Thessoloniki:
Erin, Hannah and I off to Greece. We started our trip finding the cutesy little restaurant and ate amazing Greek tapas for dirt cheap. The next day was spent touring the cute water side city. It was sunny and beautiful. We ate gyros and watched sunset at the port. The next day we spent hours exploring the open market and buying snacks for our bus ride. About 6 hours on a bus to Delphi- but totally worth it. The ride was amazing. We saw stunning views of Mt. Olympus as well as other valleys. We easily realized why the ancient Greeks picked this spot to house there gods.
Delphi: we had no idea that 15 euros a night could get you a view like the one we woke up too. Absolutely stunning of the valley all the way to the water. We started by exploring the Delphi ruins all morning and eating a cheap lunch on our balcony and enjoying the scorching sun. We explored some more and did some shopping. The man whose store we were in gave us free ouzo- Greece's infamous liquor. So strong and flavored like black licorice. We ended with dinner that had an amazing view as well.
Athens:
Bus to Athens. Hectic once we got there. Found Hannah and Shanas hostel- then found Leah (who is studying abroad in Athens) and dropped off Erins and my stuff. Then We had to wait for Shana who was flying in from Rome- dropped her stuff off before we could begin exploring. We climbed up an amazing mountain side, found a little church and got an authentic little tour of it. Climbed higher, maybe through some people's back yards, and got an amazing view of all of Athens. Our original goal at climbing up was to get to this big castle we seemed to have stumbled on. Took us about 5 hours to realize that we didn't just stumble on a castle- it was the acropolis- we are all just idiots. We had dinner at an amazing gyro place. The next day was an early start to hike that castle, i.e. Acropolis. It was amazing, but SUPER hot. There were also these navy men there and we wanted a picture with them. After they agreed and we took one all the army men wanted photos with us. Seriously spent about 30 minutes taking photos with them before we had to tell them no- we wanted to keep exploring. We went to the gyros place again for lunch because it was THAT GOOD. We walked around the market before dinner. We met up with 3 other UPS kids for dinner at one of their favorite spots in Athens. Authentic Greek food- and lots of it.
Mykonos:
Ferry at 7:30. Erin Shana 2 different Leahs and Leahs roommate on our way to the island. When we got to our hotel the four of us (Erin shana Hannah and I) had the cheapest option: cAbins. Very funny, tiny rooms with 2 beds and a light, but whatever- what else did we need? Spent the after noon on the beach. Found a little rock outlet where we drank wine for sunset, something we did every night we were there. Met the rest of the gang for dinner on the beach. The next day we took a taxi into town and spent all day walking around Mykonos town finding it so beautiful and easy to entertain us all day. The bus back to our hostel/resort was at 4:30 so we sat enjoying the ocean while we waited. When we went to the bus we were not so entertained to find they had changed the bus schedule, just like that. Oh Greece. Taxi it was. We had bought dinner food and ate it on the other girls' (who weren't on such a tight budget) patio. The next day Shana and I did the excursion to Delos. Hiked around some amazing ruins,hiked to the highest point getting an amazing view, spent time in Mykonos town, then Actually caught the bus back to meet the gang. Then Started probably one of the most memorable nights. We watched sunset, then had dinner in one of the beach restaurants- but we picked the one that had been having a big Greek party all day. Long story short we ended up getting invited and spent the night dancing and drinking with them at this traditional, never-ending, christening a new baby, Greek beach party.
