Mykonos, Greece

Arrived pretty late in Mykonos but thankfully the place I was staying at had a free shuttle service that picked me up, along with my friend Matt from Adelaide, Australia.  We immediately encounter a really rude girl which we proceeded to talk shiz about for the rest of our time in Mykonos.  When we got in the van she was already inside and said "where are ya'll" from?  Being from the South and having the word "ya'll" incorporated into my daily vocab, I picked up on it very quickly when she said it.  I excitedly said "ya'll, wow, I'm from Texas, what about you?" to which she snobbily replied with a condescending tone "Not from Texas!"  How rude!  Then she asks me where I'm from and when I mention Houston she says "I heard that's the armpit of the US" to which I say "Well that's nice of you to say."  Anyway we didn't get off to a great start with ol Chicago (as we will call her).

Get to the Paradise Beach Club and Resort right around midnight, checked in and got shown to our little bungalows near the beach.  Nothing fancy, but I was rather impressed for a a mere 15 Euro's a night.  I had my own little room with a double size bed, a night stand, some shelves, and electricity.  It had no A/C but I def didn't need any as I froze my buns off the first night with only one blanket.  Crazy enough I was also able to get wireless internet in my room!  My friend Matt ended up staying in the room right next door to me which was nice because I felt a bit safer with him nearby.  The place was set up similar to a campsite and the restrooms and showers were down the walk way a piece.  I tried not to go to the restrooms at night very often because I was a little scared and plus the one night I did, I saw a scary little lizard on the wall that freaked me out.  I was really thirsty that first night I arrived so I walked down to the bar/club area to buy some water.  The moon was out that night and was shining on the water and it was a pretty photo op.

I went to bed shortly after so I could wake up and check out the beach the next day.

My initial thoughts were to layout on my first day in Mykonos, but the wind was very strong making it a bit chilly to get into a bikini.  The sun was shining but that didn't matter.  Instead I wanted to buy a few snacks so I decided to take the bus into the town.  It ran every couple hours or so and was much cheaper than a 10 euro taxi ride into town...and that was only one way!  The bus was about 1.40 each way so I opted for public transport.  The town was cute and easy to get around.  I went and checked out the Windmills first because I didn't want to have to tote around groceries.  When I first got to the Windmills I ended up running into Michael, Leonard, and Alan taking some pics as well.  It was funny running into them since we weren't staying at the same place and the fact that the island isn't that small!

I can't even begin to describe how crazy windy it was that day.  Something like I've never encountered before.  It was so strong you had to fight not to get blown away, I would say these were most definitely hurricane style.  After taking several pics of the windmills I took a few shots of "Little Venice" with the waves crashing in on the buildings.

I didn't wander off to far because I still had to go to the little market and catch the bus.  I was tipped off from the Aussie guys that the grocery store that was next door to the laundry mat was quite a bit cheaper than the one near the bus station. And indeed it was.  I got some juice, pistachios and a  few other snack items to tie me over on my late night hunger binges.  Made it back to the bus station on time and then made the trek back down to Paradise Beach.  When I got back it was happy hour and they were serving discounted drinks at the bar.  I ran into 3 girls on the beach that I had actually roomed with for one night back in Athens.  I chatted with them for a bit then went back to my room to take a nap and escape the wind.

After I got a good nap in, I met up with Matt to eat some dinner.  We just had food at the place we were staying.  It wasn't anything super delicious but it held us over.  We also exchanged texts with the Asian Aussies and decided to go out that night in town.  We shared a cab into town because the cheapo buses had already quit running.  It cost us a little more than 10 Euro but we split it.  We had a few pre-game drinks at the guys hotel room so we didn't have to spend as much at the bar.  Drinks aren't cheap on the islands, that's for sure.  After walking around and trying to figure out what bar to go to, we ended up at the most popular one...Mykonos Bar.  Very original name, don't cha think?  We had a little flier that got us a free shot with the purchase of a drink.  I think I got a mojito and my shot was tequila.  After a few drinks and shots we danced the night away to cheesy American songs and heard the DJ play a recorded track that said "Myyykkkooonoooss" about 200 times! 

 Finally about 2am, Matt and I decided to once again share a cab ride back to the "resort" and this time it was cheaper!  We took the same route, I just think the cabbie that took us into town charged us more because he drove a Mercedes!  When's the last time you saw a taxi rolling around in a luxury car?!  Pretty sure I just passed out once I got to my room, after a few snacks of course.  

