Bags packed, taxi booked and 4 fabulous girls of 131
were all set to board the flight.. to Athens..
Day was thurs and the date – 21 Apr 2011.
Journey started v well…afterall this time we had
booked Lufthansa and not any cheap airlines…
we reached Athens airport… Athens, one of world’s
oldest cities, capital of Greece...
Athens
–
Location
– Airtport
Our luggage… we waited and waited…conveyor was not at
all in the mood to show us our ones..
After a wait of 15-20 mins, we realised that everyone
else have received their luggage…except ppl who boarded from AMS…all Munich ppl
had already got their bags…at baggage counter we got to know that, our bags had
never left Munich !!…and they can reach Athens only by 7pm…phew!!…our ferry to
Thira(Santorini) was at 7pm..that too from the port (Piraeus) which is 1 hour
travel from airport..
So here real story starts…are, kuch to spice chahiye
na…if all wud have gone smoothly, wat I wud have written in this story? J
After lot of discussions/zagdas at Lufthansa’s
helpdesk, conclusion was, bags wud be arriving in Santorini next day morning ..
4 of us received a small pouch with sum necessary daily stuff, tooth
brush-paste etc etc
Anku and Manisha were very happy…that now we dnt have
to carry any bags while roaming in
Athens…Anku was to praying, bags shudnt even cum next day ..so after 24
hrs, we can shop and Lufthansa wud pay for all the shopping in compensation
I was a bit irritated…and Sonika…she was quite
neutral... balanced.. as always…after all she is mommy of the house J
We got into the metro and reached
Monastiraki...weather was quite good, a bit windy though.
Hungry we were… so picked up some strawberries from
one of gadiwala in Athens market…got into a small train, its called ‘Happy
train’…1 hour ride and it takes you to all famous places…smaller version of hop
on hop off….we thot we will get down at only few stops…Acropolis, temple of
zeus etc…but then just clicked pics from the train itself…and did not get out
at all afterall, on return journey we had another halt in Athens…with 21
house friends..
After this small ride…21 public arrived…. Smartest of
them [;-)] asked about our missing bags… and all of them were happy listening
to the news…as they don’t have to carry our luggage (at least 1 day saved)
We all reached to Piraeus port…and our journey to
Thira started in a nice big boat, Blue star ferry.
After a lot of search, we found a big table, which had
nice view of sea….cameras came out of the pouches …5 cameras ( though 1 was
quite defective, ab kya kare, itne purane cameras leke aate hain log…on-off
karne me bhi prob hoti hai)…
All we can see from the deck was amazing blue water…
dark blue…clear blue…beautiful blue…
It was really nice…
We all had lot of fun in this 5 hr journey…played
cards…antakshari..etc…
Antakshari gets more interesting when everyone chooses
songs for sum spl purpose…and for sum spl friends … it adds lot of enthusiasm
and fun in the game
We reached Thira at around 1.00am … Our Pension
Iliovasilema bus was waiting for us at the port..
They took us to our ‘house’ in Santorini…
and we hit the bed…dreaming of beautifulbeaches which were
planned for next day..
Santorini
(Thira) – 22 Apr.
In morning we woke up and headed straight to the
airport… for the bags… that was a small airport, small as in “shuru hote hi
khatm ho jata hai” kind of…4-5 ppl were sitting outside… it reminded me of
small railway stations in India..jahan aisehi 1 train jane ke bad, 2ri aane tak
station master and uske dost…chai pite hue baithe rehte hai…platform ki chotosi
dukan par..
At the only counter there…we saw 4 of our bags..nicely
sitting at a corner, waiting for their malakins. I got v happy…Anku ki
shopping ka sapna toot gaya …
Before returning to villa, we did few things at
airport, but those are not worth mentionable here…so lets skip it
We came back, got ready, had nice breakfast and
started for Fira.
On the way, we found all those beautiful small houses,
white & blue coloured, which we had
seen while doing all the research on internet …and ya..we were actually roaming
in that small village in Greece..
