Cruising through Santorini with Miley Cyrus and Flo Rida :)

Wednesday morning we forced ourselves to wake up at 9am because we had free breakfast at the hotel, but it wasn’t easy after the dinner the night before. Even though it was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day we had to sleep for a few more hours before fully getting up in the afternoon. When we woke up in the afternoon, we walked into Fira and rented a car, as all of the locals said this was the best way to tour the island = best idea ever. (However, this just serves as another reminder to get familiar with a stick shift before coming to Europe because it’s so much cheaper to rent manuals). But Tina drove our little car like a champ all over the island, which is only about 25 miles long and 8 miles wide. So we drove from the northern to southern tips, stopping at amazing beaches and cliffside views every few minutes. It was incredible. There is actually a dormant volcanic island about a mile away from Santorini, and we saw it from just about every angle. Some highlights of our drive (besides listening to the bomb CD that Tina made before coming!

Black Sand Beach of Perossa

Red Beach and Cliffs

Church at the Red Beach (with Tina ringing the bells ...)

Kamari Beach

Marathon Dinner and New Friends in Santorini

Per the suggestion of Andreas, we walked over to Tavern Simos for dinner on Tuesday night, where there was one other table of tourists and a couple of tables of locals watching football. It was a pretty cold night, so we sat right by the fire to begin what turned into a 7 hour dinner. To start we had amazing olive oil and tzatziki sauce with bread. Tina had roasted lamb chops with rice, and I had pork stewed in wine sauce … both were really good. We started off by ordering a carafe of house wine, and the friendly waiter brought us 2 or 3 more carafes on the house. He commented on how lively our conversation was and said we should keep it going with more wine J He then brought us shots of ouzo on the house and then asked if we liked it. Apparently our response was just so-so because then he brought out shots of raki, a local liquor distilled from grape leaves … rather strong but tasty. At this point we had outlasted the locals, and the waiter and cook joined us at our table with more shots of raki. And it was actually like a home-brew coming from a big plastic bottle. Dimos, the waiter/host, and Kiriakos, the chef, talked with us until 4am. What started off as a simple Greek alphabet lesson turned into a discussion about faith & God (with everyone spelling God out in as many languages as they could, see card below), and ended with Tina demonstrating her marketing prowess as she explained to us the difference among the baby-boomers and X and Y generations. That’s the last topic I can remember from the night. We polished off the bottle of raki and then realized how long we’d been there! This is probably one of the most memorable meals I’ve had – they were just so genuinely excited to have new people to talk to and introduce the culture to. Then they invited us to go to the “opening night after winter season” at the local jazz bar. Now THIS is why traveling in low season has its perks – quality exposure to local culture. We had a three minute walk back to our hotel, and Tina was the silliest I think I’ve seen her. Raki is crazy; let’s just leave it at that :)

Yasas ... shots of Raki! And a napkin where we explored the spelling of God in all the languages we know ...

Notes from our Greek Lesson from Dimos

Caldera/Cliff Walk at Sunset on Santorini ... Magnifique!

We stayed in the town of Fira – centrally located and supposedly “bustling” compared to the other villages on the island. After our best gyro yet, we finally found a tour-guide shop that was open and met another very friendly Greek, Andreas. He gave us a map and spent a good 15 minutes describing the cliff walk that we must take that night. It wasn’t even a question as to where we should go – “Follow this path, stop and take pictures here, then take pictures there, then come back and eat at Tavern Simos, and then tomorrow you come back to me and I’ll tell you what to do.” So we walked along the cliff “caldera” path, and the views were absolutely incredible. The whole edge of the crescent-shaped island is actually cliffs, some of which have houses/hotels/cafés terraced into them. Every single one of these was closed/uninhabited but it was pretty easy to imagine how amazing they would be in the good season. But it was pretty cool to experience this as essentially some of the only tourists on the island. I'll try to give you some of the picture highlights below:

Ahhh ... this, to me, is Greece !!!

Views along the coast of the island:

The villages just seem to pop up out of nowhere on the terraced sides of the caldera:
















Here is a series of doors (to currently closed bars/hotels/restos) that opened right out of the edge of the cliffs. I loved them!

