Budget/Funds - Greece

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Itinerary - Greece

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Leaving T.J. Day 11-12

Well today is the day that we return home. We truly enjoyed our time and we did all kinds of new and exciting things; snowboarding, spelunking, clubbing, and golfing on a excellent course. Then weather was chilly but generally nice. We had to get up at 4:30 am, much to the belly aching of the girls. I brewed black coffee for Declan and I, caramel mocha for Sarah, hot chocolate for Brian, and water for Lauren. We had packed the night before and were ready to go as soon as we dressed and took showers.

I drove our rented Camry(much to the disapproval of the others) to the Athens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport. We didn't ride for very long; it was only a five minute ride. Our tickets were waiting there for us and we waited for 30 minutes until our plane ride. We boarded a Boeing 737 at 5:15 am and we were flying by 5:25. The ride was uneventful, most of us slept. Sarah was drooling on Lauren, Brian was drooling on Declan, and I had an aisle seat all to my self! We landed in Amesterdam at 8:00 am.

Amesterdam could have been very enjoyable, however, we had no money to spend so we had to amble around and do nothing for 6 hours! The next flight Departs at 1:40 p.m. I went to the book store and read Game Informer(all the novels, comics, and magazines were in Dutch, so I just looked at the pictures) until I got bored then I sat down and did this blog entry. If the flight is on time then we should be in Memphis International Airport at 4:45 p.m.

Golf Day and Zoo--Brian-Day 10

Declan, T.J., and I awoke around noontime due to us being just plain lazy. He had a good, hearty breakfast to prepare for our exciting day of golf. T.J. ate a bad pancake this morning (Declan made the pancakes, what'd you expect?) and got sick so he bailed out of the golf tournament. So Declan and I set out to the golf course just outside of the hotel. We played 4 rounds of golf, with Declan winning with a total score of 288, compared to my score of 294. Declan was thrilled that he got a perfect par. The course was so beautiful, with all of the colored trees and grass. We got back to the hotel around 8:30 and then all played Texas Hold-Em Poker and chilled out. We watched a few movies and had popcorn. While Declan and I were putting around on the greens, Lauren and Sarah shopped for everyone and bought fancy Greek clothes for the music festival. After the tournament of Texas Hold-Em, T.J., Declan, and I rode around Greece in our infamous mopeds. We saw many amazing sights including the Ancient Agora, Hadrian's Arch, the Theater of Dionysus, the Keramikos Cemetery, and the Roman Agora. After our relaxing moped ride, the 5 of us went to the nearby zoo and saw animals of all sorts. We spent about an hour at the zoo, just enjoying ourselves, and then we all got some ice cream back at the hotel and relaxed for some more TV and Texas Hold'Em. What a fun, relaxing way to end an awesome trip to Greece! We all had a blast, including Declan (who got bitten on the nose by a monkey at the zoo, haha)!!

Brian

Sarah Shopping First Part of Day 10

Lauren and I are going shopping this morning before we go to the zoo and the guys are off golfing in the rain. Lauren and I are going to brave the rain and go buy lots of things. We bought four Matias, ward of evil spirits, at 20 Euros each. Also we bought two girl and three boy traditional dancing costumes at seven hundred Euros each. We went to the Agora and shopped around in the markets. There we found the best Pistachios in the world that were made in Aegina, Greece and cost us approximately 40 Euros for all the Pistachios we bought. Then, we went into the buildings of the Agora and bought the most beautiful hand-crafted gold jewelry that was very expensive. The total cost was two-thousand Euros for two necklaces and two bracelets. By this time we were getting a little hungry so we decided to stop in a little cafe and get a snack and a drink. Then we went right back to shopping and traveled to a street called Kolonaki Street and soon, found out from some locals that this was the sixth expensive place to shop in the world. Here is where we finished off our shopping budget with designer handbags, handcrafted rings and earrings, and a specialty wine. By the time we were finished we had spent a good five thousand Euros. We went back to the hotel to wait for the boys so we could go to the zoo.

