Mykonos!!!

 All week long when we told people we were going to Mykonos, they would ohhh and ahhh. It has a well deserved reputation as a party island. But that is in season, out of season it's not quite so intimidating to us old folks. 

Unfortunately, in order to catch our ferry we had to to leave at 5:25am! Gasp, we've been keeping late hours, and the early mornings are a killer but we had a long ferry ride upon which to catch up on our sleep, thank goodness. So we made the trek, a little lighter since Foris, our landlord, let us keep our suitcases at the apartment, we packed just enough for 2 nights and dragged our butts to the metro and down to the ferry. We had to change lines but it wasn't bad getting there. We were a quiet bunch tho. 

The ferrys are huge. Unfortunately, we had to walk the docks looking for the right pier because of they way they were marked but we finally found it and decided we didn't like the uncomfortable general admission tickets and splurged the extra 5 euro to sit on more comfy seats and promptly went to sleep. For some reason I thought the ferry ride was 4 hours, it was closer to 6. The good news is we were well rested when we landed in Mykonos! 

Our driver Vasili, was waiting for us when we arrived. We weren't sure where to find him so we walked around calling his name. Too bad, we thought George was picking us up so we walked around yelling out George. It was funny when the crew man on the ferry started yelling George with us. Turns out there's an area where all of the van drivers hold up signs of their hotel so George, err, I mean Vasili was easier to find then we expected. Turns out George is the owner of The Paradise View Hotel so while he didn't pick us up at the ferry terminal he was there to greet us and check us in. He also provided us with maps and gave us a layout of the island with recommendations on different beaches for different things as well as restaurant recommendations (very important to me). George was raised on Mykonos so he had answers to any questions that we had. 

After a quick change we headed down to Paradise Beach which is a less then 10 minute walk from our hotel, good news is it was downhill, bad news is the walk back was, you guessed it, not downhill. Paradise Beach is one of the main party beaches in Mykonos but since have a habit of getting everywhere late in the day there were plenty of spots for us to catch a seat. The beaches are all public but it costs 4 euro to rent chairs and another 4 if you want an umbrella. First off tho would be food! I didn't really see anything I wanted on the ferry so we were all hungry! They had a cafe where you can just put your food on a tray, I loved it, we could see what we were getting! I tried the moussaka which is the Greek version of lasagna. I wasn't a big fan but figured it was because I was eating at a beach cafe. The shrimp salad was tasty tho and I couldn't pass up on the beans which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lina and Su had stuffed bell peppers and stuffed tomatoes. Those were delish also. Nancy and I split our food so we could try more. 

We spent about an hour lounging at the beach. I really wanted a water noodle for the water but they didn't sell them so I bought a spare tire instead. It was a tube floatie with the design of a tire, my spare tire! It was great since it let me just float in the water but inflating and deflating it was a pain, luckily I had Nancy there!

After an hour we were ready to head back to our hotel and spend some quality time lounging in the pool The problem was the water was cold but my floatie kept me mostly out of the water. Yay!

We like to take our time getting ready, I think we headed out to dinner a little after 9pm. Just in time to stop by the bar for a quick drink. Ava was working the bar and so sweet. She also pours a strong drink which is a great way to get the party started! There's a bus that will take us into town right outside the hotel which is perfect. 

George took this pic for us while we were waiting. I wish I had looked closer to see it was out of focus but it's still a fun shot. 

Then we started taking our own pics while waiting for the bus. If we have a camera we can always keep ourselves entertained. 

We decided to eat where George recommended. I think it was either Nick's or Nikos, something like that. After walking the maze that was Myonos town (did you know it was built that way to confuse invaders?) and asking a couple of people we finally found it! It was packed but they were able to get us seated right away. For it to be so busy off season, you know it has to be good! 

