ANYWHO..........
I had such an amazing time in Italy and Greece. And everytime I take a minute, or and hour to reflect on it, it gets better and better. The people, the smells, the scenery, the trains, the fireflies (only a few, but they were magical at just the right time.) So for those of you who dont know, Analee, Emily (Analees niece) and I decided to tale a trek to Italy and Greece in May.
This is Emily :)
She is very quickly becoming one of my favorite people.
I told the back story to how we decided to go on our trip on a previous post, so look at it. Analee and I flew into Spain first. We were there for one night. Honestly, Spain looks like Duchesne. No lie.
From there we flew to Rome. We were going to head on in to Orvieto, but Emily was not going to be in until the next day. So we stayed in Rome for a night. We went to see Vadican City and The Sistine Chapel. All wonderful sites. However, it was an uncommon and heavy 105 degrees in Rome that day. UGH!!! But worth it. Oh, AND I saw a celebrity.....twice!! Not two different ones, the same one, two different times. Who is a Big Love fan? I AM!! Ya know Margene? Yeah, I saw her!! Ginifer Godwin. I saw her when we were going into The Sistine Chapel, and then the next day in the train station while I was standing infront of McDonalds waiting for Em. I tried to take a picture without looking obvious. She was with some guy that I did not think was good looking at all. I was going to get behind her in the McDonalds line and softly say "Hi Margene.....does Bill know you are here with that man???" But who am I kidding, I talk WAY more daring than I actually DO. So I just let her be her without any crazy people making dumb ass comments.
So off to Orvieto we went. I have to say that this was my FAVORITE place. We were only there for one night. But it was so neat. When I close my eyes and think of Italy, this is the place. Small, Old, quaint, cobble stone streets (they all have cobblestone streets) and the most amazing Duomo. (Cathedral)
Now, when Analee and I visited The Sistine Chapel, it was nice. It was cool. We can say that we have seen it now. But they cram hundreds of people in there all at once. And in addition to all of the good things it is, it is also smelly, loud, and crowded. So that really took from the experience. Really, it was Eh. BUT, this Duomo in Orvieto was AMAZING!
We went in there and it took my breath away. There was only 3 other people in there (And it was ALOT bigger than The Sistine Chapel) It was so reverent. You would think twice about even breathing too hard. I felt so much honor and respect for the people that had such strong beliefs and convictions that they spend an unheard of amount of years building this amazing building. The black and white marble, the beautiful stained glass windows, and of coarse the friscos on the ceiling and that walls. All of it so amazing. For the most part I wandered in silence and in awe. However, there was one thing that made me chuckle. I watched a guy come in, and go over to the where the holy water should be. There was none. So he walked over to this red 5 gallon bucket that was next to a mop. I am pretty sure that it was mopping water ready to be used, or already used. Anyway, he walked over to it with out a thought, dipped his index finger and ring finger in it, crossed himself, clasped his hands together and a quick up and down on one knee. He just used the cleaning water to cross himself. I dont care where you are or who you are, THAT deserves a chuckle.
Anyway, hopefully I can get Em to post some pictures of Orvieto, cuz I had no camera. "Why"? you ask? Well, you see, we hopped on the train from Rome to Orvieto. It was a couple of hours train ride. When we finally got there, we hopped out of the train, got into the train station, and as soon as the train pulled away, I start patting down my own body, because I KNEW that I had forgotten something. Yep. I sure did.....MY FREAKING PURSE!! It was on the train. Luckily I had given my passport to Analee to hold while we were on the train. And I had my wallet in my pocket. So what I was losing was my IPod, a few books, and my camera. BUT, it was not MY camera. It was my good friend Erika's camera. So we walked over to the ticket window and Emily told the agent in the best Italian that she could, that her dumb ass cousin left her purse on the train. The ticket agent said she would see what she could do. But this train had a final destination of Milan. I let go of the idea of getting it back about 10 minutes after I lost it. I will just have to buy Erika a new camera.
SO, that is why I dont have any pictures of Orvieto. "But Alisa" you may be thinking "You have pictures of destinations AFTER Orvieto....but How?" Well, my little peanut, I will tell you how. A Miracle. That is how. But you will have to wait to hear about the miracle. (And this was NOT the only one on the trip.)
****WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT**** EMILY EMAILED ME PICTURES!!! So I will insert them in the story!!
So, we go get on the the tram type of thingy. It takes us up to the top of this hill where Orvieto is. Then from there we get on a little bus that takes us up further. Orvieto is....up. We got off the bus that takes us right in front of the Duomo. Now, trying to find an address in Italy is hard enough, but a small town like Orvieto, not easy. I know, I know, you are thinking, "But it is a SMALL town, how hard can it be?" Just trust me, not cake. So we wander through the small and narrow back allies. They are so enchanting.
So beautiful. Everything is so old. And we think it is amazing when we have a building that is preserved for 100 years. Well, try 800 years!!! Seriously. It is amazing. They dont tear anything down. They use it and use it and use it. There is a lesson there. So we finally make it to our place.
It only took about an hour of wandering. And it was a good wondering. So much to see. Our place felt like it was built into a cave. I thought it was groovy. It was a musty smell. An old smell. A smell of history. So we dumped our stuff off to wander and experience Orvieto. This is a place that people come for day trips. So dont get me wrong, there are tourists, but it is not like Rome. Hell it isnt like Sienna. It is small. You bet we got Gelato. Went to the Duomo, looked through some shops. Then went to a pizza place that Em LOVES. (She spent a summer in Orvieto one year). Now, let me tell you about the pizza in Orvieto. Well, in all of Italy it is different. It is not a heavy food like it is here. Fewer ingredients and FRESH FRESH FRESH!! The sauce is simple and not at all how we do it. It is so good! However, the size of these pizzas at this place......HUGE!! We had no idea that they would be twice the size of our heads. I got the caprese pizza. No sauce. Just Olive oil, Mozzerella, Basil and tomatoes. It was SO good! We sat outside, and overlooked the country. The mood there was so chill. I fell in love, quick and hard.
