Hello Holland! Lets just say the Netherlands was a pleasant surprise. I didnt expect much from this country...it was a last minute stop-over, but man I loved it! What isnt there to love in a country that is known for cheese, windmills, bikes, tulips, being below sea level, clogs, red light districts and the legalization of marijuna? My personal favorite was the cheese. I bought a huge block of stinky old gouda and ate it in one sitting. Despite the fact that my stumach did not enjoy this afterwards, it was wonderful.
I ended up staying here with one of Bens friends from highschool, Ivan. Super nice guy who took the time to be my personal tour guide over the past three days. It did take me awhile to realize that I wasnt in Amsterdam though. I arrived in the airport (which was a half hour outside the city as they usually are), followed my directions to hop on a train to Den Haag, and then another one to Zootemetor Oost. That afternoon I went into Den Haag with him, which is the capital and important political center of the Netherlands. It took me about two hours of wondering around here before I stated " wow this really doesnt look like how I pictured Amsterdam". I was met with a "umm thats because were not in Amsterdam...". ohh what? I had to be shown a map before I understood. Den Haag was a half hour away from the airport in the opposite direction from Amsterdam. Then it made more sense! So I didnt get to spend as much time in amsterdam this way but I did get to see more of Holland. Den Haag was an interesting city with a lot of political history. My personal favorite was the giant (and I mean giant) blow up head of George Bush that sat in the middle of city hall. It was part of an art exhibit. The reason for blowing up a head of George bush? Well the artist simply described it as "its because there is nothing in there and I thought I would give a visual interpretation of the term 'airhead'". Pretty brilliant...and dont worry I took pictures. I also went to a traditional Dutch fishing village through the countryside. Holland really is a beautiful country...It is soooo green here. Driving down the road there are cannals on either side with boats cruising along, windmills in the distance and big gouda and clog factories everywhere.
As for Amsterdam. I spent two full days cruising around this city and it really blew my mind. It actually moved up into the number 2 spot of my all time favorite cities. So far this list looks like...1. Barcalona 2. Amsterdam 3. Naples and Istanbul (tied). Of course the red light district, sex museum and coffee shops were all cool, but the city just had such a unique and alive vibe to it. I loved all the cannals...had no idea that Amsterdam is like a more modern, better functioning and larger version of Venice. I loved all the bikers, the laid back atmosphere and beautiful buildings. This is the kind of city that I could live in...other then the fact that its expensive. When I walked past the downtown University I actually though "maybe they have some kind of education masters program...in english".
Anyhow I do need to begin wrapping this up since I have to catch my flight back to Canada soon! Crazy how fast time has gone by here...I actually hacve a hard time believing its been 5 months. So I bid everyone farwell! Thank you for reading my ramdon ramblings...I know it probably wasnt easy at times. I would say I miss you but I will be seeing you all (well maybe not all but some!) in less the 24 hours.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Hello! Yes Please!
I arrived in Amsterdam yesterday morning very tired and covered in spider bites. I have seen the sun rise too many times during this past month! I left at 3:00 in the morning from Istanbul (where lets note the weather was a balmy 30 degrees) and landed at 8:00 in the morning in Amsterdam where it was 15 degrees and raining. My body does not know how to handle cold! It doesnt help that I have no long pants anymore either...But before I launch into Amsterdam I need to do Turkey a bit more justice (1 short blog for 10 days doesnt even begin to describe it...).
