Tragedies and Comedies

So after finishing that post yesterday, I found out that Katherine's name is actually Catherine. I should have known, she's from Canada. Haha. Oh well. I changed them all to with a c now. Anyway, we left the internet cafe and went to the grocery store. You might be thinking, "Wait, didn't Jeremy already go to the grocery store on Tuesday?" You are thinking correctly then. Haha. I went twice. I bought some white chocolate, some puffy things that were flavored with peanuts and hazelnuts and some cookies. I already had petit-beurres (butter flavored crackers). Catherine bought some petit-buerres as well but a different brand so that we could compare. Then we ventured over to the big indoor municipal market and I bought peanuts and she bought banana chips (dehydrated bananas). It sounds like a lot of snacks and it is, but it really wasn't very expensive at all. It was 5:30 but we were bored so we got on the bus to the port even though our boat didn't leave for 3.5 hours. The bus ride was uneventful. We got to the port and it was 6 but we were able to board the boat. We did even though, again, we were 3 hours early. Haha.

We had deck tickets but a guy from PA who worked for the boat told us to just sit in one of the lounges because they weren't going to fill up. The lounges were filled with airplane type seats and had a 40" big screen tv in each one (picture 1). There were over 6 lounges on the boat. The worker guy told us the boat caught sit over 1000 people. Jeeeeez. We sat down and watched House with Greek subtitles. We couldn't figure out how to turn the volume up so it was not that enjoyable. Right after the show finished we figured it out. D'oh! Then we watched a show that is like Entertainment Tonight, it reported all the celebrity news. We tried to guess what they were talking about because it was all in Greek. While this was going on, we were talking and snacking. She said I was to blame for her eating all those snacks. I told her she was to blame. We could not come to a consensus. Fire Down Below, a Steven Seagal movie came on when the boat started moving. HILARIOUS! We made fun of the movie the entire time it was playing (while still snacking, haha). Then Matrix Reloaded came on but it was after midnight so I laid down and so did Catherine. I split off and on for the rest of the trip but Catherine told me (after the fact otherwise I would have tried to remedy the situation somehow) that she was too cold to sleep so she didn't. The ferry arrived at 5:30 am and we got off and found the subway.

We got off Line 2 at the same stop but I was going to walk to the bus and she was going to the train station so we said goodbye. I was super sad about it. The burden of loneliness was squarely back on my shoulders. It is one of those situations where you don't know what you are missing until you try it. I was used to traveling alone (after doing it for 18+ days) but once I tried traveling with someone who is cute, funny, smart, female, and nice, traveling alone is not so good anymore. Honestly, I hadn't felt that alone since my mom left back in March. Part of traveling is moving on and stuff. One of those "Better to have loved and lost" things except more like "Better to have traveled with and split up". The dumb thing is that I could have changed my plans and traveled around Athens with her today but for some reason I didn't. I don't why I didn't. It wasn't because I was afraid of changing my plans because at that time, I had no firm plans so I don't know. Oh well. I still had a really good day even though the whole time I kind of wished I wasn't alone.

I took a city bus to the Coach Terminal. I bought my ticket and waited for an hour for my bus to leave. The station was pretty dirty. The bus ride was only 2 hours and it went through some extremely pretty scenery. I arrived in Nafplion at around 10 am. Nafplion is a town on the Peloponnese Peninsula. It is small but very pretty. I went to the place in my Let's Go book (thanks again Amy, that book freaking rocks) and left my bag while my room was getting ready. I walked around Nafplion. There is a section called the Old Town that is awesome (picture 2) and has tons of these big red bush/vine things hanging all over. The buildings have windows and balconies just like Venice as well. There were some statues of Lord Byron and some other people who have visited (picture 3). I scoped out some possible dinner places because I didn't have anything else to do. Two places looked good. I walked along the waterfront as well. There is a little castle out in the harbor. Very cool. There is alsoPalamidi Castle up on a rock way above the town which reminded me of the Alhambra in Granada (view from my hostel's terrace picture 4). I went back to my hotel and showered and watched CNN for a while. Then I left and waited for my bus to Epidaurus.

