Last night was SOOOOO much fun!!! ahhh okay so basically everyone from the hostel went out to dinner together and then hung out together for the entire night

After dinner we all went to a next door bar where two guys from the hostel played and they were absolutely amazing!!! They played for like an hour and then after that other people from the hostel got up and played too. INCLUDING CHELSEA ahhh it was so much fun I even sang with her a little. Gahh she did really good and sang a couple of songs to a bar full of drunkies it was sooo much fun. Haha she decided her pinnacle of life has been completed I think she can die happy. Anyways she sang and a couple of other guys from the hostel also got up and sang. One was from Louisianna and he played amazing guitar, and the two guys from denmark had incredible voices. So we stayed there for a little bit and then around 1ish we headed down to a little club like a minute away. That was sooo funnn ahh. Everyone was dancing and they played really good music, they even played two shakira songs!!! haha I danced my heart out till 430ish in the morning and then we walked back. We all stayed outside and talked for a little and before I knew it the sun was rising. I took that as a sign that i should probably get some shut-eye , so after a long night of singing, drinking, dancing, and having fun I called it a night and went to bed!

Today we are probably going to go to a beach called Prevoli. We heard it is one of the most scenic beaches on the island so we are excited to check it out!

AHH we are in the wonderful town of Plakias!!!! Plakias is seriously one of the most picturesque little beach towns I have ever had the privilege of visiting. Its a tiny little town full of lively little restaurants and brilliantly pristine beaches. Upon arrival me and Chelsea just felt a wave of happiness. We left our things at the hostel without a care in the world and went down to the beach ASAP the water is way colder then on the other side of the island but it is definitely worth it because the town is less touristy.

Last night we went to a Taverna with a bunch of guys from the hostel and once again me and chelsea were the only girls. It was a fun night and we ended up splitting three delicous plates. WE then came back here and relaxed outside with some wine until four in the morning.

Today one of our hostel friends took us down to a secluded little beach called one rock beach. Once again the views were incredible and I felt like i was in paradise. It has definitely been an amazing move to these new beaches. I even managed to get in a cliff jump while we were down at the beach, it was only slightly terrifying.

Alright well my time is almost up.....GREECE IS AMAZINGGGGG

Ciao

Jessica

So pretty much my time here and Greece has flown by. It seems like I was just landing in Athens wide eyed and excited to be in another country. I have now been here for approximately 1 month and it has been insaneeeee. 4 weeks have just flown by and it feels so weird to know that I have been traveling for so long. So many things have happened...even some that are secret and they have all been so worthwhile. It's exciting to know that all of our planning, and hours spent slaving away at jobs have paid off in such a remarkable way.

The past couple days in Rethymno have been kind of a blur. After hiking the Samaria Gorge we decided that night we would go to bed and sleep until we couldn't sleep anymore. The past couple of weeks have taken a real toll on our bodies: averaging in around three hours of sleep and eating cookies and gyros as a meal resulted in our bodies telling us it was time to rest and time to eat....so as a result we slept in until 1:30 in the afternoon haha. After that we went down to the beach with two guys from the hostel only to discover that the waves were huge and scary!!! I am not the best swimmer and was a little scared to enter the ocean, but the water looked soo refreshing that I couldn't resist. Chelsea, a guy from our hostel and I braved the waters and swam far out so as to avoid where the waves were breaking. Apparently on shore, 2 or 3 lifeguards were beckoning us in because it was too dangerous for us to be out there. It was only after about ten minutes that we realized this little predicament and began to swim back in. Luckily we made it back alive...but just barely haha. I found this whole situation quite terrifying and exausting but the reward was heaven....lying on the beach and taking a nap.

Then those two guys left and me and Chelsea a heart o heart for like two hours it was a very nice end to the day. After that we decided we would let ourselves indulge a little and feast. Chelsea and I have gone so many days hungry that we have forgotten what its like to be full haha. So we decided to go to this cute little restaurant situation in the heart of an alley way and feast to our hearts content. We each had two sprites (I now consistently crave these every day) and then we ordered an appetizer of shrimp in some type of tomato yummy sauce, then we shared Mosaka and a margherita pizza....yummy. After this the owners decided it would be a lovely idea to place shots on our table. At this point I was full, and didn't want to end the meal choking down yet another shot of Reike so instead I politely poured it in my Sprite cup when no one was looking (be proud parents). After this lovely meal I got some gelato!!! ahhh my favorite!WE then went back to the hostel relaxed a bit and went to bed.

