Spring Break in Greece

Greece was completely different than what I was expecting. Definitely not bad, just different. The trip involved a lot more travel time than I realized but we got to see so much! Looking back I'm wondering if I really needed all those pairs of shoes and outfits that I brought because my suitcase gave me a workout during all the traveling. 

We started by taking a 5 hour bus ride to Ancona where we boarded a ANEK ferry for 14 hours. We originally had airplane seating but after seeing the seating... 

We decided to upgrade into a tiny cabin with 2 bunk beds and a private bathroom. It was well worth it!

Megan, Emily, and I on the cruise as the sun was setting. There wasn't much to do on the ferry. There was a restaurant, a self-serve restaurant, a lounge area, a discoteca, a small store, and a small convenience store. Luckily we were on the ferry during the night so we spent the majority of the time asleep. In the morning we transferred to another 2 hour ferry that took us to Corfu and had a short ride to the Pink Palace.

No joke, it is really a pink palace! It was quite the interesting place to say the least. The Pink Palace has the typical college spring break atmosphere and is a short walk from the beach making it the perfect first stop!

A geranium flower along the walk down to the beach.

Mom- look at the size of this geranium plant! Why can't we get ours to grow this big?!

The island had quite the variety of trees. They had evergreens, deciduous trees, lemon trees, orange trees, palm trees, and cactus. I don't know how so many types of trees live in the same climate.

The island itself was like no place I have ever been. It had the tropical feeling of a place like Key West, it had the mountains of a place like Gatlinburg, and then it had the European feel of a place like Florence. To add to the mix (something that I didn't connect before hand) Greece uses the Greek alphabet. I know the letters from being in a sorority but it was so strange to see all the words in the Greek alphabet.

The first day in Corfu was spent lounging on the beach and soaking in some sun. Corfu is on the west side of Greece so this is the Ionian Sea. Interesting fact: the country of Greece is smaller than the state of Alabama. haha

One of my favorite things about Greece was the food. Dinner was provided at the Pink Palace every night. There was always soup, salad, bread, and an entree. The entrees were beef stroganoff, chicken and potatoes, and pork and rice. Breakfasts were also included which consisted of eggs, ham, cheese, bread, and Greek yogurt with cereal (especially delicious when topped with honey).

One of the nights there was a toga party. Everyone gets in their togas before dinner and then later during the evening there is Greek dancing, plate smashing, and ouzo shots. I had a plate smashed on my head! Surprisingly, less painful than expected.

The girls and I in our pink togas. They didn't give us any safety pins so we had to get creative...

The next day we went into the main Corfu town. We stopped at an overlook on the way into town.

It overlooks a monastery and makes for a lovely picture!

Shops in the town

A church in the town. It was interesting to see Greek churches after seeing all of the Gothic and Renaissance churches around Italy.

The old castle of Corfu

A cute little garden area in front of the castle.

That night after dinner we all packed up and headed out for Athens around 10pm. We had a 2 hour ferry ride and then an 8 hour bus ride so we arrived around 8am. I was able to get some sleep in during the bus ride so the traveling wasn't too bad.

We had a couple hours to rest up and get ready for a walking tour of Athens. We started the walking tour at the Greek Parliament. Outside of the Greek Parliament is the tomb of the unknown solider with guards.

The guards had quite the outfits! They have pom poms on their shoes that originally were used to hide knives. A requirement of the job is to be at least 6 feet tall... one job that I will never have. Sigh!

The Olympic Stadium... the first Stadium made completely of marble.

The Temple of the Olympian Zeus. This dates back to the 6th century BC and originally was composed of 104 columns. The Acropolis can be seen from the Temple of the Olympian Zeus.

The Acropolis (meaning Highest City) in Athens is the most famous example of an acropolis and is usually refered to as 'The' Acropolis. It raises above the entire city and is in the center of the city so it gives a great view of the Athens.

 Athens is the 4th largest city in the European Union which was obvious from the top of the Acropolis.

The Erechtheum.

The big kahuna! The Parthenon! In 5th grade I constructed this out of marshmallows, peanut butter, and pretzel rods so it was amazing to actually get to see it in person. Looking back I think I probably should have eaten a few more marshmallows off the roof area :)

The flag of Greece. It was sooo windy at the top of the Acropolis!

That night we went out to dinner with the big group we traveled with.

For 15 euro we got unlimited wine and water, a variety of appetizers (Greek salad, Greek meatballs, calamari, and this AMAZING fried cheese), an entree (I had a chicken kabob with fries and rice), and fruit for dessert. While on the food topic I have to give a shout out to the 2 euro gyros. SOOO good! Sometimes they put french fries in the gyros. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! And of course I had baklava which is a flaky pastry that is cut into pie pieces and has layers of honey and nuts.

Athens was not at all what I was expecting. I guess I though Greece only had small cities along the water with beautiful blue and white buildings so I was surprised to see such a huge urban area. The Greek economy crashed a year or so ago so things were very inexpensive. The city was rather dirty and there were a lot of beggars. There were also shops that sold fake goods (Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc.) which is strictly banded by the Italian government so it was weird to see them being so casually displayed all around town.

This is the view from our hotel. Our hotel wasn't in the best part of town. I saw someone get arrested both nights. Yikes! The area was better during the day thankfully.

The hotel had an interesting conteniental breakfast. They had greek yogurt and honey, cereal, bread, cheese, bologna, corn, olives, hard boiled eggs, and pound cake. I'm not sure why there was corn and olives but there was enough selection to get a full stomach anyways.

The journey home consisted of a 4 hour drive to a port in Patras. During the drive we stopped at a rest stop and saw the Corinth canal.

I don't think pictures do justice to how far down the canal goes. We then took a 21 hour ferry back to Ancona and finished with 5 hour bus ride back into Florence. It was a lot of traveling but without a doubt worth it! I feel so privileged to have gotten to see the Pantheon and Parthenon all in less than a month!

Saturday and Sunday are my days to run errands and get ahead on school work. This upcoming weekend I will be going to Venice with my Study Tours class which is probably the city in Italy I'm most excited to see, so until then...

Ciao!

Hannah