Fall Break: Greece

After our 2 days in Paris we went to Greece. Ameeta had family-friends in Athens who put us up for a few days. They were one of the nicest most welcoming families I have ever met. The kids gave up their bedrooms for us, which we felt bad about, but they insisted. Even though we were incredibly greatful for this is meant that we had to keep our base in Athens and just do day trips to islands. We were there for 4 days, and if you've even been to Athens you learn its a city that only needs 1 day and then you travel around Greece.
So the first day we went sightseeing around the city and by sightseeing I mean we went to the Acropolis. That is THE thing to do. Considering we live in a city filled with ruins one ruin site on our vacation was enough.

The Parthenon



We spent the rest of the day shopping around Plaka, the major touristy shopping area, where we loaded up on souvenirs.


The Greece that everyone thinks of isn't Athens it is the islands. Even though we did not go to the most popular islands (they are far from Athens and would take more than a day to do), we saw two very interesting ones; Poros and Hydra. It took us 4 hours on a ferry to get to Poros, but when we got there it was beautiful. It is like the 3rd most popular island (after Santorini and Mykonos) because of its white washed houses and blue roofs.

church




me taking pictures


boats, i love the reflection off of the clear water


the water was so blue


i love sunsets


us at sunset

The boat ride back was a nightmare, even though we learned from the ride out and upgraded our tickets so that we had actual seats, we didn't get back into Athens until midnight. Luckily the island we were going to the next day was closer. The island of Hydra (pronounced edra) is know for not having any cars. Everyone walks or uses donkeys.



the island harbour


donkey train

The problem with the islands of Greece were the cats, they were everywhere. For some reason I was totally unaware that that is one of the things Greece is know for. Now, for the most part I like cats, but these stopped being cute. Most of them were inbreed (because there is no outside population) and had so many physical deformities; blindness in one or both eyes and breathing issues (we could hear them breathing). It was really disturbing and annoying when we tried to eat outside at a restaurant.


They were everywhere! Even my friend Cat (who LOVES cats) got sick of them.

We went back to Athens and the family that we stayed with took us out to dinner at their favorite restaurant. I love Greek food! I could not get enough tzatzik, olives, and feta. I had Souvlaki and homemade moussaka. It was a great change from the constant pasta and pizza of Rome.