Greek Hospitality

(This one is a long one with many pictures ….)

So when my father insisted that I fly into Athens for economical reasons, I was a little hesitant at first. Greece is such a LARGE country with so many different areas that are must sees and with my tentative itinerary, I would only begin to scrape the surface. The flight there was like 200$ cheaper though, so I would just have to limit myself to Athens and the surrounding areas- the beautiful Greek Islands that EVERY Greek person I spoke with will have to wait until the next time :(

As many of you know, I studied in Valencia SPAIN (lol @ Nicole Robertson and Robby). I was part of the European student study abroad program, called Erasmus. It is normally just for European students, but since I was there for 7 months, I was able to slide on in. Besides party (a lot) and travel around, I met people from all over Europe! There were several students from Athens, and although I was not the closest of friends with them during my Erasmus, I decided to send them a message that I would be in their city and if they wanted to show me around or get a drink to let me know. They responded almost immediately and just like that, Ioanna was able and willing to host me!

Monday- July 20 2015

I returned from Delphi Monday around 1430 and had arranged with Ioanna to meet at the metro station Evangelismo. Since I had only my backpack, she was able to give me a ride on her motorcycle! I really felt like I was getting the true Greek experience since in Athens, the roads are so narrow and there are cars parked EVERYWHERE so motorcycles are really the best way to efficiently travel within the city. Don’t worry mother, I wore a helmet and held on tight. But for the record, Ioanna is a very conservative driver :)

When we arrived to her house, Ioanna gave me the back story. Her great grandfather moved to this location in the 1920s. When her grandmother married, he built her a home. When Ioanna’s mother married, another apartment was built the floor above. Most of Ioanna mother's siblings, except 1, have stayed in the area so much of her family lives on the same block! So when we arrived we stopped by the grandmother’s floor where her little cousin was also to say hello before going up to the floor where Ioanna lives with her mother. (Goes without saying, but in Greece it is very common to stay with you family until you marry, even more so now with the crisis).

Anyways, drop my stuff where they had set up a pull out bed for me with candies :)

And we go back to her grandmother’s for a late lunch! They fed me so wellllll and would not let me stand up or help! The real Greek salad is so good :D 

Then Ioanna helped me research on information of the Acropolis and how to get there on buses and metro and where and when exactly we would meet after her doctor’s appointment…. So much better than trying to figure it out on your own using websites :P 

So off I went, with some snacks that Ioanna insisted I take even though I was stuffed. 

It was like 1730 at this time but Athens is so hot. At least it’s dry heat, but the whole time while I was there I feel like I was in a constant state of perspiration. I decided to do many of the Acropolis sites, and do the museum the next day since everything closed at 20h.

Sun was going down, but since Parthenon is on the top of a hill, it was sill hottttt. Plus you are walking straight up hill so it’s really quite the workout.

The building itself is quite impressive…. I think I appreciated it more once I went to the museum on Tuesday (7/22/2015) and learned more about the history and everything it has been under. In short: Athens has been through some shit. After being the most advanced and important civilization for a couple hundred years, it was invaded, looted, bombed, conquered… The only reason many of the most valuable sculptures (like Nike of Athena or the Archaic Koure- both pictured below) survived to present day is because the Ancient Greeks buried them so they would not be removed from the sacred rock! 

(Asia tourists really do take the best pictures ^)

 This olive tree as importance for reasons that slip my mind...

The view from the Acropolis is of course is amazing:

The Greek government, with help from the European Union, is putting a lot of effort into restoring and preserving the Parthenon as well as many of the other ancient buildings and sculptures of Ancient Greece. It is so crazy to think that many of the things tourists casually collect pictures of (more on that later…) is THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD.

