GREECE

7/16

We arrived into port early this morning, about 6am, but since the ship could not be cleared of customs until a bit later, everyone slept in. Our goal for the day was to visit the Acropolis before departing for Mykonos Island the following morning. We walked into the main area of Piraeus and purchased ferry tickets over to Mykonos and home from Santorini as we plan to spend a night there as well. Following our stop at the travel agency we got onto the metro and went out to Thisio, the main stop for the Acropolis. After a brief lunch we began the ascent towards the Parthenon. The temps today were very high, over 40 Celsius which equates to over 100Fh. Upon arrival to the gates where you buy your ticket to visit the Parthenon we were informed that the Greek Tourism Officials had closed the site due to extreme temperatures, what a bunch of crap! Josh and a couple other friends were actually interviewed on Greek TV to discuss the closure. Well that's traveling so we moved on and walked down into the ancient Agora marketplace where the worlds first marathon ended...according to Greek mythology of course. We moseyed about while the girls shopped and then found a little place for happy hour. Eventually we hopped back onto the metro back to Piraeus for dinner and a return to the ship.

 

7/17

Early morning rally over to our ferry for the trip to Mykonos. The meltemi (Greek summer wind which blows 30-40kts) came in strong and along with it some great wind chop. Makes for a rather pleasant ferry ride, if you're into that sort of thing! We arrived and naviguessed over to our hotel, which was a great little family run spot for very cheap. We threw our gear down and set out to explore Mykonos town and find the beach. We grabbed lunch at a hotel's pool bar and met up with a few other friends and then made moves over to Paradise Beach. It is a bit of an overwhelming place. Essentially it a nightclub that operates all day, so you find yourself buying a lounge chair for a few euro and swimming, dancing, and singing with all your friends on the beach, at 4pm! After a few hours in the mix there we packed it up, grabbed a chicken gyro and sent it back to our hotel. Following a nap we decided that dinner in town would be enough of an evening out for us so we found a good spot to have a nice sit-down dinner. This is where things begin to get interesting. We had planned on taking a ferry to Santorini tomorrow to spend an evening but due to the Meltemi which cancelled a bunch of ferries and a limited remaining schedule, the only ferry was sold out. So the audibles began and we came up with a few game plans, stay in Mykonos another night? Fly to Santorini via Athens? Ferry back the following morning? You get the idea. Well we decided to sleep on it and discuss over breakfast.

 

7/18

 

After a good A/C night of sleep we all got up for the bread and coffee breakfast and began to evaluate our options. We decided instead of wasting a whole day on a ferry back to Piraeus, we would pay a bit more for an evening flight and seek a refund on our Santorini return tickets. So we spent the day exploring more of Mykonos town and actually got half our money back on the ferry tickets, which was good. We burned our last hour or two of free time at a local café playing cards and watching the Meltemi whip across the harbor before going up to the airport for our flight. The take-off was a good bit of fun in our little prop plane in the 30 kt breeze but we made it safely back to Athens and grabbed a train and metro back over to the port area. Finally after a good meal we are back on the MV and ready to give the Parthenon another go early tomorrow morning on our last day. So far Greece has been a country full of planes, trains, automobiles, ferries, and hikes. Will keep you posted on what comes next!