The Island Life

I honestly feel that Greece was the home of the gods for a reason so as promised here is my experience of The Greek Islands in all their glory (watch out it's a biggie!).

Oia, Santorini. You know you want to go but how?

Let’s start with getting there: Ferries are your friend. Buy your tickets a day or two in advance and you can’t go wrong.  As a guide, the trip from Athens to Santorini takes around 7 hours on a regular ferry (you can choose to go on a high speed ferry but faster = pricier). We paid €33.50 to get from Athens to Santorini and €15 between Santorini and Ios. Be cool and remember to take your iPod/Sudoku puzzle book/lollies out of your luggage when you get on. Otherwise it will be a long, long journey.

Where I stayed: On Santorini my friend and I stayed at Stavros Villas. The owners were kind and hospitable, the room was perfect but the pool was disappointingly small!  

Whilst in Ios we made Ios Resort our home. My friend and I shared a clean, modern room with a private bathroom, air conditioning, mini fridge and a balcony overlooking the pool, for just €22 a night each. The owners were wonderful and they sold the island’s best daiquiris, sandwiches and Greek salads at the poolside bar.

If you’re backpacking on Mykonos look no further than Paradise Beach Backpackers. I stayed in a beach hut 2 minutes from the beach and bars but it was more expensive than our accommodation on the other islands and not nearly as nice.

Santorini

My first afternoon on Santorini was spent in Fira drinking wine, eating salted pistachios and watching the sunset over Nea Kameni -the islet volcano. This is one of my favourite memories. Ever. I felt really peaceful and so lucky to be there taking in something so beautiful.

My first afternoon in Fira

I’d highly recommend doing a day tour of the Island. Ours started with a boat ride to Santorini’s Nea Kameni Volcano to climb to the top. As you can imagine, the Greek sun is unforgiving and the rock radiates the heat making this a pretty tough climb, but rest assured the view from the top will blow your mind (pardon the pun)! After descending the volcano we swam at some so-called ‘hot’ springs before sailing to beautiful Thirassia. Quiet and laidback, this Island was the perfect spot for a long lunch of swordfish souvlaki and moussaka in the sun. mmmmmmm.

Thirassia

I am a big believer that when you’re on holidays you get an exercise-free pass. Embrace it. I’m serious, who wants to climb 250+ stairs after eating a giant piece of moussaka when they’re on holidays? Not me! Splash out a few Euros and take a joyride on one of the very excitable donkeys from the port up to Oia, Santorini’s most picturesque and popular town.

Oia is the home of blue-domed, white washed buildings, tiny overpriced shops and cafes and according to many: the world’s best sunsets. The best view is from the ancient castle, so go early to get a spot. We waited and watched and as the sun dipped lower in the sky, purple, pink. orange and gold spread over the Aegean like a blanket. Everyone applauded the spectacular show.

Not bad eh?

What else is there to do on Santorini? Hit the beach of course and spend the day at Kamari Beach. We feasted on fresh fruit and yoghurt and listened to chilled out tunes. It was bliss. My only gripe is the exorbitant cost of English magazines. Cosmo is not worth the equivalent of AU$15 in any country.

Lounging at Kamari beach

Ios

The epic poet Homer is buried on Ios, along with the dignity of many a drunken tourist…Ios is about fun in the sun, late nights, dirty dance floors and hot hook ups. Spend your days lazing by the pool or tanning at Mylopotas beach. Evenings should be spent watching the sunset and drinking cocktails at Harmony, before heading into Chora (the town centre) to dance until daylight and scope out the talent.

Exploring Ios during the day

Ios has many beautiful churches and the narrow streets are great fun to explore so make sure you see more of the island than sand and dancefloors. We got lost in the maze of white buildings on our mission to find the Panagia Gremiotissa church overlooking the town centre but it was well worth it for the view.

What was the best island discovery? White chocolate covered Oreos. Oh. My. Goodness. Why in god’s name don’t we have these in Australia? Tell me WHY!?!!?

Church on Ios

Mykonos

I didn’t love Mykonos – it’s much pricier than both Ios and Santorini. Whilst it is pretty with its postcard perfect buildings and winding streets (designed to confuse pirates) I felt that it was overly touristy and a little seedy. To make the most of Mykonos you should do the following:

1. Watch the sunset from/over the Chora Windmills
2. Eat in Little Venice
3. Search for Petros the Pelican and his friends
4. Head to one of the many beaches to tan and check out the locals
5. Befriend/enjoy a flirtation with a good-looking bartender from Serbia who executes cheesy courting techniques like writing you a note on a serviette and getting his coworker to drop it at your table (when you’re eating at the restaurant next door to his bar), making you a rose out of a serviette, serving you overly alcoholic post-dinner cocktails then taking you on a personal tour of the island the next day…

Mykonos Windmills

Nightlife:  To say Ios and Mykonos are well-known for their nightlife is an understatement. You may have already guessed but my pick of the two is Ios which is full of bars pumping out Daft Punk, Kid Cudi and Rihanna till the early hours. Take your pick from Slammer Bar, Karma Beach Bar, Orange Bar, Disco 69, Redbull Bar and The Dubliner to name a few or visit them all! Drink specials are plentiful and the clubs kick off about midnight/1am. 