I bought new chucks for my trip... my other ones have been to too many music festivals. I am writing the names of cities I walk through with them :)

A smaller archealogical muesuem in the acropolis area^

The agora^

Fallen soldier.... lol ^

Once I had had enough of walking (literally walked over 10 miles that day and up 140 flights of stairs on my FitBit-- #killingit), it was time to meet up with Ioanna #2, Kostas, and Natasha- more Greeks that I had met during my Erasmus. I met them at a place called Couler Locale which is a rooftop bar in the center of Athens near Monastiraki metro station that seems to be very popular with young people (everyone seemed to be in their 20s).. I am 100% sure I was the only non-Greek here—this is a PRIME example of why it is SO WONDERFUL to have locals take you out! I would have never found this place on my own- nor would have been comfortable going solo!

From there, Kostas and his friend named Trifonas, decided we should go to a new bar for the next round of drinks- a hostal that was a block away- because their beer was much cheaper and the roof a couple stories higher! How Kostas learned of this place and just strolled in without showing a  key is beyond me hahaha but really the breathtaking to watch the sun set over Athens with beer and friends I hadn’t seen in years was the best. Plus I learned all the important (curse) words and slang from the two boys, so really what more can you ask for, malaka? 

Ioanna #1 (the one with whom I was staying) met us there and after a few beers her and Natasha wanted to take me for a walk around the center of restaurants and patio bars. 

We said goodbye to Natasha and rode Ioanna’s motorcycle back to her neighborhood to end the night with some souvlaki.

Tuesday- July 21 2015

Ioanna had schoolwork so I went to the center on my own to explore the center by foot and of course visit the Acropolis museum. She left me a very nice spread of breakfast foods and snacks to take :P

I love exploring cities (the center obviously where there are things to see) without any real plan. You see interesting people, stumble upon pretty views (like the one where I had my coffee).

I just make turns based on what looks interesting..

Athens, unfortunately, is covered in graffiti. Like even places that it doesn’t make sense, such as street signs or the sidewalk. There are some cases though, that is amazing though:

Plaka, of course, was amazing. Ioanna and Natasha told me I must walk in the area and showed me where it was the night before. AH. Beautiful.

Every corner was a postcard and at the top of the neighborhood the view of Athens paralleled the one from Acropolis. 

Once the heat become stroke temperature, I headed to the museum. I was able to use my student ID from GPC too so I got a discounted ticket :D

In front of the muesuem! It is SO INTERESTING- with all the things found in the acropolis area.

 Once I had had enough of that, and Ioanna told me there was food waiting for me at her house, I took a few wrong turns and metros and eventually made it back to Ioanna’s.

Again, fed so well with a stew like meal called briam, Greek salad, and a cheese bread you wouldn’t believe- I will be getting this recipe to try to recreate at home even though I know it will not be as good as one made by a Greek grandmother!

Ioanna had planned another eventful night so off we went on her motorcycle!

 we met with Natasha to go to Piraeus, where the ferries depart for the islands, to have a drink, seafood, and ouzo! (ouzo is their Greek liquor that is sort of licorice flavored and goes from clear to white when water is added)

July 22 2015

So I was originally planning to fly from Athens to Thessaloniki then train to Trikala but once I realized how big my backpack is and how strict RyanAir is on carry on luggage, I have decided to skip my flight and  go by train directly to Trikala. I will spend most of my day on a train, I arrive at like 19h, but I have had such a jam packed couple days it’s nice to be off my feet! Plus getting to the airport and then a train would have probably been more exhausting and expensive..

I was treated SO WELL by Ioanna and her family and it was so lovely and nice of Natasha, Ioanna, Kostas, and Kostas to spend time with me on my brief visit to Athens! I was so lucky to experience Greek hospitality first hand. I leave Athens with washed clothes, many snacks, leftover ouzo,, and plans to come back! Ioanna and Natasha, as well as the rest- you have a place to stay in Atlanta :D efharisto poli !! :*

Visiting the belly button of the world

Delphi. I completely underestimated you.. Like I have mentioned before, I did minimal research before my trip commenced but I did make a point to plan out the first week so I wouldn’t be scrambling and depending on faulty WIFI to figure out what I was doing. Here’s a litte mythology and history about Delphi/Delfi/Delfoi: The area was inhabite in like 1000BC and became religioiusly important in like 800BC. The ancient Greeks believed that the oracle of Apollo resided there and that it was the center of the world becase Zeus released two eagles, one east and one west, and they met at Delphi after going around the world. This is why the site is referred to as omphalos (belly button). Sculptures, statues, and pottery work have been found at this site representing styles from before the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods.

