I'm Back From Greece...

Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted anything. However, I have good reason. First of all, I have been on holiday for 3 weeks. I was lucky enough to visit Sweden and Finland with a tour that school put together. It was through the architecture department, so I was able to see over 30 historical and contemporary pieces of architecture around Scandinavia. After that week, I had a couple days of rest before leaving again. This time I was headed to Greece, though. I went with my friend Joe, and met up with a friend from high school. It was an amazing trip, with a lot of sun, sand, and scenery.


Scandinavian Architectural Tour
Our first place we visited was Jyvaskyla, Finland. However, it took us 2 days to get there. From Copenhagen, we had a 12 hour bus ride to Stockholm, Sweden. There, we boarded a ferry to take us to Finland. The ferry was amazing. Free dinner buffet, cabin suites, and it was an overnight ferry. It even came complete with an all night dance club. We partied all night, and by morning were ready to sleep on the bus. However, little did we know that at 8 am we were getting off of the bus to go look at our first piece of architecture. We spent the next 8 hours getting on and off the bus looking at churches and museums. Actually, we spent the next 6 days getting on and off the bus looking at churches and museums. But there were intermittent nights of fun. Especially Monday night. At the hostel we stayed at, there was a skiing hill that literally came to the back door step of the hostel. And of course, we went sledding at midnight. Trashbags and anything else we could find that was slick or plastic were used as sleds. Before we went sledding though, we were treated to a Finnish tradition. The Sauna. Walking through the dark Finnish woods, down a small winding trail amongst the 40 and 50 foot tall pine trees, we came finally upon a clearing. A large pond spread before us, with a small cottage on the shore. We grilled out on an open indoor grill, and piled into the saunas to warm up. The Finnish tradition of the sauna though is slightly different than what I had perceived. After you get all warm in the sauna and cannot take anymore, you strip down to nothing, and go running outside into the snow. In our case however, there was a hole cut in the ice of the frozen pond. So, in a long string of naked men, we all ran outside to jump into a frozen lake. Quite the experience I must say. From Jyvaskyla, we went to Turku, and Turku we went to Helsinki. We had bad weather in Helsinki, but still it was a beautiful city. On Thursday, we headed back to the ferry and back to Stockholm, Sweden where we ended our final days on the trip. Stockholm was probably my favorite of the Scandinavian cities I've been to! Beautiful city! Copenhagen is amazing, but Stockholm had a completely different feeling. Maybe it was the fact that there were hills and not flat-as-a-pancake cities. Or maybe it was that Stockholm is built on a collection of islands that are all linked with bridges? Or maybe it was the beautiful weather, sunshine and 50 degree air? What ever it was, it was amazing. From Stockholm, we ventured back by bus to Copenhagen. There I was able to take 2 days rest before I got on a plane to fly to Greece.

Greecian Spring Break
Monday, Joe and I left for Greece. We arrived in Athens, and figured out that it was a 45 min metro ride to the city. Then we realized that our hostel is no where near the Acropolis, like their add on the internet said.

It was a 30 min walk north, with our bags on our backs to the hostel. Athens can be said in three phrases: 1. Dirty city that smells of urine 2. Acropolis is great 3. Amazing gyros!!

Other than that, don't go to Athens. After 2 days we were ready to get out of the city. We met up with my friend from high school, Jill, on Wednesday. From there we caught a ferry to Crete. Overnight ferry, but no free buffet, no dance club, no comfy beds, not even comfy seats. Just 8 hours of the worst boat ride ever.

But, we got to Crete.

We got in at 4:45 am. No way of getting to our hostel without a taxi. 30 Euro for a taxi. 25 kilometer ride around hair pin curves, dead of night, still half asleep. We got there. At least we thought we were there. We paid the taxi, and turned around to see the beach. But not our hostel. He dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, with out any direction which way to go. So we started walking. Luckily, I remembered our hostel was 50 meters from the beach, so if their add on the internet was right(which I wasn't planning on), then we were at least close, if this was the right beach. Our panic soon disapated when we found our hotel first thing. It was actually closer than 50 meters to the beach! Finally, we were able to relax. Oh wait! The place isn't open! nobody is even there! There was one light on, and inside the back door was 2 chairs, so we fell asleep there. Not the best nights sleep ever. We woke up at 9 am, and found the owners opening the doors. Come to find out, the town we were staying in, Agia Pellagia, was just opening for the season. We were the first to stay at the hostel that season! There was one supermarket open, a couple restaurants, and nothing else. Hardly a soul in town, we were the only ones on the beach for 2 days. We felt like royalty. It was like we owned the place.

Well, we left Crete and headed for our final destination, Santorini. I was looking forward to this for so long. I have studied the geography of Santorini, and seen pictures, and have wanted to see it in person for a long time. We took a ferry to get there, from Crete to Athens, Athens to Santorini. 18 hours. Note to self: don't do that again. Santorini was beautiful. Really windy, but nice. We stayed on the south side of the island, Perissa Beach. It is a black volcanic beach. I can't describe how beautiful it was, so I'll let the pictures do that.

On the second day there, we decided to rent scooters to tour the island on. Well, that was a great idea! We went from tip of the island to the other. We saw a red sand beach, a yellow sand beach, a white sand beach, and a black sand beach all in a matter of hours. Amazing. However, on our way back I went around a corner, and my back tire caught gravel and the scooter fell on top of me. I was wearing a helmet, thankfully, but my shorts and sandals didn't stop much from getting torn up. I had a half inch by 3 inch gash ontop of my knee, and countless scrapes and gouges all over my elbows and legs. I thought I shattered my knee cap at first. It swelled up to twice the normal size within minutes. Not a pretty sight. Luckily, nothing was broken, and everything is just fine. All I have now is a couple scabs left, and some nice scars to remember it by.

Santorini is a truely beautiful place, and I can only imagine the summertime and what it would be like. It was still reasonably chilly for us, about 70 degrees and windy, and the water was still about 50 degrees. Quite cold. But it was an opportunity I would love to do again. It was so much fun. I would definetly recommend a trip to Greece, just stick to the islands and you'll be fine!