Athens on a Sunday

In an Internet joint in Athens. We tried to find a laundry, but they were all closed. And why not? It's a Sunday! Guess we do need to know what day it is! We are meeting John, a friend a Lou's from Uni, later. He is coincidentally in Greece for a friends wedding and is coming over to Athens to join us for a couple of days sightseeing.

Athens

Currently sitting at Athens airport metro station waiting to go into the city. Just got off what is possibly the shortest flight i've been on. 25 minutes! It's a cool sunday morning in Athens.

Santorini - Days 4 and 5

On these days we mostly just took it easy and wondered round the streets and lanes of Fira with one excursion to the town of Perissa (by local bus!) to see a black beach. It's volcanic rock "sand". Very corse, but otherwise just like any other beach. We liked Santorini. It is very touristy, but in a more subtle way. Yes, there are plenty of car/scooter rental places, gift shops, hotels and restaurants, but somehow seems less in your face and, thankfully without the hard sell. It's also very very pretty.

Santorini - Day 3

On this day we set off to walk from Fira to Oia (pronounced ee-ya) along the cliff top path. The path starts off winding through the narrow lanes and steps almost always with a view down the cliff to the sea. These lanes can be like a maze and frequently have the feeling a dead end was coming. As we cleared the buildings into open ground the true heat of the day hits us. Here the track became rough and all shade was gone. It was mad dogs and various nationalities. The views always delivered however. Relief came at the side of a small church with shade, lunch and a cool breeze. Also a great view of our destination which was only a short way now.

Oia is a very pretty town like Fira, but slightly more so. Again all white washed buildings perched on the cliff top with plenty of blue domed churches that are the icons of Santorini. People come here to watch the sun set and boy did they come! We jostled for position with the other sunset paparazzi and enjoyed a fine display which, as the last of the sun dipped below the horizon, received a round of applause! That happens here!

Walking back wasn't an option so we went to the bus stop and waited randomly with everyone else. A bus arrived, tension mounted, it started to turn, people swung to the other side of the street, tension gained, the bus reversed, it stopped, people shuffled, the door opened, "Fira"? people cried... "no" the reply, "next bus"!! Deflation, confusion... Tension. Another bus, repeat, it's the Fira bus, we're in the 'queue'... We're on and are seated. Relief! There is no way everyone will get on, but they do! We have no ticket. No one does. You pay on the bus. We're on our way. A man works his way through the crowded ailse collecting money. That's the way it works and we make it to Fira and not a donkey in sight!!

Santorini - Day 2

The following morning (24th Sept) we headed back up Donkey Poo Lane to get to the volcano boat trip we had just booked. Wondering why Donkey Poo Lane seemed quite clean the question was answered by the sight of a seated man taking a cigarette break next to a brush and a wheelbarrow full of poo. Smelly! We decided to walk down the switch back instead of taking the cable car. The same switch back that the donkeys use to ferry the tourists. Yes, Donkey Poo Switchback! It took about 30 minutes to descend the switchback dodging the donkey poo and the donkeys themselves sometimes being rather poorly controlled by the passenger. We feared for our toes a couple of times.

Once at the bottom we soon boarded the boat in typical chaotic style and took a seat upstairs ready for our trip to the center. We disembarked with the rest of the "Teva-Tastic Tour" (we were in Tevas too!) The center is volcanic rock with three craters although the craters are not obvious from a distance. Only up close. There was some steam rising and the guide pointed out a small hole that was very hot to stick the hand in. It's pretty cool to think that the lava isn't really that far below!!

Boarding the boat again we went to the island of Thirassia (as seen from the sunset view point) for a lunch stop. We didn't eat as we had read and been told that the food wasn't up to much. Grabbing some water and a beer we sat and chilled out by the water until it was time to head back to Fira, via a drop off at Oia (another town on Thira). Not used to walking up and down so many hills our legs ached a bit (poor I know) so we decided it was a better idea to take the cable car back up to Fira. This was probably as much to avoid wayward donkeys as much as anything.

The sunset didn't look up to much this day so we headed back to the room to shower before Pizza in town. All in all a very nice day.

Santorini - Day 1 - Part 2

After we settled in the room John the owner gave us a few pointers about things on the island and how to get there. We decided to check out the sunset at the edge of the caldera so followed John's map up a small lane that would take us to a good place and also the start of the way down again into the caldera. Fira is effectively built on a ridge so we had to climb up the steep lane to get to the top. This turned out to also be the lane that the locals take their Donkeys and was therefore trailed with Donkey poo! The lane has affectionately become known as Donkey Poo Lane! The Donkeys are method of transport for tourists to take up and down the edge of the Caldera from the town to the port at the bottom where the tour boats and cruise ships arrive.

We had timed our arrival slightly too late as the sun was just disappearing behind the island of Thirassia (part of the Caldera on the other side), but the colours were still great and the view of Fira turning the lights on was very nice.

After this we went for food and ate nice Chicken Souvlaki. We noticed that Fira seems to have many cats and the restaurant had a number of kittens playing amongst the tables looking for scraps from the diners. If they are not someones pet then I suspect it will be survival of the cutest!

It was an early start so we strolled back to the room from there.

Santorini

We are currently on the Greek island of Thira which forms the main island of the island group of Santorini. The islands of Santorini are basically part of the rim of a volcano caldera. Dormant now, the last eruption was in 1950!

We arrived at the tiny Thira airport on Tuesday morning and took the bus to the town of Fira where we are staying (more on bus transport later!). Fira sits precariously on the inside edge of the caldera and is a very pretty town. Arriving in at the bus station we made like the backpackers we now are and slung our packs over our shoulders and walked the 10 mins or so to our hotel, the Galatia Villas. It's a little bit away from the town and the other hotels which have caldera views, but is cheap for that reason although is a very nice place surprisingly and thankfully so. The welcome from John, the owner, was warm and welcoming.

One small fault here is the keyboard on the internet PC, which is free to use so can't complain to much, but is annoying me as it's difficult to type on as the keys are sticky, so I'm going to give up now and finish the Santorini update later from a different PC and get some photos uploaded too. Honest!

Cheers.

London

Just spent a nice couple of days in London. Thanks to Amy and Simon for giving us bed and breakfast. We arrived yesterday and after brunch walked to Richmond to sit by the river with wine and beer. Well it was a Sunday afternoon and the sun was shining!! Not that the day of the week really matters too much these days! Amy took a couple of photos so will hopefully have the first photos of the blog up soon. We're currently on the train heading to Gatwick airport where we'll stay before catching an early flight to Santorini.

Ross to London

It's 5:40am on a sunday morning and we're on the National Express heading for London!

We're on the road

Ok, so we've only made it as far as Ross-on-Wye in England, but it's the start. Just chillin' out with the Sneddon rellies and getting the last things finalised before heading to Europe.