We spent almost an hour walking along the cliff, without even really talking much (haha which is rare for Tina Lee, if you know her!). It was really peaceful and relaxing.

Ferry and Arrival in Santorini

Our 8-hour ferry ride to Santorini started at 7:30am and was packed with people in the beginning but lightened after the first two stops. It was really nice with the amenities of a very basic cruise ship – café, restaurant, tons of different seating areas. We slept for a few hours, and it didn’t seem as bad as an 8-hour trip sounds. Pictures of our ferry & us on deck:

We got to Santorini and were in complete awe as the boat docked. We were surrounded by ridiculously blue skies, deep blue water, terraced hillsides, and the iconic white Greek architecture popping up in clusters on the cliffs. Every picture you’ve seen of Santorini is completely realistic – it really is that beautiful. A shuttle picked us up at the port and drove us up crazy winding cliffs to our hotel, a cute villa where we had a nice room overlooking the (unfortunately) non-functioning swimming pool. After walking around the town of Fira where we were staying, we realized that most bars/clubs/shops/tour guide groups are completely closed for the winter. At this point we realized there wasn’t much to do but enjoy the unbelievable views. Quick summary of the below photos: Greek fisherman at the port; partial view of the island of Santorini from the port; view from our hotel in Fira.

"Lady, Greece is not big country."

This was the travel agent’s response to Tina’s question about the weather on the island of Santorini versus Athens; he confirmed that it had also snowed on the islands. We had finally found a travel agency that was open, and our pal Marios hooked us up with a nice little trip for following 4 days. He booked us ferry tickets to go to Santorini on Tuesday morning, then to the island of Paros on Thursday, and back to Athens on Friday night to catch our Saturday flight to France. It ended up being a very reasonable package deal with beach-view hotel rooms, breakfast, transportation, etc. This was our first experience with a Greek essentially telling us we had no options (but in a nice way) but to follow their advice & suggestions. Essentially, we walked in and said “Well, we know the weather isn’t great, but we’d still like to go to the islands if possible.” To which he replied “Ok, you go tomorrow to Santorini … it’s very beautiful. You stay in this hotel … it’s very nice. You are two ladies, so you take two beds. You stay two nights there, and then you go to Paros for one night. Two ladies, two beds. Paros is nice but one night is enough. Then you come back to Athens on Friday. Tomorrow you wake up and leave your hotel by 6:15am, you take the metro, and you get on the boat at 7:20. It’s very easy … you see the port, then the big boat.” He organized our whole trip while we basically stood there and nodded, grateful that we could leave Athens. But we had similar experiences with a lot of Greeks wherever we went … whether in a restaurant, a car rental agency, a bar, etc … it seemed to me that they loved walking you through everything and giving you step by step instructions on the best way to experience and enjoy their culture. I love it!

The rest of the afternoon we walked around the area of Plaka in Athens – saw the National Gardens, Hadrian’s Arch, and the Temple of Zeus. It’s crazy how these ancient ruins are naturally integrated with the modern buildings, main streets, residential neighborhoods, etc … well-preserved but still very authentic. And the whole afternoon, regardless of where we were walking, we’d look up to see the Acropolis looming over us … can’t beat that. Here are some snowy and sunny Athens pictures.

After solidifying our travel plans for the islands and walking around Athens, we had the intention of cooking dinner in our studio but ended up getting a late lunch – which turned out to be a feast! We found a fabulous little neighborhood place serving tapas-style entrées. The owner came over with a huge tray of about 12 different dishes on it and explained that the fixed menu consisted of 7 plates, bread, a carafe of wine, and dessert. Basically before we could say yet, he started selecting plates and putting them on our table. It was amazing:
- Beef and rice wrapped in grape leaves with a cream sauce
- Grilled, seasoned eggplant (amazing!)
- Beef meatballs
- Pork with spicy tomato sauce
- Spread of fava beans, chopped onions, and lemon juice
- Seasoned potato wedges
- Cabbage and carrot salad

The food was great, and the ambiance was perfect for a snowy afternoon – complete with the owner’s family gathered around the fireplace. That night we just had a chill night at the hostel bar. No real highlights here except the random drunk Chilean who gave us a rundown in Spanish of the 4-P’s he remembered from his marketing class. Apparently “Producto” always through him off, haha :)