One of the things I had read was sea urchin was really big in Greece but I hadn't seen it on any menus. So I asked our resident expert George and he was surprised I was asking about it, I guess it's more of a Greek thing then a tourist thing. It took a little while for him to figure out what we were talking about, wish you could have seen Su's charades interpretation of a sea urchin. There are a lot of rules in regards to sea urchin, he says he has to go do different islands if he wants to swim and get his own sea urchin, you can fish for them in Mykonos but we might be able to find it on the menu at Nick's and it was! While this platter is not very appealing looking, when has sea urchin ever looked pretty? Unfortunately, we put a lot of lemon on it (lemon is served with everything!) and sea urchin is so delicate that we tasted more lemon then sea urchin but we were still tickled to get this dish. 

The shrimp risotto was also divine! Ever since Lina came into my life, I have become a risotto aficionado and this was amazing. So creamy and delish! I wanted to lick this plate clean. We also ordered some mussels that were great, I wasn't as thrilled by the green bean. 

After stuffing ourselves we went looking for the bar George said we should check out. Unfortunately, that place was way too busy so we went to the bar next door. The bar sits right on the water so we had the wave lapping at our feet while we gabbed and enjoyed our drinks. Nancy was feeling no pain, she had been enjoying her mixed drinks all night long, LOL. Other then my drink to start the night, I stuck with coke, it makes me just as happy as alcohol with none of the ugly after effects. Once we left that bar we tried to go to the busy bar again but just couldn't do it. We ended up wandering into another bar that had fun music and danced up a storm. Lina bought us a round of shots to keep our feet dancing but after awhile we decided to leave. We were the young ones in that crowd and while I don't want to be the oldest in a bar, I don't want to be the youngest either. Now if they had played Poison, we would have stayed! We couldn't find another bar we liked so we decided to call it a night. I think I got to sleep around 4am. Is it any wonder my body is still out of whack sleeping wise?

Even fish have to eat!

Though we got to bed late last night we really wanted to tackle the day, we had a lot of sight seeing to do. Well actually, Su and Nancy had a lot of sight seeing to do, I was planning on planting my butt somewhere after the Acropolis to read and relax. 

Remember those demonstrations I talked about? Well, apparently they affect the metro system too. The stop we needed to get off at to transfer was closed so we had to get on a different train and go backwards to get to where we needed to go but we eventually got there and at least it didn't put us 2 hours behind. Thanks goodness we were pros at the metro system by now. They really have things mapped out well there (if you're going by metro, not if you're driving). 

While waiting in line to get our tickets to the Acropolis this guy in a Segway came to chat us up. He's a football fan and Nancy and I were wearing our Seahawks tshirts. Course he was also selling us on doing a Segway tour. I've never had any interest in riding a Segway but I also have less interest in walking around Athens so I was sold. Actually, when he said we could get some pics we wouldn't otherwise get is when he sold me, that and the discount. :)

But first up was the Acropolis. I used to live in Tennessee and we used to go on field trips to the Parthenon. All I really remember about those trips is freezing my coke the night before so that my soda would be cold at lunch. Guess I've never been a touristy person, which is funny considering how much I love to travel. 

That being said, I can still appreciate the beauty and history while walking around the Acropolis. 

All of the books say the best time to get there is in the morning, before all of the tours happen, that's really not going to happen with us, LOL. If there are this many people walking around off season, I can't imagine how crazy it is during the summer. When we were going around later in the day there weren't as many people so if you can't make it in the morning, go later in the day. BTW, don't go on a rainy day, even on a sunny day the marble steps are slippery, Nancy almost wiped out. 

Once we were done walking around the Acropolis it was time to eat! We never miss a meal if we can help it. We asked the local police where to eat, lol. Hey, anytime I had a chance to talk to them, we did. They said they eat at all of the local places so we just picked one and plopped down. Our waiter was a charmer, he escorted me to and from the restroom. The food wasn't amazing. It wasn't bad but we have been in country for over a week, we know what is ok food and what is touristy food. 

