More pics from Porto Heli & other areas

Steve making breakfast

Dana on the computer in Nick's house

sheep stopping us from going

Party we had with (l to r) Jeannine,Mika,Takis,us, Nick, Greg, and cookie

Porto Heli, Greece

The town of Poros

Sunrise at Nick's

Us and Nick having a coffee across from Poros

A look from Greg and Jeannine's balcony (Greek American's)

Sunset from Nick's

Front of Nick's place

Hey Everyone, so after Athens we took a bus to Porto Heli, Greece. This is south Greece on the Peloponnese. We had our first help exchange with Nick! He is 59 years old and has a house on the coast with lemon trees, lots of vines and flowers surrounding is house. Our plan was to help clean up the yard, organize equipment, fix the roof on the shed....etc. Well The first day we just made him breakfast, cleaned his kitchen, hung out with his Greek American friends, and enjoyed the beach. Actually we enjoyed the beach the next day as well on an island called Spetses. Tuesday we were ready to work when it decided to rain, so we didn't work that day much, other than organize some tool boxes and Dana sewed some velcro onto some mats. Pretty much we chilled, and were cooks most of the time. The last day we worked hard and redirected the growth of all of his vines by his house, along with his rose bushes, and Steve stabbed himself a few times cutting leaves off palm trees! Everytime we were about to work it would rain, so we would end up going for a drive or visit to other areas We had a great time with Nick, He was super nice, relaxed, he cooked us a couple of great meals including octopus. Our families will be happy to know that the both of us seem to like tomatoes now, well at least in Greek salad!!! Our last day Nick drove us to a town called Nafplio, where we climbed 999 stairs to get to the top of a castle. There were actually more stairs, but we stopped counting after 999. From there he drove us to Corinth where we caught a bus to Patra. From Patra we took a ferry for 7 hours overnight to the island of Corfu. Much more from Corfu to come!

Athens

Us and our cousins Carla and Luke
Us overlooking Athens
Dana close to the Parthenon
Us in front of the Parthenon
Steve crushing what's left of Zeus' Temple

We spent the first day in Athens getting lost, or as we like to think, becoming more familiar with the city! Later that night Giannis took us on a bike ride through the city, all the way to Piraeus.(right on the coast, we had a great view of the sun setting over the Paloponnese mountains!) The next day we met up with our cousins, Luke and Carla, on their honeymoon. We spent the day hanging out, shopping, and catching up. Later that evening we went to a great little restaurant and they treated us to dinner. (Yah a break from bread and nutella) The next day we went to the Acropolis and walked around some of the old ruins in the 28 degree weather! We met back up with Carla and Luke in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day with them. It was really great to see them and catch up with them af

Short Stop in Bucharest

We took a train ride from Brasov (Braw show v) to Sinaia (sin eye a), on the reccommendation of Adina (mom from our last couch surfing experience in Brasov). Unfortunately it was raining and cold all day, so we really didn't get to see it. We caught a train from there to Bucharest (capital of Romania) and arrived around 4pm. There we stayed with a guy named Faith and his girlfriend Alexandra. They were a wonderful couple who took us for dinner and showed us around the city. The next morning we caught a train to Thessaloniki. Our original plan was to spend a day in Sofia, Bulgaria, but due to train schedules it worked better to head right to Greece. We met a guy named Jan on the train who is from the Czech Republic. We spent the day with him in Thessaloniki on the beach by Larissa, that is on the coast of the Aegean Sea. Later that day we trained into Athens and arrived around 11pm. We found our way to our host Giannis' place and are now going to discover Athens!

Brasov, Romania

Dana and the Black Church in the background

Dracula's Castle

From the roof of Dracula's Castle

It was a long train ride, 12 hours to be exact, plus a lost hour due to time change. But Ovidiu and his girlfriend Andrea were there to meet us when we arrived. We got to our room, changed, and then headed right back out the door to change money, and discover the city. We visited the black church (named because it almost burnt to the ground in 1600's). Walked around the city wall and some of the towers that are still intact (built in 1436). We did a coke taste test without knowing what they were saying, and sat at the main square and watched the water fountain while eating some gelato.

On Friday we took a half day trip to Bran, which is where Dracula's castle is. It was a very neat castle full of small staircases, fancy fireplaces in most of the rooms. We learned about the actual story of dracula, and found out many Romanian royalty actually lived in this castle. We did what the locals do, we sat around a cafe having a drink, and eating more gelato. We took it easy for the rest of the day, cooked some pasta, and got great travel advice from Ovidiu's mom. Now we are heading to the capital of Romania, Bucharest.