Greece, Part I

Saturday, October 13th: We departed Harrogate at 10 am; 16 hours later we arrived at our hotel in Athens. Seeing as how it was 2 am, we crashed. Sunday: We saw the Greek version of the changing of the guard, ate our first authentic gyros, and spent the remainder of the day at the Acropolis, where the Parthenon is located, as well as 4-5 other sites around the city. The architecture and history there = AMAZING! Monday: We caught the 7:30 am 5 hour long ferry ride to the island of Santorini. We explored the city of Oia, took lots of pictures, watched a beautiful sunset, ate dinner, and went to bed.

Tuesday was the most eventful day: We caught a bus in attempt to see an archaeological excavation, but when we reached the destination we discovered it was closed. Boo! (A British guy was killed at the site 2 years ago and it hasn't reopened to the public since.) So instead, we walked to the red sand beach and made some American friends on the way, Vanessa and Paul. After the beach, we went back to their hotel for lunch. Several hours later, we had reservations for a sailboat cruise and headed to the "old port" where we were supposed to meet. The tricky part was that the old port was waaaay down at the water level compared to the entire city which was built up on the top of tall cliffs. So in order to get down to the port, you had to either walk down 600 stairs, catch a cable car, or ride a donkey down. As usual, the Riggs had budgeted JUST BARELY enough time to make our boat's departure. We were aiming for the cable car ride, but the forever long line forced us to do otherwise. This is where the fun comes in. Our trusty tour book said the 600 ankle-breaking cobblestone stairs (where you have to avoid heaps of donkey dung) take approximately 20 minutes to get down and well, we only had 10. So the running began. I couldn't keep up with Brandon so he told me to go at the fastest pace I could and he would sprint down and hold the boat for me. He took off and was immediately out of sight. I was flying by the normal, walking people and was probably at the 400th stair mark when I heard a voice say, "And there she goes!" I looked back and saw our friend Paul. He and his wife were going on the same boat cruise and seeing him was enough of an excuse to stop running and catch my breath. I walked down the rest of the way and we made the boat just in time. :) Somehow, amazingly, Brandon ran down all 600 steps in 8 minutes. Wow. What a way to start our activity! The boat took us to a nearby active volcano where we got out and hiked to the top. In certain spots, you could see yellow smoke oozing out of the ground, which was cool, but other than that it just looked like a mountain made of black rock. Next, we motored over to some natural hot springs created by the volcano in the Aegean Sea. We had to jump off the boat (or dive if you're Brandon and lower yourself down if you're Lisa) and swim through freezing cold water to get to the hot springs. It was definitely worth it though. Shortly afterwards, we arrived back at the port and had to go back up. This time we opted for the donkey ride. It was crazy. These donkeys were very aggressive and literally raced each other to get to the top first. They rammed each other so as to not get passed, and with a pack of donkeys going down and a pack of donkeys going up at the same time there was a lot of traffic jams and road rage. It was so insane! My donkey was really fast and passed a whole group of people. We ended up being the head of the pack and were the first ones at the top. First place for me! :) We have some great footage on the whole experience that I will be sure to post. After we showered and cleaned up we met Vanessa and Paul at their place for some appetizers, wine, and a stunning sunset. We all went out to eat together and then made our way to bed.

Well, this concludes the first portion of our trip. Up next, Naxos, Mykonos, Delos, and a final day in Athens.