Birthday!

Saturday

In my family, we celebrate birthdays with breakfast in bed. Unfortunately, my roommates wouldn’t comply, but we did have a delicious breakfast at our hotel that consisted of cornflakes, muesli honey, hard boiled eggs, coffee, peach juice and the best yogurt I’ve had in Greece. I think it was sheep yogurt and it was awesome with cornflakes, muesli and a drizzle of honey. (I had 3 bowls).

At 9:15 we walked to the cable car which we took down to the water and met our boat, Pegasus, that took us to either Neo or Palaia Kamerni, I'm not sure which, in the middle of the Caldera. The boat was maize and blue, so Mary (who also goes to U of M) and I had to take a photo. Good thing we made the same face...

GO BLUE!

Boat

We spent an hour and a half adventuring on the island, enjoying rock formations and gawking at the incredible views. There was one spot on the island that was slightly dug out and you could put your hand in to feel the heat, in addition to seeing the steam and smelling the sulfur.

View

On one section of the volcano, people had built statues/towers from the rocks, so Allegra and I built one as well.

Statues

After exploring, we got back on the boat and took a relaxingly beautiful sail around the entire islet and saw the sulfur springs. We could have gotten out and swam for an extra 15 euro but we are stingy college students and no one was interested in swimming in water that looks like pee and turns you yellow. Definitely a highlight of the weekend.

Boat around the islet

Every day it becomes more and more apparent why Greece's flag is blue and white.

Net and blue water

Rocks and water

Next up: the donkey ride…well, technically it was a mule.

I did not like the donkey ride. It was definitely an experience and I’m glad I did it, but I did not enjoy climbing hundreds of winding steps on an eager mule. The whole production was chaotic and stressful. After getting off the Caldera boat tour, we were shuffled into an alley by an old man in a fisherman’s hat repeatedly saying “donkey donkey,” filed past other men in fisherman’s hats, one whom collected our five euro, then told to wait as another man brought down donkeys for us. Well, at first we didn’t know we were supposed to wait, so we started following him up the path; when he realized we were still behind he yelled in Greek and gestured at us to go back to the base of the path. The mules (there was only one real donkey) came down in a row and we just hopped on and were off: no introduction, guidance or instruction.

The donkeys just wandered up the winding path at their own pace, in more of a cluster than a line—butting, nipping and squeezing where they could, slowing down or stopping as they felt necessary. Was I allowed to kick or steer the animal if they started doing something I didn’t like? I had no clue; I was so stressed; plus it hurt like hell. For a while it looked like we were completely alone on the path, but eventually an old man came up from the rear with a stick and no English.

The donkeys apparently knew what they were doing, but I still didn’t trust them. They liked to stay close to the outside wall on the when rounding corners which my legs did not enjoy. My mule decided to get nice and cozy with the backside of the mule in front of me right as it started taking a shit…not sure how but I luckily managed to evade the poop.

There were donkeys all along the path in addition to people walking down the path to get to the water: bad idea on their part. Did I mention that we had no control over these beasts? Two mules in front of me managed to knock a woman flat on her back, and there was literally nothing we could do about it: we couldn’t hop off our donkey to help her, we didn’t speak the same language, and at the end of the day it was her own damn fault for trying to squeeze between two mules on a winding staircase. It was awful and terrifying; I hated that there was nothing we could do, but come on…lets be practical here. I hope she is all right. I don’t think the “guide” did anything to help, either.

I was so relieved when we finally got to the top.

Dismounting was an equally fun adventure. The donkeys just stopped on their own and no one was sure if we were actually finished. Were we supposed to just hop off and walk away or would the “guide” come by and help us? He finally rounded the last corner and saw us all just sitting in a row on our parked donkeys and started trying to communicate to us that we were to dismount. He kept saying “I get off…I get off” to which we all struggled to understand whether he meant he would get off and help us, or we were all to get off. As he continued past us still saying “I get off,” and realized we weren’t taking any action, he added some hand motions and “finito,” and some people hesitantly attempted to get down and out of the saddle. Luckily people gave me a hand down, otherwise I wouldn’t have had any idea how to get off my mule. I’m pretty confident my legs were shaking and are still bruised and scratched from rubbing along walls.

When I finally got my bearings and breath back I was sweaty and frustrated. I can’t remember the last time I was that stressed: there was no order to the ascent and I simply felt uneasy the whole time; I didn’t trust my donkey or anyone else’s. I just wish there had been a little more organization.

