Yia su (hello) from beautiful Athens, Greece. After, approximately, 14 hours in the air, 32 hours on a ferry and 4 days on the island of Rhodes, I am finally in Athens for the remainder of my stay in Greece. It has been an extremely tiring few days, but they have been some of the best days of my life.
First things first, the plane ride. The plane ride became, for me, an encounter with some of the trials and tribulations of an American teenager in Greece. Being my first time on a plane by myself, aka without a family member sitting next to me, I was quite nervous to sit next to a complete stranger. While I was hoping for a nice person to be able to talk to over the 10 hour flight I was quickly greeted with disappointment. A man well into his seventies approached the seat next to me and, after some difficulty stowing his belongings, he sat down next to me. I immediately realized he only knew Greek as he rattled something off to me that I did not recognize at all. The lady in front of me kindly said, "He's asking you if you know any Greek," which I quickly shook my head no too and smiled. It was a quite plane ride and there would be moments of communication through smiles and hand gestures; however, I noticed that the stewardess treated him with a very short and hostile tone. After going through some of the cultural readings I could see why this man acted the way he did in some ways. He was a very helpful man and if he saw a way to help he would go straight to doing it, no second-guessing or anything, he would just do what he thought to be right or helpful. In one particular instance he went to set his empty coke can on the stewards cart because she was busy taking trash for another passenger, she quickly turned and snapped at him, "I will get it from you when I'm ready too." This moment of discomfort can be summarized as a clash between the Greek and American culture. The man, being raised that he is always right, went to do something he felt would be helpful. The women, being disciplined to do her job a certain way, felt as though he was being pushy and impatient.
Even with that first experience with the Greek culture I was fully energized to see the sights of Greece when I got off the plane. We were quickly whisked away to Deree, the American College of Greece, where we dropped our stuff off in our rooms, ate lunch and the packed a few clothes for a ferry ride to the island of Rhodes.
The ferry to Rhodes was pretty uneventful. We were all so tired from staying up past 24 hours and the jet lag, so even the rocking of the ferry didn't affect our sleep. As we pulled up to Rhodes we all stood on the back of the boat and watched the beautiful island get closer.
As soon as we got off the ferry our traveling was still not over. We immediately piled onto a bus for an hour until we reached the town of Lindos. All of us were starving because we didn't eat breakfast on the ferry, so we took time to stop at a convenient store and grab a few snacks. After that it was time to hike up a steep mountain to the acropolis at Lindos. By the way, acropolis just stands for the highest and most fortified point of a city, so there are many acropolis in Greece. Running on barely any sleep and feeling the jet lag we all some how made it to the top and it was completely worth it. It was my first taste of ancient Greek ruins and the view from the top was mesmerizing. Even though we were all tired and sweating to death nothing could take away from what we saw. Being tired did not even matter, we were climbing over rocks and ruins and trying to take in every little bit we could. After spending quite a bit of time at the top we hiked back down, spent some time in the market and left to head to our hotel.
First things first, the plane ride. The plane ride became, for me, an encounter with some of the trials and tribulations of an American teenager in Greece. Being my first time on a plane by myself, aka without a family member sitting next to me, I was quite nervous to sit next to a complete stranger. While I was hoping for a nice person to be able to talk to over the 10 hour flight I was quickly greeted with disappointment. A man well into his seventies approached the seat next to me and, after some difficulty stowing his belongings, he sat down next to me. I immediately realized he only knew Greek as he rattled something off to me that I did not recognize at all. The lady in front of me kindly said, "He's asking you if you know any Greek," which I quickly shook my head no too and smiled. It was a quite plane ride and there would be moments of communication through smiles and hand gestures; however, I noticed that the stewardess treated him with a very short and hostile tone. After going through some of the cultural readings I could see why this man acted the way he did in some ways. He was a very helpful man and if he saw a way to help he would go straight to doing it, no second-guessing or anything, he would just do what he thought to be right or helpful. In one particular instance he went to set his empty coke can on the stewards cart because she was busy taking trash for another passenger, she quickly turned and snapped at him, "I will get it from you when I'm ready too." This moment of discomfort can be summarized as a clash between the Greek and American culture. The man, being raised that he is always right, went to do something he felt would be helpful. The women, being disciplined to do her job a certain way, felt as though he was being pushy and impatient.
Even with that first experience with the Greek culture I was fully energized to see the sights of Greece when I got off the plane. We were quickly whisked away to Deree, the American College of Greece, where we dropped our stuff off in our rooms, ate lunch and the packed a few clothes for a ferry ride to the island of Rhodes.
Yeah we hiked all the way up there.
One of the views from the top.
Just a few of the sights from the Acropolis at Lindos.
After our adventures at Lindos we all went down to the beach and had a refreshing swim in the Aegean Sea. The next day we ventured into the old town of Rhodes, which is a melting pot of different cultures and time periods. We first saw the city walls which were built by the Knights of St. John, also know as the Knights of Malta, and are built in the style of gothic architecture, very plain. We then walked further into the city and saw some Turkish fountains which are much more ornate and stand out amongst the plain Gothic style. The highlight of old town was definitely the open air turkish market and even there you could see the clash of Gothic architecture with the Turkish style. The shopping was a plus and I also discovered the greatest thing ever....Nutella ice cream. :)
We had a free day that I used to just explore the rest of old town. I went with a couple of friends and got absolutely lost, but it was fun because we discovered new things as we walked around trying to find our way back to some place we could recognize. That night we went to a place called the Blue Lagoon which had live Greek music. It was so much fun to dance and do some of the Greek dances. That has to be one of my favorite nights, so far, in Greece.
On Tuesday we left the hotel and went to 4 different sites before we went back to the ferry to head to Athens. We first visited the Archaeological Museum in the old town of Rhodes, which was really cool. All of the different statues and artifacts from various time periods was interesting. They had a beautiful garden with lavender, mint and other things. There were some many beautiful smells as you walked around observing history. We spent a brief 30 minutes at the museum and then traveled to a beautiful monastery called Filerimos, another place with beautiful views and history. This monastery was originally built by the Knights of St. John and then restored by the Italians. Being on a tight time crunch we only spent about 45 minutes there and then we went to our next sight, Ancient Kamiros. Kamiros is known as one of the largest ancient Doric cities found in Rhodes. Again we only spent about 45 minutes here and then we traveled to our next sight which has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. This place was called the Valley of the Butterflies. It may not have been full of ancient artifacts, but it was full of natural beauty. We hiked on the trails which was a physical challenge, until we reached a monastery at the top out of the valley. There we all took a break and sat down to a nice glass of fresh orange juice while looking over all of Rhodes.
We hiked back down the valley and hopped onto the bus to go to the ferry and conclude our little vacation in Rhodes.
A picture cannot capture the true beauty of the Valley of the Butterflies.
All in all the trip to Greece has exceeded my expectations. I have enjoyed every moment and have made the greatest friends. In between the history and school work I have taken the time to think like a Greek and just enjoy time with friends. From finding my Kefi at the Blue Lagoon with dancing to watching the Euros at a Greek bar, the whole experience has been enjoyable.
Glad you are doing wash!
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