European Vacation

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 05:00 AM

I went on a 2-week vacation back in June to Europe. I went there to visit my sister, who was doing a study abroad program in Madrid, Spain.

I departed from Los Angeles, California and made a straight shot to London, UK (Heathrow) then immediately ran to catch my next flight to Madrid, Spain. My luggage got misplaced while in London, so I was pretty upset with British Airways after that experience.

The places my sister and I visited were:

- Santorini Island, Greece

- Athens, Greece

- Madrid, Spain

Santorini is absolutely beautiful. The weather is nice and cool (much like my home in southern California). The landscape and beaches are serene. The buildings are beautifully colored with white and blue textures. Also, the people there are very happy and gracious. If I had the money and ability, I would own a second home on Santorini Island.

Below are some photos of Santorini Island:

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 05:09 AM

Some more pictures of Santorini:

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 05:17 AM

A few more of Santorini:

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 05:26 AM

Athens is a magnificent city. There are many ancient sites to see and museums with interesting artifacts. There people there are also very friendly and carefree.

Below are some photos of Athens:

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 05:35 AM

Some more pictures of Athens:

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 05:48 AM

A few more of Athens:

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 05:57 AM

Madrid, Spain is a fun city. There is a lot of night life and a significant portion of the city is made up of young folks. There are plenty of good places to eat and there are some nice gyms as well.

Below are some photos of Madrid:

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 06:06 AM

Some more pictures of Madrid:

**tidalwave** · July 2nd, 2007, 11:05 AM

Amazing pics man! Great destinations to hit consecutively.. they're both on my (rather long) list. Santorini looks almost surreal.. what kind of accommodations did you have there?

LOL @ the guy in the background of the 'posing with the statue' pic.. he looks disgusted!

**Insex** · July 2nd, 2007, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tidalwave

Amazing pics man! Great destinations to hit consecutively.. they're both on my (rather long) list. Santorini looks almost surreal.. what kind of accommodations did you have there?

In Santorini, we stayed in a small hotel. It was more like someone's guest house, but with more rooms than a typical house. In Athens, we stayed in a hostel. A hostel is basically a hotel with rooms that you share with other people and a bathroom or two that you share with the whole floor. In our room, there was a bunk bed and a regular bed. So each night, we shared our room with one additional person.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tidalwave

LOL @ the guy in the background of the 'posing with the statue' pic.. he looks disgusted!

It's funny you mentioned that. He was really angry with me when I did that. You can't tell from the picture, but he's part of the museum staff. In Greece, they're very laid back and usually don't make their employees wear uniforms, even in museums. I didn't know he was part of the museum staff until he started yelling at me. Then he told me in broken English that I was not allowed to take pictures with the statue. But I don't think that's true because they allowed photos to be taken within the museum. I think what he meant was that I was not allowed to "pose" with the statue. I wasn't too trilled about that, because what harm is it to him if I pose with the statue? Unless that man actually worships pagan gods, I don't see what the big problem is. If they don't want people "posing" with statues, then they shouldn't allow cameras in the building in the first place. After he yelled at me, he told us we had hand over our camera. Well, I made it clear to him that I wasn't going to just hand over an $800 camera to anyone, let alone him. So then he told us to delete the photo. Luckily, my sister took two photos of me with the statue. So she "pretended" to delete it by just deleting the last one.

**burnt_thru** · July 14th, 2007, 05:03 AM

looks like u had a gr8 holiday - thanks for sharing. the pics of santorini remind me of a trip i once took to a greek island. happy times.

yr story about the museum worker is annoying. give some people a little power, i suppose...

btw, yr not at all like i thought u'd look. lookin buff though, man! (he says in a totaly staight way!!!)

**Italianangel** · July 18th, 2007, 11:58 PM

great stuff!!
Linda

**MissytroN** · August 4th, 2007, 02:14 AM

aww that looks amazing, im sure u had heapsa fun!

**ItalianStallion** · August 7th, 2007, 11:13 PM

awesome pics..i too one day wanna make a trip to europe n do that whole scene....do u mind if i ask how much it was? not the whole trip but like stayin in the hostel n that room in santorini? im deciding on goin ALL out wit luxuries n save shitload of money for it..or wing it n go cheap n just live thru the trenches u kno?
o ya ne advice on things to do or things that went wrong that u can tell us to aviod!?

**wil** · August 8th, 2007, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItalianStallion

awesome pics..i too one day wanna make a trip to europe n do that whole scene....do u mind if i ask how much it was? not the whole trip but like stayin in the hostel n that room in santorini? im deciding on goin ALL out wit luxuries n save shitload of money for it..or wing it n go cheap n just live thru the trenches u kno?
o ya ne advice on things to do or things that went wrong that u can tell us to aviod!?

Be careful what hostel you stay at.