After a 15 hour ferry ride from Athens we arrived on the volcanic island of Santorini. The first thing that hit us was the huge cliffs pertruding from the ocean, absolutely massive! Perched precariously on top of the cliffs are the many famous white buildings and domed roofs that this part of Greece is famous for. Luckily the guy who runs the place we stayed came to get us from the port, otherwise we would have been so lost and facing a huge hike to the town. The drive up the cliff face was a bit scary, zig-zaggy roads with massive busses and semis coming down is a scary site. But we made it and from the top the views were amazing.
Santorini forms one side of a huge underwater volvano, the othersides being other islands further out to sea. If you could imagine it as a ring of islands forming the sides of the volcano with a mound of hot rocks and dirt in the centre, that being the vent for the volcano and in between is a ring of deep caldera, flooded with water. Clear? Hehe, my description is pretty bad so you'll just have to wait for my photos, trust me its beautiful.
The unique thing about Santorini is its black sandy beaches and beautiful sunsets, both of which we've enjoyed mulitiple times in our four nights here. On Friday we did a full day trip which took us on a ferry out to the volcanic centrepiece (which we climbed!! hehe, so much fun looking back but boy it was hot and very hard work getting up there), around the other side of the mound to swim in some hot springs (so nice but I accidentally got a mouthful of the disgusting tasting water...so gross and we came out smelling like rotten eggs, Ashlea's new bathers got stained with the rusty residue of the sulphuric acid...not happy Jan), to the island forming the opposite side of the volcano's wall where we had genuine Greek souvlakis for lunch and enjoyed the beach before heading back to Santorini for the sunset. An exhausting day.
This afternoon (Monday) we catch the ferry to another Cycladic Island called Ios. It has the reputation of a bit of a party island so it will be nice after being totally relaxed.
Got a bit of news about my returning plans as well. I will be coming home after two weeks in beautiful Thailand with Nick on the night of the 5th of November. So mark it in your diaries!!
The Adventurers
Above: Emma the Scot
Monday, September 10, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
EEK!!
Okay so I would not recommend sleeping in an airport. Did you know that flights come and go ALL night long and that announcements (LOUD announcements) go ALL night long as well? Yep well apparently they do. Also airports don't have comfy beds or pillows...the floor is very hard! Hehe, it was an experience!!
Our flight from Rome to Athens was only 2 hours but because we got to Athens so late (about 1am) we decided it wasn't worth paying for a bed. So we rolled out our sleeping bags, blew up our pillows and camped on the cold tiled floor outside the entrance to the airport chapel. We definitly weren't alone either...people were asleep in every nook and cranny of the airport! Crazy and cool. The sleep was awkard and harldy adequate and we got a friendly wakeup call (kick) from the security guard at 6am.
So we ended up in Athens the city at about 8am, went to the Acropolis early and also visited the shrine of Zues.
Tonight we will surely have another lovely sleep when we have an overnight ferry to Santorini, go the cheapest seats, or rather the deck and no seat! Wish us luck.
Our flight from Rome to Athens was only 2 hours but because we got to Athens so late (about 1am) we decided it wasn't worth paying for a bed. So we rolled out our sleeping bags, blew up our pillows and camped on the cold tiled floor outside the entrance to the airport chapel. We definitly weren't alone either...people were asleep in every nook and cranny of the airport! Crazy and cool. The sleep was awkard and harldy adequate and we got a friendly wakeup call (kick) from the security guard at 6am.
So we ended up in Athens the city at about 8am, went to the Acropolis early and also visited the shrine of Zues.
Tonight we will surely have another lovely sleep when we have an overnight ferry to Santorini, go the cheapest seats, or rather the deck and no seat! Wish us luck.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Ohhh ITALY!!!
Since my last entry I have been in Italy soaking up the sun!!
First we were in Verona, the setting of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. We went to the balcony of Juliet and I joined the tradition of chewing gum, sticking it on the wall with the other thousand blobs of chewy and writing the initials of my lover N.M of course! We went on a day trip to Venice which was only an hour and a half away and got blissfully lost in the labrynth of streets, canals and bridges. It was such a weird and wonderful place.
After Verona it was Florence and we stayed for two nights in a really cool hostel. It was a very social one with a lot of common areas for meeting people and partying. Met two really nice girls, on from Melbourne called Ashlea who is over here on exchange from her uni, the other from New Zealand called Celia who is in her gap year like us and travelling around by herself (how brave!). Just hung around with them for a few days and went to Pisa together. Pisa is a funny little town with its only attraction being, well, the tower! We did all the funny poses with the tower in the background on the grass until the policeman came and told us to get off the grass..so weird not being allowed on grass!
