The Egypt and Greece Chronicles - Conclusion

Morning of 22 December, the Greek island, Poros: This is going to be my last entry for this trip.

Yesterday morning, we had 45 minutes to leave our hotel in Athens toward Piraeus to avoid the Metro strikes. Luckily, with three minutes remaining we were able to make it to the port of Piraeus to find a ferry to Poros. The first ferry got delayed due to weather issues at sea, so we weren’t able to board until 6:00 PM. In the meantime, we dragged our luggage around town to look for a hotel. While on this search, I noticed many uncensored billboards and news stands—countless images of topless women in g-strings were stroking each other. It didn't bother me, though I was still amazed after spending a week in a country where women tend to be more-or-less black silhouettes.

After we left the Piraeus hotel, my aunt and I found seats at the port. Then she went searching for a news stand with her favorite newspaper, The International Herald Tribune. Immediately, this dark-skinned man (Another Egyptian?) approached me with a box of (Pardon my Russian.) "cheap shit" to sell. I told him "No, thank you," but he persistently tried negotiating a price for this vibrating massager, which he removed from the box, turned on, and began using against my upper back…then my lower back…then my right calf… I kept telling him, "NO, thank you!" But I couldn’t help (Again, pardon my Russian.) laughing my ass off, which he mistook for my wanting more. He kept at it while trying to negotiate a price. Finally, a Greek woman working one of the nearby stands yelled at and shooed him like he were a swarm of flies.

Almost three hours and three stops later, we made it to the island of Poros. Tired and with no hotel reservation, we set out to locate another hotel and got picked up by this ugly woman working on commission. Astonishingly, the rooms’ TVs have every foreign channel but CNN, and guests are forced to bathe in old school tubs, not showers. While the Holly at the beginning of this trip would have been more open-minded to a tubbing session, the Holly this morning, upon discovering this, was craving the spoiled American life again.

But now I’m content and fed, and enjoying a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea from a modest Greek café. The buildings on one side of the port are either white, light yellow, or peach on the lower hills and bare on the upper hills.

Not too long ago, an old religious-looking man came up to me, and when I looked at him he just stared. I said, “Yes?” He replied, “Yes.” Then left. Odd.

At the crack of dawn tomorrow, we leave for the hotel in Athens to pick up the rest of our luggage in storage. Then my aunt will take me to the airport where we will say our good byes. I’ll fly into London Heathrow, where the runways should be clear (Boy, am I lucky!). I’ll stay at the Holiday Inn in London for one night, fly into JFK, and then fly into LAX to conclude this marvelous trip.