Empires
My travels through Greece ended up being a lot of fun. On my way out of Turkey, I met Tal, a New Yorker, and he and I hung out on Samos before heading off to Mykonos. On Mykonos (see previous pictures), he and I hung out with Kate and Katie, from Canada and Australia, respectively.
I went to Santorini by myself and had a great hotel but then they came to join me and I found a new hotel in Kamari, the beachfront resort area where I'd stayed with my Mom and Dad 16 years earlier. This, however, was not the same Kamari. I found a really nice beachfront hotel for the 4 of us to stay at (Tal, Kate, Katie and I) and I ended up saving a ton of money plus had some great folks to do stuff with.
This was a time for me just to have fun. To eat, to go to the beach, to try and catch on my journal (a common thing for me to TRY to do on this trip). On our first night together, we saw a Prairie Home Companion at the local outdoor cinema where I'd been with my folks. On our second night, we were going to go to Ioa at the end of the island, but the hotel manager, Tony, told us to go to this Mexican restaurant for an amazing sunset. We ended up getting in this huge row about women's liberation issues (which totally destroyed the friendship between the girls and Tal as well as ruining the lovely night) but at least the Mexican food was lovely and the view unbeatable.
The next day we all went to Ios (the girls in the morning and Tal and I in the afternoon), which is a total party town. First, though, we got Thai takeout and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from the terrace of our hostel, Francesco's.
The night out was messy but fortunately I didn't drink too much. We ended up at a mixed bar that was a lot of fun, but all in all it was what I referred to as a Pussy Party. I tried to make it into a Pooter Party (again, my term), but it didn't work. Nevertheless, we danced to the Italian's World Cup Song (the whistling song which is heard throughout Europe right now), to Shakira's Hips Don't Lie and we many of the locals (by locals, I mean Australians). I'm through partying like this -- in fact, I don't know if I ever started -- but it was worth taking a look at briefly.
The next morning, the girls and I said goodbye to Tal (the girls tried for handshakes, I definitely hugged Tal, a good buddy of mine by this point) and we were off to Athens via Patros. Our layover in Patros was something like 5-6 hours so we ate and sunbathed on the beautiful beaches there until it was time to go to Athens. we arrived at our hotel around 2 in the morning, and next day were off to see the sights. It'd been 16 years...long time since I'd been to Athens. It'll be interesting to compare the pictures.
It was near 100 degrees in Athens, though, and especially once I took off with my bags, the heat was unbearable. I decided to take a flight (rather than boat and train) to get to Rome so I could get there to go out on Saturday night. So I did.
Saturday night was amazing. I met some Italian guys (who ended up being gay) so instead of staying at my $230/night hotel for Saturday night, I stayed somewhere for free and had a free tourguide for the gay scene here in Rome. We ended up going to a pre-funk at "COMING OUT" near the Colisseum and my gay guide took me to this thing called the gay village which happens all summer long on the weekends. He didn't end up coming in (too tired) but I went and it was great. 2 huge outdoor dancefloors -- it was like a big circuit party that came every weekend (that girls could go to as well). I ended up meeting an Italian Movie Actor (we'll call him M.) and he was my date for the rest of the amazing night. We rode through the Rome night on his moped and I've never felt so free. It was this same Saturday night that I was throwing a party (an underwear party, to be precise) in Seattle, and I like to tell my friends that same night I was having my own underwear party in an amazing Roman Flat. Hehe (sorry, Mom).
But then the excess of heat, and lack of sleep and perhaps Roman men caught up to me and I got a bad cold. Yesterday I was worthless. I did meet up with my former juice bar guy and now friend, Bernie, who's been taking a book-making class in Siena. We met up at my hotel and walked across the city to the Trastavere area of town and had a beautiful dinner. Unfortuntely, I didn't feel so great and didn't really appreciate it like I could. But it was good to get to know Bernie better...I'll be visiting him in Siena shortly.
Today, though, I felt much better and I rented a scooter and have been zipping around the city on it -- oh, so good! I toured the Colisseum today and took a tour to really soak it all in. I'll be continuing my tour shortly.
