crete

of all the islands i've been to so far, crete remains my favorite.  it is the largest island but i just love how relaxing and slow the pace is there.  i think it feels less touristy too because there is so much land for people to disperse themselves among.  we got into heraklion and got on a bus headed to chania.  upon arriving, we rented a car (that we later named hercules) and then drove to the hostel.  if you're ever in chania, stay at the niriis hotel just 4km west of the city.  the owner, george, is awesome.  he is super helpful and tells you the best places to go and eat.  not to mention, his brother is a professional basketball player for the greek national team so he has some good stories to tell!

renting hercules was key because the next morning, we drove 2 hours south to my favorite beach in the world, elafonisi!!! cat and i went last time we were here after having it recommended to us by our hostel owner and we had a blast.  i was so excited go to back--so excited that i left my camera on my bed but had 2 extra spare batteries and a memory card.  go me.  pert and rachel were nice enough to take some more pics for me to make up for my idiocy!  even though i knew where we were going and what it would be like, i was still mesmerized once we got there.  it is absolute paradise there!  we stayed for an entire day before heading back to chania.

once returning, we met our new dorm mate jon, from kansas.  we all headed to this vegetarian restaurant in town that was recommended by george which was to die for.  the food was all organic and incredibly tasty.  we showed up with a map that george had drawn for us and that had listed out what special cretan delicacies we needed to try.  after reading off the list, our waitress asked where we were staying and low and behold, she just broke up with georgie boy 5 days ago! haaaaa.  for only knowing her for 5 minutes, it was amazing the amount of information she divulged.  later we helped her deliver a note to george that was taped up in masking tape and written in pink pen.  perhaps it was a take me back note?  we will never know.  

the next day, we headed to balos which is a lagoon that was also another 2 hour drive away.  this was a true test for hercules because we had to drive on a dirt road for a while, but he survived!  did i mention that hercules is a daewoo matiz from the early 90's (we are guessing with no power steering?  yes, all part of his charm.  after arriving in the parking lot, we had another 20 min hike down to the beach.  along the way, we saw a lot of mountain goats which was really kind of random, but whatever floats their boat.  the hike was totally worth it because the view of the lagoon from the top was stunning.  it wasn't quite as 'beachy' as elafonisi, but still a great way to spend our day.  we found a little sand bar and threw up the umbrellas that george let us borrow (see, he's the shit) before camping out for the remainder of the afternoon.  we were the first people there in the morning which was great but more ferries showed up eventually and it was filled with people in a few short hours.

after leaving balos, we booked it back to chania before pulling everything together to leave.  we had a great goodbye dinner with jon and rachel in town eating some seafood before getting dropped off at the airport.  it's been great how many wonderful people we've met along the way.  now i have a couch to stay on in melbourne or kansas city if i ever go!  after flying to milan and spending the night in the airport, pert and i are off to spain! 

santorini

i love this island so much!  even though it is ridiculously touristy, it has so much charm it just leaves you in awe.  we stayed at a hostel near perissa beach which was great because there was a 24 hour bakery down the street.  it's a shame that the US doesn't have more of them because greek bakeries are awesome!  i could not get enough of the ham and cheese pies or the chocolate croissants that they had.  the owners were super nice and told us exactly what was in every delectable pastry.  it was always a combination of cheese, tomatoes, chicken or ham, and bacon.  i don't know why they didn't just put a sign in front of each pastry in the case because i'm sure they go through the same spiel about 50 times a day.  you also got this nice sesame stick every time you bought something from them so i definitely ate my fair share of them!

the next day, we went on a tour of the island mostly so we could check out the caldera.  santorini is actually the crater from a volcano that used to be active.  as a result, there are other islands across the way that you can go to, to see the volcanic rock.  i was glad i saw it (because i never got the last time i was here), but i was extremely underwhelmed.  definitely not whelmed, as alicia silverstone would say.  it may have had something to do with the fact that we were hearded up this tiny island with about 100 other tourists and given only an hour total in time to spend there, but i guess i just expected more.
the next spot we hit up afterwards were these sulphur hot springs (read: mildly warm hot springs).  we got to jump off the boat and swim over to them for a bit.  it was crazy how the water went from blue to red just like that.  the sulphur smell wasn't nearly as bad as i thought!

after that we headed to the island of thirassia which is considered old santorini without the tourism.  after climbing up what felt like the equivalent of everest, we made it to the top which was worth the amazing view we got!  there really isn't much at the top aside from a church, but we had a quick picnic lunch with some of the girls we met from the hostel which also came on the tour with us.  naturally we all had purchased treats from the 24 hour bakery for lunch ;)

the last stop of the tour was in oia so that we could watch the sunset.  we rode donkeys up the steep steps (remember, we had conquered everest earlier already) and walked around the windy roads before finding somewhere to stake out with a bottle of wine.  it was so nice!  the atmosphere was great and pert and i had great company so it was a great end to the day.

