Zante Island Day 1!!

So, the day started off interesting. We got to our metro on time and everything was going smoothly-- we arrived in the part of Athens that has the bus station. We tried to follow our handy dandy map from a Greek mapquest, but we soon found it unreliable. We asked for directions from different people, but they all sent us in different directions. We went back and forth, back and forth for about an hour. There were these guys working in a car garage that we passed like 3 times that began to laugh at us. It was getting comical. We were getting worried that we would miss our 8:45 bus, but we finally found an English speaking man on a motorcycle that led us to the bus. We made it at 8:43 a.m. Haha! Talk about a sigh of relief!

The ride here wasn't too bad, and the ferry was actually a fun ride. On the bus, I sat with a little old lady who was Greek Orthodox. Every time we passed a church or cemetery, she would chant softly to herself and do all the symbols. She didn't speak English so she would just look over at me and grin. Isn't smiling such a blessing? It's so universal.

When we got on the island, it was an immediate sense of wonder and excitement. It was like we left reality at the door of the ferry and entered this Disney World-esque community all its own. When we got into town, it was a movie-like town with cafes, icecream shops and stores door-to-door as far as the eye can see. We explored for a while, darting in and out of various shops. We went down to the water for a while and took lots of pictures. We are going to the actual beach tomorrow to lie around and relax. We are also hoping to check out the Smuggler's Cove. We ate supper at this cute little restaurant and had the best pizza we've had all semester! Tonight we got gelato icecream, which has become a new tastebud sensation of mine. Yum! They are celebrating some sort of festival here and people are dressed up in Halloween costumes and music is playing-- it is so neat!

Our hotel is really nice minus one minor detail: THE SHOWER. A tiny 12x12 inch square of tiles, it has a wrap-around curtain that doesn't even reach the ground. The shower head does not hang from the top of the ceiling, but instead becomes a juggling mess as you try to hold it and shampoo your hair. I dropped it several times and occasionally sprayed the outside of the curtain, soaking the floor. I noticed once that the water was beginning to overflow onto the floor so I panic and try to shut off the water-- instead I knock off my razor and it breaks mid-shaving. I search around in the puddle of water for the razor and instead come up with a huge clump of hair that is not my own. I scream-- it is then that I turn the water back on and spray myself in the face-- my contact falls out because of the water pressure (luckily I brought extras..) Something tells me I might just dab on some extra deo the rest of our stay and skip the trauma.

The people here are so nice and it is a unique town. We have a balcony that looks over the town square and the water can be seen as well. Tomorrow we are thinking about watching a play from our balcony. I am looking forward to the relaxation tomorrow-- it is much needed. I am so glad we decided to come here-- words can't adequately express what emotion washes over me as I look around and see the beauty of this part of the world. Mountains and ocean, two of the wonders of nature work hand in hand to create one of the most gorgeous landscapes. They might have to drag me kicking and screaming back to the Artemis. Haha.