Enough of history. I didn’t even know most of those things (and in fact had to do some research for this post) before decided to go, but if you are in Athens, all of the tourist books and travel blogs say you have to visit.

So fine. I went. I had read somewhere that it was worth spending the night instead of doing it as a day trip to avoid all of the tour buses and six hours in a bus. I am so grateful I decided to do this, I don’t think I would have appreciated the site and town as much as if I had just gone to see the ruins and come back.

I took the 1030AM bus after a adventure to arrive to the bus station… Thank you guy that runs the hostel for useless information. Luckily I gave myself like 2 hours to get to the bus station. I discovered that the metro in Athens is a lot less confusing and on timely compared to the buses :)

 Delphi is about a three hour bus ride from Athens. Most of what you drive through looks like this. I never realized how dry Greece is (in this area). 

At about hour 2 of 3, we are going up the mountains and it is breathtaking. Three hours later, we turn a bend and there are the ruins! There are so many cars and buses so I totally realize exactly what all those travel threads were saying. A few more minutes pass and we have arrived to the town! It is beautiful with clay roof tiles, narrow streets, and a few you wouldn’t believe. I stayed at Athina Hotel and was so fortunate to have a room to myself facing the moutains and the Gulf of Corinth.

to my left

to my right

It’s about 2PM at this point and I realize I am starving, haven’t eaten anything since like 8AM… I was planning on going to a store and buying some bread but pass by this restaurant that has a menu option for 9 euros. NINE EUROS FOR A THREE COURSE MEAL. Um yeahhh. So I feasted. I feasted my body on delicious Greek food and feasted me eyes on an amazing view.

Musaca- basically a delicious Greek lasagna 

Greek yogurt and honey for dessert- thank you Tomas for the recommendation.

I was so stuffed after my meal, and I wasn’t even able to finish :( But it was a great first real meal in Greece!

Now it’s 330pm and I am determined to take the bus up to a town we passed that was 7km away. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the Greek gods did not want me to leave their sacred place. I bought my ticket and the bus was supposed to come at 4… It didn’t roll around the corner until 430PM and they said I would have to wait until the next bus to go to Arachova :( [Side note: today July 20th  I again tried to go but the bus schedule in my hotel said the bus left at 830AM. I got there at 825AM… and waited until 9AM.. Apparently the bus left at 820AM and for the first time probable in Greek history it left on time -_- You win this time, Apollo.]

Okay, change of plans, I see the archaeological museum and site of Delphi now! The museum was basicallly empty. And it was so cool to see artwork that I had studied in AP Art History in high school. Like these guys, the Kouri twins:

These were some other things I liked:

This last one is especially treasured because of how well it is preserved. There were a lot these sort of bronze statues but once Delphi fell, the area was looted, much of the artwork was sold to cover military expenses, and many many of the statues and sculptures were broken down/melted for things considered more crucial. This one survived all that, as well as much of the artwork in the museum, because it was buried in a earthquake. 

I find the eyes to be particularly creepy/enthralling.

Off to the site. There was a perfect amount of people. Enough so that if I wanted to have a picture taken of me, I only had to wait a few minutes for someone to pass by, but few enough that it looks like I had the place to myself.

I literally sat at this post for an hour admiring the view. 

And then it got crazy windy and I was begging pegged with stones ...

Around 7 I head back and walk around the town a bit.

 With a bottle of wine and some fresh fruit, I admired the sunset from my balcony. It was perfect.

Fighting jet lag

It's really kind of amazing that even when you are on a bus you see this enormous ancient structures among the modern buildings.

