Life Is Music To My Eyes

Thessolaniki/Larissa

We had just arrived at the airport in Thessaloniki and it seemed like there was a joke on us. The two drivers who came from the base to pick us up were named “Theodore” and “Roosevelt.” No joke. One was from Larisa, Greece and the other was from Florida. That’s just hilarious. We drove about 2 hours inland to Larisa in the night. We got to stay at a pretty nice hotel in the heart of Larisa, a small Greek town with zero tourists.

We went out to dinner that night and no one really spoke English. We were definitely in a real life Greek town. The restaurant we went to didn’t have any English on the menus and the waiter struggled to explain to us what our options for food were. It was awesome. I ended up trying the Suvlaki, which is a traditional Greek dish consisting of meat on a “spit” (like a kabob, but don’t call it that, they get mad) with fresh vegetables and fries. It was really good. After dinner, they gave us these cups with spoonfuls of an almost taffy like substance that was supposed to be a good after-dinner candy, but I don’t think any of us finished it.

The next day, we walked outside of our hotel to see what we didn’t see so well at night: A Greek ampitheatre from 3 B.C. That’s 300 years before Christ. Which is like 2300 years before now. It was just chilling outside our hotel. Pretty crazy. We then went to the international school and did the show, then back to Thessaloniki to fly out to Amman, Jordan the next day. It’s our last time in Greece and our first time going to an Arabic country, should be interesting. 

Oh yeah, we passed Mount Olympus on the way to the airport. NBD.

Chania, GREECE (Day 2)

Wow. Greece. Actually no, Crete. No, Chania. No, Souda Bay, Crete, Greece. It was all amazing. (I hate using that word, but I really can’t think of another one). It was unreal. It was beautiful. From the moment I got off the plane it was everything I expected and even more. Not ONCE was there a day without sunshine. Not ONCE did this island disappoint me. It did the opposite: It surprised me moment after moment after moment. From the views of the island from the plane, to the incomparable and incomprehensive sunset on Lena Beach, to the breathtaking views on some random mountain top, it was all surreal. I honestly woke up everyday, looked out the hotel, and thanked God for not only giving me another day, but for the opportunity to come here for free, AND get paid for it.

So Day 2 started off early. Our local contact from the base wanted to take us on a hike in the mountains by a monastery. We left at about 8:30 am. Wait a minute…there’s more that needs to be told about Day 1.So after I wrote the Day 1 blog, we went out to the Souda Bay harbor (which I could see from the hotel, but it was really small). Even though it was night, you could see through the clear water into the bottom of the bay. The boats were on the dock rocking calmly and there were all kinds of people sitting in the outdoor eating areas in cushioned chairs, enjoying the view, the night, and their food and drink. We walked all the way out to a lighthouse which actually would never be allowed in America. The path was a part of this ancient wall. It was very uneven and there were even planks of wood over holes in it that were unstable. There was no railing on the side to protect you against falling into the water. There was even a point where there was no sidewalk, but just a bunch of rocks that you had to walk over to get to the next “sidewalk” From a top the ancient wall you could look out to the sea and the moon was almost full, right above the town. I think if it was daytime and I had binoculars, I could’ve seen the top floor of our hotel.  Once we got to the lighthouse we could turn back towards the other side of the bay and see all the bars, lights, boats, and people. It was a beautiful sight.

Afterwards I met up with some of the dancers from the tour and we hit up the bars in the bay. We had a couple drinks in one of the outdoor restaurants right on the bay and then headed down an alley to some hole-in-the-wall bar where some of the girls made friends with the bartenders before. It turned out that this was the local spot for some of the navy guys stationed in Souda Bay. They were playing American Top 40 from last month and serving 2 for 5 mugs of Heineken. Good deal. So we hung out, drank, and tore up the dance floor. Did the cupid shuffle in Greece, alright. Then we headed on back to the hotel at about 3 am. That takes me to where I meant to start this blog: Day 2. At 8 am. I woke up at 7:30. Water. Coffee. A little Greek bread and I was good to go.

We drove up the sketchiest road ever. Narrow, tons of blind turns, no guide rail to protect you from falling off the mountain, but we made it. Up top there was this monastery that looked over the Aegean Sea. There were these old old steps that led down to the sea. We were told not to walk all the way down because it takes about 2 hours to get back up. So we headed about halfway down and found ruins of a monastery connected to a cave, which went deep into the mountain. It had a nice view of the Aegean Sea and then we walked back up. There was also a hunter, with a big shotgun and a chain of bullets around his waist, that was just sitting around one of the turns as we walked back to the top. A little startling.

We then headed down (in the car) this mountain, again scared for my life a little, but not because the driver was a local and he knew what he was doing. On the way to out next destination we stopped to get water at a local market. We noticed that the car parked outside of it was a Google Maps Street View car. The driver of the car told us to just stand on the street side of the van and stay still and we would be on Google Maps Street View….in Crete. I have no idea where we were so finding it will be hard.

