Goodbye Greece, on to Bulgaria!

Hey everyone,
I am now back on the ship, and will be for the next two days on our voyage to Bulgaria. Greece was great, the waters were crystal clear and the people were, for the most part, extremely friendly. The city of Athens itself was very dirty though, with graffiti everywhere, which was fairly disappointing.
The first day in Greece, we got tickets for a hop on hop off bus that would take us from the city of Piraeus, where our ship was, into the city of Athens. We first went to the Acropolis which was really interesting and reminded me of some of the ruins I saw in Rome, just different column designs. Getting up the hill wasn't very fun however, the ground was very uneven, slippery, straight up hill and 100 degrees out. It was definitely worth it though to say I have seen it :) After the Acropolis we went to the new Acropolis museum which held many artifacts from the Acropolis that they have preserved, including the original statues that were in the front of the Parthenon. After the museum we found an authentic little Greek restaurant where I had my first authentic greek salad, that would be the first of about 10 greek salads I would have on the trip! Obviously, I thoroughly enjoyed it, in fact, all of the greek food was so delicious. It is always hard to get on the ship and have salad pasta and potatoes after the flavorful food of the ports. Next we went to the flea market where I got some handmade leather sandals! They are super cute and I wanted them all! Then we got back on the hop on hop off bus and saw more of the city from the top of the bus. We went back to the ship for dinner and then started packing for Mykonos. We went to bed fairly early, as we had to wake up at 3am to catch our flight since the airport was an hour away and starting at 5am cabs were going on a 48 hour strike, so we knew we had to be at the airport before that happened.
We got to the airport early enough that I was able to skype with Kyle, and then the family. It was great to see all of your faces! By the time we got on the plane, the sun was starting to rise and we were able to see the sunrise over the islands since we never got high enough in the air to lose sight of the ocean. When we got to Mykonos we were able to put our bags in the hotel lobby and go to the beach until it was time to check in. We spent the day walking around the island near the beach, and laying in the sun. The water was so clear that we were able to see the fish swimming around by our feet when we were in the ocean. More greek salads and more beach time later, two nights in Mykonos and we were heading back to Athens.
The plane took off a half hour late and then when we got to Athens we found out the taxis were still on strike so we had to take a bus back which took an hour and a half. Then we had to walk for a half hour "shlepping" our stuff around only to get to the ship to realize that there was a huge line to get back on because there were only two people working to look through luggage.
So... A half hour flight followed by a 20 min taxi turned into a half hour wait, half hour flight, hour and a half bus ride, half hour walk, and a 45 min standing period just to get on the ship. We should have been back by 9 at the latest instead of 12, so we even got to see some people going out to bars as we were coming in with luggage.
The last day in Athens I had an FDP for class which was attending a lecture on Athens pride, and organization advocating gay equality. It was a really interesting presentation and it was sad to hear some of the stories about how the gay community is still treated today by their family, friends, and strangers by means of people spitting on them, being beaten or cut off from the family, and getting turned away in restaurants. After the lecture we got on the hop on hop off bus again and went and strolled Athens for a few more hours before heading back to the ship to leave for Bulgaria.
Bulgaria is probably the place I am looking the least forward to because no one has seemed to be able to tell me what to do there except lay on the beach, which to do that for an entire port seems like a waste of experience, so if anyone knows anything about Varna, Bulgaria, please share! I am doing a trip through the ship that is a dinner and dance show where there are fire dancers and breathers, so that should be fun!
Miss and love you all, hope everyone is doing well.