Egypt summer 2011, CAIRO part 2

I woke up around 3am to hear some arabic language being wafted from the nearest mosque through the open window. It was really loud and I didn't understand why it was so loud in the middle of the night. Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day, but all the younger people we got to know to didn't pray not even once a day, maybe just on fridays or sundays. Well, anyway we woke up before the clock alarmed and we were really excited to see the pyramids. We ate breakfast at the hostel (it was made to us!) and left with Marc and our driver HiSun towards the first pyramid which was the farest away. We got HiSun to be our driver for the whole day through our hostel to which we paid to and they paid it to HiSun. It cost us together 250 egyptian pounds (35€). 

Video: on our way to the pyramids. Marc sitting in the front seat and he had no idea what the song was?! Come on who doesn't know that song?! He's from Canada from which the singer is also from..!! :D

Not too many tourist buses in Sakkala

Sakkara (or Saqqara) was the first pyramid area where we went and we were the only ones there. At Saqqara, the oldest complete stone building complex known in history was built there: Djoser's step pyramid (in the pic). On the whole Egypt trip we could see how few tourist there were and how the revolution had affected that people were too afraid to travel there. Tourists mostly were backpackers. We visited the museum in Sakkara and it cost us 30 pounds (around 4€) for student. There for the first time we saw a mummy! Then we drove a few hundreds of meters to the pyramid and it looked like a huge pile of sand! We got to go inside it and there was this creepy man who said to us that no pictures but he took Marc's camera and took around 20 pictures from us and tried to get us pay when we were about to leave. We didn't pay him, we just walked away even though we was a bit angry. Without Marc I think me and Saija wouldn't have paid to him because he was a bit scary..

Marc.. and me. Love the way he holds me (NOT!). In front of the pyramis of Unas which is nowadays ruined but you can still go inside it.

Saija and me walking up the Red pyramid

The next stop was at the area of Dashur. There were  two pyramids the Bent one (it's actually bent that's why the name) and the Red one which was one of my favourite! In the Red one we first climbed up the stairs (it was really hot even though the clock wasn't that much) and when we were in front of its entrance we saw that it was really small. The entry is only 0.91m high and 1.2m wide and the passage looked really steep and was 61m long! It was a student price for 15 pounds. It was a good exercise getting down the pyramid! We really had to keep our heads down and crouch your backs not to hit yourselves. Inside it looked amazing. I can't believe that people have built it without any machinery?! It was also really creepy there and the air was really bad inside it. We also climbed some stairs up inside it and I was really afraid that they'll collapse down. I think the stairs inside had been built later on but they looked really fragile and the whole staircase was skewed. We really needed to do some work climbing the stairs back up. We are in a good condition and we really were out of breath when we made it back up. After climbing the stairs first up (outside the pyramid), then down and up again me and Saija couldn't walk stairs maybe in 5 days because our calves were so jammed!! I don't ever remember having that sore calf muscles! It was terrible. Couple of days later we were in a restaurant and decided to go to upstairs, we almost couldn't get down from there. People stared at us and I came down the stairs backwards..

The stairs going inside the Red pyramid

Inside the Red and the fragile stairs..

The Bent pyramid

The next destination was Giza and we almost really were the only tourists there! The place was empty! That was a good thing but also a bad thing because all the men trying to sell something would walk behind us a long time. Or the men trying to buy me or Saija for camels.. We didn't want to ride them there 'cause it was too expensive (the tourist prices they asked were ridiculous) and camels and horses weren't threated too well either. It was a good thing that Marc was with us since he carried all of our water and told the men to get lost (we did that also by ourselves). The area of the pyramids was really big and you can't even realize it if you watch it from far away. We understood how big the pyramids were when we decided that we want to walk around the middle one. It really took us some time and it was really difficult to walk in the sand and me and Saija had to constantly put on some sun lotion (factor +50 for children..) for not to burn! 

The Great Pyramid if Giza and the Sphinx

We were back from the pyramids at 3 pm and went to buy some delicious pizzas from the street near our hostel. Most of the people in the hostel (the ones we hang with) slept during the day but I had a pieceful time writing our journal and watching the view from our hostel windows.

