End of Contiki : Athens 1

Friday September 15th, 2011. Athens.

Today was the "Official" end of this Contiki adventure. We've had to put our luggage outside our rooms last night, so it would get dropped off at the port while we got off. It was very early, as we had to check-out and settle our bills for 7h45. Of course, most of us had a very late/early drunk night, and/or we weren't packed or we had bills to settle, and all that kind of fun stuff.  I like to think I'm organized, so very early, I was finished packing my day bag, I was showered and dressed and I was lining up at reception to get my final bill (although I was smart enough to make final credit card payment last night, we still had to make sure I didn't make any more charges to my room card). All of this was taken care of, I was able to go and enjoy a last bit of breakfast. I also made sure to leave a very generous tip to my "maids" in various currencies and wrote up a nice feedback card as well.

It was far from the usual feast, as the cruise was ending and everyone was getting off and in a record time, they had to start the process all over again. The work these guys put in to turn everything around in a few hours is nothing short of amazing. It was impressive. We did feel a little rushed, as the instructions weren't exactly clear as to where to meet and when. (Contiki vs Official directions.)

We did manage to get off the ship, always missing a few people here and there. Once off, we all had to wait around and try to find our bags, and then after everything was settled and we could try to make our way out to the bus, we realized we had an extra set of suitcases. Someone still wasn't off the ship. So we played the waiting game, and let me tell you, people get very pissy very fast about that. On one side, I can understand since I am very anal about punctuality myself and would vote to leave people behind when they're late. But on the other side, sometimes, just sometimes, there are valid reasons for people to be late, and it doesn't matter which way it goes, name-calling and general rudeness and bitchiness and never acceptable. At least in my book, but apparently, I own a very outdated version that no cares about anymore. (FYI- in this case, it was a valid reason that the person got held up on the ship.)

 It's about 9 am by then and we have 3 options: You take a cab to the airport or wherever your hotel is if you're staying longer or the bus will drop off most of the remaining group at the President's Hotel or lastly, they can drop some of us up downtown, at Syngtama Square. I chose the last option, as I had booked a small room right downtown for my next 3 nights. I made plans with a few girls staying at the President's to meet them back up at 6pm for a farewell dinner.

So I was now on my own with my big/full suitcase downtown Athens, looking for my hotel. I knew it was on the same street as the previous one we were at, but that was about it. So I had only a general idea of where I was going, and we were litterally just dropped off at the corner of the square, no time to say Goodbyes or anything. I noticed there seemed to be some kind of protests going on in the aquare and in front of the parliement, so I tried to stay out of the way. There were a lot of police and army around. Of course, when I got to the hotel, completely exhausted and sweaty, I was told that I wouldn't be able to check-in until after 2pm. It was barely 10am. This was going to be a long day. I sat at a cafe for a while, sipping on an way overpriced iced coffee, and then spent the rest of the day on the roof terrace, nodding off with my book. When I was finally allowed in my room, up on the 3rd floor with with narrow and steep staircases, it was almost 3 pm. I locked the door and put the coffee table in front of it, not sure who that would've stopped if they really wanted in.

I enjoyed a refreshing 2 hours nap and almost cancelled on the farewell dinner, I just wanted to sleep more. But I dragged myself in the shower, got ready and went downstairs to give my key back and tell them I was going out for dinner. It was a very small place, maybe a dozen rooms, with real keys, so whenever you were leaving, you had to leave your key with them. I walked back to the square, feeling a bit nervous with all the  armed "security" people in the street, and I hopped in a cab to get me to the other side of town, to meet with the group.

There were only 6 of us who met and decided to ask for a restaurant near by and walk there to enjoy a last traditionnal dinner, as most of us were leaving tomorrow. The restaurant we were sent to was wonderful. I do wish I remembered the name so I could recommend it to everyone, but sadly I don't. But it was absolutely the best. At first, the staff didn't seem impressed to see us walk in as the place was empty and they were watching some basketball game on TV. But we got a nice table outside and a very nice waiter. We got a huge starter of Tzaziki and bread and a cold beer. After that we switched to the house white which was very good and I had some seafood pasta, and it was delicious. Mid-meal, the waiter brought us another pitcher of wine, on the house!!! And when we were done eating and just chatting away, he brought over for each of us a piece of baklava, again on the house. Wow, who were we to say no to baklava? And it was one of the best I have had. And even after all that, he came back with 7 shots of Ouzo, again on the house, so we could have a cheer with him.

