Safety first! After all 1,300 passengers were aboard the Sea Diamond, the Captain led us through a drill that we all should've taken a little more seriously. Instead, my cabin mates and I pose with our matching neon orange outfits.
This is the first modern Olympic Stadium ever, and it's located in Athens. Surprisingly, it's open to the public at all hours of the day and if you look closely enough you can see little boys roller blading in the stadium's epicenter. According to my cab driver, the same boys are there every day.
First of many meals that come with feta cheese. Actually this was only a third of the appetizer portion of our seven course dinner!
First stop, Mykonos! Home of the whitewashed houses and blue-domed churches. All the homes on this island must be painted white and must have either blue or green trimming (rooftop, door frames, etc.)
If you decide to paint the trimming another color (red is the only other color allowed by the city), just like the house on the right, you have to pay a monthly fee.
It's not every day that you see two pelicans sunbathing on the doorstep of a very busy gelato parlor. I'm lucky these birds didn't poke my eye out.
This is a bazaar in Kusadasi, Turkey. This is where I bought my favorite pair of hand-made leather sandals. (Quality that you can feel!)
Next stop is Patmos. This is the doorway that leads to the room where St. John is known to have written the book of Revelation.
Rhodes! This is home to the infamous Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. This is a picture of one of the main castles on the island.
Crete is the more urban, industrialized portion of Greece. Check out this car! I bet you can fit four of those in 50 cent's Hummer.
This picture is of one of the smaller city streets that my friend and I ended up in when we got lost in Crete. Even the "ghetto" side of Greece is breathtaking.
Here is a picture of the grand Sea Diamond, two hours before it sank.
Yes way! On April 6, 2007, the Captain of the Sea Diamond of Louis Hellenic Cruise Lines ran the ship aground a volcanic reef off the island of Santorini. The best and final stop of our Aegean tour was interrupted by an emergency siren and a panicked voice over the intercom announcing "the evacuation plan."
With what I can remember, my turn to board a safety boat took four and a half hours, so luckily the ship was sinking a lot slower than the Titanic. With the exception of two French passengers, the majority of the people aboard made it safely to shore. Nothing was salvaged, all belongings made its way to the bottom of the Aegean Sea along with the ship, including a necklace from my great grandmother.
On a brighter note, I still had enough sense and audacity to grab my camera. Here are some pictures you probably didn't see in the news..
Here is a picture of the ship on a tilt and people trying to climb out from one of the emergency ladders. My friend Tory had taken this picture from a safety boat. She was one of the first to be saved. Notice the people on the very top deck, as if they're all waiting for permission to jump.
Either the camera angle is skewed, or the ship is sinking and everyone is gravitating to the right.
That's me on the middle deck waiting to be rescued. My friend that took the picture from one of the safety rafts was trying to cheer me up. It almost worked.
I waited four and a half hours for a turn on the jumbo slide!
After all the madness and hullabaloo, Santorini awaits with open arms. Never in my life have I stepped foot on land so beautiful.
After the event, all I could be thankful for is my life and one heck of a 21st birthday present!