Tahrir square meets the Nile! Taken from our hostel window. U can also see how maniac the traffic was all the time

Spotted on our pyramid trip. A boy with his father trying to get honeydews sold

Alain, me, Marc, Kurt (with the cap on), older australian

In the evening we went out with the boys from the hostel. Me, Saija, Alain, Marc, Kurt and some older australian man travelling the world since his marriage had ended or something. We went to sit in some local place (it wasn't a bar or anything not even restaurant just some place on the street where people sat around and smoked water pipes =  Shisha (they did that all the time everywhere!). Guys also bought Shisha and I tasted it and coughed my lungs out. Not a good idea. We went to bed already around 10pm. Amazing day at the pyramids and getting a bit used to the men staring at us even though the first days we really tried to dress correctly and not to show skin too much! I even wore leggings and Saija had long trousers. One night outside our hostel we saw this egyptian woman wearing really revealing clothes and Saija stated that fuck this, I'm trying to be conservative and I'm wearing woollen sweater!..

Pyramids meet the city of Cairo

Egypt summer 2011, CAIRO part 1

On 30th of May I woke up at 5.25am and I was so excited! The situation in Egypt was calmer than it had been three or four months ago. Our first flight to Riga was at 8.30am and we had to pay 30€ extra to put my backpack to the cargo hold. At the airport we were so excited and also a bit nervous about how we were going to find our hostel in Cairo. The first flight only took 40 minutes and the next flight was to Istanbul. At the airport of Istanbul we were sitting and talking after having eaten at Burger King when we noticed on the board the it said "go to the gate" next to our flight and it had already started 10 minutes ago. The airport was huge and we were not even close to our gate. We hurried to find the gate number 213 and rushed through the security check untill we noticed that we were in a small room with glass windows from the floor to the ceiling. The few people sitting there watched us amused when we were almost panting and it was 45 minutes until the boarding was about to start. We couldn't leave anywhere from the room and I desperately needed to pee! 

It was around 6-7pm when we landed to Cairo and it was pitch black already, only the lights from the city. We started walking towards the passport check point but first we changed money and bought visas. At the passport check point about 7 men came to watch us and our passports. Those were the first "do you wanna marry me?" lines we heard. Saija was really distressed. We waited to get my backpack and we saw people staring at us. We put our backpacks on and the first thing was to find an info from the airport. I had searched online how to get to our hostel but I wanted to make sure before we left from the airport. Still inside the airport all the taxi drivers asked us if we wanted a ride somewhere and Saija started answering really nicely like "no, thank you we have our own plans and plaa plaa.." Soon she realised that they weren't going anywhere if you were too nice to them. At the info point we asked from these nice ladies how to get to our hostel. The answer was:  "You don't want to go there. We have a revolution war going on and the hostel is too near the place were all the riots happen. And you're two blond women." After convincing them that we had booked the hostel, we got the directions. The hostel was in Downtown Cairo near the Egyptian museum. Outside the airport there was around 50 men, all of them staring at us! Saija looked like a deer in headlights! She was terrified! I was too but I couldn't panic, otherwise we would have been in trouble! 

Somehow we managed to hop on an airport bus going to the terminal one from which the local buses to Cairo left. We found the bus station but there was no numbers on the buses. We asked some men but no one knew anything. Then I just walked to one bus and asked if anyone spoke english and if the bus was going near the Egyptian museum. This airport security guard answered that yes it goes there. The seats were so small that we had difficult time to fit into them with the backpacks on our laps. The woman sitting in front of us with a scarf on her face which covered most of it (called chador or niqab?) whispered us only to pay 1 pound for the ride and not more! She was really kind 'cause the cashier man could have tried to get us pay anything. On the bus the culture shock hit me. Everything looked so big and it was so dark. We didn't have water and no idea where we were and were to get of. It kept us calm that we knew the guy who had helped us was still on the bus but when Saija turned to look at him, he was asleep..

