It's all Greek to me...

Well there are parts of being an international teacher that have serious benefits. Like for example when the Ministry of Education decides to extend a 4 day holiday to a 9 day holiday for the end of Ramadan. you do not question you book a ticket last minute to somewhere nice and warm. That is what I did and with a buddy of mine we went to Corfu, Greece. It was fantastic to say the least. It was the low season so it was not crazy busy so it turned into a very low key, stress free week in Greece.

We went to Athens first to check out some of the most amazing history I have seen in my travels to date. Eric and I got off the plane and tried to figure out exactly what we were doing for the day and not to let too many people see that we did not have a clue to what we were doing. (to my surprise no one ripped us off) With 3 maps open and buying a Athens guide at the airport we sorted out that the bus into town. It was a good choice to drop our bags off at the main bus terminal and set out for the day. After talking to a really nice woman at information we set out to see all that we could in the day ahead.

First off to the Museum of Archeology, that showed some of the most amazing sculptures and pieces from the past that I have ever seen. It took us a few hours to get around the displays and take as many pictures as we wanted to, which was very surprising. We did however find out that no flash was to be used...I used flash for the first couple of pictures and NO posing beside the exhibits...we had to erase the pictures that we did that for. So we managed to have a woman follow us for a good 20 min to make sure we were following the directions. I do have to say in my defense that the rules are poorly explained in a hand drawing outside of the Museum....

One of the display guards did however let us touch a statue that was 2000 years old they had recently found it and it was the only piece that was not to be photographed as it has not yet been released to the media that the Museum even had possession of it yet. it was a very amazing time to be had.

We finished that off and went to a local watering hole for some food and to sample the local beverages. we found such a place and had some great food and a few local pints it was right beside the museum and had a open patio so we could watch people walk by as they were coming from the museum and milling around in front. At this point it finally sunk in that we were in Athens...it was a great feeling!!

We then travelled down by foot to the Acropolis, I have to say one of the most incredible walks I have been on, you can see this thing from miles away (that's even further in Km), seriously though it is a sight to see. It is also a bloody long walk and even more fun up the hill/mountain it was built on. I felt sorry for the poor people who had the pleasure of building it up there. Anyway it was crawling with people but still an amazing sight to see. there were all walks of life there and I think I got some really amazing pictures!

Once we took all of our pictures of the Buildings we were a bit tired and needed refueling so we went to find food and to sit and watch the hoards walk by. The food is quite amazing, and yes for those who know me I did ask for no onions, tomatoes and mushrooms....I am still 4 years old...

At this point in the day were needed to find out bus to get to Pattras to catch the ferry to Corfu. The bus was hard to find as the bus was Labelled in Greek....the good thing is that the local winos are more then happy to help for a Eruo or two. We took the 3 hour bus ride to Pattras with out much incident...The bus was full enough that people had to stand and Eric my friend was lucky enough to have a little girl with downs fall asleep on him and the proceed to snuggle him for 2 hours. He does not deal well with little ones so he struggled a bit, I could not get access to my camera to take pictures but it was quite a special moment they shared...

We got to Pattras which again was not announced but everyone with a backpack was getting off so we figured it was time for us too. We walked to the ferry, which is massive too and sat down for our 7 hour journey to Corfu. At this point Eric asked why we had not paid for a flight to Corfu over the ferry as the chairs had less then an inch of padding on them. We upgraded to a bed to sleep the night away...it was the best 20 Eruo extra I have ever spent.

We got to Corfu and the Pink Palace bus was there to pick us up....it was great. more to continue on the next blog...do stay tuned....I have to work sometime.