So blog, audience: It's been a while. Way too long. My apologies. Going to put my head down and power through some posts here, because I have been doing quite a bit and I have a lot of photos to share.
Thus begins our third and final full day in Athens. After seeing a lot of what the city has to offer, someone suggests we visit one of the islands of Greece. Since Athens is just a short train ride away from the nearest port, we decide to go for it. Above is a photo of us on board of the ferry. Well actually, it's a photo from the ferry and the town (Pireas).
Huge port, as you can see. Tons of different lines offering ferries. There are many, many islands you can visit.
Our ferry is pretty huge. We decide to ride on the top. At first, it seems like a great idea, however once we get going and the wind gets in your face, it became a bit more difficult. Still worth it, though.
Cool Vodafone ship in the port. Vodafone is like the at&t/verizon of Spain.
Here we are leaving the harbor. We decided to go to the island of Aegina, about an hour and ten minutes away. It is one of, if not the largest island of Greece. We originally planned to go to the island of Idra, however the ferry tickets would have been over 50euros each, so we found this alternative. People say that every island of Greece is different and unique; if I ever go back to Greece, I'm going to make a point of checking out the islands again, and trying to see what differentiates all of the islands.
A huge liner next to a small express ferry. The small ferries cut your time in half, but charge double. We weren't really in a rush, but it would have been cool to take one of these boats. They have hydra-foils! (Will be more visible in a photo later)
As you can probably tell, it was beautiful - the water was a crystal clear blue, the sea smelled fresh and almost clean. The temperature was nearly perfect for a day like this...in February no less.
Arriving at Aegina. While the biggest island, you could take a bus around it in about an hour or so.
Just after getting off the boat, we're tossed into this cozy harbor. Mostly tiny little boats, most for fishing.
Look how clean! Seriously! Water that you would actually want to swim in! I liked this place already.
This is essentially what 90% of the town looked like. Med sea on the right, lines and lines of restaurants and little stores along the left side, all the way up and down the coast. Everyone was incredibly nice as well.
I like the colors in this photo.
The people ahead of us here aren't actually in my group, however they ended up walking with us quite a ways up the coast. Our original plan was to walk/take a bus to a little town in Aegina where apparently the restaurants were known for their fresh fish. We walked for quite a while to get there, waiting for a bus to pass us by so we could flag it down.
As we walk, we spotted a sailing school.
We ended up getting about 20 minutes of a walk down the coast without seeing one bus. We eventually came to a bus stop, ended up waiting there for another 20 minutes, and eventually gave up. We never saw a bus come by. Maybe it was another strike? This remains unsolved.
So we begin to trek back to where we got off the ferry. When we get back, we decide to eat at one of the many restaurants. Chet got a seafood platter that included prauns, sardines, and octopus. I tried a part of the octopus. Pretty chewy; definitely weird chewing the tentacle part. Realistically, it tasted like chicken.
About half way through our meal, guess what drives by? Not one, but two buses heading north along the coast. Terrible timing, but the food was pretty damn good, so no harm done. We finish up, pay, and go in search of more to do. Then we spot an ice cream shop...
A picture is worth a thousand words. This one is worth a thousand words and the now strawberry-flavored taste you have in your mouth. Sorry.
(Not really)
I guess we could have taken one of these in place of the bus. Not super efficient, though.
After ice cream, we continue walking down the coast in the opposite direction. We come across an empty beach with a lot of stones and some fishermen in the distance. We simply take in the view while skipping stones.
My friend Chet, skipping rocks. Guy is a master with the flat stone.
Here's the hydrofoils in action I mentioned. Pretty neat.
Our ferry, approaching in the distance.
Before heading back, we walked even further down to another little opening along the coast, and caught this view.
There's not much in this world like watching the sunset over the Mediterranean in Greece. I'll let the next photos tell the story.
Almost in an instant, it was gone.
Our ferry, arriving.
Think they caught something?
The view, looking back towards Aegina, from our return trip on the Ferry. Amazing to see the horizon lit up like this.
That dark silhouette is my friend Kaydee. She was brave enough to join Chet and I up top on the ride back, which quite frankly, was pretty damn chilly. But relaxing none-the-less.
Our hostel, the last night we were there. Cheap, but clean. Got the job done.
Alas, our trip to Greece has come to a conclusion. We arrive back at the Amsterdam airport to get our connecting flight back to Madrid. This wine/spirits bar in the airport was quite cool, so I had to snap a shot of it.
I know there's quite a few chocolate lovers out there that read this, so this one is for you. A bar in the airport dedicated to (y)our favorite ingredient. Yum.
Lots more to come, and this time you probably won't have to wait one month for the next update. Stay tuned!