Off to Pompeii tomorrow and then up north to Tuscany for some real R&R. More shortly...
I went to Santorini by myself and had a great hotel but then they came to join me and I found a new hotel in Kamari, the beachfront resort area where I'd stayed with my Mom and Dad 16 years earlier. This, however, was not the same Kamari. I found a really nice beachfront hotel for the 4 of us to stay at (Tal, Kate, Katie and I) and I ended up saving a ton of money plus had some great folks to do stuff with.
This was a time for me just to have fun. To eat, to go to the beach, to try and catch on my journal (a common thing for me to TRY to do on this trip). On our first night together, we saw a Prairie Home Companion at the local outdoor cinema where I'd been with my folks. On our second night, we were going to go to Ioa at the end of the island, but the hotel manager, Tony, told us to go to this Mexican restaurant for an amazing sunset. We ended up getting in this huge row about women's liberation issues (which totally destroyed the friendship between the girls and Tal as well as ruining the lovely night) but at least the Mexican food was lovely and the view unbeatable.
The next day we all went to Ios (the girls in the morning and Tal and I in the afternoon), which is a total party town. First, though, we got Thai takeout and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from the terrace of our hostel, Francesco's.
The night out was messy but fortunately I didn't drink too much. We ended up at a mixed bar that was a lot of fun, but all in all it was what I referred to as a Pussy Party. I tried to make it into a Pooter Party (again, my term), but it didn't work. Nevertheless, we danced to the Italian's World Cup Song (the whistling song which is heard throughout Europe right now), to Shakira's Hips Don't Lie and we many of the locals (by locals, I mean Australians). I'm through partying like this -- in fact, I don't know if I ever started -- but it was worth taking a look at briefly.
The next morning, the girls and I said goodbye to Tal (the girls tried for handshakes, I definitely hugged Tal, a good buddy of mine by this point) and we were off to Athens via Patros. Our layover in Patros was something like 5-6 hours so we ate and sunbathed on the beautiful beaches there until it was time to go to Athens. we arrived at our hotel around 2 in the morning, and next day were off to see the sights. It'd been 16 years...long time since I'd been to Athens. It'll be interesting to compare the pictures.
It was near 100 degrees in Athens, though, and especially once I took off with my bags, the heat was unbearable. I decided to take a flight (rather than boat and train) to get to Rome so I could get there to go out on Saturday night. So I did.
Saturday night was amazing. I met some Italian guys (who ended up being gay) so instead of staying at my $230/night hotel for Saturday night, I stayed somewhere for free and had a free tourguide for the gay scene here in Rome. We ended up going to a pre-funk at "COMING OUT" near the Colisseum and my gay guide took me to this thing called the gay village which happens all summer long on the weekends. He didn't end up coming in (too tired) but I went and it was great. 2 huge outdoor dancefloors -- it was like a big circuit party that came every weekend (that girls could go to as well). I ended up meeting an Italian Movie Actor (we'll call him M.) and he was my date for the rest of the amazing night. We rode through the Rome night on his moped and I've never felt so free. It was this same Saturday night that I was throwing a party (an underwear party, to be precise) in Seattle, and I like to tell my friends that same night I was having my own underwear party in an amazing Roman Flat. Hehe (sorry, Mom).
But then the excess of heat, and lack of sleep and perhaps Roman men caught up to me and I got a bad cold. Yesterday I was worthless. I did meet up with my former juice bar guy and now friend, Bernie, who's been taking a book-making class in Siena. We met up at my hotel and walked across the city to the Trastavere area of town and had a beautiful dinner. Unfortuntely, I didn't feel so great and didn't really appreciate it like I could. But it was good to get to know Bernie better...I'll be visiting him in Siena shortly.
Today, though, I felt much better and I rented a scooter and have been zipping around the city on it -- oh, so good! I toured the Colisseum today and took a tour to really soak it all in. I'll be continuing my tour shortly.
Off to Pompeii tomorrow and then up north to Tuscany for some real R&R. More shortly...
posted by The Laughing Penguin at 5:53 AM
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