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Back from Greece

I'm sad to be back. Greece was gorgeous. It didn't feel like a vacation because we did a lot of hiking, climbing, driving, and walking. We also spent a few hours at the beaches (1 hour at one beach and 3 hours at another). I spent about half an hour at one pool, too. In Crete and Santorini, there's always something to do. We drove from one end of Crete to the other, with several stops in between. We even ended up driving up to a plateau. Very scary and exciting at the same time. (On a side note: we remembered too late that there are no automatic cars in Greece. Steve had to learn how to drive stick shift because I wasnt going to. He learned pretty quickly. It only took a few days, and by the time he mastered it, we had to return it. It was fun, though.) The views are breathtaking. It's scary, especially if you're like me and is afraid of heights and it's getting darker and there are barely any lights and you're driving on a mountain side with no rails and only tiny little weeds that's lining the edges.

In Santorini, we rented an ATV. Now THAT was fun! I drove that up up up and then down down down. A bus drove me off the lane though...that bastard. In Crete and Santorini (in some areas), to get around the guy in front of you, you have to drive around him. Yes, that means that sometimes you'll go into the other lane where cars are coming towards you. Most of the time, however, everyone in your lane will move over, giving you room to move. That's how it's supposed to be. Of course, because we were in an ATV and going no faster than 40 km, I was driving on the shoulder.

We also did a tour where we hiked up and down a volcano, swam (or almost drowned in my case) in the hot springs around the volcano in the Aegean Sea, and then hiked up (or rode a donkey) to the top of a mountain to watch the sunset. We could never get a good sunset because it was always cloudy. All the hiking was insane. The volcano had no steps and it's not a great place for flip-flops. The mountain had steps but it was never ending. I don't know if I had a picture of the steps, but it was insane. It was fun though.

Then back in Athens, we walked all over. Up hills, down hills, up to the Acropolis, down to the other archaeological sites. We didnt take the metro unless it was absolutely necessary, which was only 3 times (to & from airport, and one other time). There are so many. Man, we're exhausted! We need a vacation after this vacation.

Going to Greece is definitely not for the lazy person. You better be prepared to hike and climb and hike and climb. Oh yeah, and know how to drive stick shift. Or maybe know how to ride a vespa. If you want to swim in the hot springs after the volcano tour, I suggest you get advanced swimming lessons. Advanced, man, advanced.