The Great Escape

Yahsu again from Greece! Our departure to the Greek islands got off to a bit of a rocky start. At 3am on the day we were due to board our ferry to Santorini I ended up in hospital with food poisoning. Yes Hospital! After waiting an hour for the ambulance we called a taxi...Well an "undercover taxi", with all of the Taxis in Athens on strike it was our only option. When we got in the car Nik told the guy that he would pay him more if he got us there fast, and boy did he get us there fast! The whole trip to the hospital is a bit of a blur to me but Nik tells me that he was doing over 100kms through the back streets of Athens. After 4 hours of Xrays, drips, injections, ultrasounds and lots of pain killers I was free to go and feeling much better. Thankfully I did not have an appendicitis as they suspected, I just ate one to many dodgy Gyros. I want to give a big shout out to all the doctors and nurses who treated me in the Athens hospital. Not only did they take great care of me they also treated me for free. We didn't pay a thing and didn't even need to use our travel insurance. I am so grateful. We put off our departure to Santorini for another day and I spent the next 24 hours sleeping off the whole ordeal, while Nik ran around and organised everything in order to change our plans. I'm very lucky to have him looking after me

On the morning of the 23rd we finally departed for Santorini. Our ferry left at 7:00am so we had to be up bright and early to catch the subway to Piraeus and board the ferry. I was still feeling a little under the weather so Nik offered to carry the two big travel packs while I only had to carry the two small day packs. I am still amazed that he managed to carry both bags and navigate his way through the streets of Athens and the subway stations. Things got trickier when we got to Piraeus and realised that our ferry was no where near the station. It was right at the other end of the port and we had to walk a good 15 minutes to find it. By this stage the bags were getting pretty heavy and we were both very glad to get them off and board the ferry. The trip to Santorini took 4 and a half hours. Coming into the new port of Santorini we got a glimpse of all the pretty sugar cube houses atop the cliffs. When we got off the port we were welcomed by lots of locals holding up signs offering rooms to rent, apartments, camping and hotels. We spotted Santorini Camping and jumped on the bus. By the time we got to the camp site it was about 4pm and we were both pretty tired. We had a swim in the pool and then cooked ourself some dinner (thanks again for the camping stove Aaron and Kathryn). Plain pasta was on the menu for me, nothing to upset my already sad tummy. Nik got sauce, I was jelalous.

We woke up on our first day in Santorini and hired a Scooter. We packed our day pack, jumped on the scooter and set off to explore the island. Then we realised that we had a flat tire and had to go back to pump it up. Second time lucky we took off and spend the rest of the morning riding around beautiful Santorini. As we headed up the east coast we were suprised at how barren and bare the landscape was. There were a few pretty churches and houses here and there but it was nothing like we had expected. Where were all the post card views?? Then we rounded a corner in Oia and there it was. A view to take your breath away. We were at the top of a steep cliff, looking down at the ocean. half of the the way down were houses, hotels and restaurants built into the cliff. The view was amazing. We pulled the scooter over and stopped to take it all in. Across the road from where we were there was a house with a swing in the front yard and a little child playing. It was a family home. I wonder if they ever get use to that view or if it still amazes them every morning? What a place to live.

Day two on Santorini we went on a cruise to the Volcano, the hot springs, Thirisia and Oia. To get on the boat we had to get down the Caldera to the old port. Our options for getting down were walk the 588 steps, take a donkey or take the gondola. We walked. All 588 steps. You would think that walking down would be pretty easy, but these steps are made from cobble stones and are very very steep (our calves got a good work out), not to mention that Donkeys are coming up and down at all times. We almost got trampled by donkeys a few times and were even stuck up against a wall with donkeys all around at one stage. After 30 minutes we had made it down. We found our boat and headed to our first port of call. The Volcano.

