Greeeece

Just in case general consensus was that I had no yet discussed Greece enough, I'm on it.

So as we left off we were on an island. Well we left that island and immediately went to another island, this one by the name of Santorini -- which, for some reason, always makes the Sublime song "Santeria" come up in my head. Literally. Every time. I think it's pathologic.

Anyway to Santorini.

Santorini: A ring of volcanic islands in the Mediterranean complete with small, white villas perched atop treacherous cliffs and a central, steaming volcano composed of nothing but igneous rock and tropical umbrellas. Here we met up with a variety of other UTHSCSA travelers, and successfully crashed Adam and Jen's honeymoon (which I would do again later on by myself). We did more of the standard tourist things including boarding an "old-fashioned" boat to take to us to the volcano, a couple of visits to other islands, towns, and beaches, dancing at the local discos, and a swim in a natural hot springs which, despite their name, had no ability to actually warm anything. The views were continuously amazing, and especially so at night where the patchy strands of city lights separated by hundreds of feet of black cliffs from the dimly reflecting ocean surface below made it seem as if you were walking amongst a city in the sky.

The beauty of the island aside, curiously enough the singularly most memorable event was a conversation I had with a slightly older Greek woman I encountered when we were attempting to find our friends in another group that had come out later (Neeti, Shailee, Ruchie, Neha, Sandra, Annie, Anne). After thoroughly searching the entire grounds of the hotel listed on the their itinerary I heard a clanging noise coming from the locked up main office building. I knocked on the door and said, "hello!" A few seconds later, the door unlocks, and out pops a woman fresh from the shower and in a towel to inform me that she would be out to talk with me in a few minutes. Thinking she could perhaps tell us where our friends had run off to or if they had even arrived yet I agree to the rendezvous and waited outside. She returned and our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello, have some American girls arrived?
Woman: American girls?
Me: Yes, some American girls arrived today?
Woman: You want a room today?
Me: No. I am looking for some friends. Like six Indian girls, an Asian girl, and some white ones.
Woman: Your friends need a room? How long?
Me: They're staying here for a few days. Did they arrive today? About eight American girls.
Woman: We don't have room today, but we do tomorrow. Would you like to stay tomorrow?
Me: Did some girls arrive today? From the airport? About ten of 'em?
Woman: You want a room?
Me: No.
Woman: You and your friends need a room we can give you room.
Me: Yes, we'll think about it. Thank you. Goodbye.

The actual conversation was about three times as long, but with a couple more, "do you want a room?" thrown in.

Crete: After Santorini I joined the long lost group (the Indian girls + Sandra, + Ann(i)e), and we took a fast boat over to Crete where we missed a bus, got on another bus, got in a taxi, and then finally arrived at our hotel in Chania somewhere around midnight. The hotel clerks, very friendly people, graciously waited up for us and then kindly served us an early breakfast treat of raki which, like ouzo, is a Greek hard liquor. Unlike ouzo, however, it tastes only like alcohol. Finger nail polish remover actually, but the Greeks never tired in giving it to us for free. In Crete we went to a gorge. The largest gorge in Europe allegedly, but after seeing it I feel the title of simply "gorge" is appropriate enough. We left Crete via night ferry, shared in some drama, and arrived into Athens our final destination the next morning.

Athens: we saw the Acropolis. Despite droves of people and large quantity of scaffolding it was a pretty amazing place. I was not aware of the number of structures which make up the hill top complex, and all along the way are a variety of other ancient Greek structures that wrap around the mound upon which the Parthenon itself is perched. I can only imagine how spectacular the experience must be alone and without all the signs of current reconstruction efforts. Aside from Meteora, Athens and Santorini made the trip. We spent a few days in Athens total, but the rest of our activities were fairly unexceptional and I've grown tired of listing them. One final advisory, though, the Acropolis, due to the high volume of traffic its stone walkways receive, is quite a slippery place. The race between Anne and I for the most falls was a close one, but, style points aside, I think I won.

As a minor finale, the best food in Greece: Mousaka. I keep calling it the "Greek lasagna" and some day someone will agree with me.

As a grand finale, I offer you Paul's pictures. Thanks to heavy investments in technology it can be said that his photos are, for the most part, entirely better than mine. Enjoy.

Greece

Greece was fun. It was also sad. I will now dwell on the sad parts.

Or rather the sad part. There was only one really for me at least. (Or I guess two, but let's continue on with one.) And that was May 8th, 2008, in Santorini. The saddest day of the year. After weeks of waiting the opportunity finally arose to cast off the compact car, dismissively scoff at the public bus, and briefly rest our weary feet by renting ourselves some mopeds. No matter that some in our group did not wish to do so, that there was no real "need" for mopeds, or even that there was no "good reason" to rent some. To hell with some people! Screw having reasons for doing things! We're riding mopeds!

Or so that was the plan. It turned out, however, that not only does Greece require some sort of special Greek moped license, but even if you can find a less reputable dealer willing to overlook such requirements, they still require that you know how to ride one. What the heck? What's with all these regulations Greece? Why you gotta be like that? At least that's what I would have said had I not instead tried to bluff my way through the process. In the end while I can give short, evasive answers with the best of 'em, once seated upon a moped I do not know what to do. Seems there are a lot more switches, buttons, and levers than I imagined. I kind of always thought it would just be a bike with an engine, but apparently it's a bike with an engine and a sixteen button minimum. After staring confusedly at both the bike and the dealer for a good five minutes while repeatedly assuring him I knew what I was doing, I resigned myself to my fate, he removed the keys, and I got off.

The dealer also repeatedly offered up an ATV as an alternative throughout our protracted struggle, but I wanted nothing to do with such silliness. ATVs!? Seriously! I left Greece feeling strongly about a great many of things, but the strongest of which I felt concerned tourists and four-wheelers. Who's going to take anyone seriously who rides around town on a big, slow, lumbering vehicle designed, in just about every way, for off-road travel. My patients would not respect me were word to get out. I would not respect myself. The site of a troupe of four-wheelers inching along the side of a farm road thinking that by somehow driving mostly on the edge of the road it would allow other vehicles to easily pass is a site I saw all too often and that I will likely not soon forget. Look! Now I've almost talked more about ATVs than mopeds! Ridiculous!

So Paul and Rachel zoomed off merrily on their moped, and I slinked away to an Internet cafe where I sulked for a good hour before I found other things to do. The end.

On a not sad note, here're my photos. No captions yet. Try and guess what everything is.

Paul and Rachel having the happiest time of their lives.

What the heck does moped even mean? Motarized pedestrian? Myeh.