Greece: Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini!

Wednesday, June 23: I had to wake up early to catch the bus to Gatwick airport. My alarm woke me up around 4:30, but I apparently fell asleep again. When Peter yelled my name at about 4:50, I got up and got ready real quick. I got to the tube station at about 5:30, but my bus was leaving at 6:10 from West Brompton. It was just a couple of stops away, but I needed to change on the district line towards Wimbledon. I got to the stop on time and took the EasyBus to the airport. There, I bought some a muffin, a coffee, and “How to kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee. It’s such a good book. I boarded my flight and went to sleep for most of it. When I got to the airport, the customs people didn’t even look at my passport. They just stamped it and I moved along. I was quite surprised by this. I met up with Simo, Thaigo, Laurent, J-H, and Juan. We took the bus into Athens. It took over an hour and a half. Plus, it was really cramped and humid inside. We definitely should have taken the metro or train there, but there was a strike occurring when we got there, so the bus was our only choice. On the way to Athens, we found out that our hostel messed up our reservation, but we got placed into a better hostel for the same price. That was real nice. The hostel was nicer, but the area wasn’t great. Even the people from Athens say that we shouldn’t walk back at night. I roomed with Thiago and Juan. That night, we met up with Anna and Jan, who came on a later flight. We had dinner at some Greek restaurant. We all had souvlaki. Apparently, it’s a traditional dish and it was very good. After, we went up to the Acropolis and bought some beer. We drank it on this rock facing out towards Athens. It was a great view of the city. John, a friend of Laurent’s, joined us. He’s from Athens and he gave us a lot of tips for the next day.

One really thing did occur that night. We were sitting around in a circle and talking. My friend, Simo, had his bag to the side of him. Then, all of a sudden, it was gone. After worrying for a bit, two guys came up to us and told us that they saw two other guys take his bag. Now, why didn’t the two guys tell us when the other two were taking the bag? Then, about 15 minutes later, two different guys came and gave us the bag back, saying that they found it on the side of the road. Thankfully, Simo only had a water bottle and a sweater in there. I really think the two guys who told us and the two guys who gave us the bag back were working together. After, all four of them were talking to each other. Weird story, but Simo got his bag back with nothing stolen, so it’s all good.

Thursday: We started the day all doing our own things. I wanted to see if I could make a reservation for my night train from Rome to Vienna. I couldn’t. We met up around noon and we went up to see the Acropolis. It was real cool to see all the ruins and the buildings that have been there for thousands of years, but there really weren’t any signs with information on them. I would love to know about what I’m looking at. We visited the acropolis, the Parthenon, the Olympic stadium, the Table de Zeus, and Parliament. That night, the others decided to go out, but I didn’t, because I had to take the metro at 6am the next morning. I had a ferry that left for Mykonos at 7:30am.

Friday: I must have turned off my alarm while sleeping, because I didn’t wake up at 6am. Luckily, the others were coming back from their night out just after 6am, so I woke up. Thank god that occurred. I rushed to the port, had to wait in line to pick up my ticket, boarded the ferry, and seated myself on the second floor deck. It wasn’t very comfortable and the ferry took about 6 hours, but I dealt with it. I did get great views of the passing islands and the sea. When I got to Mykonos, I thought I would have to find a way into the city, but there was someone from my hostel at the port to pick me up. Real nice. Mykonos is just so pretty. All the buildings are white. The doors and roofs are all blue, red, or green. The people from the hostel told me that there is a law which each house has to be painted every year. The roads are real narrow and small. I can’t believe how people are able to drive through them. Everything is pristine white. The sea is always a 5 minute walk away. It doesn’t get too hot because of the sea breezes. After I got myself situated, I headed off to Paradise Beach. When I was heading out there, I was thinking it would be a nice secluded beach, but there were a lot of bars and restaurants on the shore. Some of the bars had loud music playing. It wasn’t what I would call a Paradise Beach. It was still a really nice beach.

Saturday: I explored the city of Mykonos. It has a lot of little boutiques and food places. I sat out at a café right on the shore, drank a freddo (an ice coffee), and enjoyed the view of the sea. There, I met this American couple that was there for their honeymoon. They were so friendly and it was really nice to talk to them. I only had about a day on Mykonos. I only had the early part of the afternoon to explore as I was leaving during the day to take a ferry to Santorini. The ferry to Santorini was a lot quicker, because it was shorter in distance and I took a SUPERFAST ferry. I met an American astronomer, living in Chile, named Ryan, on the ferry. He had a conference in Mykonos and was just doing some traveling after it. He was nice company on my ferry ride. I got myself to Fira, Santorini from the port. I decided to explore the town and I met 5 girls. Two were from Mexico, but they didn’t know each other before, one from California, and two from Hong Kong traveling with each other. They were nice to meet and we explored the town together.

Sunday: I met up with the two girls from Mexico, Ana and Nancy, and Sundos, the one from California. They rented ATVs for the day and they picked me up. We headed out to Red Beach, Black Beach, and Oia. It was really cool to see the different colored rocks/sand at each of the beaches. It was really hot the day we went. The rocks/sand were too hot to stand on with your bare feet. Oia is the place on all the postcards of Greece. No lying. It is absolutely stunning there. The sunset there is best that I’ve ever seen. Driving an ATV was a bit odd at first, but it’s really easy to get use to driving. That night, I took a ferry from Santorini back to Athens. We left around 11pm and arrived in Athens at 8am. I booked a bed on the ferry and I ended up with my own room. It was so worth the 10 euros extra. A deck seat on an overnight ferry would not have been very fun. I saw people sleeping on the lobby floor and in those uncomfortable seats.

Mykonos vs. Santorini: Mykonos is touristier. It is closer to sea level. Mykonos is slightly more expensive than Santorini. Santorini is built on top of the hills, so you get wonderful views. The beaches on Santorini are better. It’s less expensive. Both have beautiful white buildings. Food prices are the same on both islands. I would say I prefer Santorini over Mykonos.

Monday: The alarm went off in the ferry, so I got myself ready to go. I took the train from the port to the airport in Athens. That took about an hour. It wasn’t too long. Then, I took a flight from Athens to Rome. The flight took about 2 hours. I got myself to my hostel, after getting lost a little bit, and had dinner with two other girls that were in the same room. We just went to get some pasta. I was extremely tired after all the traveling, so I didn’t get to see much of Rome that day.