Paros finalised!

I want this post to be separate cause I wanted to attach a lot of photos :)

Last week we went on an all day cruise around Antiparos, all food and drinks included for 7 hours. After missing our transfer (not our fault) we ran to get on the boat and were so happy we did. It was so stunning and amazing! I'm going to let the photos speak for themselves…

Oh but one thing to add, I accidentally threw my ray bans over the side of the boat when hanging out Alex's towel, the water was so clear, Alex was able to swim down and get them. They are now my lucky ray bans :) 

This is the most hilarious photo, had to add it :) 

Our final stop in Greece!

Mykonos has been an eye opener in more ways that one... I saw P&V and T&A at a nudist beach, yachts bigger than our house and all shapes and sizes in bikini's. 

Paradise Beach has been an experience, an expensive experience but fun! Watching half naked girls dance of tables at 4pm has made me want to start running... And never stop! All though the women here are from all over the world and don't give two shits what people think of them, so I'm beginning to feel comfortable in my bikini... Only just! 

(As I write this, I spilled my beer and a lovely man that works at paradise got me a new one... Because 'I'm a beautiful lady'. That Greek hospitality... I might accidental spill another one ;) ) 

Today we got the bus into town and went to on a day trip to Delos. An island untouched by civilation, was created in BC and is said to be the birthplace of Apollo. It was amazing to walk around the old ruins, but it was about 35 degrees and in the middle of the day... So we definitely have been sweating out all the food and drink we've been eating! 

Mykonos town is so cute, I love getting lost in the streets there! 

I want to come back... When I'm rich and can afford Camillas at a cost of €1050 (AUD $1500, go Camilla), Super Yachts and bottles of Imperial Moët €240 (AUD $350). 

We did much of the same on our last days, drank, swam, slept! Our flight out of Mykonos was a 10pm, so we got another full day there. It was delayed 1hour so we missed our transfer and arrived at Rome airport at 12:30pm, then it took another hour to get out bags off and by then all the trains and buses had stopped running. We had no choice but to get a €60 ($100) cab from the airport. When we arrived the guy wasn't here, so we waited in the rain pressing the buzzer. (Unfortunately we found out later that we had woken up a couple who has a child in a hospital here in Rome... Soz!) and Alessandro finally arrived apologising cause we was at a pub... It was about 2:30pm by then, after being shown our room in an apartment they has been converted, we fell asleep happily! 

We woke to explore Rome... But you'll have to wait to hear about that one :) 

Mykonos... Our last stop!

Let me first explain why we always write Mykonosssssss. English Alex (who has recovered after keyhole surgery) told us that there is a club in Mykonos that has a button that says 'mykonosssssss' and they press it while the songs are playing! 

We arrived in Mykonos in the afternoon and got a transfer to our accommodation at Paradise Beach Resort. It was the cheapest accommodation we could find (still €50 a night the most expensive we've paid) and was a crappy little bungalow but close to the beach so who cares. We settled in, went exploring and then sat down at a table at Tropicana to drink the night away. After three bottles of wine, we were up and dancing with the rest of the crowd... Mostly still in bikini's. When some old lady with a lazy eye tried to pash Alex and then told me we would have beautiful babies, it was time to head home... 

We woke up and thought a day on the beach was what we needed... Spending €55 before lunch time wasn't! (Our budget is about €100 a day including accommodation) Mykonos is pretty expensive and we'd been warned so it wasn't surprising but just annoying as the same stuff cost half the price elsewhere in Greece. We spent the day lounging and swimming, then felt like we needed to do some and jumped on the bus into Mykonos town. Which is so beautiful, the lane ways are so pretty and the clothes are amazing. I allowed myself one bracelet and nothing else although we both could have spent a few hundred euro on clothes! We grabbed some dinner, walked that off and then headed back with a few bags of groceries, vowing to get back on our 'thrifty travellers' bandwagon. 

Today we decided to walk around to Paranga, it was actually a hike but good to walk and burn some calories! We ended up in Playts Gialos, about an hour and a half walk. I'm currently sitting by the water, taking advantage of free wifi, looking out at about 10 super yachts. 

Tomorrow were going over to Delos to explore the Acropolis, as we missing out on Athens. 

Oh and our Wicked Camper has been booked and approved so expect a few driving selfies :) 

Paros continued...

So after a few days of doing nothing but sleeping, eating, swimming and tanning, we felt it necessary to book a buggy (not quad dad :) ) and go around the island. It wasn't available until 6pm, so we ran around half of town in the middle of the day trying to find somewhere to watch state of origin. After no luck, and seriously over the 33 degree heat, we headed back to air conditioning, me with my new frozen daiquiri in a packet (can't describe how good it is) and Alex with a sad face. Luckily we has able to stream it and I was happy to eat my rice cakes with my daiquiri... Then we got our buggy! 

We ventured south, knowing we would explore the north the next day. We made it around to golden beach and then headed back to Aliki for dinner. That's when I got to drive... It's like driving a go cart except higher and faster! So much fun, I haven't driven since we left home so it was awesome to be able to drive. We made it back to Aliki alive and had a delicious dinner on the water at The Balcony while watching the socceroos lose to the Netherlands. (They were the photos of the calamari). We headed back, me a little drunk from a carafe of wine.... actually I should talk more about the wine...

Wine in Greece is pretty good, the menus are like a kinder surprise, you know that your going to get wine but never how much (that's the fun toy)... I paid €7 for that carafe which was probably like 500ml, sometimes it's a glass, sometimes it's a litre... That's when you know it's going to be a fun dinner... Well for me, not Alex! Or it will most probably end like Ios, and I go into a food/wine coma! 

