My Big Fat Greek Adventure

Recent Updates

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:19:36 -0400

Sorry I haven’t been able to upload pictures recently. I’ve been really busy and I haven’t had Internet in my room. We spent last week traveling the Peloponnese. We visited sites in Nafplion, the first modern capitol of Greece, Mycenae, a palace of the Mycenaean empire, Sparta, and Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympics. It has been a lot of ruins but really awesome places. For the past two days I’ve been in Corfu which is a beautiful island in the northwest corner of Greece. We’re at Corfu Town which is a really nice city with a lot of Italian influences. We took a tour of the town yesterday and a tour of the Achillean palace today which was actually pretty modern, built around 1890. We’ve had a lot of time to go into the city and enjoy our 5 star hotel with a bowling alley, casino, pool and elevator going down to the beach among other amenities. We’re leaving tomorrow morning for Lias, a small town in the mountains which was the setting of a book we all had to read. We are meeting the author of the book for lunch and apparently there is going to be a camera crew recording our visit there. Then we make a stop at Meteora and Delphi before coming back to Athens to spend a free day and fly home on August 7th. It has been quite an exciting trip and I will try to get more pictures up if I can.

On Sunday we rented ATV’s and cruised around the island all day...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:04:32 -0400

On Sunday we rented ATV’s and cruised around the island all day on them, I shared one with Leighann and by shared I mean I drove the whole time. It was a great day. We went to some red sand beach with a huge red cliff overlooking it. We went to a black sand beach and did some cliff jumping there. We went to a winery museum and learned how they made wine on Santorini and how it differs from the rest of the world, the vines grow on the ground in a circle. We went and saw the sunset. We found some ATV course that we cruised around in the dark. It was a pretty epic day. The next morning we woke up at 530 and drove down to the beach and watched the sunrise. Then we cruised around the ATV course some more in the morning before we had to return them. I drove the ATV for like 18 out of the 24 hours we had it.

On Saturday we took a pirate ship and sailed around the island....

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:19:57 -0400

On Saturday we took a pirate ship and sailed around the island. First we stopped at the volcano and got to get off and hike to the top of it. Its pretty much just a huge pile of volcanic rock. We then sailed to some sulfur hot springs. It was pretty cool, the water was really warm and the ground was just mud which is good to rub on your skin. We then went to some other village on a smaller island next to Santorini. It was a really cool cruise.

Santorini was a beautiful island. On Friday we went to the...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:06:33 -0400

Santorini was a beautiful island. On Friday we went to the mountain on top of the island. We then went to a fortress near that mountain which still exists from the medieval times. Then that evening we went to the far side of the island to watch the sunset which has been called the nicest sunset in the world. I don’t want to complain but I don’t think it was the best sunset. It was beautiful though. The town is so nice, white houses on the side of a cliff overlooking bright blue water and a volcano across the sea. A lot of the churches have the blue dome roofs which is what everyone sees from all the posters.

Here are some beautiful scenic pictures from Santorini

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 06:42:00 -0400

Here are some beautiful scenic pictures from Santorini

Santorini!

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 06:15:13 -0400

I’m in Santorini now which was recently named the most beautiful island in the world by Travel + Leisure magazine. It is completely gorgeous. The western side of the island is full of cliffs leading to the Mediterranean with beautiful white houses overlooking them. Right across the water is the famous volcano which was one of the largest volcanic events in history when it erupted around 1600 BC. This eruption completely destroyed the civilization at Akrotiri on Santorini and may have lead to the downfall of Minoan civilization in Crete. It is still active and most recently erupted in 1956. The eastern side of the island contains beautiful black sand beaches and vineyards for making wine. Today we are going to the end of the island, where all of the pictures of Santorini come from, to watch the sunset.

Today we visited a few more areas of Crete. First we stopped at...

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:53:00 -0400

Today we visited a few more areas of Crete. First we stopped at Gortys which was a former capitol of Crete. It is important because it has the largest set of written laws engraved into stone so that all of the people can read them. We then went to Phaestos which, like Knossos, contained a huge palace. This palace sat on top of a small plateau overlooking all of the surrounding country side. It was a palace for the Minoan civilization 3000 years ago and handled all of the trade with outside countries during that period of time. We then went to a small village Matala which sits right on the Libyan Sea. The Libyan Sea is gorgeous blue, clear water. Matala had a set of cliffs and caves to explore though. One of the cliffs was pretty common to jump off so 12 of us went cliff jumping. It was a 40 foot jump into the water so it was awesome. Such a great thrill rush. We all got to the top and most people were about to back out cause we were so high so I jumped in first and everyone ended up doing the jump. It was sick. More pictures to come when I get a chance.

Yesterday we took a bus trip through the mountains to the...

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:35:00 -0400

Yesterday we took a bus trip through the mountains to the southern side of Crete. We then took a ferry boat through the Libyan Sea to the Samaria Gorge. The full gorge is about 18 km long through cliffs as tall as 1000 meters and as narrow as 3 meters between them at parts. It was the most beautiful hike I’ve ever taken in my life. Total, I hiked about 13 km through the gorge alongside a fresh water stream. It was really nice to get completely out of the city into nature and the beautiful mountains of Crete. The pictures can hardly do justice to how amazing this was.

For the past few days we have been in the town of Rethymnon on...