Turkey went far too fast...I could have easily spent another month there, lounging with my feet up and drinking tea. The Turkish people were wonderful...actually all European people are wonderful but Turkish people really struck me as kind and well intentioned. Compared to Greeks too as a whole they are much more gentle, quiet, polite and believe it or not more organized. Side note...I have this theory that you can judge a country a lot based on two things; 1. Their public transportation and 2. their toilets. Compared to Greece, Turkey's transportation was a dream...their buses were airconditioned, they had waiters who served you tea and cookies in little bow ties and white shirts, they checked that you were back on the bus after every stop and left on time. Wow. In Greece I STOOD for 5 hours on my trip to Kalambaka. Not only did I stand but I stood with my 20 pound backpack on in a crowded little hallway with about 10 other people. At every stop people would scream at me in Greek to move away from the door (so they could leave) but where do you go when theres no where to go!?!? I was so happy I didnt understand the language that day. Regardless I find it hard to imagine nice, soft spoken, bow tie wearing men comping around with cookies there. I watched this one little Turkish girl, about 3 years old, quietly eat her icecream cone, lick her fingers clean and sit patiently waiting while her parents red their newspapers for about half an hour. I cannot picture any child from North America doing this...Three year olds do not sit quietly unless they have a Nintendo Ds or the likes of in their hands...On the other hand in Greece kids yelled at old ladies, cut people off on their bikes, and push down their younger siblings. I actually had one kind come up and hit me on the head with his plastic gun and then give me this cute "Sorry lady but I dont speak that language" look when I told him off. The parents just ignore it. It would be ignorant for me to call it bad parenting but the prior daycamp leader in me reaaaally wanted to restore order.
And while the Turkish people were really very kind they would pull the wool over a blind mans eyes just to stick their hands in his back pocket. We learned very quickly that everyone is always trying to rip you off. Thjey are always nice about it though...when you call them on it they simply apologize, smile and correct the mistake. For example, for lunch we owed 7Lira...the man gave us a cheque for 9lira...we gave him the 7lira and he smiled, couted it and said thank you. It was never made into a big deal but if they could they would screw you over big time. For example...at the Treehouses in Olympos one guy tried to charge an extra 100Lira for an upgraded room. The reason? It had a TV (which it actually didnt when we saw the room). Later a different lady charged us 40 lira for the exact same room. The only other barrier that I didnt expect was that no one spoke English. Now that may sound ignorant...I know you cant expect someone to speak your language but I became accostomed to it. I tried to learn German in Germany, Italian in Italy and EVERYONE spoke to me in English all the time! Even when I did my best to put together a sentence in Greek. Learning Turkish in ten days is a little like trying to lick your elbow...impossible. And even Ben who can speak 5 languages didnt get very far. Although granted his pronounciation was much better then mine. Whenever our Turkish family taught us a word they would go "Bravo Ben!" and then say it slower with syllabels to me. Ouch. I have learned that two things dont come naturally to me...languages and direction.
I also need to describe the Turkish bath (the one I mentioned previous blog). It was a process I wont forget. First of all it was done in German...which (believe it or not) I understood! It was like coming home to listen to German spoken again. Anyway, the whole process took almost the whole day and by the end I felt like I would fall over I was so jello-legged. The process starts with a 10 minute sweat in the hammon. At first I felt fine...nice and relaxed...but after about 8 minutes I started staring down the door willing our German bather to come back! She did eventually and thats when I learned that the rest of our bath process (2 hours) will take place in the sweat room. Holy mother of god I didnt think I would make it. First part is your scrub down...you lay on your back, with cold water poured occasionally over you and are literally scrubed from head to food by what feels like sandpaper. Not going to lie...the amount of dead skin that comes off is disgusting and impressive all at once. If anyone asks me where my tan went I can honestly say...I left it in the Olympos hammon. I actually walked out of there two skin shades lighter. Sad to say goodbye to my tan but very happy with my soft skin. After the scrub down you have the washing section, where you are covered from head to toe in soft bubbles (about 1 foot high) that smell like honey and jasmine. Then you are washed (gently) and massaged (mmm...). The last stage is having your hair shampooed and then being escorted to a roof-top jacuzzi with pillows, bar and view of the ocean. Our German bather told us "If you can survive a Hammon you can survive life". I think I believe her.