Next up was the Segway tour. Before we could go on our tour we had to get trained on riding a Segway. Su went first and she was a natural (she has ridden a Segway once before). Nancy almost fell off as soon as she got on but after that, she was great. And then there was me. A Segway moves based on your body position. If you lean forward you for forward. The further you lean, the faster your go. Gabriela, our super sweet and super awesome tour guide told me to lean forward once I got on. My response was a resounding I don't want to. But I finally, tentatively, slowly leaned forward and started to scream as I went. But with the girls cheering me on off I went. Until my Segway started turning left and running into poles. I kept trying to keep it straight but it kept turning and hitting the pole. Good thing I was only going 1 MPH. Gabriela pointed out it was operator error (in much nicer terms) and not the fault of the Segway. I disagreed because I was trying to go straight. Guess who was right? Not me. LOL. 

I wouldn't say I was a natural, or ever really comfortable, my bosy was so tight, my feet hurt but I had a lot of fun on the tour as did the other gals. I was always pulling up the rear but as I told Gabriela, I Segway like I walk…slowly. I would definitely recommend doing this tour but an hour goes by way too fast, splurge for the 3 hour tour, I think it would be worth it. It was to us. 

We would have never gotten this shot of the Acropolis behind us if we hadn't taken the tour. If you want to go there on your own and not take the tour, you can get to this spot by going to the observatory. 

Spending so much time outside in sandals and at the beach has been hell on our feet so we wanted to have the fish eat the dead skin off. This place is actually called Dr. Fish. We went in search of it. We splurged for the 30 minute package which was 20 euro. They have a 10 minute one but the fish were still busily eating away after a half an hour. I think a full hour is necessary. Nancy acted like a girl, screaming and laughing while the fish nibbled her toes but she calmed down. 

I have to say, my feet felt great afterwards. Super soft but that could be because they had been soaking in water. I wish they had given us lotion to put on afterwards and that we didn't have to put on our gross shoes but it was something that was fun to do and I'd probably do it again. 

We couldn't stay out any longer, we were waiting for Lina to land and join the party and my phone was dead. Of course, at this time it's about 6pm. The day flies by! 

We had planned on eating our goodies from the Central Market last night but  none of us were hungry. Such was not the case when we got home tonight. Oh man, this was a feast. These are all things I love. I would rather have a cheese plate over dessert. We sat there feasting and recovering from our day while we were waiting for Lina to join us. We wanted to play the night by ear, depending on how she felt. 

Lina, being the rockstar she was was ready to go, even tho she had spent about 24 hours traveling. So off we went back to Keramikos. We knew Lina would love the area. We ended up hitting two of the places we went to the previous night. Hey, I wanted a passion fruit martini and some BBQ chips, LOL. 

You want meat, they got meat!

First thing on the agenda today was to get the rental car back. Easier said then done. We got directions from the front desk at the hotel, with our map in hand it sounded pretty simple. Well people have been talking about the demonstrations going on in Greece and this time we were affected. Roads were blocked off so we took an hour to go maybe a mile, probably an hour and a half since it took us almost 2 hours to get the car back. They had roads closed down which we didn't know so we were fighting to go forward between busses, scooters and pedestrians. You know how people here don't really know the road signs? Well scooters, don't really care about roads or lack of them. They would drive between cars or up on sidewalks and in between all of that you had to keep an eye on pedestrians weaving in between cars. With one green light we would be lucky to go forward one car length, usually, we didn't. Once we got out of the circle of hell we had to use the map to figure out where to go. First off, their traffic lights are on the side of the road, not overhead so Nancy wouldn't notice them. The funniest part is when we were turning right and the cars started honking at us. Nancy pfft and said Greek drivers. I was like you ran the red light! Needless to say after that, I told her whenever the light was turning red. Secondly, the street names are written on the buildings and the writing is small. All of us have horrible vision. Not a good combo but we did eventually make it to the care rental place (after we stopped at a gas station for directions, we were close!). 

