My sister and cousin were taking an extended vacation in Greece, making their way through Athens and a few of the islands.  Being so close, I could hardly pass up an opportunity to meet up with then, if only for a weekend.  To make it more worthwhile, I planned for a 4-day weekend.

I flew out on Thursday, arriving in the early evening.  After a perilous cab ride through the winding streets, narrowly avoiding several pedestrians and scooters, I arrived at the hotel.  The hotel is situated just off of the beach.  At first glance, it wasn’t what I expected, but once I got inside, I could see it was much nicer than my first impression.  It took a few laps around before I was able to find the girls’ room, and I only got there moments before they were about to leave.

The first night, we walked down the beach and found a nice restaurant.  The food was so good.  Just like home, but a little better.  I’m not sure if it was because I hadn’t eaten like that in a while, or if it was a side effect of the long travel, but it was great.  Getting to see Laura and Kristen added to it, too!  We had a lot to talk about and stayed there for a while, enjoying the good food and view of the beach.

The next day we hung out on the beach by the hotel: Platis Gialos.  That evening we found another restaurant that was advertising Greek night, complete with dancing and plate breaking.  We had a great time there, but eventually had to leave.  After that we went downtown and out to the clubs.  At first it wasn’t very fun, but things picked up when we found a place with a little more room.  We danced under some napkin confetti, got some overpriced light sticks, then caught a cab (after, of course, Kristen made sure that we rode with the one who had been waiting the longest). 

The next day, we wanted to take an excursion, so we bought tickets on the ferry around the island to a secluded little beach called "Super".  When we first rounded the corner into this small, secluded cove, the view was amazing.  Like much of the rest of the island, it was rocky and mountainous, sharply descending to the clear, blue waters.  The beach was nearly empty when we arrived, but quickly filled up.  More secluded than the beach by our hotel, there were more people here who went completely nude.  It was a bit of a shock at first, but we quickly got over it.  Though we didn’t stop cracking jokes until we left.

After returning from "Super", we headed back into town for dinner and some wandering through the shops.  I wanted to get something for Jess, but it was all very expensive and nothing caught my eye.  We stopped in to a small little bar to have some drinks before heading home.

The next morning Kristen and Laura left, and I had lunch overlooking the beach.  I tried reaching Jess, but my phone had run out of money and it was a long, frustrating evening trying to reach her.  I was eventually able to send an email from an Internet cafe, and she got money on my phone and I was able to reach her.  I had a lot of time on my hands, so I decided to walk from the hotel into town.   There was some nice scenery along the way, but nothing too spectacular.  For the most part, it was very barren and rocky.

After I got into the town, I wandered among the shops for a bit, then stopped for some coffee at a cafe looking out over the bay.  Unfortunately I was too worried about trying to get a message out to really enjoy myself, so I had to go walk around some more and look for a way to get a message out to Jess.  Along the way, I stopped for a glass of wine, but again got too restless.  Once I finally got the message out, it was close enough to time to go to the airport, so I caught a cab and sat to read my book.  I had a long layover in Athens afterwards, and then I was home. 

By the time I got home I was very travel weary and happy to be back, but it was a great trip, and I’m looking forward to another visit to Greece in October!