Week Numero Uno!

Ciao, ducklings! Due to popular demand I have decided to keep a travel blog cataloguing my spiffy adventures here in the isles of Greece. We’ll see how faithful I actually am about sticking to it…but I will definitely make a solid attempt.

So…the good stuff! It’s nearing the end of my first week in Greece, and it definitely has been a major shift from snowy little P-town. My circadian rhythm has me doing cartwheels at 3 am and longing for a solid 6 hour nap at noon. (We’re 7 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time). But the 65 degree weather, sunshine, and SPECTACULAR scenery makes the biological havoc well worth it. Oh yeah, and the food. Let me tell you, you have just never tasted real yogurt my friend. Or honey. Or citrus fruit. It truly is the food of the gods here.

Anyway, I digress. The point is, Greece is truly mah-velous. My journey over was a bit nutty; plenty of airport drama. Ever run through London Heathrow at full tilt knowing your plane is about to leave? But I do love British airways…NorthWest could take a page out of their book. I got fed all the time (I might as well fess up to the fact that I’m totally food motivated) and offered tea every ½ hour by adorable English stewardesses…too cute. I was supposed to sleep the whole way but that wasn’t happening with my personal tv stocked with an arsenal of unreleased films as well as a collection of classics. I got my Bond fix while crossing the Atlantic, he he!

Athens was crazy. In both good and bad ways. The bus ride to downtown and the subsequent urban navigation to find my hostel was nerve-wracking to say the least, but it saved me a 75 dollar taxi charge. The city itself is….hmmm….a weird mix of litter, designer fashion shops, graffiti, olive trees, modern highrises, the occasional random ancient ruin, beautiful winding streets in the old town, old orthodox churches….very cool. On the first day after I checked in there was no one from my group around so I decided to explore on my own. Which rocked, until it started getting dark and I realized I was hopelessly lost. Yeah. Fortunately, my obvious pathetic blonde American-ness elicited the help of this random Egyptian guy who spoke some form of basic English. I half suspected as he led me for a solid 45 minutes through unfamiliar streets that he wanted to sell me into a human trafficking ring but my parent-infused suspicions proved unfounded; he brought me right back to my hostel. (I’ve found people here are very nice in general). Later I went to the Acropolis which was beyond amazing, and some other excellent touristy sites. Super!

After two days in Athens, I came to Paros via a ginormous ferryboat. It’s one heck of a sight to see the island approach, all white marble and whitewashed homes and white sand (yeah, they like their white here!) contrasted against the very blue Mediterranean. Breathtaking. Right now, Paros is pretty quiet. Tourist season doesn’t start for another couple months and the real high season (i.e. the months of insane drunken dancing tourist mass shenanigans) happens after we leave. It’s so beautiful here, I can’t believe it’s really happening…my home until June. I’ll talk more about Paros later…this post is getting très long. A pet peeve. A pet peeve, mind you, that I may be guilty of a lot in the near future.

To sum up my first impressions of Greece:
1. Fabulous. Just fabulous.
2. I decided I am going to file a formal complaint against Michigan winters. I just love me my sunshine and warmth.
3. I’m going to miss American plumbing, I’ll be honest.
4. Milo Ventimiglia is NOT the average male Greek look. Sadly. Of course, my exposure thus far is limited, so this may be revised.
5. I may need to dye my hair black to avoid unwanted staring
6. Greek food = bliss
7. Greek pop music = hilarious. As is the way Greek guys blare their car radios with such obvious pride.
8. The Greek alphabet = wacky symbols font times 10.
9. I'm in love with the ocean. The smell, the sight, the sound, the whole kit-n-kaboodle.
10. This is going to be a true adventure. :-)