We all breathed a sigh of release once we dropped the car off. Nancy most especially! Honestly, I would have never tried to drive in Greece, I give her major props for that. 

We didn't want to lug our bags to the metro stop so we took a cab back to our apartment. Luckily we have a good idea how to get there, none of the cab drivers knew where it was. Even the taxi's GPS drove us in circles. We would just tell them the metro stop and direct them in from there. Since the day was rapidly flying by (2 hours going nowhere) we just took time to refresh ourselves and headed out. I really wanted to hit the Central Market. Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods went there for one of his shows. They have great fresh food. You know food motivates me but also, I thought it would be a great place to take photos. 

So we hopped the metro and off we went to Monastiraki, the area where the market was and funnily enough, a couple of blocks away from where we had been trapped earlier in the day. If we'd known that we could have left our stuff in the car and walked over and missed the traffic nightmare. Oh well. 

We walked around to get the lay of the land but we were hungry so decided to get some eats before we did some serious wandering. I picked where we were going to eat based on the fact that there were 4 cops eating in there. It's not because of the fact that cops eat at the best local places, it's because all of the cops in Athens are freaking GORGEOUS! Seriously, I would say 90% of the cops we saw, maybe 95% of them were just my type. And we saw a lot of cops while in Athens, I made sure to stop and ask them directions any chance I got, even if we knew where we were going. I'm bummed we didn't get pics with some of them. 

The food ended up being really great and only 2 euro for a gyro or souvlaki. Even better! In Europe not everything comes with ice so it's a crap shoot when you order a soda whether you're going to get some or not. I always ask for ice if they don't bring it since I love my soda ice cold. They didn't have ice but the waitress brought us frosted mugs. She got a great tip. She didn't need to bring us the mugs and I always appreciate it when someone goes the extra mile, especially when they are busy. 

Before we left the restaurant I had to go to the bathroom. Well this guy followed me up, he heard me ask where it was and was chatting me up while we were on our way. I'm a friendly sort, I'll chat with you. Then he was there when I was washing my hands (separate restrooms but the sink was in the hallway) and chatting some more. He wanted to try and kiss me (last time some stranger tried that move I was in New Orleans) and I wouldn't let him. Then he asked to take a photo with me. I agreed. Then he tried to lean in for a kiss then. I put my hand up to block his face. I should have remembered his move a half an hour later. I made it to the safety of our table unscathed, little did I know what was next. 

From everything I've read the said the smell was pretty pungent in the Central Market. They did not lie. Pungent is an understatement.  Because we got there so late in the day, they didn't even have the seafood out but you could still smell it. Su practically ran thru the market, I think it might have had something to do from the bloody floors, lol. 

As you can see, it wasn't busy at all, so instead of pics of a bustling market, we were the center of attention. People asking where we were from. Trying to say hi to me in Chinese. Calling me over to say how beautiful I am (I shouldn't have put lipstick on after lunch). 

I was chatting up a cute guy asking him about his meat (no, that's not him) when another guy came over. He was very aggressive so the other guy walked away, dang it! Well this guy wanted to take a pic with me, since I was walking thru taking pics of them I figure it was only fair. Well turns out the offer to take pics with you is a move in Greece because he tried to kiss me too! I had my hand up in time to block him so he grabbed my boob. I wasn't prepared for that. I think he was just trying to show off to his friends. It was a quick feel. He's lucky he felt me up and not Su, she would have castrated him. I punched him in his chest and then picked up a very big knife. He got the hint and ran off. 

Due to all of the distractions in the meat market I didn't get anywhere near the pics I wanted to get so off we went to get some fruit and olives. 

This guy let us sample his olives, the best way to get us to buy. We are ruled by our stomachs. We ended up buying three different kinds of olives, kalamatas, pimento stuffed green ones and another that we think was brined in wine. 3 big scoops for 3 euro total. What a score!

