had wanted to eat. After wandering around some more, I directed them back to their bus stop and we said good bye until August 21 when I move into my new house with Cole, Steven, Aubrey, Scott, and Oliver.
I met back up with my friends who had been shopping. In order to get there I had to go through Parliament's main plaza (Syntagma) where people have been protesting with tents and signs. They had set up a small city, with water, shopping, restrooms, and food storage all within one square city block. I left quickly though, don't worry. I met back up with my friends, and walked around a little more before catching the Metro back to Piraeus and the MV Explorer.
Robbie
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