The journey to Greece was a long one, a long flight, long wait in between airports, and long delays. I can’t deny the excitement throughout the entire event, but I am glad not to have to board another airplane for a month. I arrived at the Comox airport just before 2:30pm on Wednesday. After several goodbyes to my mother and boyfriend, I finally checked myself in. I didn’t think it would be emotional, and was surprised when I almost cried watching my mother and boyfriend continuously smile and wave and mouth the words “I love you!” I left the airport and walked outside with the rest of my group towards a pretty tiny plane. It definitely was a little freaky and going up over the ocean gave me the creeps. The landing was gentle and we left London just over four hours later. Flying from Vancouver to London was a long and rather difficult journey. The plane was extremely uncomfortable, hot, and long. I barely slept as my legs didn’t quite fit and I was on the aisle with someone to my left, and the flight attendants cart consistently passing through to my right. Fortunately, we had our own mini TV screen and I was able to watch a couple of movies and even listen to some “meditainment” music. The turbulence at the end of the flight was disturbing and left me quite motion sick. Although I was not scared, I was very uncomfortable. At one point we seemed to drop a little bit and some girls in the back of the plane actually screamed! As we landed, the pilot came over the PA system and announced our plane had actually been struck by lightening. London would present itself in a very large, very confusing airport and an approximate eight hour layover. I ate at a funky little restaurant called the “Giraffe” and was able to nap for a few minutes on a couch. Our flight was delayed forty-five minutes, and upon boarding was delayed another thirty minutes. It then took us an additional twenty or so minutes to actually take off to the air. Athens was only a few hours from there and I was lucky to actually sleep for around an hour. We landed in Athens at 4:45am, and it was almost 6am by the time we reached the hotel in Vravrona.
Stepping off the bus in Vravrona, I no longer felt any exhaustion. I was far too excited and just wanted to look around. The smell in the air was indescribable. It was rich and flowery, but without the perfume smell. It was sweet and sensual and so very comforting. Our hotel, Mare Nostrum, was a huge complex of different style hotel rooms. The lobby sat at the top overlooking the Aegean Sea. The dining area was large and had a spectacular view. The spa was on a lower level and unfortunately I did not get to go in. Their mineral pool was just not in my budget and the massage I had been waiting for so eagerly would not fit into their appointment book. They did have an outdoor pool, which I sat around after having a large breakfast and sleeping for a couple hours. It was sunny but not hot as the wind had picked up, and after I had fully awoken I went for a walk through a neighbourhood with some fellow students. The view was spectacular, the buildings very unique. Something that struck me as unfortunate was the amount of garbage we encountered walking through the long grass on a hillside and into the street. We would stay the night at the Mare Nostrum and leave in the morning the following day.
So many of you might be wondering, how is gluten free in Greece? The Mare Nostrum was great, the breakfast was a huge buffet and I was able to choose from a large selection of fruits and veggies, raisins, scallop potatoes baked in massive amounts of olive oil, sauteed onions and mushrooms. The dinner was similar, a huge buffet and I was more then able to fill myself up. The rest of Greece however, may be a challenge.
The pool at Mare Nostrum:
The view from the pool up at the resort:
The view standing outside the lobby looking over the Aegean Sea:
A few of us went for a walk up the road near the resort and this was a pretty amazing looking house:
No comments:
Post a Comment