It was only a month ago when Kyle, Hannah and I spontaneously decided to purchase plane tickets to Greece for this past weekend. Last week, we booked our stay at the "Veggie Garden B&B" through this awesome service called Airbnb, which allows people to post their apartments or extra rooms and then you can rent them for a few days. I coordinated this piece of the trip, which also meant figuring out how to navigate the Athens airport and find the bus we needed to get to our hosts' neighborhood. I had confirmed with them that, even if there were strikes the day we arrived, we would be able to get to them, so we approached the visit with full awareness of the political situation but feeling confident in our ability to still have a good experience. Despite the fact that I had told Stelios and Maika (the hosts) that we would walk from the bus stop to their house, we hopped off the bus to the sound of Stelios calling "Rebecca!" and thus began our continuous encounter with Greek hospitality and generosity. He drove us to his home, and we were welcomed with fresh lemonade with lemons from their garden and a mystery desert. (Jell-O maybe on the top of a strange pastry? We picked at our dishes to make it look like we ate some, but it was quite strange.)
We were glad to be welcomed so warmly, but slowly realized that we were all weirded out and a little confused by the neighborhood we were staying in. None of us really knew what to expect, but we each had constructed this idealistic image for our weekend, with high expectations of a cloudless sky and sparkling turquoise water around us the entire time. Such is the typical postcard image of Greece and we were naïve enough to expect the same of our trip. Needless to say, we were hungry and eager to star gaze by the ocean, so we dropped our stuff in the room and began walking with a fairly weak map in hand. We found some good deals on dinner to go, and were even given extra bread for free. And the owner of restaurant #2 walked out of the restaurant to show us how to make our way to the beach. Overly helpful and much appreciated.
On our way down to the sea, which everyone had told us was “very very far away!” we stumbled across a small convenience store and bought a bottle of wine to share on the beach. The owner there also walked out to help us find our way. Overly helpful and much appreciated.
Still walking through a pretty strange area, along what may as well have been I-95, we encountered some interesting things: First came a row of lime trees and then the flying limes at my head, thank you Kyle. Two minutes further down the road, dead cat #2 of the night. One more minute, large dumpster. And man pooping next to it. Gross. We speed walked for a little after that and then, after what felt like an infinite decline down the hill, we came to the crossroad. After waiting for the zooming cars to pass, we ran across the street, over the train tracks, back up onto the sidewalk, and down to the one establishment we could see. Which, of course, was sketchy and “didn’t have a view of the sea.” Not true. But we walked on anyway, and climbed over a railing to sit on some rocks facing the water. Took us a while to actually make it to the sea, but the heel-toe express didn't let us down, and we did, indeed, make it to the Mediterranean. And, then, we noticed the homeless people, but they were very quiet and calm and didn't bother us at all, just not the sight we were expecting.
While we ate, we reflected a lot on what it was like to come into Greece and have an entirely opposite experience from our romanticized image of this country. As odd as it was to feel such a lack of beach and drop-dead gorgeous scenery on our first night here, it's actually really interesting and important, we feel, to see an equally authentic part of this country. Clearly, parts of Greece are unbelievably beautiful, but not everyone has a house overlooking the water with donkeys instead of cars for transportation. You might find that all over the island of Santorini, but Greece is certainly not uniform in its scenery or socioeconomic class.
After leaving the beach, we walked back in the direction we came from, hoping to find a bus stop for the #140, which would take us back up the hill and save us an hour of walking back home late at night. The kindness we had already encountered only continued: A different bus stopped and we hopped on to ask first if the driver spoke English (which he didn't) and if he knew where we were trying to go. The bus was making its last run of the night, but another rider knew exactly where we needed to be. He consulted the bus driver and then hopped off at his stop... This began our private bus taxi service nearly all the way home, free of charge! Nobody seemed to mind that we don't speak their language, and almost everyone was overly helpful despite this major communication barrier.
Super travelers that we are, we prepared well for Saturday to be fun and different from anything we could experience at home. (Home being either our respective homes in New York, Vancouver/Portland, or D.C., our colleges in Connecticut, California, and Massachusetts, or our new home in Amsterdam.) We woke up too early for college kids, but were ready for our home-cooked breakfast out on the terrace. Can't say I can complain about traditional greek coffee, delicious bread, and homemade marmalade brought to our table, which was perfectly situated beneath a lime tree.
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| Fearless cat. Jumped up onto my lap during breakfast. |
After breakfast, our kind host displayed yet more unexpected, but much appreciated, generosity. He drove us down to the tram stop, where we began our trip to the lovely island of Aegina. We even got a morning jog in as we raced (sprinted, actually) to make the ferry! Kyle and Hannah have yet to let down my apparently unnecessary push to run run run, but at least we made it! The ferry ride took about an hour and a half and was absolutely gorgeous. At the end, there were about 50 seagulls flying alongside our boat, making for awesome photographs of the coastline. We arrived in the turquoise waters of Aegina with smiles on our faces, feeling so at peace and overcome with such an incredible landscape.
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| Hello, Aegina! |
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| Hannah bumped into the oily chain from the boat...oy. |
We ate lunch at an incredible restaurant, and our gyros filled us up for the day's adventure. In Amsterdam, we make our way around on single-speed cruisers and have very few complaints, but this weekend beckoned us for something a bit different. Plus, traveling is all the more fun with spontaneous indulgences in activities you didn't deem realistic... We just might have rented 3 motorbikes for the day... So, Amsterdam by single-speed cruiser, Greece by, that's right, motor bike!