The Volcano in Santorini is still active and even smokes. It is a constant threat to the locals however they are not afraid of it at all. they believe that the volcano is part of them and they are part of it. If it was going to erupt it would warn them. We were told the story of the volcanos eruption in 3000bc. It was the largest eruption the world has ever know. It sunk most of what was then Santorini, Sent smoke clouds all over the world and the Tsunami that resulted from the eruption is believed to have wiped our the entire Minion civilisation on Crete. We were told this story as we were walking to the top. It was a long, hot, rocky walk to the top. The view from the top was great and it was very cool to see the volcano smoking. We headed back down to the boat. Our next port of call was the hot springs. On the way to the springs we were informed that the cooper colour of the water in the springs can turn light coloured clothes orange permanently. That meant no swimming for me. There was no was I was ruining my seafolly bikinis for some hot water! Nik went in so he can tell you about this one...

Diving in off the edge of the boat was pretty cool as it was the first swim i had in the sea since leaving home. The water was perfect, not like the freezing cold we're used to in Melbourne! The water got warmer as we swam around to the hot spring, but really didn't get as hot as I thought it would, only about another 4 or 5 degrees. The dirty, copper coloured water was more like something we were used to seeing in the Yarra, minus the risk of bacteria. From the springs we motored across to the island of Thirissia. The small port was beautiful, with a few restaurants lining the shore, and steep steps weaving their way to the top of the island. The port was very touristy, basically set up for the cruises to stop for lunch before heading off for the next destination. Lunch was a serve of fresh seafood skewers with salads, rice and chips, which were great

Our final stop was the port of Oia, the beautiful northern town of Santorini. We didn't get off here, but had a chance to see the amazing view we saw yesterday, only from the bottom of the caldera this time. Oia (pronounced "ee ya") is the town that is pictured on about 95% of the Santorini postcards you see. The view from the top is absolutely amazing and easily the best i have ever seen on my travels so far.

Returning back to the Old Port had us waiting in line for a cable car for a good half hour, as every other cruise was returning too. The view from the cable car as we rose to the top of the cliff is great and a little scary because its so steep. Danie and I wandered the town of Fira for a while before walking back to camp for a home cooked dinner of rice cooked in chicken stock. Not the most luxurious meal, but the best we could muster for Danie's recovering stomach. This was our last night in beautiful Santorini, before we had to leave on Tuesday. Thank you Santorini, we will be back!

The next morning we were packing ready for our ferry departure at midday. At the port, it was stinking hot and not enjoyable when waiting in a massive line for departure. We saw thousands of tourists being dropped off and were pretty glad to be leaving before the island got inundated with people.

Off to Naxos next, so stay tuned!

Yahsu from Athens! The hottest city in the world. They told us that it would be hot but its not until you are walking around in 42 degree heat for 5 hours that you really understand what HOT means. We arrived in Athens on tuesday at around 1pm. We were so relieved to have finally arrived after over 24 hours on aeroplanes and at airports. We grabbed our bags and headed outside, eager to get a taxi straight to our hotel, only to be told that for the next few days taxis would be on strike. An American couple told us that our only options were the subway or a bus. we opted for the bus. We paid our 5 euro each and hopped on, happy that we were finally headed to the hotel. Around 15 minutes into our bus ride I had the sudden realisation that we had no idea where we were supposed to get of the bus. All we knew was that it would take us to the city centre. Was our hotel in the city centre??? I had no idea! Luckily I was sitting next a lovely Greek man named Harry (Nik was standing up making sure our bags didn't fall over). Harry was born in Athens and now lives in London. He had travelled back to Athens to meet up with some friends and head to the islands for summer. I showed Harry where our hotel was and he told me to get off at the same stop as him and then he would show us which bus to take next.

