This is the trip of a lifetime: Day 11- welcome to Greece!

Today we left Turkey :( it was sad leaving Macit and the rest of the Turkish people, not to mention our wake-up call was at 5:45! It took about five hours to get through all the customs and transfers and such. We left the hotel at seven am and got to lunch (which was right after the border) at noon. We got to take a ferry across the Dardanelles (a strait) early in the morning, so we watch the sun rise over the water! After the ferry we drove for about half an hour to get to our transfer bus- where we had to unload everything from our Turkey bus onto a smelly dirty smaller bus. It was sad saying goodbye to Macit, but he gave us all his email address!

We drove through the Turkish border and had to climb out of the bus and go through passport control to get a stamp saying we'd officially left their country. Awkward moment of the day- the passport control officer winked at me when he handed my passport back... I quickly walked back on the bus :) we spent about ten minutes in no man's land until we got to the Greek border- which took forever to get through! We literally spent an hour there. For a while we thought they weren't going to give us our passports back but they eventually did and it wasn't an issue. Our bus got locked in on all sides for awhile by other big trucks waiting to be checked over- so we say in that stinky bus for way too long! We actually switched over to our Greek bus at the border, it's bright blue! And our Greek guide (her name is Voula) is hilarious and really sweet :)

After about an hour in the bus after we left the border station, we pulled up to a cute little town for our first Greek meal! I had a Gyro- it was the most amazingly delicious thing... So so good. Grandpa and I walked around the town for awhile after we finished eating- we had an adventure at the ATMs and then found a cute bakery shop :) I got homemade strawberry ice cream and grandpa got some chocolate cake- both were shared and greatly enjoyed! Our hotel was another hour away from our lunch stop, but once we got there I realized how much I love Greece :) it's absolutely gorgeous. The sky here is about ten times bigger than back home! I'm not quite sure what makes it seem that large but everywhere you go the sky seems huge. It's perfect for pictures :)

I really liked our hotel, it was a newly renovated high rise right on the water, and it seemed like home- the rooms and hallways were very bright and open and just looked like a hotel you'd stay in at home. We had about three hours before dinner once we settled into our room, so grandpa and I walked by the water on the boardwalk area and took some pictures of the old fishermen :) I had a nice long hot shower (with safe water I don't have to keep out of my eyes!) and actually dressed up for dinner! It felt really good to have a little extra mirror time after almost two weeks of dirty hair and clothes. Dinner was delicious and up in another 'rooftop' restaurant, it had the most amazing views of the sunset!

After dinner I joined all the girls once again for another almost sleepover- it was incredibly fun to just giggle and almost felt like I was with Jenna or Maddie or one of my other good friends :) almost though- I still miss everyone from home and can believe I'll be back in five days!

Picture 1- shopping inside the border control :)
Picture 2- sunset at dinner!
Picture 3- our Greek bus
Picture 4- chocolate cake from lunch
Picture 5- dinner spot!
Picture 6-the icky transfer bus :(
Picture 7-our last turkish purchase
Picture 8- yummy
Picture 9- yummmmmy
Picture 10-yum yum yum
Picture 11- Kavala port!
Picture 12- I'm in love
Picture 13- all dressed up
Picture 14- the blue bus!
Picture 15- Gyro, you're my hero
Picture 16- Greek flags are everywhere!
Picture 17- the ferry!
Picture 18- not really sure what this was all about...
Picture 19-breakfast- such a healthy way to start my day eh?
Picture 20- sunrise!
Picture 21-they drink so much redbull here
Picture 22- standing above all the busses on the ferry!