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!
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!
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