I'm sitting on a Ferry, almost back in Athens. I don't have much time, but this thought occurred to me, so I'll write it. My last post may be from an airport, or from home. From the port of Athens, I will take a bus to the airport, fly to Rome, spend half a night there scouting for vegan fare and gelato, and catch a plane to SFO through France.
The thought
In this trip, I have traveled by Train, air shuttle, plane, bus, bike, rowboat, motorboat, ferry, subway, car, scooter, atv (did not bode well) and by foot. It was awesome. :)
See you guys soon? :)
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Greek Isle
I slept most of the ferry ride to Santorini, even though I was sleeping on the floor (carpeted, with an extra sleeping pad from a fellow passenger with a sleeping bag, who gracefully offered me his and made my night leagues more comfortable). The ferry was delayed by three hours (to my surprise and disappointment- I could have gone to a Chabad dinner with Sharon, it was Friday night) and by the time we got moving it was around 1 am. I woke up with a start, it was the announcement of the arrival to Santorini that woke me up, and it was a bit scary: "The boat will be arriving in Santorini in a few minutes. Please get off as the boat will be departing immediately!" (YIKES!) It turned out I had a good 15 minutes and a bunch of human traffic before that happened, and I happily departed the ferry and made my way onto the green bus to Fira. In Fira, I was about to call Vladimir, my host, but I lost the piece of paper with his number (great). Luckily, there was an internet cafe nearby, and I managed to get there and back before the bus left for Ia (the picturesque village where he lives). Sure enough, we met at the bus stop. Vladimir is a Serbian dude living in Greece, working the impossible hours that people on the islands work. He works 11-12 hours a day, 6 days a week, while his friend works 9 hours a day, 7 days a week. These are the two typical work schedules. You can feel sorry for them, except that 5 months out of the year, they don't work at all. :) I'm still trying to figure out what I would prefer, toying with the idea of actually having a choice.
I was exhausted from the ferry, but we managed a mini-tour before Vlad went to work. He showed me the gorgeous view and we talked about the island a bit. Then he went to work, and I came back to his tiny studio apartment (his space utilization is uncanny) and took a good, long nap. That day I took it easy, and aside from a bit of sunset-hour photography, I mainly stuck around his place. On my way back from my walk, I came across the bookstore he mentioned. This bookstore doubles as a work exchange hostel, with people sleeping amongst the books after hours (so cool!). The people there are really nice, and that's where I go to check my emails :) Aside from that, the bookstore is a really cool one, with books in English, Italian, German and Spanish, encompassing the customers with a sense of antiquity from their homes of wooden shelves.
The next morning, it was Vlad's day off, so we made plans to go to the beach (I mean rocky volcanic terrain you climb down from/jump off of into the water). After lazily starting off the morning, some people from the bookstore joined us, and we made our way down the infamous winding steps all the way down to the beach (Amudi). Vlad and I ended up spending a good 3 hours there. At first, we swam around a little island with a church on it (has anyone seen sisterhood of the traveling pants 2? Apparently there was a scene shot there). Vlad borrowed goggles from his friend (calling them googles all the time, until he managed to confuse me), and I got to see the bluest blue of water I've ever seen. I saw some tiny fish, but the most amazing thing was the sun rays dancnig in the water. It looked like the rays were coming from the depths of the sea, not from the sun, and I made sure to etch that memory into my brain :)
After swimming, I hung out on the rocks and read awhile. Then we managed to catch a ride back with a nice family that squeezed us in their trunk (it wasn't that kind of trunk!) and avoided the dreaded way up. I did feel like I cheated a bit, but I'm on vacation!
Later, we hung out on the terrace of the bookstore, enjoying the astounding view. At some point Adam (dude from Nashville) and I were sitting there when a Korean family walked in, as we forgot to close the gate. One woman was wearing a dress, her husband matching board shorts, and they posed some ridiculous poses before asking us to be in a picture. The man sat between Adam and me, linked his arm in *Adam's* arm, and the woman said "Say Korean Kim-Chi!" (Adam swore he heard Korean cream cheese). After that incident it got windy, and I was enjoying a break from the heat while playing backgammon with fellow hanger-outers. Some lying around and reading later, we went to watch the sunset from a bar down at another beach. A small gang of local dogs followed us down, sat with us, and followed us up. One dog stayed with me after parting ways with the others, and finally stalled behind when someone started feeding it. It was an awesome feeling :) Vlad and I went to the DVD shop where he works, picked out a few movies, and ended up eating chocolate and watching "Wedding Daze". I can't emphasize how horribly mind-numbing this movie is, but it was still kinda cool to just chill and watch a movie.
