Bidding Farewell to Greece

It was only last night when I was browsing through the photos looking for things to post that it finally registered in my brain that my time in Greece is officially over with a resounding capital O. And F for finito. The past two months were over just like that. I'm glad to be back seeing family and eating good Chinese food again but I wouldn't mind staying for another month or so.

What I realised about travelling on this trip is that it's not so much about seeing the place itself, but rather capturing experiences and stories along the way. I used to think that study abroad brochures were often full of bullshit in how it is advertised as a great way to "discover yourself" however now I do think there is a grain of truth in that. If you are going to party and drink your way through your travels and not put in the effort to learn about the place, the language, the people and the culture, then it's unsurprising that you're not going to gain much or learn about thine true self either. So much of it is not as philosophical as it seems but rather simple acknowledgements that everybody is a fellow human beings with the same kind of desires and feelings. Lin is perhaps far more eloquent on the beauty of conversing with strangers on foreign travels, but I suspect the reason why conversations made on the road are so pleasant are that because they are simply so unassuming and at the same time, without the unsavoury polite veneer of small talk. Of course, the beauty of your surroundings and the escape from the mundane banality of normal life helps too. 

I know I have collected a lifetime's worth of stories on this trip alone and I fear this sojourn to Greece has just sparked the most intense wanderlust in me. I'm afraid I can no longer sit still and learn to settle.

It's nice to finally be able to properly collect my thoughts and write again; rest assured there will be more writing again in future posts and hopefully more on the topic of fashion/style. Lastly, I hope you enjoyed my last batch of photos from Hydra (Idra), Greece.

Athens from Above

Here's a mini update of photos from my hike up to Mt. Lycabettus, since I can't update this weekend as I will be away in Hydra! It's the highest point in Athens so you have excellent views of the city from all around. We indulged ourselves by having dinner there for the night (a light salad) before making our way down via the funicular.

The red shorts you see are from H&M; those and a pair in khaki are pretty much the only things I've bought so far in Greece apart from the alumni dinner dress. I'm not sure if the Greece is poorly stocked due to the crisis or that I am just super picky now that I've gone the purging of the wardrobe and used to not buy very much at all. If you're not a particular fan of neon or lace, you're pretty much screwed with high street options. Hopefully I can soon expand more later on post-capsule wardrobe living after Hydra.

Road Trip to the Peloponnese

Now that I am well into my second last week in Greece, I have become all the more aware of the passage of time. It pains me to have to seriously contemplate leaving this beautiful country, but I must accept the fact in order to fully appreciate and properly utilise what little precious time I have left. For me that includes hiking up Mt. Lycabettus, meeting up again with the always lovely Dora (hello dear, are you sick of me yet?) and of course, leaving Attica to go watch a modern rendition of Oedipus the King at the Ancient Theatre at Epidaurus this past weekend.

Since there was little chance of us making it back straight to Athens after Epidaurus, we decided to stay in Nafplio for the night at the recommendation of our Greek language teacher. Nafplio has to be the biggest surprise thus far in Greece; for us students, it had all the things we like about Chania, Crete, so much but more. Originally we made plans to also go visit Ancient Mycenae and even go bungee jumping at Corinth, but in the end we loved Nafplio so much that we decided to stay and bask in its beauty for a little while longer. The photos above were from our hike up and down all 999 steps of  Palamidi––we didn't know that you could actually take a bus up there!

On our way down we met Nana, a student from Athens but is currently studying Theatre in Nafplio (in the middle of the trio here), who was kind enough to give us an impromptu mini tour and walked us to get gelato at the famous Antica Gelateria di Roma. So tasty.

Of course when night fell, we made our way to Epidaurus. Despite not understanding a single word (OK more like five and we could tell who was who), I absolutely enjoyed it. The acoustics were truly amazing and surpassed all of our expectations. Hilariously half way through the performance, someone screamed and stood up, leading to more people around him/her to stand up until everybody in the theatre stood up and the lights were turned back on. At first my friends and I were truly confused and thought this was part of play until we realised that it was probably just because of the giant bug flying around the theatre (looked quite harmless though frankly). I finally got a chance to wear the dark purple jumpsuit I bought years ago.

The next day we took the Nafplio city tour and had one of the best lunches I've had EVER. We then proceeded to the two big museums in town drunk because of all the free wine that we got at lunch. Thankfully we sobered up by late afternoon as we made our way to the beach, where we stayed for the remainder of the day before we hopped onto the bus back to Athens at night.

If you find yourself in Greece, please pay a visit to Nafplio. I swear you won't regret it.