Grexit?

Monday 6th July

  
Flying into Athens was a little like flying into the unknown and perhaos not the wisest thing to do. Greece had missed the deadline for the latest IMF repayment and was in technical default. The country was fast running out of cash with all banks closed and €60 restrictions on withdrawals from ATMs. The day before we landed a referendum had been held on whether to accept the terms of the bail out or not and there were fears of large scale public unrest and the financial system crashing. With no signs of progress there was the real possibility the economy could collapse while we were on holiday. It was also an exciting time. Athens is the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy and we were about to witness first hand an important part of Greek history. With this backdrop, we packed up our summer clothes, took a little extra cash and headed out to catch some sun and do our bit for the Greek economy.

We departed Gatwick mid afternoon and landed in Athens around 8pm. Our hotel was just off Omonia square and after dropping our bags and a quick change of clothes we headed out for some dinner. Not wanting to stray too far we headed to a nice traditional place called Athinaikon. Looking for something authentic we ordered a Greek salad, moussaka and beef stew. When the food arrived we were not disappointed - the Greek salad had a huge slab of feta on, the moussaka was delicious and beef stew so tender. We washed it all down with a glass of Mythos (local beer) before heading back to our hotel for bed.
 

Highlight: Trip was very smooth. Flight was early, hotel was easy to find and due to the capital and liquidity restrictions public transport was free!
Lowlight: By the time we got settled and had dinner it was a bit late and we didn't have much time to explore the city.

Interesting fact: The origins of Athens date back to 3000BC, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. It has been continuously habited for at least 3,000 years and takes its name from its patron godess - Athena - goddess of wisdom.

Tuesday 7th July

 
Today we decided to visit the Acropolis so got up early to beat the crowds and avoid the heat. After a surprisingly good hotel breakfast we walked down Athinas street to Monastiraki square where we got our first glimpse of the Acropolis and the world famous Parthenon. From the square we started our ascent through the narrow streets to one of the gates to the Acropolis. The day was already warming up and by the time we got to the top we were both sweating. The Acropolis is an old citadel located on a rocky outcrop that provided us views of the city and islands beyond. We wandered through the ruins taking photos of the most famous ruin - the Parthenon, a former temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. It looked pretty impressive despite its condition and think we managed to take a photo from every different angle possible.

The whole place wasn't that well sign posted so we ended up just wandering around for a bit before heading down to the city again, passing the museum of the Acropolis, we toyed with the idea of going in but it wasn't included in our original ticket and it was an extra 10 euro or so. It also felt a bit criminal to spend time inside on such a gorgeous day.
Next up was Hadrians Arch which was in the same park as the Temple of Zeus. We took our time with this one and sat in the shade to eat our apples snatched at breakfast from the hotel buffet. We were just chilling out admiring the Asian tourists in their full trousers and long sleeve shirts, and black tights and heels when we heard a rustling in the leaves, thinking it was a snake we jumped up to explore....it was a giant turtle! Never expected to see one of those in Athens but little did we know...The Temple of the Olympian Zeus was a bit of a let down as one the columns had fallen over.

We kept walking, this time to the Panathinaikon stadium which looked like a modern version of the old Roman arenas, apparently the birthplace of modern Olympics. It was time for lunch so we strolled back to the centre of town through the national gardens which provided some much needed shade. We also came across pond with about another 30 turtles in it! Myrtle and Max would have had a great time.

 
Our walk finished at the Greek parliament where we saw the guards do a little traditional walk similar to what they do at Buckingham palace, but they were wearing dresses and very funny shoes. This was the scene of all the demonstrations only 2 days before but it was absolutely serene and business as usual. To get to the central market we walked through Syntagama square, and up past the university of Athens and the national library which were all awesome buildings, although they had to put metal barriers all along the outside to protect the buildings from all the graffiti. The central market was amazing and filled with all the sights and smells of a proper market. We walked through the meat part first and there was everything you could think of, pig heads, whole lambs, tripe etc. plus all the traders seem to have a mega crush on Hamish in his singlet, it's not often Hamish gets treated like a piece of meat...but then again we were in a meat market (boom boom!). There was also a fish section full of fresh sardines, trout and calamari and fruit and veges with delicious nectarines.