We got up early and jumped in the buggy to head North to Naoussa and Santa Maria (Alex accidentally put Mariah on the photos). It was about 40mins north through the mountains and pretty much to the other side of the island. Paros isn't very big, you could drive around it in a few hours. We loved Naoussa, the shopping was amazing but we couldn't afford much of it. I bought a cool t-shirt dress (perfect for Italy) and Alex bought a t-shirt from Touch of Salt. We wandered around the little fishing village and stopped to watch the fisherman bring in there catches... Mostly big octopus (blahhhhhhh). We enjoyed walking around a little fort on the water, where over time it had slowly eroded,it probably won't be there in 50 years. It's very pretty there, like Santorini but without the cliff :) 

We went for another drive and ended up in Santa Maria, it's so stunning! We hired sunbeds, swam and just chilled for a few hours! The drive back was nice, the black seats of the buggy... Not so much! We made it back in one piece and grabbed some Gyros and Greek salad for dinner. 

For the second day on the buggy we headed out for a cooked breakfast, our first in a week as we've been good thrifty travellers and have been eating fruit and yougurt. Then headed to Parasporos, a beautiful bay, which unfortunately was completely blown out and had waves. We decided to head around the bottom of the island instead and ended up it the most beautiful fishing village called Piso Livadi, had a quick dip and then headed up to Lefkes on top of the mountain. It's was beautiful, sea views surrounded by green. We headed back to Parikia (paprika to us) and to another beach called Krios and a cool bar called Paradiso club for a bite to eat and a sunbake. 

We are very naughty and tend to site see beaches not acropolis' or 'archeologist site' as they are usually hard to find. But we did visit the most beautiful church tonight all made of stone and so amazing. Everyday we walk past an ancient cemetery with old tombs on the foot path and bits of rubble from tombstones, so we are getting our fill on Ancient Greece, I'm just being slack :) 

We headed up to the main town after dropping the buggy off and had dinner. We decided to catch up with a friend for dinner, his name was Dimitri, well actually possibly George, we haven't decided the perfect Greek name for our new cat friend. He was very bossy and decided that he wanted to sit on my lap but after realising there wasn't enough room, he was happy to just join in the conversation. He got the shits when he realised I didn't have the dinner he wanted and left me for a better meal, only to return and take up his comfy seat again. Not before beating up another cat with one eye, that had walked under our table.

Paros is magical, actually Greece in general. You drive through these mountain roads and all of a sudden you see that Mediterranean blue (thanks MK) and far off Islands. It's amazing, we've enjoyed our time so much, we've met such lovely people and seem some of the most beautiful places. I keep seeing these beautiful gardens full of vegetables and olive trees, cute little houses with enormous gardens. In Rhodes, we were sitting having lunch and had ordered mixed vegetables, I saw the cook go down pick a capsicum and an eggplant from the garden and 15mins later it was on our plate. An old lady came down and picked a bag for a vegies, gave the owner a kiss and left. There is such a sense of community here, we constantly get looked after and helped by strangers. Yesterday a guy told us who to ask, to find the state of origin because he didn't have the channel, all because his kids lived in Melbourne! And another cute old Greek man yelled out 'Aussies!!' with a huge smile on his face as we walked past (we still don't know how he knew)! I can't wait for Italy, but Greece will be missed! 

Paros, you feel like home!

We arrived in Paros hoping for nice accommodation and a relaxing stay, on meeting LouAnn at the ferry and arriving at LaSelini, we decided to stay for an extra 3 nights straight away (which got us an upgrade to a sea view room!). 

Paros is stunning, and best of all flat. No stairs, no hills, no gradual incline ... Just flat! After Rhodes, Santorini and especially Ios, our knees and calves are thanking the leg gods that they have respite for 7 days! 

We went for a walk our first afternoon and just felt instantly relaxed, it felt like where we are meant to be. No pressure to party, make friends or constantly moving and that's nice after being on the go for 5 weeks (can you believe it's been 5 weeks). We grabbed an early dinner at Little Green Rocket, a cool Japanese/Mediterranean restaurant, with the best yakitori I've ever tasted and headed home to take full advantage of wifi in our room. We booked our Mykonos accommodation at Paradise Beach camping in a bungalow that almost cost more than 7 nights here did (there was nothing else left... blah!!) and started researching Italy. We fly into Rome on the 26th, spend 4 nights there and then train it to Florence. We're not sure which direction to go in then... North to Venice or West towards Pisa, Cinque Tere and the south of France. Plus trying to decide how to get there is also a challenge, we're thinking a camper van! (Happy for advice please). Greece is so easy, it's just a ferry. 

We woke up late, stocked up on groceries (so nice having a fridge) and spent some of the afternoon watching Game of Thrones, I can hear you all screaming 'you're in Greece' and I would scream back 'and I'm relaxing' haha. We've been on the go so much, plus being in the sun almost everyday! So while I'm screaming back 'I'm relaxing', my skin is screaming 'I'm recovering!' :) We enjoyed lazing around for a few hours (with internet) and then took ourselves to the beach. 

We're trying to save as much money as we can in Paros as it's only costing about $50 AUD to stay here a night and we've got a fridge and kettle. So we're enjoying making our own breakfast and lunches so we can make our money last longer. By my calculations we should have at least another 6-8 weeks in us, ao we might make it to 3 months travelling after all :) 

We went for a walk and had dinner at a cute place on the water. As you can probably gather from my earlier posts and photos, there are a lot of cats here, mostly strays but still loved by the locals. Each cat has it's own territory and most of the restuarantuers look after different ones. At dinner a particularly cute black and white cat found me and stole my attention. I can't help myself, so I gave her a quick pat and tried to ignore her stares while I ate dinner. I'm utterly useless and ended up giving her some chicken. Alex thinks I'm mental but knew what I was up to as it's not the first time I've done it, he was happy to play look out while I threw bits of chicken down to my new friend sneakily (I'd had two wines and thought I was soooo secretive). I realised when we got up after dinner that there was wet marks all over the ground from where the cat had licked the cream off and it was more than obvious what I was doing... I just love cats ok (quote from 'my cat from hell' Jackson Galaxy). We went for a walk around the Paros port and I bought a maxi dress, another splurge item, from a lovely girl who told us some more local places. Everyone is so nice is Paros, it's a much different atmosphere that Ios! We love it so much already and wish we'd only booked 2 nights in Mykonos and spent 9 here... But 7 will have to do :) 

