Greece!!!

Hello again!

I have been in Greece for the past 2 weeks and I must say that it is positively gorgeous here. The weather has been spectacular, maybe a bit on the too hot side but better too hot than too cold, and the islands themselves are nothing I could've imagined.

The first couple days in Greece we spent in Athens; which is a lovely city but just a bit crowded and confusing. The first day I visited the Acropolis, Zeus's temple, the Roman Agora, which is what would've been their old market area, and also an old library area. The ruins you see in that city along are just amazing. The detailing that must have gone into creating the columns and other ruin pieces is crazy. And most of it is still there which is even more unbelievable! Those people really must have known what they were doing.

The second day of Athens was the first full day of the second Contiki I'm doing this trip, which is a Greek Island Hopping Tour. Everyone today went to the Acropolis and other things, but because I had already seen those wonders I decided to have a beach day, and it was much needed. I went down for lunch around 12 and got to the real beach part at 1. I rented out a lounger for the day and sat there for 6 hours. The ocean I have to say is one of my most favorite things about nature. I know a lot of you reading this are probably thinking well that's what most people like: the beaches. But no I'm not saying beaches, I'm saying the ocean. It's such an entity that I adore. The way the waves roll up and then crash onto this sand is spectacular. I think walking along the black beach on Santorini, Parissa Beach, is the most at peace I've been since I've left home. It was absolutely amazing. The beaches on all the other islands have been nice, but nothing compared to the black sand of Parissa Beach. Mykonos had little rocks as sand, they were easier to brush off but kind of hurt to walk on. Santorini had the nicest beaches I think. It had the red sand beach, the black sand bech and just normal beaches as well. It was extremely interesting to see them because I had never before seen red or black sand. The red sand beach was actually quite weird, it was a certain type of volcanic rock, but the beach itself was quite dirty and hard to get to. 

Mykonos was the first island on our trip. Our little resort was a ways from actual Mykonos town, but still accessible. The first evening we did a bit of a pub crawl. We headed into town at about 10 and the bus came to get us at 3 am. The most interesting thing about that night I think was being in Scandinavian Bar, the dj there had a special liking for one button. He would press it almost every 5 minutes and you would just hear the word "Mykonos!" play over the music. It was absolutely hilarious to listen to. 

The next day was a partially free day. Spent some time at the beach; then at 3 pm we went to paradise beach for a humongous party! That night was amazing. So many people just drinking, partying and having a good time. They have 2 mc's there. One who goes by the name Mick Jagger, because he literally looked exactly like him. The second mc's name was Elephant Man. His entire outfit consisted of a elephant g-string, and that's it. It was absolutely hilarious. 

The next morning I was completely hungover, best night ever, but worst wake up I could have possibly imagined. I decided I was just going to spend some time at the beach, not too much time, but a little bit of time for relaxation. The next thing I know I've woken up for an unexpected nap and my back looked like a tomato. Worst burn experience I have had ever. It is still peeling after more than a week later. Ouch.

Once we left Mykonos we headed for Santorini. I think that Santorini is my favorite island out of all the ones we visited, no matter how many steps you have to climb, it is still the best in my opinion. Santorini itself consists of many different islands most created by volcanic rock, the magma sits below the water. The main island is called Thira, and the main city is called Fira, that is where we stayed. About a five minute walk and you were right into the middle of the city. 

One morning when we were there we took a gondola ride down to the old port and then took a donkey ride back up the hill. It's probably one of the coolest things we did and I definitely recommend it for anyone going to Santorini. That evening we did a sunset tour in the city Oia, this is the city where all the typical Santorini postcards and photos come from. It's the city with those big blue domed churches and it is absolutely stunning to see, especially at sunset. We saw many brides and grooms getting their wedding photos shot there too. Apparently people come from all over the world just to have wedding photos from Oia. 

The next day we took a tour around the island Thira. There was a local tour guide and some provided transportation which made it quite easy and fun. It took us to Pyrgos, Akrotiri, the red sand beach, the black sand beach, which is the one I mentioned earlier, for a couple of hours and then back to our hotel. It was interesting to see and learn about the history of the island and the volcano eruptions.

Then after yet another ferry day we arrived on Ios, the party island of Greece. It's quite a small island with its main city Ios being even smaller. If you blink while driving by you will literally miss it. An interesting fact about this city, they only have one club/bar that is open before midnight, everything else opens after wards, and even still the real party doesn't start until at least 2 am. I was awake a couple times in the morning to see people staggering back to the hotel from their night out. Another cool thing about Greece is that if you buy 7 shots from a bar/club you will get a free t-shirt. It's actually really neat, I wish some places back home would do that; I ended up with 2 shirts by the end of the adventure. 

The only thing we did on Ios other than party and relax next to the ocean was a boat cruise. It was a pretty cool looking ship, kind of like a pirate ship minus the authentic pirates.  But it took us to a secluded beach where we hung out for a day. On our way to the beach we made a pit stop in a little bay so people could jump off the top deck to wake up. Its quite an exhilarating feeling to fall through the air and then crash through the water. 

Unfortunately the weather that morning was less than pleasing but by the afternoon the sun finally pushed through the clouds and it warmed up. We were all nice and toasty for our ride back. 

I'm sad to be leaving beautiful Greece and my second Contiki Family today. It was really an amazing experience to have met you all and I hope to come visit you all and catch up! And I will definitely be back to visit you too Greece! But for now I'm on my way back to Germany. I'm very excited for my last month on this journey. Being alone for it will definitely be much different than any Contiki, I'll miss having everything planned out for me.