Saturday morning I woke up and sent Matt out the door on his way to Cinque Terre. I finished packing for Greece and then headed out on the train for Rome. When you have more time than money there is a really slooooow train you can take to Rome. It takes about 3-4 hours instead of the hour and a half it takes on the Eurostar. So I spent a lot of time that afternoon on the train watching the scenery go by:
It was a really beautiful day with such blue skies and lovely clouds. I was on a different train route than I had been on before (I was kind of getting sick of the Rome-Firenze connection that I had done so many times). Mostly I saw lots of green:
There were also many little towns nestled in the hills:
I saw patches of sunflowers and mini-grand canyon like area. And there was a lot of corn growing:
I arrived at the Rome train station and then took the Leonardo Express train to the airport. I found my check-in counter but I was still 30 minutes too early to check in. I waited in line with a couple who were on their honeymoon and who had spent 10 days cruising around Europe with no luggage. Not by choice--the airline had lost their bags and so in all their honeymoon pictures they were wearing the same clothes. It was weird standing there at the airport because I already felt like I had left Italy. People were speaking English (American even) and the default was not Italian. Since I was in line at Olympic Airways, the default was Greek and I hadn't spent anytime brushing up on my Greek conversational skills. Oh yeah, I never had any Greek conversational skills. Before too long, a beautiful familiar face came walking toward me with her trademark red suitcase with the pink luggage strap on it. "Jamie!" I was really excited to see her and I know she was relieved to see me. But she was tiiiired. She had just flown in from San Francisco and hadn't slept much on the plane. Now we still had about 3 hours before our flight and we weren't getting into Greece until 11pm. We checked our bags and sat in the coffee bar catching up. Since I fell behind on updating the blog there were a couple of weeks I had to fill her in on. Finally we got on the plane:
Wow, we look tired! I had only been on the train for a few hours but I think the idea that my trip was coming to an end was taking a little emotional toll on me. I was really excited to be going to Greece but it signaled the beginning of the end. This was the first time I was out of Italy for over three months and I felt weird leaving. I knew the only time I would be back to Italy on this trip was with other people and as a tourist. So we arrived in Greece well after dark and it was so different. I've never seen so many signs that I can't read! Even throughout Europe it is less daunting because you can recognize the alphabet. No such luck in Greece. Fortunately, my great friend from film school, Amalia, was there to pick us up. I felt so privileged to be traveling internationally to such an amazing country as Greece and having my friend Amalia (a true Grecian goddess, born and raised) pick me up. What a thrill. She picked us up in her little yellow VW bug and drove us to her enormous apartment/house. She lives in the home she grew up in with her family of five. Now she has it all to herself and it spans the entire floor of an apartment building. Not bad for free lodging! I'm used to crashing on cramped floors--she had a whole wing of her apartment set out for us! Jamie barely made it to bed--she crashed and was asleep in seconds. Amalia and I stayed up and talked. We ate yummy Greek yogurt with honey while exchanging stories about our lives over the last two years (Amalia moved back to Greece two years ago). Finally we went to sleep--but only for a few hours because early the next morning there was a taxi waiting to take us to the port. Here is the ferry that would take us to the islands:
Jamie is on the left with our bags, wearing a pink shirt. It was so relaxing to turn my brain off for a little bit and let Amalia take over. She dealt with everything including directing the taxi driver and picking up our ferry tickets at the counter. It was kind of a madhouse at the dock that morning. It was a Sunday morning which seems like a weird time for people to be leaving but it was really crowded and our driver said it would only get worse in the next hour. Everyone was escaping the summer heat in the city and heading out to the islands. Here we are ready to board:
I was happy to be taking a ferry wrapped with my cell phone logo! I felt so "in". Actually, it is pretty ridiculous, Europe is just like the US with the ridiculous permeation of advertising into all aspects of society. Vodafone is kind of like the European Verizon. Here is Jamie on the ferry:
The ferry was a lot different then I expected. Kind of like a mini-cruise ship--a bit lounge-y even. We made stops at two islands on the way to our destination Mykonos. This is the port on the first island we stopped at and our first glimpse of a Greek island:
We rushed out to the back of the boat to get these pictures of the city. The landscape is really so different from Italy, I was kind of surprised by the dryness.
It looks like we were right in the town but it is just because the road runs right along the harbor and our humongous ferry backed up right on top of it.
