Easter, again, some more

It's my very special second Easter this year - in Greece for Eastern Orthodox celebrations means I get the whole Good Friday/Easter Sunday rigamarole again, and things are just as shut down - and rainy, sadly - as they were in Sydney back during Famous Original Easter.

It's funny, the things that I hear about countrie before I get to them, and how they compare. Bngkok was so exactly as advertised that I felt like I had been there before I'd even set foot in the city. Athens, though...it was touted as a grotty, smoggy, dirty city, very much see-the-Acropolis-and-get-out on the itinerary. It was, though, nothing like I expected, in a good way. I kept being struck by how quiet the city was; it was no more dirty than any other major metropolis, and quite a bit cleaner, really, than a lot I've been to. I don't know if it's that we were there at the first blush of the tourist season, or if it was because it was the start of Easter weekend, when many of the Greeks flee the city, or if most of the information was from people who had visited a while ago, and changes from converting to the Euro and upgrading the city to accommodate the Olympics changed everything that significantly. Whatever the reason, I really liked Athens, and found it navigable and interesting, and much more appealing than I had been expecting.

Yesterday, though, it was time to go and we ferried out of Athens and to the Cycladian island of Paros. It is every bit as picturesque as postcards would have you believe. We are here really early for the tourist season (a lot of things like restaurants, bars, and hotels close in the winter and only reopen in mid-April or early May) and it's easy to see why. Athens had perfect weather - a light breeze, sunny and fine. Perfect jeans-and-tee weather, with a light fleece for the evening, which might be a little warm for scrambling around ruins at midday and a bit cool after a late dinner at a taverna, but overall pretty ideal.

Here, though, it's a bit of a storm - quite chilly, rather windy, overcast. It's still picturesque, but not exactly beach weather. It made me glad we booked the high-speed ferry; it took 3 1/2 hours from Athens, and got pretty rough in the middle. I got seasick for the first time ever (happy birthday!) but it passed and I was fine when we arrived.

If it's ever possible, I do recommend spending a birthday on a Grecian island - this place is stunning, an just wandering about everywhere you look are the whitewashed buildings and blue shutters and red geraniums. I love it. There is also an unexpected bonus, being here for Easter - apparently the tradition is to go to Easter services late on Saturday night, and then have a huge feast afterwards. So for a birthday dinner, I ate a spectacular 5 course meal at about 1am, complete with the grilled Greek cheese and roasted lamb and dried figs. Fantastic.

Being on a quiet island out of season on a rainy Easter has one other good side effect, too - I really feel like I can see that I've become a lot more adaptable to things since I left originally. Obviously, having everything shut (though apparently things open at like 6pm on Easter Sunday, and that's when everyone sets of firecrackers and goes to the bar? Weird Greek traditions.) is not ideal for anyone, but I don't know - it just doesn't bother me much. I've learned quickly that the best laid plans of a traveler often bear no resemblance to how the day turns out - as often for better as for the worse, though. So a day is rainy, you get bored, you get a different day the next. It is what it is - that's the way life is, honestly. It's nice to let things roll off your back more often than not.

Happy Greek Easter, everyone. He is risen for the very last time this year, I think.