On to Istanbul! Ben and I were asked two quetions here...1. Are you married? and 2. When are you getting married? I felt like I was getting drilled by his Nonna again! The blue mosque, topika palace and Agia Sofia were all beautiful but my favorite by far was the spice market and grand bazaare. The guy who we bought spices from took Ben aside and gave him his buisness card...he told him "When you two get married call me and I will come to Canada". Ha! I lauged but then again thought it was cute he was so serious. The grand bazaar and spice market were crazy. So busy and colourful and crowded. Everywhere you walk you get " HELLO YES PLEASE!" basically meaning come here and buy my things please please!!! We usually got this in French or Spanish tho...apperently we look French or Spanish. Ben would speak to them in French or Spanish too which egged them on of course. The barganing was crazy. Things that started at 180Lira we bought for 15. They would moan and complain "I am going hungry" or (personal favourite) "You are breaking my balls!!!" but really in the end we were still getting ripped off. Lets just say my backpack is now stuffed beyong belief with pillow cases, backgammon boards, spices, pashminas etc...Everything was beautiful and I could have spent the budget from my entire trip within a two block radius. I was not a very good barginer tho...actually I sucked because I either got upset (oh the woes of taking something too personally) or too prideful. Sometimes if someone eventually went down to my price I would walk away thinking "No way! They gave me such a hard time theres no way they deserve my buisness...they can stare at my back and see all the money they are losing!!!" Foolish foolish me. Its all a game and you can never take a game personally!
Needless to say I loved every minute of it...even the ones I hated at the time.
Turkey went far too fast...I could have easily spent another month there, lounging with my feet up and drinking tea. The Turkish people were wonderful...actually all European people are wonderful but Turkish people really struck me as kind and well intentioned. Compared to Greeks too as a whole they are much more gentle, quiet, polite and believe it or not more organized. Side note...I have this theory that you can judge a country a lot based on two things; 1. Their public transportation and 2. their toilets. Compared to Greece, Turkey's transportation was a dream...their buses were airconditioned, they had waiters who served you tea and cookies in little bow ties and white shirts, they checked that you were back on the bus after every stop and left on time. Wow. In Greece I STOOD for 5 hours on my trip to Kalambaka. Not only did I stand but I stood with my 20 pound backpack on in a crowded little hallway with about 10 other people. At every stop people would scream at me in Greek to move away from the door (so they could leave) but where do you go when theres no where to go!?!? I was so happy I didnt understand the language that day. Regardless I find it hard to imagine nice, soft spoken, bow tie wearing men comping around with cookies there. I watched this one little Turkish girl, about 3 years old, quietly eat her icecream cone, lick her fingers clean and sit patiently waiting while her parents red their newspapers for about half an hour. I cannot picture any child from North America doing this...Three year olds do not sit quietly unless they have a Nintendo Ds or the likes of in their hands...On the other hand in Greece kids yelled at old ladies, cut people off on their bikes, and push down their younger siblings. I actually had one kind come up and hit me on the head with his plastic gun and then give me this cute "Sorry lady but I dont speak that language" look when I told him off. The parents just ignore it. It would be ignorant for me to call it bad parenting but the prior daycamp leader in me reaaaally wanted to restore order.
And while the Turkish people were really very kind they would pull the wool over a blind mans eyes just to stick their hands in his back pocket. We learned very quickly that everyone is always trying to rip you off. Thjey are always nice about it though...when you call them on it they simply apologize, smile and correct the mistake. For example, for lunch we owed 7Lira...the man gave us a cheque for 9lira...we gave him the 7lira and he smiled, couted it and said thank you. It was never made into a big deal but if they could they would screw you over big time. For example...at the Treehouses in Olympos one guy tried to charge an extra 100Lira for an upgraded room. The reason? It had a TV (which it actually didnt when we saw the room). Later a different lady charged us 40 lira for the exact same room. The only other barrier that I didnt expect was that no one spoke English. Now that may sound ignorant...I know you cant expect someone to speak your language but I became accostomed to it. I tried to learn German in Germany, Italian in Italy and EVERYONE spoke to me in English all the time! Even when I did my best to put together a sentence in Greek. Learning Turkish in ten days is a little like trying to lick your elbow...impossible. And even Ben who can speak 5 languages didnt get very far. Although granted his pronounciation was much better then mine. Whenever our Turkish family taught us a word they would go "Bravo Ben!" and then say it slower with syllabels to me. Ouch. I have learned that two things dont come naturally to me...languages and direction.