Well, after 2 weeks in Greece, I had been very proud that I stayed clear of Ouzo, not wanting to suffer the consequences, but it would have been rude to refuse. So we clinked and drank. My that was horrible. Like drinking gasoline. It went straight to my head and I felt instantly drunk. Seperating the bill was fun, as we are all generous tipper, we always seemed to end up with as much tip as the main bill. It took a long time to figure that one out lol But so much fun was had!!! We then walked to the supermarket close by to buy bottled water and I also decided I should buy snacks and beer and diet-pepsi. It was too much to carry on a normal day, so imagine when drunk-ish. I saw the rest of the group back to the hotel and then took another cab back to mine. I watched TV for a bit but I was glad to finally go to bed and get to sleep in tomorrow. I had nothing planned but to take the hop-on hop-off bus to get to the sights I hadn't been yet.

Contiki Day 4: Spotlight on Greece 3

Contiki Day 4. Spotlight on Greece, Olympia, Wednesday September 7th, 2011.

Another early start, I'm still feeling a little queasy, but that could be because of the late night with drinks. But I'm not feeling as bad as usual so I even dare try a little breakfast. The medication for upset stomachs seemed to be working. I kept stashing fruit and water in my backpack just in case. It took a few hours, but at one point, all my colors came back and I was really awake and alive all of the sudden, wow. Everyone saw the difference, maybe I had finally kicked this annoying Jet lag away.

We picked up a guide at the site, she wasn't my favorite, she didn't really seem happy to be doing what she did. We started with the museum, which was pretty big and had a lot of stuff. Too bad the guide wasn't more interesting, but the stuff was. The only downside with a guided tour is that you only get to see the highlights, not everything. I don't recommend paying for a guided tour in a museum, unless it's the Louvre. But I still loved it, I'm a dork. I had no idea how massive this site was. Olympia, you blew my mind. SO big, so many ruins and foundations and stories behind it all.

It was a lovely hot day, close to 40 degrees, but as long as you had enough water (and you could buy it everywhere for 50 cents) you were ok. With all this walking and the sun, I was really started to hurt for a hat. After the tour, we had a lot of free time to explore on our own and take lots of pictures. I pretty much stayed with Kelly the whole time, as she was of the only ones who was openly as fascinated with the history as I was. So we helped each other with pictures. I don't understand how some people just went to sit at the restaurant and stayed there pretty much the whole time. It was a good, long visit and I was satisfied I had enough time to truly appreciate it.

After we were done, with the tour, and I did not tip the guide, sorry, we were given another hour of free time just outside, where they had a couple souvenir shops. It was like 4 different stores, full of so many beautiful things. It was hard not to go crazy and buy everything. I wanted to bring a lot of little things back for everyone. I found a hat right away, what a relief and then bought cheap original jewellery and some souvenirs. My bill came to something like 46 euros and I was telling the cashier how much I liked the store, he turned out to be the owner!!! He handed me a bar of complimentary Baklava and would not accept more than 40 euros for my purchases. Such a small gesture but I loved it. Again, smiling and being polite :)

(I'm not even going to mention all the flirting here as well, I've never felt prettier in my entire life hehe)

After that we had a "sales" presentation at a workshop where they make statues. I was interested to start with, statues, I wanted to bring back an Artemis one but when I saw the guy greeting us in, my knees almost gave out. He was one hot Greek man. Wow. Pretty much all the girls agreed with me. He gave us a presentation and then walked us upstairs where there was the giant store, mainly statues, but with lots of souvenirs as well, including a nice little jewellery store. Real, nice, silver jewellery, not the cheap kind. For some reason, the hottie became fascinated with me, specifically with my tattoos. (I have a moon on my left back shoulder, a sun on the right side and a pentagram inside a moon on forearm.) He loved it. He was very touchy as well, and kept flirting with me. Such an empowering delightful moment for me. I splurged on a silver ring, earrings and necklace (which was 100 euros) but I was unable to find an Artemis statue like I pictured, even with my new friend  helping me. (I was very specific in what I wanted.)