A Day Underground -T.J. Day 9

Declan, Brian, and I awoke at 8 in the morning preparing for our trip to Koutouki Cave . We attempted to rouse Sarah and Lauren from their slumber but they refused to be awakened. I threatened to dump water all over their face if they didn't rise. They reluctantly complied. We ate breakfast at the hotel, and I, of course, ate lots of bacon, pancakes, and Ravani, or fried cakes covered in honey. Declan had some delicious Greek yogurt, with cucumbers. Brian pancakes and bacon. Sarah had bacon and eggs, Lauren did as well.

We rode in a red Camry with slick, black leather seats and a GPS system. We jammed to Disturbed(actually only me, the others didn't seem to enjoy it) for about an hour. We arrived around 10 a.m. We were just in time because the tour was just beginning. The tour guide, Leonidous, was bilingual, speaking both Greek and English. He began the tour he told the tourists(first in Greek, then in English) the history of Koutouki Cave. It was discovered by a shepherd several years ago when his goat fell through a hole in the ceiling. When the shepherd went to rescue the animal he discovered one of the worlds most beautiful cave system.

After Leonidious had finished with the history of the cave system, we began our descent. The cave was quite stunning. The tour guide explained the formation of stalactites and stalagmites while we were gazing around. Brian wasn't listening to him, rather January Friend, by the Goo Goo Dolls on his Ipod. Sarah and Lauren didn't seem to find much interest in the cave system. Declan and I really enjoyed exploring the cave system and its massive vista's and sometimes tight corridors.

We were in there until 2 p.m. We saw the majority of the cave system and were ready to leave. Lauren and Sarah seemed extremely bored. We got back to the car but everyone refused to let me be in the front seat. Defeated, I sat in the backseat. We listened to the wind the entire ride back to the hotel.

Birthplace of Nikos Kazantzakis, Crete-Lauren Day 8

It was about 6am when Sarah and I got up to get ready for our day in Crete. 7am brought us downstairs to eat along with Declan, Brian, and TJ who decided to sleep in a bit. It was early but in Athens you don't want to miss a gorgeous sunrise. The pink and purples of the clouds made it worth getting up for the boat ride to Crete. I had done lots to research about this Greek island and how Nikos Kazantzakis (author) affected the citizens. the famous author of The Odyssey: The Modern Sequel, is mainly known in the small island through music that bands and composers. The 4.5 hour boat ride was cold and windy due to the boat having no top. About half way through the ride, Sarah lost her hat which flew away with the wind. I guess we will never know what happened to it. Crete was beautiful! With crowded markets, it looked like a small New York City with the same amount of people. The small town, Iraklion, which is where the author grew up, was our final destination. While the beaches looked like lots of fun to be, we went on to the heart of the city. The small cafe we ended up at was the perfect place to listen to Kazantzakis' inspired music. Mostly Christian music, it relaxed us all after the long ride.

There was lots to do in Crete, including testing out all the olive oil and honey one could ask for. The people where so kind and welcome that we spent extra time in the city exploring. We came along the Koules Venetian Fortress which was built in the early 1500s, it was used as a prison. The International Congress has held meeting there in the past and the theater shows many cultural productions.

Sarah: The College Town and Fancy Dinner Day 7

Yesterday, was a lot of fun and today is going to be even better. We woke up this morning around ten. We did want to sleep in to catch-up on our sleep. We went downstairs and had a hardy breakfast of different foods provided by our hotel. I did not really notice what everyone was having today, but I did tell them not to eat a lot because we were going to have a huge dinner tonight and that we didn't want to ruin our appetites. After breakfast we all went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for the day. We took our time and eventually left the hotel around noon. Today we are going to the University of Athens to look at their science and technology department, to get an idea of what's being taught in the areas of science and technology in Greece. When we arrived at the college, we were shone around by a tour guide named Aetos. Aetos took us to all of the science and technology departments, including the physical science, chemistry, and various other technology fields. Aetos also explained why this college is a place for growing technology. Aetos said that the oldest college building was originally used by ancient greek architects and old types of tools were discovered. The college originally only had 52 students. The best part of the tour was when Brian, Declan, and T.J. went to use the bathroom in the college and came screaming out like little girls because there was a little snake in the stall. Lauren and I were laughing our heads off and we will never let them live this one down. Later we all went back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. I was the one who got to pick the restaurant tonight and I wanted to go somewhere very fancy. So, I chose Arheon Gevsis, which is a very expensive and very fancy restaurant in the heart of Athens. We got really dressed up in suits and dresses and took the hotel limo, which was awesome, to the restaurant. We arrived and were treated like the most important people in the restaurant. We decided to sit outside in the heated garden area and it looked amazing. Listed below is what we ate that night.