"It's not a mullet, it's just Latino" Fun Night in Athens Hostel

Sunday we spent the first half of our day relaxing at the James Joyce, the Irish bar from the night before … essentially homeless in a freak Athenian blizzard, surrounded by our bags at a corner table. Then we decided to head over to a hostel in the Plaka area and seriously trudged 30 minutes through steady snowfall. From the locals, we got a few laughs, lots of strange looks, and a few snowballs thrown at us. I’m sure everyone was wondering what tourists were stupid enough to be here right now! Here are a few picts of us trudging through the snow in Athens.
























We finally got the hotel, Athens Backpackers, a very welcoming, cool, clean place. They put us in a great 6-bed studio apartment with kitchen, tv, couch, full bathroom – the best place we could have found after the night before! We lounged around, took showers, and then our 3 Spanish roommates showed up. They were super nice, but we didn’t end up hanging out with them that night. We went over to the hostel’s bar and met a bartender from Mobile, Alabama … Tina of course loved finding another southerner! The hostel is actually run by the brothers of the Australian actress Isla Fisher, and we ended up hanging out with one of them who was really cool. So even though we couldn’t make it out due to the snow, we had a great time in the hostel that night! And it finally stopped snowing during the night. We woke up Monday to find out the Acropolis was still closed due to snow, but the ferry office was open – some good news! But I can’t believe that I’ll be able to say I spent 3 days in Athens without having visited the Acropolis or Parthenon. Totally the fault of the freakish weather … but this just gives me more reason to come back! Here are some photos of our great studio apartment and friends from the hostel.

"Girls, this is when we say Opa!"

Saturday night we showered and went to a nearby Irish bar because it seemed to be one of the only places open. Our Saturday night in Athens wasn’t shaping up to be too great! But after a couple of beers at the bar we started talking to a Greek guy who immediately took a couple of rounds of shots with us. He had just gotten back a couple of months ago after living in Miami for a year, working in his cousin’s restaurant. Tina made the mistake of asking why he came back … apparently he got in a fight with his cousin’s wife and she called immigration on him. And if he “ever sees her in the street in Athens, I’d kill her.” Yiiikes … so that’s when we started talking to the group of sailors next to us. They were a really fun and nice group of guys – English, Scottish, Australian, and Serbian – all here working on a Greek yacht or something. We all decided to go to another bar together and unsuccessfully tried to turn away the Greek (death threat towards his sister-in-law still fresh in our minds). We walked through the snow to a club, danced, drank, talked, etc. But the best part of the night was the walk home – had a hardcore snowball fight between us, the sailors, and some Greeks on their way home from the bars. It was awesome. Then we got to our hotel and made the mistake of being a little too rowdy, which Yia Yia Pella definitely didn’t appreciate. She essentially pulled Tina and I inside and
locked us in for the night. We continued trying to communicate with our friends from the
balcony, another dumb idea. She then called our room – “Close the door, go to bed, then in the morning you pay and leave.” Quite the change from the lady who upon check-in tried to convince us to pay for 4 nights based on the impending weather situation. Not a big loss … the room was filthy, freezing, and we slept with our beds smashed together and a tiny space heater propped on a chair at our feet. But this was just the initial realization of our theme’s trip – karma. As disappointed as we were about the weather, we made the most of it and lots of fun things came out of it all! This first hotel was in the area of town known as Monastiraki – the market area with lots of little cheap shops and hotels everywhere. It was pretty close to the Acropolis, but wasn’t the most entertaining area to stay in.

Arrival to Athens

When we arrived in Athens it was a bit cloudy and chilly at the airport. We took the subway into the city, popped out at our stop, and stared directly up at the Acropolis. No joke. So after we absorbed this, we found our hotel … the Pella Inn, run by a traditional Greek yia-yia. At first we were disappointed because she told us there would be no breakfast (as was promised on the website), and she said that we had to be in by midnight (also not mentioned in travel guide or website). We refuted this point, and she eventually said that we could come in a bit later by ringing a bell. Then she proceeded to tell us that Athens was in a “very dangerous” state due to the huge snowstorm that was supposed to occur for the next two days. She insisted that no ferries would be running, everything would be closed, and that we should probably go buy the necessary provisions. We were hoping that she was exaggerating (and she was, to a certain extent, like old women everywhere about the weather) but it definitely started snowing Saturday night. Anyway, we grabbed a couple of awesome gyros from a little shop and then took naps until Saturday night. Here are some picts of the views from our hotel balcony in Monastiraki.