I forget what island this was, but no matter, we were on to Mykonos. When we arrived there was some confusion about what port we were going to because apparently there is an old port and a new port and Amalia only knew about the old port and we weren't sure how to get to the old port where the town is. Getting off the ferry equals mass confusion because everyone is trying to rush off but no one is really sure where they are going. Amalia asked a couple of taxi drivers and figured out that the best way was to take this little bus:
Thank goodness for Amalia directing the way. This was our first experience on the Greek buses--what you usually do is get on, wait for the bus to fill up to the point that the driver deems it a worthwhile venture to drive you and then you pay the fare as you get off. Here is Jamie happy to be on Greek island:
The bus took us over to the main harbor of Mykonos:
The town was really beautiful, gleaming white against the blue water. The beach above looks really beautiful but Amalia told us right away that it was the bad beach and that we would be seeing much more gorgeous beaches. I was pretty impressed anyway as we walked through town to our hotel. Thank goodness again for Amalia...we had so much trouble trying to find our hotel and she was able to call the guy at the hotel and get directions. Twice. The town is like a little maze. There are some street signs, if you can read them. Mostly you have to wind through and look for landmarks. And then we found it:
Notice the cross under the sign, I forgot to ask Amalia what that is but it reminded me of the ashes Catholics put on their forehead for Ash Wednesday. Inside the walls of the hotel there was a little courtyard with a porch swing:
Jamie was super-pooped at this point and could barely stand up. So we let her crash on the bed while Amalia and I got ready to hit the beach:
Here is our balcony:
And the view down to the courtyard and the entrance to the hotel:
Here I am, so happy and excited to be in Greece for the first time!:
Amalia and I packed up our beach gear and headed out to rent a car and cruise around the island while Jamie slept. We picked up a little economy car and then Amalia drove us over to the other side of the island (only a few minutes away) to this beach called something like Panoramos:
At least it was called pan-something because Amalia explained to be that "pan" means "everything" (as in panorama) but this beach was called "everything of the bay" and I don't remember what that word was. We parked the car in the dirt lot and walked by this beach bar and down to the sand:
Every beach I saw has a bar for ordering drinks and food and for general beach lounging. Amalia and I spread out our towels in the sand and took in the view:
The water was super clear and the air was warm and engulfing--you could feel the heat seeping into your skin and warming your blood. This was my view as I sat in wonder at my ridiculous good fortune:
Being sufficiently warm we went for dip. Amalia went for a really long swim out into the bay:
The water was pretty cold after being so hot on the sand so it took me awhile to get in. But it was worth it--the water was just so clean and fresh but very salty. If you don't want to walk up to the bar to get a drink you can order one from this girl:
The waitresses walk around in their bikinis and take your order and then bring your drinks in this metal thing she is carrying. After swimming I laid down on my towel to warm up again and I ended up falling asleep without even really realizing it! I think I was meditating or something. I was lying there focusing on the feeling of the heat on my skin and then the breeze that would blow it away. Then the heat would come back, pressing down on my body and then the wind would come again and release me for a second. It was really a hypnotizing experience and I think I must have sent myself into a little trance. Amalia was right next to me and I didn't even hear her make a phone call. I probably was only asleep for about 15 minutes but it was one of the most relaxing experiences ever. We headed back to the hotel to pick up Jamie and head out to our second beach of the day:
This was the swankier beach where all the Grecian (and international) jetsetters go. Here is Jamie posing on the boardwalk leading to the beach (Amalia in the distance behind her):
At this beach there were a lot more bodies and many boats, or yachts rather. You buy a lounge chair and join the scene. Oh and you can go in the water too if you want.