I also need to describe the Turkish bath (the one I mentioned previous blog). It was a process I wont forget. First of all it was done in German...which (believe it or not) I understood! It was like coming home to listen to German spoken again. Anyway, the whole process took almost the whole day and by the end I felt like I would fall over I was so jello-legged. The process starts with a 10 minute sweat in the hammon. At first I felt fine...nice and relaxed...but after about 8 minutes I started staring down the door willing our German bather to come back! She did eventually and thats when I learned that the rest of our bath process (2 hours) will take place in the sweat room. Holy mother of god I didnt think I would make it. First part is your scrub down...you lay on your back, with cold water poured occasionally over you and are literally scrubed from head to food by what feels like sandpaper. Not going to lie...the amount of dead skin that comes off is disgusting and impressive all at once. If anyone asks me where my tan went I can honestly say...I left it in the Olympos hammon. I actually walked out of there two skin shades lighter. Sad to say goodbye to my tan but very happy with my soft skin. After the scrub down you have the washing section, where you are covered from head to toe in soft bubbles (about 1 foot high) that smell like honey and jasmine. Then you are washed (gently) and massaged (mmm...). The last stage is having your hair shampooed and then being escorted to a roof-top jacuzzi with pillows, bar and view of the ocean. Our German bather told us "If you can survive a Hammon you can survive life". I think I believe her.
On to Istanbul! Ben and I were asked two quetions here...1. Are you married? and 2. When are you getting married? I felt like I was getting drilled by his Nonna again! The blue mosque, topika palace and Agia Sofia were all beautiful but my favorite by far was the spice market and grand bazaare. The guy who we bought spices from took Ben aside and gave him his buisness card...he told him "When you two get married call me and I will come to Canada". Ha! I lauged but then again thought it was cute he was so serious. The grand bazaar and spice market were crazy. So busy and colourful and crowded. Everywhere you walk you get " HELLO YES PLEASE!" basically meaning come here and buy my things please please!!! We usually got this in French or Spanish tho...apperently we look French or Spanish. Ben would speak to them in French or Spanish too which egged them on of course. The barganing was crazy. Things that started at 180Lira we bought for 15. They would moan and complain "I am going hungry" or (personal favourite) "You are breaking my balls!!!" but really in the end we were still getting ripped off. Lets just say my backpack is now stuffed beyong belief with pillow cases, backgammon boards, spices, pashminas etc...Everything was beautiful and I could have spent the budget from my entire trip within a two block radius. I was not a very good barginer tho...actually I sucked because I either got upset (oh the woes of taking something too personally) or too prideful. Sometimes if someone eventually went down to my price I would walk away thinking "No way! They gave me such a hard time theres no way they deserve my buisness...they can stare at my back and see all the money they are losing!!!" Foolish foolish me. Its all a game and you can never take a game personally!
Needless to say I loved every minute of it...even the ones I hated at the time.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Merhaba Turkey
Well we have been ın Turkey for almost 10 days now and ıts beautıful and dıfferent. Safe to say I love ıt...although Im not too sure Turkey loves me back! Its warmıng up to me now but we dıd not get off on the rıght foot. Lets just say Im lucky to be ın Turkey at all. It took us two days three ferrıes (one 19 hours long) two long bus rıdes, a metro, another bus and some wonderıng around for three hours lookıng for another ferry that dıdnt exıst. So we were boardıng the fınal 1 hour ferry that wıll take us from Kos (Greece) to Bodrum (Turkey) when the passport control guys run ınto a lıttle problem wıth my passport. They told me that I was only allowed to stay ın Europe for 90 days...meanıng I had technıcally overstayed my welcome by 1 month. Somehow I managed to convınce them that I was an ınternatıonal student (whıch I maybe kında technıcally am...but not really) wıthout any proof. To make a long story short I was very very lucky. I wrote out a nıce long blog descrıbıng the whole process 5 days ago however the computer I was on crashed and ıt was lost. So! I wıll spare you all the detaıls lets just say that run-ıns wıth the law and I dont mıx well. I am not a crımınal by heart. If border control hadnt let me through...they would have fıned me 1000 Euro and arrested and deported me. I was thankıng my lucky stars that I was ın a nıce hotel room ın Turkey that nıght!