The next few days in Mykonos consisted of going back into town with Matt and walking around more.  That first time I went was just a quickie trip but our second time we needed to buy our ferry tickets to Santorini.  Here are a few pics from just walking around town.

How delicious does that meal look?  It was only about 9 Euro and it was 4 pork souvlaki sticks, fries, pita, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce!  You better believe I scarfed every bit of that down!  On the bus ride back, Matt and I were lucky enough to get on the bus that the school kids get on when they get out of school.  It took about 30 minutes longer than it should have to get back, but it was fun to see where all the locals lived. Matt and I also grabbed a few beers at the convent store and took them to the beach.  We sat on some fold out chairs and watched the sun go down and just chit chatted.

 

Another day consisted of some straight up beach lounging, people watching, and getting my tan on.  The first few days in Mykonos were a bit chilly and very windy, but finally the wind calmed down allowing me to lay out and enjoy the beach.  It also allowed me to use some of my $17 sunscreen I had to buy back in Athens! A favorite picture I caught, was of a man sun bathing in his thong weenie bikini!

 

So overall Mykonos consisted of a lot of rest and relaxation mixed in with a bit of partying and some great people watching.  But hey, it's the islands of Greece, there's not exactly the most touristy things to do other than laying out on the beach!  Matt and I spent a total of 5 days in Mykonos before catching a ferry to Santorini.  Our last day in Mykonos, we checked out around 12:00 and then grabbed a little lunch while we waited for our hotel to shuttle us over to the port.  While we were eating lunch there were a bunch of random stray cats.  One male cat, in particular, must have been really "in the mood" as he wouldn't leave this poor female cat alone.  Basically at lunch I witnessed the most painful sounding mating going on between 2 cats, it was creepy!

Next stop...SANTORINI!

Athens, Greece...Gyros and Greek Gods

Plane landed in Athens just fine.  Only took about an hour to get there from Rome and I flew Aegean Air.  What a nice airline, they actually served us food for our little short flight!  That's always a plus in my book, and we also got a free drink.  EasyJet are such cheapo's that they even charge you for beverage service.  And if you're bag is overweight?  Well expect to pay some outrageous additional fee.  I'm pretty sure my bag may have been overweight but Aegean didn't say a word.  They also weren't Nazis about hand luggage brought on board.  Most American flights you are allowed to bring one carry on and also one personal item.  Most European carriers make you combine these two and only let you have one in total.  Again I had 2, and Aegean let it slide!

Okay enough about airline company's, I'm in Greece for goodness sakes!  Took a metro into the city for about 6 Euro.  Took about an hour but no biggie.  Got off in Monastiraki Square and it was a bustling area with lots of stuff going on.  Found my hostel quite easily and upon check in I ran into the guys that I had been travelling around with.  Brett from Ohio had gotten there 1 day earlier as well as the travelling Aussie duo, Ben and James.  I was lucky enough to get in the same dorm room with them which was nice cause they were my buds!  I got into Athens in the late afternoon around 3pm.  The guys had already been walking around for the day, and the first thing on my mind was to take a shower.  I got settled in, cleaned up a bit, and relaxed until it was Happy Hour on the rooftop bar of our hostel.  Got up there just in time to catch a fabulous sunset.  The hostel I stayed at was called "Athens Style" and I would def recommend it to anyone who travels that way!

Happy Hour on the rooftop bar was great.  It was a 2 for 1 deal which I hadn't seen anywhere in Europe and you could get 2 giant beers for 3 Euro's or 2 regulars for 2 Euros's.  Of course I got the big un's and chatted the night away with all the other folks.  The rooftop bar also over looked The Acropolis and had fantastic views!!!  I mean wow, I could live here forever!

Is that not the most scenic thing ever?  Especially while your sipping on some cold beverages?!  After the bar closed down at midnight we all had the drunken munchies so we hit up this place just around the corner from our hostel and it had 1.80 Euros!  You can't beat that, I ordered 1 but I really wanted 2, haha!

Above is a picture of the group that went and indulged in the gyro's. Alan from Australia is sitting down with his "bald head" (we'll get to that later), Michael, Alan's friend and another Aussie, is standing up in the glasses.  Ben from Sydney is in the orange shirt with his mouth full, Anna from New York is next to Ben, and then there is a smidgen of Brett in the far right corner.  Now, back to Alan...he has his entire head shaved except for this one little pony tail piece that is in the back of his head.  He's been growing it for about 8 yrs. and of course I had to get a funny pic with it.  Yes i realize I have no cooth.

