Opa!

Turns out nobody in Greece really says that. I don't think I heard it once when we were there. How dissapointing.

Anways, the day after my mother left I went to Greece. It started with a 36 hour bus ride, but we'll skip that horrible part. We finally arrive on Monday afternoon and went straight, not to a hotel, but sightseeing in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece and home to some nice ruins. We saw the White Tower, a statue of Alexander the Great, the Arch of Galerius and the ruins of the ancient city center. Then we had free time to get lunch and wander around, we all had Gyros which were great.

The next day we were scheduled to go to an old Monastery and Delphi, but due to some unforseen construction we were forced to cancel Delphi and head to the Monasteries for the entire day. The monastery was very impressive. It is located at the top of some mountains, literally build at the very top. The stairs that lead to it are built right into the side of the mountain which was terrifying, but had a very nice view. My favorite part was the wooden bridge with nothing underneath it. The monks that live there still send a rope down everyday to bring up their daily supplies from the bottom of the mountain, we got to see the pulley system that they use. When we got there all the girls had to put on skirts out of respect for the area and then we got to just wander around. We got to see where the monks lived and a museum of religious artifacts which were really old. The monks have been living there for at least a thousand years and at the beginning it was just one monk and his two apprentices who lived in a shack at the top and the actually monastery building was built much later. After the monastery we got back on the bus for a long ride to the outskirts of Athens, where we would be staying that night. After checking into the hotel where we would be staying, we had free time again to go eat dinner. A group of us ended up going to this little family-owned diner and had spectacular zedziki and bread. A woman there spoke English and was able to teach us a couple words in Greek.

The next day we were scheduled to visit Athens, but that was cancelled due to rioting in the capitol that resulted in the deaths of three people. We all wanted to go and participate, but unfortunately Rotary had our saftey in mind... Instead we went to the Corinth Canal which had really blue water and later to the ampitheater at Epidaurus. We all walked to the top of the ampitheater to test out the acoustics while Rotarians made nosies at the bottom. They were so good that we could hear a Euro drop onto a rock, paper being ripped, and a match being lit. Then a girl from our group went to the bottom and sang and it was very nice. Next we went to the museum there and looked at all the ancient statues that once stood there. Upon our return to the hotel we went out for dinner again...to the same place. I was outvoted and we all went to the same restaurant that we had gone to the night before, which serves only seafood. Not my favorite dinner of the trip.

On Thursday we were going to see if we could give Athens a whirl, but to no avail. Instead we went to Delphi and then the port of Patra, the most dangerous city in Greece, and were allowed to wander there for lunch before taking the ferry to Italy. Delphi was not that impressive. I think it must have been at one point, but now it's just a pile of rocks. And a lot of pillars. Anyways, we walked to the top of the "mountain" that it's on and saw lots of ruins. All the steps in Greece are slippery because they're so smooth and it's hard to walk up them. At the top is a little arena and then went back down and went to the museum. Then we left for Patra. In Patra we went for some pasta and stayed in groups to avoid pickpockets and murderers, luckily we all made it back safely and got on the ferry. We took the overnight ferry from Patro to Brindisi in Italy and stayed in four person cabins. It was my first time on any sort of large boat which was interesting. We all stood out on the top and waved goodbye to Greece and then played in the wind. Onboard the ferry to Italy were Italians! Who spoke English! I was sitting with my Canadian friend Paige and then the Italians asked me if I too was Canadian. I said no, I'm an American. To which they replied, "But you obviously have Japanese parents." *Insert me rolling my eyes here* The number of times I have had people ask me if I'm South American or Asian is astounding. I don't even look Asian. It wouldn't be so irritating if they didn't all start with, "So do you speak Spanish?" No. I don't speak Spanish so get over it.