The next day we went up for breakfast with a few other people who where renting places from the same woman. Very nice people. One couple from Australia and one from Virgina. Both SUPER nice couples. The one from Virgina, Ralph and.....I cant remember her name, they have come to Orvieto on vacation for the last 6 years. They love it that much. After breakfast in our PJ's and crazy hair (Everyone else was dressed and primped....hahaha, we are the lazy Americans) we wandered more. When it was time to leave and catch our train, we got down to the train station and just asked the ticket agent...just in case my purse was found. The two male ticket agents had NO idea what we were talking about. Oh well, like I said, I let go of it 10 minutes after I realized I didnt have it. So we were outside waiting for our train, and this nice looking older gentleman came up to us and between his broken English and Emily's broken Italian, he let us know that my purse was at the next stop. SHUT UP!! So we thanked him and got on the train. We got off, went to the ticket counter and asked them if they had it. We were greeted with blank stares and shrugged shoulders. Then one guy said to check the police station. It was just right behind them. Sure enough, there it was. And everything was still there. Nothing had even shifted. WHEW!!! So THAT, my little peanuts, is the Miracle and the reason why I have no pictures of Orvieto. Ok. Now, eventually I will tell you about Sienna in detail. I will give you this- Sienna is beautiful, full of history, and some asshole waiters. I loved our two nights in Sienna.
I loved talking on the steps of the Duomo with Analee and Emily at 2 in the morning.
But I dont want to go through all the detail right now. I am developing Carpal Tunnel. From Sienna we went on to Cinque Terre. SO different from Orvieto or Sienna. Completely!! Right on the coast. 5 coastal towns. All so beautiful. Well, I imagine that Corniglia is beautiful, we never saw it. Only passed through on the train. We stayed in a 3 bedroom apartment in Riomiggore. It was SO cheap!! We had the place to ourselves and it cost 30 Euro per person per night. SERIOUSLY!!! This is where the other miracle happened. It was out last night there, we were walking up to our apartment that was not far from the train station, but was freaking vertical from it. We were hiking our asses up the road and I stopped. "STOP! WAIT!! THERE IS A FIREFLY!! WAIT, TWO... THREE.... FOUR!!" Now, let me tell you why this was a miracle. About an hour earlier, I had mentioned that the ONLY thing that could make this time MORE magical would be Fireflies. Fireflies are magical to me. They are enchanting. I love, love, love them. And we had not seen ANY on this trip. But, there they were, to make my time magical, just like I said. We looked around and there were a few more up the hill in some trees and bushes. But that was it. We never saw any more while we were there. It was AWESOME!!!
And, A picture of Cinque Terre.......
From Cinque Terre, we moved on to Milan. Only because we were flying out of Milan to Greece. We found our hostel, which was looking like it was down this scary alley that had about a dozen "Sexy Shops". Whew, it wasnt there. HOWEVER, when we did find it, it didnt have any AC and our window shared the same space of the busy, loud intersection. We then hopped the Metro to go see the Duomo. This one was AMAZING. It took 500 years to complete. Can you imagine it? We got there too late to go in or to go to the top. But the outside was amazing enough. And can you believe that there was not a camera between the three of us? Duh! You will just have to trust me on the awesomness of the Duomo. Then we wandered around the streets to find this resturant that Em went to last time she was there. She wanted to get the amazing pasta again. And, we found it! And of course she picked up a boyfriend while we there. Her "bed bug" and he called himself. It was funny.
And that is how clear the water is. Bath water. So awesome!!
How about this picture?
This doorway was built with a church originally. Then they (The Greeks) tore it down and built a temple. They kept the doorway. Then, they tore down the temple piece by piece because they needed the marble. But they left the door up. They now say that this is a portal to another world. All I can say is that the place it is in, absolutely seems like another world. Here, look at this picture of it at sunset.
I believe that is is a magic portal. I just didnt get the chance to walk through it. They have it chained off. Now, how can they make the claim that it is a a portal to another world, but not let you test it out? Believe me, if it were in ANY other place, I would call BS! But, since it IS in Greece, I choose to believe.
Anyway, so lets start my marble pebble beach story.
So, one of the days we were there, we decided to rent a car and explore the island. K, let me tell you how easy Greece is. So, we go to the car rental office on the dock and we tell them that we want to rent a car tomorrow. "Ok, 25 Euro" she says. Ok, when do we pay. "Oh, not now. Pay tomorrow when you get car." Uh, ok. No problem. Where do we get the car? "Where you stay?" We tell her. "You get car to your place of sleep tomorrow. We bring to you. You pay lady then." Uh Ok. So what you are telling me is that it is cheap to rent a car AND you will bring it to us? HELL YEAH! So, when do we need to return it and where? "Oh, maybe 10 o'clock? We come get it from you. You just leave key in car." SERIOUSLY!! Oh how I wish I had a picture of our car. It was a tiny 4 door chevy. And it didnt have a sun roof. No, the whole middle of the roof folded back. Analee was hanging out of the roof the ENTIRE time.
Anyway, we wandered through the island, took the windy roads, and drank Greek coke (yes it is different) and Greek Orange Fanta (yes, it is different). And again, let me say, Analee was hanging out of the top of the car the ENTIRE TIME! An hour or so into the trip, we were winding down the windy roads coming up on another small town when all of the sudden we were heading straight for a big old dump truck!!! Emily swerved out of the way, and we narrowly escaped being squished by a dump truck. I tell ya, as I am writing this, I am LAUGHING!! I totally understand if you are not, because I fail to paint the picture as well as I would like. But I laugh because I can just imagine what those two Greek men in the truck were thinking. "WHOA...MOVE!!! There is a small compact car with 3 screaming women in it and one of them is hanging our of the top!!!" Em and Analee are laughing with me. I know that they are. At the time, I was not laughing. Well, not totally. I wasnt even breathing. I could not catch my breath at all. Not because I was scared or pondering the "what-if's" of our near death experience. But because I was laughing/crying so hard. All I could picture is what our faces looked like to those two Greek trucker men. Anyway....here are a couple of the pictures I took on our trek......