Santorini:
Said bye to Hannah who was off to the Chinque Terre. We set off to Santorini on a small rocky boat which luckily was only two hours because I spent the whole time being sea sick from the constant heavy rocking. We got to our hotel only to find the most beautiful place a block from the beach. Plus we got upgraded and had a bathroom- how exciting. Erin's brother and his girlfriend were there when we arrived. After we all got lunch we spent the afternoon at the pool. We rented a car for the evening and drove to Fira where we had an amazing dinner, looking at an amazing view, in an amazing town. The next day was our excursion. We took a cute little boat to the volcano and hiked around getting fun geology info about the island from our guide as we went. Then we were taken to a hot springs where we rubbed healthy natural mud on our body. Then taken to a little town for lunch. We ate pitta and tzatziki on the Beach the hiked an excruciating hike to the top for an awesome view. The. The boat took us to Oia, for the famous sunset view. Spent lots of time there, spending the last hour seated at on of the best views waiting for the epic sunset. The next day we lounged by the pool, said bye to Connor and Maddie and got taken to our ferry. 8 hours. We ran to the metro to catch the last one at midnight so we didn't have to take a taxi. Got one last gyro from the place we'd already gone twice then to our hostel before waking up to start the last leg: Istanbul!
Istanbul:
We got to Istanbul- not knowing very much. From others we heard that though amazing it was uncomfortable, stressful, and that we would be again shocked at how few women we saw. We left thinking everyone is crazy. Istanbul was amazing.
Day one started with finding our hostel which wasn't too difficult- if anything just hot. We wondered around and ate an amazing Turkish meal where you kinda just point to what you want and they bring delicious food. Our hostel had a roof top terrace where we spent the evening meeting people and hanging out.
The next day was packed with sights. We started with the Blue Mosque then the Hagia Sophia. Both were so stunning and so interesting to walk around and soak in the history. We had turkish kebab for lunch (one of many) then went to the Grand Bazaar. This covered market place, a huge tourist trap, is the place to walk around, get lost, and spend money. We didn't buy anything this round- just wandered trying to get a sense of what we were going to buy. Then we went to the big cistern. I don't know how to describe this but an underground well with rows and rows of columns. It was really cool. We ate dinner at a delicious Turkish place again and got served free apple tea- something that is everywhere in this city. We wandered around, meeting a nice man who gave us free coasters from his shop as a welcome to Turkey gift before going back to the hostel for the free belly dancing show. Saturday was crowded. We spent the morning shopping... Then after lunch ( delicious minced meat Turkish kebab) we wanted to go to Taksim Square which was described as rivaling Times Square or Picadelli Circus. Little did we know it was a monstrous hike that once we got there we almost fell over. But nonetheless it was cool to see that part of Istanbul. We got to walk along the bridge passing all the fish restaurants, eat ice cream, and dodge crowds of people. After we recouped we hiked back to the hostel, passed out for a little, then went to dinner (ending with free apple tea) before Erin had to leave. Shana and I spent the night on our hostels pub crawl which was super fun.
Sunday was luckily less crowded, but not really. We started with Topkapi Palace which was amazing. We saw relics from various prophets and jewels given to the sultans from around the world. Some of which were just ridiculous. The palace had awesome views along with awesome tiling all over. Shana and I were starving after our tour, so we walked a little out of our way to get the best kebab that we had had Saturday only for it to be closed. Starving, we settled for a mediocre kebab then sat in a cafe for coffee and rice pudding. Walked around, still exhausted from the never ending walks and sat on a bench in the Hippodrome ( I guess the old place for horse races, turned into an open area) people watching, mostly all the beautiful women (who were everywhere, whoever said there were none) in their head scarfs and talking. We sat for probably two hours. In that time we had a tourist guide come talk to us, got invited to coffee with some Turkish dudes (which we kindly declined), had a 30 minute interview for a class project of 15 year olds who have to speak English on camera with English speakers for 30 minutes, and posed for pictures with little boys dressed up as Sultans. It took us a while to realize why all these little boys were walking around dressed as sultans with smiling families close behind, until I remembered something I read. They dress up like that on Sunday's when they get their circumcision right. Interesting... We took a break at the hostel before adventuring out for dinner. Kind of sick of Turkish food we splurged on a restaurant and I had the best penne gorgonzola EVER. Then we were kindly served 2 glasses each of free apple tea. I'm starting to think we weren't getting free apple tea because we're cute Americans...maybe that's just the Turkish way.