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:01:24 -0400

For the past few days we have been in the town of Rethymnon on Crete. Rethymnon is a beautiful city right on the northern side of Crete on the Mediterranean Sea. It has an old city area which is lots of buildings from the Venetian times and Ottoman times which where nations that conquered Crete. Its interesting to see the different forms of architecture from the separate time periods. It also contains a large fortress to protect the old city.

In Heraklion Crete we went to the Knossos...

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:22:00 -0400

In Heraklion Crete we went to the Knossos palace archaeological site and museum. Knossos was where the Minoan civilization and culture came from. The Minoan’s made great advances in all forms of culture, architecture, written language among other things. It was where the Greek myth of the Labyrinth and Minotaur come from. We visited the archaeological ruins of the palace which was an absolutely enormous palace consisting of 5 floors and over 1300 rooms. The architecture of the palace at the time was completely revolutionary. It had a running water system, a ventilation system and a lighting system. Surprisingly a lot of it remains as it was built around 1700 BC. That’s almost 2000 years before the Roman Empire. It was a really awesome place to see and the museum was really nice. The Minoans have an interesting history for being partially isolated on the island Crete.

Here are a couple other areas of Rhodes, the archeological site...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:37:31 -0400

Here are a couple other areas of Rhodes, the archeological site of Kameros and the city Lindos. Kameros is a site in the mountains that contains the ruins of an ancient village and acropolis. Lindos is a modern city full of white houses and an ancient acropolis. We went up to the acropolis at the top of Lindos and had a beautiful view of the surrounding city, mountains, water, and a beautiful lagoon. The area of the city we were in was filled with shops and taverna’s (restaurants).

There is an area of Rhodes called the Old Town. It is pretty...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:57:59 -0400

There is an area of Rhodes called the Old Town. It is pretty much a huge stone wall fortress from the outside and on the inside is a big town with restaurants, shops, homes and it has a huge castle. The castle was restored similar to the original form so it is pretty much a museum. It was really cool to be in a medieval village essentially.

Crete!

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:56:19 -0400

We just made it to Crete last night. Rhodes was very beautiful, I still have a bunch more pictures to post. We get solid internet in this hotel but we are leaving tomorrow for the other side of the island. Today we are going to Knossos which should be amazing.

Here is the monastary that was also on another part of Simi. It...

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:54:00 -0400

Here is the monastary that was also on another part of Simi. It was completely isolated in a bay from any other form of civilization. Monks pray there 17 hours a day or something ridiculous.

Simi!

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:13:00 -0400

Simi!

Yesterday we took a cruise to the island of Simi which is about...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:12:00 -0400

Yesterday we took a cruise to the island of Simi which is about 5 miles away from Turkey. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life. The city we stopped at was built in a mountain. All of the houses are bright colors and staircases run through the mountain connecting them all. They have a touristy village at the port with restaurants, shops and beaches. It was really nice. Then Leighann and I decided to hike a little bit to the top of the village. There was dozens of different staircases cutting off in every direction as we climbed. Somehow we made it all the way to the top and there was a beautiful church. The view from the top was incredible. What was cool too was towards the top is full of villagers who live up there. It’s pretty crazy to think of that these people live on this isolated island in the mountains. It was one of the best experiences of this trip so far though. We also stopped at another area of the island Simi; at a monastery. It was a gorgeous monastery where I guess the monks there pray 17 hours a day. It was in a small bay in the middle of the mountains, with nothing else around. It’s wild monks still live there after all these years. My internet is shaky now so I will upload more pictures when I can. Google it in the meantime.

Rhodes

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:50:02 -0400

I’m getting internet for the first time now in Rhodes; it is a beautiful island in the Mediterranean about 15 miles from Turkey. They have small shops everywhere lining the streets and beaches surrounding the whole island. The beaches are mainly rocky beaches which are interesting but still pretty cool. On one side of the island is the Mediterranean Sea and the other side of the island is the Aegean Sea. It’s really hot but usually there is a nice breeze. I do not have internet in my hotel, but it is a 5 star hotel suite on a resort across the street from a beach. We got moved here when our original hotel was overbooked and this place is amazing. We get free breakfast and buffet dinner every night which is great food. This is probably one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed. Rhodes is really cool though, it has a lot of history from medieval times, with castles to a Greek city state, to Byzantine Empire, to Ottoman Empire to Italian control; it has a lot of different architecture. I will post some pictures a little later of areas I’ve visited.

I’m in Rhodes now but here are some pictures of the food I...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:36:54 -0400

I’m in Rhodes now but here are some pictures of the food I ate in Athens. Gyros (pronounced eyros) are fantastic, greek salads are really good and fresh (no lettuce), saganaki (fried cheese), mousaka (potatoe, eggplant, beef, cheese), souvlaki (lamb or chicken kebab sticks) are all really good. I’m enjoying the food experience a lot

The beautiful beach outside of Athens we went to today! The...

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 11:57:00 -0400

The beautiful beach outside of Athens we went to today! The water was crystal clear and warm. It was the Mediterranean Sea, one of the 3 Seas we will be swimming in this trip. (Aegean and Libyan too). 38 degrees Celsius and not a cloud in the sky, the beach was packed though but the sea had a big sand bar so it was nice and refreshing. Tomorrow morning we fly to Rhodes!

Today we hiked to the top of Mt Lycabettus. The view from the...

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:22:00 -0400

Today we hiked to the top of Mt Lycabettus. The view from the top was incredible. Pictures can barely do it justice. You can see all of Athens, the mountains, the water, the acropolis. It was so beautiful.