Amalia grabbed us some great chairs right up by the water. This is the scene on the sand:
Here is Jamie going for her first swim in Greek waters:
And this is the scene in the water:
The beaches I saw on Mykonos are in little bays surrounded by natural hills and rocks:
Amalia took this artsy picture of me lounging and Jamie's legs:
And here is my happy self-portrait:
Here are the (very white) girls wading out into the clear water:
We had a nice time at the fancy beach--we ordered little sandwich things and enjoyed our nice lounge chairs and towels. The people-watching was pretty incredible too. After a couple hours we headed back to our hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. Our walk to dinner was the first time we really got a chance to enjoy wandering through the streets of Mykonos town, before then we had been searching for our hotel during the scorching heat of midday and then trying to find the rental car place. In the main part of town, the area that hugs the harbor, is comprised completely of pedestrian streets:
And here is the steeple of one of the many, many little churches around the island:
Here I am walking through the streets as we head to dinner:
I was wearing the black dress I bought in Firenze. They paint the stones with the white outline and they keep the streets very clean and fresh. It looks like they are always painting them. We walked down the a portion of the town called "Little Italy":
It did look a little bit like Italy and was a beautiful spot to watch the sunset:
There are a bunch of restaurants and bars lining the water:
And in addition to the diners, there are a few cats looking for a free meal:
Then we walked up the hill a little bit:
In order to take a closer look at the famous windmills:
Amalia and I pose as the sun sets:
And Amalia took another artistic one of us, watching the sun go down:
And since I hate my profile, here's my version:
We walked down to our restaurant which is apparently the best on the island for fresh fish (Renata's boyfriend had even recommended it when I saw him on my last night in Firenze). The restaurant was almost totally open air and it was positioned out on a flat stretch right under the windmills and right on the water:
This was our view as we dined:
The weather was nice around dusk, and it did actually become quite cool being right on the water while we ate dinner. It was a relief though because it had been pretty intensely hot all day. Here we are loving the windmills:
Here is the amazing Greek salad we ate (and even Jamie, who to this point despised tomatoes, enjoyed):
We forgot to take a picture until we were halfway into it, but you get the idea. It was so delicious and fresh. Amalia guided us in having some very interesting foods, we tried a bunch of things that Jamie and I normally wouldn't including this calamari:
I had never seen a calamari like that! Wild. We enjoyed a nice bottle of white wine and even split the house special dessert which was something like cream puffs drenched in sugary syrup and nuts plus vanilla ice cream. It was ridiculously sweet and amazingly tasty. Wow! We practically licked the plate--I might have if we were not at a semi-fancy restaurant. After dinner we cruised through the town on our "volta". I had read in one of my guidebooks that what the Greeks do in the evening is take a volta, or a stroll. So Jamie and I were intent on being Greek while in Greece and taking an evening volta. In fact, any time we walked in Greece we figured we were doing a volta. Turns out that Amalia educated us that the Greeks actually borrowed the Italian word (volta means "turn" or "time") for their walk. On our volta that night we walked through the Little Italy section where there are lots of bars but we just weren't really feeling into that scene. I was tired after all the sun and heat of the day and the no sleep the night before (had I really just flown into this beautiful paradise the previous night?!) As Amalia told us, time moves at a different pace on the islands--a day can seem like a blissfully long time but then a week passes quickly. In any case, we went to bed so we would be rested to explore the island and spend another day at the beaches!
It was a really beautiful day with such blue skies and lovely clouds. I was on a different train route than I had been on before (I was kind of getting sick of the Rome-Firenze connection that I had done so many times). Mostly I saw lots of green:
There were also many little towns nestled in the hills:
I saw patches of sunflowers and mini-grand canyon like area. And there was a lot of corn growing:
I arrived at the Rome train station and then took the Leonardo Express train to the airport. I found my check-in counter but I was still 30 minutes too early to check in. I waited in line with a couple who were on their honeymoon and who had spent 10 days cruising around Europe with no luggage. Not by choice--the airline had lost their bags and so in all their honeymoon pictures they were wearing the same clothes. It was weird standing there at the airport because I already felt like I had left Italy. People were speaking English (American even) and the default was not Italian. Since I was in line at Olympic Airways, the default was Greek and I hadn't spent anytime brushing up on my Greek conversational skills. Oh yeah, I never had any Greek conversational skills. Before too long, a beautiful familiar face came walking toward me with her trademark red suitcase with the pink luggage strap on it. "Jamie!" I was really excited to see her and I know she was relieved to see me. But she was tiiiired. She had just flown in from San Francisco and hadn't slept much on the plane. Now we still had about 3 hours before our flight and we weren't getting into Greece until 11pm. We checked our bags and sat in the coffee bar catching up. Since I fell behind on updating the blog there were a couple of weeks I had to fill her in on. Finally we got on the plane:
Wow, we look tired! I had only been on the train for a few hours but I think the idea that my trip was coming to an end was taking a little emotional toll on me. I was really excited to be going to Greece but it signaled the beginning of the end. This was the first time I was out of Italy for over three months and I felt weird leaving. I knew the only time I would be back to Italy on this trip was with other people and as a tourist. So we arrived in Greece well after dark and it was so different. I've never seen so many signs that I can't read! Even throughout Europe it is less daunting because you can recognize the alphabet. No such luck in Greece. Fortunately, my great friend from film school, Amalia, was there to pick us up. I felt so privileged to be traveling internationally to such an amazing country as Greece and having my friend Amalia (a true Grecian goddess, born and raised) pick me up. What a thrill. She picked us up in her little yellow VW bug and drove us to her enormous apartment/house. She lives in the home she grew up in with her family of five. Now she has it all to herself and it spans the entire floor of an apartment building. Not bad for free lodging! I'm used to crashing on cramped floors--she had a whole wing of her apartment set out for us! Jamie barely made it to bed--she crashed and was asleep in seconds. Amalia and I stayed up and talked. We ate yummy Greek yogurt with honey while exchanging stories about our lives over the last two years (Amalia moved back to Greece two years ago). Finally we went to sleep--but only for a few hours because early the next morning there was a taxi waiting to take us to the port. Here is the ferry that would take us to the islands:
Jamie is on the left with our bags, wearing a pink shirt. It was so relaxing to turn my brain off for a little bit and let Amalia take over. She dealt with everything including directing the taxi driver and picking up our ferry tickets at the counter. It was kind of a madhouse at the dock that morning. It was a Sunday morning which seems like a weird time for people to be leaving but it was really crowded and our driver said it would only get worse in the next hour. Everyone was escaping the summer heat in the city and heading out to the islands. Here we are ready to board:
I was happy to be taking a ferry wrapped with my cell phone logo! I felt so "in". Actually, it is pretty ridiculous, Europe is just like the US with the ridiculous permeation of advertising into all aspects of society. Vodafone is kind of like the European Verizon. Here is Jamie on the ferry:
The ferry was a lot different then I expected. Kind of like a mini-cruise ship--a bit lounge-y even. We made stops at two islands on the way to our destination Mykonos. This is the port on the first island we stopped at and our first glimpse of a Greek island:
We rushed out to the back of the boat to get these pictures of the city. The landscape is really so different from Italy, I was kind of surprised by the dryness. 
It looks like we were right in the town but it is just because the road runs right along the harbor and our humongous ferry backed up right on top of it.
I forget what island this was, but no matter, we were on to Mykonos. When we arrived there was some confusion about what port we were going to because apparently there is an old port and a new port and Amalia only knew about the old port and we weren't sure how to get to the old port where the town is. Getting off the ferry equals mass confusion because everyone is trying to rush off but no one is really sure where they are going. Amalia asked a couple of taxi drivers and figured out that the best way was to take this little bus:
Thank goodness for Amalia directing the way. This was our first experience on the Greek buses--what you usually do is get on, wait for the bus to fill up to the point that the driver deems it a worthwhile venture to drive you and then you pay the fare as you get off. Here is Jamie happy to be on Greek island:
The bus took us over to the main harbor of Mykonos:
The town was really beautiful, gleaming white against the blue water. The beach above looks really beautiful but Amalia told us right away that it was the bad beach and that we would be seeing much more gorgeous beaches. I was pretty impressed anyway as we walked through town to our hotel. Thank goodness again for Amalia...we had so much trouble trying to find our hotel and she was able to call the guy at the hotel and get directions. Twice. The town is like a little maze. There are some street signs, if you can read them. Mostly you have to wind through and look for landmarks. And then we found it:
Notice the cross under the sign, I forgot to ask Amalia what that is but it reminded me of the ashes Catholics put on their forehead for Ash Wednesday. Inside the walls of the hotel there was a little courtyard with a porch swing:
Jamie was super-pooped at this point and could barely stand up. So we let her crash on the bed while Amalia and I got ready to hit the beach:
Here is our balcony:
And the view down to the courtyard and the entrance to the hotel:
Here I am, so happy and excited to be in Greece for the first time!:
Amalia and I packed up our beach gear and headed out to rent a car and cruise around the island while Jamie slept. We picked up a little economy car and then Amalia drove us over to the other side of the island (only a few minutes away) to this beach called something like Panoramos:
At least it was called pan-something because Amalia explained to be that "pan" means "everything" (as in panorama) but this beach was called "everything of the bay" and I don't remember what that word was. We parked the car in the dirt lot and walked by this beach bar and down to the sand:
Every beach I saw has a bar for ordering drinks and food and for general beach lounging. Amalia and I spread out our towels in the sand and took in the view:
The water was super clear and the air was warm and engulfing--you could feel the heat seeping into your skin and warming your blood. This was my view as I sat in wonder at my ridiculous good fortune:
Being sufficiently warm we went for dip. Amalia went for a really long swim out into the bay:
The water was pretty cold after being so hot on the sand so it took me awhile to get in. But it was worth it--the water was just so clean and fresh but very salty. If you don't want to walk up to the bar to get a drink you can order one from this girl:
The waitresses walk around in their bikinis and take your order and then bring your drinks in this metal thing she is carrying. After swimming I laid down on my towel to warm up again and I ended up falling asleep without even really realizing it! I think I was meditating or something. I was lying there focusing on the feeling of the heat on my skin and then the breeze that would blow it away. Then the heat would come back, pressing down on my body and then the wind would come again and release me for a second. It was really a hypnotizing experience and I think I must have sent myself into a little trance. Amalia was right next to me and I didn't even hear her make a phone call. I probably was only asleep for about 15 minutes but it was one of the most relaxing experiences ever. We headed back to the hotel to pick up Jamie and head out to our second beach of the day:
This was the swankier beach where all the Grecian (and international) jetsetters go. Here is Jamie posing on the boardwalk leading to the beach (Amalia in the distance behind her):
At this beach there were a lot more bodies and many boats, or yachts rather. You buy a lounge chair and join the scene. Oh and you can go in the water too if you want. 