Even though my body was begging me for rest, I decided to wash my face, change in to shorts and sandals, and walk around just to explore. It was about 5pm when I finallly organized myself and walked out the door. I was originally going to try to visit Acropolis but after asking a lady at the bus stop how to get there, she told me it was wayyyy too far, like an hour walking. She pointed me in the right direction, and off I was too see the stadium that was supposedly a 20 minute walk. (I ended up walking like three hours and at least one of them was me just being lost so in hindsight I could/should have just gone...

I don't think I have ever been this inept directionally in a city, and this is not the first time I have traveled to a city with a different alphabet! Most of the street signs are in Greek and then in the latin (?) alphabet. The streets of Athens are like spaghetti and are intersected my millions of other streets and people seem to park anywhere remotely close to the sidewalk. Plus, the roads are STEEP! Like I was leaning forward to walk up some of these. Felt like I was on a stair-master.....

I finally did find the stadium, but of course the wrong side.... There seemed to be some kind of trail that surrounded the stadium, a lot of people were running and walking around it SO I figured if I just followed the walls of the stadium I would get to the front of it, right? WRONG. I ended up walking down a super steep staircase and there was a locked fence.... Okay back up these stairs...

Hmmmm maybe if I go around on this side trail I will find an exit. Again, WRONG. I did get to an opening where I could see Acropolis and some of the city but AGAIN the gate was locked.... So close yet so far. Okay let's turn around and try this trail... Nope this is a circular running path and I now have seen these same two guys pass me like 4 times and i swear they are laughing as I huff and puff up these ridiculously steep hills.

I finally realize that this is a park with one entrance, so basically I walked 45 minutes up and down hills and ended up where I started.... Lolz.

Finally found the correct way and the front of the stadium! 

From there I followed signs for the center with hopes to find the plaza that the bus had left me at. I ended up spotting Olympian right as the sun was setting and it was truly breath taking. I only had 15 minutes to admire since the site was closing but just LOOK at these.

I continued on and made it to the Greek Parliament kind of on accident and there were several people standing around so I figured it was a tour group. I approached because I love mooching tours. People were actually standing around for the changing of guards so I walked up right at the perfect time. 

Across the parliament building was the square I had been looking for- success! I love squares- they really come to life in the late afternoon/early evening. 

As I was people watching and trying to figure out my next move, this guy comes with a speaker system and starts dancing with a few other people and then this other guy that seemed completely irrelevant with a soccer ball was juggling t the beat of the music. I was CONVINCED that I was about to witness a flash mob because like 5 other people joined in. I was slightly disappointed when they announced themselves as street performers and of course put out the hats.

It was actually really cool though because they started with traditional Greek dancing! And from there went on to really intense break dancing with flips and hand stands and all kinds of other things.

By now its like 845 and I am just now realizing I hadn't eaten anything for over 12 hours so I should probably do something about that. (at least if I keep this up, I won't come back fat like I did the last time I was in Europe 😛) I did NOT get lost on the way back to the hostel amazingly, found a little gyro corner shop, and continued with my #diningallaroundtheworld ! I don't think I will ever have a 24 hour period where I eat "typical" food from 3 different cities/countries!

Took the coldest shower of mah lyf because the hostel charged a euro for hot water, but as my first shower in 36 hours, it was amazinggggg.

People at hostels can be the WORST though. I was out by like 10pm and then some other people (I was sharing a 6 bed) came in at midnight and were the loudest thing ever. It sounded like they were all wearing steel toed boots and were just knocking things over and rustling all in sight. Chances are they were drunk (this morning I saw they were all in normal clothes and had grimey ass feet- gross). I was seconds away of telling them to shut the fuck up but I figured if they were already so inconsiderate, me saying anything wouldn't make a difference. I was quiet as a mouse when I got up this morning at 7am to make my trip to Delphi anyways because I am a respectable backpacker,  just FYI :)

26 hours later and I made it!

KWhat an exhausting trip! Largely due to the fact that I got like no sleep... and have continued to not sleep. 

Leaving home was not as sad as I had expected. I assume it's because I woke up later than intended and before my father took me to MARTA (train) I spent several minutes taking failed pictures with my sister and pups...

