Ok. So I am finally in Greece. The journey over was, if anything, very long. Especially considering I only got about an hour of sleep the night before. Fortunately, my flights all went smoothly and I had no trouble with security at any of the airports. The real complications of course began once I got to Athens. Well, not complications really. Just, looking for my hotel while lugging all my bags around in close to 100 degree heat. Yesterday I think I sweated more than I have in my entire life. Anyway, so first of all I got on a bus to Athens from the airport. And I just hate having my luggage on public transportation, but it was between 3 euros for a bus ticket and about 30 for a taxi...so I took the bus. Then, I got off at Syntagma square but soon learned I still had a ways to go. So I took a taxi. Found my hotel and then had to accomplish a few other missions: namely, take some luggage to CYA and then go to Piraeus to get a ferry ticket to Naxos. Turns out CYA is *right* next to the Marble Stadium, which is where the first modern Olympics took place. Very impressive. Then I walked to a metro station...again, in very hot weather...and went to Piraeus. Purchased a ticket in about five minutes and hopped back on the metro to go home. Then I promptly passed out for almost three hours, it being the first time I had laid down in over 24 hours. After waking up, getting something small to eat and calling home, I just went to sleep because I had to wake up at 5:30 in order to check out, have breakfast and get to Piraeus for my ferry.
Of course, me, being an idiot, somehow set my ipod clock an hour backwards. Which meant the alarm went off at what I thought was 5:30 but was really 6:30. I only realized my mistake once I was at Piraeus and was informed that my boat was gone. Woops. Amazingly, I didn't panic. I just went and got a ticket for a boat at 8:30. So I did waste about 24 euros but I also gained an hour of sleep.
Arrived in Naxos where I decided to try to walk to my hotel. Bad idea. Of course, I got lost. So I stopped in another hotel which was really some old lady's house and asked if they could help me. The lady was really nice, and she called my hotel. and then gave me a glass of water even though I hadn't even asked. Anyway, the owner came to pick me up. So I felt really bad. First of all, he was expecting me to come on a different ship, then he had to come pick me up. But he was still really nice, and gave me a bottle of wine when I got my room.
So today has been spent mostly exploring Naxos. I like it a lot. All of the back streets are really narrow and quiet. The times I've been out have been from 2-5 PM, which was fairly quiet, and from 8 PM to now, which is 10:30, when it is immensely busy and exciting.
You could even say I made a friend today. I stopped at a place to have lunch (at 4, which I think is late even on Greek time) and the waiter made a couple of jokes with me. When I asked for the bill, he said "No, I want to ask you something first." I was like "Oh, here we go" but he just wanted to know what it was like travelling alone. Then he asked me a lot of questions about living as a Greek in Oregon, and what I'll be doing in Athens (where he goes to university close to CYA). We talked for a long time. It was nice to have someone to talk to, and he wasn't being flirty or anything. As I was leaving, he even said "If any guys out there tease you or give you a hard time, you come tell me, ok? I'm serious!" I thought that was cute.
Tomorrow: Swimming and being a lazy bum.
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