At school, we get a week off for Easter holidays. Instead of staying in Palma, a few friends and I had planned a trip to Greece. This is a country that I’ve wanted to visit since I came to Europe the first time in 2009, so I was very excited to finally be able to make the trek. Originally we had planned to spend a few days in Athens and then take a ferry to a couple of the other islands but, as early April isn’t high tourist time, the ferries weren’t running. In the end we spent about half our time in Athens and half in Santorini.
The first night of our trip we flew into Milan, walked around the city a little bit, and ate dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to us by a family that our friend Becca works for. We gorged ourselves on typical Italian food and ordered pizza the first night. These pizzas were HUGE. We were starving so we got (and finished) three entirely for the five of us.
I think our only redeeming quality is that they were thin-crust and so we didn’t fill up on bread. One thing I have taken for granted here in Palma, or in Spain in general, is the wine situation. The wine we had in Italy and in Greece was NOT up to par with what I’m used to in Palma.
During our stint in the city center, we went to the Vittorio Emanuele II where there are a ton of designer shops and mosaics on the floor. One of the mosaics is of a bull that is famous because you’re supposed to spin around on your heel on his testicles for good luck. Of course we had to try this too.
Next we visited the Duomo di Milano, which was interesting as it was Holy Thursday. There were a lot of tourists there and I even ran into a woman that works at my school in Palma while we were there! Small world! After we got done looking at the inside of the church, we climbed the stairs outside to the top and were able to see the entire city of Milan. Well, not quite, as the city is huge, but we could see a lot. While my friend was trying to take a picture of me (alone) in front of the Duomo, this man came up and tied a string bracelet on me even though I repeatedly told him no, I don't want it, please leave me alone, I'm trying to take a picture. Nothing worked, obviously, so instead of a smiling photo of me in front of an ancient Italian church, you get me wearing a look of utter disgust and a random immigrant.
One thing that I wish we could’ve seen while in Milan is Da Vinci’s Last Supper, but you had to buy tickets and they were sold out far in advance. Oh well, I’ll just have to make a return trip to Milan!
By the time we made it to our hostel, we were ready to put our stuff down and relax a little. Easier said than done as it turned out because when we went into the building the receptionist told us he couldn’t find our reservation and was I sure I’d made one. Um…don’t even TRY this with me because I have my confirmation crap right here AS WELL AS the confirmation email you sent me yesterday. Boom! I tell him this and he suddenly is able to find my reservation by some Easter miracle. Then he tries to tell me it’s only for one person. Again, wrong, it’s for five of us, just like it says in my emails. He then tells me that they’re overbooked and, just one second, while he tries to sort his life out over the phone with their “sister” hostel. Whatever. 15 minutes later “his colleague” comes to get all five of us and our luggage and takes us to this tiny four-door on the street. Alright, clearly we’re not going to be doing this legally since there’s six of us in the car… As if we didn’t have doubts before the ride started, the “driver” whips out a GPS, which prompts Amanda to question the fact that he doesn’t know the way back to his own hostel. Now we’re all thinking that we’ve just become part of the movie Taken. Before arriving in back alley nowhere, our ride zips in and out of night-time traffic, runs a few reds, and almost takes out an unsuspecting man on a bike. Thankfully we were only staying one night in Milan. By the grace of god we made it in one piece to the hostel and were gifted upon arrival with “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding” bottle of strawberry vodka and awkward comments.
The next day, April 6th, we headed to Athens, Greece. We stayed at a great hotel in the center of the city and were able to easily get to all the touristy destinations. We started the morning by walking to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. These sites were located on a big hill that overlooked Athens and you could even see the Aegean Sea. There was also an amphitheater next to the Acropolis, which is still in use during the summer for various concerts. I can’t imagine attending a concert in something that old and with such a gorgeous view.
That afternoon we walked to the Temple of Olympian Zeus ruins and through a park to get to the Parliament building. On our way to dinner we saw a group of very attractive cops in the Plaka neighborhood of Athens. We were all wondering why they were just hanging out with shields and nightsticks when we realized there was a protest march happening through the city and up to the Parliament building where we just were. I picked up one of the flyers the protesters were throwing; I have no idea what it says as it’s all in Greek, but I thought it was a cool “souvenir”. Better than the pro-communist flags Amanda and I got last year in Palma. The first photo is of the Temple of Olympian Zeus ruins, followed by the Parliament building.