Ios... Another island ticked off

After English Alex left, it wasn't the same! The cool crew was gone, replaced some by Canadians who we were in big groups and not really open to chat, until we met a lovely couple called Kathrin and Anthony, both from Australia living in Brisbane but grew up on the coast. They had come from Rome, stopping over in Athens for one night and then onto Ios. Poor Anthony had his whole luggage stolen from underneath a bus when it was stopped picking up passengers. We couldn't believe it, he had to make a statement when they arrived in Athens as they were on the bus to the airport and had to keep going. Could you imagine losing your whole bag, poor guy! They spent the day shopping and had to buy him a new bag and clothes etc.

Everyone had been raving about this Greek tapas in the village, so after a lazy day of swimming and doing laundry, we headed off too Katogi, which was AMAZING! Proper amazing! We got Jack Daniels Pork (like ribs without bones), Paprika chicken (for you James), chunky potatoes and a beetroot, blue cheese, walnuts and pear salad (standard me) and it was all just so good! We have had some amazing food, in England as well! It's all been so fresh and delicious, the Mediterranean diet is totally agreeing with me, my stomach is awesome and I'm losing weight! 

We came back and started drinking, we waited till laura finished and then went out with her to meet Kathrin and Anthony! We had a fun night, had a dance with Katie and went to a few different places. The food might be agreeing with me but the alcohol definitely isn't, I don't ever feel drunk, just sick! So when I woke up in the morning and spent most of it vomiting, I was in for a bad hangover! I slept till 4pm after having to run from the restaurant during breakfast. I felt better and better as the day went on and we decided to go to the Mexican restaurant, Harmony, for dinner. It's down at beach so we jumped in a cab and arrived in heaven. The food was amazing, there were hammocks and comfy cushions to lay on and just relax by the water. We loved it! It's so worth going to if your ever in Ios. 

Now I'm going to enlighten you to why Australian's are known for being rowdy and feral overseas. You know when you see those shirtless guys with terrible tattoos at festivals, dancing like lunatics while high on a cocktail of different drugs and steroids, and you wonder if they are actually real, or just a figment of your drunk imagination because people like that couldn't really be real... Well they exist and are currently staying at Francescos. Alex had alerted me to said wankers but I was too intoxicated to take much notice other than to his outfit of an Australian flag cape, an Australian Flag neck scarf, a Southern cross tattoo, no shirt, boarders and havi's... At 12pm as we were going out! 

The next day they didn't surface until later in the afternoon but I got a taste of them, it's honestly shocking to see people like that. They sat behind us in the common area and I couldn't help but listen to them. I couldn't even say where they are from in Australia cause I've never met or heard anyone like that. Alex almost punched one of them when they picked up the cat Cici to take a lion king photo with the sunset in the back ground (We hope she bit them and they got a disease... With all the others they have). They were taking photos of each other flexing and modelling in front of the sunset... Brittany, an awesome kiwi chick we were sitting with, said they had been her hostel in Mykonos and had gotten on her ferry, she couldn't believe she had another night with them. 

We didn't go out, so went and packed quickly, said our goodbyes and went to bed. Only to be kept awake by the cock head guys and some other stupid Australian girls. Not only did they keep everyone up during the night but then they got up at 9am and started screaming and yelling again. The boys were getting kicked out just as we left so we had a good laugh about that. 

Ios has been fun, we've met some awesome people but it just isn't really our scene. We don't want to get up at 4pm hungover to do it all again that night, we want to still sight see. Plus the people are super young, Alex was usually the oldest out of a group so I kept my age to myself and most people thought I was 25 (win). We would go back but for not so long and we would do more during the day. I'm definitely not complaining, my tan is coming along very nicely after a week of doing nothing but swimming and tanning :) 

Paros is next and we can't wait. A lovely American girl we met (she was 27 and went to bed when we went out so I felt good about that haha) spent 4 months in Paros doing an art course. She wrote a page of things we had to go and see, so we're stoked. Plus we're staying 50m from the beach :)  

We have 7 nights to kill between our accommodation finishing in Paros and our flight out of Mykonos. From what we've heard Mykonos is a bit expensive so we might go to Naxos or some random island for a few nights! 

When we fly out on the 26th June we would have spent 28 days in Greece... How cool :) 

Our first 'incident'

We decided with Laura that we should explore the island on quad bikes so we arranged to meet for breakfast at 11am. English Alex arrived first saying Bree (another Australian girl) was coming as well, then Laura and Jake (another bartender at Francescos from the Gold Coast) arrived and we all had breakfast and then headed off. We tried to hire a car because English Alex didn't particularly want to ride quads as it's the number 1 reason and place for Australians to die abroad, but we all vowed to be very careful and set off! Laura had her own bike, Alex & I and Bree & English Alex shared. We headed off towards Koumbara Beach on the east of the island as it was really windy. We filled up the quads and made it to the beach. The water was freezing so English Alex threw Laura into the water and then went to get Bree, she ran off down the beach and we saw Alex finally grab Bree and fling her in the water... What we didn't see was that Bree fell awkwardly, rolled her ankle and landed on Alex's knee which dislocated. We didn't see Bree trying to wave us down, so she dragged Alex up onto the shore and than ran over to us. We ran over to him and then I ran up to the restuarant and called an abulmance. Trying to describe and demonstrate a dislocated knee to a non english speaking person is pretty hilarious, I pointed to my knee cap and then pointed it to the inside of my knee and he finally got it. We waited with Alex for the ambulance which took forever, they finally arrived with a wheelchair but we were about 150 metres down the beach... They arrived barely speaking English and told him to get in the chair, I had to help him up! Oh and Alex is a big dude, he's 6'3 and would weigh about 90kgs. 

