Athens & Thessaloniki

We arrived in to Athens around 6pm and opted to catch a taxi to our hotel.. We got ripped off by the taxi driver and charged 30 Euro for the taxi but let it go and checked in to our hotel and decided to go for a wander... We had noticed some drug deals going down around the corner in the taxi but ignored it and decided not to walk down that street!! Once we go out of the hotel we had been walking for around 70 seconds when we saw a guy walking towards us with a syringe in his hand - not to threaten people with but for him to shoot up, walked up another 50 mitres and a guy was actually squatting in the street shooting up!! We saw at least 6 deals go down. I was clinging to my bag tightly and we got some food and quickly headed back to the hotel to eat and didn't leave again for the day!
The following morning we got up and went to the Central train station to get our tickets to Thessaloniki. The underground train station was very well maintained and the streets were a lot cleaner during the day. We then went to the Acropolis and wandered around that area for a couple of hours before heading back to the main station for the 6 hour train to Thessaloniki.

Rory and The Acropolis

Acropolis

View of Athens from The Acropolis

Thessaloniki is in Northern Greece, closer to Macedonia/Bulgaria and Turkey - its the second biggest city in Greece and a friend from home has been living there with her family for the last 4 weeks so good chance to catch up with her and break up the massive train trips!
We arrived in around 9pm and couldn't book our tickets on to Sofia as the international train ticket desk had JUST closed! We then caught two buses to our hotel.. we were actually staying at least an hour out of the city in a beachy area called Perea, its a bit like Glenelg but with Jetty Road and Holdfast Shores combined and along the shoreline. Very pretty and nice and quiet - not very many international tourists!

Rory and the Jetty

The Beach

The following day we got up early for a morning walk and then came in to the city to meet up with Vikki, had lunch together and hung out for a couple of hours then came to the train station to book our next train to Sofia. The city is really lovely. Also set along the sea but with a concrete border not the beach, the city is humongous!! Lots of coffee shops and people drinking various forms of iced drinks.. not big alcohol drinkers here! All of the bars are actually coffee shops!

White Tower

Hanging out with Vikki

Had a mixed grill and some beers for dinner and were both asleep pretty early!
Our last day we went for a morning walk and then bussed it back to the train station to pop our luggage in lockers and then met up with Vikki again. Wandered around the city and hung out in the parks - had a really nice day!

Park Treats

Park Beers

Spent another 3 hours waiting for the train and now off to Sofia!!

Ios

Ferry from Santorini to Ios was pretty quick - only took about 45 mins and we got picked up from the port which was good!
The hotel is great value for 25 euro a night, its got a view of the town and is still very easy walking distance from the pubs/bars and not bad walk to the beach.
We caught up with a friend from home who I hadnt seen for a couple of years - Carly, who we had arranged to stay at the same hotel as.

Balcony Views/Beers

First day went for a bit of a wander around the city and then had some afternoon beers on our balcony before walking down to Far Out Beach Club - which is on the beach and the most popular hostel/camping.

Ios Sunset on our Walk to Far Out

Drunken Hammock Times

We were already fairly drunk and caught a bus back home by midnight. We got late night gyros and apparently a nutella crepe which i have no recollection of and then woke up various times during the night feeling like my heart was pumping so much from all the sugar in the cocktails we had!!
Second day we went for a wander to go to Far Out Beach but ended up at this very secluded beautiful little beach about 30 mins walk from the main road - the walk was through all sorts of rocks etc. but the beach waiting for us at the end was worth it - very beautiful!

Secluded little beach

Rory taking a dip

We decided we would attepmt night two out by having an afternoon nap and then heading out around 8.30ish for dinner and which turned in to eating around 9.30ish and then drinks at about 11.30.. we were all completely buggered and decided to kick it in and go home about 1ish... hahahaha!!

Ios Alleys

Cute little bar

We did all try the bars trademark drink though a flaming lamborgini- a drink with 4 shots (appeared to be Sambuca, Schnapps, Vodka and something else) which then got lit of fire and then handed a straw to scull it all up chased with a beer or strawberry dacquri.. 5 Euro and totally worth it but they still didnt keep up out!!

Flaming Lamborgini

Last day night in Ios. Had a lazy morning and then finally made our way down to far out for some beach time - they had free umbrellas and sunbeds which was good so we hung out there for a couple of hours.

