One thing I have most definitely learned while traveling is that things never, I repeat NEVER, go according to plan. For example, I planned to write in this blog once a week and diligently edit and post my photos, woops. I also never planned to miss my train to Florence, sleep on the floor, yes the floor, of a night train back to Rome, not make it to Santorini, spend as much money as I did, nor get ripped off by an Italian taxi driver. I wasn’t prepared for the windy Mykonos nights, having our quad break down on a dirt road, to sleep in a canvas tent, or the brutal Italian mosquitoes. However, I couldn't have planned on eating 7 gyros in 6 days, finding a huge cave on a Greek island, getting my ear pierced by an Italian docotor/tatto/piercer in Paros, gorging on endless amounts of grapes, cliff jumping into the Mediterranean nor running into my friends at 4 in the morning in Rome’s airport. Travel is adventure, adventure is spontaneity. Step 1: Buy and highlight guidebook. Step 2: Make a plan. Step 3: Make it to first destination. Step 3: Meet someone cool, talk about travels, find out where they’ve been, where they’re going. Step 4: Throw away plan. Step 6: Begin adventure.
What a guidebook can’t tell you, a fellow vagabond can, for free, in better detail, and honestly. When we tried to book our tickets to Santorini, the ferries were all full and we would have had to miss our flight from Athens to Rome. Katie, Justin, Michael and I spent over an hour talking to a Greek travel agent about all the interesting islands. He sent us to Paros, an island an hour and a half away from Mykonos, less touristic, and with tastier tzatziki. We stayed at Hotel Marisa; it was quite as pleasant as the name implies. From Paros we took a trip to Antiparos by ferry with our quads. We spent the day spelunking in an enormous cave and beach hopping. The water was incredible, crystal clear, bright blue, and super easy to float in due to the ridiculous amount of salt. There were a few little fishies swimming around, but hardly anything else, nor seaweed. It was nice not having to do the San Diego sting ray shuffle. Being in landlocked Madrid has made me extremely miss the beach, that’s one thing San Diego definitely has on this city. Another thing I learned, not all ruins/monuments are created equal. There is only so much that one can appreciate about a pile of broken rocks, even if they were once dedicate to the legendary Apollo. On Paros, we had heard about an ancient temple, drove outside of town on our quads to find it, and hopped a little stone wall only to find a few rocks stacked on top of each other. Apollo would have been embarrassed. The Parthenon and Acropolis, however, rocked my world, no pun intended.
Athens itself was a little sketch along the outskirts, but the Greeks sure do know how to go big. The buildings were epic, with huge pillars and statues carved into the worn marble. And they are everywhere. Everything in Europe is so ancient and historical. The entire time we were walking around the ruins, the soundtrack to Disney’s
Hercules was stuck in my head, “I can go the distance, I’ll be there someday, if I can be strong…” I’m sure you can imagine me in a toga, eating some grapes, being fanned by hansom Greek men, you know, the usual….
This was only a taste of Greece, by the way. I still have yet to write about the few days I spent in Sevilla, the week in Italy, the day I spent in Vatican City and about my time here in Madrid. I like to leave you all hanging and wanting more (when I say all I mean mom and dad and maybe the two other people who have happened to stumble upon this blog…). This is only entry #4, I know I suck at keeping it up to date, blame it on the culture, there are just too many cool things to do here. White girl problems…
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| Jimmy's Gyros in Mykonos > Santorini Grill at UCSD |
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| Yep. |
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| We drove our quads through these towns |
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| Amigos |
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| The entire city ACTUALLY looked like this |
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| I swear it didn't hurt... |
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| This was were Zeus was born |
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| Mmmmmmm |
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| They must be good..... |
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| Ending the day with something beautiful |
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| Its really just the first Tzatziki factory... |
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| Reunited on the other side of the world |
One thing I have most definitely learned while traveling is that things never, I repeat NEVER, go according to plan. For example, I planned to write in this blog once a week and diligently edit and post my photos, woops. I also never planned to miss my train to Florence, sleep on the floor, yes the floor, of a night train back to Rome, not make it to Santorini, spend as much money as I did, nor get ripped off by an Italian taxi driver. I wasn’t prepared for the windy Mykonos nights, having our quad break down on a dirt road, to sleep in a canvas tent, or the brutal Italian mosquitoes. However, I couldn't have planned on eating 7 gyros in 6 days, finding a huge cave on a Greek island, getting my ear pierced by an Italian docotor/tatto/piercer in Paros, gorging on endless amounts of grapes, cliff jumping into the Mediterranean nor running into my friends at 4 in the morning in Rome’s airport. 
What a guidebook can’t tell you, a fellow vagabond can, for free, in better detail, and honestly. When we tried to book our tickets to Santorini, the ferries were all full and we would have had to miss our flight from Athens to Rome. Katie, Justin, Michael and I spent over an hour talking to a Greek travel agent about all the interesting islands. He sent us to Paros, an island an hour and a half away from Mykonos, less touristic, and with tastier tzatziki. We stayed at Hotel Marisa; it was quite as pleasant as the name implies. From Paros we took a trip to Antiparos by ferry with our quads. We spent the day spelunking in an enormous cave and beach hopping. The water was incredible, crystal clear, bright blue, and super easy to float in due to the ridiculous amount of salt. There were a few little fishies swimming around, but hardly anything else, nor seaweed. It was nice not having to do the San Diego sting ray shuffle. Being in landlocked Madrid has made me extremely miss the beach, that’s one thing San Diego definitely has on this city. Another thing I learned, not all ruins/monuments are created equal. There is only so much that one can appreciate about a pile of broken rocks, even if they were once dedicate to the legendary Apollo. On Paros, we had heard about an ancient temple, drove outside of town on our quads to find it, and hopped a little stone wall only to find a few rocks stacked on top of each other. Apollo would have been embarrassed. The Parthenon and Acropolis, however, rocked my world, no pun intended.
Athens itself was a little sketch along the outskirts, but the Greeks sure do know how to go big. The buildings were epic, with huge pillars and statues carved into the worn marble. And they are everywhere. Everything in Europe is so ancient and historical. The entire time we were walking around the ruins, the soundtrack to Disney’s Hercules was stuck in my head, “I can go the distance, I’ll be there someday, if I can be strong…” I’m sure you can imagine me in a toga, eating some grapes, being fanned by hansom Greek men, you know, the usual….