They strapped him into the ricketty chair, with no support for his knee and pulled out these metal arms out of the chair so it was easier to lift, they got the chair all ready, turned to my Alex and said 'lift?' So Alex and the little Greek man carried English Alex to the abulmance which was hilarious! English Alex took it like a champ and kept trying to physc Alex out! We got him into the ambulance and Bree went with him, so Alex, Laura and I drove the bikes to the clinic after them. Bree said the ambulance ride was hilarious/terrifying, his chair was sliding all over the place, she was trying to holding on while making sure Alex wasn't going to go flying. The wheels were going all over the place and the driver didn't slow down over bumps! 

When we arrived at the clinic, English Alex was still in the abulmance, they were waiting for my Alex to help get him out of the ambulance, all on Greek time, never rushing! They pulled him up a very steep ramp, thank god for the seat belt cause he was pretty out of the chair because of the incline. They then smacked him into door and wall, all while he was making jokes like 'safety first' and 'keep arms and legs inside the vehicle'. 

They finally realised it was serious after they x-rayed him and saw his meniscus was inparing the dislocation and would need surgery to fix it, so he was off to Crete that afternoon to the major hospital there. He got two jabs of morphine and was happy to be out of some pain, then they finally bandaged up his knee for more support. We were all shocked and so sad that he would have to leave, Laura and I came back up to the village to pack a bag for him with his passport and a few clothes. We got him some lunch and said goodbye, hoping it wouldn't be our last... 

The latest news is he's having surgery on Monday and will stay in Crete for a few days after that. We don't think he'll continue to work here anymore, he was replaced by an Aussie guy last night who just wasn't the same. We didn't go out... We were mourning newly departed friend :( 

Halfway point in Ios...

Well isn't Ios fun, we expected it would be but it's been awesome so far. 

We arrived from Santorini and jumped on the bus with about 15 other people from our ferry. I was trying to pick the Aussie accents (which wasn't hard) and suss out potential friends. We got up to Francescos, we're shown to our room, which is pretty amazing for $34 euro a night. We have our own bathroom and view of the pool. We went for a walk to the village for lunch (well still breakfast even at 12:30pm but more about that later) and then came back to the pool to tan and make friends. That didn't take long, with drinks by the pool everyone gets pretty friendly and happy at about 2pm. We met an Aussie girl from Adelaide called Katie and then another girl called Cara from the Sunshine Coast with lots of Canadians. Funnily, a talking point was the fact I'm reading Game of Thrones, one guy even noticed that I was a book in front of Alex. 

We found out that flying from Mykonos is way cheaper than going from Athens, so we booked our flights ($115 euros for both of us, so cheap) and continued making friends. 

One of the girls that works on the bar got thrown in the pool and we found out she was Australian as well, Laura from Melbourne. Soon enough one end of the pool was all Australian's discussing travel plans, how long we were staying in Ios and where we've been etc. We all made plans to meet up later and go out for our first night. 

We found out from two lovely english girls (Lucy & Jo) that Lord Byron's was the place for dinner. I'd have a few wines to get things started, so after 2 massive beers by the pool, I ordered a litre (yes, wine comes in 1 litre carafes) with my creamy salmon pasta. Let's saying I made the walk home... Just... and passed out in bed at 8pm to sleep for 13 hours... What a first night! Poor Alex had an espresso with dinner so was wired for a few hours while I was dead to the world. 

In the morning, we had a delicious breakfast (poached eggs and avocado is like heaven, so happy to have a familiar breakfast) and ventured down to the beach! Far out is the same as Francescos except on the beach, it's pretty cool, there's pools, bars, beach chairs and sushi (arhhhh heaven). It's full of Australians and pretty much a party hub. We had lunch and went back into town for a swim, siesta and some drinks. We started drinking at 9:30pm which is still considered early here. We're slowly changing our body clocks to have breakfast at 11am, lunch at 4pm and dinner at 9pm! Laura was working and we met James, he's an awesome English guy from Leeds and we had an awesome time talking and laughing with him. Laura was able to sit and chill with us for a bit as well. We soon met Alex (let's call him English Alex), who is James' good friend and also works for Francescos, he's the coolest dude! We all got along well and watched James and English Alex smash some guys in beer pong. Francesco walked down the stairs and said 'I don't know you, come drink with me' so Alex and I got treated to some shots and drinks with Francesco, his wife Maria and Daughter, Elizabeth. It's a pretty fun place, everyone is there to drink and mingle and it was nice to talk to Francesco! 

After more drinks, the leaving party started forming so everyone finished there drinks and followed Alex (the driver, different from English Alex) to Blue Note. English Alex works as the door guy so we ended up all being together. Alex and I weren't really feeling it, we were secluded in a corner surrounded by dorky French Canadians, so we left to try and find a friend of a friends restuarant. We started walking back to Francescos, luckily Laura saw us, she was walking out after her shift finished, and dragged us back to Blue Note. All the nerds had left and it was just Laura, Me, Alex, English Alex, James and Katie plus a few others from Francescos. We had the best time, dancing on tables, having shots, drinking. English Alex is a hilarious guy, he would dance in front of people stopping them from leaving, he did it to a bunch of French Canadian guys, who didn't like it all and pushed him off, with a crooked smile, English Alex turned around and twerked on them... We were in a fit of laughter! (The French Canadian guy had a black eye from fighting someone the night before... Such a dick). 

We left Alex at Blue Note and ventured to Slammers. We smoke bombed after that at around 2:30am. We found out the next day that Laura had run out thinking we were lost and searched the square for us! I felt horrible, she's such a cool chick, it's been awesome hanging out with her!  