The way to get of from the bus in Egypt is that the bus slowers down and you just have to hop of. Suddenly the man woke up and was starting the get of and told us that this was our stop too. We managed not to die while getting of the bus. "I'm a big big girl in a big big world" was not playing in my head at the moment when we were standing on the streets of Cairo. We had NO idea which direction to go and started looking for signposts while trying not the get under the traffic. We couldn't find any signposts. The same guy asked us if we needed help and we assured him that we were fine. He started walking away from us but turned back to us when he realised that we really were lost! :D His name was Mohammed (surprisingly..). He started to walk with us and to show us a way to our hostel. He had to ask several times from people which direction to go to. We was the kindest man! We was working at the airport and he showed us his ID (which was really kind gesture to do). He bought us water even though we offered to pay them. On our way we had to cross many streets and me and Saija were screaming and running after Mohammed while he laughed at us. One car even gently nudged me while standing on the road.. We ended up walking 45 minutes untill we found the building were our hostel was. Mohammed walked us all the way to the reseption. He gave us his simcard so we could have an egyptian number (that was really helpful on the trip!). We promised to call him (he had an other sim card also) if we needed any help.

WakeUpCairo hostel

The hostel was small but really cosy with helpful and nice staff! In our room there were six beds in it and we were the only girls (we only saw maybe two other traveller girls (one travelling alone and the other with her boyfriend) on the whole trip!). One guy was from Spain: Alain, one from Australia: Kurt and one from Canada: Marc. Marc was a 29-years old university teacher and he taught financies and he loved to travel on holidays. Kurt had a great sense of humour and I wasn't always sure if he spoke true or false. At first we called him a surfer boy but later we found out that he was 28 years old!  Alain was this crazy about our age boy from Spain. They all travelled alone. Marc had just also arrived there before us so we agreed going to see the pyramids together the next day. Maybe five other travellers were hanging in the small "living room" so we went out with Marc to buy some beer. Yes, you can still find beer in an islamic country if you know where to look for. Marc was supposed to know but we never found the place.. We walked around the neighbourhood about 60 minutes and it was the first touch that me and Saija got when ALL the people stared at and whistle to us! It was maybe 11pm and the streets were full of live and people! All the shops were open and the weather was really warm! We walked past this one narrow street were was an army truck on the street and maybe 15 military persons standing in a line with guns. That was a bit scary to see on our first night. Back at the hostel, Ihab from the staff told us about Egypt and we were planning a trip to desert to spend one night there in the beduin village from where the stars look grystal clear. That never happened since we had so much more to see and do and only a few days in Cairo. We went to sleep around midnight and were supposed to leave from the hostel at 8 am. :)

Summer '11 EGYPT introduction

Couple of months after coming back home from Europe I started thinking about the next summer. The first weeks at home after interrailing in Europe for almost a month was really difficult time to me. I missed so much being free and going wherever whenever I wanted to. Now I was stuck at work and practising, the normal boring life. All the people we met in Europe were either travelling or living their lives like me and Saija did now in Finland. I had a huge travel fever! Saija and I discussed where we wanted to go and what to see next. Saija wanted to try snorkling and experience something other than Europe and all the cities. We first thought of going to Thailand but since I have my ringette season in wintertimes that wasn't possible 'cause we wanted it to be warm when we went there. Then we started thinking about Egypt. It would be a perfect destination for us. We could try snorkling, see the pyramids and the Nile river, swim in the Red sea, wander in deserts and see many historical sights and it would be really really HOT in there! That was it, we chose Egypt to be our next destination.

A song we listened a lot before our adventure even had started :)

Again, like before the trip toEurope, I spent so many hours reading about Egypt and its cities! We looked maps and compared plain ticket prices. I read about stomach flu and the safety in Egypt among other stuff of course. We ended up paying 222€/nose to Cairo, to the capital of Egypt on 30th of May. A flight to home was due on 20th of June from Sharm El Sheikh and it cost 307€/head.

