Exploring the Argo-Saronic Islands

On Saturday we braved the elements to go on our 3 island tour. It rained most of the time and was pretty cloudy (obviously) even when it wasn't raining. I enjoyed myself despite the weather, though by the end of a trip, which was supposed to take about 6 hours but instead took 11 hours, I was exhausted. Here is a breakdown of what we did and what we saw.

Hydra: This was the first stop on our tour. However, it was the farthest away. The tour took us to the farthest island first and worked our way back. The boat ride was slotted to take 2 1/2 hours. It ended taking us 3 1/2 I'm assuming because the weather so bad. Oh, well.

This is Hydra Town from the port. Pictures cannot fully portray the awesomeness of these houses stacked up the hill. It was amazing. Apparently they do not allow any cars on this island. Everyone walks or uses donkeys. And I must say that I now more fully appreciate Animal Control in the US because they're were crusty-looking stray cats and dogs everywhere.













Here is an example of one of the many hundreds of open markets and cafes that are everywhere here in Greece (and apparently all of the Meditterranean). It was a little to rainy to enjoy it on this particular day.


















We posed for a picture in front of some Greek guy. We have no idea who he was because the sign was written in Greek. He must have been important if he had a statue, right?


















We didn't do a tour because they were all walking tours and it was not the best weather for walking :)

We did walk up many side streets and went in tons of shops. I didn't really see anything worth buying, but I enjoyed walking around. It was very beautiful. It reminded me somewhat of New Orleans.














Poros: Stop number 2. It looked very similar to Hydra. We didn't have very long at this stop.

This is Steven and I standing with Poros Town (original names, I know) in the background. It had more beautiful hillside houses.













Another view of Poros Town...













We did have our first authentic Greek gyro (prounouced year-o according to our Greek friends) for only 2 euros. Wow...sooooo good!!! Never has anything so wonderful been tasted. The ones in the US pale in comparison. I want one everyday for the rest of my life. I dream about them at night.

Aigina: Our 3rd and final stop. The ride to Aigina (the Greeks spell it differently then my tour guide--they spell it Aegena) was a bit uncomfortable. We did not "beat the Baptists" back onto the boat and had to sit outside. It was rainy and cold. At one point the canvas covering over our heads dumped a deluge of water over the side all over me and I got drenched. Everyone (the people from Steven's work group) all stopped cold and stared at me wide-eyed like "what's she gonna do?" But I broke the tension by yelling, "Woooohoooo! This is AWEsome!" Then all laughed and everything was fine. Disaster averted.

Here we are coming into the port of--you guessed it--Aigina Town. Apparently that pointy mountain is Mt. Oros (it's far away) and it's 1,750 ft. tall. I thought that was an interesting piece of trivia.

Again, we did not take a tour because we were not in the mood. We did thoroughly enjoy walking around though. They allowed cars on this island and it added an extra element of insanity to the experience :)













Here is a pic of these colorful boats docked all along the edge of the city. It was really cool.













Another neat building...













This is Agia Triada, one of the many Byzantine chapels all over the island.













Here are a few pics of the inside, starting with this beautiful chandelier. The pics aren't the best quality, but I didn't want to be one of those disrespectful, tacky tourists that uses a flash a chapel.


















I was in the left side of the church shooting across to the right side. In the left of the pic was a floor to ceiling wall of frescoes of different saints and, of course, Jesus. He looked Greek in this fresco. ;)













But, anyway, we had a great time wandering around this island as well. I actually went back to the boat early since I was tired, and I beat the Baptists this time. I secured a good seat for all of us, and we played cards the almost 2 hours it took us to get back. It was a great game that our Food Lion compatriots TJ and Erin (that's right, another Erin!) taught us called "trash." We will definitely be teaching that game to our card shark friends next time we have card night.

Overall, we had a great time, got to see tons of cool stuff, and had an unforgettable experience!