Piraeus, Greece: Day 3

On our third day in Piraeus, several Greek diplomats (including the Minister of Foreign Affairs) and Greek students from the university Deree attended an “Open Ship” onboard. As there were several events throughout the day, student “volunteers” were needed to help, for the beautiful stipend of $100. Since my friends were gone--and I need to get my hair dyed--I had volunteered. I spent the day mingling with and escorting the Greek visitors up and down the ship (trying not to speak because I had lost my voice), and at around 6:30 went to visit a returned Steph, who, like me, was in the mood for some Greek food! Yum.

We left the boat and began walking around Piraeus, noting how surprisingly difficult finding food had been for us in Europe. After about ten minutes and asking a bartender, we found a fantastic little half indoor/half outdoor place selling gyros, souvlaki, etc. We munched on a block of feta for an appetizer and I ordered the country sausage plate, consisting of two giant pork sausages cut long ways over a bed of French fries (which are really truly amazing in Greece) with Greek yogurt, pita bread, and onions and tomato—which I ignored. The sausage with the feta, yogurt, and pita was amazing, and I finished everything but the sausage, which, like I said, were huge. Steph ordered a pork sandwich, which she devoured (as it was enormous, I gathered that it must have been delicious). What I loved about her sandwich was that the fries were inside it! It was one of the best meals I have had so far.

When we returned Jill was back, and Tom called us to see if we wanted to go out. I said no (I had developed pinkeye), but Jill and Steph begged pretty hard and I eventually gave in, grumpily putting on a red dress to match the glasses I had to wear. We left with a group of about 10-15 people (which was eventually widdled down to seven: me, Jill, Steph, Tom, his friend Brady, and their friends Bridget and Taryn). They stopped to have a beer at a kiosk on the street, but I was full enough from dinner and took a pass. The walk to the metro was about 20 minutes and I thanked myself for not wearing heels. We boarded and took it into Athens, where we searched for a spot to settle in. The stop we had gotten off at was mainly restaurants and we wasted about a half hour sitting/walking/standing around like dorks. It was 12:30 and we headed back to the metro to take it another stop over. Unfortunately, the metro closes at 12:30; interestingly enough, we made it in just to be told this, but when we tried to leave, they had closed a gate on us and we were trapped. It was quite the adventure getting out. We finally decided on taking two cabs to a place that supposedly had good night life (according to the local Jill asked), and finally ended up at a Mexican (!!) bar in a side street crowded with people. My stomach had finally settled and I sipped on peach margaritas for the rest of the night (my favorite part was the fresh peach slices they included).

We headed back to the ship around 4 AM in a taxi, and I should just note that Piraeus is not the place to stay. Taxis ended up being the only option for us multiple times, and they do a very good job of overcharging. About half the money I spent in Greece was on taxis.