Meg's POST Europe Trip Summary

I cannot believe it has been 10 days since we have been in Ohio. Yesterday I finally felt normal. I told Chris that for 9 days my body was here but my soul was still in Europe and it finally arrived!

I am so grateful to experience such amazing trip- I never thought during the planning process that I would also meet some very cool people! What a great added bonus.  QUACK QUACK to my contiki friends!

Now what everyone has been waiting for .....MY Review!

What sticks out in my head that I did not like:

• Greece Toilets
• No Soap in Greece Airport! 
• Pee everywhere on the floor in the Santorini Airport!
• Paying for water in the restaurants
• Hiking a Volcano in my ballet flats (I seriously didn’t think our tour include a hike). 
• Going upstairs or downstairs to find a restroom. Because the buildings are so old their “WC” are always hidden away and they really make you work to find them (especially in Santorini I had to climb 50 stairs to go).

Copy/Paste link to your PC to watch video

http://youtu.be/WEBEmQDuBv8?list=FLv5CstKA1V0xIf_FcgzgIxQ

It appears that bathrooms are important to me.

If I go back to Europe where would I go?

Paris (Again)- I need to go to the Musee d’Orsay (collection of pre-impressionist, impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces) and Musée de l'Orangeries des Tuileries / Orangerie Museum (Monet's Water Lilies Museum). I also would like to go to a fancy dinner!

Monaco- actually a country but located in the French Riviera (mainly because Grace Kelly inspired my Wedding dress I bought). The photos look amazing there and a train can take me to Pairs and Monaco!

Germany (Again) but this time Berlin! Berlin is the largest city in Germany and from what my friend Becci tells me is a very happening city. Munich was nice but I’m good to go if I don’t see it again. I would recommend others to go there if they are really into their beer.

Foggy London town (again)- We did not have time to see a show here and I really would have liked to. Go to Notting Hill. I don’t believe I would need to go back for more than 3 days. It would be a good starting point for the next one …

Ireland/Scotland Tour- I found some great tours to see a bunch of Castles!

When I’m older….like 50 or so a Greek Islands Cruise would be nice. Chris and I thought about doing it an extension of this trip but didn’t have enough time and thought it would be too much. But on its own I it would be perfect! Maybe Athens for 1-2 days taking a Greek cooking class and a biking tour. I don’t need to any more ruins! I’m ruined out.

I did enjoy my time in Italy but I’m not in need to go back at the moment (Maybe it was because it was hot). I did think if I went back it would have to be during their winter season. I saw everything I needed to in Italy! Check Check! If I go back (and I’m sure Chris would want to because he is obsessed with pasta) it would be to the Italian Riviera (Tuscany area off the beach) and Sicily. It would also be nice to go back to the Vatican because I needed more time in Saint Peters Cathedral- beautiful!

Austria- Salzburg – enough said! Those hills in particular are filled with sounds of music.

Possibly Poland – Looking up my ancestors, this would be when I’m much much older…it is really on the bottom on my Europe bucket.

I’m sure Chris will go into detail on why he is proud to be American. I’m proud to have free water and clean bathrooms. AMEN! 

Athens

We arrived in Athens Tuesday afternoon. We immediately laid down to take a nap. #priorities

After we regained our strength, we ventured out on the town. And by out on the town, I mean we walked around the immediate area. Fortunately, our hotel seems to be in a good location. It is right next door to a lot of shopping and restaurants. Our room also has a view overlooking the Temple of Zeus.

We ate dinner and finally order a gyro. We didn't have much luck finding a gyro in Santorini... Athens seems to have plenty of places that have it. We were surprised to see what a apparently is- it's not wrapped neatly in a pita, instead it is a pile of meat on top of a few pieces of pita, with some tomatoes, onions, tzaziki, and French fries all on the plate. We learned that a gyro is normally served wrapped in a pita when it is ordered to-go (or take-away, as they say in Europe). They also do not have lamb gyros in Athens... Only chicken and pork. We learned so much about gyros! 

The next day we had an all day tour. We visited 4 main sites that were way outside Athens (hence the need for an all day tour). We visited the Corinth Canal, the ancient theater of Epidavros, the acropolis of Mycenae, and a little town of Nafplio. 

When we got back from that, we went for dinner in a section of town called Plaka. This section of town has two things: souvenirs and restaurants. For dinner, we ended up getting a big platter of stuff. A lot of different meats (pork, chicken, beef burgers, lamb, lamb/beef) along with some rice and pita. It was delicious! 