I told the back story to how we decided to go on our trip on a previous post, so look at it. Analee and I flew into Spain first. We were there for one night. Honestly, Spain looks like Duchesne. No lie.
From there we flew to Rome. We were going to head on in to Orvieto, but Emily was not going to be in until the next day. So we stayed in Rome for a night. We went to see Vadican City and The Sistine Chapel. All wonderful sites. However, it was an uncommon and heavy 105 degrees in Rome that day. UGH!!! But worth it. Oh, AND I saw a celebrity.....twice!! Not two different ones, the same one, two different times. Who is a Big Love fan? I AM!! Ya know Margene? Yeah, I saw her!! Ginifer Godwin. I saw her when we were going into The Sistine Chapel, and then the next day in the train station while I was standing infront of McDonalds waiting for Em. I tried to take a picture without looking obvious. She was with some guy that I did not think was good looking at all. I was going to get behind her in the McDonalds line and softly say "Hi Margene.....does Bill know you are here with that man???" But who am I kidding, I talk WAY more daring than I actually DO. So I just let her be her without any crazy people making dumb ass comments.
So off to Orvieto we went. I have to say that this was my FAVORITE place. We were only there for one night. But it was so neat. When I close my eyes and think of Italy, this is the place. Small, Old, quaint, cobble stone streets (they all have cobblestone streets) and the most amazing Duomo. (Cathedral)
Now, when Analee and I visited The Sistine Chapel, it was nice. It was cool. We can say that we have seen it now. But they cram hundreds of people in there all at once. And in addition to all of the good things it is, it is also smelly, loud, and crowded. So that really took from the experience. Really, it was Eh. BUT, this Duomo in Orvieto was AMAZING!
We went in there and it took my breath away. There was only 3 other people in there (And it was ALOT bigger than The Sistine Chapel) It was so reverent. You would think twice about even breathing too hard. I felt so much honor and respect for the people that had such strong beliefs and convictions that they spend an unheard of amount of years building this amazing building. The black and white marble, the beautiful stained glass windows, and of coarse the friscos on the ceiling and that walls. All of it so amazing. For the most part I wandered in silence and in awe. However, there was one thing that made me chuckle. I watched a guy come in, and go over to the where the holy water should be. There was none. So he walked over to this red 5 gallon bucket that was next to a mop. I am pretty sure that it was mopping water ready to be used, or already used. Anyway, he walked over to it with out a thought, dipped his index finger and ring finger in it, crossed himself, clasped his hands together and a quick up and down on one knee. He just used the cleaning water to cross himself. I dont care where you are or who you are, THAT deserves a chuckle.
Anyway, hopefully I can get Em to post some pictures of Orvieto, cuz I had no camera. "Why"? you ask? Well, you see, we hopped on the train from Rome to Orvieto. It was a couple of hours train ride. When we finally got there, we hopped out of the train, got into the train station, and as soon as the train pulled away, I start patting down my own body, because I KNEW that I had forgotten something. Yep. I sure did.....MY FREAKING PURSE!! It was on the train. Luckily I had given my passport to Analee to hold while we were on the train. And I had my wallet in my pocket. So what I was losing was my IPod, a few books, and my camera. BUT, it was not MY camera. It was my good friend Erika's camera. So we walked over to the ticket window and Emily told the agent in the best Italian that she could, that her dumb ass cousin left her purse on the train. The ticket agent said she would see what she could do. But this train had a final destination of Milan. I let go of the idea of getting it back about 10 minutes after I lost it. I will just have to buy Erika a new camera.
SO, that is why I dont have any pictures of Orvieto. "But Alisa" you may be thinking "You have pictures of destinations AFTER Orvieto....but How?" Well, my little peanut, I will tell you how. A Miracle. That is how. But you will have to wait to hear about the miracle. (And this was NOT the only one on the trip.)
****WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT**** EMILY EMAILED ME PICTURES!!! So I will insert them in the story!!
So, we go get on the the tram type of thingy. It takes us up to the top of this hill where Orvieto is. Then from there we get on a little bus that takes us up further. Orvieto is....up. We got off the bus that takes us right in front of the Duomo. Now, trying to find an address in Italy is hard enough, but a small town like Orvieto, not easy. I know, I know, you are thinking, "But it is a SMALL town, how hard can it be?" Just trust me, not cake. So we wander through the small and narrow back allies. They are so enchanting.
So beautiful. Everything is so old. And we think it is amazing when we have a building that is preserved for 100 years. Well, try 800 years!!! Seriously. It is amazing. They dont tear anything down. They use it and use it and use it. There is a lesson there. So we finally make it to our place.