As we were walking around we saw this shop. I at first thought it was leather goods hanging from the ceiling. How excited was I when I saw it was meats, olives and cheeses! My mouth was salivating. 

We decided we needed some meats and cheeses to go with our olives and grapes. Our guy was great. I wish I made him look at the camera, he was also cute (a theme to Greece). Once he found out how passionate we were about our meats and cheeses he started recommending his favorites. We wanted local cheeses and meats. So even tho the pastrami looked fantastic we got some local ham and a pepper crusted salami. Don't really know what kind of cheeses we got, I know one was a goat and one was very buttery. As soon as he said butter we all reacted. We ended up with 3 kinds of cheese. The funny thing is when they wanted to know how much meat to slice Su quickly did her math and said 9 slices. She decided we would have 3 slices each, it made us and them laugh. He offered to vacuum seal our stuff to take home but we told him we were going to be eating them locally. I'm bummed we didn't make it back to buy some cheese for home. He also told us about a food festival he was working at but we wouldn't be able to make it because we would be in Mykonos at the time. I know, poor us. 

The store also had these gorgeous displays of fresh spices. I would go back to Athens just to shop here again. 

 There's a coffee shop that is always packed right by our metro stop. We decided to stop there before we made the long trek back to our apartment. OK, the girls needed some caffeine. My favorite part was they brought us free food! Why did we only go there once?!?! There was also a cookie on top of the cake slices but Nancy ate it before I could take a photo. She should know better! This was free food, it had to be documented! The  bad part is we were still pretty full from lunch so we didn't get to appreciate it as much as we would normally have. 

Normally this is the point where we would call it a day but we only had a couple of days in Athens so we had to make the most of our time there. Once we rested up, got caught up on the internet and got ready it was about 10pm. Perfect, that's dinner time for most of Greece. Our concierge, aka, landlord, recommended we go to Keramikos when we asked about local nightlife. It was perfect! As soon as you walk out of the metro stop there are restaurants and bars all around. We walked around to get the lay of the land. There was an outdoor concert going on and they were performing YMCA so of course we walked down the street performing for the locals. 

We randomly picked a restaurant to eat at but once we looked at the menu we didn't see a lot we loved so we decided to eat apps and have a drink and restaurant hop. A little trick Barb taught us which we love. It's great when there are a lot of restaurants in walking distance. I have to say passion fruit drinks are my favorite! Of all of the various things we ate that night, this was our favorite, the mushrooms were so meaty tasty that they didn't need the prosciutto on top (and I love prosciutto) and beef carpaccio! While I would never prepare raw meat myself I love it. Serve it with slices of cheese and I'm in heaven.

The next restaurant we stopped at didn't really have  a lot we wanted but we still had fun there. We ordered some kind of bean dish and roasted corn. 

When we're talking about someone around us we sometimes take a photo so that the person we're looking at doesn't have all of us looking at once. I wanted to show Su what the guys behind her looked like so I had her pose for the camera. I love how this photo turned out! 

We ended the night at Soho. I thought it would be funny to eat in Soho. By the time we hit there they had slowed down. We asked a waiter if they were still open and he said no, but the manager said yes, we win. My favorite thing about this place was they serve free bbg chips with our drinks. I loved them! My second favorite thing, they restroom is upstairs and it feels like you're walking across a catwalk while you're walking to it. There was even a little fog. I added a strut to my walk when going to the bathroom. 

We felt bad that we were almost the last people there (again, where are the partyers, just cause it was a Tue.) but the manager said that he's up til 5am so take our time and if we wanted to stay past then, they leave the chairs out anyway. I love the people of Greece! BTW, we didn't stay til 5. We were pooped!

The long and winding road

We wanted to get on the road first thing in the morning which means we got on the road about 11am. Pretty much what I expected. I wanted to take a few more pictures of Gerolimenas. Nancy says she was worried she would forget the magic of the place but pictures have a way of bringing us back. 

