Weekend with the Family in Glyfada

Above is the spot where I got off the tram and had to switch because I was on the wrong one!


So I was told that there was only one tram and it went along the coast... one of the stops being Glyfada beach where I wanted to go. So I got on the tram and to my surprise I found out when my tram turned the wrong direction down the coast that there were multiple trams... 3 to be exact... so I got off at the next stop and looked around for what to do next... turns out luckily that the tram I needed went through this stop as well so I waited another 15min and the tram came and I got off at my stop... "Glyfada Beach" this is not the exact location the cafe my family owns is... their cafe is in Glyfada the area not the beach but they are close by each other so I thought I could easily walk... oh was I wrong... I walked for about 20min before I gave up not knowing where I was or how much farther I was going to have to walk. This is when I decided to hail a cab... turns out luckily the cab driver knew where I needed to go and it was only like 3 euro total trip with cab and tram to get there which was awesome! once I got there it was a bit busier than the last time I visited them so they made me frappe (cold greek coffee) and I sat for a while. Finally my aunt and uncle arrived and when my aunt came in she hugged me for about 2 minutes straight saying over and over again... "you are so beautiful! oh my goodness!" she is so cute! She talked to me for a few minutes but then off to the kitchen she ran... she asked me if I was hungry and I told her no I was fine but then she continued to ask me what I wanted to eat and what I liked to eat... I told her some of the foods I liked here in greece and she asked me what meats i liked I told her only chicken, turkey and fish... when she heard fish she got to work! She made me the biggest fish I have ever eaten in my life!! It was about as big as my laptop! ridiculous! and of course she made it just for me! she made porkchops for everyone else along with greek salad, a cheesy lasagna thing, bread, feta cheese and some other things. It was a crazy amount of food I couldn't even process it! The fish to my surprise came out completely whole... I wasn't quite sure how to eat it so I just began picking off the meat with my fork and eating it. When my aunt came over she went on to grab my fish and rip the head off and pull out all the bones... everyone else at the table laughed! so rough! but the fish was delicious and so was the rest! but my aunt kept yelling at me to eat and told me I had to eat the entire fish! SO HARD! i was so full!!! they kept pouring me wine as well and I guess in Greece if you get the last bit in the bottle you will have a long and happy marriage with a great guy and so of course they poured me the last bit and clapped for me haha. but during this meal they have a phrase meaning something like "shameful eater" and they referred to me as that because apparently I don't know how to eat a lot. Haha! Embarrassing! After we ate a ton of food they proceeded to bring out dessert which was this jello like thing that was made from the grape juice after the grapes have been stepped on and let sit for 15 days before it turns into wine they combine that with flour and then they put it in the fridge and sprinkle nuts on top! its delicious! but I was sooooo full it was outrageous!! After eating and drinking a ton we cleaned up and they took me back to their absolutely gorgeous home!!! where I had my own room and my own tv! even a back door that led out to a beautiful deck and garden!



Once we arrived they told me they were going to take showers and have a nap so I should either nap or watch tv... I wasn't super tired so I watched tv in my room and rested for a while. After about 2 hours of that they came in and told me to come out and proceeded to ask me if I was hungry... I was not because of all the food from earlier but they still gave me apple pie which was good but at the same time I was still so full I could barely swallow it without drinking water to keep it down. It was rough!! My cousin's gf then asked me if I wanted to go for coffee and of course it wasn't much of a question as a demand haha so I got ready and off we went. We walked all around downtown Glyfada which is super nice. Way clean and there's tons of young people but you could tell it was fairly expensive to shop and eat most places but then they took me for ice cream which was absolutely delicious. I had Lacta Chocolate ice cream which I don't even really like chocolate ice cream but Lacta is a greek chocolate so I figured I would try it and it was SOOOOO good. After that we went on a walk down to the beach and it was so nice out! it was a warm night and we talked about lots of things..... like they are planning on getting married next year and I'm thinking about possibly trying to come back out for that... They told me about the school systems, some politics, all kinds of things it was really interesting to hear about all of it. We also walked through what they call an amusement park... it was actually like one of those small carnivals that comes to town and then leaves after a weekend... but this one stays year round. I kinda laughed but they also did one of those games where you put the coin in and then move the little hook around and press the button and it drops and possibly picks up a stuffed animal or whatever is in there. They won me a little fishy! :) After that they drove me along the coast and even though it was at night it was still beautiful. After our drive we finally we home and I was completely exhausted. They asked me YET AGAIN if I was hungry and I said no and luckily they just let me sleep haha I was so tired I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The next morning I got up around 9:30 or so and they asked me what I wanted for breakfast... no joke all they do is ask what I want to eat haha... luckily this time it was just a simple bowl of cereal... greeks aren't big on breakfast... good for me because I was still full from the night before! After that I just showered and got ready and then my cousin came in and told me to come upstairs because another cousin was there. Marilena was there and so was like 2 contractor guys, my uncle, Chris, his gf Eleni, Bobby, Marilena and myself. And all they did for about an hour was argue in greek about what is going to be done upstairs in the remodel. I was just standing there kinda awkward but it was interesting to listen to them... it was definitely like big fat greek wedding style arguing. lol. Anyway after that they asked me if I wanted to go to lunch and coffee... at this point I found out that my aunt was very sick. She gets really bad migraines... so bad that she throws up from the pain. So she was sleeping all day, I did get a chance to say goodbye to her before I left for lunch though. After that Chris and Eleni took me to Christianna (my other cousin) and her husband Nikos house and they have a son named Goerge who's 5 years old and he is sooooo cute! And their house was absolutely gorgeous as well. I would love to live there! They have a super cute golden retriever out front as well and he was so nice! :) After we stopped there for a bit they came with us and we went to lunch at this seafood place about 20 feet from the beach! it was amazing! loved it! We ate so much food there as well. That's when I had octopus and squid, which like I said didn't have a lot of flavor just really chewy. They also ordered fish which again came out whole but this time they were smaller but they made me eat... not 1... not 2... but 3 of them! AHHH! so much food! there was also more greek salad, bread, french fries and my favorite zucchini sliced like fries and they are all fried up and are so delicious especially with tzatziki sauce which is super good too! They also ordered me my own jug of wine which they kept filling up my cup over and over again so funny! my cousin said... you don't drink very much! drink more!!! haha hilarious! After this they then took me out for MORE ice cream I was so full I couldn't eat much but it was delicious! After that they drove me home and that was it! It was a great weekend! I had so much fun and I can't wait to see them again! :)

