Athens. It was the first place I was returning to, and as such the first place I had any real expectations of. Naturally, those expectations were disappointed.

It was funny, really. We booked a cheap hotel over the internet, and we chose it because it had wireless. The wireless sucked, and our room smelled awful, like feet, or urine, or both. It was disgusting. We arrived very early in the morning, exhausted, and napped for a good portion of the day. Then we got up and went looking for dinner, and I think laundry.

The Greeks were striking when we were in their country, over some sort of pension-reform plan or some such foolishness. Yet another European welfare state on the brink of insolvency that refuses to deal with reality. Anyway, the garbage wasn't picked up, there were rolling blackouts, and the trains weren't running consistently. It made the whole experience that much more surreal, I suppose.

We did the usual Athens things, went to see the Parthenon and its environs, went to see Mars' Hill, we went to the archaeological museum. It was pretty good, strike inconveniences notwithstanding. I'd still go back to Athens, but I'd choose a different hotel this time. Other than that it wasn't terribly remarkable.

Current Location: Dubrovnik, Croatia

Crete was pretty boring, actually. We landed on the east coast at a town called Chania, I think, and as we were looking for the bus station to take us to the main town of Heraklion. As we were wandering, a taxi driver told us he was on his way back to Aghios Nicolaios, a town about halfway to where we were going, and he'd take us for 10 Euros each. We talked about it a bit, then hopped in. There was a guy from Indonesia in the cab as well who spoke excellent British English, so we chatted with him a bit in the cab, then more on the way from Aghios to Heraklion on the bus.

Once we got to Heraklion we got a bit lost trying to find our hotel. Once we got there we checked in, saw our room, then checked out the town. That took all of twenty minutes.

We went out to Knossos one day, which was the site of an ancient Greek palace. That was, moderately interesting, but I've seen so much of that kind of stuff that I've become a bit jaded. There were peacocks at the site though, that was kind of neat.

We ended up having to cancel one night in Crete because the ferry to Athens was an overnighter. The ferry ride was interesting in and of itself, probably the most interesting thing that happened while I was on Crete.

I sat down in a row of seats, and a few minutes into the trip a Greek fellow asked if the seat at the other end was taken. I said no, he sat down, and we had a wide-ranging conversation about Greece, weather in Canada, the Greek and Barbarian names for various Turkish cities, that sort of thing. Then he went to take a phone call.

When he came back I looked over and nodded at him, and he winked at me. I was a bit confused, but in the end I interpreted it as a friendly gesture. I was right, after a fashion.

A few minutes after that he said, "Can I ask you a personal question?" Not having much choice, I said, "Sure." He looked back at Mark and Josh, and said some stuff about how it was personal, and I shouldn't tell my friends and whatnot. Then he asked me the Question.

"Do you like boys?"

"No."

"Only girls?"

"Yes."

"You never wanted to experiment?"

"No."

"How do you know you wouldn't like it?"

"I'm engaged to be married in July."

That sort of shut the conversation down. We talked for a bit longer about marriage, and how I was so young to be getting married, then I started reading my magazine again, and he left a few minutes later. My first time getting hit on by a gay guy. I felt so special.

We arrived in Athens ridiculously early, found our hotel, found out that the wireless sucked, which was the entire reason we chose that hotel in the first place. Also, the room smelled like feet. It's been fantastic.

Tomorrow we leave for Ithaca, and hopefully we'll be able to stay with Dionysios and Sofia again, and rent some scooters to see the island. We have to leave really early though, which kind of sucks. After that we tour Greece a bit more, then on to Venice and Dubrovnik, then Rome and London, then home. It'll be good to get back and see everyone (read: Colleen) again.

Current Location: Athens, Greece

We took the ferry from Marmaris in Turkey to Rhodes, and my mood immediately lifted. I liked Turkey, but it felt foreign. Greece, though the language is different, feels more like home to me. Partly because I've been there before and know what to expect, but also because it's another Western culture, really the birthplace of Western culture, and I feel like I can understand what's going on, what motivates the place.

Rhodes is a very pleasant place. We stayed in a hostel in the old city, a basically complete medieval town, and wandered around the maze-like streets for a day and a half. It's the off-season, so not much is open, but the area itself is beautiful.

And that's about it for Rhodes. Sorry I'm not very expansive this time around, but I'm tired and don't really feel like reaching far to write and describe. Perhaps I'll go into more detail another time.

Now we're on Crete, and it's nice, but a little dull. Tomorrow is a long, long ferry ride (we're getting used to those), then Athens, one of my favourite cities. We'll see what that holds.

Current Location: Iraklion, Crete, Greece