A 20 year old Canadian girl
In Paris for 4 months doing a semester abroad
First time in Europe
Directionally challenged
Forced to get this blog by family and friends
This should be interesting.
This is my comparison of France vs England so far:
France pros:
-French bakeries
-Paris is awesome
-cheese
-cheap wine
-the metro / ability to go everywhere
-clubs
-all my Guelph girls!
England pros:
-Kim and Keith
-people speak English :o
-bagels
-grapes
-chocolate milk
-doritos
-cream eggs
Interesting.
Today we decided to just relax around the resort. We went in the indoor pool, sauna, hamam, and whirlpool and then went and tanned by the pool outside. It was a great last day because we were completely tired out from so many bus, plane, DONKEY, and boat rides!
We made it to the airport on time for our flight and got back to Gatwick smoothly. We then commenced the extremely late night drive back to Southwold and arrived at like 4 am!
Overall, such a good first Greek experience :)
Mare Nostrum Hotel
Today was our last day in Santorini. I promised Kim she could have a day of lying in the sun and since we had seen everything in Santorini already, today was it! We attempted to go to the black sand beach but it was so windy and when the wind picked up, the black sand became little daggers pelting us!! Ah, no thank you! We did, however, put some in a bottle to bring home :)
So we spent the rest of the day tanning by the pool instead. We actually even met two girls who had just checked in and were from London, ON! Such a small world. They were doing a gap year and had just been au pairs in Spain and were now backpacking.
We were flying back to Athens that night (scary = a flight on Friday the 13th :/) and had been hearing tons about all the protests in Athens due to the economic crisis. We had basically just wanted to see the Acropolis in Athens and had already done that so we decided to just book a hotel closer to the airport that was really nice and had a pool! We did that and then went for dinner at God’s Garden again. I had stuffed peppers and tomatoes this time and it was really good.
Then our friendly hotel owner Stelios and his wife (they’re so cute!) drove us to the airport. We waiting for like 2 hours in the smallest airport ever (there were not even enough seats in the waiting area for everyone) and then took the shortest flight imaginable to Athens. I think we were actually in the air for about 30 minutes!
We landed in Athens and our hotel picked up us and 5 German men haha. It was in a different area of Athens, on the water, and was more of a resort. It was awesome to sleep in a really comfortable bed after so much travelling and watch tv in English besides BBC!! :)
Final Santorini dinner
Today we had breakfast at the hotel and then went to a little nearby church to wait for the bus to pick us up for our excursion. We are going to climb an active volcano, see the Palea Kameni hot springs, have lunch on the islet of Thirassia, and then get dropped off at Oia to see the sunset.
It was very windy on the boat and even windier when we got to the volcano. It was really hard to climb up because the dirt was so crumbly but getting to the top was really cool. It is an active volcano and the guide told us that its eruption is what made Santorini have the shape it has today and the caldera. She also said that it will erupt again in the future (hopefully not too soon haha). It was so windy at the top that I almost fell right off! It was so cool to be up there though and in some areas you could actually see the steam coming up and feel how warm the ground was.
Next we sailed to a hot spring but since it was still May, the water wasn’t really warmed up. You also had to swim through really deep, choppy, extremely cold water to get to the lukewarm spring haha which explains why only about 6 people did it!
Our third stop was a tiny little island called Thirassia. I think she said like 30 people live there… We basically all just had lunch and got back on the boat! They must make a ton of money during tourist season. We had really good kebabs and stuffed tomatoes.
Our final destination was back to Oia. Unlike yesterday when we arrived by bus at the top of Oia, today we sailed into the port at the bottom. Before this I didn’t really understand what the actual necessity for donkeys was in Santorini. It was now clearly obvious that they are needed to take people from the port up the 500 stairs to the main part of Oia! As soon as we got off the boat there were men yelling “taxi! taxi!” “donkey!” “5 euros!” Apparently, a donkey = a taxi here haha.
It was so funny because for the entire trip Kim was so adamant that she was not going to ride a donkey but as soon as she saw who many stairs there were to the top, she jumped right on one! It was a fairly terrifying experience actually because my donkey ran right out in front and for most of the trip up there was no one there actually leading the line of donkeys. It was super steep and my donkey kept going really close to the edge and I felt like I was going to fall over! Plus the donkey men were actually fairly mean and kept yelling at the donkeys and jabbing at them with long sticks. Ah!