Our last full day in Athens included a half day tour around the city of Athens that ended with a trip up the to Acropolis... The Parthenon being the big attraction. As some of you may know, the great city of Nashville has a full scale Parthenon randomly in one of their parks. So this was really the second time we had seen it... The one in Nashville is in much better condition, the one in Athens is run down and barely standing... Kind of depressing. After that, we went over to the Temple of Zeus... Even though we see it all the time right outside our hotel window. Not much left of that except for a few pillars. We also got "take-away" gyros... They put the fries right in the gyro! Unbelievable!

Something we have noticed is that when you walk by a strip of restaurants in a tourist heavy area, they always have somebody standing outside trying to convince people to eat there. They will run up to you with a menu and tell you how great their food is and then finish it off with "I have a table ready... Please come". It's fun when you are actually looking for a place to eat since you are interested in the sales pitch... It's not so fun when you aren't eating and they follow you for a little bit. Italy was somewhat similar in that they had people standing outside restaurants... But they normally didn't chase you down. They would mainly be there to answer questions... And then they would seat you if you wanted. It is fun hearing the sales pitches to other people once we are already seated. 

We have also noticed that the Greeks have been relatively friendly... But they have also been the most pushy when you are looking in one of their stores. They do not take no for an answer. My advice- don't go into a store unless you really intend to buy something! 

Canal

 Ancient theatre

More theatre

Nafplio 

Ancient tomb, Agamemnon 

Where the first Olympics was held

Parthenon 

Acropolis museum 

The temple is Zeus

Real Greek fro-yo

Our last supper in Europe 

Santorini

We arrived in Santorini around 1:00pm on Sunday and ended up doing laundry and eating pool side. We are staying at a resort called El Greco and it's really nice! It has 4 pools. In the evening we went into the town called Fira and did some shopping and ate at a place called Nikolas. 

On Monday we woke up quite early for a tour we signed up for, it started at 8:30 am).We went up to an a traditional village with a bunch of churches called Pyrogos. The coach bus took us to a place called Profitis Elias- the tallest mountain in Santorini, where we had a great view of the red and white beach. After some site seeing on the main island we hopped onto a boat to the Volcano. I didn't expect that we would be hiking up the entire volcano! We were there for a couple hours. I don't want to hike another volcano ... No shade and your shoes get so dirty. #citygirl 

The next boat stop was near hot springs. The boat just stopped near a small island and people just jumped off the boat and swam to the springs. The lady said you had to be a strong swimmer because it wasn't close by. I was hoping I could just float on a tube but they didn't have anything like that. Since Chris and I are no michael phelps we just swam around the boat. People who came back from the springs had a lot of orange colors on their skin and swim suits (iron from the springs?). Well all I can say is I swam in the Mediterranean Ocean! Check. 

After the hot springs we went to a smaller island where we had lunch. If you have ever seen a movie about Greece and remembered all the steps up to the village and donkeys transporting you.... Well it is very true! So many darn steps! I really don't feel guilty for not working out because I was sweating so much I couldn't see, the sweat just poured into my eyes. I should have just got on the donkey! We enjoyed that afternoon right on the rocky beach having rice and pork soulvaki and delicious baklava! There were a lot of cute kitties around that I held. I miss daisy! 

From what Chris and I could remember when we signed up for this excursion is we were suppose to be done at 5, somehow we got confused and ended up with an extended version of the tour! From the small island the boat took us to the top of Santorini called Oia and we had to climb yet again MORE STEPS....holy hell I was a hot mess. It took us 25 minutes to go up the steps. After I asked someone if I could have some baby wipes so I could see again. We enjoyed the famous Santorini sunset. Work hard rest harder!  The sunset was the perfect ending to our Santorini pit stop.

If I ever see Santorini again I would like to see the northeast beaches and go sailing. I think our "See Santorini in One Day" excursion pretty much covered everything else. Oh And I would like to rest more.

Woke up today feeling sick! 4 more days left and I get to enjoy weak AMERICAN coffee, my dog, and flushing toilet paper down the toilet. (You can't throw toilet paper in the toilet here because they have weak pipes, you throw it in the trash... So gross) I think being around all the unsanitary things has started to mess with my immune system.

Tomorrow we will be in ancient Athens!

El Greco resort we stayed at

Pyrogos

Loading dock from the volcano

Rocky beach!

Kitties

Volcano hiking

Lunch on island

I love Greek food!

Santorini sunset