Today we checked out of our hostel and are heading down to another one opposite from where we are in a town called Plakias. Its a town near other things that we've been wanting to do so we decided it was best to make the move. There is another cheap youth hostel (about nine euros a night) down there and we are hoping they have some room. I'm sure all will work out as it always does in the end.

Now that our temporary burn out has ceased we are ready to party it up in a couple of days during our island hopping adventure!!!!

Once again I hope all is going well back in the States. I miss you!!!!!

Jessica

P.S. we called our friend Alex from the island of evia yesterday...and it was so good to talk to him.. haha our other friend George has also kept in contact and has even left worried messages on my facebook checking up on us to make sure we are okay.

Soooo pretty much the Samaria Gorge was insanely gorgeous (haha that sounds funny). Anyways there is honestly no way to describe how beautiful of a hike it was. It was 18 kilometers and took about sixish hours to hike and it was definitely worth it! We befriended this girl named Amy (she is a 23 year old from Texas and she is from our hostel) anyways she joined us for the EPIC hike haha. She ended up being a wonderful hiking partner and we all had pretty good conversation for the hike. The hike itself wasn't too difficult just a lot of rocks, down hill slope, and super LONG. its actually the biggest gorge in all of europe! It was soo beautiful, with sheer cliffsides, a meandering river running along the bottom, and just a beautiful landscape in general. If anyone ever goes to Crete you must hike the Gorge!!! I took plenty of pictures so upon my arrival I will show them all so everyone knows just how beautiful it was. That pretty much took up the entire day.

The day consisted of waking up at 6 getting catching the bus to Chania at 7, catching yet another bus to the gorge, walking the beautiful gorge for several hours, enjoying a lovely icecream cone, taking a ferry to some small beautiful little beach town, catching two more buses and finally arriving back at the hostel around 8:30 haha. IT was magnificent (gahh i need more adjectives)

Ahh I almost forgot to mention the busride to the Gorge was terrifying! It was basically this huge bus, and as we were winding up the steep mountain side it would take these really sharp turns and it looked like our bus was going to tumble over the cliff side. Every turn me and Chelsea were consistently letting out squeals of fear, luckily we managed to make it up in one peice! haha well thats all for now.

I feel like i have so much more to say about the Gorge because it was such an amazing experience but there really isn't a way to word what it was like.

Did I mention that on this entire trip me and chelsea have been the babies? haha this results in recieving wisdom from practically every individual we meet. I guess that means we are going to be pretty wise upon our arrival in the States. haha

HUGS and KISSES

Jessie

Quote of the Day from the guys we met on the ferry

"Are there many lakes in LA?" (Vangelis)

"No why?" US

"Well why are they called the LA Lakers then?" (Vangelis)

Other quote of the day courtesy of Chelsea

"Isn't Crete like the first place or something???"

AHHH CRETEEEE IS AMAZING!!!!!

I think this is by far my favorite place that we've been to yet, it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Ferry ride over to crete, however was not as amazing and wonderful. haha. Naturally Chelsea and I had to by the cheapest ticket (30 euros) for an overnight ferry. This proved to secure us two solidly built wooden benches on the top deck (not enclosed) haha. That was an interesting night. First of all the ferry was huge! Chelsea and I were really excited to be on a ferry, making the time pass fairly fast. WE even made friends!!! We were situated right in front of a group of guys, and eventually we ended up talking to them for hours. They happened to be policemen in Athens and were going to Crete for holidays (did I mention all Greek policemen are extremely attractive and young? haha) Anyways we hung out with them and then had a restless cold and very uncomfortable two hours of sleep. haha O and my mother warned me of the rift raft on the top deck.....haha me and chelsea were the RIFF RAFF. . We landed in the town of Chania at about 6:30 in the morning with absolutely NO plans. Haha we departed off the ferry, said goodbye to our new friends, and then just kind of stood around with absolutely no idea about what we should do. WE had looked up a couple of hostels before and decided our best bet would be to try the one in Rethymnon (a name I find extremely difficult to pronounce).