We woke up pretty hungover so we slept in, ate breakfast, lay around and then dragged ourselves to the beach. We enjoyed the sun (me a little too much) and sea, then headed back for some snacks for lunch. We lazed around and then went down to keep Laura company at the bar. We didn't want to go out so we got take away pizza and had a few beers. English Alex soon arrived to get the party started, he and Katie beat us in beer pong (just) and we took ourselves to bed after to much pizza and beer.... 

We've met some awesome people here at Francescos, it's a full on party scene and I'm sure we'll be happy to see Paros on Sunday!

Serenity in Santorini...

We travelled from Rhodes to Santorini on a Blue Star Ferry, we ended up splurging (when we were still employed) on a Cabin and i'm so so soooo grateful that we did. It's a 9 hour trip with one stop in Kos, it's an enormous ferry, more like a cruise ship, and it was really comfortable. The cabins were surprisingly a good size and it was bliss to be able to have a shower. We bought internet (and watched Game of Thrones after it took 2.5 hours to load) and settled in for a good journey. At about 8pm the swaying started and got progressively worse through the night, I tried to sleep off the nauseousness but it was worse than the spinning feeling after a couple of bottles wine. We were happy to reach Santorini at 1am, but if I did it again, I would arrive during the day, it's so beautiful from the water.
We got in our transfer with another Asian women and her two friends she brought along. After trying to figure out the cost and where their hotel was, we were on our way… They were the first to get out and the Greek driver accidentally closed the door on the top of the older Asian mans head, which then started bleeding. It wasn't bad, more comical, we almost laughed when the Greek driver pointed them in the direction of the hospital and sped off.
We stayed in Firostefani at a beautiful place called Ellinon Thea. It was two levels with a jacuzzi in the bedroom looking out onto the bright blue water of Santorini. We were about a 10 minute walk away from Fira, the main streets of Santorini. The streets are all cobblestoned and quite steep in parts, we had a lot of fun navigating our way around Fira and looking at all the beautiful things that we couldn't afford on a travellers budget. We made the mistake of going down way to far and then having the issue of trying to get back up… I had to stop half way up a massive set of steps due to calf cramps, but don't worry I remedied myself with an ice cold beer and views of Fira. There were three cruise ships in Santorini that day, I can't imagine what it would be like in peak season!
As we had walked so much and it was so hot, we didn't end up eating lunch (always a downfall) and decided just on a cheese platter and bottle of wine… which was then quickly followed by another bottle and then another… so after a less than substantial lunch and no dinner, Alex and I were well and truly blind before the sun had gone down… which we watched and was beautiful. Oh, mum and Dad I wrote you a card during said drunken sunset watching, apologies in advance for spelling mistakes and soppiness, but make sure you frame the photograph, it was taken by a local photographer.
Safe to say that we didn't have our finest moments after we decided to go out, Alex fell down the marbles staircase at the hotel (he's fine, he'd already done it earlier that day not intoxicated) smashing his shin, he then fell down going down the cobblestone stairs to Fira as well, smashing his toe. I was slipping all over the place in my flats as well… Don't worry we didn't give Australian's a bad name, as we were pretending to be American's! We lasted one drink at some pub, inhaled some hot chips and then walked back up to the hotel (which neither of us remember) still saying "MERICA" to ensure that we weren't "those Australians".
Waking up after three cheap bottles of wine (as well as two tequila sunrises and two kamikaze shots)  is always horrendous, especially when you remember that you purchased a convertible Smart Car the day before… We pulled ourselves together and jumped in the car, which was surprisingly fun and nice to have fresh air and sun on your face. We drove to Oia then onto the Red Beach, where we had a  quick swim and sun bake then onto Perissa, where we lay under umbrellas, swam and ate, all helping to improve our hangover. We explored Perissa and had a slow drive back to the hotel.
After a quick episode of Game of Thrones (GoT watchers… its was horrific, i'm still thinking about it) we decided to go for a walk back into Fira and get some dinner. Santorini is a hub for cruise ships and it was a long weekend in Greece so it was packed, we ended up getting dinner from Asia Club (surprisingly we didn't die), we wanted something other than greek food as we have eaten it for lunch and dinner for the last 10 days. Fira is so beautiful, it's fun to get lost in it's little alleyways and shops, the views are incredible. The shopping was good too, Alex bought some cool new sunnies (his one splurge item, mine were my docs) and we wandered back to the hotel to pack :(
Our backpacks are awesome but we're beginning to find it difficult to fit everything in, we bought little plates and cutlery in Rhodes because we've been buying lunch items from the local supermarket. They should be handy in Ios, all in a bid to save as much money as possible.
Our next hurdle is to find a cheap way to get from Greece to Italy in early July, we hope we will find some seasoned backpackers at Francesco's in Ios to tell us the best way. Most of the trains in Greece aren't running because of the financial crisis so we will probably just fly as a bus from Athens to Corfu is 9 hours (yuck) then a ferry is just as long.
Now onto Ios...

English Country

We got back to Kings Cross (yes there is a Platform 9 3/4), Alex got stuck in the automatic gates leaving the station because his bag (which had all of our stuff) was so heavy the gate thought he was 2 people… did I mention we aren't great at packing?!
We jumped on the tube to Park Lane to go home with Oli who parks under Hyde Park in the most enormous car park, full of BMW's, Merc's and Mini's… Oli has a Poo Brown mini for his probation drive car, we have named the Deuce Mobile! We arrived at the flat with time to change our shoes (Oli refuses to be seen with me in public when I'm wearing my doc martins :)) we went to an amazing restaurant with a bunch of Oli and Jess' friends and thanks to them, they are now ours as well. The waitress accidentally spilled 3 pints of beer all over Kevin so we all got our meals upgraded, free entrees & desserts and two bottles of champagne! It only ended up costing $15 pound each for about a $50 pound dinner. Kev took it like a champ and we all got boozy and had an awesome night out with new friends. Kel (Kev's girlfriend) is actually from Brisbane, we have a few friends in common which is awesome, I'm looking forward to seeing them more when we get back to London, I think they'll be awesome friends!