From Florence we stayed three nights at the cutest little Tuscan guesthouse. It was built in like the 1400s and was just the stereotypical old Italian house-vines up the wall, shutters on the windows, vegetable and herb garden we could help ourselves to...so nice! We spent our days lazing by the pool and wandering through the nearby vineyards. One day we took a trip to a small old town on top of a hill called San Germiniano famed for its award winning gelati. Well we had one of course and the chocolate was amazing!
Rome was next and oh my gosh! So hot! We wandered around on the first day and took in a fair number of the sights, the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, old forum ruins, Trevi Fountain and so on. The following day was Vatican City and a sweltering hot day, especially having to cover up legs and arms. Spent ages in the museum taking in the Sistine Chapel and various other awesome artworks and then we walked around the St Peters Basilica and the funny dressed Swiss guards. I sneaked in a photo of them while they werent looking, apparently they dont like photots. The basilica was sooo gorgeous. High painted ceiling, gold latin verses around the architraves, mosaic floors. The third day was my favourite. We found out about an exhibition of a famous fashion house-Valentino. Their exhibition was to showcase the last 45 years of their fashions, amazing amazing stuff. I took so many photos!
Currently were in Naples, home of the infamous Mafia families and quite a gross, dirty city to be entirely honest. The Mafia apparently owns the rubbish collection services and they wouldnt collect garbage until their demands were ment...so the city is filthy and smelly. We havent really looked around much though for that reason, but took a day trip yesterday instead. We went to the ruined city of Pompeii, devastated after the explosion of nearby Mt Vesuvious in something-or-rather BC. The city was so well developed for that time, it was a surprise to see everything so well preserved as well, including a few bodies...gross.
Today we take the train back to Rome in order to fly to Greece late tonight. We will be in Greece for about a week in a half, island hopping and being beach bums. Dont worry though, we arent anywhere near the fires...we ll be okay!
By the way, if anyone has tried to access VTAC to apply for scholarships for next year, please help me, i cant log in and the applications need to be in by October 12th. Bushy??
First we were in Verona, the setting of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. We went to the balcony of Juliet and I joined the tradition of chewing gum, sticking it on the wall with the other thousand blobs of chewy and writing the initials of my lover N.M of course! We went on a day trip to Venice which was only an hour and a half away and got blissfully lost in the labrynth of streets, canals and bridges. It was such a weird and wonderful place.
After Verona it was Florence and we stayed for two nights in a really cool hostel. It was a very social one with a lot of common areas for meeting people and partying. Met two really nice girls, on from Melbourne called Ashlea who is over here on exchange from her uni, the other from New Zealand called Celia who is in her gap year like us and travelling around by herself (how brave!). Just hung around with them for a few days and went to Pisa together. Pisa is a funny little town with its only attraction being, well, the tower! We did all the funny poses with the tower in the background on the grass until the policeman came and told us to get off the grass..so weird not being allowed on grass!
From Florence we stayed three nights at the cutest little Tuscan guesthouse. It was built in like the 1400s and was just the stereotypical old Italian house-vines up the wall, shutters on the windows, vegetable and herb garden we could help ourselves to...so nice! We spent our days lazing by the pool and wandering through the nearby vineyards. One day we took a trip to a small old town on top of a hill called San Germiniano famed for its award winning gelati. Well we had one of course and the chocolate was amazing!
Rome was next and oh my gosh! So hot! We wandered around on the first day and took in a fair number of the sights, the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, old forum ruins, Trevi Fountain and so on. The following day was Vatican City and a sweltering hot day, especially having to cover up legs and arms. Spent ages in the museum taking in the Sistine Chapel and various other awesome artworks and then we walked around the St Peters Basilica and the funny dressed Swiss guards. I sneaked in a photo of them while they werent looking, apparently they dont like photots. The basilica was sooo gorgeous. High painted ceiling, gold latin verses around the architraves, mosaic floors. The third day was my favourite. We found out about an exhibition of a famous fashion house-Valentino. Their exhibition was to showcase the last 45 years of their fashions, amazing amazing stuff. I took so many photos!
Currently were in Naples, home of the infamous Mafia families and quite a gross, dirty city to be entirely honest. The Mafia apparently owns the rubbish collection services and they wouldnt collect garbage until their demands were ment...so the city is filthy and smelly. We havent really looked around much though for that reason, but took a day trip yesterday instead. We went to the ruined city of Pompeii, devastated after the explosion of nearby Mt Vesuvious in something-or-rather BC. The city was so well developed for that time, it was a surprise to see everything so well preserved as well, including a few bodies...gross.
Today we take the train back to Rome in order to fly to Greece late tonight. We will be in Greece for about a week in a half, island hopping and being beach bums. Dont worry though, we arent anywhere near the fires...we ll be okay!
By the way, if anyone has tried to access VTAC to apply for scholarships for next year, please help me, i cant log in and the applications need to be in by October 12th. Bushy??
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