Busy days are fun days....

Well you've probably noticed that I've been a little absent. Sorry about that! Brandon and I have been pretty busy since our last day on Naxos, and we've now met up with Brittany in Athens. We're having loads of fun, except for Brandon's wallet getting stolen... we won't dwell on that, though. It's a good thing we didn't lose that much, not in the long run, and not as much as some other people probably have! But if you know you will be around Brandon and me this summer, I'm sure you'll hear about it....

I'll start with our second to last evening in Naxos...

We decided to go out and take some night shots. Naxos Town is a really good place to do that because of the harbor and the city. This was a touch after sunset.

A little more after sunset. Isn't the town beautiful?

We got some octopus, finally! I'm sorry it's not a better picture, but when I try to lighten it, it just turns grainy.... But you can see the octopus in the middle of the plate... the white looking things. It wasn't too bad! It doesn't taste quite as fishy as I thought it might....

We only had one more full day left at Naxos, and we were torn between hiking up the tallest mountain in the Cyclades, or taking a car trip across the island.... We opted for the car trip, and it was such a fun way to see the culture!

We started out day out with dessert! Marianna made it for us. So sweet! It's some kind of chocolate thing... with a sort of cookie in it. Since we were on our way out, we just took it in the car with us. We were going to save it for later, but it was getting soft because it needed to be kept cold. How convenient!

We drove through a few nice towns, but kept going. We wanted to get through the mountains to the other side! We're not at the top of the mountains here, but were just amazed at these monasteries! You can see the two of them on the rocky mountain tops! There were monasteries absolutely everywhere, and we didn't take pictures of nearly all of them. We were told there are 500! That's a lot for as big/small of an island it is!

We made it to the other side! We decided to drive all the way down the coast before we stopped to grab a bite to eat. And the water was just soo pretty, we had to stop! Brandon took a dip in the beautiful water. This section was so neat, because he's standing on rock, but you can see where the rock ends, and the bottom here was taller than Brandon! You can see him looking into the water to check it out before getting in. That black thing in the water was scarring him a little, but whatever it was, it didn't bother him. He thinks it's an octopus. In this picture, with the lighting and ripples and all it sort of looks like a sea turtle, doesn't it?

Well we finally stopped to get some food! And this little town had pretty much nothing but tavernas, and a little port. You can see a train used to come to this port, and I guess stuff must have been unloaded with the cranes. I wonder what they use now instead?

We stuck with appetizers! We got some tzadziki and spicy cheese! It was delicious!

I got a picture of the town before we left. Isn't it quaint?

We passed this town in the mountains while we were driving to the coast. We were recommended to stop and see it, because it's the most traditional town on Naxos, or at least one of them. There are no cars, so you have to part outside of the town and walk in. Since it is on the mountain, it is sort of a steep village. Lots of stairs and winding streets. It was really nice, and definitely one of our favorite places we have visited.

See? More narrow, winding streets.

It was kind of chilly on the mountain, so we stopped again to grab a warm drink. That was the best cup of tea I've had yet! It helped that it came in such a pretty cup....

Now we're not sure about the history, but we're pretty sure this is another type of Venetian fortress. It was very imposing, and by far our best picture of a fort.

Now this is something you don't see every day! A hobbit door! Proof now that I am too tall to be a hobbit!

This was definitely one of our best days, especially for photos!

Here we are on the ferry leaving Naxos the next morning! So sad! But we're super excited to see Brittany and Athens! There aren't too many places in the world that have as much history as Athens!

Goodbye Naxos! Until next time!

The ferry ride went very well. Smooth, and no troubles whatsoever. Once we got to the Piraeus, however, that's a different story. We didn't have much trouble getting off the ferry, finding the metro, or getting on the train. It was the fact that the metro became so incredibly full after we made it to a few stops! We had the darnest time getting us and our luggage out! And when we got the little elevator, three other guys tried pushing on, really pushing Brandon around... and that's when they picked his pocket. Turns out they really weren't getting on the elevator... Man, don't we wish that hadn't happened! Oh well, lets try not to think about it....

We made it! Here we are in the apartment. Brandon made himself and Brittany some Greek coffee! Brittany's first home-made Greek coffee by Brandon!

We took quite a walk our first night... all the way down to the Acropolis! We got a feel for where everything is, and shouldn't have a problem when we actually go to the sites and museums. Here we are at the top of a hill watching the sunset. I'm afraid all we had was my point and shoot. The pictures of the sunset didn't turn out bad, but the pictures of us... well they're just okay....