The next day we had a chilled out day in Richmond, not wanting to venture into the city. Lunchtime beers and ice cream in the park followed by a hilarious dinner with Oliver was just what we needed.

On Saturday Morning, Oli dropped us at Victoria Station to meet Lorraine and Nick to start our adventure into the English Country side to see Alan and Lyn for two nights in Tonnbridge and then onto Julie and Dermot in Winchester.

After upgrading to an Audi A4 Sport, Alex quickly jumped in the drivers seat and became the resident driver for our trip. It was so lovely catching up with Lorraine and Nick, who had just finished a 2 week cruise around the Mediterranean.

We arrived to Alan and Lyn's after driving for about 2 hours, English Champagne was poured within minutes of arriving and the drinks didn't stop until late into the night. Italian wine was produced as well as gin and tonic, scotch and even toffee vodka. I had to have a afternoon nap after a delicious meal of cold meats and cheese for lunch. Honestly the cheese here is out of this world, if I get hugely fat from just eating cheese I won't even feel bad… it's just so amazing! Nothing compares to it in Australia. After another feast of the most amazing food for dinner, we were off to bed. Nick only made it to finish the main course, when he woke up later, he though he was still on the ship. We all had a good laugh at poor Nick's expense :)

Alan and Lyn's house is beautiful, the gardens are stunning and they, along with their neighbours, bought the meadow behind the houses which has an apple orchard. Everything is so green and beautiful at their house, we loved sitting in the garden enjoying the fresh air. They have an Irish Setter called Louis and a beautiful cat called Sachmo!

The next day, we explored the local gardens and had a pot of tea. We then drove over to Bodiam Castle in East Sussex to have a picnic lunch and explore the grounds. It was stunning, the whole inside of the castle was worn away, leaving it open to the lovely sunshine. The buildings and castles here just blow our minds, we can't get over the grandeur of everything and just how old it is. It doesn't feel like real life, it takes our breath away. After another spectacular dinner and more drinks (i've never drank so much in 48 hours), we said good night to all the adults like good little children :)

In the morning, we left Lyn and Alan's to get to Julie and Dermot's for a BBQ lunch with Tony and Mary and their two kids, Alex and Amy. Arriving at Julie and Dermot's was like coming home to Grandma and Papa, it made me a little bit sad, but happy to be able to see so much of my grandparents in them. They are the most beautiful and loving people, their home was stunning. Mary and Tony remembered Alex from when they lived in Australia, they got married on his 6th Birthday at Mt Tamborine, so it sort of blew their mind to see him 18 years later. The BBQ lunch didn't really turn out cause was raining and only 10 degrees so we had a lovely loud lunch inside with everyone. We had a relaxing afternoon and an easy dinner, we enjoyed talking to Julie and Dermot and hearing about all their travels. They were interested to hear where we were going and what we were up too.

The next day we all got up and had some breakfast and continued chatting. I was telling Julie about our idea of going to Courchevel to do a ski season, she mentioned that her and Dermot had spent a few weeks there with their daughter Charlotte and husband Alex with their kids Max, Ivo and Olivia. She bought the photo album down to show us pictures. Julie said "Oh this is the kids with their amazing instructor Sally" as i looked down i realised that it was my God Sister Sal, Alex and I couldn't believe it. Of all the places, we knew someone they knew. It felt amazing, I rang Sal straight away and she remembered the kids. It was so nice to have that moment with Julie and Dermot.

We went to lunch at a Michelin star pub which was amazing… the food in England has been great. Lorraine and Nick completely spoiled us, i don't think we spent a cent the entire we were with them. We can't thank them enough, it has probably enabled us to travel for an extra week.

And with that, we drove back to the lovely flat in Twickenham to Mr. Sewell (with Jess being in Majorca for 5 days). It was sad saying goodbye to Lorraine and Nick, but i'm sure Nick will use us as an excuse to come to England very soon :)

and it begins… Rhodes!

After waking up at 4:30am, we threw down breakfast and jumped on the bus to the airport. Everyone laughed at us when we said we were flying Ryanair to Greece, I completely understand why now. We got to the airport at 5:30am for a 7:25am flight, we had already checked in so we just had to do a bag drop and visa check which I thought would be quick and easy… except it was a Friday morning at Stansted. There was easily 600 people waiting to do a bag drop and visa check, with 6 check in desks, the lines were over 100 people long. It took us an hour to check in and then another 45mins to get through security. It was out of this world, nothing like Brisbane. We had to walk to the other side of the airport to board our flight, by the time we got there they were boarding… it was all so mental and rushed. I'm glad we decided to get there early. The flight to Greece was only 3hours and 45minutes, with a 2 hours time difference to London.

We arrived at Rhodes Airport which was a very relaxed affair, and jumped in a cab to the hotel. The expedia map was completely wrong, it told us we were staying in Pefki, but we are actually in Afantou, which is a long way from Lindos. We were in the middle of no where, on a main road... The hotel was pretty basic and had the option of having an all inclusive stay (all you can eat and drink) so the people aren't completely to our taste, I think they thought we didn't speak english so not one person has spoken to us but it was fun watching them all get seriously boozed from about 1pm onwards on unlimited beer and wine.

Our first room wasn't anything special, but during an afternoon snooze we heard a weird gurgling noise, on opening the bathroom door we discovered that the toilet was overflowing. You can get the picture…. I may or may not have accidentally flushed toilet paper down there resulting in said flooding but we were quickly moved to "the best room in the place" on the third floor with the most incredible views. We were pretty stoked and mentioned nothing of the toilet paper…
Our first night here, we got the buffet and mistakenly heard the guy say unlimited wine and beer as well… so 5 wines later, we were told that we would have to pay from then on, which was fine cause we were already drunk and took ourselves to bed.

