Overnight travel is the way to go for a few reasons. First and foremost you don’t need
accommodation for that night and that saves you much needed euro’s that you’ll
later spend on drowning you and your friends in Ouzo. Secondly, you wake up or arrive usually
around breakfast time and you haven’t blown a day traveling. The only caveat to this is you must be able
to function on getting minimal or frequently interrupted sleep. Some people can’t, but if you travel long
enough you get used to it. You
eventually catch up on your sleep by napping on the beach or having a
mid-afternoon siesta.
Point in case, my friends and I decide on catching a red-eye
out of Split Croatia to Athens Greece.
We land, grab our luggage and get some decent shut eye sprawled out on
the chairs near baggage claim. 5am rolls
around and we catch a shuttle to our ferry which will take us rapidly
across the Mediterranean
to our first destination, the bumping island of Ios.
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| Your ferry ain't sh*t unless its' sponsored |
These hydrofoil ferries cut conventional sea travel in half,
and get you to your destination in style.
A normal 7 hour journey from the port town of Piraeus (near Athens) to Ios is now 3.5
hours aboard one of these behemoths.
So we cruise into our port and arrive at our hostel in Ios
around 8am fresh as daisies. At 8 euro a
night, this place was a bargain, although our 3 bed wooden shack wasn’t much to
look at the amenities made up for it in spades.
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| Full serve cafe equipped with large screen projection TV |
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| Great ocean and beach access just steps from the hostel |
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| The place turned into a full on club sometime in the mid afternoon with live DJ’s |
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| Killer sunsets |
Not seen in the pictures were a basketball court, outdoor
soccer court, full bar, pool table, mini-market and even a few shops. The nightlife
here is like nothing I’ve seen before as bars don’t get busy until at least 11
and clubs don’t open until 1-2am and go all night and into the morning. Grabbing breakfast at 8am on the way back
from a club is not an unusual thing here.
We did manage to get some hiking in though as there were many mountains
surrounding our hostel that were calling....and we answered.
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| Great view of our beach (Mylopotas) |
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| Something isn’t right in this picture....oh right it’s the flipped over car |
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| The wind really carved its’ way through many rocks forming interesting shapes |
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| A home used by someone at some point for something.... |
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| A couple of goats going at it |
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| Couldn't resist |
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| The bar called Slammers was known for it’s ‘tequila slammer’ where you shoot back a shot of tequila with a dash of sprite, then they put a helmet on and smash you with anything from a skateboard to a fire extinguisher....we have no idea how this place is still in business, but we came back for a second round so they’re doing something right. |
I also managed to get some scuba diving in which was fun. Nothing too crazy, just a shore dive to about
40 feet....saw some schools of parrot fish and what not. There was an earthquake years ago that broke
off a good section of sea bed which led to a few cracks that were ideal for
coral growth that you could swim through....good times.
That was Ios in a nutshell, so it was off to Mykanos for
another 3 days of island madness. Oh how
did we get there you ask? Another ferry
perhaps? Ya I guess you could call it
that....or you could call it a FREAKIN’ ROCKET SHIP.
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| Notice the spoiler on the back? Ya that’s so it doesn’t fly away into the sun. |
This thing caught some serious air en route to Mykanos,
which is not conducive for sipping coffee and taking a nap. Oh and if you get sea sick don’t come near
one of these things otherwise you’ll be tossing your souvlaki clear across the
boat. Otherwise hang on
for the ride and enjoy!
Mykanos was basically more of the same, except more
expensive, more touristy and more gay (not that there is anything wrong with
it), it is touted as “the Greek haven for gay couples”. You get used to the bum slaps and whistles as
you walk through the hostel pretty quick (haha I’m joking....or am I?).
Right, anyways pretty cool hostel...our 3 bed private room
was a step up from the wooden shack in Ios and its’ view from the front door
was unbeatable.
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| View from our 'front yard' |
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| Lounge/bar/pool area....lots of time spent there |
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| Horizon pool...hostel life is tough sometimes let me tell ya |
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| Team Greece....can you spot the naked dude? |
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| Awesome in a pita....or souvlaki, whatever you want to call it |
Not a whole lot else happening in Mykanos....late nights
partying and long days laying by the pool or beach. A great 3 day send off to my two buddies from
back home Loreto and Joe, who took the ferry to Athens and went directly to the
airport and back home. I however went to
Athens for a few days to check out one of the oldest cities in the world.
Athens isn’t the cleanest nor prettiest of cities, but it
does have some endearing qualities and nice areas.
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| Lykavittos Hill...as soon as I found out that it was climbable, it was on |
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| Atop Lykavittos Hill, Athens and the Acropolis in the background |
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| The Acropolis zoomed in |
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| Temple of Zeus |
Next up was the big attraction in Athens, the Acropolis and
the Parthenon!
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| Theatre of Dionysos |
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| The Erechtheion |
And finally......the Parthenon
Although it’s argued to be one of the most important ancient
monuments in the Western World, I found it a bit anti-climactic. Nothing about it made me stop and gaze with
awe, nor gripped me in a way other monuments have. Maybe because there was so much restoration
work going on at the time I visited and thus you have thousand year old
architecture tangled up in modern day cranes and equipment. Learning the reason behind its’ existence helped, but still.....I wasn’t really impressed.
I did manage to get another close up of Zeus’ Temple though
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| Notice the people for scale....the pillar you see on the ground fell in the 1800’s, not too long ago!! |
Not having been to a museum/gallery for a little while I
decided to indulge and hit up the National Archaeological Museum. It contains findings from major archaeological
sites throughout Greece.
Oh I almost forgot, on the way to the museum I came across some
interesting pieces of graffiti...
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| JC was a baller apparently.... |
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| Probably why Americans don't sew their flags on their backpacks...yikes |
That does it for Greece!
I wish I had a few more days to explore some areas of northern Greece
but hey, maybe next time J
- Spain next!
