Thursday, September 14, 2023

We have until noon for our pickup so we had breakfast again in Chocolateria San Ginés (a 3-minute walk from our hostal) but this time we tried their Porras (similar to churros but larger) with lattes. We didn’t care for them so we switched back to their churros.

Back at the hostal we packed our bags and checked out.

We were at our prearranged pickup location at noon and our driver Luis was there waiting for us. It was more of a minivan than a taxi so the ride to the airport was extra comfortable. There was a short line for check-in and again our bags were easily under the 23kg limit. We went through a long TSA line and the screens told us our gate would be in the B area and the exact gate would be known by 12:30 for our 3:15 flight, Air Europa UX199. We shared a tuna sandwich with lattes in a cafe called Cafestic.

It's a long flight back to Medellin, probably seems longer because our vacation is over. What was kind of neat is I could track the progress of our flight on a screen on the seatback ahead of me. I could also scroll and zoom in on any part of the world.

This woman an aisle ahead of me didn’t put on her seatbelt for takeoff or during the flight but did for the landing.

There were 2 long lines at immigration, one for Colombians and the other for foreigners. Their line was longer but they had 3 officials servicing them to only one for us. Teresa and I both passed through at about the same time.

Picking up our bags went pretty quickly.

Bryan had told me he wouldn’t be available to pick us up so we took an airport taxi back to our apt and I was a little surprised he charged 138mil. Has inflation increased that much or did he just take advantage of us?

I went next door to Ara and waited in a long line to buy 2 bags of milk.

We unpacked some necessary items and were in bed by 9:30.

 

Hilarious Memes

 

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Last night I fell asleep quickly, slept well and didn’t wake up until just before 7am.

I left the apt at 7:45 (Teresa wanted to sleep in) and had churros and a latte inside Dixie (it was a very cool morning) while waiting on Teresa to return.

She met me at 8:15 and had breakfast there while I had another latte and a croissant.

I finally started learning about the hurricane we experienced when we were in Lavrio:

Via google I found some more information about it:

She did some more shopping. This is a hat store in Plaza Mayor.

They also sell pens.

When I first arrived in Medellin I had learned Pen is boligrafo but I soon learned Colombians call it lapicero.

I stopped at the same cellphone store where I bought a 3-prong adaptor for my laptop and a regular adaptor for €5 and €3, respectively.

We went to the same Chinese restaurant for lunch at 2:30 but they were closed. Online it said they open at 12:30, go figure.

We ended up at a restaurant called Taste Gallery where Teresa placed her order and I ordered bread with tomatoes (sauce?) and a vegetable and chicken Wok. We also shared a bottle of water. They brought a box with 2 large pieces of bread and I thought they just forgot the tomatoes. They brought Teresa a plate of what looked like baby beef (Argentinian) with a side of fried potato cubes. She sent the beef back because it was too tough to chew. My Wok was very light on the chicken. A chicken may have run through that garden but certainly didn’t leave much
DNA behind. 😊 I cancelled the bread when it became apparent that was a separate order.

The total came to €56.60, kind of a rip off.

We walked toward the south of Plaza Mayor, a side we hadn’t explored before. We stopped at a café where we had lattes and enjoyed sitting outside in the fresh air.

We stopped at a pharmacy where Teresa bought some skin cream (after talking a long time with a customer and the pharmacist) for my leg wound which appeared to be leaking plasma. I showed her latter my wounds and she recommended a topical antibiotic cream for €39.9.

Teresa did some more shopping and bought a pair of shoes at Lobos Dos for €39.

 

Hilarious Memes

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

I had a 6am pickup scheduled to take us to the airport. It was only 30 minutes before that Laura informs me that she isn’t going with us, she’ll be getting her own ride – her flight is about an hour after ours.

We were only about 20 minutes from the airport and we arrived in plenty of time.

Today is Jacob & Jeannie’s turn to enjoy Santorini.

The flight to Madrid was uneventful.

When we arrived at the airport, we took an airport taxi to Plaza Mayor for the fixed rate of €30. We drug our suitcases the final block to Hostal Inter Plaza Mayor.

We dropped off our stuff and started walking around the area a bit.