At fira, we did a lot of photosession.. view was too
good.. small white structures, beautiful
blue water and caldera in background….can’s describe more…words can’t give
justice, if feel.
From fira, we had to go to Athinios Port from where we
can take a ferry to volcano land…there were few options – walk, take donkey
ride or cable car… many were fascinated by donkey ride .. but they were too
smelly and we then preferred to walk down till the port (arey, itna door gadhe pe
baithne thode hi aaye hain) J
Ferry too was awesome… we reached volcano island…it
was like a “banjar pahad”…different type of rocks…we climbed up…saw amazing view
of caldera from the top…distinct blue and green colours of the sea…
While returning back to fira, there was a halt near
Hot spring…for good swimmers…temperature there is supposed to be 30 degree
celcius..and this water contains sulphur, which s good for skin…we just watched
ppl swimming…as we didn’t have our swim suits…otherwise…hum bhi kisise kam nahi
J…specially naren and RK was sad that they cud not jump in there ..
While cuming back, we chose cable car and came back to
Fira… it was almost 1 hr for sunset…and we obviously did not want to miss most
famous sunset from Oia village.
Oia is at north part in Thira…we had heard/read that
its most romantic place in whole island..
people have got married here… and many have expressed their love at this
very place.
we reached oia by bus… it was similar to
akrotiri…small small houses built on the cliff and on other side infinite
Aegean sea…every view was picturesque … where to click and how many to click ?
With lot of hopes and lot of plans to make this part
of trip most memorable, we found a spot where we can also enjoy this nice
sunset… it was really crowded, hundreds had cum there for the sunset.
Ok..let not elaborate more of ‘hopes to make it more
memorable’ part..idhar thode log marne aa jayenge muze..
In all..it was
another memorable evening in this whole trip..
23
Apr – Santorini
We had very less time left in santorini…we had to
catch 12’o clock ferry…
So our day started quite early..by 7.30 am
Some came out in full-on summer wears…anku, RK…it was
damn windy..and bus was nowhere…capri ppl were just walking here and there..and
finding places to hide ..after a long wait..we got the bus..and headed
towards Perissa beach ..one of most beautiful beaches in santorini.. it was
amazing…a big rock has emerged from the sea and is standing at one side…like a
guard….
Sand was a bit blackish…..
We did lot of masti there..racing, singing and dancing
on ‘kaho na pyaar hai’….yes we did that too
another round of photo session there…attitude wala
photo..solo photo..group photo… in all possible poses and all combinations….
After relaxing for some time there…we headed back to
our pension…and checked out from hotel..Reached port thira.. for next ferry…which is going to
take us to Mykonos… Next greek island on the tour.
Ok..now about ferry…this one was quite hi-fi .. unlike
the previous one.. name itself was quite stylish, “Flying cats” .. we did not
know, name is so meaningful until we actually started.
Here we did not have to search for a place to sit but
we were assigned seat numbers and chairs were quite comfy .. we all slept off..
and achanak se…whoaaa…our ferry was in air…it kind of took a big jump .. we
actually got scared ..and uske bad to it was behaving like a “ flying cat “ …
“sabko swimming ati hai kya?” “itne thande paani me kaise swim karenge” “seat
belts bhi nahi hai” …these were sum of the thots which started gathering in my
mind.. but nothing of that sort happened fortunately and we reached Mykonos
safely.
Here enters Ms Maria.. she was standing at the gate
with a BIG smile(really a big one) welcoming us to Mykonos and to take us to
Villa vasilis.
she was so so happy meeting us , especially Praroop
ab kya kare…hamare pappa sabko itne pasand aa jate
hain..
This vila was really nice…ya I mean.. we have got a
big beautiful house for 5 (supposedly for 21 house ppl) and another small house
for 4 of us … obvsly we (here ‘we’ means 131 ki gals) did kabja on the nicer
one and guys had to occupy 2 other rooms.. They were not given any choice there
..but sweet of them…they happily exchanged :)
Maria madam suggested us to rent Quads for roaming in
the city .. Quad is a bike with 4 wheels.. no gears … easy to ride and safe on
the roads there..