Sarah - Orea, Cheese, Big Fish, Ames

Declan - Tridakaia, Smoked Eel, Goat Leg Prime Beef Cutlet, Itrion

T.J. - Orea, Salted Pork Epiplous, Meloria

Lauren - Orea, Chichpeas, Smoked Pork, Stetitas Placus

Brian - Tridakaia, Sausage Slices, Chicken, Meloria

The meal was the most amazing thing I have ever tasted in my entire life. When we finished our meal, we returned to the hotel and got ready for the next adventure on our list. I will write again soon.

The Sounds of Greece - Declan - Day 6

Today was a musical day. All of today(and tonight) we dedicated towards the experiencing the musical culture of Greece. Due to the historic nature of our other Greek experiences, we opted for a more modern approach to the music. We slept in and relaxed this morning, eventually making our way to the Museum of Popular Instruments. This is an excellent museum, one of the many close to our hotel in Athens. It is housed in the historical Lassanis Mansion, and is the culmination of nearly half a century of research by the musicologist Fivos Anoyanakis. Once I finished going over the basic history of the place with the group we got into the thick of the museum. It was truly amazing. The entire museum is dedicated to 1200 Greek musical instruments dating from the eighteenth century to the present day. It was so really interesting just to see how many different ways to make music they had in the museum. There were so many instruments I had to get Lauren to make a list of some of the instruments and what floors they were on for me to remember enough to post about in the blog. Here it is.

- Membranophones (ground floor): Toumbelekia (pottery drums),daoulia (drums), defia (tambourines)
- Aerophones (ground floor): Flogeres - souravlia - mandoures (flutes)tsabounes, gaides (bagpipes), zournades (shawms)
- Chordophones (first floor): Tambourades, laghouta (long-necked lutes)outia (short-necked lutes), quitars , mandolins, dulcimers etc
- Idiophones: koudounia (bells), massies (tongs with cymbals)simandro (semanterion) etc.

Admission was free (Brian is getting angry with me. He says we need to spend more money). T.J. got a little bit angry at one point and started ranting about how "All these instruments are the same! They just gave different names!" and "I need someone to explain the difference to me between a laghouta and an outia!(Different neck sizes, laghoutas are longer ones as the security officer so kindly explained to T.J. once he realized that there wasn't a problem). Everyone learned a lot about Greek music anyways. And much fun was had by all.

We had something much, much bigger planned for later on that night.

At 6:00 p.m. we were ready. We had gone shopping specifically for the newest and most "happening" styles. Brian, T.J. and I had even gotten into the mindset that we could wear them for the rest of the night without freaking out too much (They were itchy). I had looked up dancing statistics and found that we should take a fifteen minute break after every hour of dancing. Sarah had drawn up some statistics on body mass vs. BAC and found out how much we could drink before we got irresponsible. Brian used Google Translator to find some appropriate dialogue that we could use. We had even organized two cabs to come and pick us up when we were done. We were ready to go to one of the most recognized dance clubs in Athens, in all of Greece, the Horostasion.

