Greece for Spring Break

Greece was one of my top 3 places I wanted to visit during my year in Italy... We left for the 5 hour bus ride to Ancona, then took a 14 hour ferry to the port Igoumenitsa in Greece, then a second 1 hour ferry to the island of Corfu, where we stayed at the famous hostel, the Pink Palace. It was more like a camp, with dining hall, jacuzzi, volleyball court, and of course, the BEACH! I got sunburt but I'm happy I got to enjoy the sun again! The first night there was a toga party after the fantastic dinner (Greek salad is my favorite now!) with ouzo and Greek dancers.We also took a day to go ATV riding. I drove for the first time in 8 months! It was exhilarating because it was windy that day, and we were driving up the cliffs and hills of the island. We got to see the small towns and the bigger city area, and drove up into the olive groves.There was a storm the night we were supposed to leave Corfu, which meant that all the ferries were cancelled! But we got the morning ferry from Corfu to Athens the next day. Athens reminded me a lot of Napoli or L.A. - a little grungy, but lots of personality! We had a delicious dinner with Greek salad, fried feta with fried tomatoes, meatballs, calamari, tzatziki, veal souvlaki, and fruit for dessert. Apparently hookah is a very popular Greek pastime, so we went to relax at a bar after our giant dinner. Shopping in Athens was really fun too! There was a flea market area in Athens - Greece is in general cheaper than Italy, Florence especially. We also got to visit the Acropolis - it was so surreal to see the Parthenon, Karyatids, and Erectheon!

It was weird because I've never traveled to a country where I can't at least read the language; I went to Germany, Romania, Japan, etc, but at least I can read the signs. In Greece, I found that I was frustrated because the alphabet looks so similar to English but I couldn't read it! Also, it turns out that in the Greek Orthodox Church, Easter isn't until the 17th and not the 12th like for us!

The trip back to Italy was long - we had to take a 20 hour ferry to Ancona, and then a 5 hour bus ride back to Florence. But I love traveling, and Greece was worth it! Hopefully I will visit again, to see more of the different islands. I want to learn more of the Greek culture and people by seeing what the individual islands are like.

Now I'm back in Florence, and excited to get started on my projects again. There's nothing like a trip to Greece to revitalize your creative drive!

check my photo album!