Now 9 ppl and 5 bikes…of course Murghu, hamara bhai was
not going to drive .. he is the youngest one anyways… hence we decided that
manisha and I wud ride the 5th bike..
Naren and RK were like our leaders, the expert drivers
…
Manisha was also riding very well … I too tried it
…but after showing sum stunts there, I decided to be a pillion rider … Praroop
too was riding nicely…ab peeche mom baithi hai to aur kya chahiye….bolo ! J
On these bikes, we went to see little Venice…venice
nahi dekha to kya hua…little Venice to dekh hi liya maine … it’s the same place
where shahrukh khan says “tauba tumahre ye ishare” to Rani and also akshay and
Jyotika sings “kissa hum likhenge”… exactly same windmills… beautiful
place….but weather was not that gud, it was very windy …. So cud not enjoy that
view much…we found a restaurant and saw superb sunset from inside …enjoyed
stuffed tomatoes, pasta, fries and coffee.
That was the easter night .. so at night we went to
visit a church to see easter celebrations…
It was really crowded… everyone had come with candles
in the hands…when clock striked 12, they rang big bell for some time…all
started lighting up the candles .. passing light to each other.. and then we
got to see wonderful fireworks … it was really good show.
Also .. another special reason was, it was RK’s bday
…his bday started with such a blast that too in Greece, he must have had a real
memorable bday this time.
We found a small café and celebrated his bday with a
small pastry … although he did a lot of ‘natak’ wen anyone tried to paint his
face with the cream.. in all it was quite a sophisticated birthday celebration
compared to wat guys usually do, but was fun
We came back to our villa and slept off.
24
– Apr – Mykonos.
Only beach…that’s wat we had planned for this day
As we cud not spend lot of time on any of the beaches
till now…because of time constraints.
Paradise beach was the destination.this
road to beach was quite tough...tough as in very sloppy and small in
width...Prasad was driving well, so i was quite safe J
We reached the beach
only to find no one else was there... Ankita the great, she just found another
board showing way to Nicolas beach...and she took Naren there. Naren and RK
again caught up everyone, Praroop, manisha, us and then we all reached
Nicolas....another amazing beach ... no visitors other than us...kind of “apna
hi beach” ..
water was cold but
beach was no doubt superb...we spent sum time there and then went to paradise
beach..
Now this was again
absolute beauty..serene place... blue blue everywhere and some rocks at shore, randomly
placed.. just to make our photos nicer...
We relaxed for quite
sum time there ....clicked many portfolio pics... manisha did a lot of
photography...naren was declared as “hero of
the trip”.. his pics were cuming out too good.. ekdam dude...
Naren and RK got a
brilliant idea there to make a special sand bed for Praroop...Praroop also
nicely lied down with his head only coming out of sand ..
Then same was done with
RK and murughesh ...3 guys resting aaram se on the beach..
Prasad suddenly wanted
to show his high jump skills there...with Praroop and RK’s life at
risk..thankfully both of them were safe and hence Prasad was very happy with
his talent J
All together it was fun
there....good time with good friends...
After the beach, we got
into the ferry for going back to Athens....
We were quite sceptical
after previous experience, but this one was the best of all.
Big one...with nice
tables...where we played bluff , judgement for long time..
We reached Athens in
night..and checked in to out Argo hotel, near Piraeus port.
Next day morning, we
roamed in Athens...famous Acropolis, temple of nike etc...
After being to most beautiful
islands, these structures did not quite fascinate me...or may be I didn’t know
properly about history of those..
From Athens, we boarded
our flight to Amsterdam... had fun during the journey as well.
Reached Amsterdam at
night...happy to see Aashima darling at home with 4 course fatanstic dinner
ready for us...
So such was our
trip...full of fun, masti ...
It had ended now... and I closed my eyes with all
the sweet memories of Greece...