It only took about an hour of wandering. And it was a good wondering. So much to see. Our place felt like it was built into a cave. I thought it was groovy. It was a musty smell. An old smell. A smell of history. So we dumped our stuff off to wander and experience Orvieto. This is a place that people come for day trips. So dont get me wrong, there are tourists, but it is not like Rome. Hell it isnt like Sienna. It is small. You bet we got Gelato. Went to the Duomo, looked through some shops. Then went to a pizza place that Em LOVES. (She spent a summer in Orvieto one year). Now, let me tell you about the pizza in Orvieto. Well, in all of Italy it is different. It is not a heavy food like it is here. Fewer ingredients and FRESH FRESH FRESH!! The sauce is simple and not at all how we do it. It is so good! However, the size of these pizzas at this place......HUGE!! We had no idea that they would be twice the size of our heads. I got the caprese pizza. No sauce. Just Olive oil, Mozzerella, Basil and tomatoes. It was SO good! We sat outside, and overlooked the country. The mood there was so chill. I fell in love, quick and hard.The next day we went up for breakfast with a few other people who where renting places from the same woman. Very nice people. One couple from Australia and one from Virgina. Both SUPER nice couples. The one from Virgina, Ralph and.....I cant remember her name, they have come to Orvieto on vacation for the last 6 years. They love it that much. After breakfast in our PJ's and crazy hair (Everyone else was dressed and primped....hahaha, we are the lazy Americans) we wandered more. When it was time to leave and catch our train, we got down to the train station and just asked the ticket agent...just in case my purse was found. The two male ticket agents had NO idea what we were talking about. Oh well, like I said, I let go of it 10 minutes after I realized I didnt have it. So we were outside waiting for our train, and this nice looking older gentleman came up to us and between his broken English and Emily's broken Italian, he let us know that my purse was at the next stop. SHUT UP!! So we thanked him and got on the train. We got off, went to the ticket counter and asked them if they had it. We were greeted with blank stares and shrugged shoulders. Then one guy said to check the police station. It was just right behind them. Sure enough, there it was. And everything was still there. Nothing had even shifted. WHEW!!! So THAT, my little peanuts, is the Miracle and the reason why I have no pictures of Orvieto. Ok. Now, eventually I will tell you about Sienna in detail. I will give you this- Sienna is beautiful, full of history, and some asshole waiters. I loved our two nights in Sienna.
I loved talking on the steps of the Duomo with Analee and Emily at 2 in the morning.
But I dont want to go through all the detail right now. I am developing Carpal Tunnel. From Sienna we went on to Cinque Terre. SO different from Orvieto or Sienna. Completely!! Right on the coast. 5 coastal towns. All so beautiful. Well, I imagine that Corniglia is beautiful, we never saw it. Only passed through on the train. We stayed in a 3 bedroom apartment in Riomiggore. It was SO cheap!! We had the place to ourselves and it cost 30 Euro per person per night. SERIOUSLY!!! This is where the other miracle happened. It was out last night there, we were walking up to our apartment that was not far from the train station, but was freaking vertical from it. We were hiking our asses up the road and I stopped. "STOP! WAIT!! THERE IS A FIREFLY!! WAIT, TWO... THREE.... FOUR!!" Now, let me tell you why this was a miracle. About an hour earlier, I had mentioned that the ONLY thing that could make this time MORE magical would be Fireflies. Fireflies are magical to me. They are enchanting. I love, love, love them. And we had not seen ANY on this trip. But, there they were, to make my time magical, just like I said. We looked around and there were a few more up the hill in some trees and bushes. But that was it. We never saw any more while we were there. It was AWESOME!!!
And, A picture of Cinque Terre.......
From Cinque Terre, we moved on to Milan. Only because we were flying out of Milan to Greece. We found our hostel, which was looking like it was down this scary alley that had about a dozen "Sexy Shops". Whew, it wasnt there. HOWEVER, when we did find it, it didnt have any AC and our window shared the same space of the busy, loud intersection. We then hopped the Metro to go see the Duomo. This one was AMAZING. It took 500 years to complete. Can you imagine it? We got there too late to go in or to go to the top. But the outside was amazing enough. And can you believe that there was not a camera between the three of us? Duh! You will just have to trust me on the awesomness of the Duomo. Then we wandered around the streets to find this resturant that Em went to last time she was there. She wanted to get the amazing pasta again. And, we found it! And of course she picked up a boyfriend while we there. Her "bed bug" and he called himself. It was funny.
Off to Greece we go. Landed in Athens, took the X96 to the port. Found the counter for our ferry company, got our tickets and we were told we needed to get to Port E2. We were at Port E8. Alright, 6 ports....we can walk that. Well, the ticket agent said, "No, you will want to take a bus." Well, we didnt listen. We started walking and walking and walking and walking and walking.....HOLY HELL!!! We were only at Port E6!!! TAXI!!!! Well... hello.... we get a taxi that is being driven by a VERY VERY beautiful man. We told him we needed to get to Port E2 and FAST! And FAST is what he did. Seriously, he was going on the wrong side of the road to get us there quicker. I cant remember his name, but I really appreciated his "Fastness" and his beautiful warm chocolate brown eyes, his perfect lips, his beautiful dark skin and I had to appreciate his red pants. I am not sure why, but in Europe, men cant help but to wear Red, orange, and fucia pants. No lie. But when you look like our Greek God cabbie (Even though he didnt look Greek at all) you can wear whatever you want. Or nothing at all....wait, that is later in the story. (But NOT about a Greek God) We got to our Ferry on time. WHEW! They were already boarding. And this was the last one from the port that night. So we were ready for our 5 hour Ferry ride to Naxos. It went by fast. Here are a few pictures....
This is the BEST picture of Athens. Wanna know why? Because it is getting further and further away. I DID NOT LIKE ATHENS!!!
But then I got to take this picture....
This is the sunset on the Ferry from Athens to Naxos.....So AWESOME!!!
So, we get to Naxos at 1 a.m.! And we are greeted by the guy that runs the place we are staying. Pension Sofi is the name of the place, and this guys wife's name is Rena, but I cant remember his name. But it sounded like Thor. So that is what we decided to call him. Thor. So, we were warmly greeted by Thor. He took us to our place, got us all set up and told us to please let them know if we need anything! He meant it too. So we got there in the dark. It was hard to see the island. We would have to wait until morning. No problem! We were "bushed". (as Em would put it) So, wanna see what we got to wake up to and look at every day?
THIS!
Seriously! Then we would go down to the dock, and eat outside. YUMMY FOOD!!!