We couldn’t wait to get off them at the top of Oia. After that interesting experience and being on a boat for so long, we need to sit on something stable so we went to another beautiful cafe. Kim had a frappe and I had baclava!
Then we walked in a different direction then we did the day before and found the windmill. We were told that this was the best place to watch the sunset. Oia claims to have the best sunset in the world so we were very excited!
We had to wait for a very long time for the sun to actually set, but we were entertained by more dogs! One was a tiny little puppy and one was the ugliest dog ever (huge overbite) so it wasn’t that bad. The sunset was extremely beautiful but the end part was covered in a cloud. I kind of think the Naxos one was better…shh…
After a veryyyy long day we took a bus back to Perissa Beach and got dinner by our hotel. I had lamb kleftiko again but it was no where near as good as the one I had in Naxos!
We’re on a boat!
Approaching the volcano
At the top! And very windblown
The lukewarm spring
Thirassia
What it looks like when you are riding a donkey up a cliff haha
Paradise again
Overbite dog enjoying the view haha
Found the windmill
Sunset glow
Stunning.
We decided to do a Volcano / boat tour tomorrow so today we are going to explore Fira and Oia on our own. When you think of Santorini (and kind of Greece in general), most people are thinking of Oia with its iconic whitewashed buildings and little blue roofs. I cannot wait to finally see that in person!
We had yogurt and frappes for breakfast at the hotel and then set off to explore Fira. We were going to take the bus but everyone was talking about a Greece-wide transportation strike due to the economic crisis so we took a cab with an English couple. As we were pulling away, the bus pulled up! Go figure…
Fira is very hilly and is mostly tons of winding little streets and shops. There were tons of other tourists exploring and I would hate to see how busy it is there later in the summer!
The view from the top of Fira was amazing! I was also very impressed by the amount of donkey merchandise everywhere haha because that was one of my preconceived notions of Greece! There was even a sign pointing to a donkey station and when we followed it, there were little Greek men and donkeys! New must do: donkey ride.
All over Greece we had been seeing tons of jewellery made with stones that look kind of like turquoise but even more sparkly and beautiful. I knew that I need to buy something with it haha! I bought a ring in a little shop in Fira and learned that it is a type of blue opal and the traditional stone of Greece :)
We grabbed a gyros pita for lunch and then took the bus to Oia. My excitement to go here was warranted because it looks exactly how I imagined it! Pictures barely do it justice and it is basically paradise. It is a lot smaller than Fira and has less shops / people. I think it is mostly hotels and actual houses. Living there would be unreal! So beautiful.
We went to a little cafe and Kim had a frappe and I had Kataifi which is basically a stringy version of baklava. The cafe was in pretty much the most beautiful natural location in the world! If I had to describe Oia in one word it would be breathtaking.
We explored Oia for a bit longer and then took the bus back to Perissa Beach. We were walking to the little corner store to get some water and these 3 dogs formed a little group and wouldn’t stop following me! They actually followed me into the store! Strays are out of control in the Greek islands too!
We relaxed at the hotel for a while and then went to have dinner. We found a tucked away restaurant called God’s Garden and it was soo good. We had grilled feta and vegetable pancakes as appetizers and then I had grilled fish and Kim had a souvlaki platter that was literally larger than her head! Well done God.
Tomorrow: boat trip!
Fira
Caldera
Donkey Station
Oia
Cafe on the edge of paradise
Kim’s massive souvlaki platter!
Today we are taking the ferry to Santorini = YAY! Santorini is the place I was looking forward to the most in Greece (*cough* Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants *cough*).
Our ferry leaves at one so we took our time walking around the Naxos port and going in some little shops. I bought a little heart charm for my charm bracelet :) We got breakfast in a cafe on the water and I had amazing strawberry nutella waffles mmm!
This ferry was much shorter (only 2 hours) and we were better prepared this time with drinks and snacks. Much more enjoyable :) It was super windy though! Apparently the cyclade islands are the windiest area of Greece.