Epidaurus has some very famous Ancient Greek ruins that are about 30 minutes south of Nafplion. The most famous part is the theater. It has 33 rows and can fit about 14,000 people. Not as big as the one in Ephesus but still very spectacular. The view from the top is amazing. The acoustics of the theater are very famous as well. If you stand in the middle of the stage area, people in the very top row can hear you rip a piece of paper or drop a coin on the ground. The acoustics are that good. There are also some ruins of the healing temples and stuff near by the theater. Back in the day, Epidaurus was more famous for it's healing powers than for it's theater. I spent 4 hours there wandering around and watching people in the theater. One guy started singing opera which was sweet (picture 5). Some of the ruins were of a stadium built 2,300 years ago that the local high school still has track meets at now (picture 6). There was also the bathhouse where people got healed (picture 7). I met two couples (one of them took my picture) who are guidance counselors in the US somewhere (I didn't ask). Both had heard of SJU though.

I took the bus back to Nafplion and wandered around for a little bit. The picture I took of the red bush things is one of my absolute favorites (picture 8). The sun was setting as I walked. I know I have said this before but this was quite possibly THE BEST SUNSET EVER (picture 9 and 10). The sun was shining through the clouds onto the mountains across the water, there were some little boats going back and forth in the harbor and the little castle was there... The whole thing was almost too beautiful for me to look at. I know that that doesn't make sense but it's true.

I ate dinner at an Italian restaurant. My table was under some of those red vine things. I had mousaka in honor of Catherine. She told me she had mousaka in Santorini and liked it a lot. I had not had it yet. It is minced meat and vegetables (mostly egg plant) topped by bouchemal sauce. Really good. Then I had ice cream for dessert. Second best ice cream ever (after that almond stuff in Granada). The caramel ice cream was the PERFECT consistency: not too soft, not too hard. Completely delicious.

Phew. That was a lot of writing and a long day. Tomorrow I am going to some more ruins. Mycenae and up to that castle on the rock.

Toodles!

Travel Days

I forgot to mention that yesterday my shoe lace broke on my shoe. I was prepared with new shoe laces to put in today which I did. That's pretty exciting I know. I spent the morning getting ready and packing and then hanging out by the harbor in Chania (picture 1). I went to the grocery store to get some snacks for the day and for the ferry ride tonight. Guess who I ran into in the store? Ben. Haha. He said, "Stop stalking me." I replied, "Likewise." I can't believe I ran into him again. I walked back to the harbor and watched some fish eat bread. People walked by and watched them as well (picture 2). Catherine and I met up and walked around. We sat and snacked and talked. We sat by a fountain and we sat by the harbor and we walked out to the lighthouse. Lots of sitting and waiting going on. Time goes by much faster when you have someone to talk to though, that's for sure. We talked about our families and friends. We discussed what traveling is like (likes and dislikes about it). She said something about how pictures are cool but don't capture the whole experience. Like while we were sitting by the lighthouse, there was a slight breeze, the sun was shining, some accordian music drifted over the harbor. All that stuff is not in that picture of the guy who was fishing right by us (picture 3). Anyway, it was fun to talk with her because we had even things in common to connect but enough things different to make it interesting.

Now we are at an internet cafe. I don't think I will have access again until later tomorrow so I figured I would do my post now. This morning I was woken up to the sound of jack hammers, that was nice. Later tonight, at nine, we are getting on an overnight ferry to Pireaus, the port of Athens. From there, I am going to go to the bus station and ride a bus to Nafplion which is a small town on the Peloponnese Peninsula. I am staying there for two or three nights. So there you go.

Sorry I don't have a more interesting day to speak of but this is one of those "travel days" where I am just sitting and waiting to get to the next phase of my trip. I realized today that I am exactly half way done with my trip (my trip being when I left London for Istanbul). That's insane. It seems like it has been shorter than that and longer at the same time. I can't believe I still have 18 more days left. Crazy.