So, we get to Naxos at 1 a.m.! And we are greeted by the guy that runs the place we are staying. Pension Sofi is the name of the place, and this guys wife's name is Rena, but I cant remember his name. But it sounded like Thor. So that is what we decided to call him. Thor. So, we were warmly greeted by Thor. He took us to our place, got us all set up and told us to please let them know if we need anything! He meant it too. So we got there in the dark. It was hard to see the island. We would have to wait until morning. No problem! We were "bushed". (as Em would put it) So, wanna see what we got to wake up to and look at every day?
THIS!
Seriously! Then we would go down to the dock, and eat outside. YUMMY FOOD!!!
Some places to eat on the dock.....
Then we would go to the beach. Now, Naxos is a huge exporter of marble. They have marble quarry's up in the hills. They are pretty spectacular. But that makes it so the beaches are marble pebble beaches. They are SO beautiful!!! This picture doesnt do it justice, but it is what I have.
And another one....
And that is how clear the water is. Bath water. So awesome!!
How about this picture?
This doorway was built with a church originally. Then they (The Greeks) tore it down and built a temple. They kept the doorway. Then, they tore down the temple piece by piece because they needed the marble. But they left the door up. They now say that this is a portal to another world. All I can say is that the place it is in, absolutely seems like another world. Here, look at this picture of it at sunset.
I believe that is is a magic portal. I just didnt get the chance to walk through it. They have it chained off. Now, how can they make the claim that it is a a portal to another world, but not let you test it out? Believe me, if it were in ANY other place, I would call BS! But, since it IS in Greece, I choose to believe.
Anyway, so lets start my marble pebble beach story.
So, one of the days we were there, we decided to rent a car and explore the island. K, let me tell you how easy Greece is. So, we go to the car rental office on the dock and we tell them that we want to rent a car tomorrow. "Ok, 25 Euro" she says. Ok, when do we pay. "Oh, not now. Pay tomorrow when you get car." Uh, ok. No problem. Where do we get the car? "Where you stay?" We tell her. "You get car to your place of sleep tomorrow. We bring to you. You pay lady then." Uh Ok. So what you are telling me is that it is cheap to rent a car AND you will bring it to us? HELL YEAH! So, when do we need to return it and where? "Oh, maybe 10 o'clock? We come get it from you. You just leave key in car." SERIOUSLY!! Oh how I wish I had a picture of our car. It was a tiny 4 door chevy. And it didnt have a sun roof. No, the whole middle of the roof folded back. Analee was hanging out of the roof the ENTIRE time.
Anyway, we wandered through the island, took the windy roads, and drank Greek coke (yes it is different) and Greek Orange Fanta (yes, it is different). And again, let me say, Analee was hanging out of the top of the car the ENTIRE TIME! An hour or so into the trip, we were winding down the windy roads coming up on another small town when all of the sudden we were heading straight for a big old dump truck!!! Emily swerved out of the way, and we narrowly escaped being squished by a dump truck. I tell ya, as I am writing this, I am LAUGHING!! I totally understand if you are not, because I fail to paint the picture as well as I would like. But I laugh because I can just imagine what those two Greek men in the truck were thinking. "WHOA...MOVE!!! There is a small compact car with 3 screaming women in it and one of them is hanging our of the top!!!" Em and Analee are laughing with me. I know that they are. At the time, I was not laughing. Well, not totally. I wasnt even breathing. I could not catch my breath at all. Not because I was scared or pondering the "what-if's" of our near death experience. But because I was laughing/crying so hard. All I could picture is what our faces looked like to those two Greek trucker men. Anyway....here are a couple of the pictures I took on our trek......
This is one of the Marble Quarry's I speak of.
So we get back in our car and head....towards the beach we want to go to. More winding roads, more small towns, but we went through one called Moni. And this one was AWESOME. We could smell fresh baking bread, and sure enough as we turn one of the corners, there is a small bakery. Oh, we MUST stop. And we did. First in the middle of the road. Then we tunred around and tried to squeeze in between a pile of wood and a couple of old motorcycles on the side of the road. But we did it.
This picture is of Analee and Em standing in from of the building next to the bakery.
This is a couple pictures of the cute little baker lady. She was SO sweet!! So So Nice!! They all were. Everyone in Greece is just really nice!!!!
K, this is where I change some names. ;) So, Me, Analou, and Emiline are on the beach for about 2 minutes when Emiline states, "This is beautiful....I am taking my top off." And indeed she did. Off comes her top. To that Analou agrees "Yes, it is quite beautiful....I am taking my top off as well." And to that, her top comes off as well. Then about 2 minutes after that, Emiline declares "Screw it, I am getting naked!!" And with that off come her swim suit bottoms. Well, with in seconds Analou's bottoms come off as well with a "ME TOO!!" Meanwhile, I am staying quite comfortable with my suit on. All the way on. Well, we got in the water a little bit. But really, the pebbles on this beach were UH-MAZING!!
This is the beach I speak of.
So we spent most of our time picking through the pebbles. Now, the only funny thing that happened to me was that I didnt put a lick of sunscreen on my body. Not an ounce. It felt too good. It didnt feel like I was getting burned at all. But alas....I felt my redness about 15 minutes after we got home. However, Emiline and Analou did not get burned. As we were sorting through the pebbles, Emiline walked further down the beach. (Let me remind you she is VERY naked) Analou and I stayed near each other. At one point I looked down the beach and there was Emiline laying on her tummy on the beach, fiddlin with the pebbles.
About 10 minutes later I looked down the beach again, and I noticed two people coming towards the water. Actually heading right towards Emiline. But they didnt see her yet. I smiled....chuckled, and thought..."They have no idea what lies ahead". Well, as they got closer, I could see that they were two men. They didnt seem to be together. Analou then looked up and laughed and said, "Shoot, Emiline is caught." Emiline continues to stay on her tummy, engrossed in the rocks. One of the men seemed to look in his 50's and the other in his early 40's. The one in his 50's started walking down the beach and towards us. He had no idea that he was about to stumble upon another nude maiden. Analou saw him coming, and said "Shoot, Shoot, here he comes". But she simply crossed her legs and had her arm across her boobs sifting through rocks. He saw nothing. He went to the end of the beach, back, and then left. HOWEVER, the other man (I will not refer to him as gentleman anymore) was thinkin "Hell Yeah!" And started wondering down the beach towards us.
