So last week was Spring Break. I joined a group of five other girls and Monday morning we headed to the airport. Marseille airport at 5:30 in the morning wasn't exactly the best experience, we were all nervous about making the 6:30 flight as we were still waiting to pass through the one open security line at 6:15. Luckily we made it through at 6:20 and they hadn't even started boarding. The flights all worked out minus a little stress, at the same time, it was helpful for me, since my flight home will be at 6:30 am, I now know I cannot take the Navette. Lesson learned and now I can adjust my plans so I don't miss my flight home at the end of May. After many hours of travel we finally arrived in Greece.
We arrived in Athens at noon and had no plans until our night ferry to Crete at 9pm. We headed into the center of the city to grab lunch and explore but we were limited as to what we could do with all of our luggage. We ended up sitting in Starbucks for a while and finally decided to head to the ferry around 6pm to see if we could board early. I was a bit nervous about the ferry, I had no idea what to expect when we all booked cabin berths. We were amazed when we arrived, it was just like a hotel with reception and all and our own rooms. The boat was amazing too with all of the fancy lounges and new greek foods. Unfortunately, the food in the cafeteria wasn't very good, but it was enough to get through the night. Tuesday morning we woke up bright and early for our 6 am departure from the ferry. We went right to our hotel in Crete to see about luggage storage for the day but we decided to eat breakfast there and by the time we finished, they told us our rooms were ready. We slept the rest of the morning away and then reconvened to explore Chania. We visited the Venetian port and walked around a good bit just exploring. We expected to see beaches all around but the water came right up to the wall, at first we thought maybe it was high tide but as the hours passed, we realized it couldn't possibly still be high tide and that the beaches must be further away. For dinner that night, we had our first traditional Crete experience. We headed back to the port for dinner and found a little fish tavern. We each ordered something new and were surprised when we asked for the bill that instead we recieved a bottle of a clear liquid and six shot glasses along with greek yogurt and honey. This liquid happens to be Raki, it is a strong liquor made by fermenting all that is left after the grapes have been pressed for wine. It was quite the interesting experience. It certainly was a very interesting drink... Not one that I would have ordered myself though.
Wednesday, I chose to hang behind in Chania while four others headed to the Palace of Knossis. Its believed to be the palace of the Minoan king, and that it was the site of the labyrinth with the minotaur. I chose not to go, mostly due to the combined 5 hours on the bus, and the price of said bus. Also, there is something so exciting in Greek mythology, yet seeing it destroyed or learning the scientific facts behind it, ruins it for me, so I was happy to hang behind and explore parts of chania that I hadn't yet seen. I found a church that was celebrating its 150th anniversary this year and also discovered that whenever a non-tourist passed in front of the chuch, they made the sign of the cross three times. It was an interesting way to differentiate tourists from the Greeks.
Thursday came and two of the girls went horseback riding all day, the rest of us and planned to hike the beautiful gorges of Samaria. Luckily, we asked at the front desk of our hotel about the bus before we headed to the station for the 5am bus. Unfortunately, that line wasn't running yet so the wonderful receptionist told us of a great path along the coast so we made plans to go there. It wasn't quite what we expected but we quickly found a lovely quiet beach. It didn't stay that way for long, we spread our towels out and 5 minutes later, 3 buses of school children arrived. We still had a good time, we swam for a bit and enjoyed the sun. After an hour or two, the wind picked up so much and sand was flying everywhere, it felt like small daggers anywhere that was exposed so we left the beach in hopes of finding a less windy place so we could eat our sandwiches sans the extra sand. We found a little side street and plopped down on the ground, only to be told by a woman walking by that it was too cold to sit on the ground. It was a good time though. Again at dinner, we enjoyed free dessert, this time though, it wasn't quite as enjoyable as yogurt, it was some kind of grainy bar that was drenched in honey. The Raki was same as always though.
Friday was our planned beach day, we walked about a mile and a half from the hotel to find a beautiful beach. We started out as the only ones there but as the day wore on, more and more people came to join us. We had a great time, spending nearly 4 hours in the sun and swimming despite the freezing water. We returned to the port to grab lunch before heading to pick up our luggage and catch the ferry. After finishing lunch, on the walk back, we decided to stop at one of the fish spa stands. It was so bizarre to put our feet into a fish tank and let the fish eat at our feet, it really just tickled though and while not horrible, I couldn't have lasted more than the five minutes I paid for. We were smart on our return ferry, we chose to eat sandwiches we made rather than braving the cafeteria food again.
Saturday, we arrived in Athens at 6am, we made our way to our hostel to drop our bags off. Our plan for the day was to go on the hop on hop off bus tour around Athens but the man at the hostel said no need, there were free walking tours through the hostel. This saved us 20 euros and it was a very informational, educational tour. Our tour guide George was great, he seemed to know everything and took us all over Athens. We tried our first frozen greek yogurt as we paused during the tour under the acropolis. After finishing at Syntagmy Square for the changing of the guard, we headed back to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon and other temples before they closed at three. We also saw the temple of Haphaestus which is one of the best preserved temple in Athens. Finally we took a break for lunch followed by our second frozen greek yogurt of the day. We saw the new Acropolis museum then retired early since we decided we needed to wake up at 2:45 so that we could catch the express bus on time to make our 6:30 flight home. Luckily, we flew back Sunday without a problem, our six hour layover in Munich was actually somewhat enjoyable, and certainly amusing. We made it back just in time as Lufthansa went on strike Monday morning.
