Other Athens adventures included tracking down random ruins outside of Athens that no one had ever heard of. After a 2 hour bus ride with a thousand stops, a little back tracking, and a taxi ride we made it. The taxi driver who took us to this ruin was pretty funny. He was a heavy set guy with facial hair enormous arms. He looked like a thug and we just hopped he would take us to where we wanted to go. But once we got to talking to him we found him to be a pretty nice guy. His life dream is to fly to America rent a car and drive from New York all the way to California. He asked us what we though of his plan. We were very supportive. But we did correct him when he said he though he could do the whole trip in 3 days. We told him to plan for at least a week and more if he wanted to stop. We tried to recommend places to stop, Colorado, Zion, St. Lewis und so weiter. The only place he had heard of inbetween NY, NY and LA was Las Vegas. He then told us that he thought it would be very dangerous. Both Megan and I erupted in a chorus of "oh it isn't dangerous." "You will be fine"shaking our heads and trying to sound very assured. He still looked a little skeptical. For some reason he had it in his head that driving so far across America would be dangerous. Not for you pal. No one is going to mess with the Greek thug. It was hilarious.

off the beaten track ruins.

This was the happiest I saw Megan the whole trip.


Other Greek things included this restaurant overlooking the Acropolis. I really miss the Greek food. It blew the Italian food out of the water.



Then we were off. Greece was great. If I had to do it again I'd try to go to at least one more island. We weren't sad, we were elated to fly back home to our husbands. This ends the German Summer 2008 and Greece 2008 blog entries. Thanks for enjoying and especially for all of your comments. XOXO

Athens: The Acropolis

The Acropolis.

We awoke early and arrived at the acropolis with the morning rush crowd at 7:55. Athens is an enormous city and the crowds poor in even on week days to see the famous ruins. The acropolis towers above the city. You can see it all over Athens. It is lighted at night and very impressive.

Here are our photos:

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It was really cool.

Athens

Everyone told me it was big and smelly and only worth a day. I had NO expectations. I had even lower expectations for the area of the city in which we stayed. Rick Steves, our tour guide, told us that Omnia where our hostel was located, was best known for its pickpockets, pimps and prostitutes. I think under normal circumstances that would have deterred us but we spent so much money in Santorini that we were determined to tough out the hostel. We just crossed our fingers that we wouldn't get pick pocketed in the 2 blocks it took us to walk from the metro stop to our hostel.

My 2nd favorite thing we did in Athens was the National Archaeological Museum.

Once again the pages of my college Art history text book came alive!

Here is our tour of the Museum:Above: I'd seen tons of vases in text books but I was totally unprepared for how wonderfully beautiful they are. Pictures don't do them justice. It really is amazing to see thousands upon thousands of vases lined up for display.

Above: Me and Zeus. Did you check out those abs?
Cesare Augustus. You know the one St. Matthew made famous.


Megan getting lost among the alabaster vases.

I loved this picture of the fish men with big eyes and narrow waists.
These were some of our favorite vases.
Murals galore.
It was a great Museum. Stay tuned for our trip to the Acropolis.

2008 Greece trip: Santorini is MAGICAL

After Crete we headed north to a very small island called Santorini. If you've ever been or heard of or been to Santorini then immediately your face will light up when you read this. Santorini is beautiful, exotic and yes very magical. Everyone who has been is enchanted.

Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion. It was formerly a single island but after the volcano blew it created a giant lagoon is surrounded by thousand feet high steep cliffs on three sides. Some think that Santorini is the origin of the lost city of Atlantis.

The santorini caldera is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my entire life. I still can't believe how beautiful it was. The beautiful cliffs rise majestically out of the Mediterranean and are frosted with white villages with winding paths and endless staircases. Here you can see the new volcano raising out of the Lagoon. A thousand feet above the lagoon the island villages are nestled on the caldera's edge.

Santorini is famous for it's black sand beaches. This however is known as Red beach. But Santorini is not only a great place to enjoy geology. The beach is just as great too. We made our way to the beach on the first day and as you can see we really enjoyed it.

After the beach we headed to Oia the northern most tip of the main island which we heard was rumored to be the best place to watch the sun set. It felt some how so pagan to be up on the cliffs with hundreds of people to watch the setting sun.

We ate at a very posh restaurant overlooking the caldera. We had a beautiful view of the lagoon and the cliffs. By the time we had eaten our squid and fish-kabobs the sun was glowing over the Mediterranean.


The view from our table
We tried to take pictures but it was REALLY windy.
more views from our table.


Goodnight sun. You were great today. No complaints at all.

We stayed until dark. Everyone else had gone. We had the place to ourselves. It was so Romantic. Both Megan and I were wishing we could have swapped the other one out for our husbands.

Goodnight Moon. Goodnight sun setting over the Mediterranean. Goodnight beautiful Grecian village.

************** * * * Santorini Adventure Day II *****************


The next day on magical Santornini started with Donkeys. Lots of Donkeys. Megan and I decided to do a glass bottom boat ride tour of the Lagoon. The only way to get to the tour is by way of the old port. No cars can access this as the trails are way too windy. The rich tourists can pay $$$ or Euros to ride the donkeys down but of course Megan and I were too cheep to pay for it and opted to walk instead. Walking wasn't really too bad except that we were the only ones doing it. The Greek Donkey drivers scowled at us for not supporting their lifestyle. We realized that most people vacationing on Santirini are in a richer class than we are. The donkeys didn't seem to notice that they were sharing the road with humans other than the ones on their backs. They butted us out of the way when the path became too narrow and switched us with their tails when we got to close to them. We hiked down and down the narrow steps navigating around tons and tons of donkey dung until we reached to port.


Once at the old port we hopped onto a ship and we set off to explore the Lagoon.

You can kind of see the switch backs at the edge of this photo.
the Lagoon.
Stop I: Volcano.

The Volcano seems rather flat and desolate if one compares it to the towering cliffs which enclose it. However considering that this volcano was responsible for one of the biggest eruptions of all time, and has had volcanic activity as recent as 1957 it makes this island of black rock very interesting. The jagged volcanic rock provides a beautiful contrast to the smooth waves inside the lagoon. From the top of the crater you can see all sides of the Island.

On the Volcano looking out at the broken part of the Caldera that turned out to be stop III.
Our beautiful boat.
Stop II: The hot springs.

After hiking around on the volcano we re boarded and sailed around the volcano to a smaller island in the very middle of the Lagoon. This island is famous for its hot springs heated by thermal activity of the still active volcano. It was too shallow for the Boat to dock so we dived off the side of it and swam to shore. The hot springs were so warm and wonderful. We could have stayed for hours but then the boat called us to shore.

Stop III: The broken off island Thirassia. The most memorable part of this trip was lunch. It looked like this (Above) It was delicious.



Stop IV: Oia. Once again everything you ever wanted in a Greek village.






Good by Santorini. I hope I see you again some day soon. I would recommend you to all of my friends especially Jake Michaelson and his wife Jaz whom I am delighted read my blog.