Greece

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.

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.

 Full serve cafe equipped with large screen projection TV

Great ocean and beach access just steps from the hostel

The place turned into a full on club sometime in the mid afternoon with live DJ’s

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.

Great view of our beach (Mylopotas)

Something isn’t right in this picture....oh right it’s the flipped over car

The wind really carved its’ way through many rocks forming interesting shapes

A home used by someone at some point for something....

A couple of goats going at it

Couldn't resist

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. 

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.

View from our 'front yard'

Lounge/bar/pool area....lots of time spent there

Horizon pool...hostel life is tough sometimes let me tell ya

Team Greece....can you spot the naked dude?

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.

Lykavittos Hill...as soon as I found out that it was climbable, it was on

Atop Lykavittos Hill, Athens and the Acropolis in the background

The Acropolis zoomed in

Temple of Zeus

Later that afternoon I checked out Syntagma square which encompassed the parliament building as well as the Tomb of the Fallen Soldier.  I was lucky enough to catch the changing of the guard as well.

Changing of the guard...notice the shoes

Ya I'd be scared of guys with pom-pom's on their shoes....

Tomb of the fallen soldier - to commemorate fallen unidentified soldiers during WWI

Parliament

Burned out concession stand in Syntagma square.  You know Greece is in bad shape when they can’t even fix a simple concession stand months after the riots in a main tourist spot.

Next up was the big attraction in Athens, the Acropolis and the Parthenon!

Theatre of Dionysos

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

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...

JC was a baller apparently....

Probably why Americans don't sew their flags on their backpacks...yikes

Anyways, here were some of my favs from inside the museum

Wrestling....classic arm-drag maneuver 

Hockey eh!

Zeus holding a lightning bolt or Poseidon holding a trident?  They couldn't figure it out either

Aphrodite

Yes that’s right people, your eyes don’t deceive you...the close up of this ancient coin reveals A MAN CHOKING OUT A GRIFFON.  Greatest coin in the universe maybe?  Ya I think so.

The doner kebab, a staple for every backpacker.  I’m pretty sure every food group is included in this ....even awesome

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!