We were hunger critical by now so we fell upon the first restaurant we saw and ordered the traditional chicken souvlaki plate. It was delicious, never get sick of kebabs and pita! Although the tendency to put chips on everything is a bit annoying. The heat was catching up on us but we were determined to go on so we walked south towards ancient Agora, which is a big site where the museum holding the best collection of Byzantine sculptures is, as well as lots of rocks and bits and bobs. Fair to say our concentration span was limited by now.
We trooped up one last hill to the Temple of Hephaestus which was actually the most complete temple we had seen but on a much smaller scale. Then we were done and we hopped on the free Metro back to our hotel. We had cold showers and a nana nap which was very much needed.
 

We got up around 6.30pm and scrubbed up to go for a drink before dinner. Bearing in mind it was still 33 degrees at this stage it was impossible to convince Hamish to wear jeans but luckily the dress code in Athens was pretty casual. We went to Iroon square which had a hipster feel and younger crowd for drinks, and sampled a couple of Crete beers and some snacks. Considering the country was meant to be in an economic crisis, there were still loads of Greek young people out drinking and spending money.
 
We found our restaurant which Lou had found through trip advisor and had the best meal we have had for ages. Lamb shank with thyme and honey that fell off the bone, the most tender calamari and a rich eggplant salad with loads of flatbread, all washed down with a very light white wine. Delicious. The Greeks eat late so even though it was past 10 at this stage the streets were full of people so we wandered around a bit more and tried to get some night shots of the Acropolis but it was all a bit blurry.

Highlight: Apart from seeing the amazing ruins of ancient Greek civilisation etc a definite highlight had to be Greek yoghurt we had at breakfast.
Lowlight: The heat. It was like jumping out of the freezer (England) and jumping into a fry pan (Athens). Amassing 25 thousand steps, thanks for keeping count Fitbit, in 35+ degree heat took its toll.
Interesting fact: In 1687, while the Ottoman forces were operating from the Parthenon, the Venetians bombarded the ammunition trash that was kept inside. This resulted in a huge explosion in which a severe damage was caused to the edifice as well as its sculptures.

Quote of the day: "...you seen the Temple of Zeus?! You gotta go check that shit out..." Some random American tourist with his selfie stick.

Wednesday 8th July
 

Today we had a sleep in before topping up on Greek yogurt for breakfast.  We dressed more appropriately for hill walking today with our trainers and attacked the Lycabettus hill which is to the north of the city. We walked through suburbia which was a lot more affluent, and again we were surprised not to see any signs of a problem in terms of the economy, apart from graffiti everywhere, especially as the media were hyping it up.
The road up the hill was steep but we were bandits and persevered unlike all the other tourists who took taxis up. The view was incredible, we were higher than the Parthenon so we got some good shots and there was a nice little church at the top too which was a good respite from the strong winds.

Although we had done a lot of Athens already we still had some fuel in the tank so we walked through the city again across town to Filopappos hill which is where the Monument of Filopappos is and the national observatory and more ruins. We trudged up the hill and were pleased we did as the views again were awesome.

It was lunchtime and we felt like we needed some healthier options so we bought a couple of salads and a spanakopita from a bakery up the road from out hotel and had a chilled out lunch at the hotel. Then it was nap time again to avoid the intense mid afternoon heat.

We had a very early start planned for the next day so we had a quick cheap dinner at a roadside souvlaki place and a cheeky frozen Greek yoghurt from one of the many little cafés before packing up our stuff.

Highlight: More amazing sights, and chilled out days.
Lowlight: The Africans trying to sell friendship bracelets everywhere and try to tie it on your wrist so you have to buy it, seriously man I don't want peace and love from you.
Interesting fact: Greece has one of the lowest divorce rates in the EU (wonder if that is changing with the financial problems!).

Thursday 9th July

 
Our day started with a 6am taxi to the port, it was chaos down there and after a few hiccups we found our ferry and hopped on. The ferries were massive, like Inter-islander size and we were in the cheap seats with all the smokers and annoying drunk American teenagers on bus about tours. But the journey was pretty sweet, and the views of the various Greek Islands were incredible.

The crossing took about 4 hours before we hit Mykonos. It was really hot in the midday sun and so we were keen to find the guy that Hamish had arranged to rent a scooter from pretty quickly. Unfortunately he didn't turn up. About an hour went by before someone from the same company came along and took us to the rental shop. We got a tiny 50cc, loaded it with our luggage and jumped on. We were given instructions on how to find our hotel and we were off, although I did think the motor was going to explode on some of the hills. We were surprised at how many half finished buildings there were in Mykonos, lots of concrete foundations but not much else most likely Europeans/Greeks abandoned holiday developments. Our hotel was nice and the lady very friendly, unfortunately the "kitchen facilities" that the website promised turned out to be a kettle and a fridge. Not ideal.