We took an hour long busride through this absolutely gorgeous island and made it to Rethymnon. WE got off the bus and it literally took us like an hour to find the hostel. Luckily they had plenty of room and were happy to let us stay. The hostel is really cute and in a really convenient location. It kind of looks like a jungle Bungalow and we are sleeping in mixed rooms (dont freak out mom!). So after checking in we slept for like 5 hours and then headed down to the beach with three other people from our hostel. The water was sooo calm and warm as bath water, it was absolutely wonderful and just what we needed to feel rejuvenated. The city of Rethymnon is soooo cute it runs along the beach and is basically this cute little cobblestoned picturesque looking place. So after the beach we decided we deserved at least one real meal (my dinner the previous night had been cookies and sprite) so I ordered spaghettie carbonera and chelsea ordered a club sandwich. I was soooo starving that I was the first to finish!!! Becase we are Americans the waiter thought that it was absolutely necessary to treat us to several free shots, haha of course we couldn't refuse. After dinner we got Gelato and then got ready and headed down to a local disco club called Metropolis, they played the best music and we danced our hearts away for the entire night!!!!

Today we decided to take a day trip into Iraklio and went and saw the temple of Knossos. It was really interesting and managed to captivate our interest for approximately one hour. haha It really was cool and we heard that it is one of the better preserved Palaces around that we could visit. There were reconstructed frescoes everywhere and luckily there weren't very many tourists! Now we are back, and we are going to make our dinner with some eggs and cheese and rice that we bought at the market. Tomorrow we plan on doing a 5 hour hike through the Samaria Gorge!!! AHHHH i'm sooooo excited! It is supposed to be amazing and it is the longest Gorge in Europe.

HOPE ALL IS WELL

LOVE YOUUUUUU

Jessie

P.S. All my friends on the Island of Evia we miss youuuuuuu sooo much!!! and talk about you all the time to everyone we meet!

ALRIGHT, haha ahh that has become my new catchphrase. Anyways we are writing one last blog before we depart for CRETE!!! ahhhh our ferry leaves at 9 at night and we arrrive early in the morning and I can't wait!! As much as I love the city of Athens, we have pretty much exhausted all sites/districts/things to do and we are definitely ready to be back in gear.

Yesterday we went into the mysterious Exarhia. WE had asked several people about the district of Exarhia and they pretty much all said the same thing....ANARCHISTS!!! haha this proved to be such an intriguing concept that we decided it was pertinent that we pay a visit! We were expecting to see anarachy running amuck through the streets but there was nothing of the sort. In fact it was just like a really bohemian relaxed area. It actually reminded me a tad bit of boulder haha. We spent hours looking for anarchists but all we found were alternative people with a lot of peircings drinking coffee haha. None the less it proved for an interesting day, and I even bought a shirt! ohhh we even ran into our friend Barnsey (who works at athens backpackers) and he hung out with us for a while.

ahh I almost forgot taking the metro to Exarhia ended up turning into a silly situation. So me and chelsea are walking down the escalator to catch the metro when we hear the train pulling up. So we both decide to book it down the escalator in hopes of catching the train. Chelsea is ahead of me and as we both get of the escalators we have to round a corner. We can see the train, and I am running really fast but i'm wearing rubber flipflops with absolutely no traction and I kind of like fishtale around the bend and almost eat it. Anyways to make a long story short Chelsea just barely manages to get on the train, and I watch the doors close. In panic we bang on opposite sides of the glass this just makes the situation even more hilarous and eventually I have to give up go sit down next to these two asian girls who had just witnessed the entire thing and wait for the next train. haha it was soo funny

When we got back we paid a visit to the Hostel because we are addicted to Athens Backpackers haha and they let us help them out in exchange for drinks on the rooftop bar haha. So we hung out there for like an hour and helped them set up the bar and then we headed back to Ana's and ate a lovely dinner with her. Later on in the night we went back to the rooftop bar and actually ran into someone that we had met our first nights in Athens. Around 10ish we headed to James Joyce, a local bar, and watched the soccer game with Barnsey and some other people from the hostel. WE then got the drunk munchies and marched right into a pastry shop and ordered two delicious looking brownie cake things and ate them in Monastiraki square, they were so delicious!!! After that we headed back to Ana's and called it a night

WE are now embarking on the next part of our adventure and I am sooooo EXCITED!!!!!! wish us luck on the beautiful island of CRETE!!!

