I have been on this boat for about 15 hours now, and am quite comfortable. It is much like a cruise, there are bars, gift shops, restaurants, snack shops, wireless Internet, pool, jacuzzi, and private hotel rooms as well. This is truly luxury on water. I chose the deck which is the cheapest of tickets. It is basically just an airplane type seat, and I get to sleep on the floor, which is fine with me, I have a sleeping bag. I left Greece last night at midnight, and am on my way back to Venice, I was able to spend five days in Greece, and see some interesting stuff.
I met some Spaniards on the boat, they didn’t know exactly where they were going but knew they wanted to get to Athens that night. So, I was in the same boat, so when we arrived to Patra we got off the boat and began looking for the bus station, someone pointed us in the right direction and we were off. We got to Athens around midnight, and found a taxi to take us to the center of the city where there was a hostel, so we got there checked in, and got a decent night’s sleep. The next day, they went to the port to buy a ticket for Crete, while I went to the Acropolis, but when I arrived I noticed that I could not get in, for there was a protest, there were about one hundred people blocking the entrance, and one of them had a megaphone screaming something in Greek, I didn’t understand anything he said, so I decided to try and get in any way, I casually made my way up to the mob, and acted as if I was part of them, and made my way through the crowd and closer to the entrance, but some one spotted me and began to push me back, so I decided to try to enter through the exit gate, then make my way back to the entrance to pay my way in, but they were there also, and saw me approaching and began getting angry at me, and pushing me back. Well, I was quite angry at this point, because I wanted to see the Acropolis, so I just started walking around it, and noticed two guys jumping over the fence to get in, and I decided to follow them, but once again I was caught, but this time, it was a worker, and he pointed me in the right direction to enter, so I got to the other entrance where there were no mobs, and was able to get in for free because of my student ID card. The Acropolis was very impressive.
I met back up with the Espanoles, and we walked around the city for about three more hours, then we split ways and I went to the port, and bought a ticket for Santorini (Thira), one of the Greek islands, I slept one more night in Athens, and the next morning was off at 07:00 A.M. For Santorini, we arrived at )3:00 P.M. And this place was gorgeous, very touristy which kind of stunk, but beautiful let alone.
I booked a hostel the night before, so they were there at the port to pick me up, it was a nice place and very cheap. I had a full 24 hours on the island, and was trying to figure out how to use it wisely. I decided to rent a 50cc motor scooter, it only cost 12 Euros for 24 hours, this truly was they best way to see the island, because buses are expensive and inconvenient, and the motor scooter is fun! So I decided to ride to this one village called Oia (pronounced ee-a), which supposedly has amazing sunsets, it was about a 45 minute ride on the bike, so I left around 06:00 P.M. And accidentally went around the island the long way, but it turned out to be a beautiful drive, I get to Oia and have a nice meal and watch the sunset.
The next day I went to this beautiful secluded beach called “Red Beach”, and I found out why it was called that when I arrived, it was just how it is named. The sand was red, white, and black, all mixed together, it was amazing.
I returned to Athens after this and slept one more night there, then went off to my next destination which was a pretty little Venetian town called Nafplio:
This was a nice place to just relax for a half day and sleep. The next day on my way to Corinth, I stopped at some more ruins called Mycenae.
At Corinth I was pressed for time, because I had to get to Patra for my boat was leaving at midnight, so I had little time, I wanted to see Ancient Corinth, but decided against it at the last minute, but I did get to see the Corinth Canal.
An interesting thing happened to me in Corinth, the bus I got on from Mycenae, had a final destination of Athens, but was stopping in Corinth, when I bought the ticket, the man told me to make sure I got of at the isthmus, so upon arriving to Corinth, we made one stop and I asked the guy behind me if this was the isthmus, to which he replied, “no, later”. So I thought, okay, well we get going, and I notice we drive over the canal, and then get on the highway with signs marked “to Athens”. I turned around and asked the guy if we were leaving Corinth, to which he replied, “now we go Athens”. I was like, are you kidding me, so I told the bus driver to let me off because I missed my stop, and he got mad at me and said “why you no speak me isthmus?” So, I guess it was my fault for not telling the bus driver, but he let me off on the highway by a toll booth, so I had to walk back to the isthmus, which was about 10 kilometers, I crossed the highway, climbed over the railing, and headed back, there were no taxi’s in sight because it was a back road with nothing on it, so I started walking, and ended up walking the whole way back. However, when I was about to arrive, I was so tired, and sweating like a dog, (I had both my back backs on, one weighing 50 pounds) I had to stop at a gas station to get something to drink. I believe the man who works there saw me coming from a distance and showed me grace, because as soon as I dropped my bags and sat down in one of the chairs, he came and gave me a glass of cold water, I was very grateful. Then he gave me a two liter bottle of purified water, and two big oranges, I was astounded. I was very humbled and thankful, because earlier when I was walking, I wasn’t very happy and complaining and not very comfortable, but this man showed me grace, because he saw that I was in need. So, that helped me out a lot, I need to be like that with people.
After I was refreshed with orange and water, I crossed the canal and made my way over to the bus station, bought my ticket for Patra, and waited for the bus. I got on the boat okay, and here I am now, looking forward to my time in Switzerland, which I should arrive tomorrow evening.
(This was written on the 7th of May, I have already arrived to L’Abri, and will post more soon.)
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