Just follow that road...

After leaving Newark on Sunday night around midnight, we arrived in Athens around 4:30 on Monday afternoon.  We were quickly whisked away by George, the taxi driver (who is now OUR taxi driver for our time in Athens), to the Arethusa Hotel in the city. 

In talking with George, we learned that he is from the island of Lesvos, where we would be spending a bit over a week.  He, of course, gave us tips of things to do and see during our time in Athens, as well as in Lesvos.

After checking in to the hotel, we really just wanted to do a bit of walking (since we were just on a 9 hour plane ride) and get some dinner.  The Acropolis was nearby, so we asked if we could even walk to it.  “Oh, yes, just follow this road down the hill until you see the cathedral…turn left at the cathedral and then just follow that road.”  Well, let me just tell you, in Greece, there is no such thing as “just follow that road.”  All of the roads “spoke out” like a bicycle wheel.  You couldn’t follow anything in a straight path.  We kept walking towards the Acropolis (we could see it lit up in the distance in the night sky).  We just couldn’t quite ever get close enough.  After walking uphill for quite awhile, we decided we saw enough of it for that night and found a taxi to take us to dinner.

 

 

George, our first taxi driver, had recommended a place to eat.  Our new taxi driver, only seemed to have one thing on his mind.  He was set on taking us to the beach for dinner.  We kept explaining to him what we really wanted (the original restaurant) and when he FINALLY listened to us, we get to the restaurant and it’s closed.  So, he starts up again on getting us to the beach.  Really?  It’s almost 8 pm, it’s dark, we are tired and need to get to bed “early” to get up for our early flight.  We were really getting frustrated with him.  After much “battling,” he finally took us to another local restaurant which we ended up enjoying very much.  We walked back to the hotel after that.

  

 

  

You know you’re a runner if everywhere you go, you can imagine yourself running there.  As we were walking around the cobblestone roads surrounding the Acropolis, I kept thinking “how cool it would be to go for a run there.”  In Runner’s World magazine, this would be considered a “rave run.”  Not sure if I’ll have time to get it in when we’re back in Athens later or not.  We’ll see…

It’s 10 pm by the time my head hits the pillow that night and, surprisingly, I am asleep immediately…only to pop wide awake at 2 am.  So, I’m thinking, that’s a good solid 4 hours, right?  It was very windy outside and then I kept hearing what sounded like someone powerwashing.  I think they were powerwashing the streets at 2 am!  As I lay there trying to fall back to sleep, I remembered I had packed my foam roller (of course, another…you know you’re a runner if…).  So, I took some time with that and after being awake a little over an hour, ended up falling back asleep, only to be awoken by the alarm another hour later.

George had offered to come back to pick us up for our airport run Tuesday morning.  He was right on time, 5:30 a.m. and we were off, back to the airport for our flight to Lesvos.

We were able to grab a quick breakfast at the airport, which involved me scalding the tip of my tongue and roof of my mouth with hot water.  I had asked someone at the coffee shop if they would fill my water bottle.  When they gave it back to me, it felt lukewarm (on the outside of the bottle).  I opened it and took a swig…never expecting it to be scalding, hot water!  Seriously…who puts hot water into a water bottle??  I think my tongue will be scarred for days.

Leaving Athens

Arriving Lesvos

  

Our home for the week in Lesvos

When we landed in Lesvos, we were picked up at the airport by Kim, one of the leaders with the organization serving here.  He took us to our hotel to get settled and then we met up with 3 others who are starting their time of service here.  Kim did an excellent job in doing an orientation with all of us on things to expect and best ways to handle different situations. 

Just when it broke into a downpour, we were off to the refugee camp.  We ate lunch together at a food truck outside of the camp where many of the refugees often eat.  Then we entered the camp for our first 4-hours shift…or so we thought.  As we were going through the process of checking in at the gate, we learned that me and two others were not on the official list, so we couldn’t go inside.  So, me, Winnie and our new friend C (won’t give her name for security reasons) did a driving tour of the island in the 4 hours we had before dinner.

We visited an olive wood shop in the town of Pamfila.  The shop owner knows of the Kim and his wife and the organization they are with here.  We were treated with some serious hospitality during our short visit there.  She loved sharing with us of the many friends she has made and the gifts they have all exchanged.  She would not let us leave her shop without a bag full of sweets, an orange juice and soaps for all of us.  AND, she gave us a book of the city and a map and told us of some places we should visit.  So, off we went on our unexpected little adventure…

We saw such beautiful sites.  We drove up the coast to the town of Mandamados and visited a monastery there.  She said we must have a snack in the coffee shop there.  We were not disappointed.  Whatever the pastry-like donut treat we had we delish!  We took the scenic route through the country on the way back, seeing many sheep and goats along the countryside.  At one point, we reached an area of the gulf (of the Aegean Sea) where there was a flock of flamingos hanging out near a huge salt pile.  We didn’t get to take a picture, but it was cool to see.

We made our way back to the town where we are staying, Panagiouda, just outside of Mytilene, JUST in time to meet Kim and his wife for dinner.  We had more delicious Greek food and great conversations.  We are confirmed on the list to be in the camp, so we start out tomorrow morning.

Enjoy the photos from our road trip.  

a church along the way...

the Monastery