Now, keep in mind that he was wandering on a pretty big beach. There is lots of walking room. But, as he started on his wander towards us, he didnt walk AROUND Emiline like a normal human would......nope, he stepped over her bare ass!!! Yup!! TOTALLY STEPPED OVER HER BARE ASS IN THE SUN!!!! As I write this, I STILL cant believe it!! So mister icky proceeds to wander down our way. He walks past us, then again, then again and then AGAIN!! Everytime, acting as if he is stretching. Retard. So, he makes it back to where Emiline is STILL laying on her tummy on the rocks. He takes his shorts off, and just kinda waits. Then....THEN......He flops his junk out of his speedos!!! NO LIE!!! Now let me make sure you understand what I am describing to you. He didnt take his speedos off. He still had them on, he simply reached into his speedos, grabbed his junk....ALL OF IT....and flops it out...as if it were suffocating and needed air. Speedos on, only they were only covering his ass. Junk flopped. And he proceeds to stand by Emiline. Just standing there with his junk out. Well, this whole time Emiline is thinking, "Stay focused on your rocks.....stay with the rocks....busy with the rocks....." Hoping that he would just go away. Well, he made it clear with his junk flop that he is not going anywhere!! So, Emiline gets up, rocks covering the front of her body in a mosiac fashion, and walked into the water. She is going to walk/swim over to us in the water. So junk flopper thinks this is an invitation of sorts. And with his junk still flopped out, he proceeds into the water as well. As Emiline starts towards us in the water, he starts yelling after her "No, come back! Vacation? Swim? Talk! Come! Come! COME HERE!" Uh... huh...right....that is going to work. Emiline shakes her head "No!" and keeps telling him that as she gets to us.
So we are all together. Then we look down the beach and junk flopper has gotten out of the water. He goes over to his stuff and he then takes his speedo off. Now he is totally nude, as if that is going to do the trick and Emiline is going to run to him, throw his naked body on the ground and start doing what he was imagining. Yeah. Right. He got in the water, got out. Looked as if he was deciding to wander back down to our end of the beach or not. Then, as if someone who flops their junk out has any sense in the first place, he seems to muster up a small amount of sense, and he gets dressed and he leaves. FINALLY Emiline is able to go back down to that end of the beach and get her rocks and shoes.
This is a local guy and his donkeys. I liked it.
These are the windmills. Man, everything here is so amazing!!
This statue is over 3000 years old!!! Wrap your head around that! His girlfriend (the other statue) is a little bit further up the mountain.
These are the windmills. Man, everything here is so amazing!!
This statue is over 3000 years old!!! Wrap your head around that! His girlfriend (the other statue) is a little bit further up the mountain.
So we get back in our car and head....towards the beach we want to go to. More winding roads, more small towns, but we went through one called Moni. And this one was AWESOME. We could smell fresh baking bread, and sure enough as we turn one of the corners, there is a small bakery. Oh, we MUST stop. And we did. First in the middle of the road. Then we tunred around and tried to squeeze in between a pile of wood and a couple of old motorcycles on the side of the road. But we did it.
This picture is of Analee and Em standing in from of the building next to the bakery.
This is a couple pictures of the cute little baker lady. She was SO sweet!! So So Nice!! They all were. Everyone in Greece is just really nice!!!!
Ok, so Finally we get to the beach we were heading towards. There is NO ONE there. Seriously, NO ONE. This is supposed to be the most popular/beautiful beach on the island. And I am not lying when I say that NO ONE was there. I have no idea as to why I dont have any pictures of it. But there was sand almost up to the water. But where the sand ended, the marble pebbles started. The water, again, bath water. So clear!! So awesome!! ......(Sorry, taking a break for a minute for some rockin out to Pink Floyd with Grace....)......K, thanks for letting me do that.
K, this is where I change some names. ;) So, Me, Analou, and Emiline are on the beach for about 2 minutes when Emiline states, "This is beautiful....I am taking my top off." And indeed she did. Off comes her top. To that Analou agrees "Yes, it is quite beautiful....I am taking my top off as well." And to that, her top comes off as well. Then about 2 minutes after that, Emiline declares "Screw it, I am getting naked!!" And with that off come her swim suit bottoms. Well, with in seconds Analou's bottoms come off as well with a "ME TOO!!" Meanwhile, I am staying quite comfortable with my suit on. All the way on. Well, we got in the water a little bit. But really, the pebbles on this beach were UH-MAZING!!
This is the beach I speak of.
So we spent most of our time picking through the pebbles. Now, the only funny thing that happened to me was that I didnt put a lick of sunscreen on my body. Not an ounce. It felt too good. It didnt feel like I was getting burned at all. But alas....I felt my redness about 15 minutes after we got home. However, Emiline and Analou did not get burned. As we were sorting through the pebbles, Emiline walked further down the beach. (Let me remind you she is VERY naked) Analou and I stayed near each other. At one point I looked down the beach and there was Emiline laying on her tummy on the beach, fiddlin with the pebbles.