By this stage we were beyond hunger, so we popped up to the local shop and bought some bread, salami and cheese which we finished in about 3 minutes. Then it was beach time, our host had recommended Kalo Livadi beach which was a nice smaller beach, mostly with sun loungers but also gaps for cheapskates like us who are happy to lay in the sand. The beach had a cool vibe with the white sand, a DJ and clear blue water. The water was a bit chilly but refreshing and we chilled out there for a bit before Lou made the call to go to the beach party at Paradise beach, on the other end of the island. It was like nothing we had seen before...

All bottles of Moet!

When we arrived at Tropicana bar at about 6ish, the party was in full swing, with dancers on the tables and the DJ in a elephant jock strap. We found a table and Hamish treated Lou to a very exotic cocktail and we took in the surroundings. That's when we realised that the tables around us were full of very young rich kids ordering buckets of Moët and bottles of vodka!!! Based on the price list we reckon they were spending about 600 euro per round. It was unbelievable. What was worse is that young girls ( prob like 17?) were being cherry picked by the guys with the money from the crowd to join the tables.

View from our table in Mykonos

We didn't stay too long as Hamish needed to drive back and it wasn't really our gig, so we headed back to the hotel to have a shower and changed before scootering back out for some dinner. We tried one of the local tavernas that our host recommended but it had just closed (it seems it's only open for lunch and closes at 7pm....that's how late these Greeks eat!). So plan B was the old town.
There were some stunning sights along the way in. We parked up and selected from one of the many restaurants along the marina. We had the best calamari we had ever tasted with some nice local white wine and veges. The sun was setting and we had the best view for sure!

Driving back was a bit more of a challenge as the scooter didn't really have a headlight and with the two of us on the battery wasnt producing any light but we got there (after Hamish forgot he was in Europe on one of the intersections), big day!

Highlight: Finally getting some beach time after being so hot in Athens
Lowlight: The wait for the scooter....draining
Interesting fact: Its Greek law that over 75% of a ships crew must be Greek.

Friday 10th July

 
We were feeling a little guilty about all the food and drink we had tasted so we went for a run, even at 7.30am it was roasting and we didn't last long but at least we tried.

We wanted to explore the old town a bit more, the city is so tightly compacted, and they say that it was built like this to confuse pirates. The famous white and blue colours were everywhere as well as very expensive designer shops. This really is the playground of the rich. We found the old windmills that are a symbol of the island (used to mill grain), and then we had a nice iced coffee in the shade.

Lou had booked a wine tasting at a local winery towards the north of the island at midday so we drove to the local beach called Fokos, to check it out before then, it was stunningly beautiful. Very quiet, secluded and peaceful with its own taverna. We decided to come back after the tasting.

The vineyard itself was organic and bio dynamic, which meant that this lady picked grapes according to the moon....a bit crazy if you ask me but the wine was very good and at 6 euro a bottle you can't complain. The farm also had chickens and turkeys randomly. Back to the beach and we swum, sunbathed and played the little bat and ball game that all Europeans play (I'm sure it's got some sweet name. But we don't know it).

Before we knew it, it was 4pm aka lunch time, so we opted for the very busy local place. The Greeks aren't renowned for their service and this was apparent here, very casual. But the food and the view were great.

By the time we had got home and showered and packed up for checking out it was sunset again. We wanted to get another glimpse of the great sunset we saw the night before so we went back to old town and grabbed a souvlaki at Jimmys which is a local institution. Really nice food, but starting to get a little sick of them. We treated ourselves to the biggest gelatos ever at the port which melted faster than we could eat them. To our disappointment the sunset was a no go, the first cloud we had seen in 4 days! Oh well. We got all the way back to where we parked and about 5 mins down the road on the scooter Hamish had realised he had left his hat at Jimmys, so it was a quick U turn and Lou guarding the bike while Hamish run back to get it.....jeez Hamish.

