Today This morning we presented our final reports to the class.
Afterwards, we took a trip to the Agricultural Cooperative and saw them making cheese, learned about their waste management system that they use to produce fertilizer, and walked through the winery. This was one of my favorite field trips on Paros, mainly because I love seeing factories in action, especially food ones.
Cheese
Sectioning cheese into containers
Cheese wheels
Machines that squeeze out the liquid
Salination room
Aging room
Wine
We bought some cheese and wine, and had a little get together in the garden in the evening. We got a hard cheese and a cheese similar to ricotta. The ricotta-esque cheese was fresh and delicious. We first ate it with bread, but then put honey and cinnamon on it and ate it like a dessert :)
I spent all day packing and napping. We have a going away breakfast tomorrow and then I'm off! I arrive in Ireland late tomorrow night and my tour starts Sunday morning.
Once again, I'm ready for the next chapter of my summer adventure. Greece has been a truly wonderful experience and I learned far more than I ever anticipated. Both of the classes I took were amazing and I had a blast. Definitely time to leave though.
Ireland, here I come!
I'm not sure what my internet situation will be like while in Ireland. We are traveling and staying at hotels each night, so I would imagine I'll have wireless but am not 100% sure. If I can, I'll continue to post photos and blog about what I'm doing! ...If anyone still reads these, that is.
Lesson of the Day
kefi--a feeling of joy and relaxation obtained through good food, moderate drinking and friendly conversation
Photo of the Day
This cheese has grooves around the edges because it was traditionally made in a basket, which left imprints on the cheese.
After our quiz we took a trip to the Aegean Wildlife Hospital. Established in 1995, the Wildlife Hospital is a volunteer organization that treats and rehabilitates animals that have been injured, most commonly birds. We watched a slideshow presentation about the organization, including amazing photographs of the animals they have rescued. Then we got a chance to walk around the grounds and see all the animals! So many different kinds of birds, and 2 donkeys!
Rooster
Buzzard
Donkey
In the evening we went to the summer house of Alexis Phylactopoulos, the president of College Year Athens (the study abroad program I'm on) for a closing dinner. The house was absolutely gorgeous. Of course, once again, I didn't have my camera (I'm really slacking). It was right on the water and had an amazing patio/terrace overlooking the sea with islands and Antiparos dotting the horizon.
I met an Israeli, Ronit, who has lived on Paros with her husband for the past 10 years and runs a meditation center in Naousa called "Tao's Place." I also met and spoke with George Phylactopoulos, Alexis' father, who studied mechanical engineering at MIT, loves thermodynamics, and lived through the German occupation of Greece. He had so many fascinating stories to tell :).
Lesson of the Day
Breathe. Listen. Open your mind. It's amazing what you can learn from those around you, often unexpectedly.
Class in the morning then worked on my final report.
A few friends and I went to the village of Prodromos for dinner at a family-run restaurant. We had the most potent wine I've ever endured. It was 3 euro for a liter and tasted like souma.
Tuesday
Class in the morning.
Went to the environmental park in the north, near Naousa in the evening for a hike. We picked up some trash along the way as part of our service project, but seeing as it's an environmental park...it's pretty clean. We hiked up to a lighthouse and were rewarded with delicious cake from the environmental agency when we returned.
Wind blown rock formations, Environmental Park
Wednesday
Cleaned up a local park in the morning.
Free afternoon.
Evening class followed by a walk through The Church of 100 Doors. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera because I didn't think we would be able to take photos :( It was absolutely beautiful though. It is the oldest church in Europe still in use and is very important in Greek Orthodoxy. It was built under the instruction of Constantine in 313 AD, but only one part of the church today is from the original building. It burned down in the late 4th or 5th century and Emperor Justinian rebuilt it in the early 6th century. Renovations have been made since, but within the last few decades, those updates have been removed and it very closely resembles the church built by Justinian. It was beautiful. I'm sorry I don't have photographs to share...you'll just have to come see it for yourself!
Afterwards, we went to a thank you reception from the Municipality of Paros, held in the garden of the local library. The vice mayor was there as well as other municipality people who we were in contact with over the course of the past month. The food was delicious, the wine was great and I spent a majority of the night speaking with Allegra, the librarian. Not only is she Jewish, but she is an engaging and intelligent woman whose stories I enjoyed listening to. I actually ended up staying after the reception was over to help clean up so we could continue chatting, and then we went for a drink together.
Going to the cafe with her was a blast. For obvious reasons, she knows many people here, so I got to meet and talk with the waiter and owners of her favorite cafe in Paroikia. The owners both spent time in the States and speak English well. I'm a bit sad that it took me until the last few days here in Paros to actually start interacting with locals, but it's better late than never!
Lesson of the Day
Johnny Depp is in Paros! He is on his yacht in the harbor right near the environmental park!!!
What a fun day...snorkeling trip around the island! We met our boat and guide at the Pounta dock and started on our journey. Our guide, Peter, was a character. He is an offshore engineer, environmentalist, dive instructor (he dove with Jacques Cousteau!) and has a lot of knowledge in geology, history and who knows what else.