Chania and our Boat Ride!

We stayed in Chania the last night of our trip. This city is absolutely amazing! It is my favorite place in Greece so far! Its this little city right off the harbor. So many boats, an amazing lighthouse, tons of shops and restaurants and the weather was absolutely gorgeous!


The small shops and restaurants along the harbor are so cute! Its crazy what salesmen the Greeks are! As you walk along the restaurants the workers will come up to you with their menu and try and convince you to come into their restaurant! Its hard to say no all the time! One guy even said to us... "You look thirsty... come in and drink something" They try so hard to get you to come in and its just one after another after another its crazy! And when you go into the shops the people will try and convince you what nice stuff they have. Apparently the Greeks need some convincing to do things! I'm going to be VERY good at saying no by the time I get back to the states!


Along the harbor there are a few companies that will take you out on boat rides most of which include free Raki (a traditional Crete alcohol) and also fresh fruit. Also some boat rides include free snorkeling. As a group we decided to go on a 3 hour one that included all of these things. There were about 18 of us that went on the boat and we had a great time! When we first got on the captain came to the front and told us we better take off our clothes and just hang out in our swimsuits because we were going to get a little wet... but what we didn't realize is how wet. We got moving and the waves just crashed up into the boat we were soaked! But we all laughed and had a good time even though we were pretty cold and salty. We got all the way out to this small island which is actually a goat sanctuary which you are not allowed to go onto but we did get to see a goat and then they stopped the boat and let us snorkel around. It was really fun! My goggles kept leaking so that was no fun but I didn't care I was having a blast swimming around in the ocean! The water was the bluest I've ever seen in my life! After snorkeling we took tons of pictures and got to drink Raki! We had a great time laughing and talking the whole ride back! I would definitely go back and do it again if I could! It was the highlight of my trip to Crete!
I also convinced Justin after a few more shots of Raki to do the titanic pose with me again because we were on yet another boat! and he did it! Epic photo! :)

Sites of Crete!

We went to a lot of sites in Crete I don't remember the names of them but they were cool to go see... maybe a bit too much walking in the blistering heat but we still took lots of pictures and had fun along the way. All of the long bus rides in between were nice nap times which all of us took advantage of.


My favorite of them all was the Fortress we got to go into. I referred to it as a big kids playground. The views were AMAZING! and there were fun things to climb on and a cave we went in. The wind was blowing like crazy so it was hard to get good pictures of myself because my hair was out of control but I got some great pictures of all the views.

Overnight Ferry To/From Crete!

To get to and from Crete we had to take a ferry and because it takes so long to get there we did overnight ferries with cabins. 4 people in each cabin 2 bunk beds and a bathroom. They were extremely small rooms but good enough for the short period of time we had to be on there. Plus there were many other things to see and do on the ferry. There were multiple restaurant areas, shops, bars, and of course a disco! We had a great time both ways although it was a bit hard to sleep on a boat because of the rocking motion.



This took some convincing but I got Justin to do the Titantic pose with me! :)



Loving the wind blowing my hair on the ferry! hahaha!


One of the many restaurant areas in the ferry!


The Disco that was extremely fun! not very many people came but I definitely had a great time! Possibly a little too much fun! Everyone found out that I can dance!

Greek Clubs and Girls Night!

So on Sunday Jessie and I decided to go have lunch at our favorite cafe in Athens... as we like to refer to it as Minos' and Kostas' bar! We had met Thanasis about a week earlier when we were eating at the cafe so we were starting to get to know him and we asked him what he was doing later that night and we ended up making plans to go to a club later. Him and his friend Kostas picked us up later that night and took us to this really fun club/bar. They played some great music including Ricky Martin, Macarena, Michael Jackson and definitely some Greek hits which I have now downloaded onto my iTunes. It was extremely loud and everyone was smoking but it was still a great time after we were a little tired of that place we went next door to this great salsa club! It was amazing they did some Salsa line dancing which was extremely fun and some guy who looked like a latin Fabio tried to teach me out to legit salsa. The night was all around great and the boys said they would take us back again. Thanasis is the one in the yellow shirt and Kostas is the one in gray.



The next night a bunch of us girls decided to go out to our favorite cafe again Minos' and Kostas' for some food and a few drinks. We got all dressed up in Whitney's many dresses and took a bunch of pictures and had a great time hanging out with our new greek friends at the cafe. The fried eggplant is my favorite but they have some other great dishes as well! This has definitely become the place I go to multiple times a week and I'm sure I will not get sick of it before the trip is over.


Whitney and I just happen to have the same sandals and wore them on the same night! :)