 

Highlight: Fokos beach - it was just perfect
Lowlight: Hamish being forgetful and having to run back through the narrow streets to Jimmys. On the plus side he didnt get fooled by the lanes to confuse pirates.
Interesting fact: The souvlaki first appeared in ancient Greece, as proved by a recipe from that time. The dish was called “kandaulos” and combined grilled meat, pita, cheese and dill. Bet they didn't have chips in them though.

Saturday 11th July

 
We thought we would sleep really well after all the sun and exercise we did the day before but it wasn't to be. We woke up sleepy and grumpy, but we had to return the scooter and get to the new port to get another ferry to Santorini. Our tickets said we had to be there an hour before departure, so we were....and then we waited for about an hour and half for the ferry to arrive and it was literally about a ten minute turn around and we were off!!! The wind had picked up a lot overnight but the sailing was pretty smooth. Our ferry stopped at Naxos before the journey finished in Santorini. So by this time we were already about an hour late and then we started the wait for the scooter guy again...another hour went by. We were hot, tired and grumpy and not impressed by the punctuality of these companies - i know its island time but seriously! Eventually he turned up and after lots more waiting we were on our way to Oia where we were staying. The island itself is pretty incredible, it just rises out of the sea straight up, so hardly any beaches and all the villages are perched right on top of the cliffs. The island was also a lot bigger than we imagined and it took us a good 20 mins to get to Oia which is in the north of the island.

Our hotel was pretty nice, it seemed as though we got the honeymoon suite as it was all pink with teddy bears and butterflies, but it had a half decent kitchen which was the main thing. We were starved by this point so we walked 15 mins to the town and checked it out. Everything was pure white, and we were so jealous of all the luxury apartments and hotels with their private pools on the cliffs. We had a reasonable lunch overlooking the bay, stuffed peppers and fried cheese (a local speciality) which tasted like a cheese toasty without the bread. We then walked through to the other side of the village where all the famous photos of the sunset are taken. It was beautiful, but also very crowded.

On the way back we stopped off at the local supermarket for supplies and headed home for a much needed rest. Later Hamish cooked up a really nice dinner before we went back into the village for the sunset with about 10,000 other people. It was a good sunset but I think we have experienced better, had to be done though.
 

Highlight: Oia is really beautiful.
Lowlight: Greek service.....its a national thing.
Interesting fact: Santorini is the name of a small archipelago located in the southern Aegean Sea, so there are loads of little islands in a circle around the big island where most of the settlements are.

Sunday 12th July

 
We had requested our room service breakfast at 8am but as expected this didn't arrive for a good 20 mins later but it wasn't a bad breakfast. We got mini croissants, boiled eggs and chocolate cake, standard European breakfast!

Once we finished up we set out on our big walk, one of the most famous on the island. From Oia where we were staying, to Fira which is the main town on the island. It was really windy still but the sun was shining so it was a good walk. We passed several wee churches and more amazing hotels which made us jealous. We made it to Fira in about 2.5 hours, and explored there for a bit. This was tourist central, as a lot of the boats come into the old port ( we came into the new port) and the cliff face is so steep that there is a cable car or if you want to pay 5 euros, you ride a donkey up. It STUNK.

We got the bus back to Oia as we were a little tired by then, we had a nice lunch on the balcony and a rest. The afternoons activity involved swimming as we were still super hot. A lot of the coastline in Santorini doesnt have a beach and very rocky but we found a little swimming hole called Ammoudi where there was a good jumping platform for bombs. It's worth noting Lou did jump off twice and was the first girl to jump while we were there. The first time she screamed like a girl which was pretty funny.
Then more people swam over including a group of girls who proceeded to walk back and forth trying to find the courage to jump. After we watched and got bored of that we went in search of more beaches but by this time the wind was really whipping us around on the scooter so we called it a day.

Octopus!

HB from NZ...Perfect technique - 10!

Lou cooked up some orzo, which we had with a Greek national spirit ouzo (revolting), some Mykonoian wine (delicious) and another Greek spirit metaxa (ok). All very local!
We watched the sunset from our balcony and it was just as good if not better than going all the way into Oia which made us very happy.

View from our room

Highlight: The swimming and the views from our walk were awesome.
Lowlight: Getting "exfoliated" on our face by the sand on the scooter.
Interesting fact: Ouzo production begins with distillation in copper stills of 96 percent alcohol by volume. Anise is added, sometimes with other flavorings. Still tastes pretty rank.

