my Greek adventures

I know this is a little late, but you are going to have to forgive me. I am currently taking my first lazy day in 3 months, and I feel like I deserve it. But, I figured that I would take this weeks blog post to tell you all about Greece and next weeks post to wrap up on my explorations in Paris. Here we go...

Day 1:

We hit some of the major sights for our first day. Namely, the Acropolis. It was so cool to see things that I have studied in classes in real life. Plus we found some fun things to hike around on, and there is not much hiking around to do in Paris, so it was good change of pace. 

 Unfortunately this day it decided to keep changing between bright sunny and hot, cold and cloudy, and raining. But, we enjoyed the sunny moments and hid during the rainy ones. Lucky for us, everything was also free to get into all weekend because it was Greek Easter weekend. Awesome.

These are the two girls that I traveled with. McCall and Sydney. I wouldn't have picked anyone else to of gone on such a fun adventure with. 

I absolutely love Greek yogurt, and who knew that wasn't just a name, but they actually eat a ton of Greek yogurt in Greece. We discovered a place called Fresko that was kind of like a frozen yogurt bar with Greek yogurt. You got a big scoop of original Greek yogurt, then you selected from fruit, honey, nuts and other delicious things. Naturally, we stopped here every day. (If you are looking for good Greek yogurt in the US my favorite is Fage with some agave in it. so. good.)

That night I also discovered how insane good Greek food is. I believe this dish was called moussaka. Maybe I loved Greek food so much because a lot of it was meat and potatoes...and tzatziki which tastes good on everything.

Day 2: This day was much nicer. Sunny, warm, and awesome all day.

We started off the day with Greek yogurt (of course) followed by a trip to Zeus's temple.

We went to the Athens Olympic stadium which provided us with a wonderfully informative audio guide. Even though I was tiny when the Olympics came to Atlanta, I still remember them running by with the torch. Olympics are so cool.

 This stadium was so cool, and had the best view from the top...even though we had to climb 1000 (not literally) stairs to get there.

Obviously we had a little fun posing on the number 1 box.

To keep it going trying the Greek food, we bought some Greek bread. It tasted like a giant sesame seed bagel, so in other words I loved it. 

When we were walking home we came upon this, a lamb roasting outside a bunch of restaurants. So this seems like a good time for me to explain Greek Easter (to the best of my ability) and how awesome it is. So the night before Easter (the Saturday that I am telling you about right now) everyone gathers at a Greek Orthodox church in Greece and lights candles. The flame that they use to light their candles is flown in from Jerusalem, as well as a Priest to administer Mass on Easter eve, and many people who make a pilgrimage to this spot that we just so happened to be in. We joined all the people in front of the church at 11 with our candles in hand. It was a beautiful sight to see hundreds of candles lit as the people prepared to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. At midnight, all the Greeks hugged and kissed their loved ones as fireworks began to be set off. It was one of the most magical things standing in the darkness only lit by candles welcoming Easter Sunday. After this all of the people either went back to their homes or stopped at one of the many restaurants to eat the roasted lambs that you see above. We decided to eat our lamb the next day, since we had big plans for tomorrow. 

Day 3 (Happy second Easter!): Island day!!

 Sunday morning, we made our way down to the port and caught a boat to the Greek island Aegina. 

 Naturally being on a boat and having just watched Titanic in 3D, it only felt appropriate that we reenact some, "I'm king of the world!" and "I'm flying Jack!" scenes. 

Once we got to the island we were instantly stunned by how gorgeous it was. The water there was literally sapphire and turquoise. To make our way around the island we rented some scooters, and started driving along the coast, though we stopped quite often for some island photo shoots, marveling at the island, and to see some sights.

 Seriously though, isn't this island perfect?

Just look at that water!

 After taking in the coast, we road our scooters up to a temple on the hill for a gorgeous view and then a ride back through the villages to get back to where we needed to turn in our scooters. We got lost quite a bit so it's a really good thing that the Greek people are probably some of the nicest we ever met. You never even had to ask for directions, they just gave them to you, and sometimes they even just led us where we needed to go.

 We had a splendid day on the island, and the ride home was just as great. 

That night (after eating more Greek yogurt) we had to try some of that barbecued lamb, and it was insane good! A perfect last meal in Greece.

ειρήνη. αγάπη. and Καλό Πάσχα

(yes that is was we had to try and decipher when we were reading maps and trying to get places. no wonder we got lost.)