The final stretch

Hey Guys!!!

Presently Im in Portugal (Porto to be exact!) Under two weeks left until Im back to reality....time flies...it´s crazy!!!! Greece was amazing! I met up with my group in Athens and we took the ferry together to our fist island - Mykonos which is knowns as the gay island. It really wasnt at all how I pictured the greek islands. It was very rocky and montenous...could be my ignorance but I prefer to blame the sisterhood of the traveling pants! The first day was spent at the beach...I got bit by a so called sea urchin...it hurt. Afterwards we did a walking tour of the city. The center part of of town is more how I imagined it to be. The gouvernment made a policy stating thatALL the buildings and houses must be painted a specific white...the only thing that can be different is the shutters which can be painted one of five colours.

- Green for the trees
-Blue for the sky
- Turquois for the ocean
- Brown for the earth
- Yellow for the sun

During our walking tour we saw the old windmills, little venice (we went to a bar called Rapcity Bar which is right near the ocean....soooo pretty!!). We had a group dinner which was yummy...love greek food. I also had my first experience with oozo...which was interesting to say the least...i swear that drink could kill any germ you had inside of you!!! During dinner, I met a new friend. His name was Petros and he is a Pelican. The story has it that years ago, a pelican came to the island of Mykonos with his pelican lover. They bacame the "mascot" for the island until a drunk taxi driver hit him with his car... the stuffed pelican can now be found in a museum! They eneded up replacing the Pelican with Petros. The waiter told me I could pet the Pelican...so I did. Then a local told me to pet the female Pelican because she was nicer. Apparently all I had to do was give her compliments...he demontrated by kissing her and telling her she was beautiful. I told him I could not speak greek but he said that she was bilingual.... so I told her she was a pretty bird and she bit my boob....apprently her english isnt so strong. After dinner we had a night out on the town... good times!!! We ended up waiting for a long time to grab a taxi, however, because there are only 32 on the whole island...saturday nights get pretty busy!
The next day was spent at the beach... I didnt get bit this time...but I did however met an Aussie and she made me try a vegemite sandwhich...didnt like it very much .... very salty!

Funny memories from my first island experience: you cant flush the toilet paper down the toilet...it will block and come back up...i learnt from my friends´ experience! Also, I needed to do laundry (desperatly!) and they dont seem to believe in washing machines so you must get it washed for you...which cost me 15E....not so funny but still funny all at the same time!

The next island on our tour was Paros. The first day we got a tour of the island. Again it was nothing like I pictured it to be, but my that time I stopped having expectations! In Paros, they have the church of 100 doors (except it actually only has 99 doors). The story goes that an architect made the church and his teacher was jealous so he pushed him out of a window however he fell aswell and they both died. Rumour has it that when the 100th door is found, Greece will regain controle over Constantinople (Istanbul). The streets are super cute and although they do not have any laws stating that all the buildings and houses must be painted white, the majority are. They have adorable boutiques and really nice jewlery!!! After the tour we spent the afternoon at the beach...I didnt get stung!!!! The night went to another Greek restaurant (a la surprise generale!!!!) Yummy sea food salade and baklava!!!
The next day we went on a boat cruise around Paros and antiparos. We visted many of the islands and beaches along the way and stopped to go swimming. I was the first to jump off the boat and swim through a cave where you are supposed to make a whish and then you´ll be happy for eternity!....Ill let you know how that goes!!! During the cruise the captain kept throwing fresh octopus on me.... I dont think I have ever screamed like such a girl....EVER! For lunch we had a BBQ on one of the islands...we ate the octopus which was super good!!!! We also had slouvaki and greek slade and unlimited wine and oozo!!! I didnt drink much because apparently I get sea sick...thank god my friend had motion sickness pills!!!! On the way back I got to steer the boat...Im a natural!

The next day we were off to Santorini! This island is BEAUTIFUL!!!! The first afternoon was spent roaming the streets and taking in the views.... we even saw the donkey trail.... I decided against a donkey ride because apparently the donkeys are badly treated and I didnt want to condone this touristic attraction. That night we had dinner on a clift and watched the sun set (how ramantic...too bad my group was ONLY girls!!!!!!) After dinner we got intoduced to Santorini`s night life.... (inside joke ...G I Joe!)...
The following day we went walking on the volcano! When the volcano errupted many years ago, it broke Santorini into 3[?] separate islands. The volcano is still active today and I was able to fell the heat coming from the rocks. Afterwards we went to the hot springs. We jumped off the boat and swam out to the hot springs...which were not that hot!!!At the bottom of the springs there is the mud used in spa`s (mud bath) so we put the mud all over ourselves! My skin was "baby bottom" soft!!!! That night we had a picnic at Oia (which is where sisterhood of the traveling pants was filmed). This is exactly how I pictured the greek islands (big surprise eh!!!) We had a picnic and watched the sunset which apparently is a once in a lifetime experience. It was breath taking....soooo great....until this idiot dropped my camera while taking a group photo.
The next day we were off again...this time to Ios...the party island...and boy did we live up to it's name.
Day 1: Beach + bar hopping
Day 2: Beach + Banana Boat+ Bar hopping

**** Danced on the bars + got free shots.....danced on the bar to get free shots...and got free shots because we danced on the bar!!!****

Day 3: No voice + sick + return to Athens.

In Athens we stayed with my friend from exchange again. We ate yummy food and his mom took care of me!!!! He tookd us out with his friends that night to the most beautiful bar I have ever seen...it is right beside the ocean, and it is super chic and the water is turquois....(apparently words cannot explain! lol)

All in all I loved Greece. I met some really cool people (especially from New Zeland!!! ...definitively high up on my places to visit!!!), saw some really beautiful views and did some pretty awesome stuff.... Greece check....Portugal here I come!!!!

Less than two weeks!!!! Miss you all!!!

-Ash
xoxo