Athens

Today we checked out of our wonderful airbnb in Zakynthos and caught the ferry back to the mainland Greece. Then we drove the 3.5 hrs back to Athens. Since we arrived it's been chilly and drizzly; apparently it had been raining all morning but luckily we missed that. We were able to check into our airbnb just fine and then we walked to the Acropolis.

The Acropolis is an ancient citadel located on a tall rocky hill overlooking the city. It contains the remains of several significant buildings, the most famous being the Parthenon. The Parthenon was built in 447 BC and is a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. It's pretty impressive sitting on top of the hill. 

Also inside the Acropolis is the propylaea which was the gateway into the acropolis. Then there's also the Erechtheion is another temple that was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon.

The Erechtheion:

Look at those pillars!

The propylaea:

The Erechtheion on the left and Parthenon on the right:

Getting into the Acropolis was pretty pricey at 20 euro/person, but we obviously couldn't leave Greece without seeing it. After leaving there we were looking for dinner, so we walked back towards our airbnb to a place our host recommended. But once we got there we found out they didn't actually have food. So then we retraced our steps to a pizza place which turned out to be a delivery-only place without any seating. So we ended up walking almost back to the Acropolis before we stumbled on an Italian place which turned out to be really good. When we got there there were two other couples and they were both from the US as well. How strange!

Tomorrow we fly to Helsinki Finland, where we begin the last stage of our international journey: Scandinavia!

Last Day in Zakynthos

Today was a slower day for us. We took our time getting around this morning and then headed to Gerakas Beach. We had heard from our host that this was one of the nicest beaches on the island and we were not disappointed. It had soft sand and gorgeously crystal clear water. Like, this water couldn't have been clearer. It was also nice and shallow with few waves. You could wade out pretty far and still not be very deep, so it was good for kids as well. There were lots of sun beds with umbrellas for rent but we decided not to do that and instead we went down left of the stairs and just found some sand to lay out our towels. Further along that way was a "naturalist" (aka nude) beach. Also that area is known for being a nesting area for the Caretta Caretta loggerhead turtles so depending on the season you have to be really careful about that. There were a couple of areas today that were roped off to protect the turtle nests. Right off the shore was what's known as turtle island where you can see them pretty consistently. Since we've seen lots of sea turtles on this trip we decided not to pay the money to go out there to see them.

The beach was really nice though and we spent several hours there. The water was cool but it felt nice after sitting in the warm sun. The water was so clear you just couldn't believe it. I walked out until the water was to my neck and I could still look down and see my toes perfectly. It was pretty cool. Also there were lots of duos in the water playing ping pong above the water which was unique and apparently is a thing here. That looked fun. There weren't any bathrooms or places to eat or drink along the beach which would bother some people but I kind of liked that they weren't there. It just felt very natural and non-commercial. There are all of the amenities just a bit up the road where you park your car.

After the beach stopped in Argassi briefly for a snack. Matt had been wanting to get a gyro so we split one of those which was really good. Then we came back to the airbnb to wash up and shared a beer on the patio. Then we went back to Argassi for dinner. We found a Mediterranean restaurant right on the water called Anadalis. It was really beautiful. In fact there was a wedding reception going on there tonight as well. The food was really good. We started off with warm pita rolls served with butter and local olive oil. Matt got chicken and I had a pasta dish. For dessert we tried something called "white chocolate soup" which was basically exactly as it sounds. It was warm liquid white chocolate served with frozen berries and chocolate ice cream. Yum! We also were able to watch the sun go down over the island during dinner, so it was a great last night on Zakynthos.

After dinner we decided to drive over to Laganas which is where all the "nightlife" is (although I didn't see any animals at all...). It definitely looked like a happening place with lots of bars and clubs which were just firing up for the Saturday night since it was around 9:30pm. We didn't stop at all but had just wanted to see what it was like. Seems like Zakynthos has just about everything you could want!

We're sad to leave the island as it's turned out to be a great place to visit; it's been everything we could want in our brief Greece stopover. But tomorrow we head to Athens for a day!

Scuba Diving Zakynthos

We spent a lot of time in the water today! We started our day by driving down to a small village called Limni Keri and went to the dive shop called Nero Sport. I hadn't realized when I booked the activity that the dive club was German. When we arrived everyone was speaking German which confused us for a bit. But we were able to get all of my paperwork signed and my equipment sized and then we all headed to the boat.