We planned our route carefully and it changed many times from the original version we made. First we decided to fly to Cairo and stay there for 4 nights. From Cairo we were planning to make our way down the Nile river (later we learnt that the Nile river streams from south to north to the Mediterranean sea) by train and stop to spend time in Al Minya, Asyuet, Qena and Luxor.. The first change of plans happened when the revolution fights started in Cairo maybe around January and the situation in Egypt was really unstable. All the travel agencies in Finland cancelled all the trips to Egypt from the whole spring and summer. We had already bought our plane tickets and wouldn't have gotten any money back from them if we would have decided not to go. The fights in Egypt were mostly about that the Egyptians required the president Mubarak who had been in the office from 1981 to step down. We were terrifed watching the news that showed the riots on the Tahrir sq.. And when I googleted our WakeUpCairo hostel it was located only 100-200 metres from the sq. We decided not to tell that to our parents. My parents weren't happy at all for me leaving there even without the specific info about the location of our hostel. Cairo is a city of 20-22 (included the surroundings of Cairo) million people so it's huge and the chances of our hostel being near the place were the riots happened was, well our luck. :D

So our trip was 22 days + 1 travel day back to Finland. The dates were 30.5-21.6. Our route was looking like this before we left:

Cairo 30.5-3.6, 4 nights in WakeUpCairo hostel

3.6 at 10.35am-11.40am FLIGHT from Cairo to Luxor  

Luxor 3.6-8.6, 5 nights

8th of June from Luxor to Hurghada by BUS  

Hurghada 8.6-14.6, 6 nights

14th of June from Hurghada to Sharm El Sheikh by BOAT --> to Dahab by bus

Dahab 14.6-16.6, 2 nights

16th of June from Dahab to Sharm El Sheikh

Sharm El Sheikh 16.6-20.6, 4 nights

So if you had enough patience to read our timetable from above you can see that we turned down our plan to travel along the Nile river by train. We thought that it would be too unsafe and it would be much safer to flight as it turned out to be, with our own bodyguards.. ;)

Things we listed what we wanted to do on our journey:

• ride the camels
• to snorkle or dive
• see the famous bazaars of Egypt
• mini cruise or some boat thing in the Nile river
• hot air balloon!! 

Before the starting point of the trip we had searched online hostels in each city and looked a bit were we wanted to stay at. We only booked the first hostel in Cairo and the hotel in Hurghada.

Interrailing in Europe summer 2010 ATHENS part2

Ready to leave for home. :/

On the last day of our trip we woke up around 1pm and took it easy, watching tv, eating and packing which was pretty difficult since we had been on the road for almost a month and we had bought souvenirs, clothes, shoes and other stuff. At 4.45pm we threw our packbacks to our backs, said thank you and bye to Poppy and started walking to Egaleo metro station and towards the airport!! Of course we were sitting like stupid in a metro going to the depot.. We were taking of the backpacks and putting them on the empty seats and talking that it's not so many people going to the airport until this one sweet leady called out for us that we need to get of quickly... A bit embarrasing.. At the airport we both felt really down 'cause we didn't want to hear finnish language in the queue or see the stupid finnish people with their flower patterned t-shirts, straw hats and fanny bags around their waists.. Or even to think about going back to work in two days! 

On the walls of the airport we spotted great sayings that we wrote down:

• " There's a great big world out there and it's all yours"
• " If your feet are on the ground, your mind can touch the sky"
• " Hope walks faster than fear"

"ANYWHERE", taken at the Athens airport

On the plane we wrote our last text of the trip. We watched all the (almost 2000) pictures from both cameras, we read our journal and then it was almost the end of the best adventure so far! I spent around 2000€ everything included (airplane tickets, interrail card, everything). Oh, and it was good that we looked for hostels with kitchen since we did our food ONCE on the whole trip..! (In London rye bread and chicken on it..) :D But, hey, it was a holiday! ;) 

 

We did what we had planned to do, we saw so many sights we'd always wanted to see, we tasted new foods, we partyed but the best part was that we laughed a lot and had so much fun together and met new people all over the world! THE BEST 26 DAYS EVER!

SURVIVORS

Interrailing in Europe summer 2010 ATHENS part1

Poppy and me

After the ferry ride we arrived to Pireus, Athens and I had absolutely no idea what Poppy looked like nowadays but she quite easily spotted us! She had arrived to pick us up with his boyfriend by car. :) We got a car ride to her home in Egaleo. Her place looked so nice, so cosy even though it was small. Poppy invited us to go watch a movie with her and her friend and we went to watch Street Dance 3D. We ordered some food to her place in the evening (pitogira) and they were really cheap and tasty! The night we hang at Poppy's place with her watching a movie and greek idols on tv. The next day we were planning to go see Athens. 