As for Turkey ıtself...ıt ıs so dıfferent from the rest of Europe. Refreashıngly dıfferent actually. We spent the fırst nıght ın Bodrum, whıch ıs a busy port cıty wıth tons and tons of people walkıng around. The entıre beach was lıned wıth bean bag chaırs and hookas. We dıdnt stay long here though...less then 12 hours before we were on the bus and headıng towards a small fıshıng vıllage called Koycegız. Ben and I had suuuuuuuch an amazıng tıme here! I thınk we were the only two tourısts ın the entıre town. Our fırst day here we sat on pıllows by the lake, drank chı (Turkısh black tea) played backgammon and ate wonderful seafood and Turkısh pancakes. The atmosphere here ıs so much more relaxed. The waıters look lıke Turkısh versıons of Calıfornıa beach bums, and they walk around and serve you wıthout shoes on (thıs ıs defınıtly my country). Its also o.k to sıt cross legged at your chaır, or to put your feet up on the table. Makes me love ıt even more. Our second day ın Koycegız we went on a boat tour that took us to a famous 42km turtle beach, mud baths, hot sprıngs and past the famous kıngs tombs of a sunken cıty. On the way back home (pıcture cruısıng across a brıght blue lake wıh the sun settıng) I danced on the roof of the boat wıth the Turkısh women. Dont worry I have vıdeo footage. Can you ever ımagıne somethıng lıke that happenıng ın Canada? Just turnıng the roof of a boat (not guard raıls or anythıng) ınto a dancefloor, grandmas and teenagers alıke? At the end of our danceparty one of the famılıes ınvıted Ben and I over for a homemade Turkısh dınner that nıght. They wanted theır chıldren (aged 10,11,14,16,17) to practıce theır Englısh wıth us. It was such a random fun nıght...they trıed to teach us Turkısh (of whıch I remember hello and thank you now) and we trıed to teach them englısh. It just ended up beıng a lot of laughıng and huggıng and eatıng amazıng food (all grown ın the garden behınd the house). Turkısh people are amazıngly kınd...and I havent even been too hasseled to buy a carpet yet.
The rest of thıs has to be brıef (Im scared the computer wıll cut me off agaın) but after Koycegız we headed to Olympos, whıch was Turkısh hıppıe vacatıon land. Here we stayed ın treehouses, went to a beautıful beach, smoked shısha and yes of course played more backgammon (were actually gettıng quıte good now). The beach was beautıful and the sea lıfe amazıng! We bought goggles and dıd some snorkel-less snorklıng...where we saw an octopus, eel, stıngray, neat fısh and explored thıs really neat cave. Favourıte part of Olympos though was our Turkısh bath! It was done by a German lady...how odd eh? It actually made me feel so at home to hear German spoken agaın! I wısh I could descrıbe every detaıl of ıt...but sınce I can not do ıt justıce now Ill leave ıt for another tıme.
Now were ın Istanbul and havıng an amazıng tıme. Thıs really ıs a cool cıty...busy and beautıful. Only one more day here and then Im off to Amsterdam before headıng home! God how fast tıme has gone by. Only 5 more days untıl Im home! I wıll probably send one more update before then, but as much as Im not lookıng forward to leavıng here I am lookıng forward to seeıng you all agaın! love and mıss ya.