Hauling ass :)

Me and my mule

So, what did I learn from this? I’m an uptight American; Greeks are much more carefree and can “go with the flow” more easily. The truth is, these donkeys have trekked up that path many, many times and in hindsight, I’m pretty confident they knew what they were doing. But it’s my nature to need instruction and reassurance that the above realizations are true before mounting a bucking bronco. Given that the donkey ride was run by locals, as opposed to a tourist agency, I did not receive that extra boost of confidence.

In the afternoon, some people went to the red beach. I was planning on going but started to feel sleepy and grumpy and decided it would be in my best interest to just lay low and rest at the hotel so I could be ready to continue my birthday celebrations later. So I had a nice swim and nap at the pool and even got to call home and talk to my parents, Zeke, and a surprise chat with Uncle Matt, Aunt Beth, Blake and Chase J who were in Charlottesville for the weekend.

In the evening, we took a bus to a local winery where we toured their museum and did a wine tasting. Santorini is known for having some of the finest wines in Greece because grape vines do well in volcanic soil. The vines are kept low to the ground to protect them from the wind, and the branches are wrapped around the stalk to create "bird's nests." The museum itself was absolutely terrifying: it was underground in winding tunnels lined with rooms housing creepy manakins making weird movements and noises. We were all happy to get out of there. I was surprisingly disappointed in the wines we tried: one white, one red and two sweet dessert wines. Meh; didn’t like them.

Grapes

Creepy manakins

White wine

After the winery, seven of us took the public bus to the town of Oia (pronounced EE-uh) for birthday dinner and a different view of the sunset. Oia is beautiful. Some of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed there. I liked the town much more than Thira. It was significantly calmer, more relaxed and picturesque in a different way. Blue domes dotted the view and we even saw a couple from Italy taking their wedding photos. Both the bride and groom were wearing white; I loved it. We walked down to the very tip of the town and saw all the people waiting for the sun to set. They looked like tiny ants lining the tops of buildings. We decided on a rooftop restaurant for birthday dinner that was a bit off the main road and thus less crowded. It seemed more authentic than the restaurant we chose on Friday and also higher class and less touristy…with the same prices! Excellent.

Views of Oia:

Ants watching the sunset

Birthday girl at sunset!

Turning 20 in Windsor, Canada followed by a homemade dinner with my best friend and an orange-themed birthday party consisting of Pictionary and Catch Phrase, I never thought that a year later I would be turning 21 in Santorini, watching beautiful sunsets over the Caldera with a glass of wine and delicious Greek meal. A few of us split mushrooms marinated in lemon juice, olive oil and cilantro (yum) and grilled vegetables for an appetizer, and I got beef stew with eggplant puree for my meal (nom). I almost had my first birthday surprise, but my friend Becca let the dessert that was on its way slip. They brought out a piece of mystery cake with a candle and the whole restaurant sang happy birthday and applauded. It was so special, wonderful and full of smiles.

We then bussed it back to Fira where some people stopped for gelato and we got the night started at Rock Bar again. I managed to get a few more free drinks throughout the night and we eventually went to a bar that was more Greek than touristy and got to hear some Greek club music which was a fun experience.

Photo of the Day

Harry Potter rock on the islet!!

Lighting bolt

The Count

Modes of transportation used in Greece: 6
-Foot, bike, ferry, bus, cable car, donkey

Glasses of wine drinken: 137

Euros spent on drinks: 0 :)

Birthday shots taken: Umm... :-x

Photos taken: 4481

My life is a postcard

Friday

We had lecture in the morning for one hour, followed by a 30-minute introduction and overview of the island of Santorini (also called Thira): Santorini is the southernmost island of the Cyclades and sits on top of an underwater volcano. This volcano has periodically erupted for thousands of years and built up the surface of the island from its limestone base. It is composed of basalt (dark stone), pumic (glass foam that has solidified), ash and various colored rocks. The island is somewhat like a donut with some gaps (bites?) in it. The middle of the circle is called the caldera and was formed as successive explosions of the volcano caused the land to sink into the sea. From the caldera, the island rises up in a series of steep cliffs of volcanic material. The outside rim of the donut slopes gently and has great beaches with various colored sand (black, white, and red) depending on the volcanic material located there.

There are two islets, Neo and Palaia Kameni, in the middle of the caldera which have formed in the past 2000 years as the volcano continues to bubble.
Our ferry left from Paroikia, stopped in Naxos and docked in Santorini around 4:00. We then took a bus up a very windy road through the volcanic rock and to our hotel in the town of Fira. We were about 3 blocks from the Caldera rim and tourist central. At times, I felt like I was back in Plaka due to the plethora of souvenir and t-shirt shops, but I managed not to get too overwhelmed.