Amalia grabbed us some great chairs right up by the water. This is the scene on the sand:
Here is Jamie going for her first swim in Greek waters:
And this is the scene in the water:
The beaches I saw on Mykonos are in little bays surrounded by natural hills and rocks:
Amalia took this artsy picture of me lounging and Jamie's legs:
And here is my happy self-portrait:
Here are the (very white) girls wading out into the clear water:
We had a nice time at the fancy beach--we ordered little sandwich things and enjoyed our nice lounge chairs and towels. The people-watching was pretty incredible too. After a couple hours we headed back to our hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. Our walk to dinner was the first time we really got a chance to enjoy wandering through the streets of Mykonos town, before then we had been searching for our hotel during the scorching heat of midday and then trying to find the rental car place. In the main part of town, the area that hugs the harbor, is comprised completely of pedestrian streets:
And here is the steeple of one of the many, many little churches around the island:
Here I am walking through the streets as we head to dinner:
I was wearing the black dress I bought in Firenze. They paint the stones with the white outline and they keep the streets very clean and fresh. It looks like they are always painting them. We walked down the a portion of the town called "Little Italy":
It did look a little bit like Italy and was a beautiful spot to watch the sunset:
There are a bunch of restaurants and bars lining the water:
And in addition to the diners, there are a few cats looking for a free meal:
Then we walked up the hill a little bit:
In order to take a closer look at the famous windmills:
Amalia and I pose as the sun sets:
And Amalia took another artistic one of us, watching the sun go down:
And since I hate my profile, here's my version:
We walked down to our restaurant which is apparently the best on the island for fresh fish (Renata's boyfriend had even recommended it when I saw him on my last night in Firenze). The restaurant was almost totally open air and it was positioned out on a flat stretch right under the windmills and right on the water:
This was our view as we dined:
The weather was nice around dusk, and it did actually become quite cool being right on the water while we ate dinner. It was a relief though because it had been pretty intensely hot all day. Here we are loving the windmills:
Here is the amazing Greek salad we ate (and even Jamie, who to this point despised tomatoes, enjoyed):
We forgot to take a picture until we were halfway into it, but you get the idea. It was so delicious and fresh. Amalia guided us in having some very interesting foods, we tried a bunch of things that Jamie and I normally wouldn't including this calamari:
I had never seen a calamari like that! Wild. We enjoyed a nice bottle of white wine and even split the house special dessert which was something like cream puffs drenched in sugary syrup and nuts plus vanilla ice cream. It was ridiculously sweet and amazingly tasty. Wow! We practically licked the plate--I might have if we were not at a semi-fancy restaurant. After dinner we cruised through the town on our "volta". I had read in one of my guidebooks that what the Greeks do in the evening is take a volta, or a stroll. So Jamie and I were intent on being Greek while in Greece and taking an evening volta. In fact, any time we walked in Greece we figured we were doing a volta. Turns out that Amalia educated us that the Greeks actually borrowed the Italian word (volta means "turn" or "time") for their walk. On our volta that night we walked through the Little Italy section where there are lots of bars but we just weren't really feeling into that scene. I was tired after all the sun and heat of the day and the no sleep the night before (had I really just flown into this beautiful paradise the previous night?!) As Amalia told us, time moves at a different pace on the islands--a day can seem like a blissfully long time but then a week passes quickly. In any case, we went to bed so we would be rested to explore the island and spend another day at the beaches!