After that, back on the bus, on our way to Delphi. Even though a lot of time is spent on the bus, it never feels too too long as there are a lot of stops to see things and service stops too. (peepee stops Paola called them.) And for me, it was perfect to take pictures of the landscapes, it was just so wonderful. We crossed this enormous white bridge and I was terrified, not a fan of bridges at all. Pictures time, then we were off again. A bit later, we stopped in Nafpaktos for a coffee break. It was a lovely little village near by the water, and you could order either a cafe frappe, a beer or a soda. I had the cafe, of course, which was yummy, but so very strong. I couldn't finish it, halfway through it every nerve in my body was jumping so I got up and started exploring.

So many lovely spots for pictures, I had a field day, even dipped my feet in the ocean. The beach was all pebbles, which is not convenient for walking around at all. And then we settled in for another very long drive in the mountains, to make it to the hotel for the night. We had some fun trying to watch a "The Hangover 2" Dvd that a guy bought from a street vendor and it turned out to be a video of the movie playing on a computer screen. We could clearly see a beer bottle in the frame, and sometimes the monitor would go to sleep. It was hilarious. (Not the actual movie.)

We made it to Delphi by the end of the afternoon, and we were told dinner would be a bit late, because we were all going out afterwards, to a local club, and Paola insisted we all go. We settled in, again the view was absolutely breathtaking and most of us went outside for a drink or to the pool. More fun and relaxing times. I was rooming with Bec again, so we had our taking turns for shower and getting ready routine perfectly orchestrated by then. For dinner, I sat at a big table with a dozen or so others, we had wine and beer, took pictures, but the food wasn't that great at all and the service was very slow too. But it was a great evening.

The club was a 10 min walk away from the hotel, down the road. We had an included shot and drink with the entrance and pretty much everyone showed up. At first, I wasn't sure, it was very small, dark and the music so loud and the place was completely empty except for us. But soon other groups arrived, I swear they were like 14 and 15 years. Apparently, drinking age is not a big thing in Europe. It was a bit annoying and really packed up after a while, so we all got our drinks on and danced the night away. Lots of fun was had. And it so happened that it was Larissa's bday at midnight, so I had to call for lots of shots and have the DJ give her a shout out too.

Funny thing happened, whenever I went to the bar, I had to wait forever to get served, I thought the bartender was quite rude and somewhat ignoring me. I wasted a lot of time waiting on him, even though I tipped really well and even bought him a shot. I think there was a big misunderstanding in the end as well, I wanted to get more shots for Larissa and I and the girl didn't know what we had before, so told her to get the guy, that he made them last time. Somehow, it was as if I special-requested him or something and he took a big interest in me. I got a few free drinks and he started flirting with me like crazy. By the end of the night, when the bar was almost empty, he even jumped over the bar and came to sit with me. We danced and made out, it was completely crazy. (I wasn't really interested, it just happened and I went with it.) His English wasn't the best and I cracked up every time he called me "baby", which sounded like babe. I drew the line when he dragged me in the store room and started fiddling with his pants, no way! He let it go. I ended up the last one in the place after close, along with Larissa and a local and Shawnee who was making out with the DJ. By then though, I just wanted to get back to the hotel. Dimitri said he would drive me, to which I said no, I wasn't getting in a car with a stranger. I agreed to let him walk me, and I kinda sobered up at the thought of me walking in foreign streets in the wee hours of the night with a stranger. Lots of horror movies start like that. I remember feeling very protective of Shawnee (who brushed me off and went home with the DJ) and Larissa, who was walking in front of me with the other guy. Dimitri, the bartender, kept trying to drag me to dark corners to make out some more, but I was having none of it. I was a bit scared and just wanted to get back to the hotel.

He did get me to the hotel, and I think he was disappointed when I didn't invite him in. But I was relieved I was back. It's a bit of blur after that, but I remember that Bec wasn't sleeping yet, she was on the balcony, and I remembered babbling some non-sense to her before completely passing out in my bed. Thank god I set my alarm clock before we left.