Fira

After wandering around and taking postcard photos we went as a class to dinner at sunset. We had the lowest terrace of the restaurant to ourselves and had a great view. Dinner was alright—not the best meal I’ve ever had, but with the view and the sunset, you couldn’t really go wrong. In terms of food, Santorini is famous for their small, sweet tomatoes and fava beans. I shared fried zucchini, fava dip and a Santorini salad (cucumber, tomatoes, olives, caper leaves and bread) with Susan (my professor). The wine was watered down but I still managed to drink 3 glasses.

Sunset

Mary and me: 21!

Dinner

After dinner I wandered the town with a few friends, bought myself a cool necklace with a volcanic rock bead and then started putting a dent on my 21st birthday. One of my favorite stops was the “Rock Bar” which played Beastie Boys (I fought for my right to party) and Alien Ant Farm’s cover of “Smooth Criminal,” in addition to other rage-worthy tunes.
Back in the States, my 21st birthday would have consisted of excitedly flashing my driver’s license to bouncers at midnight, getting free drinks and repeated drunken singing of the birthday song. In Greece, a country with no drinking age, turning 21 is a bit anticlimactic, and just like any other birthday or day of the week for that matter. Nevertheless, I managed to happily hail in my birthday and get my fair share of free shots.
At bars on Friday night, people’s response to “It’s her birthday!!” consisted of “It’s your birthday?,” a handshake and “congratulations.” Some bartenders gave me free shots while others just looked at me like I was crazy; a few women even glared at me and said “of course not.”
All in all, it was an interesting experience. My birthday exposed me to a big cultural difference between the United States and Greece, as well as most European countries in general. The presence of a drinking age in the States both encourages unhealthy drinking habits and creates a milestone in the lives of young adults; the lack of one in Greece makes both drinking and age more casual. While birthdays are still a reason to celebrate, the starkly different drinking cultures of the two countries is interesting and definitely caused me to reflect on how the drinking age, or lack there of, impacts both societies.

Photo of the Day

Friday was the first time I wore make-up since senior prom.

Birthday shot!

The Count
Glasses of wine drinken: 133

Moments I've realized my life is a dream: 23098403294890

Ferries taken: 2

Greek islands traveled to: 3

Photos taken: 4163

Biking, Hiking, Adventuring, Beaching and Eating with Miriam (Day 4)

Today

Naoussa!

I had to clean up a beach in Nauossa this morning, so Miriam took the bus up with us and wandered the town while I cleaned. I then met up with her and took the ferry across the way to a beautiful and quiet beach called Monastiri. We laid in the sand, played in the water, had a fantastic lunch, napped, then went back to Nauossa, wandered for a bit, got gelato (my first since Florence!) and headed back to Paroikia. We went to the bakery for snacks and goodies for dinner before I bid her adieu on the ferry!

It was very sad to say goodbye but we had such an amazing time together! We got to do so many fun, adventuresome and delicious things together and I am so glad she was able to come to Greece to play!!!

Mythos on the beach!

Crooked Monastiri Beach

Yummy salads

Lesson and photo of the Day

I love the color of the water here

Blue water

The Count
Photos taken: 4073

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These past few posts have been kind of quick and skim the surface because I am currently EXHAUSTED from a busy week with Miriam!! More pictures of delicious food will be posted soon--there are a few on my other camera. I just wanted to make sure I gave an update before leaving for the weekend!!

Tomorrow
Class in the morning, then taking the ferry to Santorini for the weekend!!!

Biking, Hiking, Adventuring, Beaching and Eating with Miriam (Day 3)

Wednesday
I had class in the morning and a quiz in the evening, so the morning wasn't too exciting. We did manage to have a fantastic lunch at a cafe in the center of town. We split an olive, feta, green pepper, onion and tomato crepe and the "local rusk--" whole grain brain baked in the oven, then soaked in olive oil and covered with fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, olives and a mound of cheese. NOM.

After the quiz we took a trip to the marble quarries and hiked up to the top to see the monastery. In the past students have gone down into the quarries but with the current economic situation, the government has restricted visits.

We still had a beautiful and fun hike. When we got to the top we got to go inside and on top of the monastery! We had tiropitta (cheese pies) on the roof :)

Miriam through the monastery window

Miriam and I on the roof!