Also my sister literally LOVES taking pictures. She yells "SELFIE!" and then starts posing.

Walt wanted to be in the pictures as well..

So I have taken three flights and traveled for like 24 hours straight. I booked through student universe which has great deals but then I guess not the most efficient connections but I actually REALLY enjoyed my trip. Minus the whole exhaustion thing but it comes with the territory. 

ATLANTA

The airport was kind of a mad house, but I got through security with plenty of time and was boarding at the T terminal so I didn't have to traverse the whole Atlanta Airport which was a nice change. That was about the only positive thing about my flight to Chicago though. I made the horrible mistake to be a kind person and switch with spots with this guy that wanted to sit with his wife.... I didn't realize that his seat was the last row so I had a very erect seat which made for a very uncomfortable neck cramping nap.

CHICAGO

So it makes me sad that a lot of my friends have moved away from Atlanta, but then when you do have multi-hour layovers, chances are you will have friends in that city! And if it's a great friend she will come take the train to meet you at the airport then take a cab with you to fulfuill your craving for deep dish pizza and if you are reeeeelly lucky she may even bring you snacks and mini wine bottles :D 🍷🍷🍷🍷

So much cheesy goodness 😍😍 #diningallaroundtheworld

So thank you Stephanie for making the effort to see me! It was the perfect way to spend my 4 hour layover ☺️ Even though the waitress at Giorgiano's hated us.

So I flew American Airlines ATL-CHI and then CHI-MAD I flew Iberia which is the Delta of Spain. I was so lucky because I got a window seat ANDDDD the guy that was originally sitting next to me moved seats which means I got a whole row to myself for the 8 hour flight. I didn't sleep much but the complementary wine and a couple movies made for a lovely evening.

Side note: Everyone should watch The Woman in Gold. It was a GREAT movie. I don't know if it was the wine or the subject matter but I was bawling my eyes... I did also cry during the new Cinderella movie which makes me think the wine definitely had an effect...

MADRID

Spain was so happy to see me again I got a rainbow 😜

I literally woke up with a headache which is embarrassing. Le sigh what I would do for my nonhangover days..😔

I only had two hours in Madrid so I wasn't able to leave the airport but I bee lined to one of the cafes to indulge in some Spanish cuisine. Coffee, Spanish tortilla sandwich, and freshly squeezed orange juice plus people watching while reminiscing on the months I lived in here made for an excellent breakfast. It was so great to hear the Spanish accent and expressions again.

#diningallaroundtheworld

A few things that my short time in Madrid reminded me of:

1. boys love dem jean shorts. Tight and mid thigh just like I remember but it appears that the latest fashion is with a little cuff at the bottom. 

2. fedoras are all the rage

3. the coffee is delicious and tiny and strongggg. so it's probably for  the best that they aren't American size.

4. Children do their own thing and parents do very little to discipline/control. Watched an 11 year old flicking off the camera in a family picture being taken by who I assume was the grandmother.

Such a pretty airport. 

Also, in true Spanish fashion, our flight boarded 40 minutes late. At least they don't waste any time sitting at the gate with everyone on the plane.

ATHENS

Of course I had an aisles seat, and since it was a trip within Europe, the plane was significantly smaller and I could not move my seat and when I finally did fall asleep the lady in the middle aisle had to go to the bathroom 😑

Like three and half hours later, WE MADE IT! It was like 220pm when I got there? There was a one hour time differene from Madrid.

They have smoking boxes in the airport. Makes them look like they are in time out.

WHAT A RELIEF when my bag came. I was worried with all the connnecting flights that it would get stukc somewhere.. and as a backpacker where ALL of my shit was in there, literally would have been the worst.

It took me few tries to find the bus area for bus x95 and of course because I have never been here I was unaware you had to buy your ticket before getting on. Luckily the bus driver was very helpful (I am sure I am not the first lost backpacker he's helped) and gave me one on line. He drove like crazy man but I ended up standing next to him the whole way there to chat about what should be done and of course some basica Greek phrases.

