Today we cruised on the Agean Sea off of Greece. We left at 7 AM for a 2 hour bus ride to the coast. It was really pretty seeing the countryside! The point of the cruise was to view Mount Athos, an island where over a thousand monks live in Monasteries. It was really impressive to see all of the buildings from the boat. The island is really protective of the monk's lifestyle, and only allow 10 visitors a day.
We boarded the boat at 9 AM and sat for an hour. We all went to the top level of the boat because we wanted the sun, but we were joined by a huge group of Swiss people that were all over the age of 60. They got really annoying really quick... A couple of them got pretty drunk and found it REALLY funny when they fell or stepped on my foot (I was by the stairs) the 3 times...They really thought it was funny when I got pooped on by a sea gull too...They had fed these birds for the entire 3 hour cruise. It was like they had never seen a sea gull before! They pointed and laughed when the poop fell right on my chest. I got right up and went and cleaned myself in the bathroom, and didn't go back up to the top level.
After getting done with the cruise, Chandler and I went to a fruit stand for a banana and pear for lunch. We walked a ways down the island to get away from the crowd of people and got in and swam for a little while in the ocean. It was cold, but the water was so clear! We then decided to walk to the dock where the boats were and jump off with a bunch of the local kids. It was a blast!
The trip back was pretty quick, since everyone slept a little! Dinner was a really fun experience that also. We went to a big place with another rival restaurant neighboring the sidewalk. We walked up and the waiters fought over us and we decided to sit down at one of the places. We ended up getting one of the owners as our waiter, and he was a bundle of energy. He talked us into getting a huge family style dinner. We got 5 appetizers for 9 people consisting of 2 salads, 2 potato dishes, cucumber sauce, bread and spicy cheese dip! He then brought out two huge meat platters that we all shared that had sausage, chicken, pork, ribs, and 2 other meats I didn't know to make up the platter. It was awesome! After that we paid the check, which was less than 10 Euros per person and left like 15% tip since we didn't want to deal with change. He came back and thanked us for our generosity, and said he was bringing us dessert on the house. The guy brings back two huge things of ice cream with doughnut holes on the side and our group devoured them pretty quick! Someone cleared the table, and the guy came back with another round of ice cream...We ate it and just left because we were so stuffed! It was a great dinner experience and I think we will be going back!
Poor Ben -- sorry to hear you had to run into some obnoxious, drunk Europeans....looks like you had fun with the local kids, and the restaurant owner made up for his countrymen!
ReplyDeleteHey Ben! We miss you here in the US! Sounds like you are having some wonderful experiences! Emily sounds ready to come home! How 'bout you! You are both so lucky to experience another country and culture! :)
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