Greece!

Made in to Greece!

Had two nights in athens before coming to Santorini

Athens was... quite dingy aroudn the area we were staying. But we went on a walking tour of athens and saw the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the ancient Agora (market place) where the first shopping centre was built! the theatre of Dionysis, and of course the Acropolis. The Acropolis towers over athens, but the walk up is actually quite easy. But not a donkey in sight. The parthenon is covered in scaffolding and there's a sign announcing the restoration "was completed in 2006".... i think they built the sign before they even started!!! Very interesting though, and great views of sprawling athens.

parthenon

Guards outside the president's residence

Early start on thur to catch ferry to santorini. Tickets were for economy which means you sit on plastic chairs in the cafeteria for 9 hours. luckily there was an announcement about upgrades and for only 2 euro each we got nice big comfy chairs!!!!! Arrived in Santorini to be accosted by hotel owners trygin to sell us rooms. we had already booked our first night in the hostel Lara stayed in (meanwhile they've drained the pool!!!!). made it up the hill from the port on the public bus - almost missed it though, it looked like one of the private hotel buses!!

So Santorini is very pretty with its storybook white and blue buildings, perched precariously on the side of the cliffs facing the water. Santoniri is actually the mouth of a volcano. there are heaps of dogs wandering around the streets. some look very skinny and homeless but lots have collars. and they dont smell or anythign which is more than i can say for my own spoilt puppies!!

friday we went shopping all day! there is lots and lots of fun tourist crap to buy here.

saturday the weather was ok and we went to Kamari beach. too cold to go in the water but we walked all along the beach. difficult on the pebbles!!!

Sunday was a nice day and we went to red beach. literally red sand up against a red cliff. you have to climb rocks to get to it, very isolated. Actually went in the water!!!! freezing, but pretty and green. stayed in for almost an hour! meanwhile other tourists were laughing at our bravery.

We went on a boat tour yesterday and visited the active part of the volcano with black magma rocks and holes in the ground with boiling hot steam floating out. on the tour we also visited the hot springs! which could've been warmer :) but still good!!! unfortunately now our swimmers are stained from the sulfur. had lunch in thirassia, an island on the other side of the caldera from santorini. ordered octupus pasta... came out with two long tenticles piled on chips!went up to Oia for the famous sunset.... unfortunately it was too cloudy! must've been these rain clouds on their way. the walk up from the port to oia nearly killed the entire tour group. i wanted to catch a donkey up but was wearing a skirt... not the most practical of donkey riding attire.

random dog that came and sat with us in Oia

the food is great, been having lots of seafood - octopus, cuttlefish, swordfish (but they chargrilled it!!!! ruined!!!!!) as well as dolmades, taramasalata, feta and greek beer.... etc rhonda wants to try on of the restaurants with no menu but i'm scared. what if they give me a big pile of lamb!!?!?!?!

our hostel room is cute. blue and white and we're the only two there. there are stairs to the attic where there are two more beds but its not busy enough. and we have a fridge!!! so been having a few picnics in our room hehehe.

our only hangout at night is Murphy's the irish pub. have become friends with alex the "guest" dj, costas the dj/bartender, katarina the waitress and kristos the bartender. such greek names!!!!!!!!

rhonda and me at murphy's, alex in the background

the weirdest thing about greece is that you're not meant to put toilet paper down the toilet.... the worst thing about greece is the smoking.

now today its absolutely pouring. so lucky we've had a few days of nice weather. we wanted to go to mykynos tomorrow, but chatted to the crepe guy and he said its incredibly windy, and even more expensive than santorini (which is up there with london prices!!). anyway all ferries have been cancelled so we're trapped!!!! booked to go to syros thursday and will find out thurs morning if its canceled or not. not quite sure what we'll do while its raining. and i left my gortex with chris in london - why would i need protected from the elements in santorini!?!?!?!?!?!