Erin, Hannah and I off to Greece. We started our trip finding the cutesy little restaurant and ate amazing Greek tapas for dirt cheap. The next day was spent touring the cute water side city. It was sunny and beautiful. We ate gyros and watched sunset at the port. The next day we spent hours exploring the open market and buying snacks for our bus ride. About 6 hours on a bus to Delphi- but totally worth it. The ride was amazing. We saw stunning views of Mt. Olympus as well as other valleys. We easily realized why the ancient Greeks picked this spot to house there gods.
Delphi: we had no idea that 15 euros a night could get you a view like the one we woke up too. Absolutely stunning of the valley all the way to the water. We started by exploring the Delphi ruins all morning and eating a cheap lunch on our balcony and enjoying the scorching sun. We explored some more and did some shopping. The man whose store we were in gave us free ouzo- Greece's infamous liquor. So strong and flavored like black licorice. We ended with dinner that had an amazing view as well.
Athens:
Bus to Athens. Hectic once we got there. Found Hannah and Shanas hostel- then found Leah (who is studying abroad in Athens) and dropped off Erins and my stuff. Then We had to wait for Shana who was flying in from Rome- dropped her stuff off before we could begin exploring. We climbed up an amazing mountain side, found a little church and got an authentic little tour of it. Climbed higher, maybe through some people's back yards, and got an amazing view of all of Athens. Our original goal at climbing up was to get to this big castle we seemed to have stumbled on. Took us about 5 hours to realize that we didn't just stumble on a castle- it was the acropolis- we are all just idiots. We had dinner at an amazing gyro place. The next day was an early start to hike that castle, i.e. Acropolis. It was amazing, but SUPER hot. There were also these navy men there and we wanted a picture with them. After they agreed and we took one all the army men wanted photos with us. Seriously spent about 30 minutes taking photos with them before we had to tell them no- we wanted to keep exploring. We went to the gyros place again for lunch because it was THAT GOOD. We walked around the market before dinner. We met up with 3 other UPS kids for dinner at one of their favorite spots in Athens. Authentic Greek food- and lots of it.
Mykonos:
Ferry at 7:30. Erin Shana 2 different Leahs and Leahs roommate on our way to the island. When we got to our hotel the four of us (Erin shana Hannah and I) had the cheapest option: cAbins. Very funny, tiny rooms with 2 beds and a light, but whatever- what else did we need? Spent the after noon on the beach. Found a little rock outlet where we drank wine for sunset, something we did every night we were there. Met the rest of the gang for dinner on the beach. The next day we took a taxi into town and spent all day walking around Mykonos town finding it so beautiful and easy to entertain us all day. The bus back to our hostel/resort was at 4:30 so we sat enjoying the ocean while we waited. When we went to the bus we were not so entertained to find they had changed the bus schedule, just like that. Oh Greece. Taxi it was. We had bought dinner food and ate it on the other girls' (who weren't on such a tight budget) patio. The next day Shana and I did the excursion to Delos. Hiked around some amazing ruins,hiked to the highest point getting an amazing view, spent time in Mykonos town, then Actually caught the bus back to meet the gang. Then Started probably one of the most memorable nights. We watched sunset, then had dinner in one of the beach restaurants- but we picked the one that had been having a big Greek party all day. Long story short we ended up getting invited and spent the night dancing and drinking with them at this traditional, never-ending, christening a new baby, Greek beach party.
Santorini:
Said bye to Hannah who was off to the Chinque Terre. We set off to Santorini on a small rocky boat which luckily was only two hours because I spent the whole time being sea sick from the constant heavy rocking. We got to our hotel only to find the most beautiful place a block from the beach. Plus we got upgraded and had a bathroom- how exciting. Erin's brother and his girlfriend were there when we arrived. After we all got lunch we spent the afternoon at the pool. We rented a car for the evening and drove to Fira where we had an amazing dinner, looking at an amazing view, in an amazing town. The next day was our excursion. We took a cute little boat to the volcano and hiked around getting fun geology info about the island from our guide as we went. Then we were taken to a hot springs where we rubbed healthy natural mud on our body. Then taken to a little town for lunch. We ate pitta and tzatziki on the Beach the hiked an excruciating hike to the top for an awesome view. The. The boat took us to Oia, for the famous sunset view. Spent lots of time there, spending the last hour seated at on of the best views waiting for the epic sunset. The next day we lounged by the pool, said bye to Connor and Maddie and got taken to our ferry. 8 hours. We ran to the metro to catch the last one at midnight so we didn't have to take a taxi. Got one last gyro from the place we'd already gone twice then to our hostel before waking up to start the last leg: Istanbul!