On 28th of June we woke up around 10am and headed to supermarket to buy something to eat. Poppy didn't quite understand us 'cause she never eats breakfast at home, she crabs something to eat on her way to school. We decided to go first to Acropolis to see the temple of Parthenon. It was nice to see it since we started our school history at the age of maybe 9 to study the greek Gods and saw pictures of the Parthenon.

Parthenon

Mount Lykavittos

After seeing the whole Athens from the Acropolis hill we made our way to Plaka which is famous for it's narrow street and the real life of Athens. We started looking for the Syntagma square and the Parliament house which we found just on time when they had the change of guards. The looked a bit funny in their national clothes and funny walking style.. On our way to Syntagma we walked passed MANY clothes shops and cafes etc. We also took a mini train ride in the streets of Athens near Acropolis hill. It was funny 'cause we had walked there where we felt like going without any maps or knowing were to go. When we took the mini train it went almost exactly the same streeets we had all ready seen! :D We had a quiet moment at the mini train since behind and in front of us came to sit some finnish people.. We ended up spending 9 hours in Athens. :) In the evening Poppy taught me some greek and put greek songs to my mp3 :) We went to sleep around 2am..

Change of guards..

On the 29th of June it was our last full day of the trip! :( We went to shop in Egaleo because it was a transportation strike going on. We found amazing shops, especially shoe shops! We shopped almost the whole day! :D In the evening we wanted to go out to eat and maybe drink a bit.. So we headed to the Egaleo metro station which was supposed to be open already but it wasn't so we took a taxi to Kerameikos metro station were was many bars and restaurants. We ate and went to drinks to a bar called Soho and then to a bar called Millenium. After a while we started talking with nice greek guys who offered to show us to some club near and it ended up being this house music place which we didn't like at all. Around 5am we took a taxi back to Poppy's place.

Athens

Interrailing in Europe summer 2010 POROS part3

So the next morning or the night we were supposed to wake up at 4.20 but we barely slept at all and woke up before the clock even alarmed. I woke up when Saija was in the kitchen eating at 3am.. We got to the town and crossed the canal to the side of  Galatas where we hopped to Manos' car. His mom was sick so he had to drive her to a hospital three times a week so he also gave us a ride to the city of Nafplio. In Nafplio the main sight is the fortness called Palamidi and it's built on a 216-metre high hill somewhere around 1680-1715. You can either drive to the top of the hill or climb 999 stairs up the hill.. It was 7.30am when we arrived below the hill. We were almost the only ones in the area at that time of the day and we decided to start our day by walking the stairs!

Quite scary looking, where is she going..?

Quite easily we got up the hill and we only stopped a few times to admire the view and the sleeping city. :) As you can imagine the stair were uneven and slippery. On the top there was this man almost sleeping at the ticket booth and was really surprised to see anyone there at that time. We got in for free with showing one finnish student card. :D I had been at the fortness once before but it was much bigger than I remembered! We had so much fun walking around it and being the only ones there! Our talks were sounding like we had woken up before 3am and had barely eaten anything and walked over 1000 steps.. We also filmed amazing nature films.. From the request of one of my loyal readers see the videos below:

Palamidi on the top of the hill

One part or side of the Palamidi

After watching the view and the fortness enough we made our way back down the stairs and wandered around Nafplio waiting for Manos to pick us up. The car ride went quickly when I fell a sleep, I had tried not to but I couldn't help it. Back at Poros we went to a supermarket and straight to the beach. And this scariest thing happened when we left from the beach! This old man started walking with us and talking nice things and nothing but when we started to make our way to our hotel he suggested something that we go to his house and...! I've grown on that the most safe place on earth and that happens there of all the places we had been in! And that wasn't even it! We made the rookie mistake to go straight to our hotel even though we watched that he didn't follow us..! I went to our balcony (maybe 30minutes later) which was next to the stairs that you have to walk up to come inside the hotel and the man came out of the hotel door!!! I just screamed! That was fucking scary!!! Saija came running from the shower and I pulled myself together and told the man that I will tell the owner if he comes even near the hotel! We never saw him again.

