View from the Acropolis
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View from the Acropolis |
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A
brief summary of the week's events is as follows:Luis, Claudia, Andy, Vic, Cecilia, and I arrived to Athens on Saturday after a long but uncomplicated 15-hour trip from Houston. We were greeted in the hotel lobby by Scott and Steve, who had arrived the night previous, and Chris, who has arrived that morning. We dropped our bags in our rooms and walked together down to the Psiri neighborhood - an Athens hotspot just adjacent to the Parthenon that contains a large number of cafes, bars, and restaurants. We spent the night at one particular outdoor restaurant catching up on recent news and stories, including an unusual number from Siberia and Indonesia, and listening to the restaurant’s classic Greek band. Following a bit of partying and arm-wrestling in Scott, Vic, and Andy’s room, we were home and asleep by 4am. As usual Andy was unbeatable, and Vic was angered by everyone’s poor wrestling form (i.e. cheating).
Cecilia and I woke up late on Sunday, had
breakfast,
and went for a run around the city. I
(proudly) ran to the top
of the highest hill in Athens (about 600 vertical feet climb), which
afforded
an impressive 360-degree view of the city.
We returned
for a nap and to watch a stage of the Tour
de France commented in German. Despite
the German I was happy just to able to watch Lance Armstrong push
towards
his seventh and last TDF victory. Our group-of-nine gathered in
the
hotel lobby to meet up with Spanish friends Jorge and Arancha, to form
a final complete group-of-eleven. We
together walked to
the Parthenon and spent the last daylight hours strolling among the
various
ruins of the Acropolis, 
accompanied
by many other gaping tourists. We had
dinner at a
Greek restaurant near the foot of the Acropolis, and returned to the
hotel
by 2am.
Monday morning we woke up early to catch an 11am flight to Mykonos. The flight went smoothly and we were in our “4 K Hotel” resort by the early afternoon. We spent a brief period swimming around the beach just below the hotel, where I managed to step on a sea urchin and permanently lodge one of the mildly poisonous spines in my big toe. I was able to finally remove it the following day with the help of multiple tools and painful attempts. We had calamari for lunch by the beach, followed by calamari for dinner by the resort pool. During dinner we managed to find another ~10 of Alex and Renee’s Chicago friends who had joined the pre-wedding festivities, and we together formed a large welcome party to the bride and groom when they arrived to the hotel in the early evening. We had dinner at a Greek restaurant in the center of town, followed by dancing at two techno clubs in the heart of the city. I could have done without the second club, as the music was deafening and the highlight was a man dancing on a podium wearing only a g-string and large arctic fur boots (insulated with fur up to the knees). We were home at ~4am, still solidly on the Houston time zone.
Tuesday was all about mopeds and beaches. The
highlight of the day may have been Steve and Chris being rejected by a
moped rental company, due to the large strawberry-looking wound on
Chris'
knee. Evidently the rental companies are
quite adverse
to high-risk customers, and did not believe Chris' story (true as it
was)
that Chris had gotten the injury while jumping over a wall (unrelated
to
a moped). Chris and Steve eventually
succeeded in renting a 4-wheeler
from another company outside of town. We
spent the
day touring the island and its various beaches on our newly acquired
methods
of transport (Cecilia and I shared our moped), usually traveling in
packs of four or five mopeds. This was my
first
experience on a moped, and it was quite a treat.
That
night we again had dinner with the “big group” in the city center,
including
ice cream at an ocean-side café. Most of the group
then succumbed to sleep (including myself) due to an early ferry the
following
morning. A small group, including the bride
and
groom, did manage to stay out clubbing until the early hours of the
morning. A few pictures from the day:
Wednesday morning our group-of-eleven woke up
early,
returned our unscathed rental mopeds, caught a 9am shuttle down to the
ferry dock,
and boarded a “fast” catamaran for the 40-minute shuttle to
Naxos. In
Naxos we connected to a larger (and slower) ferry for a 3-hour ride to
Santorini. We were tired, a bit hungover,
and the
crowded ferry did not help to raise our spirits.
