Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
January 5, 2018

SUNNY GREECE!

Yo! let's praise my own willingness to write another post about my 2016 Eurotrip in 2018! (such an  achievement right?) Jokes aside, I am writing this because i really wanted to just finish these posts and move on.

So let's talk about the country I am exited about after France; GREECE! and let's discuss the things that makes me wanted to visit this country so bad shall we?

1. I grew up playing this PC game called Zeus (anyone can relate?) and it's basically we play god and build a city. The game was set in ancient Greece where from this game I learned about building temples, understanding various gods, commodities and other fun stuff.

2. I just finished watching this VERY popular korean drama called "Descendant of the Sun" where there was a scene at the Navagio beach whereby a shipwreck stranded on the shore and it was very gorgeous, but too bad we did not actually visit anywhere outside Athens.

The first day we arrived, just like when we arrive in other countries, we would opted to go with train/subway for the cheapest transportation to the city but apparently that would be a wrong choice because I did not remembered exactly how much, i think it was around 60 EUR/person. So freakin expensive, so later we opted to go by bus which obviously takes a lot longer and we need to change a few lanes to get to our hostel. We've noticed that the city don't have any skyscraper buildings, it looks like Jakarta in 80's or 90's.
Somewhere downtown Athens

This is also the same
We bought our first Souvlaki which packed with meat and fries in a huge roll of pita bread. It was really cheap and FYI, out of all countries in Europe, bottled water in Greece is the cheapest! We used to be that cheapskate and always refill our bottle at the hotel before leaving but now we can buy water from the vending machine. We also tried Moussaka which looks like lasagna stuffed with eggplant, minced beef and tomato. My favorite dish would be Bougatsa because I've seen it a lot on TV but never across finding it in Jakarta. It's basically a dessert i would say, (similar to) pastry dough on the outside and a thick filling on the inside. It was very good! The weirdest food we've tried would be Saganaki which is literally "fried cheese".

Moussaka

Saganaki
Ok, onto the sightseeing. I mean what's the point of going to Greece without visiting the temples right? so we did went to the Acropolis. It was a huge area where on top of the hills you can finally see the temple ruins. We are awed by the fact that most of the area of the Acropolis are built with marbles. You need to be careful tho because it is a bit slippery.
Not to discourage you but to be honest I would not really recommend on going to the Acropolis area because it still being renovated after the war, so you can not really see it as a whole as it still has a lot of construction things on the temples, and the reason I get really disappointed is because the fact that you cannot see any of the gods statue there, AT ALL with a very pricey admission ticket. You need to go to this museum on the other side of the hill and pay another admission ticket and they did not even have the Athena statue there. They said it got ruined (i think most likely stolen) during the war with Romans. What a total disappointment.

View from halfway to the top

Another view halfway to the top




Erechtheum Temple


Behind me is the Parthenon Temple where Athena statue is nowhere to be found :(

Parthenon Temple
Notice that pictures above look like it was taken on a gloomy day? It was actually freakin hot outside and apparently there was a sandstorm somewhere and the dust are traveled and cover the whole sky of this city. As disappointed as I was with the fact that I cannot even find a single statue standing in this area, I was impressed on how rich and cultured this country was, everything were made out of marbles and there are still "something" left for people to see as a witness of how successful this country was.

To make that up, let me give you a 180 degrees pictures of the actual beauty of Greece here:

Fun fact: random ruins are scattered around the city

None of these photos are edited

These cute-colored houses are everywhere



How beautiful are these houses!


So that would be the highlight of my trip to Greece, to sum everything up I would say the Mediterranean breezy weather was really nice, every picture taken there looks stunning because it contrast with the blue sky. People here are also very nice and welcoming. Prices are fairly good and the food tasted amazing.
September 25, 2017

HELLO HOLLAND!


