Patmos and Athens

After leaving Santorini, we took a day-long (10 hours) ferry to Athens. Sadly, it was one of the nicest, sunniest days of the trip. It made for nice sitting up top, watching gorgeous Greek islands go by, glittering in the sun though. (And I have to say that the trip went pretty quick because I was engrossed in the second Twilight book, miraculously purchased at a book store in Santorini!)

Our friend Thiago had been in Athens before going to Santorini, and was actually staying at our same hostel, so he showed us how to get there on the metro (Athens' subway system). This was my first actual dormitory hostel experience, and it was great! We shared a room with two girls from Chile, on their way to Turkey. I got a great book-making idea from one of the girls, and I can't wait to get home to my craft stuff in Seattle and try it out! I've been planning out pages in my head while falling asleep at night.

We had a day to wander around Athens, so we did the touristy thing and visited The Acropolis and the Ancient Agora. Both were beautiful. Last time I was in Athens, the Parthenon was covered in metal scaffolding, which slightly diminished its awesome-ness, and made for less-than glamorous photos. I was hoping that this time, eight years later, the scaffolding would be gone. No such luck. Apparently, though helpful signs said that reconstruction was completed in 2004, there will always be something more to repair in this ridiculously old building. The Ancient Agora (market place) was neat, because it still held the feeling of a market. I could imagine stalls lining the pathways, curving in and out through the park. Here I saw cherry trees in blossom! I kind of forgot that spring is on its way, and this was a happy reminder. The weather for the last leg of our trip was fine, it only kind of rained a couple of times, but it was cold!! Mostly due to the biting wind.

We got another evening ferry bound for Patmos, and arrived there at 2:00 AM. Yuck. Thankfully the hotel owner picked us up at the port and drove us the whole two blocks to the hotel. Our one day on Patmos turned out to be a chaperoned affair. A friend of the hotel owner had come in on the same ferry, and seemed to think we needed a guided tour of the island. We were given explicit instructions on what to do and when to do it, including when we should eat, use the bathroom, and take naps. If George (our chaperon) hadn't been so old, cute, and well-meaning, I might have been fairly annoyed at his persistence in these little details. We saw the Cave of the Apocalypse, where John wrote the book of Revelation. While it was neat to see, I really wonder how historians know that this particular cave was where it all happened. Then we went to the Monastery of St. John, which was nice. The museum, which signs along the pathway had told us was amazing, was closed. Like most everything else on the island. It was beautiful though, and I am a sucker for old, white-washed, stone buildings.

The best part about Patmos was the traditional cheese pie that we had for lunch from the one open food venue in the town. It was almost like a quiche, but breadier. Definitely amazing, and definitely worth going back for.

Then we hopped on another ferry (last one) back to Athens. This one docked in Athens at 6:00 AM. We went to the hostel and left our bags, then wandered from coffee shop to coffee shop until we could check into our room and take naps. Sleeping on ferries seems more difficult than on buses or airplanes. We spent that day and the rest of the next wandering around Plaka, the area around the Acropolis. After visiting the National Archealogical Museum, we thought it would be a good idea to see some more modern art as well, and ended up at the National Gallery of Contemporary Art. I liked the archeological museum better. Surprisingly, the metro station that we passed through quite frequently had an art display featuring local painters that was much more interesting.

Then sadly, our trip was at an end. We took the bus to the airport, waited in line for forever to check in and almost missed our flight, dashed madly through the airport, hated airport security for making Katelyn throw out the bottles of wine, olive oil, and other sealed liquids she had mistakenly packed in her carry-on, laughed hysterically at the strange meal served on the flight, and finally landed in Istanbul. From there, I caught a flight back to Antalya, and Katelyn waited several more hours (nine in fact) for her flight home to Seattle. Whew. A fabulous, whirl-wind adventure.