A Good Day!

Sunburns – 6/3/07, Athens, 11:06 p.m.

So, today has been one of the best days I’ve had since coming to Greece. We had a free day, so we were able to do/go wherever we wanted. Two of the girls went to Mykonos, a couple of people wandered around Athens, but Brianne, Ryan, Kelly, Whitney, Nate, and I decided to go to Aegina, an island about a 40 minute boat ride from here. We got up early (7:45) and caught the metro to the Pireaus port, where we bought our tickets. It was only 20 Euro for the round trip, so not bad at all. We got on the boat (the Flying Dolphin XVIII) to the island.

It was amazing! The island was beautiful and the people were so so nice. This island was what I imagined Greece to look like. Tons of boats and tons of shops lined the harbor. We walked up to the ruins of the old Aegina. Turns out, Aegina was the first capital of Greece, and it was also a strong port/fort city in ancient times. It was really nice to see a site without (although I love her) our professor. When we go to sites with her, she feels the need to stop at every little thing, but this time we got to see what we wanted in our own time frame. We got to see the ruins of a temple to Apollo and another to Artemis (brother and sister).

After looking at the ruins, we wandered the port city and bought some pistachios. Apparently, Aegina is famous for its pistachios – and I know why. They were delicious! Brianne and I bought 1 kilo to split between the two of us. It should last a few days, we hope. J Then we had some coffee at a little café before heading to the beach.

We set up on the beach and stayed for the rest of the afternoon. The sand was hot, but nice and clean. And the water was AMAZING!! You could see right to the bottom, even in almost 6 feet of water. It was cold, but a perfect temperature because the sun was super hot. It turned out to be clear all day. I was a very good girl and applied sunscreen, but apparently I missed a few spots. Read: I have some pretty nasty sunburns in the spots I missed. Ryan bought some aloe, so I’ll have to use some of that to soothe my burns. We then went and got some ice cream/milkshakes before getting on the Flying Dolphin XIX and returning to the Pireaus.

After we got home and showered, Brianne and I watched a really bad movie. We don’t know the name, but it was subpar. Then, Brianne, Whitney, and I went to find the restaurant that we ate in the other night. However, the last time we went there, it was a Friday night and very busy. Tonight, not so much. Long story short, we spent about an hour searching for this place. However, it was totally worth it and the food was amazing! We had good food, good beer, good company. It was a really nice dinner.

We just got back and Brianne and I are going to change into jammies and watch America’s Sweethearts. We don’t have class tomorrow (another free day) so we’re planning to sleep in. I’m really excited. We have some stuff to do on Tuesday here in Athens and then Wednesday we leave for Delphi and Olympia. It’s a 5 hour bus ride, but it should be really cool.

Hope everyone is well! Missing you here!

Xoxo, Ally