Maggie and I finally met up in Athens. Let me describe the event fully:
I was dead asleep in the hostel room. She touched my leg and I sat bolt upright. I then hugged her, Lauren and Lauren's sister (whom I have never met) I didn't have my contacts in and I was so confused to see Maggie in Greece. But it was so fun! We decided to go out for coffee and walk around Athens.
We went to a place and had Frappe's which the girls apparently hate. I don't mind them but there is really no American equivalent. It is iced coffee with this weird foam on the top that is very bitter. I like it, Maggie and Lauren hated it. But anyway it made for an interesting afternoon.
After that we walked around and shopped. There were way more stores than I imagined and some of them sell real brand stuff, like Chanel and Prada. And there are also other random fakes as well. It was confusing but it was a lot of fun to see Athens. Everywhere we were we looked up and saw the Acropolis. We ended up then walking to a cafe to have some early dinner/late lunch. Of course the restaurant was busy because it was Sunday and it was probably the only one open that served food within a 40 km radius. The Greek man that seated us placed us right next to a table of other Greek men, who all had disconcerting grins on their faces. We sat down and ordered some appetizers. Right after that we were given shots of Ouzo, the Greek aperitif equivalent.
Oy.
The men then started asking us where we were from. We said Chicago. They said Al Capone. We gave them half answers and had to sip part of our Ouzo. It was disgusting. After our food came and eventually the men left, we put the Ouzo out of sight and out of mind. My throat still burns when I think about the nasty taste. Ick.
Then the day continued. We stopped by Lauren and Elyse's hotel to check up on their stuff. They were leaving late that night and didn't want to pay for the hotel room so they had left their bags in the lobby. We went back to our hostel and got dressed for dinner.
Let me describe the hostel to you. It was in the middle of town, great location and really friendly staff. The rooms were big and air conditioned. Day 1 I moved in and one of the guys, I will refer to him as Black Shirt gave me crap for taking the lift up one floor. He makes appearances later on in the week.
So we met up with the girls I had gone sailing with and got dinner at this place called the Noodle Bar. Thai food!!!! YAY! After probably eating too much we wandered back to the hostel and I passed out from being so tired. Lauren and Elyse left in the middle of the night to catch their 7am flight back to the states.
Next Day: We get up and get ready to go. I am waiting downstairs for Maggie when Black Shirt again makes an appearance. This time he has ample space to get by me but puts his hand on the small of my back and says excuse me to get by. Red flag. Mags and I went back to the Acropolis. I had never been and we hiked up. It was so close to our hostel it was ridiculous. We saw the Theatre of Dionysus, the Parthenon, the Agora and all sorts of other things on the Acropolis. It was crazy to see this place that I wanted to go see for so long. We got up pretty early to go see it all to avoid the rush and the heat.
After that Maggie and I continued to wander around Athens shopping as we went. We stopped for lunch and had Greek salads and this feta cheese thing that was amazing. I can say by far that the food here is amazing. I have tried almost everything and I have never been disappointed.
We went back to the hostel to nap during the heat of the day and then headed out to the Temple of Zeus and the National Gardens which specialize in trees. The Temple was really cool, I could not even imagine what it would have been like when it was complete. Now it is mostly a few columns and others that have subsequently collapsed. There are also rampant cats everywhere in Greece and on our way over to the gardens we stopped and petted about 40 kittens. Gross I know, they probably have diseases. But they are so cute!
As we were strolling through the gardens we stopped to take tons of pictures. We saw this small group of people stopped and pointing at something. We looked down and saw 2 turtles. They looked like they were fighting. I have seen all sorts of turtle behavior having them for most of my childhood but this was bizarre. I couldn't tell if they were fighting or mating. And then it became obvious... it was turtle sex. Ew. I made a video that Maggie and I plan on putting on to YouTube but it was disturbingly hilarious.
After our sunset at Syntagma Square we got dressed up (relatively, we are traveling) and went to the roof top bar of the hostel. We were seriously hanging out, drinking and "shooting the $hit" while overlooking the Parthenon. Top experience for sure. We ended up talking to these Aussie boys, of course, who were from Melbourne. They were great guys and we ended up drinking a little too much Ouzo. At 12 the hostel kicked us off the roof because the neighbors complain. We went around the corner to another bar that was chill.
As we were hanging out, who walks in but Black Shirt. I recognized him in pictures at the hostel as one of the owners/managers. Turns out, he is an owner. And he has a pretty famous sister with the same name as mine. Crazy, huh. We hung out for the rest of the night.
The next morning, feeling no so hot, Mags and I headed off to catch a train to Patra and then a ferry to Kefalonia. The taxi driver took us on a round-about way to the train station, stopping to pick up a random lady off the street momentarily and then finally depositing us 5 minutes before our train had to leave. It was a nice train but we were still confused if it was the right one. After riding it for 2 hours, it stopped at Kiato and we had to change trains. Though there was no information that said this. It just stopped, and we followed the crowd.
This train was a bit sketchier and Maggie thought we were going to fly off the tracks at least 3 times. We made it to Patra with plenty of time to catch the ferry to Kefalonia. It was a reaally nice boat and I slept the whole way practically. In the middle of the lounge, on the floor. All 6 feet of me. Heh...
As we got off the boat in Kefalonia at 9:30 at night, I was praying we would be able to get a room for the night. We wandered down and the first hotel was full. He referred us to another hotel 100m down the road. We walked in and asked if they had any available rooms. They did, and a double was only 60 euros, not much more than a hostel. Phew.
Here ends part 1 of the Ionian Travel Expedition. Part 2 will resume momentarily.
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