The Horostasion was, by day, a relaxing cafe where delicious iced coffee and sandwiches were served. By night it was one of the trendiest and greatest discos in all of the Athens nightlife. There were three separate floors, each dedicated to a different kind of music. The night we went there there was Techno and Dance music on the first floor, Alternative Rock and New Wave on the Second Floor, and Heavy Metal on the third. The entire group spent a lot of time on the first floor (we all agree, the club had excellent strobe lights and beat music). At around Eight we split, saying we'd meet back in two hours. T.J., Brian, and I went up to the Heavy Metal floor while Sarah and Lauren went to listen to New Wave. Brian's "helpful dialogue" got me slapped though. I just figured out that "Μυρίζεις σαν δώδεκα νεκρών ψαριών σε ένα βάλτο." does NOT mean "You smell nice". Everybody stuck to Sarah's charts, but being able to drink beer legally (no drinking age in Greece) was not that big of a deal. We all really enjoyed being able to experience a different environment for music. Heavy Metal was even heavier when you couldn't understand the words. According to Sarah and Lauren a similar effect carried over in Alternative Rock. When it got to be around 2 in the morning we decided that it was time to go home. When our taxis got there it was late, we were tired, and we all felt a little dizzy from 6 hours in strobe lights. I still can't believe I'm awake, but I felt the need to tell you all about what happened today while the memories are still fresh. I'm sleeping in tomorrow.

New Years (Protohronia) in Greece-Lauren-Day 5

1 January, 2009. This holiday of celebrating a new year is full of tradition and family values here in Greece.

Yesterday was the eve of the New Year, citizens accumulated in the town plaza or center to do last minute shopping for the occasion of new years. The real partying began when men call a bloodless war on each other with weapons of plastic clubs, giant plastic hammers, whistles and foam spray. Another tradition is to cut the Vassilopitta, or the New Years Cake. This cake has a hidden coin in one of the pieces of cake, whoever gets the coin will have good luck for the rest of the year. We all tested out our singing when carols were sung from house to house, almost like Christmas time in the US, singing "Kalanda" and offering good wishes. Fireworks topped it all off at midnight to welcome the new year.

New Years day is now coming to an end and we have done so much. Also called St. Basils day, children receive gifts from the famous Agios Vasilis when they wake up in the first morning of the new year. the Vassilopitta cake that was cut last night will be eaten and one lucky person will hopefully find the coin in one of the slices and will have luck for the whole year.

We went to the Athens town square and celebrated all day, following all the traditions. Some really friendly people let us in their home to celebrate with them. When they served the Vassilopitta cake, we were all very surprised that Sarah got the coin. I guess we will have to see how her luck plays out for this new year.

Day at the Museums-Declan-Day 4

Today was our first look at some of the wonderful sights in Greece. Due to the fact that our hotel is in close proximity to nearly all of the historical and cultural things we wanted to see in Greece today, we rented mopeds to get around the city. It took about an hour for everybody to get used to riding them through the crowded streets of Athens. It was really fun once we had gotten the hang of it though. It was exhilirating to be weaving in and out of normal traffic on a motorized scooter.

Our first event of the day was a visit to many of the major temples in Athens. The ancient Greeks made excellent architecture, and some of their amazing tributes to the gods are still standing today. We went to the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus, the Temple of Apollo, the Temple of Poseidon, and even the Temple of Hephaestus. All of them were exquisite. The Acropolis and the Parthenon were impressive, even overwhelming. They are both very well maintained. My personal favorite was the Temple of Poseidon. It is built right on next to the beach so that you can see and hear the Mediterranean sea from inside the temple. The Temple of Hephaestus was shocking because of how much of it was standing. Apparently the god of the forge makes a fine building. The Temple of Apollo was also quite the sight to see. Even in the cold weather the sun hit the building with amazing warmth. The Temple of Zeus was quite the curiosity. It was the least complete out of all of the temples, but the columns that were still standing were amazing. They towered taller than any of the columns we had seen yet, hinting at the wonderous structure that must have once stood there.

After our tremendous tour of the towering temples it was time to hit the museums. Greece is famous for its culture, and there is nothing quite like a good museum to display cultural history.

We visited three of the most famous and well known museums.

The first museum we visited is the Greek National Archaeological Museum. This is truly an impressive museum. It houses material from before 5000 B.C. all the way up to the Roman Conquest. The museum possesses a rich photographic archive and a library with many rare publications, the latter of which is constantly enriched to meet the needs of the research staff. There are also modern conservation laboratories for metal, pottery, stone and organic materials, a cast workshop, a photographic laboratory and a chemistry laboratory. Not all of these were accesible to us, but most were. The museum has temporary exhibition spaces, a lecture hall for archaeological lectures and one of the largest shops of the Archaeological Receipts Fund. There was even a speaker in the auditorium giving a lecture on the importance of archaeology in the fundamental understanding of ancient soceities, or so the guide told us. The entire speech was in Greek, so we didn't get much of it. Here we saw so many different things that truly portrayed the culture and history of Greece. The only mar on this otherwise perfect museum trip was that we I may have accidentally disobeyed the law. Apparently there are no video-games allowed in public in Greece. No one informed me of this. I was quite abruptly asked to put my handheld game away. Apparently this is a recurring problem with tourists.