We got all of our equipment ready on the short 10 minute boat ride out to the dive site, called Eastreef. I was paired with a nice German couple, Elias and Rebekka, who seemed about my age. After a brief skills check in the water with the instructor (so they could make sure I knew what I was doing) we were off. Diving here was nothing like diving the Great Barrier Reef since it had so much less color and life (fish and corals). It was still cool though! the water was quite a bit colder than the GBR so we had to wear decently thick wetsuits. The water visibility was really good though. The landscape was quite rocky and we were diving alongside some large cliffs.

We dove for 52 minutes and only went down to a depth of 18 meters but we saw quite a bit. There were lots of little fish that I don't know the name of but they were very colorful. They had yellow vertical stripes with patches of green and blue as well. We also saw some very old pottery along the sea floor which is probably hundreds if not thousands of years old. The most notable things we saw were a school of barracuda (although they were much smaller barracuda than I've seen before) and we also saw two moray eels poking their heads out of their caves. That was kinda creepy! You could see their teeth and they were flexing their jaws at us rather threateningly. 

So overall a successful dive! Matt was able to snorkel a bit while we dove and he said he had a good time as well and saw lots of fish. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures since I no longer have an under-water camera. 

After getting back to shore and getting all my equipment put away we decided to head to a beach. We went to Vassilikos peninsula which has a lot of beaches. We started off by going to Banana Beach but it was clearly on the windward side of the island so it was windy and rather cold! We didn't even want to get out so we ate our packed lunches in the car. Then we decided to try the other side of the peninsula and went to Daphni Beach which was much better. Although we had to go over a mountain and down windy steep roads to get there we made it eventually. The beach was really nice with lots of free sun beds. It was far less windy and warmer over there so we grabbed some beds and took naps. Eventually we made our way to the water and waded in a bit and enjoyed the scenery. The steep cliffs dropping down into the sea is just so beautiful, and there was also another small island not far off the coast. 

For dinner we decided to drive across to the west side of the island so we could watch the sunset. We went to a great spot called Machali's Sunset Taverna in Kampi. Wow, it was so beautiful! The place itself was adorable with all stone and flowers. And it was set on a high cliff overlooking the water and cliffs on the other side. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous.

For dinner Matt tried souvlaki which was a meat skewer, and I tried a traditional Greek pasta dish called pastitsio what had beef and noodles with a bichamel sauce. We also tried a local beer and wine which was good as well. Then they served us some traditional cakes for dessert. What a nice meal!

On the way home from dinner Matt mentioned that most of the island's nightlife was in the neighboring town. I just looked at him blankly and was thinking, "What? Why?" By "nightlife" I thought he meant nocturnal animals and I was trying to puzzle out why they would all be in the next town. Apparently he meant the bars and nightclubs. Oh. Someone has been on safari for too long...

Blue Caves and Shipwreck Beaches

A big day on Zante island! (Zante is the Italian name for Zakynthos Island). We started by going swim suit shopping for Matt since he conveniently left his in Egypt. I told him that was clever and I should've thought of that...

Then we drove an hour north along the eastern coast of the island until we got to the very tip. From there we got on a boat which took us to the Blue Caves! It's pretty much exactly as it sounds. I'm not exactly sure of the science of it but it seems the sunlight reflects from the blue water onto the white cave walls and so everything look blue. It's gorgeous! You can only get there by boat and on the way we passed some really pretty rock formations including the double arches. There are tons of boats and people who advertise taking to the blue caves but we choose to go with the one that was at the very tip of the island and thus closer to the caves. They are called Potamitis Trips. They also had a small boat which was key to actually going inside the caves (the bigger boats that leaves from Zakynthos Town can't go inside) and it had a glass bottom. The water was remarkably clear so we could actually see quite a bit below us as well.

Then we also went to Shipwreck (aka Navagio) Beach with the same company but on a bigger boat. It was about a 20min boat ride there and back but well worth it. It's called Shipwreck Beach because there is a large boat which remains there after it wrecked there in 1980. It's a stunning beach and only accessible via boat because it's surrounded by high cliffs. The beach is made of small white pebbles and the water is the most gorgeous blue. We were able to stay there for an hour and we enjoyed our packed picnic lunches on the beach. Then we crawled around in the ship and took tons of pictures.

After our boat ride back we decided to drive over to the viewpoint over shipwreck beach. After parking our car it was a 10-15 minute hike on some sharp rocks but the view was absolutely worth it. We were on top of one of the huge cliffs on the side of the beach looking down on it and I honestly can't imagine a more picturesque view.