About 10 minutes later I looked down the beach again, and I noticed two people coming towards the water. Actually heading right towards Emiline. But they didnt see her yet. I smiled....chuckled, and thought..."They have no idea what lies ahead". Well, as they got closer, I could see that they were two men. They didnt seem to be together. Analou then looked up and laughed and said, "Shoot, Emiline is caught." Emiline continues to stay on her tummy, engrossed in the rocks. One of the men seemed to look in his 50's and the other in his early 40's. The one in his 50's started walking down the beach and towards us. He had no idea that he was about to stumble upon another nude maiden. Analou saw him coming, and said "Shoot, Shoot, here he comes". But she simply crossed her legs and had her arm across her boobs sifting through rocks. He saw nothing. He went to the end of the beach, back, and then left. HOWEVER, the other man (I will not refer to him as gentleman anymore) was thinkin "Hell Yeah!" And started wondering down the beach towards us.
Now, keep in mind that he was wandering on a pretty big beach. There is lots of walking room. But, as he started on his wander towards us, he didnt walk AROUND Emiline like a normal human would......nope, he stepped over her bare ass!!! Yup!! TOTALLY STEPPED OVER HER BARE ASS IN THE SUN!!!! As I write this, I STILL cant believe it!! So mister icky proceeds to wander down our way. He walks past us, then again, then again and then AGAIN!! Everytime, acting as if he is stretching. Retard. So, he makes it back to where Emiline is STILL laying on her tummy on the rocks. He takes his shorts off, and just kinda waits. Then....THEN......He flops his junk out of his speedos!!! NO LIE!!! Now let me make sure you understand what I am describing to you. He didnt take his speedos off. He still had them on, he simply reached into his speedos, grabbed his junk....ALL OF IT....and flops it out...as if it were suffocating and needed air. Speedos on, only they were only covering his ass. Junk flopped. And he proceeds to stand by Emiline. Just standing there with his junk out. Well, this whole time Emiline is thinking, "Stay focused on your rocks.....stay with the rocks....busy with the rocks....." Hoping that he would just go away. Well, he made it clear with his junk flop that he is not going anywhere!! So, Emiline gets up, rocks covering the front of her body in a mosiac fashion, and walked into the water. She is going to walk/swim over to us in the water. So junk flopper thinks this is an invitation of sorts. And with his junk still flopped out, he proceeds into the water as well. As Emiline starts towards us in the water, he starts yelling after her "No, come back! Vacation? Swim? Talk! Come! Come! COME HERE!" Uh... huh...right....that is going to work. Emiline shakes her head "No!" and keeps telling him that as she gets to us.
So we are all together. Then we look down the beach and junk flopper has gotten out of the water. He goes over to his stuff and he then takes his speedo off. Now he is totally nude, as if that is going to do the trick and Emiline is going to run to him, throw his naked body on the ground and start doing what he was imagining. Yeah. Right. He got in the water, got out. Looked as if he was deciding to wander back down to our end of the beach or not. Then, as if someone who flops their junk out has any sense in the first place, he seems to muster up a small amount of sense, and he gets dressed and he leaves. FINALLY Emiline is able to go back down to that end of the beach and get her rocks and shoes.
We continued with the rock finding for a few more hours, then we headed back to the room, Emiline and Analou had a fishing date with Thor. I, however, had a date with some aloe, sliced cool cucumbers, and cool sheets.
We had a really wonderful day ahead of us the next day. You see, Analee was GOING to get out on the water on a sailboat!! She wandered the dock the day before, and found a german sailor that took people out on day trips on his sail boat. Now, wanna know his name? I wanna tell you his name!! KOOTER!! Our german captains name was KOOTER!! I dont have a picture of him, but I think that Analee or Emily does.
So, the next day, May 31st, and Emily's 33rd birthday, we met Kooter at the the dock at 10 am. We were going sailing to a swim spot and then to the island of Paros. This was an 8 hour trip. To and from. The way there was not bad. Let me tell you, I have never been on a sailboat. But I dont normally get motion sickness. Analee had given us motion sickness patches before we got on the ferry in Athens. But that thing was so solid and steady, we didnt need it. HOWEVER....this sailboat....NOT so solid and steady. Like I said, it wasnt so bad. But I was NOT feeling great. I could not tell if it was because I was oh so sunburned, or because I was starting to feel a cold coming on. Oh, did I mention that we were taking this sailboat adventure with 3 other german couples? Well, we were. And I think that they were TOTALLY afraid of us. There could have been many reasons. We were loud and obnoxious by comparison, I am sure that they thought I would sink the boat with my fat ass, and then there was singing Analee. I love her so much!! I love how free she is. She does what she wants.
So, the next day, May 31st, and Emily's 33rd birthday, we met Kooter at the the dock at 10 am. We were going sailing to a swim spot and then to the island of Paros. This was an 8 hour trip. To and from. The way there was not bad. Let me tell you, I have never been on a sailboat. But I dont normally get motion sickness. Analee had given us motion sickness patches before we got on the ferry in Athens. But that thing was so solid and steady, we didnt need it. HOWEVER....this sailboat....NOT so solid and steady. Like I said, it wasnt so bad. But I was NOT feeling great. I could not tell if it was because I was oh so sunburned, or because I was starting to feel a cold coming on. Oh, did I mention that we were taking this sailboat adventure with 3 other german couples? Well, we were. And I think that they were TOTALLY afraid of us. There could have been many reasons. We were loud and obnoxious by comparison, I am sure that they thought I would sink the boat with my fat ass, and then there was singing Analee. I love her so much!! I love how free she is. She does what she wants.
So this is the picture. The three of us were on the front of the boat, the bow..? (I so dont know the lingo) And the rest of them, all 7 of them, were all huddled in the back of the boat. I was sitting to one side of the boat in the front, Emily on the other, and Analee laying on her back, spread eagle right in the front where it come to a point. She had her eyes closed, IPod on , singing at the top of her lungs. YAY for her!! She was doing EXACTLY what she wanted, and she had never done it before. The germans, however, didnt look like they appreciated this like Emily and I did.
We get to the swimming hole and I just didnt want to get out and swim. Analee and Emily did and a few of the others did as well. Then it was off to Paros.