The hotel has been ok, the pool area was pretty good and we got really brown. I've renamed it from Iris Hotel to Ibis Hotel… There is something about people being on holidays that makes the eat and eat and eat… i'm glad we didn't have the inclusive package!

On Monday we hired a car and drove down to Lindos, it's stunning there. We found a place called St Paul's Bay which was the photos on Facebook. It was incredible and the people there were so lovely! 8 Euros for two bed chairs which I shared with a cute and cuddly (semi blind) cat, that was until the lunch service started and she left me for bigger and better things. It was so relaxing there, we could have stayed forever. We had the most delicious lunch from this little shack in the bay, where we met another Alex who asked us why we travelled so far to come to Rhodes. The staff there were lovely, it was nice to talk to someone, as no one at the hotel wanted a chat. We drove back through Kolymbia which is a cute little village near another beach. We ended up going back there for dinner, Alex had the most delicious pork gyros, he ate the entire thing! The staff at Lefkas would have been impressed.

On Tuesday we ventured up to Rhodes Town and spent the morning walking around Old Rhodes town. It's stunning, full of cobblestones and old buildings, we were happy to just wander around and get lost in all the little lane ways. We wandered up to Rhodes Town and did a bit of shopping, I got some make up brushes from Sephora (Soph & Nat you would die!!) and Alex got some cool shorts! Two cruise boats had docked that day so there were people everywhere. By lunch time I was over it, I got a lovely chest infection when I was in Scotland and after around of antibiotics, steroids and a puffer (thanks nick!!) I was feeling a bit run down and not doing well in the crowds… most people can attest to my road rage, I also get walking rage and it just wasn't my day! After a few hours of sleep and half a bottle of cough medicine, we ventured back into Kolymbia to eat more gyros!

Wednesday was completely crazy, the winds pick up and chopped up the surf. We went to Anthony Quinn Bay and ended up leaving after an hour because the sea spray and wind was crazy. We drove around exploring, had some lunch and ended up by the pool with everyone else. We've been good and trying to save money, there is a local supermarket in walking distance so we've been buying cheese, salami, tzatziki and lots of fruit. There was a little village about a 20minute walk from the hotel, it didn't have much but we did have dinner there one night. It sucked that we were so far away from everything, including the beach.
We decided to go into Lindos for the afternoon/night and we were blessed with better weather. Lindos is by far my favourite place in Rhodes, the houses, the streets, the shopping is all amazing. Set up on the hill, below the Rhodes Acropolis, Lindos is made up of all white lane ways full of markets, restaurants and donkeys. We had fun wandering around and enjoying a beer a roof top terrace looking at the Acropolis. We have a fun game called "guess the nationality", but that night we had fun confusing an older english couple with our nationality, everyone always assumes were english, I sometimes throw in some "choice" words (that Sal wouldn't approve of) to help them along but still no one guess Aussies. We ended up at a restaurant called Olympia and it was by far the best meal i've had in Greece. Our waiters were hilarious and kept trying to get us drunk although alex was driving, he said not to worry, you're in Greece… We had to keep reminding him, that although we're in Greece, we're driving on the wrong side of the road and best to keep the intoxication levels to a minimum. We had such a fun dinner, they kept us laughing and eating while it rained around us. After dinner we meandered back to the car, surprised to actually know the way. There are a lot of cats in Greece, dogs as well, but mostly cats. As I was little bit intoxicated, I saw a cute ginger kitty and couldn't help myself, I said "hello darling" and with that 20 cats came out from under cars and started running towards me wanting pats and loves. It was pretty crazy, they were all crying and trying to get closer without getting into a fight. The semi blind cat from a few days earlier came running over to bat the other cats away. They didn't want food, just love, it was quite sad actually. It was all broken up when a car tried to come into the car park and I had to call all of the cats out of the way (giving myself a glimpse into my future if i'm not careful). We had to make a quick dash for the car hoping none would follow us… it was a pretty surreal experience, i've never seen that many cats in one place, nor them being placid enough to come up and say hello. The video is pretty funny!

Thursday was our last full day on Rhodes, we went back to Anthony Quinn Bay and lay in the sun for 4 hours. It was bliss, although I did see a sea snake in the water and almost bowled over two old people trying to get away on the pebbles, leaving Alex to fend for his own life! Walking on pebbles/rocks is seriously hard, I understand why people wear those heinous water shoes… Understand but still judge on their poor poor fashion choice! After lunch at Avantis (terrible) at Afantou we went to see the butterflies, not realising that there aren't actually any butterflies at 5pm in the afternoon, but it was beautiful all the same. The butterfly valley was magical, the most beautiful waterfall and stream run through the middle of it. We had a lovely time exploring and walking up and down the forrest.
The roads in Rhodes (ha get it) give me anxiety, they don't have guard rails next these huge sheer cliffs. I couldn't look half the time and it doesn't help that you feel like you're on the wrong side of the road… Our little suzuiki alto (1.1 litre) has been a little trooper, better than any scooter or quad bike. After a 3 Euro dinner of Gyros and chips we finished the rest of our alcohol and we packed up our bags and went to bed.

I'm finishing writing this aboard the ferry/mini cruise ship where we have internet for the next 9 hours (bliss). We got all the way to the port (about 30 mins) before realising that the idiots at the hotel didn't give us our passports back, so back we went (an extra $45 euros on the cab) for him to only laugh at us. After a few lunch time beers, we've simmered down a bit and are happy to be on our way to Santorini, where we have treated ourselves to a few expensive nights ($250 AUD a night compared to $35 AUD in Rhodes). Rhodes has been seriously beautiful but the hotel ruined it a little bit for us. We'll be back for sure and will stay in Lindos next time, it has more of a night life and easy to get around without a car.

Also… still haven't been able to download Game of Thrones! I've got Alex reading the first book now :)

Europe is in our sights...