Inside

Wednesday night we went to a delicious restaurant in town. My teacher, Susan, had introduced me to the chef when we passed her in the street a few days ago and highly recommended the restaurant. We had a delicious salad and more fish! Pictures to come...

The Count
Glasses of wine drinken: 130
Photos taken: 4039

Biking, Hiking, Adventuring, Beaching and Eating with Miriam (Days 1 and 2)

What an amazing week!

Monday

Picked up a road near Aliki in the morning. Everyone is so nice to us while we are picking up trash around town. One woman came by and gave us fruit, and another who owns a restaurant near an old windmill invited us in for water and snacks. We even got to go inside the windmill where they are having an art exhibit by a woman who takes marine litter and turns it into fabulous pieces of artwork! It's so great to see how appreciative the community is of the work we are putting in, and it's fun to interact with them :)

Miriam arrived in the afternoon and we spent the afternoon exploring Paroikia and sitting on the beach. We had a great Taverna dinner where I introduced Miriam into the wonders of meze and the Greek style of eating. We had tzatziki, spicy cheese dip, chick pea dip, Greek salad, stuffed grape leaves and baked eggplant with tomatoes...plus wine, of course! So delicious and wonderful to spend time and catch up with her! We realized we hadn't seen each other since David and Christina's wedding last May!

Tuesday
Antiparos!

To the South of the main island of Paros, is a smaller island that was at one point connected but is now only a ferry ride away. People actually swim to Antiparos from the southern tip of Paros; I really want to do this, but would want a boat tailing me just in case...

Harbor of Antiparos

We had planned on renting an ATV to ride down to the cave of Antiparos (its main attraction), but they were all rented out when we got there, so we decided to get bicycles and bike there instead. The bike ride wasn't too far (8 km each way) but it was very hot and tiring. It was mostly flat along the coast, but we decided to walk our bikes up the hill that led up to the mountain where the cave was. Instead of taking the final winding stretch, we ditched our bikes and hiked straight up the mountain. Champs.

Miriam conquering the mountain

View from the top

The cave itself was full of stalagmites and stalactites, as well as 411 stairs! At the mouth to the cave is a giant stalagmite that is believed to be the oldest in Europe.

Oldest stalagmite in Europe

Inside the cave

After climbing back up the stairs, biking back to the harbor and wandering the streets of the main town, we finally settled on an amazing lunch place. We were craving fish and had walked up and down the waterfront trying to find a Taverna that caught our eye. It was the colorful, empty restaurant behind the row of tourist-y places that was the best, though. We walked in to "Zorba the Greek" made sure they were open and asked to see the menu. The owner--a heavier, grungy man immediately said "all we have is fish," and we were sold. He showed us all the fish and seafood he had caught that morning and we got to pick out what we wanted. We ordered tzatziki, fried anchovies and mackerel. Wow.

Bread and tzatziki

Fried anchovies

Mackerel (yes that's its eye)

Tuesday night we went to a fun bar we found called "Pirate Bar" for drinks and snacks :)

Photos of the Day

Octopus hanging out to dry at "Zorba the Greek"

The Count
Glasses of wine drinken: 128
Photos taken: 4005

Marpissa

Sunday Night

Tonight we went to the nearby village of Marpissa for a delicious, traditional dinner at Haroula's Taverna.

Door, Marpissa

Sleepy kitty

Haroula's Taverna

We had a delicious meal consisting of Greek salad, zucchini fritters, tomato croquettes, keftedes, spinach, xynomizithra, a variation on moussaka with pasta instead of eggplant, spaghetti and pork, and candied lemon rinds for dessert. Plus wine, of course. Everything was grown and cooked in Marpissa, including the wine!

Greek salad

Assortment of meze

Moussaka variation

Spaghetti and pork

Candied lemon rind

Photo of the Day

Flowers, Marpissa

The Count
Glasses of wine drinken: 124
Photos taken: 3942

Cleaning, Concerts and Quarries

There isn't a lot of day-to-day updating to be done here in Paros, unless you're interested in every nap I take on the beach or detail I learn in class.

Thursday was our first day of service. The focus of our project is marine litter on Paros; in other words, we pick up trash from beaches. We took the bus to the Aliki (ah-lee-KEE) coast, south of Paroikia where we received news that was both good and bad: he town of Aliki had just cleaned the beach on their own accord. This is good because they are taking the marine litter problem seriously and doing something about it, but at the same time, it meant that there wasn't much beach cleaning for us to do (which is positive and negative in and of itself). The organization of the clean-up project was a bit frustrating, and we definitely need a new system. We have to keep track of the items we pick up for the Ocean Conservancy's database, which requires tallying every cigarette butt, piece of rope and plastic bottle we pick up, and we also have to separate trash from recyclables (plastic, glass and metal). Needless to say, it was quite a balagan...but we de-briefed and will implement changes for the next time.