Istanbul:
We got to Istanbul- not knowing very much. From others we heard that though amazing it was uncomfortable, stressful, and that we would be again shocked at how few women we saw. We left thinking everyone is crazy. Istanbul was amazing.
Day one started with finding our hostel which wasn't too difficult- if anything just hot. We wondered around and ate an amazing Turkish meal where you kinda just point to what you want and they bring delicious food. Our hostel had a roof top terrace where we spent the evening meeting people and hanging out.
The next day was packed with sights. We started with the Blue Mosque then the Hagia Sophia. Both were so stunning and so interesting to walk around and soak in the history. We had turkish kebab for lunch (one of many) then went to the Grand Bazaar. This covered market place, a huge tourist trap, is the place to walk around, get lost, and spend money. We didn't buy anything this round- just wandered trying to get a sense of what we were going to buy. Then we went to the big cistern. I don't know how to describe this but an underground well with rows and rows of columns. It was really cool. We ate dinner at a delicious Turkish place again and got served free apple tea- something that is everywhere in this city. We wandered around, meeting a nice man who gave us free coasters from his shop as a welcome to Turkey gift before going back to the hostel for the free belly dancing show. Saturday was crowded. We spent the morning shopping... Then after lunch ( delicious minced meat Turkish kebab) we wanted to go to Taksim Square which was described as rivaling Times Square or Picadelli Circus. Little did we know it was a monstrous hike that once we got there we almost fell over. But nonetheless it was cool to see that part of Istanbul. We got to walk along the bridge passing all the fish restaurants, eat ice cream, and dodge crowds of people. After we recouped we hiked back to the hostel, passed out for a little, then went to dinner (ending with free apple tea) before Erin had to leave. Shana and I spent the night on our hostels pub crawl which was super fun.
Sunday was luckily less crowded, but not really. We started with Topkapi Palace which was amazing. We saw relics from various prophets and jewels given to the sultans from around the world. Some of which were just ridiculous. The palace had awesome views along with awesome tiling all over. Shana and I were starving after our tour, so we walked a little out of our way to get the best kebab that we had had Saturday only for it to be closed. Starving, we settled for a mediocre kebab then sat in a cafe for coffee and rice pudding. Walked around, still exhausted from the never ending walks and sat on a bench in the Hippodrome ( I guess the old place for horse races, turned into an open area) people watching, mostly all the beautiful women (who were everywhere, whoever said there were none) in their head scarfs and talking. We sat for probably two hours. In that time we had a tourist guide come talk to us, got invited to coffee with some Turkish dudes (which we kindly declined), had a 30 minute interview for a class project of 15 year olds who have to speak English on camera with English speakers for 30 minutes, and posed for pictures with little boys dressed up as Sultans. It took us a while to realize why all these little boys were walking around dressed as sultans with smiling families close behind, until I remembered something I read. They dress up like that on Sunday's when they get their circumcision right. Interesting... We took a break at the hostel before adventuring out for dinner. Kind of sick of Turkish food we splurged on a restaurant and I had the best penne gorgonzola EVER. Then we were kindly served 2 glasses each of free apple tea. I'm starting to think we weren't getting free apple tea because we're cute Americans...maybe that's just the Turkish way.
great summary - what an amazing couple of weeks. I'm still wondering when you study! And I love the blue and white dress --
ReplyDeleteTrès beau voyage. Vas-tu traduire ce texte en français (of course) en grec et turc !!!! Profite bien de tes dernières semaines en France. Sophie et ses monstres
ReplyDeleteJe ne sais pas, c'est si long! beacoup de travail...haha
Delete