Greece!

Greetings from sunny London (no, seriously!),

Here's to Greece (two weeks too late).

I waited too long to buy my tickets, as is my M.O. (LOVING the Wiki lately. AND the parentheses. As always. And the full-stops, as they call periods here in London-town.) I ended up having a five hour layover in Frankfurt which, in case you were wondering, is not the most direct way to get to Greece from England. I only mention this layover for two reasons: 1) Half the people in the airport in Frankfurt were wearing face-masks. Oh, swine flu (which, incidentally, my housemate's cousin has, and they just closed her school), and 2) I broke down and ate McDonald's. For the first time in probably about eight years. I just REALLY wanted some fries dipped in chocolate milkshake. I thought it would be good for my bikini-ready body. Ha.

So, I got to Athens at about 3am and found my way, fairly effortlessly I might add, to my hostel. Julie and I were to meet up the next morning, and when I was on the metro/subway/tube equivalent on my way to the hostel where we were going to be staying, I actually ran into her. Quite literally. I was getting off at the wrong stop, so it was serendipitous that we ran into each other. I think that set the precedent for Julie to be the one in charge of getting us NOT lost on our trip :) (Props, Jules!)

We spent our first day in Athens meandering around and lamenting the fact that Greece was in the middle of an unseasonably warm Spring. And by warm I mean that I wanted to rip off my skin because it was an unnecessary layer. We hiked up to the top of a hill near Socrate's prison to look down upon the city and the Acropolis.

It was a nice view, (that's the nice view right there in the picture) ,but I can honestly say that Athens is a pretty crappy city. It's got lots of cool ruins, but that is it's only draw. The ruins can be seen in a day and then I recommend getting yourself out of Athens. It's boring. And hot. And fairly expensive too. (To be honest, Greece is the most expensive country I have ever been to. Yes folks, more expensive then France. By FAR.)

The following day we did a full day tour of Athens and saw every ruin in the entire city. The Acropolis was as spectacular as everyone says: Some of the temples were pretty amazing as well, but after about 6 hours of the hot sun (have I mentioned yet that it was BOILING??) everything starts to look the same. We quickly realized we had overstayed our welcome in Athens (2 days!!) and headed off for the islands the next day.

Our first stop was Mykonos, where we spent two nights. I'm going to be honest here: Rumours have it that Mykonos is a bit like the 2nd ring of Hell...and folks, i couldn't agree more. It IS covered in 22 year olds trying to fulfill all of their post-college alcohol-infused fantasies, and 62 year olds trying to take advantage of that fact.

Luckily, it also happens to be stunning, and have amazing beaches and wonderful weather. As soon as we arrived, Julie and I dropped our things at our hostel/hotel? and booked it to the beach (a 1 minute walk). We lazed around on the beach for the day and then made our way to the "city" for some night-life. We tried to hack it with the kids (you know, the 22 year olds I mentioned earlier ;) ), but we called it a night before most of the city even came out to party. We ARE getting to be a bit like grandparents, I guess! Plus, we couldn't afford the stiff price on the stiff drinks. (TWELVE EUROS FOR A COCKTAIL? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?)

Early the next morning we rented an ATV (four-wheeler), and headed out to explore the island. We saw some spectacular old monasteries, and we went to about seven different beaches. Oh yes, one of the beaches in the ring of hell was called "Super Paradise." Rock-on.

Being on the ATV was a blast, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't frightened. There was a small-mountain that we went down to get to one of the beaches, and I thought we were going to die. However, it turns out that the scary/tricky part was getting back UP the mountain with such a tiny engine. Feel free to picture Julie and I, Dumb and Dumber style, leaning into the wind WILLING our little Lolita up the mountain. She made it, but not without a fight.

After ATV-ing it, we attempted another night on the tiles with out new friends Rosie and Elizabeth, and I think we were slightly more successful.

After Mykonos, we headed to Santorini. HERE is where I FINALLY stop complaining :) (I know, I know, my life is so hard. "Is Sarah actually listing things she doesn't like about places she visits? What HAS the world come to. Spoiled Brat!") So anyway, Santorini. Loved it. LOVED IT. Beautiful, laidback, friendly, and fun. It is just beginning to be tourist season and all of the restaurants and bars were hiring for the summer. Don't think I didn't think about it. Our hostel was about 300 metres from Perissa Beach.

Perissa Beach is also known as the black beach, because it has black volcanic sand. It is beautiful (though the sand is unbearably hot)! We explored other beaches, but OUR beach was by far the best.

During our first full day in Santorini we went on a boat tour. We ended up befriending two awesome Canadians, Melissa and Kim, who we hung out with for our entire stay in Santorini. They were SUCH good fun!

Right. Boat tour. We went on a "traditional Greek boat" to visit the still-active volcano, bathe in some muddy "medicinal??" waters, and out to Oia, which is a city on the other end of the island from which we were staying. Oia was the clear highlight of the boat trip, and probably the highlight of my entire Greece trip.

Oia is what you think of when you think of picture perfect Greece. It IS every bit as mind-blowing as the postcards portray. The white houses contrasted with the blue ocean are absolutely breath-taking.

But, Oia is known for more than just it's houses--it is also known for it's world famous sunset. Our crew camped out for 3 hours before the sunset to have the best view in the house. And we did.

The next day we rented an ATV (yes, again, they ARE that cool!) and we explored Santorini. This time, I drove. Woohoo.

We went to the famed Red Beach (see the red rocks?) and hung out for a bit. It was stunning, but OUR beach was better ;)

We also drove into the main town, Fira, and did some shopping. Apparently, everyone else goes there to do shopping as well. (Not to trivialize it though. It was very pretty. Just not as pretty as Oia.)

Our day on the ATV was lovely, but bittersweet because it was Julie's last full day in Santorini :( I spent one more day on the beach hanging out with Melissa and Kim, but it wasn't quite the same. Unfortunately for Julie (yes, I've got to rub it in a bit), our best night out by FAR was definitely the last night on Santorini, which she missed.

I ended up dancing Salsa until 5am, and then watching the sunrise over the beach. (This is a picture of the sunrise.) I then got on a ferry for a nine our boat ride back to Athens to catch my flight to London. It was the perfect ending to a beach vacation. Sun and Salsa--it doesn't really get much better than that.

All in all, Greece was gorgeous. I would definitely head back again, but I would skip Athens all together. I'm now one blog closer (and one blog away) from being caught up to the present.

Keep tuning in. And comment, will you?

Love,
Sarah