Bye!

Three's Company

Today I woke up, ate a croissant for breakfast and went to the bus station. I waited for a while and the bus finally came (most things in Greece are a little late it seems, except stupid buses on Santorini, haha). While I waited I ran into a guy named Ben (he's that speck in the middle of picture 4). He's from Chicago and we actually met while waiting for a ferry from Mykonos to Santorini. He's 22 and a physical therapist. He has been all around the world and is touring Greece right now before going to wedding in Cyprus. We have run into each other on Mykonos, Santorini (twice), Heraklion, yesterday in Chania, and then today to go to the Gorge. I think God wanted the two of us to hang out, haha. He was traveling with a girl he met on the ferry from Santorini to Heraklion. Her name is Catherine and she's from Quebec. Super cute and really nice (that's her in the bottom left of picture 3 which was right by where we ate lunch). She has a sort of French accented English. The three of us rode the bus together up to the top of the Gorge. We had to pass through some extremely twisty roads that were one lane wide for two lanes of traffic. Insane. The mountains and little towns were beautiful.

We arrived at the top of the Gorge and proceeded on our way down. The whole hike was downhill. Samaria Gorge is the longest gorge in Europe. Don't ask me what the difference between a gorge and a canyon is because I have no clue. The scenery was wonderful and I love hiking. It was a very pleasant hike. I would rate it as moderately difficult. Like I said, the whole thing was downhill and it was only (only being relative here) about 14 or 15 km long or 9 miles. That might sound like a lot to some people but after hiking Half Dome with my mom last summer, this hike was a walk in the park. Ever since that hike I think I have had a different attitude about life. I feel like I can do just about anything I put my mind to (with some help from friends and family). I guess I felt that way before that hike as well but after it, I really adopted that mentality. It has been very successful. For those that don't know, that hike was 17 miles long had over 5000 feet elevation gain. It is probably the hardest day hike in the US, if not the world so accomplishing that was awesome. I am getting WAYYYYY off subject so I will hope back on that subject now, sorry. I just wanted to make sure I said that stuff.

Yeah, so the hike was all downhill and pretty easy but still super beautiful. The wind was blowing lightly most of the hike, the temperature was not too bad, there was a lot of shade from the walls of the gorge and from trees along the path. There weren't too many people hiking it either. Just the bus load that got dropped off at the top basically. Catherine and I talked most of the hike. About family, traveling, school, a bunch of stuff. Ben and I talked about national parks and traveling as well. There was one point where the gorge came to be only about 6 feet wide and about 900 feet high on each side. Super awesome. It reminded me of the Narrows at Zion but we never walked in the water (it was pretty dry) and the gorge for the most part was pretty wide apart. The hike ended at a town called Agia Roumeli which is on the coast of the southern part of Crete. We hung out at the beach for a couple hours waiting for the ferry (picture 6). Ben and Catherine went swimming but I did not. The beach was very pretty. We got on the ferry which stopped in Loutro (picture 7). That's the place that that Canadian family in Florence told me about. The ferry continued on to Hora Sfakion and we took the bus back from there. The sun was setting and all the towns in the mountains were great. The roads were soooo twisty and turny and skinny. Some were under construction as well. The countryside reminded me of California but I can't totally place way. When we got back to Chania, the three of us went to a pasty shop and Catherine and I got this honey wafer thing. It was fantastic. Ben got bakalava which he devoured.

All in all, one of the best days of my time abroad, partly due to the hike (absolutely wonderful) and partly due to the company (really awesome). Tomorrow, Catherine and I are meeting up to hang out during the day while we wait for our ferry to Athens. We happened to be on the same overnight ferry. The coincidences never stop.

Au revoir!

PS I forgot my camera cord so I will try to post some pictures sometime soon. I don't know when but some of my pictures were spectacular. Not too many flowers but loads of pine trees and exposed rock.