Amsterdam
Cheese Galore
I tried to think about a catchy title for this post but my brain can only work to that point so let's laugh silently for my skill. Anyways, as you can read from the title, let's talk about Netherlands!
It is actually the country i was landed on for the first time in Europe since my sister lived here. Surprisingly i did not get any jet lag and after my sister pick me up from the airport we went straight to the subway and arrived at Amsterdam Centraal Station. Of course since I'm a tourist and this is my first time in Europe everything was so fascinating to me, including going on a boat ride crossing to a small island where there was a cafe on it and a huge I Amsterdam thing whereby people (I mean, me as well) taking pictures at.
To be honest Netherlands is not my favorite country because of the weather. It is so indecisive! but mostly it is always gloomy. Funny how this Eurotrip sometimes makes me look stupid because we were going in and out to different countries with different weather so I carry a thick jacket to Greece and Italy. People are giving me that "why are you carrying that in this weather" look.
I also did not spend that much time in Netherlands because let's be real, my only "must-go" is Keukenhof Festival and that's all i wanted. Thankfully the weather during our visit there was sunny and breezy. It was really nice.

Tulip Field
Keukenhof
Should I add a caption to this?
Cherry blossom
I also had a joyous time on Primark! It's absolutely better than H(and) M, especially the price. I came from Indonesia and supposedly everything seems expensive to me but in this place, I actually can shop as much as I was in Indonesia, or even more. Everything is so freakin cheap with a good quality. SO MUCH WIN! (it's probably because end of season as well)

Keukenhof
Somewhere in Amsterdam


I actually did not stayed in Amsterdam because my sister lives in Eindhoven, a small city 30 mins train ride outside Amsterdam. To be honest I liked Eindhoven a lot more compared to Amsterdam because it was a slow-paced-kind-of city, which I liked. Amsterdam on the other hand got a lot of things but the city was too busy and a bit dirty.

On another note, do not forget to buy those chunky fries with samurai sauce and also lots of cheese there!!
January 2, 2017

STARTER PACK - EUROTRIP 2016!


keukenhof - Netherlands

Eiffel Tower - France

Notre Dame - France

Monaco

Fontana di Trevi - Italy

Castel Sant'Angelo - Italy

Somewhere Behind Marienplatz - Germany

Ah, can't believe i'm writing this, and yes, you are reading that title correctly. I went to Europe!

It all began when I have discussion with my mom about what-am-i-going-to-do-with-my-"arisan"-money. Europe was never on my bucket list in my short term vacation plan. I always wanted to go to Japan. Then my mom started this mind-games that makes me consider twice and my sister was also wanting me to go there (Europe), she wanted to go to Greece, and I have always wanted to go there too so a  few weeks later we were skype-ing to plan our trip.

A few tips for those of you planning for a trip to Europe:

1. Do your research, find out about the Visa, how much you need to pay, which country you're applying your Visa to, how much money you need to prepare and all that shit. I would  recommend this page for guidance.
2. Prepare your money. It doesn't have to be unbelievable amount of money transferred to your bank account in a short period of time. They just wanted to know if you are able to live there according to your plan.
3. Do not buy your plane tickets yet! Do it after you got the Visa. I mean, if shit happens, at least you won't lose your airplane ticket (and it's not cheap guys)
4. I would suggest not to take visa services. It's not that hard and you are basically paying extra for nothing. Those visa services cannot replace you for your visa interview.  You still have to attend it yourself so..what's the point?
5. Don't panic! during your visa interview the interviewer might look and sound intimidating but that's their job, all you need to do is be calm and collected, answer their questions straight away without any hesitant. When I got interviewed it probably took 5-10 mins and he only asks when I'll be leaving and be back and what I'm going there for.
6. Airplane tickets can be really expensive and I would suggest to take the fastest route possible. Go check this website so you can get the exact same flight with various prices and make sure all the tax and all that shit is included in the price. Go for the midnight flights because I have proven that this will help you avoid jet lag.
7. Have fun! this is your vacation anyway, enjoy it, you deserve it!

Will post each country experience with no particular order. Stay tuned!
 

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