Chalkadiki: Day 11

Today Gayle and I skipped the blue outfits and opted to accidentally twin in green.

This morning we hit the town where we had dinner last night and did some shopping. I only bought a couple more small things- nothing crazy. One of the shops we went to had the dope bird in the pics. I honestly can’t remember the birds name, but he was definitely a chill guy.
After shopping, we went to the hotel pool. It was awesome. The water felt so good and it was very nice to be able to swim in a more or less controlled environment. I enjoyed just floating around. There were lots of old leathery people lounging at the pool. I noticed a few of them watching us young people swim, and they almost looked as if it was a faux pas to actually be IN the pool.

We spent about an hour at the pool, and then met with the rest of our group to have lunch. We had lunch at Gary’s Gyros. There was so much food and all of it was delicious. While at lunch, I decided that I would not compromise with my compatriots and demanded that we spend at least another hour at the pool after lunch but before we go to the beach.

We did in fact go back to the pool for a while, and eventually we made our way out to the beach/aegean sea.
The water was so calm here. It was also very clear. I regret not taking more pictures, but ultimately I was living in the moment.
It was very cold when we first got in, but eventually the temperature of the water was perfect. There were almost no waves. It was like swimming in a lake, except the lake is salty (so…. the exact opposite of the Great Lakes). As always in Greece it seems, there were mountains on the other side of the sea.
Sam and I decided to leave the beach and walk down to a small store to buy some goggles so we could enjoy looking at the small fish in the water.
We ended up seeing small striped fish, sea urchins, and a STARFISH!!! The starfish was so cool. Did you know that starfish leave tracks when they move across the sea floor?

After our time in the sea, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the final event of the night: Karaoke. We were invited by our directors to attend karaoke at this bar called “Nick’s”. Basically everyone from our whole big group went. I sang Dancing Queen with Bex and Alyssa, and Go the Distance from Hercules by myself (by the time we got to my solo I’d had 2 shots of Bacardi on an empty stomach, sooooooo).
The night ended with Mia sleeping in my bed, Sam on my couch, and me waking up the next morning thinking that I was starting to get sick.

Overall, I liked Chalkadiki. I could see myself going back and taking more time to enjoy the whole town.
Side fact: Chalkadiki is pronounced without the “C” on the front (halkadiki). Places spell it either way.

Side fact 2: there is so much honeysuckle in Greece. It’s everywhere and I LOVE IT!!!!Read more