Griechenland

I just got back from an adventure in Greece.  Actually, as far as I am concerned, it was pretty low key, but that is just they way that I wanted it to be. 

The day after getting back from my visit with Wolfgang I took the bus from Tuebingen to the Stuttgart airport to catch my flight.  I flew from Stuttgart to Zuerich, Zuerich to Athens.  I didn't have a hotel room for the night because my ferry was leaving early the next morning and I thought it would be easier to just spend the night in the airport.  Turns out that was a good decision.  All the public transportation from the airport to Athens was shut down because of construction.  Only the buses to the port were still running.  

I caught the bus at 5:30 the next morning and rode out to the port.  I found my ferry with relative ease, they are kind of hard to miss, there just happen to be a lot of them.  Six hours later I was pulling into the port on the island of Mykonos.  

My dad had sent me directions on how to get to the hotel, but turns out I didn't need them.  The owner of the hotel was there with a sign waiting to pick me an four other girls up.  

I had booked a two person room (that was all that was available, there aren't any double rooms at Mama's Pension) and when I showed up alone Christina, the owner, was rather surprised.  She gave me one of the best rooms in the whole place because she felt bad for me, and said that I looked a little pathetic.  It was a room for four people, so there were four beds, a kitchen, a bathroom and a balcony with a fantastic view of the beach.  

As soon as I dropped my stuff off I went to find some sunscreen.  I was standing in the store looking at my options, when the saleswoman came over and told me that I didn't need any sunscreen.  I apparently looked confused enough so she explained, "You are not white, you do not need that."  I tried to convince her that I did in fact need the sunscreen but she was adament.  Finally, I told her I had money and she could either take it or not.  Shewalked grumbling back to the cash register and I heard her mumble under her breath, "I do not understand."

The first day there was spend on the beach, the water was cold and really dirty with seaweed that day, so I didn't do any swimming.  But it was still rather enjoyable.  

The next day I woke up and decided that I wanted to explore the coastline.  That did not mean just walking along the beach.  There are actually very few beaches in Greece, most of the coastline is made up of large rocky cliffs.  I had a beach right in front of my hotel that gave me great access to the bottom of said cliffs.  I spent the majority of the day climbing along the coast and it was awesome.  

On the third day I decided that I should probably go into town.  I didn't really have any desire to do anything there, the nightlife is the thing that Mykonos is most famous for, but I felt mildly obligated to at least have a look around.  The town is very pretty with narrow streets winding all over the place lined by pure white shops and houses that have a color accent of some sort: blue, green, red, purple.  

I went back out to the hotel and rented a four-wheeler.  I originally wanted a vespa, but since I had never ridden a motorcycle before they wouldn't let me rent one.  The four-wheeler was OK too though.  From the back of that four wheeler I really got to experience more of Greece.  

I drove up into the mountains of the island where I came across the mammoth houses of some of the wealthier residents.  I got to see the countless ruins that are dispersed among the new houses.  I came across a farmer hearding his cows up the road.  He was a weatherd old man with a toothy grin riding side saddle and waving emphatically at me to pass.  I liked seeing this side of Greece a lot.  To bad I don't have any pictures of it, but I was driving and couldn't, rather shouldn't, take pictures at the same time.  

The last day I spent sunning myself on the beach once again and it was wonderful.  I have never experienced a sun so intense.  It made the water that I had thought to be too cold on the first day feel rather refreshing.  

Christine drove me to my ferry in the afternoon and I headed back to Athens.  I again spend the night in the airport but this time because I would have only had the room for four or five hours and it seemed silly to pay for one for that short of a time.  

I am not back in Tuebingen looking the most tan that I can ever remember myself being.  My legs are dark, my arms a little burned, and my hair is mostly blond, not just the summertime highlights that normally happen, but rather a full head color change.  Crazy.