We then headed up another mountain to an ancient castle. This had the best panoramic view of the island. We could see farmlands that lead into the sparkling blue sea and some boats out there. It was breathtaking. This is where I decided to start doing my Criss Angel/Magneto poses for pictures. We then headed down to Souda Bay (which we had been to last night) but during the day, so it was a whole new light. First we went through the local market which was in a GIANT warehouse. They were selling fish, knives, bread, cheese, fresh olives, silver, gold, shoes, wallets, purses, beer, draperies, cloth…just about anything you could sell and barter for. We then walked down “leather alley” which is an outdoor market with tons and tons of leather. Literally. I’ve never smelled so much leather in my life. Purses, bags, shoes, wallets..it was all made of leather. And it went on for about 5 blocks. Then we wandered down some alleyway that lead to a giant ancient circular structure that you could walk atop and have 360 view of Chania. Took more pictures, did more CrissAngel/Magneto poses..and then we went out to Souda Bay and walked around. It was more crowded and with more tourists. I also took wayyyy too many pictures of this lighthouse from about every angle I could think of. Afterwards we got some gelato and headed back to the hotel.

I’m really gonna miss Chania, Crete. It was probably the best experience of my life. I have no idea if I’m ever gonna come back here for the rest of my life, but I will try so hard to. It is so beautiful. It’s not at all expensive. The local people are so nice and the atmosphere is very calm and serene. Everyone is enjoying life here, it doesn’t matter if their government is broke or their economy is in shambles. Life here is beautiful and you don’t need to have that much to enjoy it. You just need the environment God made and the people you were given around you. That’s where I want to be someday. 

Chania, Greece (Day 1)

So for the first time this trip I’ve entered a region of the world I’ve never been before: Eastern Europe. New country, new time zone. I’m in GREECE. Today we flew from Catania, Sicily to another island, Crete (Chania, specifically). What’s been blowing my mind about this part of the trip is that I read about Greece, the Mediterranean and Crete since I was a kid and all throughout school. I used to watch cartoon shows about Greek mythology and minotaurs and Icaraus escaping from Crete…and here I am, now in 2011, on the island of Crete! It’s insane. Within a couple hours of being here, I think I fell in love. This island is small and you can see the sparkling blue water from everywhere.

After checking into the hotel we went next door to this little Greek fast food place and grabbed a GYRO and some Greek beer and then headed straight for the beach. The beach was right on the Mediterranean Sea and the water was so clear. We saw little fish swimming in between our legs. We stayed on the beach until the sunset and saw probably the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen in my life. There were so many different distinct colors in the sky. Some of the dancers I was on tour were doing dance moves against the backdrop of the sunset and I couldn’t help but take pictures. We did that for about 10 minutes.

Afterwards we headed up the street to a bar on the first floor of the hotel that had an amazing view of the beach we were just at. There was an older man there who probably owned the hotel who had the funniest facial expressions and said some things that were barely English, but made us laugh so much. We then took a cab back to the hotel (which is on a hill and has a breathtaking view of everything) and walked over to dinner at a restaurant which had another awesome view of the city at night and just chilled. Everyone here is so friendly and welcoming and I couldn’t ask for a better first experience in Greece. We’re gonna be here for a couple more days and I can’t wait to see what else we uncover.  

Sunset Sihlouettes

The dancers I’m on tour with were doing dance moves on the beach against this breathtaking Mediterranean sunset. I think I would’ve been dead if I wasn’t taking pictures.

Best Sunset

I’ve never seen so many different colors in a sunset before. This was taken on Lena Beach on Kalathas Bay in Crete.

Lena Beach on Kalathas Bay, Crete

Within a few hours of getting off the plane we took a ride 10 minutes from our hotel to this beautiful beach on the coast of Crete. Coming down the hill you could see how blue the water was and once you were in the water, it was so clear that you could see the little fish that would come by at times. It wasn’t crowded at all and we stayed until sunset. 

Catania, Sicily

(cuh-tanya) seemed like a very dirty town at first. I thought we were getting off the plane in the slums of Africa. Apparently, the people of Catania don’t care much about the outer appearances of things. They just throw their trash out wherever and don’t bother to powerwash their buildings. Part of this might be because they have a season where they have mud rain as a result of the dust from Africa blowing in with the winds and mixing with the rain. Catania is only about 100 miles from Libya, which is why the base we were staying at had become a main hub for NATO forces attacking Libya. We were also near the second most active volcano in the world.

Upon entering the heart of Catania, I realized that the time I had spent in Rome a couple years ago was not the real Italian experience. This town had barely any tourists and none of the restaurants had English menus. There is a TON of history in this town from the statues to the Ancient Roman Ruins and I really got a little bit of chills when I thought about it. It was funny to note, though, that none of the locals seemed to care, or that they’d merely grown used to it. They were blasting a techno remix of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” about 100 yards from the Ancient Roman Amiptheatre ruins and later that night we saw about 200 people partying the night away listening to “Gangster’s Paradise” next to some Roman Baths.

On our second day in Catania we were given a tour of the flight line on the Naval Air Base that NATO has some forces at. They’ve been using it as a the base for their planes attacking Libya for the past 8 months. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures. One funny story that I took away from it though is that when the forces from the United Arab Emirates first arrived, they brought their newest most expensive $100 million jet and crashed it on the runway. The rest of the time in Catania I’ve just been taking it all in and relaxing. I’m heading to Greece tomorrow for the first time in my life and I couldn’t be more excited. 

Adele Techno Remix blasting near Ancient Ruins

It just blows my mind that they’re blasting a remix of “Rolling In The Deep” about 50 yards from the ruins of an Ancient Roman Ampitheatre. It’s so surreal. It’s so awesome. I can’t even describe the experience anymore.