As for Turkey ıtself...ıt ıs so dıfferent from the rest of Europe. Refreashıngly dıfferent actually. We spent the fırst nıght ın Bodrum, whıch ıs a busy port cıty wıth tons and tons of people walkıng around. The entıre beach was lıned wıth bean bag chaırs and hookas. We dıdnt stay long here though...less then 12 hours before we were on the bus and headıng towards a small fıshıng vıllage called Koycegız. Ben and I had suuuuuuuch an amazıng tıme here! I thınk we were the only two tourısts ın the entıre town. Our fırst day here we sat on pıllows by the lake, drank chı (Turkısh black tea) played backgammon and ate wonderful seafood and Turkısh pancakes. The atmosphere here ıs so much more relaxed. The waıters look lıke Turkısh versıons of Calıfornıa beach bums, and they walk around and serve you wıthout shoes on (thıs ıs defınıtly my country). Its also o.k to sıt cross legged at your chaır, or to put your feet up on the table. Makes me love ıt even more. Our second day ın Koycegız we went on a boat tour that took us to a famous 42km turtle beach, mud baths, hot sprıngs and past the famous kıngs tombs of a sunken cıty. On the way back home (pıcture cruısıng across a brıght blue lake wıh the sun settıng) I danced on the roof of the boat wıth the Turkısh women. Dont worry I have vıdeo footage. Can you ever ımagıne somethıng lıke that happenıng ın Canada? Just turnıng the roof of a boat (not guard raıls or anythıng) ınto a dancefloor, grandmas and teenagers alıke? At the end of our danceparty one of the famılıes ınvıted Ben and I over for a homemade Turkısh dınner that nıght. They wanted theır chıldren (aged 10,11,14,16,17) to practıce theır Englısh wıth us. It was such a random fun nıght...they trıed to teach us Turkısh (of whıch I remember hello and thank you now) and we trıed to teach them englısh. It just ended up beıng a lot of laughıng and huggıng and eatıng amazıng food (all grown ın the garden behınd the house). Turkısh people are amazıngly kınd...and I havent even been too hasseled to buy a carpet yet.
The rest of thıs has to be brıef (Im scared the computer wıll cut me off agaın) but after Koycegız we headed to Olympos, whıch was Turkısh hıppıe vacatıon land. Here we stayed ın treehouses, went to a beautıful beach, smoked shısha and yes of course played more backgammon (were actually gettıng quıte good now). The beach was beautıful and the sea lıfe amazıng! We bought goggles and dıd some snorkel-less snorklıng...where we saw an octopus, eel, stıngray, neat fısh and explored thıs really neat cave. Favourıte part of Olympos though was our Turkısh bath! It was done by a German lady...how odd eh? It actually made me feel so at home to hear German spoken agaın! I wısh I could descrıbe every detaıl of ıt...but sınce I can not do ıt justıce now Ill leave ıt for another tıme.
Now were ın Istanbul and havıng an amazıng tıme. Thıs really ıs a cool cıty...busy and beautıful. Only one more day here and then Im off to Amsterdam before headıng home! God how fast tıme has gone by. Only 5 more days untıl Im home! I wıll probably send one more update before then, but as much as Im not lookıng forward to leavıng here I am lookıng forward to seeıng you all agaın! love and mıss ya.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Help! I'm stuck in Greece and I can't get out!
Yup. Literally stuck in Greece. You know...you would think that after three months of backpacking I would be getting better but I am apparently getting worse at planning. This is my theory: The high season of August has screwed over my easy-going backpackers mind-set. When I first started out in May everything was so simple. You book last minute or you don't book at all and it still works out. Well yesterday I went to go book our ferry from Athens to Samos (which will then take us over to Turkey) and was told the next available ferry is August 17!!!!!!!!!!!! ha! I fly out of Istanbul on the 23rd!!!!!!!!! How ridiculous. It's high season in Greece and NO ONE is staying on the mainland....everyone is going to the islands (which doesn't help me!) So basically there are two options I'm debating between...paying an extraordinary amount to take a very loooooong ferry in three days and or just showing up at the port and hoping there are cancellations. Problem with the second one is there may not be any cancellations and then....? If anyone has some genius brainwaves about this predicament please send them to me! Otherwise I may have to take up permanent residence in Greece...life as a beach bum prehaps? If you don't see me at the end of August then you know this is the road I went down!
Other not so great news...because of my ferry brain fart we've missed our Turkey tour. I've been getting a little tired of all the planning that comes with traveling. I do think it makes the experience better however I was looking forward to just jumping on a bus in Turkey and paying some professionals to do all the work for me! Well now Turkey is looking like I'll have to plan a 10 day blitz...so another favor: For anyone whose been to Turkey and has advice about places/accommodation/travel means that would also be appreciated! Funny how I planned to spend two weeks in Greece and a month in Turkey....I have now been in Greece for over a month and am looking at 10 DAYS in Turkey! Oh my horrible planning.