We
somehow managed to get lost in the ferry’s maze-like layout and found
ourselves
sitting in the first class restaurant area - we stayed there for the
remainder
of the trip. We arrived at midday and checked into the “New
Haroula” hotel in the center of Fira. Some of us (mainly
Scott and I) chose to watch a
classic mountain stage of the Tour de France for the remainder of the
afternoon
in the hotel lobby. This time the
commentary was in
Greek, and was riddled with silent pauses, which proved far worse than
even the German commentators we had tolerated in Athens.
Wednesday
night was highlighted by sunset over the Santorini caldera, followed by
dinner overlooking the same caldera from high on the city’s cliffs,
followed
by a pub/club called “Murphy’s”
where they indeed served Murphy’s stout.
A few pictures from the day:
Moped
Fun
Super
Paradise Party Beach
Chris
Reflecting on the View
Who
is the Doggy in the Window?
Moped
Racer Andy
The
Santorini
Caldera
Thursday was another beach-moped theme day, and
Chris
and Steve had no problems renting this time. Ironically the day
featured
two accidents – Chris flipping his 4-wheeler into a ditch adjacent to
the
road, and Andy laying down his moped on a tight sand-covered turn. The
total damage cost them 300 euros and some frustration, as the rental
company
lawfully took their money but with no intention of actually fixing the
damaged vehicles. That night we settled for
gyros
and kebabs for dinner, and dedicated the bulk of the night to sitting
in
the window of Murphy’s club, which had an eye-level view of the small
alleyway in front of the club where many attractive people congregated
throughout the night.
A few pictures from the day:
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Friday
morning we shuttled to the airport and flew back to Athens. We
checked into the Blazer
Suites in Voula - a southern Athens suburb along
the coast that was within taxi-distance of all wedding events. Friday
night featured an American-like rehearsal dinner at the luxurious Divani Apollon
hotel outdoor pool area, followed by people-watching at a club near
the
hotel. The outdoor club was a bit unusual
as it contained
an Olympic-size swimming pool (not used of course) and four-post
beds for sitting and conversing with friends.
I was
tempted to go for a dip, but decided to save my aquatic aspirations for
the big wedding event.
A few pictures from the night:
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Saturday was spent sightseeing by certain people, running and
relaxing
by others (i.e. Cecilia and I), and merely relaxing by others. We
congregated at the nearby wedding church at 7pm, where we witnessed the
one-hour traditional Greek orthodox ceremony.
The
surprise highlight was a tradition of throwing rice at the bride and
groom
in the middle of the ceremony as they circled the altar, leaving a mess
of rice on the church floor (and in everyone's hair). There was
also
an interesting tradition of systematically applying and subsequently
swapping ring-like headgear between the bride and groom.
Following
the ceremony we bused over to the nearby Island Club, where we had a
spectacular
reception under the stars. Highlights of
the night
included dancing on top of $1 bills that covered the dance floor,
unlimited
gyros and other lamb-pork products at the buffet, and stripping off our
suits and diving into the reflective display pool – a first for the
club according
to one of the caterers. I would have felt a
bit guilty
had the groom not willingly gone in with us! There was also a
surprise
fireworks display over the water adjacent to the party, which we
watched
while smoking complimentary cigars. What a party! A few
pictures from the night:
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Fireworks!
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The
First Bite of Cake
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Preparing
for the Pool
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In
the Pool
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The
reception lasted until the wee hours of the morning, and with a 9am
flight
out we were not afforded the luxury to actually sleep before packing
and catching a taxi to the airport. I was
almost
too tired to even notice that the cab driver was driving at 190kmph on
the highway to the airport.
We caught our 9am flight, connected in Amsterdam, and seventeen
torturous
hours later arrived back to the friendly confines of Houston Texas. Fortunately
we arrived with just enough time to catch the waning moments of a
critical
mountain stage of the Tour de France, and also early enough to
guarantee
a full night’s sleep before starting the work week.
I must thank Alex and Renee for hosting a wonderful wedding event, one that will be remembered for a long time, and with certain moments that will certainly talked about and maybe even relived for a long time. Good luck as newlyweds, and you always have our support!
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