Far Out Beach

Far Our Road Views

Came back to the hotel and had some pool time before attempting (unsucessfully an afternoon nap) night out number 3... so we had dinner late... then sat on the balcony and then decided that we had already had a lovely enough day and were enjoying the evening drinks on the balcony enough not to head to a cheesy bar and listening to bad music!

We farewelled Carly in the morning and now off to Athens..

Santorini

Santorini has been pretty lovely. We arrived in at midnight so it was interesting waking up and having no idea where we were!! The room at our first Hotel is 50 Euro a night and we have our own little kitchenette and bathroom and the place has a small little pool with some sunbeds. We had a big breakfast with bacon, eggs, tomatoes and all the usual jazz - it was a good change from the Turkish breakfast! We then went for a wander to check out what everyone is on about when they talk about Santorini!

Our first appartment

When we were standing there taking photos we were less impressed than when we look back on them - its more a small cluster down the side of a cliff - the landscape reminds me of Kangaroo Island but with no animals.. i know that sounds weird!! 

Fira

Fira

We spent the day wandering the city and then had dinner on the Volcano side for sunset and happened to be in Santorini for the once a year "volcanic erruption re-enactment" apparently one of the biggest events of the year in Santorini. Rory and i drank wine and ate dinner whilst the sun went down and the fireworks started. It was SO busy afterwards!!

We bought some supplies and had fruit and yoghurt for breakfast - such a good change!! we then hired a 4 wheeled moto and boosted around the island for the day. We rode to Oia which is meant to be one of the prettiest parts of Santorini and then rode around getting lost but having fun!

Oia

Oia

Rory had a massive slice of pizza for lunch and i sampled the spinach and fetta pastries - pretty good! After lunch we rode to Perissa beach where our next hotel is booked. Took over 40 minutes as the roads are so windey.. I also had a go on the bike.. and was lucky enough to drive in it to a wall at low speeds within 5 minutes. Yep that was me and the bike done!!hahahaa!!

We then spent our second night with the NZ crew from the boat- got a late night gyros (yiros) and drank "house wine" which was 3 euro for 1.5 litres.. yes a bit like goon.. hahahaha!!

Next day we went for a morning ride and took the bike back before heading to Perissa Beach for the next part of our Santorini stay. We caught the local bus and walked to our next hostel - Anny's Studios - next to Villa Vergina (Yes mum its really called that and IT IS FUNNY!!!) New Hostel is much more organised and ranked very high on hostel bookers - really good, bigger pool, nice tv and computers to use, free washing machine and the rooms still have kitchenettes etc. but there is also a bar but drinks are fairly priced 2 euro beers and 1 euro for a big water - good place to stay!
Perisssa is a black sand beach from the volcanic ash so its actually a bit to hot to walk to on during the day and you also have to pay to have sunbeds etc. so we have mainly been hanging by the pool and going for wanders. We made our way to a massive supermarket and puchased some different boxed wine varients and some new beers for Rory to try and had some delicious bakery treats (pizza, chicken and cheese sausage roll, cinnamon doughnut and this vanilla slice type thing) spent the afternoon testing our drinks and then Rory had gyros and i had Greek Salad for dinner. Pretty delicious!

Perissa Beach at night

Our last day in Santorini has been extra lazy, sleep ins followed by fruit salad and yoghurt, midday pool times, slow walks to lunch beachside and then afternoon beers/wines... off to Ios tomorrow - accomodation is only 25 euro a night there so have booked 3 nights and will see what we think when we get there.. updates from Ios to come! xxxxx

Olympos to Fehtiye – Blue Cruise

Olympos was our first experience of Mediterranean beaches – very rocky, covered in people and amazingly clear waters!! The water was refreshing compared to the 40+ weather, but the rocks were steaming hot!! We took the waterproof camera to capture some underwater moments but it actually broke while we were in the water.. whoops! It’s had a good couple of years though!

Our thong tans in the sea 

Olympos Beach

 

 The hotel we stayed at was all little bungalows and wooden tree houses, we were happy to spend the night in air conditioned comfort. Hostel included dinner, so we ate  there and found a group of 4 New Zealanders and an Aussie couple who were also going on the cruise, so we requested to all be on the same boat, which turned out great! 

Our Boat

 The boat trip was great! The cabins were very basic and we were told straight up that everyone sleeps on the deck (no air-con and smelled a bit like a boat down there anyway!). First day was nice cruising around and swimming in little sections. First night on the boat was very warm but enjoyed sleeping on the deck! Second day we stopped in at a little town called Kas, very cute. We could have stayed there for a night it was very lovely! 