Later that evening after we got through eating the gyro's we decided to have a night out on the town in Athens.  The bartender at the hostel, Chase from Tasmania, offered to take us out and show us around.  We headed out around 1:00am and went to an area of the city that was in walking distance called Gazi.  What a bad ass area.  I would say it reminds me a bit of 6th street but on steroids.  Tons of clubs and bars that all had a different theme and were decorated awesome.  Only downfall was that most of the cocktails were around 10 Euros each making them about $12 to $13 USD, yowzas!  Oh well, you only live once right!

The night out in Gazi was great and we ended up leaving to go back to the hostel without Ben and Chase (they roamed off somewhere). I hit the sack pretty hard that night because we all planned to get up and go hit

The Parthenon and some other sights in the area.

The next day Me, Ben, James, and Brett all set out to go see the magnificent Greek ruins.  I can't remember what the name of the first place was, but it was "something" Library. I'll put up just a couple of pics because it really wasn't that great.

The coolest part was that we saw a random turtle just crawling around and living the life.

Onwards we went, and over to the area where the Agora is. Lots of pretty scenery.  There was a museum in the area but we actually didn't go to it and instead used it as a pit stop to use the restroom!

After we relieved ourselves, the Agora was next, and it was like a mini Parthenon.  Here is a pic of me (one armed shot of course) with the Agora in the background.

Okay, FINALLY it was time to make the voyage and hike up The Acropolis to get to The Parthenon which was at the very top.  If you look at the previous pictures you can clearly see that The Acropolis is a giant mountain and I was not looking forward to that conquering that sucker, however I knew once I got to the top in would be totally worth it. On the climb up there were several other sights to check out.  Here is a theatre we happened upon.

Above is an original Greek stone with inscription.

Okay lets get to the good stuff.  Finally after what seemed like miles and miles of walking up a steady incline we get to the top where the magnificent Parthenon is.  It's not in the best of shape but considering how ancient the thing is, it's in a decent state after all these years!

The day we walked up the Parthenon I went up with the usual suspects...Brett, Ben, and James.  The sun was out in full force that day as I got pretty sunburned, which later turned into a nice luxurious golden tan!  After touring the Parthenon we were pretty hungry and went and had some lunch.  Then Ben had the great idea of going to the museum.  I myself am not a huge fan of museums but I figured there would be some pretty cool artifacts from the Greek empire. Not to mention it was indoors with air conditioning!  The museum was pretty interesting and after browsing around for a couple of hours we booked it back over to the hostel.  I was pretty pooped after the long day of sightseeing.  I went to the rooftop bar for a bit and had a couple of fresh strawberry daiquiris and then hit the hay.  The guys were gonna go to Delphi the next day and had invited me along.

The next morning I had every intention of going with the guys to Delphi but I woke up with some bad allergies, and to top it off they were catching a bus at like 7:00 am!  I'm a big fan of sleeping in so I blew that idea off.  Later that morning I woke up to the sounds of the guys talking in our dorm room and apparently they went to the wrong bus station and missed the bus but were going to catch the next one at 10am.  After much coercing and nagging, they finally talked me in to getting up and going with them.  The next hour ended up being a ridiculous rat race.  No taxi cabs knew where the other bus station was, or at least by the name we were calling it.  We literally made it to the bus station and bought our tickets about 3 minutes before the bus pulled out!

Thankfully the bus was really nice.  It was like a charter bus and was nice and air conditioned with big comfy seats, not what I was expecting but a nice surprise!  We also stopped about an hour and a half into the ride to grab snacks and have a bathroom break.  Finally we rolled into Delphi and went ahead and bought our return tickets for 6:00 that evening giving us about a 4 hour window to roam around.  First stop was the museum.  We walked to it from the bus station which wasn't too far.  I wasn't dressed very appropriately that day, lemme tell ya!  I thought since I got sunburned from the day before that I would wear short sleeve again and some shorts.  Well since Delphi was in the mountains it was a bit colder and we encountered some of the strongest winds I've ever felt...and I was in Houston for the last hurricane!

Once we were done with the museum, we went to the archaeological site and took a look around.  I really can't express in words how beautiful the area was!  The mountains, the greenery, just everything!