Overall, I had a great time, with great people. I'm so incredibly lucky to be doing all this, studying in France for the semester, spending a week here or there in whole new countries, meeting all kinds of great new people. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.
We arrived in Athens at noon and had no plans until our night ferry to Crete at 9pm. We headed into the center of the city to grab lunch and explore but we were limited as to what we could do with all of our luggage. We ended up sitting in Starbucks for a while and finally decided to head to the ferry around 6pm to see if we could board early. I was a bit nervous about the ferry, I had no idea what to expect when we all booked cabin berths. We were amazed when we arrived, it was just like a hotel with reception and all and our own rooms. The boat was amazing too with all of the fancy lounges and new greek foods. Unfortunately, the food in the cafeteria wasn't very good, but it was enough to get through the night. Tuesday morning we woke up bright and early for our 6 am departure from the ferry. We went right to our hotel in Crete to see about luggage storage for the day but we decided to eat breakfast there and by the time we finished, they told us our rooms were ready. We slept the rest of the morning away and then reconvened to explore Chania. We visited the Venetian port and walked around a good bit just exploring. We expected to see beaches all around but the water came right up to the wall, at first we thought maybe it was high tide but as the hours passed, we realized it couldn't possibly still be high tide and that the beaches must be further away. For dinner that night, we had our first traditional Crete experience. We headed back to the port for dinner and found a little fish tavern. We each ordered something new and were surprised when we asked for the bill that instead we recieved a bottle of a clear liquid and six shot glasses along with greek yogurt and honey. This liquid happens to be Raki, it is a strong liquor made by fermenting all that is left after the grapes have been pressed for wine. It was quite the interesting experience. It certainly was a very interesting drink... Not one that I would have ordered myself though.
Wednesday, I chose to hang behind in Chania while four others headed to the Palace of Knossis. Its believed to be the palace of the Minoan king, and that it was the site of the labyrinth with the minotaur. I chose not to go, mostly due to the combined 5 hours on the bus, and the price of said bus. Also, there is something so exciting in Greek mythology, yet seeing it destroyed or learning the scientific facts behind it, ruins it for me, so I was happy to hang behind and explore parts of chania that I hadn't yet seen. I found a church that was celebrating its 150th anniversary this year and also discovered that whenever a non-tourist passed in front of the chuch, they made the sign of the cross three times. It was an interesting way to differentiate tourists from the Greeks.
Thursday came and two of the girls went horseback riding all day, the rest of us and planned to hike the beautiful gorges of Samaria. Luckily, we asked at the front desk of our hotel about the bus before we headed to the station for the 5am bus. Unfortunately, that line wasn't running yet so the wonderful receptionist told us of a great path along the coast so we made plans to go there. It wasn't quite what we expected but we quickly found a lovely quiet beach. It didn't stay that way for long, we spread our towels out and 5 minutes later, 3 buses of school children arrived. We still had a good time, we swam for a bit and enjoyed the sun. After an hour or two, the wind picked up so much and sand was flying everywhere, it felt like small daggers anywhere that was exposed so we left the beach in hopes of finding a less windy place so we could eat our sandwiches sans the extra sand. We found a little side street and plopped down on the ground, only to be told by a woman walking by that it was too cold to sit on the ground. It was a good time though. Again at dinner, we enjoyed free dessert, this time though, it wasn't quite as enjoyable as yogurt, it was some kind of grainy bar that was drenched in honey. The Raki was same as always though.
Friday was our planned beach day, we walked about a mile and a half from the hotel to find a beautiful beach. We started out as the only ones there but as the day wore on, more and more people came to join us. We had a great time, spending nearly 4 hours in the sun and swimming despite the freezing water. We returned to the port to grab lunch before heading to pick up our luggage and catch the ferry. After finishing lunch, on the walk back, we decided to stop at one of the fish spa stands. It was so bizarre to put our feet into a fish tank and let the fish eat at our feet, it really just tickled though and while not horrible, I couldn't have lasted more than the five minutes I paid for. We were smart on our return ferry, we chose to eat sandwiches we made rather than braving the cafeteria food again.
Saturday, we arrived in Athens at 6am, we made our way to our hostel to drop our bags off. Our plan for the day was to go on the hop on hop off bus tour around Athens but the man at the hostel said no need, there were free walking tours through the hostel. This saved us 20 euros and it was a very informational, educational tour. Our tour guide George was great, he seemed to know everything and took us all over Athens. We tried our first frozen greek yogurt as we paused during the tour under the acropolis. After finishing at Syntagmy Square for the changing of the guard, we headed back to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon and other temples before they closed at three. We also saw the temple of Haphaestus which is one of the best preserved temple in Athens. Finally we took a break for lunch followed by our second frozen greek yogurt of the day. We saw the new Acropolis museum then retired early since we decided we needed to wake up at 2:45 so that we could catch the express bus on time to make our 6:30 flight home. Luckily, we flew back Sunday without a problem, our six hour layover in Munich was actually somewhat enjoyable, and certainly amusing. We made it back just in time as Lufthansa went on strike Monday morning.
Overall, I had a great time, with great people. I'm so incredibly lucky to be doing all this, studying in France for the semester, spending a week here or there in whole new countries, meeting all kinds of great new people. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.