Yesterday was another very relaxed day. I was debating whether or not to walk to Finikia, a village nearby, and decided to wait for around sunset for better lighting. I might have gotten a bit dehydrated in the morning, because I was out of it and pretty weak all day. I spent most of the day being lazy, playing Set and backgammon on the terrace of the bookshop. Finally I made my way back to the apartment to make dinner, deciding to ditch the Finikia photography op plans and write this blog post instead, when a girl walked in and introduced herself. It turned out she is Vlad's friend who came by to use his washer. I asked her where she lives and she said...Finikia! So a few minutes later, all plans to write my travel blog diminished, and Christina and I were happily sailing on her scooter. She joined me on my mini photography expedition, and we ended up having dinner together. She's really really cool :) Today we're going to the beach (a real beach on a different part of the island) together, and I might rent an ATV and tour the island on my own in a couple of days - being lazy was my plan for Santorini, but I'm getting a bit antsy now. :)
I was exhausted from the ferry, but we managed a mini-tour before Vlad went to work. He showed me the gorgeous view and we talked about the island a bit. Then he went to work, and I came back to his tiny studio apartment (his space utilization is uncanny) and took a good, long nap. That day I took it easy, and aside from a bit of sunset-hour photography, I mainly stuck around his place. On my way back from my walk, I came across the bookstore he mentioned. This bookstore doubles as a work exchange hostel, with people sleeping amongst the books after hours (so cool!). The people there are really nice, and that's where I go to check my emails :) Aside from that, the bookstore is a really cool one, with books in English, Italian, German and Spanish, encompassing the customers with a sense of antiquity from their homes of wooden shelves.
The next morning, it was Vlad's day off, so we made plans to go to the beach (I mean rocky volcanic terrain you climb down from/jump off of into the water). After lazily starting off the morning, some people from the bookstore joined us, and we made our way down the infamous winding steps all the way down to the beach (Amudi). Vlad and I ended up spending a good 3 hours there. At first, we swam around a little island with a church on it (has anyone seen sisterhood of the traveling pants 2? Apparently there was a scene shot there). Vlad borrowed goggles from his friend (calling them googles all the time, until he managed to confuse me), and I got to see the bluest blue of water I've ever seen. I saw some tiny fish, but the most amazing thing was the sun rays dancnig in the water. It looked like the rays were coming from the depths of the sea, not from the sun, and I made sure to etch that memory into my brain :)
After swimming, I hung out on the rocks and read awhile. Then we managed to catch a ride back with a nice family that squeezed us in their trunk (it wasn't that kind of trunk!) and avoided the dreaded way up. I did feel like I cheated a bit, but I'm on vacation!
Later, we hung out on the terrace of the bookstore, enjoying the astounding view. At some point Adam (dude from Nashville) and I were sitting there when a Korean family walked in, as we forgot to close the gate. One woman was wearing a dress, her husband matching board shorts, and they posed some ridiculous poses before asking us to be in a picture. The man sat between Adam and me, linked his arm in *Adam's* arm, and the woman said "Say Korean Kim-Chi!" (Adam swore he heard Korean cream cheese). After that incident it got windy, and I was enjoying a break from the heat while playing backgammon with fellow hanger-outers. Some lying around and reading later, we went to watch the sunset from a bar down at another beach. A small gang of local dogs followed us down, sat with us, and followed us up. One dog stayed with me after parting ways with the others, and finally stalled behind when someone started feeding it. It was an awesome feeling :) Vlad and I went to the DVD shop where he works, picked out a few movies, and ended up eating chocolate and watching "Wedding Daze". I can't emphasize how horribly mind-numbing this movie is, but it was still kinda cool to just chill and watch a movie.
Yesterday was another very relaxed day. I was debating whether or not to walk to Finikia, a village nearby, and decided to wait for around sunset for better lighting. I might have gotten a bit dehydrated in the morning, because I was out of it and pretty weak all day. I spent most of the day being lazy, playing Set and backgammon on the terrace of the bookshop. Finally I made my way back to the apartment to make dinner, deciding to ditch the Finikia photography op plans and write this blog post instead, when a girl walked in and introduced herself. It turned out she is Vlad's friend who came by to use his washer. I asked her where she lives and she said...Finikia! So a few minutes later, all plans to write my travel blog diminished, and Christina and I were happily sailing on her scooter. She joined me on my mini photography expedition, and we ended up having dinner together. She's really really cool :) Today we're going to the beach (a real beach on a different part of the island) together, and I might rent an ATV and tour the island on my own in a couple of days - being lazy was my plan for Santorini, but I'm getting a bit antsy now. :)
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