We had the afternoon off before lecture again in the evening, in which I went to the beach for a few hours.

Friday we travelled North to the city of Naoussa for a Greek dance lesson. The different heights and rhythmic ability of the class made for an adventure, but it was a lot of fun. The steps and motions were relatively straightforward and I'm excited to show off my Greek dancing skills the next chance I get! I don't have much exposure to Greek music, other than the dance performance I went to in Athens, but before these two experiences, I don't think I could label Greek music as Greek. I would more quickly classify certain songs as Indian or Middle Eastern than Greek, but with increased exposure, I'm getting better at just recognizing and defining the music as Greek.

Greek dance lesson

We had the afternoon off and thus my weekend started Friday at around 1:30. Although, lets be honest...I'm currently on a month-long vacation, so the Friday-Sunday are hardly any different from Monday-Thursday. :)

Some people stayed in Naoussa to go to the beach, but I went back to Paroikia with some friends, got burgers and spent the afternoon at the beach near our hotel. We went to this yummy homemade burger place that I walk by everyday and dream/drool about. I had a greek burger--burger, feta, olives, onions and tzatziki...NOM.

Saturday a group of us "hiked" to Krios beach, not too far from here. We walked along the shore of beaches near us, then over a desert-esque hill down to another cove. The walk was nice, with some pretty views of the port of Paroikia and the surrounding mountains. The beach itself was nice, nothing too special, but I enjoyed it. I lounged, read and swam. The water was cold but refreshing and crystal clear so we could see fun fishes!

Walk to Lefkes

I spent the whole day at the beach, then went to dinner in Lefkes with my professors (both in Athens and here--they're married) and some friends before going to an orchestra concert at the marble quarries.

Lefkes is the former capital city of Paros and is located more towards the center of the island, in the mountains. The town is much smaller now, because everyone moved down to the shore. It was very beautiful though to watch the sunset over the mountains and enjoy a delicious meal and fun conversation. Bob and Susan (my teachers) had been to this Taverna before, so we let them place orders for everyone. We got tzatziki, beets, Greek salad with xynomizithra (their local cheese which is creamier than feta and has a sour taste), fried cheese balls, and lamb chops. YUM. They even gave us a special treat of creme caramel and yogurt with cherries for dessert. Everything we had was fresh and grown locally in Lefkes :)

Paros has the best marble in the world and the concert at the quarry was such an incredible experience. For the past month various sculptors have been working at the quarries and their sculptures are now on display. They were so interesting, diverse and spectacular.

The concert wasn't exactly what I had expected. When someone says "string quartet" I don't imagine an orchestra of lyres and a close-to-opera singer. But it was fantastic. The music was so interesting and definitely helped me on my way to recognizing and understanding Greek music. The singer sang a lot of modern Greek love songs, although he did one in Italian and Spanish as well. It was wonderful to see the audience singing along. This is the first time they've ever done anything like this on the island, and I am so happy to have experienced it! We even got to take home some Parian marble!!

The school here had Boggle, so I spent a lot of the weekend playing Boggle with friends :)

Fried cheese balls

Lamb chops, Greek salad with cheese in background

Marble

Marble

This one was definitely my favorite and the most impressive. Everything you see is marble...including the crate it's resting on.

Marble

The lighting was difficult to shoot in, but I liked the effect my unsteady hands had on this one:

Marble

And non-blurry...

Marble

Today was a lazy day. I had a lot I intended on doing, but alas...I've just been reading, sitting at cafes with friends, and trying to improve the wireless situation. I caved and am using wired internet from my school. How did it get to be 5:20? We are leaving at 5:45 to take a bus to a nearby village and enjoy a traditional Parian dinner at a family owned and run restaurant there. I am so excited!

Photo of the Day
Not sure how I would've found my way without this...

Lesson of the Days

This is a lesson that has been reiterated throughout my European adventures: Music is a universal language. Saturday was the first time I had seen a conductor and it was neat to see that they conduct the same way conductors do back in the States. This makes sense, but it's not something I normally think about and consider.

The Count

Glasses of wine drinken: 122

Naps taken on the beach: 4

Photos taken: 3885

Tomorrow

Happy Fourth of July!

Beach cleaning in the morning and then...my cousin, Miriam, is coming to visit for the week!!! I can't wait :)