HOPE the states are well.

LOVE YOU

Alrightyyyy welll

HELLOOOOOO

Ahhh so going off of my last blog. We did end up going up that hill that I was talking about and the view was unreal. The actual hike up there was pretty brutal. It was like 2 in the afternoon so the sun was still strong, and we were tired due to lack of sleep, this resulted in dramatic noises, and phrases like "WHY GOD am i doing this??" haha after walking up stone step after stone step after stone step we finally managed to make it to the top. Luckily it was worth the sweat because at the top you could see the entire sprawling city of Athens. The view went as far out as the ocean and the city limits looked endless. While we were up there we also had a friendly conversation with a flight attendant lady from canada! haha random I know. after that we were exhausted and ended up coming back to the hostel where we relentlessly annoyed the hostel staff. We were both so tired that instead of joining the festivities on the roof top bar we decided to go down to where the couches were and played cards. There we befriended a fellow backpacker. He was really nice, and he had just finished his graduate degree from Notre Dame. Well we all got to talking and we decided that it was necessary that we find a pool (because the days here in athens have been notoriously HOT). So Chelsea and I and our new friend went in search for a fancy hotel. We managed to find one and successfully sneak into their pool for a quick dip! haha after that we decided to show our friend (Brian) around because he had just arrived that night and was leaving the next day for an island. We walked around Plaka and then went up to the acropolis at night. It was such a nice laid back evening! P.S. Athens Backpackers hostel let us sleep on the couches for free haha.

The next day we decided to hop around on the metro only to find ourselves lost and confused. IT is soooo extremely HOT here that we decided the best option of the day would be to go get coffee like all the locals do. So we found a fancy outdoor venue and drank our freddochinos as slow as possible (for some reason all the greeks take like hours to drink coffee). There we befriended a friendly character named Pierre. This Pierre fellow was straight out of a book. He was an older man maybe in his mid 60's and from what I understood he was french but has been on assignment as a journalist in Greece for the past two years. Most of the time I couldn't understand what he was telling us because he mumbled a lot haha. Anyways he was this classy guy who was just sitting alone at a table near us, and every once in a while he would stare down the pigeons near by and try and feed them crumbs from his hand. HAHA not joking he could have been a leading character in some fancy french movie. Before he left he stopped by our table (they were really close to eachother) and left us his business card and told us to call him if we wanted to meet up for coffee.) His business card was this snazzy little peice that had his two initials and his last name on one side with Journaliste written under it in scrawling letters. The back had his number haha ahh this was so random. But don't worry parents we have no intentions of meeting up so don't freak!

After this little expedition we headed back to our hostel to grab our things and head to Ana's. Ana is this very nice girl that we befriended on the island of Evia. She goes to University in Athens and happens to live quite close to our hostel. Anyways she has exams this week so me and chelsea have pretty much been on our own. This works out fine for us, we are just happy to have a place to stay!! So after arriving at her place we ended up going out ot Monastiraki and headed to a bar, because we can here!!! haha We felt all snazzy sitting at a bar ordering a beer haha. After that we walked around and headed back for the night.

The next day I woke up early and decided to go get coffee and go read in the National gardens. Then I met up with Chelsea and Anna and her other friend and we all went to the beach!! The beach was kind of weird but it felt sooo good to be in the water, because the heat here is like death!!! After the beach we came back showered up and went in to monastiraki and got hair wraps!!!! Then we decided to do our own version of the pub crawl and instead went on a convenience store crawl. This consisted of us going up to several convenience stores and buying a beer haha. Along the way we met someone who just graduated from CU!! That was the weirdest coincidence haha. He was really cool though and he told us we were very boulder haha. Our night ended with a nice scoop of gelato and then sleep!!!

Today we are going to go into Exarhia which is supposedly where all the alternative/anarchist people live! haha YES

Tomorrow we leave for Crete, so wish us luck!!!

CIAO