Spring Time in Greece (T)
Trip Start
Jan 05, 2010
1
19
22
Trip End
May 06, 2010
Chania, Crete, Greece
Monday, March 29, 2010
We arrived in Greece to a world of white. The contrast between India was apparent immediately when we stepped out of the terminal and were greeted by...nobody. The absence of people trying to get us into a taxi or send us to a hotel, stopped us in our tracks. We preceded to the information desk where a woman was able to explain the public transportation system to us, gave us maps of Athens, highlighted on the map where to get off the Metro train and walked us to the door of the airport smiling and waving all the way. WOW!
We spent two days in Athens checking out the sights; the Acropolis, the theater of Dionysus, Zeus's Temple and multiple gelatorias. We ate feta cheese, salad, olive oil and steak like we had been rescued after being adrift at sea for a month. We walked the ancient streets and tried to imagined the world 2000-3000 years ago. Next we jumped aboard a ferry bound for the island of Crete. Our ferry, to my surprise, was the size of a Carnival cruise liner, complete with escalators and lounges equipped with HDTV's and lazy-boys. Our tickets for the overnight voyage were for deck seating, which means no bed but you can sleep anywhere you like. To the dismay and jealousy of all the other passengers we pulled out our Thermarests and sleeping bags (complete with airplane pillows "borrowed" from China airlines) laid out on the floor and slept soundly the whole night through. From our arrival port in Herakilion we caught a couple of buses to the little town of Plakias on the southern coast. For three days (one of which was my 30th birthday) we laid in the sun on the beach, hiked through 500-1000 year old olive groves and pristine river canyons and ate amazing food.
Spring is in full bloom here, which lessens the void that missing spring in Oregon created. It is interesting to note that when we talk about missing home, the conversation often revolves around missing something sprouting, blooming, growing, not growing, not getting enough water, etc. I hope this does not offend any loved ones. We miss all of you also, but your inability to pollinate things, encase yourself in endosperm and/or hybridize makes you slightly less interesting:) We have a disease (that we obviously keep passing back and forth) called Floraphilia and the farther west we travel the more familiar the flora is becoming. On one of our hikes Kerissa and I were able to identify 15-20 plants and recognize more. l guess that we are plant nerds wherever we are in the world. We decided to stay on Crete for the remainder of our time instead of hopping some of the smaller islands. I guess that we'll just have to come back!!!
Comments
Hey! I'm still interesting, endosperm or no endosperm!
Thanks for writing...and the photos! and that bed looks scrumptious...
and the toilet! yeah...that whole mindset of ours. This is why it's so good to travel...to see that what we are used to is just that...not bad or good or right or wrong... just what we are used to. (Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of clean toilets!).
I'm glad you are resting and enjoying --and happy Birthday!
love,
Marian
I'm a floraphiliac. I bleed flowers. This makes me very interesting.