Greece Lightning

After an early flight from Rome, Shereen and I found ourselves in the city of Athens. We were starting our trip around the Greek Islands here and I was super excited to see Ray and Sam again who would be meeting up with us for the trip. We caught the train in from the airport and I chatted with an Australian guy who spotted my contiki luggage tag and asked if we were doing and Island tour. He was meeting up with his group the next day and he hadn't done a tour before so we told him that he was going to have a ball, but probably not much sleep for the next couple of weeks.

When we got to our stop I was instantly confronted with the Acropolis hill and after we checked in to our room we had a peek out on the balcony and were greeted by an amazing view of the Parthenon, made evn more spectacular by the electrical storm that sent lightning bolts down around the ruins. Zeus was clearly having some fun up in the clouds.

Ray's flight was supposed to be arriving around 5pm so we decided to chill out in the hostel until she got there. By about 5:45 Ray still wasn't there and Shereen and I were really hungry, so we left her a note that we had found a restaurant in our area that sounded good and that if she got there soon she should come and meet us out. So Shereen and I set off to find this restaurant. About 10 minutes in I was beginning to wonder if this was the best area for us to be walking by ourselves as the sun went down. There were men all over the streets, shouting at each other and looking like they were about to start beating each other up at any moment. As we walked around still searching for the restaurant we began to feel their eyes on us and they started cat calling and whispering suggestive things to us as we walked by. When we got to the address of the restaurant it wasn't there. We walked around the block a bit, trying to interpret the Greek street names and my Google map directions, but after running into another group of men we cut our losses and got the hell out of there. We were going to just go to a different restaurant on the way back but we didn't have any way of contacting Ray to tell her not to go to the restaurant we told her in the note. So we went back to the hostel to change our note and save her from certain peril.

When we got back we just decided to have dinner at the hostel cafe on the roof and wait for daylight before venturing out again. Ray arrived after dinner and we bravely risked the streets to get some gelato around the corner from the hostel.

The next day we waited for Sam's arrival before setting out to climb the Acropolis. I was expecting a steep ascent but in truth it wasn't that bad. We walked around the ruins and enjoyed the beautiful view for a while before winding our way back down the opposite side.

The four of us then decided to find somewhere for lunch and we stumbled into this little square lined with restaurants. As we walked around looking at menus, the maître d' of one of the restaurants pulled Ray and Sam over, kissing Ray on the cheeks and telling them he would give them a deal for lunch. It was 10 euros for a gyros plate and drink so we decided to sit down- which the guy wouldn't let us do until he had grabbed and Shereen and I as well and dealt us some creepy "cultural" kisses. It was my first proper Greek meal and I fell in love instantly.

After lunch we walked around a bit until I lead everyone to Bretto's distillery which houses a huge collection of ouzo and flavoured liqueurs, all displayed with awesome back-lighting in the bar.

That night Ray, Shereen and I went around the corner from our hostel to a cute little restaurant with live music, while Sam recovered from his early morning flight. We had an authentic Greek meal and got treated to a free brownie each for dessert.

Then we all hit the hay to get some rest before our eeeaaarrrlllyyy ferry the next morning.

Next post on our time in Mykonooooos Xx