So! I left Thessaloniki about a week or so ago and trained off to Mount Olympus. Three Germans from my hostel and Mr. Hare also accompanied me. It wasn't the nicest of days but we managed to make it halfway up route E4 before deciding to turn around. I can see why the ancient Greeks claimed this place to be the house of the gods. The mountain range rises majestically out off the grassy plateau that eases into the sea. The mountains are mostly exposed stone and have that imposing solemn strength that mountains tend to have. We hiked along a glacier fed section of rapids through forest and rock to a stunning lookout. There we scampered slightly off trail to take our pictures from on top of the world. This is where the weather decided to get a bit feistier. Perhaps Zeus was displeased with our presence? Haha. We turned back and I'm glad we did. When we arrived back in town we looked back to see dark raining clouds descend on where we had just been.
In the small town of Litochoro, I bid my friends goodbye and set off for Athens. Thanks to a stellar ticket lady I even managed to switch my ticket to an earlier one and made it to Athens by 10:30pm. My hostel wasn't far from the train station and I only counted 8 policemen during my 10 minute walk there.
My first day in Athens was spent wandering with a couple people from my hostel. We went on a self guided walking tour using the one guys guide book. It was a great time to get myself settled and aquainted with the city. I quickly moved on to other lodging however. My friend from the hostel in Istanbul had a spare room for me. It felt like home and I am very grateful to him and his roommates for allowing me to stay with them.
The next few days are a blur. I usually left the house around 11am and returned around 8pm. I saw every single ruin in Athens. Or maybe it just felt that way. Naturally the Acropolis was the most impressive. The view from up there is stunning and the Parthenon is imposing. It was also under repair which was cool and distracting at the same time.
After about 5 days in Athens I decided to take off to Crete to relax on a beach and try out couch surfing. ("Oh goody", I can hear you say, "here comes the drama!" Here it comes indeed)
First, I think I picked the wrong island. After 9 hours on the ferry I arrived to predominantly rock beaches and overcast weather. "No matter" I told myself, "it's a huge island and I am headed an hour away from here to a tiny resort town. Surely it will be better." False.
I arrived to an unsurprising lack of a couch surfing host. I had forgotten to message him to say I arrived while I was still at the port. Again I said "No matter. It's a resort town. They will have wifi". False. It was a Sunday morning during the winter season. After 30 minutes of searching I found wifi and connected with my host. He arrived 30 minutes after that.
Now my friends, I have always said trust your spidey senses. I have not found a better method for keeping myself out of trouble to date. When my host arrived, I will admit my senses tingled but I thought it was just the natural awareness that comes from being in a strange place with a stranger. He was very nice and welcomed me warmly. Besides, he had a flawless set of recommendations on couch surfing. I felt I had done my research. We grabbed fresh orange juice at a barely open cafe and headed off to see where I would be crashing.
His place is a ramshackle hotel that has an adorable charm. I had an entire suite, complete with jacuzzi, to myself. Stellar. I definitely thought I hit the jack pot. He made me brunch. Delicious. We went to see the local historical cave where during the war with the Turks the villagers seeking refuge there were betrayed for money and burned alive. Dark. Definitely. Historical. No doubt. Beautiful mountain. Absolutely. Good host. I'd say yes. At this point.
When we returned to his place it got strange ish. He quickly poured us drinks despite my insistence that I don't drink and despite the fact that it was 11am. We played cards and when he noticed I wasn't drinking Raki, he brought me two 2 litre bottles of homemade wine. I was uncomfortable but able to ignore my drinks under the pretense of playing cards. I eventually begged out claiming to be tired from my ferry ride and grabbed a long nap. When I came back down it was time for supper. Naturally paid for by him, at a restaurant, with multiple shots, and multiple glasses of wine. I got really good at saying "no I don't drink" and he got really persistent with "you're on vacation you must!"
The ride home was when I started seriously figuring out my exit strategy. He plied me with compliments, promises of more drinks and insisted in a half joking manner that we have a full moon party. Just the two of us.
No thank you.
Wits and politeness about me I fended of all comments as jokes and only really got snippy 2 or 3 times. By 11pm I had had enough. I claimed to be tired and barricaded, literally, myself in my room. The night passed uneventfully. I slept fitfully. Exit strategy always in my mind. Never have I been so thankful for the little amount of self defense I know.
Now I know what you are thinking "Julia, why didn't you just leave and stay somewhere else?" Believe me I wanted to. But the thing about tiny resort towns in Greece in the winter is that no one lives there. And nothing is open.
In the morning I was off. I 100% needed to see a museum in Heraklion (the port city an hour away) and I 100% needed to be back in Athens to visit a friend. I don't like to lie to people but in this situation I sure did. No regrets.
By noon I was on the bus putting kilometre after beautiful kilometre between us. I arrived safely in Heraklion. Bought a ticket and hunkered down to wait til the 9pm departure.
Now I should give my host a bit of a defense here. By no means is what he did or how he made me feel excusable. But I do believe that cultural differences and a slight language barrier didn't help the situation. In the morning before I left, he apologized if he made me uncomfortable. He stated he was making jokes and he realized I might not have understood. He offered to host me again any time, he said he would pay for me to visit from Athens in the next few days or even buy me a ticket to Santorini. I think his heart was mostly pure. But I still believe he would have preferred a drunker and wilder encounter with me than he got.
I am incredibly thankful that I came out of that situation so cleanly. Thanks to 25 years of non drinking to keep me sober and alert. Thanks to Brenna for going all Momma Bear and ensuring she knew where I was. Thanks to jail for teaching me "pie plates to the beach", it amused me to think that phrase and settled me to remember that I am strong. Thanks to a year in New Zealand full of meeting wonderful people randomly to remind me that people are mostly good. And thanks to God for keeping a careful eye on me the whole time.
Now I'm back in Athens. I'll be staying with my incredible host and his roomies again. Tomorrow I'm moving on. I've decided that winter is no time to see the Greek islands and my time is better spent adventuring through the western mainland. I'll likely even make it to Italy early now. That's sweet by me.
Now you are up to date. I can't say it enough -- I love you guys. I missed you all dearly in the last day. I'm very excited to continue traveling but I'm also just a touch more grateful for the pure awesome I will return home to in June.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
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