We took our time driving back home and admired the beautiful scenery along the way. There are olive trees everywhere and occasionally these cute little towns with cobblestone streets. Every so often there's a vendor alongside the road selling fresh olive oil, honey, wine, and fresh fruits. We stopped and sampled some and ended up buying some candied nuts. We also stopped at another one and bought some of the biggest, juiciest grapes I've ever eaten in my life. They are delicious!

We made another stop at Porto Limnionas which was a cool area where you could jump into the water from the rock side. We didn't jump in since it was later in the evening but we did rest there for a bit and I took a quick nap on the cliff side overlooking the water.

We made it home and changed clothes and went for a nice Italian dinner that was recommended to us. We're so close to Italy here that there's lots of Italian places- heaven for me. It was delicious!

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go scuba diving!

It's all Greek to Me

We're in Greece!!

Man I'm exhausted though. After sleeping for only 3 hours we woke up at 11pm and Sayed drove us to the airport. We got there just fine but then we hit a snafu. First, we got in line for security and got all the way to the front when they told us that women had to go to a different line, presumably because they had to do pat downs and that was where the female agent was. Would've been nice to know that before waiting in line but whatever. Then after we waited in that line and got to the front the security officer asked for our ticket, which we didn't have since the check-in counters are after security there. When we told him we didn't have it he yelled at us to get out of line but when we kept asking where to get a ticket he either couldn't understand or didn't care to help us. He also wouldn't listen or let me get my stuff that had already went through the security scanner and was on the other side. So Matt went off in search of a ticket and I stood there nervously watching my stuff, even though there would've been nothing I could do to prevent someone from walking off with it since I was trapped on the other side. I'm still not really sure what we were supposed to have done but Matt ended up going to the airline travel office and printing off just a plain piece of paper with our flight number and our names. It looked like something we could've typed up and printed off from Microsoft Word. Then when we got back in line he didn't even look at the piece of paper. And to top if off the other agent then asked us for a tip for "helping us"! I was baffled. He really didn't help us that much and even if I'd wanted to tip him my stuff was on the other side of security and he never helped me get it back! Luckily it was still sitting there being constantly shoved to the end by the moving belt when I finally got through. 

But after that it was smooth sailing. A quick two hour flight later and we're in Greece! We got through customs and passport control just fine. We grabbed some cash (which was a really good thing since we went through many toll roads) and got our rental car and hit the road. It's weird to be driving on the right side of the road again; first time since New Caledonia! We basically drove around Athens and went 3.5 hours to Kyllini. It was a really beautiful drive as most of it was right along the coast. From Kyllini we were able to buy ferry tickets to Zakynthos Island, where we'll spend the next 4 nights. We got some lunch as we waited for the ferry and then drove aboard the ferry! It was weird to drive a car on a boat. This is also the biggest boat I've been on in my entire life; it has several restuarants and bars and things. We found a comfy couch on the back deck and that's where I am right now! Blogging and enjoying the view of the Mediterranean.

We docked in Zakynthos and eventually made it to our airbnb. It seems to me to be a quintessential Greek town with tiny narrow streets that are basically all one-way. Google was not aware of the one-ways so we made a few wrong turns before we got the hang of it (jeeze Google!). We love our airbnb! It's an adorable old multi-story home. Our host and his wife are on the first floor and then his parents are on the middle two levels while we're on the fourth floor. It's like an apartment with our own kitchen and everything. And it's so cute! And the best part is that it has a huge balcony with a view of the Mediterranean Sea. Our host was awesome as well. Before we arrived he had sent us emails with great information about the house, activities to do on the island, and recommendations for the local restuarants nearby. When we arrived he also had some waters and snacks for us and had printed off the weather forecast for the duration of our visit. How sweet!

Our view of Zakynthos island from the ferry. It's so beautiful!

View from our balcony!

We settled in and took a half hour nap and then we went to the grocery store for some food the next few days. It's always interesting to go to local grocery stores. But we're back to not being able to understand what anything is since it's all in Greek! After dumping the groceries at home we went to walk around the town for a bit. I'm not sure of the names of where we visited but we angled ourselves toward the water until we hit it and a nice open square with a couple of statues. Then we walked along the coast checking out the restuarants as we went. We came upon one of the fish restuarants that our host had recommended so we tried that. They had fresh cod that I ordered fried, but it came out with the head and tail and all so I wasn't super enthused about that. The fish was good though and we enjoyed the ambiance of the place and it was right across the street from the sea. 

