Santorini

 

We arrived in Santorini after a four hour ferry ride from Paros. Everyone we have met has raved about it, but both James and I agree that Mykonos and Paros have been nicer. Cleaner and less western feeling.

With Lonely Planet and Wikipedia as our guide (as our real one isn't very useful) we have still found out some interesting stuff! More about that in a moment... Given that I have been unable to update those around me about my general wellness and body alignment, I just needed to share my toe with you. Stubbed it climbing up a rock to cliff jump in Paros on our boat trip and then thought I might have broken it. It is now looking and feeling a little better and is no longer black. 

Thank you for indulging me.

Back to Santorini. Its one of the most seismically active places in the world. See all that water in the photo below? That used to be land. Inhabited since c.3000BC the island used to be round. Then around 1650BC (they think) the biggest volcanic explosion ever, caused the centre of the island to sink in leaving a massive caldera. The water where the ferry is is approx 400m deep.

Check out a map to see the circle of land surrounding the caldera. It's thought that the resulting tsunami from the explosion was responsible for wiping out the Minoans on Crete. 

That island behind the ferry is a dormant volcano that appeared out of the ocean around 1707. 

 

1956 saw a massive earthquake that destroyed countless houses and killed scores of people. You can see from this photo how the fabulous clifftop towns like Thira and Oia cling to the side of the caldera.

Donkeys can carry you up the 500 odd stairs from the Port to Thira for 4 Euros. Or you can save them their toil and take the cable car for the same cost.

Sunset from Thira.

Underwater World - Welcome to the Aegean

We've been blown away by the clarity of the water so we took the opportunity to get some shots with the underwater camera. Now, you need to appreciate that this wasn't easy. The water is also really salty and so opening your eyes underwater gets painful after a while. Plus, without a mask you can't see anything on the LCD screen anyway! So photographing each other proved a challenge with lots of 'too closes' and complete misses. But we had fun!! These shots are from Mykonos.

By the way, you can click on the images for a slightly larger view (we are only uploading small files so it doesn't take too long.)
Happy Weekend!

Paros & Naousa

We took quite a few shots when we headed up to the small fishing village of Naousa (sounds almost like Noosa) with the girls, and around Paros, I thought I'd do a separate post of some them here.

The cobbled streets wind down narrow alleys, bustling with late night shoppers

The proud Greek village of Naousa, full of life, light and laughter.

Flowerpots adorn the merest of corners and crannies, adding colour everywhere.

Life moves at it's own pace in Greece, hence the notion of "Greek Time." Very calming.

Silence falls over the village at siesta, but come 11:00pm, when the sun goes down, these streets host an ancient theatre of trade.

A portal to another way of life. We could learn a lot from their laid back ways

Hand crafted wares abound.

Such contrast and vivid colours.

Traces of shade greet the weary bargainer.

Just a small selection, we have taken literally hundreds, but we need to go through them when we get home. I hope you get a bit of taste for where we've been!

Contemplation.

Paros

The "Alexandros."

So my pillow in Paros was like heaven. Our lovely little room overlooked a lemon orchard and had super cool air con and a decent bed. Only a short stroll into town, we checked out Parikia (the port town) for lunch and more gyros. I should explain the awesomeness that is gyros at this point. They are like a small kebab/souvlaki thing. Pork, tomato, onion, garlic sauce and chips all rolled up in a pita. Yes, chips. So good.

We met up with some of the girls on the tour in Naousa for dinner. It a very nice little seaside town with lots of restaurants and not as run down as Parikia. I had stuffed squid after we sampled some of the worst cocktails any of us had had in Europe to date.

There's so many cats in all these islands, not all as cute as this gorgeous little thing.

Yesterday we went out on a boat around Paros and Antiparos for the day. I think we now both finally feel like we're on holidays.

I agree with Hannah, the boat trip yesterday was good fun!!

We headed off for the trip around Antiparos (where Tom Hanks apparently has a home) and then stopped somewhere for a quick swim, through some natural bridge thingies.

Hannah's ghostly visage, showing just how blue water can get.

Yearrgh! A happy pirate with awesome hair...

Then onto the beach of Despotiko Island, where we were stuffed full of souvlaki, Greek salad, tzatziki and fresh bread. Needless to say there was gallons of wine and ouzo... I enjoyed my lemonade. Oh, freshly caught BBQ octopus. Big thumbs up, Spartacus style.

Awesome down-blouse shot.

After a nice lunch on the beach, we climbed back aboard, stopping at this private little cove with a climbable cliff for another swim. This place was so magic. It's hard to convey just how clear the water is, and the colour is something else. When you're swimming around, it looks like the water is maybe an inch below your feet. When you stick your head under, you realise it's maybe 4 or 5 METRES deep. Wow.

Surveying the drop into bliss.

Attention everybody! I have a very important announcement to make....CANNONBALL!!!!!!!!!!

The journey home delivered an outstanding number of giant waves erupting over the bow, and into our faces. Everything and everyone was soaked in a matter of minutes. So awesome.

Today was taken up mainly with arguing with hotel staff and ferry rides. We're here in Santorini, perched upon a hill in a sweet little hotel with Parosian marble floors. I've stuffed another gyros in my gob, and now I'm happy as. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.......

MYKONOS

Mykonos!!

We are now officially in the Greek Isles. We are staying at the Paradise Beach Club, as recommended by our tour. We thought it would be a good idea to stay with everyone else so that we could get to know the other people on our tour. So far we've only met them out at dinner and on our day trip. Haven't seen anyone at Paradise Beach.

I feel like I'm still swaying as we've spent 7 hours on ferries over the last 2 days.

The water here is amazing. A strange turquoise, azure colour. On the way out it was super glassy. No surfing to be done here, that's for sure. We had a very nice first, if hot, day on Mykonos with a swim, massive platter of squid and chips and a walk around the crazy Mykonos town followed by dinner with some people from our tour.

This was only dampened slightly by the bloody nightmare that is our accommodation. It's beautiful next to the water, places to eat, lie in the sun and swim, but the sleeping quarters leaves a little to be desired. I think photos say it all really...

Like James says, the only thing missing is the little chute for the egg to roll out. After a 5:30am start on our first full day in Greece we were shattered by midnight and ready for a full night's sleep. But Paradise Beach is where its AT. So midnight was only the beginning. I think the last of the partiers finished their drama-strewn conversations outside our wooden tent around 7am... Not a happy girl.

Today has been more relaxing. We went out to the island of Delos, a world heritage site, at its peak around 300BC.

After that we found our first Gyros in Mykonos Town. The equivalent of $3.75.  

YUM!!! The Cyclades, Islands around Delos in the Aegean, were fraught with pirate attacks and so Mykonos Town was built defensively. Each street twists and turns so as to confuse any assaulting pirate, or tourist. Walked around for about an hour last night and each time we ended up back at the restaurant where we started. It's really beautiful though. White walls, coloured shutters and bougainvillea.

More swimming and a cocktail on the beach.

Sunset in Pireaus

We're not sure what the internet situation will be like in the Islands so figured a brief food update was in order. :)

Turns out our hotel is right near one of the smaller marinas in Piraeus. A short walk took us to the waterside for our first GREEK salad and some very tasty squid!