After watching the end of the protest we stumbled upon a change of the guards ceremony. I’m not sure how long the guards’ shifts are but we got lucky enough to see a change. The outfits were quite interesting: they wore white tights, kilt-like skirts, long sleeved tunic type shirts, and red caps. Below is a picture of me and an attractive guard. He's smiling on the inside...
On Easter Sunday we climbed the Lycabetta Hill. Apparently there was a cable car you could take to the top but by the time we realized that we’d probably missed the pick up, we were close to the top so we just kept going. Good exercise for the day. At the top of the hill there was a small church and a café with excellent views of the sea and Athens. Inside the church you could light a small candle and put it in some sand by the window. It was really cool, especially to see in the inside of the church elaborately decorated.
That night we went to dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant. It had great Greek food and a live show of typical Greek dances. The audience was even asked to participate and I was dragged up on stage, among others, to dance around on a full stomach. It was actually pretty fun but got really hot. After dinner we went to a restaurant by our hotel to watch karaoke and have after dinner drinks. Becca, Angela, and I tried Ouzo, which is a typical Greek liquor flavored by anis. I’m not a huge fan of licorice flavor but I thought I’d give it a try anyway. It wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t one of my favorite drinks. Slightly better than Hierbas here in Mallorca though.
The next day we made our way to Santorini for the last leg of our trip. Sadly, when we arrived, the weather was terrible. We really got spoiled in Athens. We arrived at our hotel in Oia in mid afternoon where Becca and Angela were waiting-they’d taken an earlier flight. The place we stayed was more apartment style, which was nice because we had a kitchenette and more freedom to have breakfast/coffee in our room. The manager of the hotel was really great; we got to know him pretty well over the next few days. He treated us to a bunch of stuff too, like wine and typical Easter pastries and told us some good restaurants to see the sunset. Apparently Oia is THE place to see the sunset-especially in the summer-as the sun looks like it’s sinking right into the Aegean Sea.
The Greeks really know how to do food. I ate a ton of Greek Salad, tzaziki (yogurt and cucumber sauce) with pita bread, mousaka (kind of similar to shepherd’s pie), and dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with rice or meat mixture). Everything was so amazing. That night when we got back to our hotel and it was freezing, we decided to have drinks at the bar downstairs. This is how we felt about the weather--Amanda's face explains it best.
Panos, the manager that we’d become fast friends with, treated us to a shot of typical Greek liquor and, dear god, was it strong. It burned going down, but then pleasantly warmed my innards because I didn’t pack for cold weather. It was funny staying in Oia because a lot of people get engaged or honeymoon where we were staying. I can see why, the views were breath taking. Not really the place you’d expect to find a group of single girls though. Spring Break 2012 YEAH!
The next day was finally sunny so we decided to explore the island a little bit and head to Fira, a town in the center of Santorini. There we shopped a little bit and walked around taking photos. It surprised me how many jewelry stores were in Fira, or in Santorini in general, but I suppose if a lot of people get engaged there, they need to meet the demands of the customers.
One thing that made a big impression on me was how all the buildings really are blue and white. We even found the site of the postcards of Santorini-it was right behind where our hotel was! Of course we had to make our own “postcards”
On one of our last days there, we had coffee overlooking the sea. It was finally nice out so we soaked up a little sun. That evening, we finally were able to watch the sunset. We had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel and just relaxed for a couple hours. I really am starting to enjoy not being kicked out of restaurants after 45 minutes because the waitress wants to turn tables. I ordered a Bloody Mary (delicious!) and another round of mousaka. That stuff is so good.
By the time our trip was over, I was ready to be back home. And warm. After a quick pit stop back in Milan for dinner and breakfast, we were back home in Palma. This past week it was a little difficult to get back in the swing of things work wise, but it’s nice to be back on a schedule. All in all, we had a great time in Italy and Greece. Spring Break 2012 was a hit!
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