If you've followed my blog this year, you'll know that Brandon and I sometimes joke around about being Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, the heroes of Karl May's Winnetou stories. In honor of our last full day of fun in Greece, I decided to call this blog "Winnetou and Old Shatterhand save Greece" (with our money saved in Germany).
Georgina and Konstantina joined us for our day trip to the island of Aegina, and we are so glad they came because it wouldn't have been half as fun without them. We were all exhausted though as none of us had more than 5 hours of sleep last night. But we still made it work.
Winnetou and Old Shatterhand continued their adventures this year by capping off an awesome week with a day on an island.
The original plan was to rent ATVs and drive around, but it turns out I was the only one who brought a driver's license. So we rented a car instead, and it was actually cheaper than renting two ATVs. The problem: I don't drive stick-shift cars. After I tried for about 5 minutes, the guy said it would be okay with Georgina drove, so thank goodness he made an exception. Otherwise, we'd have been stuck with the archaic buses.
The beach we ended up stopping at had rocks and sand, which was perfect since Brandon wanted rocks for good underwater photos and the girls wanted sand. We also found sea urchins again...I ended up stepping on one and getting spines in my big toe. Ouch.
Brandon and I brought lots of stuff (beer, pita, cheese, wine), and Georgina and Konstantina brought sandwiches. Couldn't have been more perfect.
I definitely got lots of sun, and I kept the sunscreen flowing since I was already sunburned. The water was amazing though. It's perfect: every time you feel too warm in the sun, just jump in the cool water. :)
Brandon had more fun with the camera, and he had goggles to see what was underneath too. I didn't, so I only saw blurry stuff. Plus saltwater kind of stings.
There were barely any other folks around, so we had lots of cool places to explore.
Of course, we found fish in the water as well. There were some really cool colored ones too.
Closer to our spot on the rocks, we found crabs. Tasty! Just kidding.
We did eat sea urchin roe though. The female sea urchins have lots of eggs, and it's actually rather tasty. Don't worry, I only had a tiny bit.
Apparently, I also took a three and a half minute long video underwater. It looks hilarious since I had the camera in one hand and was just swimming without realizing I was recording.
After an entire afternoon on the beach, we started making our way back to the port. There was a tiny church near our beach, so we popped in real fast. The view outside was nicer than the inside.
Thank goodness we made it back when we did. The last ferry of the day was leaving in 15 minutes, and we didn't even know it. But no worries. We caught it.
I was so exhausted I fell asleep on the ferry, and Georgina and Konstantina both had to wake me up before I got up. I didn't even hear them. From the port of Piraeus (in Athens) all the way to our Metro stop, I was one exhausted kid.
But since it was our last night in Athens, we had planned a get-together with our friends in the evening. So after quick showers, Brandon and I headed back out to a bar. Georgina and Konstantina were both exhausted as well, but they were nice enough to come by too to say goodbye to us. Nancy and Alison came over too, which was great, since we hadn't seen them since Monday.
None of the guys I invited were able to make it as they each had stuff going on. But I'll see a few of them tomorrow before I head to lunch with Taso and then to the airport. After our drinks tonight though, we were feeling a bit hungry, so we went to get gyros. Nice.
Tomorrow at this time, I'll be back in my room in Berlin, and I'll be sleeping until whenever. I have not slept in for a long time, and I really am looking forward to it.
No question I will miss Greece though. It's been an amazing one week vacation, and it was probably the most fun-filled trip I've had all year (and I've had quite a few great trips this year already). This week was just nuts in terms of how many friends I was able to meet up with and how much fun Brandon and I got to have vacationing in Greece. I can't wait to come back again someday.
One more week of work to come and then my Fulbright project will be officially wrapped up. I will then work on an article in German with my faculty advisor, but that will be fairly straight-forward once my report is done next week. Wish me luck!
Till next time,
Sam
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