Paradise beach on Mykonos is home to a Ministry of Sound club and if you’re gay, Italian or both, you may prefer the party scene here. Things get going at 4pm thanks to a man (naked except for a g-string with an elephant on the front) dancing on a nearby bar encouraging everyone to drink and ‘get crazy’.

Food: It’s all yummy! On Ios I would recommend Lord Byron’s for dinner and warn you that you’ll most likely end up at Porky’s for a late night/early morning feed. There are loads of great restaurants and supermarkets as well so you certainly won’t starve.

Drink: Jaeger-bombs, vodka, Mythos, tequila, you can find it all in the islands. The daiquiris Mike makes at Ios Resort are second to none!

Getting around: Whilst on the islands you can walk, bike or ride. On Ios and Mykonos we walked or caught the local buses as they were cheap, fairly frequent and reliable. Santorini is a little bigger so we made the decision to hire a quad bike. After a few hilarious lessons in the car park my inner biker emerged and we were off with the wind in our hair…and a few hours later a bloody sore thumb!  

One night on Santorini I also went ‘off-roading’ on a scooter. Clinging to the torso of a handsome American boy we drove along a deserted beach before stopping to run into the ocean and lie under the stars…aaaah such a perfect date! Not recommended by bike salesmen, highly recommended by me.

Walking is best!

A little advice: On Ios do not go to Harmony and drink 2 cocktail jugs between you and three girlfriends and then follow this with strawberry daiquiris and slammer bar shots. You will end up at orange bar trying to get your ‘free souvenir t-shirt’ by ordering 7 shots and only after ‘winning’ your ‘free t-shirt’ will you realise that you actually need to order another 7 shots so your friend has a t-shirt too.

If you do this you will end the evening sharing a porky’s kebab with your friend (sharing because you don’t want to get too fat) only you will both be so hungry/drunk that you actually ‘share’ two kebabs and the Greek man behind the counter will laugh at you before selling you 1.5 litres of heavenly water. You will wake up to roughly 100+ photos of you and your friend (in your free Orange Bar t-shirts) dancing on a piece of furniture/pashing random English boys/falling down stairs/generally behaving badly. But you know this is just a warning. I’m not speaking from experience or anything…

Take this as a warning

Don’t forget to take: Sunscreen, swimmers, towel, sunglasses and maybe a hat. Aspirin and perhaps some birth control is a smart move to.

Where I shopped: The local stores are great fun to browse. I bought a dress and a gold ring I rarely take off.

What to read: Trashy magazines galore!

What I wear: Swimmers, shorts, singlets, and lots of summery dresses.

What I listened to: Metric ‘Fantasies’, Peter, Bjorn and John, Ash Grunwald, Daft punk, Rihanna, Katy Perry…

It's all Greek to me

With a few of my friends leaving and settling overseas recently, it has made me long to travel again. Consequently, I’ve decided to do another post about  my previous travels. This time it’s Athens, Greece.

Destination: Athens

Some facts about Greece:

Capital: Athens

Population: 11,300,000

Currency: Euro

Language: Greek

Trivia: Athens is the oldest city in Europe and the birthplace of Democracy. Another interesting fact is that in a world wide study by Durex, Greeks came out on top. They have better sex, more often…have you booked your ticket yet?

How I got there: I flew EasyJet from London to Athens. It was inexpensive and the flight was fairly comfortable.

Where I stayed: My travel buddy and I stayed at Zorba’s hostel in Plaka, Athens that we booked through hostelworld. I probably wouldn’t recommend it.  Yes it was cheap and quite fun but it was also dirty with little to no ventilation. Although, with a free drink on arrival and cheap Mythos beer, we made the most of the bar downstairs mingling with other travelers.

Highlights: The most popular tourist sight in Athens is no doubt the Acropolis. Presiding over the city, it wasn’t long before the Acropolis beckoned to us so we grabbed some bottled water and started on our way. Of course, being Athens there were no signs directing us as to where to go- or if there were we didn’t see them. So after an hour and half of solid walking including (wrong turns, blocked paths and plenty of sweating in the midday sun) we forked over our precious euros and entered the ancient world.

The Acropolis

It was almost a bit surreal to see this ancient structure up close; a symbol of power and prosperous times from centuries ago. The Acropolis offers a breathtaking view of the two Olympic Stadiums (original and modern), the port or Pireaus, the Temple of Zeus, Ancient Agora and the mass of solid white houses that make up the city; there is no better way to see the vast expanse of the Greek capital. 

Close up

The view over Athens - you can see the Port of Pireaus on the far right

Ancient Agora is also not to be missed. A political, social, religious and commercial site, the Agora was the centre of city life in the Greek capital and the remaining ruins are still quite well preserved. We really enjoyed wandering around the site; stumbling over the remains of pillars and broken statues and visiting the Museum’s beautiful statue gallery.