Living through a Scene in Love Actually

*this is actually verbatim what I wrote in my notebook … might get a little loopy based on our fatigue at the time – and what we thought was funny then most certainly won’t be as funny now *

We’ve spent the first 3 hours of our 9-hour overnight wait at Paris Orly Airport at a random arrivals gate. Every 30 minutes or so there is a new group of people who show up to wait for the arrival of their friends or loved ones. After watching them or their mannerisms for a while, it’s fun to finally see who they’ve been waiting for. My favorite was a twenty-something guy with roses. He anxiously waited while the whole plan seemed to have emptied out and kept switching sides of the line to get a better view of the corridor … but nothing after about 30 minutes. It was so sad … then he went to another gate but eventually came back … and finally the girl arrived! After all of that stress (for me!) the actual encounter and embrace were a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. But if you have to spend several boring hours in an airport, go ahead and plop yourself down at the arrivals gate. The people watching is awesome.

11:25pm – My dad just called to remind us to get rum or whiskey on our 6am flight to ensure that we sleep. Thanks, Michael J

11:28pm – Tina just called me a “little button.” She does not normally use such cutesy vocabulary. I’m going to try to convince her to go to sleep.

11:31pm – Tina just created her own crossword puzzle and is rather proud.

(okay, the minute-by-minute replay idea died quickly, thankfully!)

We inhabited a quiet little corner in the airport all night and ended up talking to the two guys sitting nearby. One turned out to be a Greek who is living in Rennes but on his way home for a wedding, and the other a Brazilian studying abroad in Normandy. They were both so friendly and we all talked for a while. Yeah, and I think we may have gotten invited to a huge wedding in Crete on Saturday night … too bad we’ll be back in Paris! Can you imagine the amazing travel story that could have resulted in? And the Brazilian gave me the number of an American kid to call up in Barcelona when I’m there next week. It’s so fun to meet other random, friendly travelers! I think we ended up getting an hour or two or sleep before getting on the flight to Athens.

Tina's Arrival in Paris!

Tina’s flight got in a bit early, but timing worked out really well and we met up at the CDG train station to take a train into Paris for the afternoon. We stashed our bags at the hotel (reserved for the following weekend) and spent the afternoon walking around the Marais, followed by the Latin Quarter. We enjoyed a great leisurely afternoon meal of filet with blue cheese, frites, fresh baguette, and red wine - at Rendez-vous des Amis, a cozy restaurant in the Marais. It was a great way to start our initial round of catching up! Random highlight from a ride in the Metro – we were in a really full car, and a guy couldn’t fit in with all of his friends, so he jumped into the space in between the two cars - essentially riding just above the tracks without being in a car. Crazy idiot. That about sums up our afternoon in Paris. Then we headed to the airport, where we spent the night before our 6am flight to Athens.

Yay Care Package from Minneapolis!

Who really shows up from an international flight bearing a goodie bag of gifts?? Tina Lee, of course! She brought me some highly requested American gum (Trident White, woohoo!), an awesome CD of the latest ‘Merican jams (we’re talking Miley Cyrus, Flo Rida, Janet, etc), some St. Patty’s drinking dice … and the best … a collaborative gift from my Mpls Target crew :) Everyone signed a card and personalized a shirt with little messages for me. And it’s not just any shirt … it’s a Target corporate shirt (“Meet me at the piano” for all of you Tgt insiders) re-fashioned in the infamous Tina Lee style. What started as a large, bulky tshirt is now a racer-bank tank with laced-up, fringed sides. I think it’s her best work yet, and I proudly posed wearing it on the beach in Greece, as well as under the Eiffel Tower in France. See pictures below :) And I’m not sure that I’m supposed to mention this, but I received an advanced copy of the Mike & Rudy Minneapolis Movie, sneak peek edition. It’s amazing … watch out.