Aegina

Alright, so for the moment I am going to skip over my trip to Napflio, since it is significant less interesting then the trip I am currently on (at least in my eyes, humans are way more interesting than ridiculous numbers of piles of rocks)

So, I am in Aegina, which is the island in the Saronic Gulf only 16 miles from Athens. Its considered an Athenian weekend/summer hangout but since no one is here yet because the season hasn't started the place is practically deserted. So, Stavros and I decided to come here to check it out and find ourselves Greek spouses. Well, we didn't actually decide to go until the day before we were supposed to leave and we just booked everything over the internet without much thought. So, on Monday morning we make it to the ferry OK, and after some difficulty manage to get our tickets from the ticket office. We board the ferry and promptly pass out on the benches for the entire hour trip. We wake up about 10 minutes before we dock and get to see some of the beautiful views of the Island. Once we dock, we realize that we have no idea where our hotel is in relation to the ferry. So, after some initial wandering, we decide to go to the port authority and ask them how to get to our hotel. The exchange goes something like this:

Stavros: "Pou Einai Kavos Bay Hotel," (where is Kavos Bay Hotel?)
Port Authority Lady: "Gibberish, gobbilty goop, incomprehensible greek"
Kara: "Ok. Milate Anglika," (Ok. Do you speak English?)
Port Authority Lady: Points down the hall

So Stavros and I walk down the hall and finally find someone who speaks English. So we ask her, how do we get to Kavos Bay? And she tells us that we should get on the bus to Agia Marina which is on the other side of the Island (which is only 12 kilometers wide) and then when we get there we should ask the bakers wife to call Kavos Bay and they will come pick us up. So we exit the Port Authority and decide to just grab a taxi and ask him to take us there, figuring that they will know how to get there. We grab a taxi just outside of the port authority and tell him we are going to Kavos Bay and he says, ok I'll get you as close as I can. Thinking I misheard him, we say ok, hop in the cab and head across the island at a break-neck speed on these tiny mountain roads. I am absolutely sure that I have gotten Stavros and I into a really bad situation that may end in death, especially since our cab driver shows no interest in looking at the road.

Finally, he stops next to this white and blue house and tells us, "This is as far as I go. Road no good." So we hop out of the cab and decide to go into the house to ask where exactly from here our hotel is. Apparently, this house/restaurant is owned by "familia" of the owners of Kavos Bay, because that is the ONLY word we can make out that this guy is saying. So he tells us, in English finally, to hop in his car and he is going to drive us to to "familia." So, we hop in this run down old blue Mercedes with this man who couldn't be a day younger than 95 and he drives us up and down what could be barely be considered a road until we reach our hotel. We hop out of the cab and are greeted by Nikos, the owner/manager of the hotel, where he says "Oh! We have been expecting you, right this way!" And he leads us down a white and blue hall to our rooms, which, from the looks of it are going to be scary. But when he leads us to our rooms right next door to each other, we see that we each have an incredible balcony that over looks the Saronic gulf as well as the whole town and the cliffs that comprise the whole island. It is probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life and the HUGE knot of worries that had developed in my stomach during the trip over finally begins to melt away. And that is just my first hour and 1/2 on this island. I have SO much more to say, but my time at the internet cafe is coming to a close so more will come tomorrow when I return to Athens.