From the roof of Villa Violetta

On that Nafplio day we laughed a lot! Here some funny things what happened.. On the car at maybe 6.30am waiting Manos in front of the hospital Saija says: "This map smells so good! It's like.. it's like paper." or the next one at the same place suddenly from the silence Saija says: "But HEY, now I'll call to my friends to Finland!!" (I had to remind her that it was only 6.30am..)

In the evening Saija was about to leave without her shoes from the hotel.. We left to the town to eat at Manos place and after that we went to another restaurand with my family friend working there. And they took good care of us well, we drank ouzo, white wine.. We stayed in the restaurant untill it closed. :D 

Jorgos' restaurant in Askeli

On 26th of June it was our last day in Poros and we headed to the beach in the morning and in the afternoon to eat at Jorgos' place. His place has the best view of Askeli! It's built on the rocks beside the sea! We slept 3,5 hours on a naptime (as we did almost every day in Poros). In the evening we went to Manos place to eat and he seemed really sad knowing it was our last night! Every summer that I can remember the last night has been so sad saying goodbay to everyone we know on the island. A crybaby that I sometimes am, it's not fun at all! I hate to say goodbay, whether it's only for a days, months or years! The situation where you don't know when you're gonna see someone again has been the worst one so far.

Manos

 Anyway, the night at Manos restaurant was great but also sad. He introduced me to some couple from Holland telling them that i'm his daughter, not on paper but otherwise. We paid and got discounts as we had had on the other nights also. Hugging Manos was sad but he promised to come in the morning to say goodbay to us before we hopped on the ferry. Being the last night we wanted to have the last drinks at the Malibu bar (the thing we found different at bars in Greece was that you need to get a table and just sit and wait there and they'll come and serve you.. At the first night there we went to the bar to order and they staff looked at us like what are u doing..) From the Malibu bar we went to this Maskes Club which was so full of young people that people were hanging around on the street also. At that place I had to discuss this one guy (the same guy still trying to get me out on a date..) about 30 minutes to tell him why I don't like him more than just a friend.. Saija was laughing to me when I really struggled with my words. It was akward 'cause it seemed like I really hurt that guy by telling him that and not liking him like he liked me and I really didn't want to hurt his feelings. From Maskes club we started to walk to the island's only real night club called Room (it's open only maybe once a week). Our company was joined by two guys from which we really couldn't get rid of all night.. One of them I said really straight that i'm not interested in but he didn't really understand or spoke english. We had fun anyway with Saija and the view from the bar to the sea was amazing at night when it was full moon! Suddenly at 3.30 am we became aware of the time! :D So we left by taxi and went to bed around 4.30am. We thought that we didn't even drink that much but when we really started thinking about what we had drinken all night it wasn't that little..

On the 27th of June we got a ride from Thannassis to the harbour of Poros (If you can even call it as a harbour). In the morning we had packed again and paid to Thanassis who lowered the price for us for 17€/night/head. The room had tv, air condition, kitchen with all the cooking stuff, fridge, big balcony, toilet etc.. Manos came to the harbour to give me some papers I had to deliver to her daughter living and studying in Athens. During the days in Poros we had planned were to stay at in Athens and all the hostels were situated in the area of Omonia, to which Manos didn't allow us to go in! So, he ended up calling to his daughter Poppy if we could stay at her place. Poppy's mom is from the United Kingdom so she speaks fluent english. Poppy is my age but I really didn't know her at all. I had seen her couple of times when growing up but that's all. It was so difficult to say goodbay to Manos and even he was really touched, hugging me and letting me go. :/ In the ferry I felt really really down.

When the ferry took of from the port of Poros I felt like crying seeing the town get smaller and smaller. And I had no idea when I'll go back there. Poros was the best summer holiday place and memories my parent could have given me! It's the place were I fell in love Greece, the language and the people. The place were I got the sparkle to travel and meet new people. The place where I learnt how to swim and where I had my first crush. Most of the young people hate Poros when they get older because it's so small place where everyone knows everyone and there is nothing to do in winter time so that's way young people tend to move to Athens to study.