Brittany and me.

Brandon and me.

Brandon and Brittany.

Yesterday we decided to go to the Central Market, the Flea Market, the National Gardens, and Lycabettus Hill. We didn't make it to the National Gardens, but that's okay, because we did that today!

Here is a sculpture of Pericles. Brandon will explain more on him. After all, he's the expert! This is while we were walking to our destinations.

Lily told me I had to write about Perikles: So I guess I can just list some interesting facts about him.
- Perikles was a prominent Athenian statesman during the Athenian Golden Age (often called the Periklian Age) (c. 479-430)
- The Golden Age of Greece was between the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War. In this time Perikles used his political influences to do a number of things including: promoting arts, literature, education, democracy, etc...
- The most obvious thing you see when visiting Athens today is the remains of his 'beautification projects' which include the Parthenon and many other buildings on and near the acropolis.
- Many claim that he is one of the biggest reasons for Athens becoming the cultural center of Greece and the reason why Athens is the most important cultural city-state. 
- Perikles is also responsible for turning the Delian League into an unofficial Athenian empire. The Delian League was headed by the Athenians, and the goal was to unite the Greek city states in case of another Persian Invasion.
- He did not train a successor and died of the Plague in the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (429).  He had crappy successors who eventually deviated from his original war plan (wear out the enemy).
- Some argue that if Perikles would have survived the Plague and lived out the war Athens would have won. But of course that is impossible to know. 
- If you want to know more about him read the beginning of Thucydides The Peloponnesian War. Thucydides is a contemporary of Perikles and writes in pretty good detail about him. In Thucydides eyes Perikles was basically a saint.

The Central Market! Look at all those nuts!

Herbs anyone? Still at the Central Market. It was pretty fascinating!

This is still in the Central Market, but it was definitely a break from the norm, aka the food. This store was FULL of this type of thing... cups, plates, glass, old cameras, knives, old guns.... a lot of European things, and for pretty good prices! It was actually really enchanting to walk through all of it. Sort of like treasure hunting!

We stopped to grab a treat after all of our shopping! Brittany and I split what seems to be a popular Greek dessert... waffles with ice cream! And it's on top of chocolate syrup, and also coated with nutella! They really like nutella. I'm glad we split this, it was pretty large! Isn't it funny how we think of waffles as breakfast, but here it's dessert?

This is at the top of Lycabettus Hill. The three of us were taking a ridiculous amount of pictures of the sunset to practice our photography!

A view of the Acropolis from the hill. Pretty magical!

Since we didn't make it to the Gardens yesterday, we went today! We spent quite a few hours in them, because they're quite large.

Here is Brandon and Brittany picking some mulberries. They were pretty good, and tasted just like home!

So many of these trees and flowers were so pretty......

Here is Brittany and me on a nice little bridge. They had a lot of water and fountains. I think it was a very well executed garden!

Brittany had the hiccups, and I tried getting rid of them with a trick I feel worked on me... it didn't work for Brittany though. Bummer.... Good thing she was able to get rid of them herself after awhile. Sometimes they can last a whole day, and that's no fun!

They had a few nice pergolas we walked under.....

There were also a few nice trees we saw.....

More cool trees, taken by Brittany.

All kinds of trees grow in Greece! Check out these massive palm trees! A a little different from the evergreen trees that you can also find in the area....

They had a small ancient site on the grounds, with a few pieces of a building or something. This is the top of a Corinthian style column. Pretty, right?

We took the time to try and get some pictures of the three of us. We used the self timer, and we were also able to get a stranger take a picture of us. No worries, the stranger had the same camera as we did, so we figured he wasn't likely to run off with ours. We hope to get some more pictures of the three of us in the next few days.

So touristy... but I couldn't help it. These gentlemen were playing some cards and hanging out. Don't you think they would have some fun stories to tell you if you let them?

This was in a pretty and small church. It's the first time I've seen one with people in it for a service. Usually I just see tourists. But they were singing, and all so reverent. I thought it looked and sounded so beautiful I just had to snap a picture just for the memory. I didn't step in, just stood far outside and sort of zoomed in on the doorway. I didn't want to disturb them.

As I've said, tomorrow we go to the Acropolis! We're going early in the morning, so we better get to bed.

Until again!