Monday 13th July

We booked to go on a boat day trip today, to see the volcanic island in the middle of the caldera. We left from Ammoudi port with about 25 others and motored along until we reached the crater of the volcano. The island itself is like walking in Mars, all pumice and rock everywhere. We had a very bizarre guide who did his best to explain some complex science and history in his second language but did so it such a random way we gave up and wandered off on our own for a bit once we got the gist of it. Basically, Santorini was created by a number of volcanoes and eruptions. The step cliffs of the main island are a result of one of the volcanoes caldera (like magma chamber) collapsed, earth sinks in and was filled by the sea. The differing colours of the cliffs and visible layers are the result of ash from the numerous eruptions. The inner coast around the caldera is a sheer precipice of more than 300m drop at its highest to sea level which continues straight down for another 300m or so and is why all the huge cruise ships and get so close.

Next stop was the thermal pool, so this is a little beach which pumps out 24 degree water near the shore, it's also very rusty in colour and stains your togs. We hopped out of the boat for a swim which was cool, although our underwater camera started playing up, which was a pain.
 

View from our restaurant at lunch

We were starved by now so into Thirssa which is another island in the group. It's famous for its snorkelling and seafood. We had grilled calamari and octopus, Greek salad and stuffed tomatoes, which was all really fresh. Hamish swam for a bit more and then it was back on the boat home.

We had a nice dinner at our apartments and packed up ready for our final day on our Greek adventure.

Highlight: Swimming in the thermal pool was different!
Lowlight: The guide trying to explain millions of years of volcanic history using a rock and water bottle....as he said "look it up online". Thanks mate.
Interesting fact: Santorini was struck by a massive earthquake in 1956, and it was only in the 70's that tourism took off, so it's a relatively young tourist destination although there are probably 2 hotels for every one residential house here.

Tuesday 14th July

Sadly our last days holiday was upon us. Our flight wasn't until 9pm so we had a full day left to make the most of. After packing up and checking out of our friendly albeit slightly quirky accommodation we jumped on the scooter and headed straight for Monastery of Profitis Ilias which is located on the highest point in Santorini, at 565 metres. It is still a working monastery with monks making candles, wine and honey. After a 30 min or so ride we were at the top and greeted with 360 degree stunning views of the various islands of Santorini all bathed in beautiful sunshine.

 Next stop was the Red beach on the Southern end of the island. The map we had wasn't the best but we made it there easy enough with a minor detour through a random gravel road which the scooter / Lou didn't like too much but it was all part of the adventure! On the way there were some fantastic views of the caldera and we briefly stopped for the obligatory tourist photo. The Red beach is aptly named because of the red cliffs and beach as a result of the volcanic sand. In fact in Santorini there are red, white and black beaches. We parked up and joined the rest of the hoards of tourists walking the short track to the beach. The beach itself was a bit crowded making it hard to get a good spot so Lou enquired about a sun lounger but at €8 each and fact that we weren't planning on staying that long meant we perched our selves down on a small section on sand right next to a random door into the cliff. After a hour or so swimming and sunbathing it was time for lunch.

We jumped back on the trusty scooter (which Lou was starting to dislike as the bumpy roads combined with cheap suspension meant she was developing an acute case of "bikers bum") and drove a short way before stopping at a local taverna for lunch. We had a typical meal of Greek salad, fried calamari and we decided to give the traditional dish of postanio a try - it was ok but nothing special.

By now it was early afternoon and we decided to go to Perissa beach which is the longest black sand beach in Santorini, locals call it Black beach. Black beach was much nicer and more like the beaches in Mykonos. We found a spot in the shade and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. The only downside of the beach was due to the back sand, it got so hot you had to either wear jandals when you went for a swim or do this exponential walk increasing your speed until you were pretty much running by the time you got to the water to sooth your feet.

After Black beach we went back the the hotel, picked up our bag, and rode to the airport, will the two of us and all the bags, where we got changed and dropped the scooter off. Santorini airport was very small and disorganised which was a common theme we had experienced in Greece. Whether it be ferries, boats, airplanes or buses trips they all lacked organisation and efficiency. It chaotic times like this it does make you wonder if this is part of the reason the country is in some much financial trouble.

Highlight: Views from the monastery and the last day of soaking up some vitamin D.
Lowlight: Bikers bum, and post holiday blues setting in at the airport.
Interesting fact: There are over 250 churches in Santorini, for a population of 15,000!