In a dress shop Teresa was visiting I bought a belt for €39.

On store was advertising their dresses in 100% cotton with this display underneath them. So that’s what cotton looks like before it’s picked.

We found this neat little Chinese restaurant on the main drag.

My chicken fried rice - delish:

After we left I noticed an ad for Flamenco dancing. We went inside and bought 2 tickets for that night’s 7:30 performance.

 

We went to bed at 10pm.

 

Hilarious Memes

Monday, September 11, 2023

I found out the Chicago Bears lost to the Green Bay Packers yesterday 38-20. ☹

I won a game against Mr_Blamo increasing my rating to 1552.

We met in the 4^th deck Muses theater where groups took turns disembarking.

After we collected our bags at the dock we had to drag them 100’ or so to a taxi stand where we had the taxi take us to our next stay, HELEN, near the airport.

This place was by far the largest, most comfortable place we stayed on our entire trip but it wasn’t close to much. Thanks to Google Maps we found this great seafood restaurant nearby named Arhontiko on the Aegean Sea. We just had to call an Uber to take us there and back.

For dessert I ordered the loukomades with a coffee. Former were great the latter not so much.

We got to bed early because we had an early trip to the airport tomorrow.

 

Hilarious Memes

 

Sunday, September 10, 2023

Our first excursion of the day was to Heraklion, Crete.

The ancient city of Knossos, with constant habitation from the Neolithic era until the 5^th century A.D. is beyond doubt the land that “gave birth” to the first civilization of Europe, the Minoans. The first excavations were begun in 1878 by the Heraklian Minos Kalokairinos. A bit later (1900-1913 & 1922-1930) the excavations by the British Sir Arthur Evans were to complete the scientific research, bringing to light the Minoan palace in its entirety, which was, according to tradition, the residence of the wise King Minos. The palace of Knossos spreads around the large Central Court. You will reach the awe-inspiring Throne Room, the fresco of the “Prince of the Lillies”, the imposing Grand Staircase, the Queen’s Megaron in the east. Walking through the apartments of the Knossos palace and observing the finds even as passers-by, you will feel part of this cultural heritage. We will stop in Heraklion city center on the way back to the ship. Heraklion was founded in 824 and is an important homeland of many contributors to Litreature and Art, some examples of which are the Nobel winning poet Odysseas Elytis, the Renaissance painter Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco) and the writer Nikos Kazantzakis. Heraklion is also endowed with some wonderful edifices: the “Koules” fortress, the award-winning Venetian structure of the Loggia, the Morosini Fountain, the Basilica of Saint Mark, and the church of Agios Tilos. Starting the walk from Liberty square of Heraklion guests will pass by the shopping streets of Dedalou and 25^th of August and see the sights along the way.

After a tour of the archaeological area most of our time was waiting for our turn to see the inside of the palace.

We were dropped off in town and we had lattes in Cafe Bougatsa:

For our last excursion in Santorini we selected Spectacular Oia Village perched on the Caldera Rim.

First, we head to a traditional picturesque village where you will have the chance to enjoy the typical architecture of the island. Then the drive continues to the east, in the background, you have settlements like Kamari and Monolithos, while you will pass through Fira, the small traditional villages of Firostefani and Imerovigli with delicate architecture and beauties, to eventually arrive at the settlement of Oia. During the entire route, to the west you will have before your eyes the lace-like caldera, the little islands of Thirasia, Palea and Nea Kameni and an unsurpassable panoramic view. In Oia you will have time to stroll through the marble-paved alleys, to gaze at the adorably cute shops, to take pictures, to become acquainted with the characteristic buildings, carved into the rocks and the unusual captains’ manors, the settlement Ammoudi at the foot of the caldera… After your curiosity has been sated of the area which is characterized as being of “exceptional natural beauty”, your return begins.

This was easily the most beautiful area we visited on our trip.

Even the ride there was beautiful.

Jacob & Jeannie are due to arrive here tomorrow to continue their honeymoon after visiting the Greek island of Paros.

We had a notice under our cabin door asking us to leave our packed bags outside our door at 11pm. That was an inconvenience but prompted us to get organized for our departure.

 

Hilarious Memes