Go Greece Lightening!

Going into this voyage, I always wanted to visit 4 major countries, of them Greece was my number 2 (after Egypt).  I was sold after having watch my Big Fat Greek Wedding and genuinely could not wait until our ship reached port. 

Oh, I need to interject something (that has absolutely nothing to do with anything).  When I say our ship, its possessive in its tone.  For instance the administration for warned us about how we (the voyagers) will become attached to this floating kingdom, how we’ll consider it to be “home” and refer to as such.  No lie, I do it daily.  I ask my friends when are they coming back “home”, or refer to me going back “home” at such and such a time.  After spending all day out on the town, I can’t wait to open the door to my room and lie in my bed.  Its funny really, how in all the traveling and experiences of new and foreign places, how one clings to something that is familiar… psychology man…psychology…

Anyway, the morning of the July 13, 2009 we arrived in Piraeus, Greece, which is the city adjacent to Athens (they actually seem to run all together).  In my high anticipation for this port, I must admit I was a little disappointed at first by Athens.  It wasn’t the fact that it wasn’t a great city, but the fact that it was too much like a city that I had seen before.  Athens, and I apologize for my belittlement of it, is just like New York City (in my humble opinion, and I love New York but not in Greece… do you understand what I mean…  I just didn’t feel like I was in Greece) except for the signs.  The signs!  For me it was like living Disney’s Hercules.  Most people may consider themselves knowledgeable of the Greek alphabet (alpha, beta, delta, gamma, etc.)  I too thought I knew, however I was wrong, and I would challenge others.  When looking at a sign were these letters are used to form words rather than acronyms, I didn’t know what sound the theta made.  This was the first country, since the beginning of my travels that I could not read the signs.  And not to the extent that I didn’t know what it said, because in Spain, in Italy, and in Croatia, I did not know exactly what the language was spelling out to me, however I recognized the letters.  In Greece, I felt completely illiterate (well at least until I looked down or flipped over the menu and saw the English translation). 

My first day in Greece I had a Semester at Sea trip to tour the city of Athens and the Acropolis.  The best part of Greece, I think, is the ancient historical aspect of it.  It’s amazing to me, to have read Greek mythology, and the texts of Socrates and Aristotle, and to walk the very same grounds (tens of thousands of years later).  We were given a brief history of the origin of the city, (how the goddess Athena, who sprouted full grown from the head of Zeus, is commemorated by this town) and of the ruins.  To the naked eye, what we gazed upon may have been viewed as simply a bunch of gravel and chipped rock, but those of keen sight, saw the remains of masterpieces, temples of white marble, constructed by the hands of average men, without the use of modern technology.  The grounds of the acropolis are under going a massive and extensive restoration project, so a lot of the temples, such as the Parthenon, are covered in steel cages because of this. 

All in all the antiquity of Athens was lost to me in the bustle of the metropolis.  In my mind, I had envisioned a place frozen in the time of great philosophical and political advancement, where the citizens wore togas and strappy sandals (I’m not talking about a literal image, but you get the jest).  And maybe that was my ignorance, but I was surprised to see how cosmopolitan it was, with the backdrop of ancient architecture (like the pillars that used to be the foundation for the temple of Zeus), posed a major contrast, for a McDonald’s or Citi Bank.  I was ready to venture to the more placid lands of the Greek Isles. 

That night, my one night in Athens, my friends and I decided (because of an early ferry ride to the island of Mykonos) to take it easy and just do a little Karaoke.  I did a special rendition of Mariah Carey’s Always Be My Baby and Whitney Houston’s Saving All My Love.  Two words: standing ovations

The next morning we woke up bright and early for a three-hour ferry ride to the island of Mykonos.  It was beautiful.  When I think of Greece, I envision (besides men in togas) white buildings with royal blue awnings and shudders, and that’s exactly what Mykonos delivered.  It seemed a world away from Athens.  Although Mykonos was prescribed to us as a touristy area, I was none the wise.  About 200 SASers went to the same island, and I didn’t see any of them except for the one’s whom I had traveled with.  The hotels were modest, not towering buildings with “Hilton” or “Best Western” engraved on the front, but discreet edifices that contained a sanctuary.  

In Mykonos we ate maybe some of the best gyros every prepared, laid out on the whitest and sandiest beaches, and swam in the bluest water ever.  At this point of the voyage, I have swum in the Atlantic Ocean (Spain), the Mediterranean Sea (Italy), the Adriatic Sea (Croatia), and the Aegean Sea (Greece).  The water of the Aegean is not just blue; it’s an aquamarine, a deep sea-foam green, and a dark navy blue.  The salt causes your body to float, so much so, that it seems impossible to drown.  My friends and I were in about 20 feet deep water but it seemed so shallow, because you could see clear through to the bottom.  I have never seen a beach so beautiful. 

(Please note: my apologizes for a lack of better adjectives rather than: beautiful, amazing, or great… most of the time I’m at a lost for words and that’s saying a lot)

In Greece, there is such a thing as paradise, and it’s a 5 Euro boat ride over to its location.  Honestly, after the first day in Athens, Greece (much how Croatia was…) was a vacation, or how the Europeans like to call it, a holiday.  Truly it was.  We hopped on a motor boat to Paradise beach and danced the night away, and when I got tired I swam in the sea some more and perched myself atop a rock in the middle of the water and emulated Ariel (The Little Mermaid). 

The next day we walked around the city of Mykonos, visited Little Venice, the Windmills, and Zorbas (if you’ve seen my Big Fat Greek Wedding, then you know what I’m talking about).  I also did a little bit of shopping, because it seemed that Greece was eating my stuff, on Paradise I lost both my sunglasses and my belt, I don’t know how, I just know they’re gone.  We partied a bit more that night and watched the sunrise over the sea. 

The following day we returned to Athens and it was hot.  Like a hot, I have never experienced before, but probably will soon get very acclimated with in Egypt and other later ports.  I loved Greece, everything about it really.  Even the unexpected metropolitan aspect of it.  I want to go back, I want to go back everywhere I’ve been so far.

My one complaint of Greece is that I didn’t have enough time.  I know you may think, well you don’t have that much time any of the ports really.  But for the first time in Greece, I felt like I didn’t see as much, or do as much as I wanted.  And because of that, I have some unfinished business to handle.