Our hotel (Stelios’s Place) picked us up right at the port and then we took the steepest drive up a cliff ever haha. The hotel is extremely adorable and the owners are the nicest people ever! It is definitely the nicest of all the hotels we have stayed at so far anddd it has a pool! :)
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Perissa Beach area. There are a few stores, some restaurants, and strangely enough, several 24 hour bakeries :s The sand on the beach is actually black and made of lava. It was extremely hot on your feet!
We bought some more books from a little corner store (we ran out) and then got massive souvlaki pitas from a place called Grandma’s Souvlaki haha. Then we went to the bakery and I got chocolate baklava. So good!
Can’t wait to explore Fira and Oia tomorrow :)
Amazing waffles
Drive to the hotel
Stelios’s Place
Perissa Beach
Today we went back to our little restaurant on the beach and had our usual Greek yogurt and honey breakfast. Then we walked around Naxos and explored the Old Town area. Some of the streets here were sooo narrow! I don’t know how cars fit.
Naxos was the island we picked purely for the beaches and it’s a good thing it has been such nice weather because there is not much to do on the island! We walked around for about 2 hours and were done exploring. Then we went to the beach again :)
We decided to try another restaurant on the beach for dinner tonight and I had a souvlaki platter. It wasn’t as good as the night before but the view was still amazing.
Most serene bench ever haha
Sanctuary of Delian Apollo
Tiny streets
So clear
Dinner in paradise
Today we woke up early to get to the Athens port and catch the BlueStar Ferry to Naxos. It was a very long five hour boat ride and we were very underprepared! We only had one book and no snacks at all. The water was so blue but it was still early in the morning so the wind was cold.
We finally docked at Naxos and our hotel picked us up right at the port. Our hotel is really cute and every building here is whitewashed. Just like I imagined the Greek islands to be :)
We wanted to go to the beach right away so we walked around town a bit so I could buy a beach towel. The town is so tiny and it feels like we are the only ones here!
Agios Georgios Beach is a one minute walk from our hotel and so beautiful! The water is super clear and barely anyone was on the beach. After swimming and tanning for many hours, we went for another walk around town. The sunset was extremely beautiful on the water! We had dinner at a restaurant right on the beach. I had lamb kleftiko and it was definitely the best meal I had my entire time in Greece!
Yay Naxos :)
Approaching Naxos
Nicest sunset!
Agios Georgios Beach
Yummy dinner!
The theme of today: ACROPOLIS :)
This theme was an obvious one as we could actually see the Acropolis while eating our Greek yogurt with honey breakfast on the roof of our hotel! We made our way towards Monastiraki Flea Market before the Acropolis but found that it was more like a massive garage sale (minus the garages haha) and instead just headed straight to the Acropolis! Finding the actual entrance to the Acropolis proved challenging but once we did the line wasn’t too bad.
I was glad to be there in early May instead of late July because it was already swarming with people and pretty warm! It was cool to walk around all the ruins but the best part for me was seeing the Parthenon since it is so iconic. Unfortunately, it had scaffolding on it and the funniest part is, the sign said that it had been undergoing work since the early 1990s! Hurry up Greece! :P
After some Parthenon pictures we wandered around Greek Agora for quite a while and then got a souvlaki pita for lunch mm! They put fries in it :s
The funniest part of the day was that Kim was so insistent that we not get sunburnt and brought tons of sunscreen but today it looked overcast so she didn’t put any on. It got really sunny and she took off her sweater and ended up getting burnt on the first day! So we took a little walking break and had a frappe at a cafe with an Acropolis view while she felt bitter about being burnt haha.
Then we wandered around Athens and saw more of the commercial stores. Kim bought an evil eye bracelet and I got an evil eye keychain. I felt that I really needed one after having to hold Emily’s post-getting cursed by a French gypsy on the metro!
We eventually tired ourselves out and got dinner. I had Greek salad, mmm feta! :) We went to bed early (and in Kim’s case, burnt) because we had to catch the ferry to Naxos early in the morning.
Oh hey Parthenon!
Trekking through some ruins
Fries in the souvlaki?