The stones above are what's left of Apollo's Temple.  After rummaging around the ruin site we grabbed some lunch.  I had the worst Greek salad I've ever tasted.  They put some sort of gross creamy sauce on it and I ended up scraping most of it off.  When we got through with lunch we still had about an hour until the bus was going to leave and take us back to Athens.  The station was actually shut where we could go inside and sit, so we had to think fast.  We definitely weren't going to sit outside and brave the hurricane style winds.  Thankfully there was a nice little cafe across the street where we could escape inside.  We all bought a Greek coffee and just chilled out and waited for the bus to pull up.  Overall, I'm so glad I ended up going with the guys out to Delphi, it really was incredible scenery!  Once we got back around 9:00pm we hit up the rooftop bar for a couple of brewskis.  It was Ben and James last night in Athens before they were to take a ferry over to Santorini the next morning.

I woke up the next day at the crack of dawn to say goodbye to the guys and then went back to sleep pretty quickly after.  I basically just roamed around Athens that day and didn't do a whole lot.  My number one priority was to pick up some sunblock before I went to the islands.  Since I had gotten sunburned previously, I wanted to make sure I had some skin protection.  I finally found some at Carrefour supermarket and ended up paying 13 Euro's for a normal size bottle!  Do you realize that equates to about $17 USD?!  I mean seriously, a bottle of sunblock in the US would cost around 6 bucks at the max.  You woulda thought the stuff had gold flakes in it!  Either way I ended up buying some and I'm glad I did because once I got to Mykonos I saw they were charging like 20 Euro's for a bottle, eek!  I also walked around with Brett and picked up some postcards and filled those out, we had some lunch and did a bit of tourist shopping.  Brett picked up a couple of T-shirts and I got one as well.  This was Brett's last day in town as well.  I was a bit sad because I was starting to part ways with all my buddies.  I met the the Aussies, Ben and James, in Venice and we traveled around together after that to Florence, Rome, and Athens. And Brett I met in Florence and we travelled together in Rome, Naples, and Athens.  Anyway, after a days worth of roaming the city we grabbed a few beers from the rooftop bar, as per usual.  Brett had an early morning flight the next day and he just spent the night at the airport instead of booking another night at the hostel and waking up extremely early.  

My next day was a nice and relaxed one.  It was my last day in Athens.  I got up fairly early and booked it over to the port to buy my ferry ticket to Mykonos.  I had to take the subway to get over there but it was a straight shot, or so I thought.  At one point in the subway ride you had to get out and take a bus because the line was messed up.  I noticed everyone was getting off, but just figured it was a popular stop.  A really nice Greek man ended up tapping my shoulder and motioned me to follow the crowd.  We then got on a bus and rode that around for a bit and then got off and got back on the subway.  It was all a bit confusing so I'm very grateful for the nice man to help me.  Once we got to the port he even walked me over to the ticket office for Hellenic Seaways!  I purchased my ticket for around 40 Euro's and was set to take off the next day.  When I got back to the hostel I met up with Katelyn from Wisconsin who had been staying at the hostel since I had been there, and Keiley who was from the states but was working at the hostel.  We decided to go to the beach that day and grabbed some snacks and beers and took the bus to the beach.  The beach was a bit rocky for my liking but we had some plastic beach mats that made it bearable.  The water was ice cold but was refreshing since it was so hot outside.  The beach also proved to be a great venue for some people watching.  Saw about a 50 something year old woman with the largest fake boobs I've ever seen (other than on television).  She also did a complete swimsuit change out in front of everyone.  I mean who does that?  Also saw a lot of weenie bikini's on the men who were muscled up and had an orange hue.  After several hours out at the beach and a nice base tan, we packed up and headed back to the hostel.  Met one of the new guys that just started working at the hostel, his name was Robin and was from England.

Above is Katelyn, Marjo, Me, Keiley, and Robin.  Later that night we all went to a local bar that Keiley frequents and they serve awesome sangria.  Around 2 am I called it a night and Katelyn and I walked back to the hostel.  We did stop off at Everest though and I got a late night salad!  

My last day I woke up and checked out of the hostel.  I still hung out in the lobby and mooched off their internet until it was time to leave for the port to catch the ferry over to Mykonos.  I shared a cab ride with a few Aussie guys I had met at the hostel.  Alan, Leonard, Michael (all from Melbourne) and Matt from Adelaide.  We decided the subway wouldn't be the best way to get there because of all the changeover's and with us having luggage and large backpacks. The cab driver charged us about 20 Euro's and then wanted extra for the luggage!  After we straight up told him no way, we went and boarded the ferry and were off to Mykonos.  The below picture is my final thought about Athens!