personally, i find greece/greek language amazing because so many of it are still being practiced.
i've grown to recognize greek alphabets from all the science units i did in uni - gamma rays, psi and phi protein confirmations, delta for differentiation, chi to calculate some microbiology stuff, kappa light chain in an antibody and the usual suspects, alpha beta, theta, rho, pi, lambda...
even words like achilles heel; did you know that achilles was a greek hero who was all mighty and strong except for his heel? hence the meaning of the phrase! :D
and ancient greek mythology, ohmygod i spent two hour reading about titans and olympians, athena, zeus, perseus and the whole gang. really cool stuff.
AND THE FOOD. oh my word.
i've never liked creamy, cheesy, milky kind of food; i am however, a big fan of the mediterranean diet so lots of olive oil, olives, herbs and grilled meat.
simple, light and healthy and doesn't induce food comatose.
not surprisingly, greece was the country that i was most excited for and it was also why juliana and i changed our minds about which tour to go with.
we were at the agent's office ready to put down a deposit for a the tour we decided on previously which doesn't cover greece and spain (jul's pick) but after mulling it over again, we just couldn't pass up the chance to see our favourite cities.
from a 25 day tour, we decided to go big or go home with a 37 day one which is the longest concept tour (hotels + hostels).
no regrets because athens and barcelona are definitely worth seeing :)
from rome, we took an overnight ferry to athens and it was one of the rare times our passports got checked!
but even then, passport control was literally holding it up at the photo page while walking pass the metal detector -__-" not very fussy about terrorism these greeks.
anyway, we initially got seats instead of cabins but hannah flashed her tits a little and agreed to go on a date with the guy in charge and in that, we all got upgraded to bunk beds. haha.
gotta use whatcha got to get whatcha want ;) best tour manager ever.
diego!
yassou athens!
crossing the adriatic ocean.
chronic case of boat hair.
we didn't do much on the cruise. bridget, lisa, diluz, nuno, hannah and i (plus some others i don't remember) just sat on the deck talking, laughing and drank beer until dinner time.
the drinking doesn't stop even though we were on sea ;) tsktsk.
when we got to land the next morning, we got back on the bus, drove around town and went to see the acropolis of athens, one of my favourite tours of the entire trip.
that is saying a lot because we had a looooooooot of those in 37 days.
the acropolis of athens is a unesco world heritage site that houses the remains of several ancient buildings and the most famous is undoubtedly the parthenon.
our tour guide was pretty eccentric and fittingly, very philosophical when he spoke and extremely proud and passionate about his country.
that was the only tour so captivating that i found myself listening to every word he said the entire time, it was amazing and very eye opening.
he didn't just ramble on and on about the history about the acropolis, he emphasized that knowledge is power and knowledge was what led to the amazing architecture and beauty of the whole city.
getting up was a bit of a hike uphill and because some parts of the ground was made from marble, it was really slippery and it took intense concentration to not lose balance and plunge to my death.
that, and clutching ben's arm while i wobble my way down.
athens, in general is primarily of mountaineous terrains for it was built on hills.
even getting around town, there were a lot of stairs and uphill hikes.
we didn't get to spend a whole heap of time there which was a pity.
i spent a fair bit just looking at the city skyline from different spots, haha.
white buildings are distinct of greece.
so gorgeous.
see, hiking wtf.
the parthenon undergoing reconstruction when we were there so some areas were cordoned off.
it used to be a temple to dedicated to the goddess athena and until today, is regarded as a symbol of ancient greece and democracy.
the erechtheion, a temple dedicated to greek hero erichthonius.
the porch of caryatids on the north side of the erechtheion.
a vomit load of scenery photos:
i felt tiny just looking out at the cityscape.
with the usual suspects.
after the tour, we got ice slushies and headed back to the hotel to wash up for a plaka dinner.
the hotel was alright but the elevators are the ancient swing door kind and they're so small it's ridiculous.
there were 50 of us and our rooms were all on the 5th floor onwards and using the lift to get up was out of the question because it would take 2 hours if we all did that.
we established a system where by one person would take the lift with 4 other suitcases because that was all that could fit -__-"
the rest would just take the stairs up and as murphy's law would have it, one floor = 3 flights of stairs.
the only photo i have of dinner. haha.
we had bread as usual, grilled haloumi (yuck), greek salad, souvlaki, tzatziki and icecream :D so yummers zomg.
and a traditional dance demo that i got roped into -________-"
when the guy tapped me on the shoulder to ask me dance, i squeaked out loud and turned away hoping he'll pick someone else but noooo he HAD to drag me out.
the restaurant was tiny as it is and the paths are so narrow, that dancing really just meant holding hands and throwing it up when required and going around in circles.
t'was fun, i got to hold hands with a cute guy :D haha.
after dinner, we went back to the hotel and braced ourselves for the earliest morning call EVER at 5am, meaning we had to get up at about 4ish -__-"
next up, one of the two cities that i've had the best time of my life.
oh mykonos, i cannot wait to tell stories about you.
xx
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