Believe me when I say that it's an unknown dream come true, and I don't think we could have seen [almost the entire] island in a better way. We all wore helmets (the whole time) and took it slow in the beginning, but quickly became more comfortable and were soon zooming along like pros…Well, almost. We stopped at Afeas, a ruin that is 200 years older than the Parthenon. The views were incredible and we were so pleased to spend only 15 euro for the entire afternoon.
The only terrifying part of our trip was losing Hannah at the end of the ride. Kyle and I were riding ahead of her and didn't see her making a turn behind us. She had seen a sign that we missed, so off we went in our separate directions beneath a darkening evening sky. Long story short, I ended up riding back up the mountain for 5 minutes while Kyle stayed put at a fork in the road, but I returned Hannah-less and increasingly freaked out. I was amidst a pretty intense panic, and my entire body was shaking from my nerves and the cool air. We made the correct decision in heading back to the motorbike rental place, which we had been on our way to anyway. By the grace of some greater being, Hannah was there. We made it in the nick of time: she was just about to get on the back of the motorbike shop owner's bike to go searching for us. After exchanging hugs and letting out a bunch of tears of relief, we took her note off the door to save in our memory box: "Kyle and Becca: coming to find you—if you get here and we're gone, STAY HERE!" Took us a while to calm down and get our bodies back to homeostasis, but some local pistachios and ice cream did the trick.
We caught the last ferry off the island only twenty minutes after our reunion, which was a really good thing, considering that all our stuff was back at Stelios and Maika’s house, and we were leaving the next day. Back in Athens, we had the loveliest dinner at Cirus, where our table looked out into the garden and out to an incredible view of the Parthenon. We all agreed to spend a little money to have a nicer meal, but it ended up being totally reasonable. Our waiter even gave us each a glass of wine on the house...another unexpected generosity. The food was simply delectable, and we were so pleased to finish off the meal with a surprise treat of delicious chocolate truffles. We got home late but slept well and woke up ready for some city exploration before heading to the airport.
We spent the morning touring the acropolis and overlooking all of Athens and distant islands in awe. I kept thinking, “my goodness, I’m actually here, standing next to the Parthenon and overlooking the Mediterranean.” In fourth grade, I made a sculpture of the Parthenon for a monument project, and I was SO pleased with what was an actually pathetic piece of work on my part. Still, made me giggle to see my attempt at a model of the Parthenon in living form.
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| Snacking along the way. |
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| There it is! |
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| Goodness, it's beautiful! |
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| One of the many incredible views from atop the acropolis. |
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| The goofiness never ends :) |
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| Hannah's photography skills at their finest. |
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| Really, can't help the attack of the sillies. |
Lunch was delicious again, and I snarfed down the grilled feta sandwich will full acceptance that I would suffer later…I recently discovered that I’m lactose intolerant Lactaid pills will soon become my new best friend.
The short length of our stay was intimidating at first, but definitely made the most of our time and had in incredible time. Great friends and great travelers and great fun in great places...what more could we ask for? Back at the Athens airport, we congratulated each other on a successful and trip full of fairly easy travels…spoke too soon. Five minutes before our intended flight departure, there was an announcement that, due to an air traffic controller white strike, our flight would be put on hold and they would get back to us with more information in a couple of hours. Great. Although we were frustrated with the delay, it was actually kind of cool to experience this ongoing political struggle. Essentially, the airport only allows a certain number of planes to enter and exit per day, but the airlines kind of ignore that rule, and it’s normally not addressed. However, the air traffic controllers are being forced to work more without an increase in pay, and they are displaying their frustration by enforcing the flights regulations. So, when they feel like it, they just put things on hold and get back to the airlines when they feel like it. Flights have been delayed for up to six hours or canceled, but nothing is changing. Fortunately for us, we were able to leave just a few hours later, but it was difficult to witness the injustices in the system.
We eventually made it home by 1:30 a.m. and went to bed shortly thereafter, given that we had class early Monday morning. All in all, it was an incredible trip and we were so happy to have gotten along so well. We bonded and laughed a lot. And ate great food and rode motorbikes. (Shout out to Leah: she, too, played risky on a motorbike this weekend on a trip in India!) And had a “tapas” experience of Greece, seeing both the postcard image of the country, the historical sites, and less glamorous but entirely organic neighborhoods. Delicious!
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| Best travel buddies ever! |
Ik vond een nieuwe cafe in de Jordaan, en het is heerlijk! = I found a new cafe in the Jordaan, and it is lovely!
Dutch word/phrase bucket:
Ik hou van mijn zus, Sarah, meer dan iets anders. = I love my sister more than anything else.
Het is herfst, maar het weer maakt het gevoel dat het is zomer! = It is fall, but the weather makes it feel like it is summer!
Ik hou van de koffie in de ochtend. = I love having coffee in the morning.
Elke dag, heb ik een broodje met heerlijk kaas voor de lunch. = Every day, I have a sandwich with delicious cheese for lunch.
Het is herfst, maar het weer maakt het gevoel dat het is zomer! = It is fall, but the weather makes it feel like it is summer!
Ik hou van de koffie in de ochtend. = I love having coffee in the morning.
Elke dag, heb ik een broodje met heerlijk kaas voor de lunch. = Every day, I have a sandwich with delicious cheese for lunch.
groen = green (Mijn fiets is groen = My bike is green)
geitenkaas = goat cheese (Geitenkaas is mijn favoriete voedse! = Goat cheese is my favorite food!)
fiestpad = bike path
keo = cow
koffie = coffee
regendruppels = raindrops
goedenacht = goodnight
keo = cow
koffie = coffee
regendruppels = raindrops
goedenacht = goodnight