This is Paros. I remember EXACTLY what I was thinking as I took this picture. I was listening to my IPod. Listening to Ryan Adams. And I was thinking "I am on a freaking sailboat sailing the Freaking Aegean Sea" I cant even explain to you how that felt.
We get off the boat in Paros. We wandered a little bit. We didnt go too far into town, hell, not at all. We were only there for 2 hours. We settled on a place to eat. Looked at the menu and decided what to eat. Holy cow, we ALWAYS got so much food. Emily and I wanted to try everything! What if it was the best thing in the world and we didnt try it??? So, we agreed that we would get a greek salad to share, some mousaka, and something else....what to get? So we asked the waiter guy. Then we saw "Strange" on the menu. We asked him what it was. He said "Oh, I cant explain....uh...oh...it just strange. But, I tell you this, for 9 years people order, I give and they NEVER send back" Hmmmm.....ok. Give us an order of "Strange." THEN we order what we ARENT sharing. Seriously, we always ordered SO MUCH FOOD!! So, the Greek salad was good. It was typical. Then, out came the "Strange". Well, here is the truth. We didnt know if it was the "Strange" or the Mousaka. We had never seen either. And we could not find our guy to ask him. So we just dug in. Let me tell you what we were digging into. The top, Cheese. That is always good. Then from there, what do I taste? Is that mustard. Yes, Mustard. Hmmm...is that diced ham? YES, Diced ham. Hmmmm....I swear I taste tuna fish. Indeed I do....see, that looks just like tuna fish..FROM A CAN. Wait, Wait...that is french fries too. Honestly, I have NO idea what else was in there. We didnt finish it. And I figured out his play on words. He said no one has "sent it back." Well no duh they havent sent it back! They just dont finish it! They dont want to send it back because they have NO idea what you are going to do to their other food if they do. Then the mousaka. NOT GOOD!! I have no idea what was in it. Some sort of minced meat, and squishy stuff on top. DONT GET THE MOUSAKA!! Step away from it! Dont even get curious about it. Then out came my plate. Stuffed tomato and a stuffed pepper. It tasted pretty good.
After lunch, we wandered more. Then we headed back to Kooter and the sailboat. The rest of the germans made it over to us and we took off. Now, the way back to Naxos was not as "smooth" as on the to Paros. The water was so so so choppy and we were near vertical for most of the time. I tried to get comfortable. I shifted, my tummy yelled at me. I moved around, goton my feet. about an hour of this, and I could see Naxos in sight. But you see, that meant nothing, other than I could see it. It was not close. Not at all. I thought that was rude. Cuz I didnt feel good. So,then I got up, and my stomach did a flip then tied itself in a knot. I wobbled over to Kooter and said "Kooter, do you have a bag? I am going to be sick." He says "Oh, zust go on zee uzzer side of zee boat, get sick on zat side." And that is what I did. As soon as I got to the cable rail, out it came. The Strange, the salad, the mousaka, the tomato and the pepper. Twice. I looked over my right shoulder to the germans, and there was one woman that had the most terrified look on her face. I just grinned. Then I sat on the edge of the boat, feeling quite good, watching Naxos getting closer and closer.
This is post throw up......
After lunch, we wandered more. Then we headed back to Kooter and the sailboat. The rest of the germans made it over to us and we took off. Now, the way back to Naxos was not as "smooth" as on the to Paros. The water was so so so choppy and we were near vertical for most of the time. I tried to get comfortable. I shifted, my tummy yelled at me. I moved around, goton my feet. about an hour of this, and I could see Naxos in sight. But you see, that meant nothing, other than I could see it. It was not close. Not at all. I thought that was rude. Cuz I didnt feel good. So,then I got up, and my stomach did a flip then tied itself in a knot. I wobbled over to Kooter and said "Kooter, do you have a bag? I am going to be sick." He says "Oh, zust go on zee uzzer side of zee boat, get sick on zat side." And that is what I did. As soon as I got to the cable rail, out it came. The Strange, the salad, the mousaka, the tomato and the pepper. Twice. I looked over my right shoulder to the germans, and there was one woman that had the most terrified look on her face. I just grinned. Then I sat on the edge of the boat, feeling quite good, watching Naxos getting closer and closer.
This is post throw up......
We got back to Naxos and Kooter and the Germans asked us if we would like to join them for a beer. Ahhh, that was a nice invite. But we KNEW that is was not a genuine invite. They were just being nice. And the truth was, we werent any more interested in spending more time with them than they were with us. Not for any particular reason. They weren't mean by any means. We were just the odd ones out. Heavy on the ODD. :)
K, so this post has literally taken me hours. Those are the highlights of my amazing adventure with two UH-MAZING women. I will go again. In the next year or so. I LOVED IT! I am so glad that I got to go with Analee and get to know her in a different way. And I am so grateful that I got to know Emily this way. I love them both so much. They are both so so amazing.
So with that, here are a few more pictures of Greece.
And with that, I am saying good night. I hope you have liked my stories. I have like writing about them. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
Thanks for stopping by!!!
-A
I was dying laughing on your junk story...thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading, but my eyes are tired now!
ReplyDeleteHilarious and amazing! Thanks for going through the effort of posting all that. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Love you lots!
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you crack me up! GREAT stories! I loved the one about the icky junk flopper! THAT is hilarious! I loved reading every minute of your post and it was fun to see the pictures along with the stories! ALSO...loved your comment about BRANDI and LOVED that you were listening to <3 Ryan Adams on the sailboat! I wish I could afford to travel with you! BUT, my travelin' dollars must be saved for CAYAMO! Woot Woot! Thanks for sharing your funny memories! Sounds like you had to very fun traveling companions! LUV YA! :0)
ReplyDeleteYou are hilar!
ReplyDeleteYou should have your own show on the Travel Channel.
Love it, love it love it!! When you come to visit me in England, we will have some amazing adventures that you can add to your European awesomeness.
ReplyDelete