The next museum we went to was a bit more artistically inclined. The Museum of Cycladic Art is a museum that displays the workings and masterpieces of ancient Greek artists. All sorts art were displayed here, but the primary medium of expression was sculpture. This museum... was not as exciting as the others. It was interesting to see all the different forms and expressions of Greek culture, but after seeing something as compelling as the archaeological museum, this one didn't meet the same standards. Also, Lauren and Sarah kept calling it the "Psychadelic" museum. So, this was not one of our better choices as a museum trip.

Finally, at T.J.'s request, we went to the War Museum. This was a surprising gem of an exhibit. There were several different rooms, each divided based upon the period of history they covered. Within each room the Greek wars of that era were depicted. Due to Greece's longstanding history it covers wars all the way back from the stone age. Brian and I were more interested in the wars of the distant past. The depiction of the crude and primitive weapons used, as well as very different military tactics during ancient times was enthralling. Lauren, Sarah, and T.J. were more appreciative of the more recent war exhibits. They were each very interested to see how Greece was involved in some of the wars that they had learned about for some time, but never expected Greece to have such a role in. Due to the more textual nature of the museum we had a tour guide for this exhibit. Damon was an excellent tour guide. He spoke with excellent English and very dramatically throughout all of the exhibits. We thanked him at the end of our tour, paid him, and went on our way.

Day of Snowboarding-Sarah-Day 3

We woke up at 6:00 a.m. today so we could get an early start on our first full day in Greece. Declan, T.J., Lauren, Brian, and I all went down and had a amazing breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, waffles, pancakes, hash browns, and a native Greek drink of Turkish Coffee. After breakfast we left to snowboard the slopes of the Parnassos Mountains. We went snowboarding for a whopping nine hours. We were dead tired when we finally left the mountains. At the end of the day we met Jennifer Aniston, who's family is originally from Greece. We stopped to eat lunch at a small cafe at the bottom of the the Parnassos Mountains called Foibos. We all ordered one of their speciality drinks called, "frap pe me ga la, meh trio", which is an iced Nescafe with milk and sugar. It was one of the best drinks I have tasted in a long time. The drink was sweet with a hint of ginger. Then we made our way back to the slopes for a few more hours of boarding. After we were done snowboarding it took almost an hour to defrost ourselves. T.J. and Declan were being really wimps and complaining every couple of hours that it was to cold. Returning to the hotel we decided to go out and explore. The girls and the guys split-up and we went to get dinner on our own. Lauren and I went to Milkshop Klepsydra, which was a beautiful restaurant in the heart of Athens. Then we went back to the hotel and went straight to bed because we had to get up really early the next morning.

Declan Night of Arrival Days 1-2

We just arrived in Greece! Jet-lag was being a bit difficult, but I think we'll get over it. We just got off of an 18 hour plane ride. Thankfully, the plane was quite comfy and we all caught up on sleep, reading, and videos. All along the plane ride my friends and I have been conversing excitedly about the many things we want to do in Greece. We gathered our savings and have an enormous budget, nearly $8,000 each. We booked an excellent hotel, one of the best in all of Athens. The Athenium Intercontinental is beautiful, and our room has the nicest bed I've ever seen. T.J., Brian, I are going to rotate who sleeps on the couch in our room while the girls get their own beds in their room. We were all really suprised to find some children our age drinking. Apparently there is no drinking age in Greece. Due to the fact that we just got in tonight and we are all still full from that horrible airline food we plan on going to bed right now and eating a hearty breakfast in the morning. I think that Sarah was planning a snowboarding trip for tomorrow, so you'll probably hear about that later. I'm logging out for now, more shall be posted soon.