Greece fascinated me and still fascinates me... i felt it would be cool to say that i had been to Greece... well, i didnt know how cool it would be and what it would do to a hot-headed person like me... Since i had nothing to do between Christmas and New year and 2 days of leave from office meant 10 days of holidays in the Christmas season (i love the Bank holidays in Switzerland), i decided to hop over to Greece. Nothing wrong with that. The main reason was not the cool place idea, but it was more like, its a place mentioned by Apostle Paul in the Bible, lot of things in the new church happened here, so it was cool, it was exciting, it sounded marvelous. Except i chose the wrong time and wrong places.
Like a true Biblical follower, i concentrated on places mentioned in the Bible, Patmos island, Corinth, Athens, etc. I checked with my Greek colleagues - who were not Christians. Nice as they are, they couldnt understand my desire to go to Biblical places. Island? Patmos island? They said it is far, and suggested that i go to Mykonos, Hydra, Spetses, Syros etc etc... and Nafplion and what not. They did warn me that the timing of my travel is not ideal (they were kind enough not to mention that it was the worst time) Now, i had no idea that they mentioned all the touristy places... Based on consultations, ideas and suggestions, this is how my plan finally appeared:
26-Dec: Arrive in Athens Greece from Geneva, via Zurich
27-Dec: Travel to Corinth, spend night at Nafplion
28-Dec: From Nafplion, travel to Costa, take boat to Spetses island, and then reach Athens(Pireus port) via Hydra island by boat, stay at Athens.
29-Dec: From Athens, first go to Halandri to change my American express TCs then go to Rafina port (or back to Pireus port) and board ferry to Mykonos island, do a stop over at Syros island.
30-Dec: Return from Mykonos island via Tinos (and visit big church there) and back to Athens Pireus, look around Athens, stay the night.
31-Dec: Look around Athens, travel back to Geneva...
Looked like a cool plan, except that i grossly underestimated the distance, time taken to travel, winter schedules, and the cost associated with it. I am writing this on the 30-Dec, and this is how it worked out.
26-Dec: Arrived in Athens Greece from Geneva, via Zurich
27-Dec: Travelled to Corinth, spent night at Nafplion
28-Dec: Saw Nafplion; took bus from Nafplion to Epidavros, hitchhiked alongwith a French couple back to Nafplion, back to Athens by bus, stayed at Athens.
29-Dec: From Athens, went to Halandri to change my American express TCs (phew!) then went to Rafina port and boarded ferry to Mykonos island.
30-Dec: Returned from Mykonos island back to Athens Rafina port, stay the night.
31-Dec: Hoping to spend half a day looking around Athens, travel back to Geneva...
Believe me, what we plan and what happens is something totally different. I am a sticker to plan, though i stuck to the original schedule as i didnt want to mess up my hotel reservations, you could see how this has worked out. Thank God for small mercies... but if i had gone by the original schedule, i would have collapsed midway through and would have needed medical attention. I am glad it didnt have to be the way i planned. I am very glad indeed. I am kind of rocking and swaying as i write this. Not that i am high on anything. I happened to just write this after my rocky ferry ride and had coffee after 15 yrs, so i am kind of groggy... For each of the places, i hope to write separate posts on my experiences...
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