Now to get off my soapbox (I apologize). I've actually been having an amazing time in Greece. 5 days ago I picked up Ben from Athens airport, and then we took off with two of his highschool friends (Stef and Con...the two Athens boys who hosted me for a couple nights) to their beautiful house in Kiffalonia. Kiffalonia is an island on the Western side of Greece...basically as far away as possible from Turkey. Since being here our days have had a very set itinerary: 1. go to the beach 2. eat dinner 3. have a nap 4. stay out until 6:00 in the morning. Then wake up at 1:00 the next day and repeat. The Greek people have a crazy way of life. Everyone stays up late. I mean moms, babies, children, old men and women...restaurants don't even open until 10:00pm. To fight this system would be very detrimental. The schedule from your normal life doesn't matter...when you're here you do as the Greek people do. It's a fun life style but tiring. The last three mornings I've watched the sun rise. Last night there was a group of us sitting on the beach, having beers and singing along to the guitar as the sun was rising over the mountain. It was beautiful...one minute there were shooting stars everywhere and one minute later the entire sky was on fire. But the most wonderful thing about late nights is early morning bakeries. In Victoria our late night post-dance snack is greasy 99cent pizza... In Greece its home baked buns, cheese pies, spinach pies etc...made at 5:00am fresh from the oven. Stay up all night, eat buttery pastries and go to sleep. I've never known a better end to an evening. Also a word about the beaches here: They are rated 3 best in the WORLD! Watch Captain Corellis mandolin...that was filmed here. The water isn't crystal clear but rather this really really vibrant, almost cloudy bright blue. I thought it looked a little like koolaid with far too much powder dumped in.
Off to organize my life! Please send me good-luck-get-out-of-Greece-soon vibes!
Other not so great news...because of my ferry brain fart we've missed our Turkey tour. I've been getting a little tired of all the planning that comes with traveling. I do think it makes the experience better however I was looking forward to just jumping on a bus in Turkey and paying some professionals to do all the work for me! Well now Turkey is looking like I'll have to plan a 10 day blitz...so another favor: For anyone whose been to Turkey and has advice about places/accommodation/travel means that would also be appreciated! Funny how I planned to spend two weeks in Greece and a month in Turkey....I have now been in Greece for over a month and am looking at 10 DAYS in Turkey! Oh my horrible planning.
Now to get off my soapbox (I apologize). I've actually been having an amazing time in Greece. 5 days ago I picked up Ben from Athens airport, and then we took off with two of his highschool friends (Stef and Con...the two Athens boys who hosted me for a couple nights) to their beautiful house in Kiffalonia. Kiffalonia is an island on the Western side of Greece...basically as far away as possible from Turkey. Since being here our days have had a very set itinerary: 1. go to the beach 2. eat dinner 3. have a nap 4. stay out until 6:00 in the morning. Then wake up at 1:00 the next day and repeat. The Greek people have a crazy way of life. Everyone stays up late. I mean moms, babies, children, old men and women...restaurants don't even open until 10:00pm. To fight this system would be very detrimental. The schedule from your normal life doesn't matter...when you're here you do as the Greek people do. It's a fun life style but tiring. The last three mornings I've watched the sun rise. Last night there was a group of us sitting on the beach, having beers and singing along to the guitar as the sun was rising over the mountain. It was beautiful...one minute there were shooting stars everywhere and one minute later the entire sky was on fire. But the most wonderful thing about late nights is early morning bakeries. In Victoria our late night post-dance snack is greasy 99cent pizza... In Greece its home baked buns, cheese pies, spinach pies etc...made at 5:00am fresh from the oven. Stay up all night, eat buttery pastries and go to sleep. I've never known a better end to an evening. Also a word about the beaches here: They are rated 3 best in the WORLD! Watch Captain Corellis mandolin...that was filmed here. The water isn't crystal clear but rather this really really vibrant, almost cloudy bright blue. I thought it looked a little like koolaid with far too much powder dumped in.
Off to organize my life! Please send me good-luck-get-out-of-Greece-soon vibes!
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