Kas

 

The next night on the boat was through some rough seas and Rory was up spewing around 6am, another girl was sick too and it was very rough – no one enjoyed that nights sleep or the morning ride to the next stop over! The following day we didnt move around much and was mostly spent at one spot, we did some swimming etc. And then celebrated one of the girl on the boats birthday in the afternoon/evening with a few bottles of wine – had a good sleep that night!

Rory swimming

6 Lira wine = $4 or less.. actually not bad..

Sunsets from the Boat

Aussie and Kiwi Crew :)

 

Last day on the boat was pretty boring and we were very happy to arrive in to our last stop, Fehtiye. All in all it was a great cruise and a met a great bunch of people. For anyone coming to Turkey on the cheap we would highly recommend! 

Rory in Fehtiye

Booked our tickets from Rhodes to Santorini for the following day and spent the whole next day either on a ferry, waiting for a ferry or thinking about ferries!! But the 6 hour ride was actually pretty good, very good boat- better than the spirit of Tas and much calmer sea!! Had a nap and arrived in to Santorini around 1am!! Santorini updates to come!

Pamukkale & Cappadocia

Pamukkale is a place where there are many ledges of natural pools which have over time overflowed and created this amazing white cliffed, blue pool effect. Water is not naturally running down them any more so they have a watering type system so that the pools can still be waded/laid in and to keep the calcium deposits forming. The weather was over 40 and the water in the pools would have been at least 30 degrees but it was fun sloshing around in the mud and covering ourselves in it.

At the very top there is an Ancient Roman Pool which contains natural mineral water (like soda water) in the pool there are various marble columns etc. that fell in during an earthquake a few hundred years ago. The water was 37 degrees so it wasn't refreshing but once we had been in there for a while it started to become quite relaxing. Lots of people were filling up water bottles to take home with both the mud and the mineral water as apparently it has a lot of healing and health benefits. We drank some of the water but it wasn't very nice... it did feel nice when it bubbled on your skin though!

After a day in the pools and the mud we had an overnight bus to Goreme in Cappadocia where they have "Fairy Chimneys" the bus arrived in late and we literally got off the overnight bus and on to a tour bus to take us around that had already been booked. It was interesting to think people lived in the houses in the rocks for so many years - some of them where still lived in until the 60's! Our hostel had some trouble with our room so we ended up in this massive family room with 2 fold out sofa beds, a set of bunks, a mattress on the floor and another single bed and a kitchen?! we think it might be someones house in the low season - our room is also mainly made of rock - the photos wont do it justice!

Day two was another tour which included seeing even more rock houses/churches/monasteries etc. and an underground city which was a couple of thousand years old. The ancient Romans/Greeks were so clever!! Lots of nice people staying at our hostel which is nice :) Last day today we have spent hanging out by the pool, lazying around after too many days straight on tours!! Tonight at 10pm we have an overnight bus to Olympos where we are staying in a tree house and then have 3 nights on the Blue Cruise.. excited for some relaxing :)

Turkey- Gallipoli, Troy, Pergamum, Selcuk & Ephesus

We left Istanbul at 6.30am for the 4 or so hour drive in to Gallipoli. Some how we both managers to sleep for a fair bit of the trip!! Arrived in and then out to Gallipoli- was very sad but the actual location was beautiful! The beach was beautiful! All of the memorials were very well maintained and our guide was very informative.

We then overnighted at a place called tj's where we were in a terrible room, the hostel was humongous and we managed to be staying in a noisy, no fan, no air cond room- needless to say we had the worst sleep of our trip! Including planes and overnight buses!!! The next day we had a trip out to Troy- the story was interesting but the ruins were hard to imagine and also needed a lot more excavating.

We went from Troy on to Pergamum which was amazing! Very well excavated and quiet. We were impressed- then went to a Turkish carpet making place and had some Turkish red wine. It was OK.

After this the bus took us to Selcuk. the hotel is amazingly cute!!!

Had some dinner there which was lovely homemade Turkish meal - maybe the best meal we have had since we have been away!! It was about 6 different things, stuffed capsicum, soup, meatballs etc. really good!! The following morning we went to Ephesus ruins - this was a massive city 2000+ years ago!

It was cool wandering around, then went to the house where they think they virgin Mary last loved.. we didn't spend much time there... we decided not to drink the holy water, didnt want to burst into flames. Apparently they get millions of pilgrims come through daily. After the tour was over we spent some time drinking beers followed by sunset wines and then had some Turkish Sandwiches for dinner - a pretty early night!