So after my bus arrived in Naxos town, I headed back to my hotel and took a shower, then called my mom, and then went up to the Venetian castle for a violin and piano concert. Once there I found out the tickets were 10 euros, and I wasn't so keen on spending so much money, but then I thought "When's the next time I'll see a concert in the courtyard of a castle?" Not anytime soon. So I went, and it was absolutely lovely. I did feel a stab of loneliness at some points, when the music was especially sweet or impressive, and when I looked around and realized I was the only person there by him/herself. But it was still nice. During the intermission they offered drinks (included in the ticket price) and I tried a bit of the special Naxos liquer, which is called kitron. I had the weakest bit (of course) which is a green color, and when the guy poured my glass, he did this long, amusing clinking of glasses with me. I didn't see him do it with anyone else though, so it made me feel sort of special in a silly way.
Anyway, like I said, the concert was very nice. After that, I headed down to the restaurant to see Antonis. When I saw him, I said "I have a story about why my father says be careful of Greek men." (When I told he and his friend this a few days ago, they offered to call my father personally and tell him otherwise) He got this mock-angry expression on his face and said, "Oh, now it is time for me to kick some ass." He walked over to where the bread was, picked up the (large) knife, and said "I'm going to cut his legs off. Who is he?" Anyway, I explained the story, during which a friend of his came and shook my hand randomly, and his response was, "Ah, people from the villages....they are stupid and rude." I thought it was pretty amusing. Anyway, he was busy, so I just left him my sudoku book (apparently I re-ignited his addiction to the game) and went back to my hotel.
Then this morning I woke up early and headed to the harbor to go on a cruise to two small islands, Iraklion and Koufounissia. For some reason I was extremely sleepy. And today, I was very lonely, because there were all couples and families on the trip, and everyone looked at me like I was some sort of freak because I was alone. At least, that's what it felt like. The beaches on the islands were nice enough, though cold. The second island, Koufounissia, we stayed at for over 4 hours. I tried to see if I could take a boat to a different beach, but one of them wouldn't return in time, and when I tried to ask - in Greek - what time another one would return, nobody answered me and it felt like they were laughing at me. It sounds stupid but that really put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day. I would have liked to go to one of those beaches because they were probably really nice, and having not gone to them, the trip I took was really not worth the money I paid.
Plus I got a sunburn.
Plus I lost my watch.
So today wasn't necessarily a good day. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to another beach, Plaka, which is supposed to be nice. And costs less than 2 euros to get to by bus.
Even if today wasn't the best, I have to say I'm very proud of myself. Compared with where I was a year ago, I'd say I've grown much more confident and independent. Something just feels very different this summer than last summer. I don't feel so...meek. It's hard to explain. It's nice to look back on the past year and wonder what happened, what changes took place, to give me the mental equipment to handle travelling alone that I didn't have a year ago.
Boo to sunburns.
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