Ancient Agora

This statue is carved in such detail...so beautiful

The Temple of Zeus - or rather what is left of the Temple, the Panathenian Stadium (the original Olympic stadium) and the National gardens are also worth a look but I will say they aren’t overly exciting. However, the gardens do provide a lovely green haven from the concrete jungle that is Athens so if you’re craving some peace and quiet, you know where to look.

Be sure to amuse yourself by watching the changing of the guards outside Parliament house…if only to see the uniforms.

Food: The food in Greece is phenomenal. Unfortunately for us, our first Greek meal was a dinner of hot chips, a BLT with tomato sauce and a side of ‘creepy man following us home’. Thankfully, once in the confines of our hostel we didn't' see him again.

You know, your typical Greek Fare...

Each day in Athens we would buy fresh fruit from the street merchants to munch on while we explored. We would splash out on bananas or spend €1 each on huge paper bags full of fresh strawberries and cherries and then proceeded to gorge ourselves silly as we walked through the flee market stores.

Athens is full of tavernas and we frequented a couple around Monastiraki metro station. The most memorable of these cured our raging hangovers with one of the best brunches I have ever eaten.

BEHOLD THE BEST BRUNCH EVER:

Nom nom nom we certainly tried out best to finish it

As you can see it’s a GIANT metze platter full of meat; pork sausages, lamb souvlaki, beef patties and grilled chicken, calamari plus fried haloumi, roasted veggies, toasted flat bread, olives, dips and Greek salad too! We endeavoured to finish it all but it proved an impossible feat for our overly full tummies.

But the food defeated us

Drink: Mythos is Greece’s Beer of choice as well as mine. A 1L bottle costs around €1 at the Supermarket and its light flavour is the perfect accompaniment for hot weather and tasty Greek fare.

Ouzo is really gross. All I can say is don’t go there!

Getting Around: The Athens Metro system easy to understand, relatively inexpensive, and fast. As two female travellers we both felt very safe using it.  

Greek taxi drivers are not to be trusted. We caught a bus from the airport into the city centre and then a cab and had to pay €20 for what should have been a €5 cab ride to our hostel in the Plaka. Save your money for a night on the Mythos; catch the metro and walk.

Mistakes and un-pleasantries: As much as I wish I could, I can’t overlook the terrible invasiveness I felt in Athens due to the behavior of local men. In all my travels I have never felt so uncomfortable. My advice is to trust your intuition and try to ignore the constant unwanted attention. If you’re blonde it may help to cover your hair up a little.

Fellow travellers: We made all our friends at our hostel bar. Everyone is in transit to the Islands and stays only as long as they need to in Athens: 2 full days is all you need to see everything.

Nightlife: I admit that we didn’t bother with much of the Athens nightlife outside our hostel bar. Locals told us that the clubs are very expensive and during the summer time they are located at or close to the beach. Then there is the added bonus of catching a cab home at dawn…why bother when you can drink with great people till 3am then go upstairs to bed?

Biggest surprise: The short distance between each of the main tourist sights…it looks so much further on the map! I was also pretty gobsmacked by the number of shoe shops. There were literally 20 different shoe stores on some streets selling stilettos and pumps galore. I wish I’d been towards the end of my trip so I could stock up!

Don’t forget to take: Sunscreen, a water bottle and deodorant (it gets hot and there is no shade).

What to wear: If visiting in June I would recommend clothing that’s light, breathable and quick drying. I paired singlets and t-shirts with shorts or a cute summer skirt. Summer dresses by Ecote and Ladakh were also favourites. Havianas and my tan Grecian sandals kept my feet happy but they were no match for the dust and dirt of Athens.

If you’re thinking about going to Greece all I can say is stop in Athens and say hello to some history then head straight to the Islands. Aaaaaaah the Islands...so beautiful and so much fun!

The next travel post will be about my adventures on the Cyclade Islands of Santorini, Ios and Mkyonos so keep your eyes peeled!

If you’re happy and you know it…clap your hands!

Guess what?

I’m going to The Drums gig!!! My friend H and her boyfriend bagged me a ticket today and now I’ll be dancing my butt off with them on the 4th of May. This is most excellent news don’t you think? I actually clapped my hands with excitement and nearly jumped up and down when I got the word.

Ok, so putting it into perspective it’s not exactly as exciting as when The Boy told me he booked his flights back to Australia to live (that induced more of a Justin Bieber tweenage fan type reaction) but it totally made my day.

Now that I’m in a celebratory mood I’m baking rose macarons (I'll let you know how they turn out in a future post) and I’m going to put up some photos of 5 things that make me happy…

Holidays and TRAVEL!! I took this in the Greek Islands...so picturesque

Hydrangeas in Victoria, B.C. Canada.

Snowboarding - taken in my beloved 'home for a while' Whistler

Photoautomat in Berlin. I firmly believe there is no better way to spend 2 Euro and 10 Minutes.

Cupcakes and baking. I made these for a friend's Birthday.

So i know this is nothing particularly special but sometimes I just want to share a pretty picture to spread a bit of the happiness I'm feeling right :)

Sweet dreams everyone

xx