A cool old church along the water:

Then we wandered around a bit more and found some other cool streets with lots of cute little restuarants and shops. I'm so excited to spend the next few days exploring here! It's pretty much exactly as I imagined Greece to be and I'm so thrilled about it. We enjoyed our "sundown drinks" on our balcony around 9pm since the sun sets so late here. Great start to Greece!

I published our Egypt summary so please check it out and let me know what you think!

Coptic and Islamic Cairo

We started our last day in Egypt by going to the Salah el Din Citadel of Cairo. It was built in 1176 to protect Cairo from the Crusaders and was used as the seat of the king and government in Egypt for many centuries and dynasties. Inside the citadel we visited two mosques. The first is the older of the two and was built in the 1300s. It had a large green dome and it's called Mosque of El Nasser Mohamed. The second took 18 years to build starting in 1818 and is referred to as the Great Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha. It houses the tomb of Mohamed Ali. It's a very beautiful mosque and still used today. The whole citadel is in a beautiful area overlooking the city and you can also see the pyramids in the distance.

Our next stop is known as the Coptic Cairo area. It's a big religious area with lots of churches and a synagogue. It's also the location of the Cavern Church (aka Abu Serra Church). It's a very beautiful church, and more importantly it's built over the cavern where the Holy Family stayed when they were fleeing Israel where the Roman Empire was persecuting babies. It's believed that they stayed in the cavern for 3 months when Jesus was a baby. How amazing is that?! We were able to go down into the cavern, where we could see part of the original floor and the nook where they believe the baby Jesus slept. It was pretty moving to be there.

We also visited the Hanging Church in that area as well, which was built over a Roman gatehouse. Yasmine told us that when they started building the church they didn't know it was there but then they found it buried so they just built the church right over, which is why it's called "hanging". We were able to go in the church and then look down and see the gate below us. It's one of the oldest churches in Egypt and was built in the 3rd century.

Then we left Coptic Cairo and made a brief visit to the Egyptian Museum so we could check out the museum's exhibit of King Tutankhamen. His tomb was discovered in 1922 nearly intact and many of the artifacts recovered from his extensive tomb are on display in the museum. He became pharoah at 8 years old and died when he was 19. His tomb was unusually small for a pharoah, which indicates he may have died unexpectedly before a grander tomb could be completed. So he was possibly buried in a tomb intended for someone else in order to bury him within the customary 70 days after death. Although his tomb was small it was still very lavish including a solid gold coffin, face mask, thrones, sandals, food, and fresh linen. King Tut is probably the world's best known pharoah largely because his tomb is among the best preserved and therefore his image and artifacts are the most exhibited. 

We also walked around the rest of the museum a bit. It has a ton of very old statues and stones with hieroglyphics. Everything was very interesting but it's hard to take everything in. 

After the museum we headed to the market where we got some falafel for lunch. Then we walked through part of the Cairo Bazaar just to get a feel for it and look at some of the souvenirs. We didn't buy anything there. We thought we would be hassled by the street vendors but again, we really weren't bothered. Occasionally they would ask as we were walking by if we wanted to buy anything and we would politely decline and that would be the end of it. No big deal. We also walked along "el Moez" street which is 1000 years old and is lined with unique Islamic Buildings.

Another great day with Egypt Tailor Made Tours! Our guide, Yasmine, and driver, Sayed were both very knowledgeable and helpful as always!

I finally published my recap for our time in Southern Africa so check it out!

We have to check out of our hotel before midnight tonight in order to catch our 3am flight. Yuck. :( But don't feel too bad for us because we're going to Greece!

Alexandria

We got an earlier start this morning. Our guide and driver picked us up and then we drove to Alexandria, which took about 2 hours. Our first stop was the catacombs of Kom El Shokafa and was built by a nobal man named Alexander (not Alexander the Great). We went down 99 steps around the well where they would lower the bodies into the tomb. Once we got down there it was cool and humid, and kinda creepy. We were shown the main tomb where Alexander and his family was presumably buried, and then also the public side tombs as well where there were lots of spots for bodies and vases of ashes (which they call locoli- the spaces for the vases of ashes). There were no bodies in there anymore and haven't been for a long time. Sometimes the Mediterranean Sea gets into the tomb and washes things away, or perhaps it was robbed. Yasmine also pointed out and described the unique artwork in there as well. It was unique because it was a combination of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art all mashed together. It would have Egyptian gods depicted in ways that would never happen in Egyptian art. It seemed maybe Alexander saw an Egyptian tomb and really liked it so he decided to build one for himself but didn't get it quite right. We weren't allowed to take pictures here, so you'll have to visit to see it!