Our first stop was a tiny island (probably <40 feet in diameter) whose name I can't remember that was loaded with obsidian and pottery fragments. We hopped off the boat and swam there because the boat couldn't get any closer; We walked around, saw the shell from a dead tortoise along with some bones and looked at the rocks.
We got back on the boat and cruised around the island, saw some marble, beautifully blue water and made our way to the first snorkeling site. The rock formations were spectacular and there was a little archway you could swim through. The fish weren't really spectacular, but the water was beautiful and some people climbed up the arch and cliff jumped! I wanted to but I was worried about cutting my feet on the rock walking up.
Blue water
Cliff jumping
We then docked close to the shore of Antiparos and a small boat picked us up and took us ashore for lunch. Peter picked up sea urchin and sea squirt while we were snorkeling and opened them up so we could eat them with our lunch. It was a typical taverna lunch and was absolutely delicious; I can't get enough fried anchovies! The sea urchin tasted like the sea, but the sea scorch was actually pretty yummy! He mixed it up with some olive oil and spices and we ate it on bread...surprisingly tasty :)
Sea Squirt
Holy Mackerel! Biggest fish we saw all day...
We made one more stop after lunch. There weren't really any fish, but there was an old well underneath the water as well as the remains of a wall. It was a lot of fun to dive down and touch the well and just swim around in the open water. A lot of us took turns jumping off the second story of the boat--so cool!
Flying
We were gone for a total of 9 hours and everyone had a great time. We took the bus back to Paroikia where we napped for an hour, then a few of us got on the bus again and went back to the Pounta dock where we hopped on the ferry to Antiparos for the Festival of Saint Marina. In Greece, it is common to celebrate Saint (Name) Days, which are far more important than birthdays (although this is starting to change slightly). Additionally, churches are dedicated to Saints, so the church puts on a celebration during that specific Saint Day. One of the main churches on Antiparos is dedicated to Saint Marina so there was a big party with music, dancing and (of course) FOOD! We got there just as they were finishing the speeches and starting the dancing (perfect timing). We watched 4 different dance troupes perform traditional Greek dances and then everyone joined in and started dancing as well. They were grilling souvlaki and lamb and had wine and cheese, too. The lamb was hands down the best lamb I've ever had. Unfortunately, the ferries were only running every hour back to Paros so I didn't have time to dance :(. It was still really fun, though!
Nom.
Lesson of the Day
Greeks don't know how to form lines.
I, however, know how to use this to my advantage. While people formed a pseudo-line/clump, pushing and reaching for food, I just snuck around to the end (or was it the beginning), found a slight window between heads, stuck out my long arms and got excellent service :)
This Week: Catching up on sleep from an exhausting week with Miriam and weekend in Santorini.
Monday
Slept in and went to class
Tuesday
Morning: Cleaned the road on the way to the party beach. It was covered with beer bottles and food wrappers.
Afternoon: Class
Evening: Sleep
Wednesday
Morning: Quiz and a trip to the landfill!
The head of the Environmental Office here on Paros, Yannis Drakoulakos, met us at the Paros landfill and told us about the technology and environmental efforts here on Paros. I've never been to a landfill before, so it was interesting to see it and hear about all the different things they do and hope to do in the future.
Trash
Yannis Drakoulakos
Dumping Trash
Afternoon: Class
Evening: Sleep
Thursday
Morning: Last beach clean up...SUCH a windy day! There is trash and sand permanently burned into my eyes. Luckily the breeze kept us cool, and the beach we ended up at was really beautiful. It was flooded with kite surfers who were really fun to watch. The ones who knew what they were doing were exciting, but I think the ones who had no clue were more entertaining. :)
Afternoon: Nap on the beach, class
Evening: Sleep
Super sad that Harry Potter came out a day early in Greece but they don't have it playing here on Paros :( :(
Today
Morning: Walk through the village of Lefkes, down the Byzantine road to the village of Prodromos. We were picking up trash on the way but the path is very clean so it was more of just a nice, relaxing hike through the mountains. The road was built by the Byzantines during the Byzantine Empire and used to get from one village to the next. We stopped at a bakery in Lefkes and brought snacks with us--the best spanikopita I've had so far!
Lefkes
Byzantine Road
Byzantine Road
Afternoon: Laundry, reading, Skype
Evening: Shabbat Shalom! About to go out to dinner with some friends
Tomorrow
Snorkeling trip around the island!
Photo of the Day
Pretty Horsey
Happy to see him
Lesson of the Day
I have been learning so much in class and there is so much to share! Of course, all the fun facts I starred in my notes are at home and I'm at school. So the true lessons will have to wait until the next post.
Sunday Today started off with 3 more bowls of delicious yogurt and cereal, followed by a trip to the Red Beach. The stones felt great underneath my feet as I walked out into the sea. The rock formations, stones and water were pretty wonderful.
Red Beach
Mars
Walking to the beach, we passed a stand that was making sun-dried tomatoes! So cool.
Sun drying tomatoes
I wandered around Fira for a bit when we got back, and then we hopped on a bus and went down to the port to catch our ferry. I am now back in Paros; it feels good to be home.
What an incredible weekend. Santorini is beautiful and I had an amazing time ☺
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