With Jess in Majorca, we had the whole day to ourselves in the flat which was probably a good thing considering we had about 3 loads of washing and a lot of packing/repacking to do. We stayed inside all day and organised ourselves for the next 3 months. Poor Alex had to watch the state of origin on our laptop.  Oli had decided the night before that he would only talk in an American Accent just to make me happy, so I made him American Burgers with proper cheese and bacon. We then went to Farmery for dessert while our clothes were drying at the local laundromat. Farmery is amazing… Kellie had told me about it the first night we met, it's a frozen yogurt place similar to Berri Me, but they also do waffles and crepes… Nutella Crepes! In a few months time, when i'm fat and not sure why, I'll look back on this blog and remember :)
On Thursday we said good by to the Twickenham flat for a few months, and set off to see Alex Nelson in Hoxton. A bus and two tubes later with two massive backpacks and carry on, we arrived in Hoxton. It's on the East side so about 1.5 hours to get there from Richmond, it doesn't feel like that long when it you're taking in all the sites and trying not to miss you're tube stop.
After dumping our bags at Nelson's, we decided to have a boozy pub lunch, which always spells trouble but we kept it kind of together and it was awesome to catch up with him before he left for Austria. We missed his going away party on the Thursday night because we were staying out at Stansted.
We had lunch, a few drinks and went back to Nelson's apartment. His friend Sean was driving us to the Airport because Nelson was picking up his girlfriend. Sean arrived and instantly said "I know you" we worked out that we had spent most of Schoolies together and a little bit after… that was 10 years ago! He lives in London with his fiancé, Elisa. He's been living here for 3 years and they plan to move back to Australia in February 2015. Seeing familiar faces in London blows you're mind, you just don't expect to know anyone and are always so open to meeting people that it takes you by surprise. Sean is such a lovely guy, Alex and I are looking forward to getting back and catching up with him, especially now that Nelson has left, we're happy to gain another friend on the East side. Sean dropped us at the Hilton Stansted and we said good bye to Nelson, although i have a sneaking suspicion we might see him sooner than we think!

Scotland, I'm in love!

After a massive commute on the train, which I spent the majority looking out the window, we arrived to my gorgeous god mother and an amazing home cooked meal. Dunblane is an hours north of Edinburgh and is stunning! My god mother lives on 260 acres called Glassinghall, with a number of different little cottages. Erica, Ben and Jack live a 5 minute walk down the drive while Grannyma is 5 minutes in the other direction.

After sleeping in till 10am, we wandered down the drive to visit Erica, Ben and Jack, we were stoked that Jack took to us straight away and was happy for cuddles and love! Made it easier being away from all the little kiddies we are missing. After a delicious meal of cold meats, french cheese and fresh bread we went for a walk around the farm. After a huge storm a few years ago, quite a few trees were brought down around the property. We hope we can go back after our travels and help Jane ( and Eric the Scottish Farm keep) clean up the area.

It was nice to be helpful on the farm, from helping Grannyma put her net over her veggie garden to picking up branches on with the quad bike, were happy to be used. Glassinghall is the most amazing estate, it was so lovely cooking and sitting by a fire each night with such great company. We got to visit Stirling, where we stocked up on winter woolies as we under estimated the cold in Scotland! Sal's jumpers and ugg boots were a god sent!

Sal came down from London on our last night, so we met her in Edinburgh after we'd explored all day. We spent a few hours in Edinburgh Castle which was incredible, it made us thing of Game of Thrones (which we haven't watched since Australia…). Edinburgh is a beautiful city, the cobblestones and streets are magnificent. We're thinking of coming back to work at the Edinburgh Festival in August, but will see what happens.

We met Sal on the train and didn't draw breathe until we fell into bed that night. Sal is hoping to get Alex and I work in Courchevel in the French Alps for the winter season. We would be working in a Chalet from November to April, me as the cook and Alex as a host or the maintenance man. You work in the mornings and night time and spend the day on the ski fields. With Sal, Erica, Ben and Soph I"m in good hands to be able to learn how to ski! We can't wait :)

The next day we had to jump back on the train, we tried to stay longer but couldn't get a cheap train home, so with sad hearts we said good bye to Jane and Sal, but it was nice to say see you soon and actually mean it.

Scotland we will be back! 

 

London Whirlwind

After arriving on the 12th May, I've been extremely slack trying to find the time to sit down and actually write something about our experiences, but I guess what's telling of our experiences so far... Busy, distracting and seriously beautiful. 

After arriving in London on a beautiful May morning, Alex, Jess and I jumped straight on the tube and went into the centre of London! My feet/ankles swelled up badly from the flight so I hobbled around Oxford street completely engrossed in the sites that's are London! We had an amazing first day and managed to stay awake until 8pm and didn't have jet lag.

The next day we ventured to shore ditch to visit Alex Nelson, we ate a delicious Indian feast and walked around shore ditch and Hoxton! When the weather turned bad we holed up in a pub and proceeded to get seriously drunk. The sun doesn't go down until 10pm so being sideways drunk in the sunshine is sort of embarrassing but that didn't seem to stop us! Oli picked us up at 8pm and we had dinner at an awesome American diner, Red Dog, which quickly turned into red dawwwwwwg so that everyone around us knew they were in close range of some drunk Australians! 

After having Oli pick us up in such a state we decided the next day we would be good responsible adults and spent the day being tourists and when on the Original Tour, it's amazing! Definitely worth doing, gives you the best sense of direction! It was so amazing to see Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and St Paul's, definitely need to go back and see them in more detail. After catching the tube for the first few days, I understood why Mum only caught the Bus. The bus gives you a better sense of direction and understanding of where you are. My favourite place was definitely St Pauls, i want to go back there and spend the day exploring.
We managed to spend some time in Convent Garden which was beautiful, the area around there is amazing. 

The next few says we're spent getting bank accounts and phone numbers and exploring London! Capping off with an enormous Friday night with Oli and Jess in Richmond! When we got to bed at 2am only to get up to get on a train for Scotland the next morning!