Last evening in Poros and the sunset

Poros <3

At Palamidi and the only way to come down those slippery rocks with flipflops..

Interrailing in Europe summer 2010 POROS part2

On the 23rd of June we left pretty early to the Askeli beach and we had decided that it was our beach day, all day at the beach! Well, it was so cloudy all day that it was almost cold at the beach and not even a glimpse of the sun. In the afternoon we left from the beach to the other side of Askeli (maybe 200-300metres) to the restaurant where one of our family friend Jorgos worked or actually he owned the place. He also had seen me since I was a baby. :) Just when we arrived there it started to thunder and rain cats and dogs! After eating we went to the swimming pool of Cascade where I had once learnt how to swim and we had lots of friends working there once but not anymore. Right next to Cascade was the swimming pool of Kamares which was rather new in Poros. It was the biggest swimming pool on the island and it's not even big one.. :D

Kamares

Thanassis and me

 In the evening we had a date with Thanassis and we took us around the island to see the sights. It was nice even though I had once seen them but I had been younger so I didn't remember all the sights. :) We visited the Monastery which was on the top of the hill in Askeli! There was this weird silence and mood going on, I can't describe it but it was really strange. I felt like I had to wisper there and I felt really humble being there. Then we saw the temple of Poseidon (or at least what was left.. mostly sand and rocks to my eye..). And on the back of the island was mostly trees and the view to the sea was amazing. Lots of coats on the streets and the Poros town looked really nice from the top of the island.

Saija and me in front of the Monastery

From the back of the Poros

Around 8pm we went to Manos place to eat and after that to the bar Malibu where we got company from one guy working at the supermarket who had tried maybe 5 years to get me out on a date.. So that night was a bit akward when they were sitting with us, so pretty soon we decided to go to hotel to sleep. :)

Poros town taken from Neorio

The next morning we left from the hotel to the nearest scooter renting place where this Nightwish fan man worked at. Couple of years back he gave a burned nightwish cd to me and my sister because he was so excited about we being from Finland.. :D After watching and thinking about renting scooters we didn't have the courage to rent them. I'm absolutely terrified of driving on the hills/mountains of Greece! It's just too scary and to see all the memorials put up to the places people have died in or crashed off from the road! To see the places where people have died in. :( That said, we ended up renting the safer choise: bicycles. :D The weather was cloudy again so we started our way biking to this huge mountain and to look for a swimming pool located on the top of the mountain. I had swam there with my dad when I was younger and it was also a place were some partys were held. At some point of our way we stopped at this old looking restaurant which wasn't open anymore to buy something to drink. It ended up being this old granny's home where we visited. She didn't speak english at all and I tried my best to communicate with her in greek. :) It's crazy how she and her husband can live there by themselves being so old, almost on top of some mountain. What if something happens and they can't leave their home? That was crazy but the granny was so cute and really kind to us and we bought some sodas from her to drink! :)

20 year old man had driven of from the road on the mountain

On our way looking for the swimming pool we discovered many things about the nature and animals. For example that chickens and roosters have pecking order.. One poor chicken was without feathers! :D 

Finally we made our way to the top of the mountain and the swimming pool wasn't there anymore. :/ They had started to build something else there. Coming down the mountain was much faster than coming up.. :D Our brakes on the bikes were scaringly bad! After returning the bikes we figured that it was windy so we could go parasailing! The thing we had wanted to do already in Bulgaria! At first it was a bit scary but it was so awesome!! And the best part of it was that we could do it at the same time! 

Then we went to eat in a restaurant called Panorama where I also knew the staff working there. :) Then to the town to see the famous clock tower of which Poros is known for! :) We had to walk quite many steps to get there but it was worth it! :) We also looked for an internet before going to our hotel to take a nap. In the evening we took it easy, went to the town to eat and early back to the hotel. We were supposed to leave with Manos to the city called Nafplion very early the next morning.

Clock Tower