From Venice to Koufonisi (Vegetarians Beware)

The past couple of weeks have been especially enchanting for me and Mac. First of all, we got to visit Venice, Italy. I’d always heard it was beautiful, but secretly I’d doubted that it could actually be more lovely than Paris or some of the other great European cities. When we got to Venice, I finally discovered just what everyone had been talking about: cerulean water, sleek black gondolas, old buildings slowly dipping into the sea (Venice is sinking.) There were people everywhere, but even that couldn’t keep us from finding the city utterly charming. There were orchestras in St. Mark’s Square, a private gondola ride under the full moon, and so many colorful sights that I couldn’t help but take some very nice pictures. Here are some of my favorites:
The busy Grand Canal, where boats of all shapes and sizes jockey for a spot in the channel (Venice)

Even the residential streets are beautiful (Venice)

  
Mac needed to sit in the front of our gondola for a while to help weigh the boat down so we could make it under the low bridges. Let’s just say the gondolier’s request didn’t make him feel as trim as he was going for. (Venice)

  
Gondola traffic jam–the reason to wait until late-night for a ride (Venice)

  
After Venice, we made our way to Athens, Greece. It was also charming but in a very different way. There were chaotic market streets where every shop specialized in something unique, from meats to spices to olives. Our most memorable morning in Athens was spent walking around the meat market, where the friendly Greek butchers were openly fileting large sections of meat, stacking their selections, and calling to passerbys in loud, sing-song voices that reminded us of Pike Place Market in Seattle. One butcher gave me his knife and let me help him separate the meat from the fat in a large section of goat. I didn’t do it very well, which was highly amusing to all of the butcher’s buddies who were looking on.

A typical display at the meat market (Athens)

  
Poor Wilbur (Athens)

  
The chaos of a shop that sells way more than one kind of thing (Athens)

  
Mac getting a haircut at a spot where all of the men were sitting around and singing along to the radio in Arabic (Athens)

  
After Athens, we traveled to the Greek islands. Well, two islands in particular: Santorini and Koufonisi. We visited Santorini because everyone said we had to–and they were right, it was gorgeous. But it was also overrun with people. So a day later, we escaped to the tiny island of Koufonisi. We may be the only Americans on the whole island; most of the visitors here are Italian and German. Even with tourists, the island probably only has 450 people on it, so we’ve made friends quickly. We have a favorite restaurant and we take our job here very seriously: to relax.

Before we left Santorini, we got pedicures from fish that love to eat dead skin!! (Santorini)

  
Enjoying the Red Beach (Santorini)

   
Pairing a beautiful Greek sunset with a nice dinner (Santorini)

  
This is what I feel like I’m smooching when Mac gets grumpy (Santorini)

  
The view from our room (Koufonisi)

Taking a sunset cruise (Koufonisi)

  
They say that fishing boats on our island outnumber the inhabitants (Koufonisi)

  
This is, in effect, our vacation from our vacation. Every morning we sleep until we’re done being tired. Then we get up, read on our bright blue balcony that overlooks the equally blue sea, have a little breakfast, and eventually think about what we want to do for the day. This is a small island (it’s only 3.5 km to walk around the whole thing) so there aren’t many choices, which is perfect. Usually we head to one of the island’s white sand beaches (with cocktails packed, of course), lay out in the sun and swim when we get too hot. Sometimes we snorkel. Sometimes we wear clothes (most of the people on the beaches here don’t.) We always try to stay in the chill zone. Mac has a chill zone dance that he makes me do when I get upset about something, like the island’s WIFI network going down (which it does a lot), the travel agency only accepting cash (for very large purchases, mind you), and the other little things that can take your mind off island living.

We have one more full day left on our island. Tomorrow we head to Turkey for the next couple of weeks. As always, we’re a little sad to be leaving where we are but are also excited for the new adventures ahead of us. As they say in Greek, yassou!