In the tomb there was also a dining room since it was customary for people to eat there after visiting with the dead. Then would eat out of jars and then after they were done they would toss and break the jars to get rid of evil spirits. This resulted in a mountain of broken jars at the surface of the tombs which gave the place its name.  

Yasmine also told us a story about the club that used to be right outside the tombs. It was during the reign of King Caracalla of Rome who was perceived to be a very crazy and cruel man who dressed in strange ways and killed his brother to be in power. When he visited Alexandria the townspeople dressed up on of the crazy locals to dress like the king, presumably to show him what he looked like. But this angered the king. For revenge he invited everyone to a festival in the club outside of the tombs and when everyone was there he locked the door and slaughtered them all. From that point on the club was no longer a club but became part of the tombs as well. We were able to see the human and animals bones that remained there, although we have no idea how many people perished there. It's also unknown what ultimately happened to King Caracalla as he disappeared.

Outside of the main catacombs we were also able to see the Tigran Catacomb, which had been moved there. It was another example of very unusual artwork as it was also a mix between Egyptian and Greek symbols and gods. There were no names or cartoushes associated with the tomb though so we don't even know who built it. 

After we left the catacombs we went to visit the Roman amphitheater. Rome ruled Egypt from about 31 BC to 641 AD, so almost 700 years. During that time they built the amphitheater. It was initially intended to be used as a small theater for music performances. Throughout the years it was altered to fit other needs, such as a place for the public to meet and discuss current issues. It seemed to be built with classic Roman architecture so that was neat, and they are still excavating and finding new areas even today. 

Then we drove through Alexandria and stopped at the Stanley bridge to take some pictures. This was the original road of Alexandria and where the city grew from. From there we were taken to a lovely restaurant called the Fish Market and it overlooked the Mediterranean Sea. We were treated to full meal including Egyptian bread including several sauces (including a garlic sauce which was delicious), salad, and pickled beets to start. Then we each had a fish dish; I had the fried fish filet while Matt had the grilled fish. Both were really good. I especially liked the light batter and spices on my fish. It was also served with traditional Egyptian rice which was very flavorful. 

After lunch we drove over to the Qaitbay Fortress. It is a citadel and was built to protect Alexandria against the Turkish attack. It was built on the site of the original Alexandria lighthouse. We got out to take lots of pictures with the fortress and the sea. While we were there lots of locals wanted to take pictures with us, which was the first time we encountered this and at first we thought they were trying to sell us something. Yasmine said this was because we were blonde and exotic. We also got to experience some rare summer light rain while we were here in Alexandria. At first we weren't sure if it was rain or spray from the sea!

Our last stop in the city was the Biblioteca Alexandria (Library of Alexandria). There used to be two ancient libraries of Alexandria which had long been destroyed, but this new one was built more recently and opened in 2002. The architecture was really unique and designed to only let in sunlight but not rays as to not disturb the readers. It also lets in blue and green light which represents the earth and sky and is relaxing to the eyes. We learned about how the library is adapting all of the books to be available electronically and online so that's really cool. They also explained the different museums and exhibitions that are in the library and we visited one about President Anwar Sadat. It had a lot of his belongings and information about his life. He was a great Egyptian president and after many years of war he signed a famous peace treaty in 1973 which earned him and the Israeli Prime Minister the Nobel Peace Prize, making him (President Sadat) the first Muslim Nobel laureate. He was president for 11 years before he was killed in office in 1981 by Islamic radicals. His funeral was attended by three former US presidents: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon. 

This was the end of our Alexandria trip and we drove back to Cairo, ever grateful for our wonderful driver Sayed as he navigated the absolutely crazy traffic. There are literally no rules on the road in Egypt and I'm so glad we aren't trying to drive ourselves around! And also for Yasmine who has been able to share so much interesting history with us about the incredible places we're visiting!

After dinner at the hotel I decided to try some hookah (or "shisha" as they call it here). When in Rome! It was really nice as we sat out on the patio by the pool.