When we got off the bus Harry walked us to the next bus stop (even though it was in the opposite direction to where he needed to go) and instructed us to get on the number 3 bus. We thanked him and sat down at the bus stop. Bus after bus came and went with no number 3 in sight. We started to get worried. Whilst we were sitting at the bus stop we started to chat to a lovely Greek woman. I didn't get her name. She told Nik that we should be wearing a cap so his head didn't get burnt. We asked her if the number 3 bus would come and she said yes. It was the bus she was going to get on. About 20 minutes later the bus came. We jumped on. Again I realised that we had no idea where to get off. I asked the Greek woman and she told us that she would let us know when to get off. We also started talking to another Greek man who was telling us all about the Protests and the demonstrations that have been going on all over Athens. On the way to the hotel we drove past lots of protest banners. Just by talking to a few people on the bus you could really get a feel for how hard life is for the Greek people right now. I feel bad being on holiday when the people we have met are struggling so much, with tourism being one of Greece's biggest industries I hope that we are helping in some way. when we got to where we needed to get off our new Greek friends pointed us it the right direction. All I can say is I wish we had a map. The next 45 minutes was spent walking up and down streets carrying all of our bags searching for our hotel. We were lost, and the afternoon heat was...well...HOT! finally we found Hotel Areos.

It was such a relief to take our bags off and be in an air conditioned lobby! We checked in and headed to our room. The tiny little lift in the hotel barely had enough room for us and our bags. It was a terrifying elevator ride, esspecially because the lift shakes as it goes up. When we got to our room we through our bags down, stripped of the clothes we had been wearing for 30 hours or so and collapsed. Thank Zeus we had arrived!

Day 2 in Athens we woke up at around 5am. My body clock must be pretty out of whack because there is no way I would be waking up at 5am if it was in working order! After breakfast we headed to the subway and jumped on a train headed for the Acropolis. It was still quite cool and so quiet. We almost had the place to ourselves. When we were leaving the crowds started arriving...tour group after tour group! We were so glad that we went so early.

After the Acropolis we walked to the Temple of Zeus. I have to say I was a little disappointed. Only 16 columns are left standing of the 105 that were built. It was still great to see but I wish that I could have seen it in all its glory 1000's of years ago. I am sure it would have been amazing. After the temple of Zeus we headed the first modern Olympic Stadium. This was by far my favourite part of the day. When we arrived there were tons of people standing outside taking photos, but nobody was going inside the stadium. We decided to find out how much it cost to go inside and we were pleasantly surprised. With our student cards it was 1.50 euro and that included an audio tour. We bought tickets and followed the audio tour which was great! It explained that the whole stadium is made from marble and that it the only stadium made entirely of marble in the world. We got to go through the underground tunnels where the athletes prepared for the games and where young women would dance around bon fires naked during pagan rituals to bring themselves good luck in love. We went for a run around the track (well only a small part of the track...it was 42 degrees!) and got to sit in the VIP seats reserved for the king and queen in ancient times. I am proud to say that we even made it to the top of the stadium. climbing 106 very steep stairs in the 42 degree heat was a fair effort...if I don't say so myself!

After the olympic stadium we went for a wander through the Athens Gardens. They are not the most beautiful gardens but compared to a lot of Athens they were nice. On the way we stumbled apon a pretty little church. I had been looking for a church all day so that I could light a candle for my Nanna. I couldn't have been happier when I walked inside and saw candles for sale. Nik and I both lit a candle for my Nanna and placed it in the stand. It was a lovely way to honour her on the anniversary of her death. By this stage we were getting quite hungry so we headed to the Plaka area to find lunch. After we are we wandered through the Plaka and eventually ended up back at the station and headed back to the hotel. We went to a lovely little restaurant called Alexandra for dinner. The Greek salad we had was the best I have ever eaten! The tomatoes were so big and ripe and red and the feta was delicious. At the end of our meal we were given complimentary Ouzo, which made us even more sleepy than we already were! Everybody has been so lovely to us. I think that the Greek people may be the nicest I have ever met on my travels. Everybody we have come across has been more than happy to help us out or point us in the right direction. Athens may not be the most beautiful city in the world but the people here make it great!