Nancy booked us a room for that night in Athens before we drove off, our apartment was rented out that night so she booked a cheap hotel, just some place to sleep. Course, I didn't really need a place to sleep, I decided to catch up all of my missed sleep in the car that day. I didn't plan it but since Su was in the front seat she was designated navigator and sitting in the back seat made me tired. I used to fall asleep in a car every time I was a passenger. I've gotten better about it but my body takes awhile to adjust to new time zones so I would get anywhere from 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night except the night I took a sleeping pill. I would just wake up and read until the girls got moving. 

Sharon sent us an email saying we should check out Gythio. She stopped there the previous day and thought we would like it, so we decided to stop there for lunch. Sharon knows us well. What a cool little fishing village. They even had an open air market but by the time we were done with lunch, I didn't feel like shopping any more. 

As a bonus, they had a lighthouse. You know how Su loves her lighthouses. Luckily we didn't have to hike there to see it!

Lunch was pretty good. We ordered a shrimp salad, word or warning, if you order anything other then a Greek salad they will drown your salad in dressing. I'm someone who loves salad dressing and it's too much for me. A lot of what we wanted they didn't have but something the waiter suggested based on our requests was a small fish fry. These suckers were delicious! It was a fishy version of french fries (instead of fish and chips, you can have fishy chips). We all kept diving in, we couldn't get enough. But since we were us, we had ordered a few other things and were full. We seriously debated getting a to go bag for the few that were left but we didn't think soggy fishy chips would be as good. I used to get fried smelt similar to this when I lived in Los Angeles. If you're curious about these delights, look for asian restaurants that aren't Americanized, best places to look would be your version of Chinatown. 

Today was a day for Su and Nancy. We were taking the circuitous route back to Athens. They wanted to make a couple of pit stops along the way. So while they navigated their way to Sparti I went back to sleep. The weather had been a dream while we were in Greece so far. The day we decide to hit the road it was grey and gloomy and we finally hit the rain. Kostas says that when it rains it pours. Luckily it didn't get too bad. Nancy was thrilled about the automatic wipers in the car. I've already experienced that before in Karen's Porche, old news to me, LOL. 

Once we got to Sparti and the Monastery of Pantanassa I woke up. I saw the wind and rain and that the Monastery was uphill I handed them my camera and decided to stay in the car and read. I was reading the sequel to Deborah Harkness's Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night. I enjoyed the world building but felt like there was little progression in the story. That being said, I'm still looking forward to the last book in the trilogy. 

This stop was one of Nancy's favorite stops. She says she could have spent all day there and I believe her. When we go to museums, I want to just look and walk thru, she wants to see and read everything. I usually bring a book with me or send her on without me. The pics are gorgeous! 

Next up was a drive to Nafplio. You know what that meant, I went back to sleep. When I was in Amsterdam and we drove to Spain I slept the entire car ride except when it was time to eat. I was catching up on my sleep then too. 

Since we needed to get the car back by 9pm instead of hitting the 3 temples that Nafplio had to offer they chose one. I woke up, looked at where we were and decided to read again. Hey, at least I'm consistent! The weather cleared up and they were able to take some beautiful photos. 

We were going to be cutting it tight to get the car back to Athens in time but based on our calculations we could still make it. Well, that was before we got lost. We didn't rent a GPS when we rented the car, they were out, so we've been old schooling it and using a map. Kostas also gave us directions on how to get to our two spots. His specific direction for leaving Nafplio was to stop and ask someone how to get to a specific road. Well we stopped, to get a soda and a pastry. We neglected to ask but never fear, Su and Nancy were on it! Well until we had been driving up a windy mountain in the dark that they didn't remember driving down. So one U-turn on the side of a mountain later we were heading back towards Argos. The crazy part is once we hit Argos, we literally had people sending us in the opposite direction of what the person before them told us. Needless to say, we drove around in a circle a couple of times (one way streets are a bitch!). 

