Day 30 : All in a Day’s Walk!

My legs are exhausted as I spent more than 8 hours walking the streets of Madrid.  I must have gotten lost countless of times as some of the streets happened to be unmarked on the map. 

However it was always a pleasant experience each time it happens as there was always something interesting, which I would never have discovered if I had not gone that way.  Everywhere I turned, I just see beautiful buildings, statues, monuments etc, that I can’t resist taking a picture of. 

The last count was I had taken over 130 photos just in one day!  Am I glad that I am not using film!

Day 29 : Adio Greece, Hola Spain!

With 4 hours of sleep and last memories of Athens taking my 1st midnight swim at a beach, I had to say Adio (“Goodbye” in Greek) to Greece for now (I’ll be back!), as I made my way to the airport to catch my flight to Madrid, Spain.  (Bus X96 allowed me to board at Protosi Kalamaki ).

4 hours of flight and a couple of hours commuting from the airport, I finally got into Madrid city and was welcomed with narrow streets lined with low rise houses with beautifully architectured facade, each with a different character and style. 

Perhaps it was the area where I was staying in, but there were lots of wholesalers managed by Asians lining the small streets, and I noticed many Chinese or Vietnamese working as coolies / delivery staff, pushing trolleys of goods around the streets of Madrid. 

I decided that the best way to familiarise my way around, was to get lost in the numerous tiny streets that intertwine the heart of the city.  I think I did pretty well though as managed to visit Plaza Mayor, Mercado de San Miguel, Plaza de La Villa, Iglesia Catedral and Real de La Almudena, in the balance few hours of the afternoon

 

 

 

 

Experienced my first Spanish “Lost in Translation” moment when I tried purchasing a local prepaid sim card, since the staff could speak only Spanish. So with a phrase book in hand and an almost non-existent Spanish language background, I tried to get myself understood, and of course to try to understand what the staff was trying to say. 

The staff at the 1st store decided that it was easier to use Google translate to communicate with me (the wonders of modern technology)!  No purchase was made as they had a problem activating the sim card.  So I went to a different store, and after about an hour spent at the 2 different stores, I finally walked out happy with a Euro 10 credit in my new prepaid sim card.

Feeling too tired to attempt communicating in Spanish further and with a growling stomach, I headed into the 1st Asian convenient store I could find and bought a packet of instant noodles as well as 2 peaches.  That was my dinner!

Day 28 : Origins of “Anecdote”

I just found out yesterday that “Anecdote” is originally a Greek word! 

Its origins were discovered when I showed Konstantinos my blog, and he shared that in Greek there is a word called “anékdotos” which meant “unpublished”, and that there is also recently a second and more modern meaning to this word used in the Greek language to mean “a joke”

Did some googling today and apparently this word, according to Wikipedia, came from Procopius of Caesarea, the biographer of Justinian I, who produced a work entitled Ἀνέκδοτα (Anekdota, variously translated as Unpublished Memoirs or Secret History), which is primarily a collection of short incidents from the private life of the Byzantine court.

The English meaning, on the other hand, took on a slightly different meaning, even though the word origin is Greek – “A short account of an interesting or humorous incident” – befitting for the title of my blog “Anecdotes of a Globetrotter” since the blog posts were suppose to be short and (hopefully) interesting stories and incidents which I encounter each day. 

Just thought that this was quite interesting and found that it is quite apt especially since my 1st stop is Greece!

Day 27 : Back in Athens

It’s been a long day as Tuula and I took the 9 hour ferry ride from Samos to Athens. 

Upon arriving at the port, Tuula and I split ways as she headed into town to stay at a hotel, while I made my way to the bus stop to catch bus X96 to Protosi Kalamaki.  This is an express bus with final destination to the airport, and enroutes to Konstantinos’ place along the way. 

I boarded the bus and made my way in to put my luggage, before requesting to buy

Wrap Up : Sailing in Greece

In 21 days, I managed to cover many islands, mainly in the North Aegean Sea :

• Sporades Islands (Alonnisos, Skopelos, Skiathos, Kyra Panagia, Psathoura, Skantzoura)
• Sithonia (Halkidiki)
• Mount Athos
• Lemnos (Myrina, Mikro Fanaraki)
• Lesvos (Mithimna, Mytilini, Ormas Mersinia, Tarti)
• Chios (Limnia, Volissos, Avgonymon, Anavatos, Nea Moni, Pyrgi, Mesta, Kourounia, Chios town)
• Samos (Marathokampou, Pythagorio, Vathy)
• Turkey

These were islands which I would never have ventured to if I had travelled on my own as they were less common and not often mentioned. 

Day 26 : Goodbye Gaia

We made our way towards Pythagorio, named after the famous Pythagoras, the father of Mathematics, who came up with the “Pythagoras Theorem” (remember how we studied this in school on finding the length of the side of a triangle? :D). 

Apparently he also discovered many other things and was said to be a remarkable man in his time, with a statue dedicated

Day 25 : Marathoukampou Bay, Samos

As I sit in bed typing this in Marathoukampou Bay in Samos, I can hear the winds howling loudly outside, and the wood in the boat creaking as it rocks with the waves.

The Meltemi has started, and I finally got to experience it today, as we had amazing winds hitting 32 knots at some points and top speed of 9.9 miles per hour during our sail (Beaufort scale 6). 

This is the 1st time

Day 24 : 2nd day of Road Trip, Chios

We had an early start on our road trip to tour around the north-east part of Chios which we have yet to cover, since we had to return the car before 1pm in Chios Town, in order to catch the 1.30pm bus back to Volissos.

The drive around Chios both today and yesterday made me miss New Zealand as I felt I was in a mini New Zealand,

Day 23 : Road Trip in Chios

We were all excited as we hopped into the car and started our road trip at 8.50am, covering mostly the mid to southern part of Chios, and visiting various villages, all with very different architectures and styles.

Day 22 : Car Rental

Yay!  Alberto and Rita has come back with the car for our road trip tomorrow!

We are excited because we had so much difficulty getting a car!  There were only 2 car companies which had car available on the days we wanted them and none of the car companies were willing to deliver the car to us (car rental companies are mainly located in Chios town, which is 50km away).

 

Day 22 : Volissos, Chios

The girls decided to take a morning stroll to Volissos, the nearest town from Limnia port which is about 2km away, to get some groceries, and most importantly bread. 

It is said that there is a really good bakery at Volissos and we only knew why when we arrive!