I had the most wonderful Spring break I could ever ask for! I am so blessed for the opportunities I've had since I've been here, and this trip was definitely my favorite of them all. (Thanks mom and dad, I love you guys!!!! :D )
We started off in Athens, the capitol of Greece. We decided to stay in a hotel instead of a hostel this time. One, because we were there for a whole week and wanted to be able to have our own space instead of sharing with a bunch of others, and two, because we got a KILLER deal through Expedia!
Our hotel was AMAZING! On the rooftop we had a GORGEOUS view of the acropolis, especially at night. Unfortunately my camera takes the best pictures during the day so none from nighttime turned out too good.
Being landlocked, we have missed the water a LOT. So the first day we immediately found water! At the time we were just in awe at this, thinking it was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen...but you'll see later that we were soon proven wrong!
The second day we went exploring around Athens. All of the big tourist attractions were within walking distance of our hotel. We saw a lot of different Greek ruins including the acropolis, Parthenon, Zeuss's temple, and more!
We bought a ticket for only 6 Euro that got us into almost all of the attractions! Good deal :)
I always love Palm trees, no matter where they are :)
This theatre is still used for shows! Unfortunately they do not start shows until the summer. But we found it to be the perfect place to take a Coug flag photo!
We tried to take a picture with the Coug flag here as well, but after we took the picture a worker came running over blowing the whistle at us yelling "Delete! Delete!" Apparently you can't have any type of symbol in pictures with the Parthenon....woops!
This is my absolute favorite picture from the entire trip! I can't help but laugh every time I look at it!
About 2 minutes from our hotel is a flea market that is open every day. We spent a lot of time wandering around, looking at jewelry and eating gelato :)
We stumbled upon this little spa called Dr. Fish. We had just heard about this from a group of tourists on the train so we decided to try it out. You stick your feet in the water and these little tiny fish come up and suck the dead skin off your feet! I wish SO badly that we had a video of us doing this because we all put our feet in at the same time and we all SCREAMED! It was THE strangest feeling. The best way to describe it is like a bunch of tiny vibrations all over your feet and calves. It took us about 5 minutes (of a 10 minute session) to calm down and get used to it. Those poor employees... hahaha
It was VERY strange! But a cool experience!
And...of course....I found a Starbucks! Believe it or not, I NEVER bought a coffee the entire time we were in Greece! We were lucky to have a free breakfast served every morning at our hotel along with a nice coffee machine that made cappuccinos and machiatos :)
We took a ferry from Athens to one of the islands, Santorini. It took 8 hours....and 3 out of the 4 of us got sea sick. It was not the best experience. Luckily we were all fine on the ferry back. This was the hostel we stayed in. The owners were SO nice. They picked us up from the ferry port and drove us here. This is located out of the main town but it was perfect. The hostel was lovely.
Not even a minute away from the hostel was a beautiful black sand beach! Unfortunately it was kind of drizzly our first day so we didn't spend much time at the beach.
When we went into town we saw this...We were just blown away at how amazing it was. I felt like I was in a movie! (If you have seen The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants you know what I mean!) I still can't believe that we were here! Walking around, eating dinner, and enjoying the views.
The next morning we went back to the black sand beach. The sun was out! It was even more beautiful than the day before.
I don't think I will ever get over this view.
We took a cable car down to the bottom of the cliff. You'll see how we got back up soon :)
Santorini is known for their beautiful white buildings with the blue roofs. We searched forever trying to get the perfect picture! No picture ever is as good as the real thing though.
We went on a boat ride out to a Volcano. We hiked to the tops (yes in sandals) no problem! (This is also they day me and Madelyne got VERY sunburnt!)
Another perfect opportunity to wave the flag!
After the volcano, we were told we were going to some hot springs on another island! However, they did not inform us that to get to the hot springs you have to jump off the boat, swim through the FREEZING sea, AND that the hot springs were more of "slightly warm" springs....Either way we enjoyed ourselves very much and it was refreshing to swim in the sea!
After we got back from the volcano and hot springs, we hopped off the boat and pretty much hopped right onto the backs of donkeys! The donkeys carried us ALL the way up the cliff! I was amazed at how strong they were! This was one of the top things on my list to do in Santorini and I'm so glad we got to do it!
We were all so sad to leave Santorini. It was a BEAUTIFUL island. I would recommend to anyone going to Greece to definitely make this one of your stops!
Back in Athens, we did some more exploring of the ruins. The weather was outstanding! Couldn't have asked for anything better.
We visited the original Olympic stadium. This seat was where royalty used to sit :)
Amazing.
Our next stop was another island called Mykonos. There weren't many people here yet because it isn't the high season, but it was very relaxing.
This is called "Little Venice." We sat and had lunch at a restaurant right on the water.
The best way to get around Mykonos was by ATV! You may not know this, but I am a complete CHICKEN! And I was terrified to drive this thing for whatever reason. But I faced my fear and did it anyways and LOVED it!
After Mykonos we went back to Athens for another day. We spent the day just exploring the flea markets and eating delicious Gyros. I still can't believe how quickly this trip went. It was one of the first trips we planned after arriving in Germany and I can't believe how fast the time came and went! We are down to our last 2 weeks here and it is very bittersweet. I am SO excited to see all my friends and family back at home. I have a VERY busy summer ahead of me so I have a lot to look forward to still. But at the same time, I've really enjoyed my time here and I will be sad to leave all the teachers and students I've grown to love....but enough of that! I've got 2 more weeks so I'll be sad about it later :)
We will be going to LONDON this coming weekend! So be looking out for pictures :)