Finally we got on the right road to Athens so I decided to go back to sleep. Well, not really decided it just happens when I'm in the back seat (and sometimes when I'm in the front). Outside of Athens they pulled over to try and figure out how to get to our hotel since we were running so late the car rental place had closed (not a big deal, except, we knew how to get the car rental back, didn't know how to get to the hotel). Once we got into the city we pulled over to ask directions and turns out we were only a couple of blocks away! That was pure blind luck, I mean, Nancy and Su were just that good. Now what was in theory 2 blocks away ended up being about 6 or 7 blocks away. What we thought was a no right turn sign is a no turn on red sign, well, that's our guess anyway since it seems like no one but us actually reads the signs (seriously, Nancy asked what a sign meant and they shrugged it off, they didn't know either). 

After we checked in we went to the rooftop restaurant to get some food. They had a great view of the Acropolis. Too bad they were closing! So we walked down a block and got some food from the souvlaki stand and the 24 hour bakery! I love this town! 

Lazy days and Sundays

The day actually started off with a breakfast cooked for us by Kostas and Linda. Kyrimi is a bed and breakfast but you can rent the rooms a little cheaper without the breakfast which was a bad call on our part! Their breakfast was delicious! Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, sausage, cereal, pastries and eggs cooked to order. We ate until we were stuffed and sat around chatting and laughing. It was some kind of holiday and one of their neighbors came by and offered all of us pieces of an olive branch that had been blessed. Really, can this town get any more charming?

Because Sharon had to leave us today (dang her plans to fly to Italy!) we stayed close to home. We decided to lay out on the dock. We were almost in the water, we could feel the spray from the waves. It was amazing. Keep in mind that we move on island time, even tho we weren't on an island. By the time we got out to the dock it was already the afternoon. 

Once Sharon finished packing we wandered into town where she was going to meet her bus and had a final coke with her. While it is sad to say goodbye to our gorgeous, wonderful, amazing friend, we were comforted by the fact that we'll meet up again. But for some reason I always get choked up saying goodbye to Sharon. I must say again how lucky I am to have friends who love to travel as much as I do. Sharon lives in FL and I've seen her 3 times this year and who knows, maybe a 4th time before the year is out!

We had plans to go to this local tavern that Kostas had told us about our first night there. It's a very meat oriented place which is why we didn't go there originally. We wanted seafood! But we've been eating so much seafood that we were all craving something bloodier. The only problem was, they were closed! Kostas had no idea they were closed, he had plans to meet friends there for dinner too. At least he let us know before we drove there (a second time). Since Kostas had plans we invited Linda to join us for dinner. The best part of this, besides her wonderful self was Linda took us to a place that only locals go to up in the mountains. I could tell you the name of it but then I'd have to  kill you. OK, I couldn't, I don't know the name. It's all Greek to me!

We walked up and you can smell the meat off of the grill. Su felt like she was at home. I think I saw a tear in her eye. We went with the classics, souvlaki, potato wedges (perfectly cooked, crisp on outside, soft inside), greek salad and biftekia (sounds like beef steak-e-a). 

One of my favorite greek salads while I was in Greece. That feta was amazing!

Biftekia looks like a hamburger but it has tons of herbs in it and is incredibly flavorful. I loved it with tzakiki. We tried it as a couple of other restaurants while in Greece but none were better then these. 

I love when we're given fresh fruit for dessert. They gave us figs and we ate them so quickly they gave us more. You can eat with skin or without, I tried both ways, I prefer not eating the skin. 

It was a fun dinner, listening to Linda's stories about life in Greece was fascinating and since Linda also lives in Seattle it was fun to also talk about our lives here. I look forward to catching up with here now that we're all home. 

We were the last people to leave, as usual. I don't know what they say about the Greeks partying all night long, they can't hang with us Americans! I guess once it's off season, they decide they can sleep. 

