Aegina Island, 2 Euro plastic wine bottles & endless Greek salad

The ferry to Aegina from Athens was supposed to take an hour so we were not at all surprised when we didn't arrive until an hour and forty minutes after departure. Luckily, we were sleep deprived (meaning we didn't get our usual 10 hours) and used the time to nap out in the ocean with a nice, cool breeze blowing over us and the other three passengers on the straining ferry boat. Aghia Marina, our stop, was the second docking along the ferry's route. We hopped off and eagerly climbed the hill leading from the dock to our hotel in hopes of finding a little beach side luxury before becoming paupers in Italy.

Our hopes were realized and the only complaint we could possibly make is against Greece in general, not the hotel in particular, and is in regards to the fact they don't let you flush toilet paper anywhere in the country, a nasty habit I had thought we left behind in Southeast Asia. Our room had a balcony complete with table and two chairs. We had our own private bathroom and shower, with a real shower curtain!! And best of all, there was a fridge in our room to keep our never ending supply of 2 Euro plastic bottles of rose and retsina cold for our afternoon drinking.

Breakfast was included and it had a sufficient supply of raw materials so that not even the pickiest among the guests could go away hungry. Thanks to the fact that their cereal supply is all completely bland and stale, I discovered that the white whipped substance Amir correctly identified as Greek yogurt is totally delicious when coupled with honey. They also offer up Amir's favorite traveling food, ham and cheese sandwiches, on the buffet line which makes for a hearty start to the day. For those of you who are coffee connoisseurs, I'll spare you a description of the vat of burnt coffee they provide. But I dig it. Add enough sugar and milk to anything and you'd be hard-pressed not to enjoy it. There's always tea, anyway.

We have managed to book ourselves a room very near to the only "sandy" beach on the entire island. What that actually means is that when there is low tide, there is enough room between the water and the rock face to erect an umbrella and beach mats, both courtesy of the hotel and both pretty much on their last legs. The best part of the free hotel accessories has been the tennis ball Amir discovered amongst a bunch of partially deflated beach balls. We've spent hours and hours tossing that tennis ball around in the water. You know what the best part of playing catch in the water is? The fact that no one has to go running after the ball when a catch is missed. You just reach behind you and pick it up with almost no effort whatsoever.

Every time we've been out for dinner here, I've ordered the Greek salad and Amir has ordered something he's expected will rock his world. Thus far, I've been the clear but reluctant winner because Aegina (pronounced Ay-gee-nuh, hard G) is renowned for its excellent produce much more so than its spaghetti carbonara or super dry chicken (thank god for mayo and ketchup). Tonight is our last night on our island paradise and I'm determined to find Amir a dinner worth its weight in gold. I'm thinking that the best way to skin this cat is to get him to order something very Greek, like moussaka or pasticcio, since Greeks can't possibly foul up their own national dishes, can they?

Tomorrow we leave on a 48-hour suicide mission bound for Rome. I can't even describe our journey in detail because I'm trying to block it from my consciousness. But it basically entails a ferry, metro, train, ferry, walking, train, metro and bus before we collapse on our dorm room beds in some ghetto hostel with moldy showers in a hostel that we chose for its proximity to the train station. Once we recover from that trip, we'll write about the wonders of modern day Rome and all its glory.