Foot in the World
Greece
Handsome Helinho... Again...
And so, we traveled. We returned to Europe several times, visiting other countries such as Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the Czech Republic, other parts of France, Germany, Italy, and much more... The trip always started in Amsterdam. We even became a KLM “Frequent Flyer”.
One of those times, we decided to visit Greece. The itinerary included Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, Rhodes, Symi and Kos.
We decided to make a reservation, at that time by fax. As the flight would arrive around 11:30 pm, we let them know the time and were at ease.
At the Athens airport, we took a taxi, our only option at that time. The taxi driver didn't speak English. When we told him the name of the hotel, the taxi driver looked confused. We said it again, slowly and loudly: APHRODITE. And he kept looking blank. So we thought: - "It must be different in Greek." And we started trying to say it in different ways - Aphrodite, Afrodaite, Afrodití, Eifrodite. We tried every way and nothing. Until we decided to show him the reservation. That's when he said: - "Aphrodite!" Exactly as we said the first time.
When we arrived at the hotel, the man at the reception, who was also the owner, informed us that our reservation had been cancelled. He said that we would arrive at 11:30 pm and it was already well after midnight. We didn't hesitate and said that we would sleep on the sofa in the reception area. At that point, we didn't even know how to find another place to stay. That's when he started looking for another hotel. Every place he called, he himself said that it was too expensive. Until, after several calls, he said that he had found a hotel not far away. The daily rate was even cheaper. We were a little suspicious, but we went there. At that time, we had no other option. He kindly asked a member of staff to help us with our luggage and we walked a few blocks. Finally, we arrived. It was a very nice and cozy little hotel. The room had a balcony with a view of the Acropolis. It couldn't be better!
We rested and in the days that followed, we had plenty of time to visit all the tourist attractions in Athens, drink Ouzo – a Greek version of Arak – and eat pistachios, sitting on the balcony of our room admiring the Acropolis. We explored the center of Athens, Plaka, with its cafes and restaurants, Anafiotika, Monastiraki, Psyri, Syntagma... In short, there was nothing left to see.
So, it was time to take the ferry to the islands. The first one we visited was Mykonos. We rented a scooter and had a great time visiting the more distant beaches. On one of these occasions, we decided to go to Super Paradise, a nudist beach that could only be reached by boat or by following a trail. We went along the trail. We will never forget the scene we came across, still on top of a hill. We saw a naked guy, with a duckling float around his waist, carrying a tray with glasses of champagne, singing: - “happy birthday to you...” to one of his friends from the group of naked guys. They were having fun and we laughed a lot too. That was the first impression we had of the place.
At night, there was always a party, with lots of tourists coming and going, or in the bars and restaurants. One of those days, we stopped at a bar that was playing “The Girl from Ipanema” to have a drink. We noticed that in a bar across the street there was a handsome, blond, strong, tanned guy looking in our direction. Wow! I thought I (Vera) was the hottest guy. But later we found out that it was Helinho who was the hottest guy. We laughed a lot at our mistake and waved to him, who smiled back.
Greece is beautiful...
A trip that was supposed to last 15 days in Greece ended in 30 unforgettable moments. From Mykonos, we went to Santorini and were surprised, once again, by the indescribable beauty of the place. The deep blue of the waters of the Aegean Sea blended with the blue sky on the horizon.
And the trip didn't end there. We went from Crete, the largest island in Greece and its paradisiacal beaches, to the small town of Symi. We went to see the famous Colossus of Rhodes, which is located on the island of the same name and the second largest Greek island. A city that is full of medieval stories. And from there, we went to Kos.
We arrived in Kos early in the morning. We were wondering how to find a place to stay. We decided to walk through the still dark streets. We came across a small hotel with its doors open. We went in and there was no one at the reception. We saw a note asking us to ring the bell at the gate next door. At that moment a man drove by and asked if we were looking for a place to stay. We said yes and saw that inside the car was a couple, whom we recognized from the ferryboat. He said he would drop the couple off at the hotel and come back to pick us up.
We waited a while, but we thought it was taking too long and decided to walk in the direction the car had gone. At the end of the street there was a large bus parking lot. When we couldn’t see the car anymore, we decided to go back to the hotel we had seen first. The silence of the early morning was broken by the sound of a car. The same Greek stopped and opened the doors for us to get in. We got in, without the slightest fear. But, the car unexpectedly pulled into the bus parking lot. That’s when we thought: “We’ve gotten ourselves into trouble.” And the car kept going. We saw a construction site, a giant fenced-off hole. And fear took over. It was still dark and we couldn’t really see what was around us. The man told us to get out of the car and we obeyed. He went inside, into what looked like a building under construction. And we followed. When we got to the lobby of the building, everything changed. The interior was all white marble, circular. Beautiful! We stayed in a great apartment with a large balcony.
We rested until dawn. Then we saw where we were. The fenced-in “hole” was an archaeological site. When they were building the hotel, they discovered that area and all work had to be halted. This was the reason why the outside of the building was still unfinished.
We had two English guys and three Australian girls as roommates. Every late afternoon and early evening was a party. Each of us would sit on our own balcony and drink Ouzo, Metaxa, Retsina... and we would spend hours talking. Afterwards, they would always go out for the night and come back at dawn. We preferred to rest and enjoy the next day.
Kos is a small island where Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was born. The tree where the doctor taught his disciples, in the center of the city, was one of the tourist attractions. In addition, the ruins of Asklepieion, where Herodicus taught medicine to Hippocrates, were also a tourist attraction.
Since Bodrum, already in Turkey, was close to the island, we took a boat and decided to visit the city. When we got there, the police took our passports and authorized us to stay for twenty-four hours. It was a short time, but it was enough for us to set foot in Türkiye for the first time.
Finally, after 30 days, learning a little more about Greek history and mythology, traveling back in time, drinking and eating very well, watching some traditional dances and enjoying the paradisiacal beaches, we crossed by ship to Bari, Italy. We said goodbye to Greece with the certainty that we would return to visit some more of the many islands that make up the country, not to mention the interior, which is so little known to tourists.
When we disembarked from the ship, at Italian immigration, we were mistaken for Albanians because our Brazilian passports were green at the time, like the Albanians. They searched our luggage and when they realized they had made a mistake, we were very well received. Our luggage was marked as searched and we were very welcome in Italy. All the confusion was because Albanian immigration was on the rise, which was worrying the country.