Once we got back to the room we got to talking. Our original plan for Monday was to go back to the Temple of the Gods and spend more time at the pool but we realized we were going to be crunched for time in Athens so why not leave a day early and get an extra day in Athens? We're crazy like that! 

Since we decided to leave the next day I took some pics when we wandered downtown to get online. 

Inside the belly of the beast!

One of the sites the girls really wanted to see while we were down south was the caves of Diros. All of the sightseeing books highly recommended them so off we went. 

First we needed a detour to Areopolis which is the unofficial capital of Mani, not a very big town, they had a couple of super markets, which are nothing in comparison to our super markets. We needed to pick up a train ticket to Athens for Sharon who was leaving us the next day (sniff) and go to the bank. We didn't want to carry all of our cash with us so decided before we left the states we'd hit the ATMs a couple of times and pay the $5 service fee versus using our cards where we could (lots of places want cash) because there would be a fee with each purchase. 

Now we were off to the caves. I believe it was 8 euros a person. Every site you go to costs money, well except Cape Tenaro. Guess they figure if you're willing to make the hike, no need to pay. There were 5 of us in the boat for the cave tour and the navigator who did not speak English, not convenient when he's talking about the caves. He wasn't very chatty anyway so we weren't missing out on much. 

The caves were pretty cool, it felt like we were inside the belly of the beast! Su was in the front and spent the whole time saying heads or left side, right side. I'm 4'11", if I have to duck that tells you how low the ceilings are at some points. We were so close to the walls of the cave we could reach out and touch but I didn't want to get yelled at. He already yelled at me once for leaning too far to take a pic. My big complaint is we went so fast so we didn't get to just sit and enjoy the moment (and some of my pics came out blurry).

My camera had the flash on, Sharon's didn't hence the difference in the colors but I love her photos and want to share them too!

The following pic was taken outside of the caves, walking to the car. Greece is truly beautiful, inside and out.

We decided to go to MarMari for lunch. The best thing about MarMari was the hot waiters. They were super cute and made lunch more enjoyable. Actually, the food here wasn't the greatest but I can't get enough of grilled squid and eat it every chance I get in Greece. I'll skip the aubergine (eggplant) salad. 

We're dark in this pic but check out the background to our lunch!

After lunch we hit the beach at MarMari. Linda mentioned it was windy but it was out of control windy. Makes for great waves but I wasn't going in. The entire time we were in Greece we never made it to the beach before 5pm, try as we might (except for the one day we went snorkeling outside our room). I think the water would have been warmer if we made it in sooner. 

Nancy and Su braved the waters, Sharon and I read. There was a wedding happening right there on the beach which was fun to watch (as well as the couple making out on the beach). Due to the wind, we only stayed about an hour and decided to go back to the room to relax.

Once we finally got moving, we got dressed up for dinner and our date with our waiter. We went and ate at the restaurant we ate at the first night. Our waiter was doing the big up sell and we were all over it. We're weak when it comes to food. One thing we had that was different that we loved was the giant beans. That's what they're called on the menu and if you google Greek giant beans, there are recipes for it. Nancy and I killed them! What can I say, I'm a fan of the bean.

We were supposed to meet up with our other waiter after dinner but we were 20 minutes late and he got tired of waiting so he went home. We did tell him would meet up with him but as he knows first hand, it takes awhile to get thru dinner. The owner offered us a free drink but since we had plans we said no but we couldn't say no to free dessert. There's a cake-like dessert that was given to us at 3 different restaurants, turns out we don't like it but we don't want to be rude so we try to eat a piece, well most of us anyway (I win!).

Even tho our waiter ditched us, we decided to still go to the Temple of the Gods for a drink. Turns out, we were the only ones with that idea, well, other then the staff. So we only stayed for one drink. We tried to take some pics but they came out too dark. We were going to snag the bartender's phone to take some pics of us for him as a memento but he was smart and picked it up before we could. Drat!

We had an early night, got home about 1am.