Opa!

Sing in me, Muse,
And through me, tell the story...

This is the long-awaited post on my trip to Greece that has been in high demand for quite some time. By high demand, I mean that my dad has been bugging me to write about it for a while, so here you go, Dad. Happy Father's Day! Considering he funded the trip on the sole condition that I take plenty of pictures of the Parthenon while there, it's really the least I can do.

Greece was one of my favorite places I visited during my time in Europe. The history there is amazing, the people are warm and outgoing, the food is delicious, and the weather is great. Sounds a lot like Italy, actually. Italians and Greeks have a lot in common, in fact, from history to temperament to diet to a love of life, and often consider themselves one people; thus the phrase, "una faccia, una razza," meaning "one face, one race."

First stop after getting off the airplane (and after taking the metro to the city center): gyros. This place was a-mazing.In the two days we spent in Athens, we managed to eat at this place three times. You might scoff and say that we should have expanded our horizons, but these gyros were some of the best food I've ever eaten, and if anything, I would have liked to have eaten there four times. Also, the service was great. The woman's English was very limited, but she let us know that she approved of us and our government by saying, "Obama good" with a huge grin. Jimmy responded, "gyros good."
Famous market in the middle of Athens.
Oh, you know. Just some ruins from thousands of years ago.
On the hike to the acropolis we stopped off at a restaurant for some refreshments. Athens is hot.
Berkeley, you're not really that cool. This is a real Greek theater. (Just kidding, Dad. Berkeley's awesome! Happy Father's Day).
The Propylaea - gateway to the acropolis.

The Parthenon. This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It's just crazy to see something so iconic after having seen pictures of it for so long. It's the same feeling as seeing the Coliseum or the Eiffel Tour, but times ten.

I spy ruins amidst a bustling metropolis.


From the National Archeological Museum in Athens. Another great thing about Greece: it's very easy to travel on a budget. Part of that, of course, is due to the current economic crisis (which really blew up during my time in Europe), and that's sad. The other part is that big sites like the Parthenon and national museums offer discounted rates to students, with different rates for EU and foreign students. Luckily for me, I brought my Unibo ID card and got in free to all the big sites. Pretty cool.

Leaving Athens. This does not capture the frantic rush to the port that we experienced due to transportation strikes. We were lucky to get a friendly taxi driver who was willing to cram in a few extra passengers.
Santorini! Pension Stella. If you ever go to Santorini, I cannot recommend this place enough. The owners are incredibly sweet and take great care of their guests. We arrived much later than expected (around 1AM), and Stella happily came to pick us up at the port. She also served us breakfast in the morning and offered us rides around the island. AND we only paid 12 euro a night. A-mazing.
It's really popular to rent ATV's on the Greek islands, but I have to admit that I was pretty afraid. I had planned to just share one with Jimmy, but luckily he convinced me to get my own because it was a highlight of the trip. It also allowed us to laugh at ATV's with two people that struggled to climb up hills under the extra weight.

Driving around on ATVs allowed us to see all of the island and enjoy views like this one.
It's not just the gyro shop lady who likes Obama. Turns out he's pretty popular in all of Greece.
We continued our ATV joy ride out to this view point.


After cruising along the open roads of Santorini, we went to Oia to have dinner and watch the sunset.



As you can see, watching the sunset in Oia isn't exactly an original idea.

After a quick two days in Santorini, we headed off to Mykonos.

In Santorini, everyone goes to Oia for the sunset views. In Mykonos, it's the windmills.
Maybe I wrote less than usual this time, but the amount of writing definitely does not reflect how much I loved this place. The ancient ruins. The feta-filled pastries. The gorgeous sunsets. The gyros. The lively people. I think I just have a love for the whole Mediterranean. Too bad, I had to return to the lousy States, but as the Greeks say, τὸ πεπρωμένον φυγεῖν ἀδύνατον, "It's impossible to escape from what is destined."*

*Kidding. I was just trying to think of a clever way to end this. I actually love America. Woo! It's almost 4th of July! Still though, I would happily go back to Greece any day.