The bus dropped me off in Syntagma Square and I guess I must have looked very lost again beccause this old man started talking to me. Supposedly he worked as a Greek professor but his missing teeth made it seem unlikey... regardless he was very nice and not sketchy and told me about Lycabettus Hill where I can go and see all of Athens. That's on my list now. I imagine at sunset it would be beautiful!

From there, another bus, 2, was to take me close to the hostel I was staying at: Pagrati Youth Hostel. One of the things I really like about traveling by myself is that I can act like a fool and I have no one to embarrass. And by fool, I mean try to use the 4 Greek words I learned and ask for directions from everyone. I knew I was supposed to get off at Filalou, but there was no map of the stations on the bus and they weren't annoucing them either, not that I would have understood anyways. I asked this girl about my age and it turns out she lived in the area that my hostal was in and volunteered to basically walk me to my hostal. Thank you Marietta! Even though I still somehow got lost for another 15 minutes and asked probably another 4 people until I finally just put it in my phone hahah I think I walked passed it several times -_- But whatever, I eventually did find it!

 More details on what I did my first day will be posted later. Except I did eat a gyro for dinner #diningallaroundtheworld 😁

How did I get here??

This was written at about 11am in Atlanta ...

Holy shit I can not believe I am beginning my trip! I have been so ridiculously busy the last 7 weeks I have barely had any time to think about it. Whenever anyone asked me about it, I could only answer truthfully: I have almost no idea what I am doing.

A little preamble: so as most know, I was originally planning on medical school. After a grueling two years taking the MCAT (TWICE), chasing professors down for rec letters, sooo many essays, and the eternal waiting period between submitting it all and waiting.... because, by the way, I am still waiting (waitlisted for Medical College of Georgia)... I decided it was time to mobilize plan B! I decided on nursing for a multitude of reasons I won't get into here, but of course that meant I had to take millions of prerequisites before I could even apply. In May when I was signing up for fall classes, I realized I had a WHOLE MONTH of break after summer finals (which I finished yesterday btw). A MONTH! I texted my boyfriend immediately and was like : yeah I need to take advantage of this and stop waiting on medical school. I also decided I was just going to miss the first week of class in the fall... so that's a total of 5 weeks! I had originally planned on being accepted to medical school in like March or April - LOL so naive- and then booked my flight that same day and venture for a few months... But life is never what you plan so when you somehow squeeze 5 weeks of travel, you take it.

Another little side note: why was I SO unprepared? Night school. And for the first month I was still working full time at the CDC. I left my house at 830AM and did not come home until 1130 Monday - Thursday. I took 2 lab sciences and because I am a brat I thought I was going to breeeeeze through. Yeah I was in lab 4 times a week but I never imagined that we would stay the full time (830-11) every time NOR did I think we would be doing 3 or 4 labs each class! And it's not that the material was hard, it was just hard to keep up! With tests every week and quizzes every class, I barely had time for my dogs and we all know how much I love those two 🐶🐶 

If I could do it again, I probably would have give myself a day to organize myself. Instead, in true Camila fashion, after my final yesterday I went to an extended dinner with Robby (boyfriend) and ran some errands then stayed up until 4am getting it all together.

So what is my plan? 

Honestly, I only have through next Thursday planned. The rest is loose.

I start in Athens Greece and basically work my way northeast to Bulgaria then head west to Montenegro passing through Serbia and go up the coast of Croatia travel through Austria try my very best to make it to Bratislava (Slovakia) then spend some time in Poland before going to Lithuania to stay with Justina (study abroad friend) and then flying down to Istanbul to meet Robby. 

It's a lot for 4 weeks which is why some of the places I mentioned will just be looking out the window of a train/bus or maybe stopping for lunch. You think 4 weeks is a long time until you start planning.

I am SO excited to be returning to Europe and even more excited that it is for an extended backpacking trip. I have never been to most of the countries I will be visiting this time around so I can only imagine the adventures I will have and people I will meet. I will keep this blog as updated as I can (WIFI permitting) so all my friends and family know what I am getting into.

ADVENTURE IS OUT HERE