the next day we woke up in the morning and did a hike with rachel, our new australian friend.  we hiked from fira to oia which has a hike that takes you along the rim of the crater which was really nice.  it took about 2 hours and we had the company of a stray dog (who we named zeus) to lead the way. 

the rest of the day, we rented ATVs and cruised around the island!  our first stop was the red beach which is in a really cool setting right at the bottom of a cliff.  we actually ran into these americans we met in mykonos so we hung out with them for a bit before heading to santos wines.  santorini is also known for its dry white wine and has many wineries in the perissa area which have tastings if you ever go.  we definitely took advantage!  santos is one of the better known wineries because of its location.  it has an absolutely stunning view of the island.  so stunning, that two weddings took place in the hour we spent sipping our glasses of wine!  

red beach

santos winery

santos winery view

afterwards, we drove around until we found another winery to stop at, which happened to be the same one cat and i visited last time.  the gavalas winery is much smaller than santos, but just as great.  there is the sweetest woman who works there who is very knowledgable and actually spends time having conversations with her customers which was really nice.  i sampled 5 wines there!  have no fear, there was no AUI (ATV'ing under the influence) that took place.

kamari beach

despite only being there for 2 days, i felt like we had a very productive two days and was excited to head to crete!  we convinced rachel to head that way with us so the three of us took off the next day!!!

mykonos

i should preface that i've been to the rest of the islands once before about a year and a half ago when i came with cat.  however, we came in october which was the end of the tourist season so the islands were essentially dead.  the sun was decent but it definitely got chilly at night.  while i had a fantastic time, i didn't feel like i got my full greek experience.  so this time around, despite choosing the same islands again, i was interested to see how different the vibe was.


we arrived in mykonos and headed to our camping hostel near paradise beach.  yea, camping hostel.  pert and i essentially slept in the equivalent of a tool shed made of thick canvas that had 8 beds in it and then had a separate bathroom area that everyone shared.  if you wanted, you could have also pitch a tent.  see, i wasn't joking about the camping.  the weirdest thing about this 'hostel' was the vast difference between where we slept/showered compared to the common area.  if you didn't know any better, you would've thought that we were at a luxury resort.  there was a super nice pool which a bunch of lounge chairs and sofas along with a bar that played hip music.  yea...made no sense to me but i was ok with spending as little time in our room as possible!

the hostel lounge area

the beach next to the hostel

the first full day we had there, i headed to the island of delos for a day trip by myself to check out some more ruins.  this island is a 40 minute ferry ride from mykonos and is essentially a museum on its own.  people don't live there but there are numerous ruins that are still up from the city that once existed.  it's nerdy, but i really enjoyed just walking around and just thinking how centuries ago, this was a city and there were people that carried about these paths and buildings living life.  there was also a cool peak there you could climb up to which gave you a wonderful view of the surrounding islands.  i will say that after delos, i had my fill of ruins ;)

pert and i hit up paradise beach after i got back from delos and it was quite the sight.  people warn you of the nude beaches in europe, but i was not ready for what i saw there.  i mean, i suppose i need to give props to the old 50-70 year old men and women who were not ashamed to flaunt what they had...but 1. gravity has taken its toll on their bits and 2. you can't tell me you're truly comfortable sprawled out on the sand wearing absolutely nothing.  sand gets everywhere.

later that night, we hit the town with some bermudans that we met.  since being in greece, my perception of time has been terrible!  i mean, i really have no idea what day of the week it is anymore.  the time of day hasn't been an issue, but the sun didn't set over there until about 8:45pm so that threw everything off for me.  next thing you knew, it was 4am and time for this granny to go to bed!  i will say that mykonos wasn't nearly as crazy as i thought it'd be, but it isn't quite high season yet.  i was ok with it...i don't think i would've had the energy to deal with the high season crowd!

the next morning, we caught a speed boat to santorini.  though my time in mykonos was short, i was ok with it.  this island is worth seeing if you've never been, but i think the other islands have more to offer in addition to the party scene.  we actually found out that there was a strike going on that day in athens so we were not sure if our boat would be running or not, but we lucked out!

athens

after meteora, pert and i spent the next day in athens so that he could check out the ruins before heading to the greek islands.  it happened to be some national bank holiday on the monday we were there so it meant that we got free entry into the acropolis and the national archaelogical museum!  that saved us at least 20 euro :)


we first headed to the acropolis which was jam packed with tourists even at 9 in the morning.  as touristy as it is, it is still amazing to see these ruins that have existed for thousands of years.  per usual, they were renovating the parthenon so there were lovely cranes around the top as well.  

parthenon

we walked to the temple of hephaestus after that in the roman agora which may have been my favorite.  it is one of the best preserved temples that is still around.
after a quick bite near the plaka, we headed to the national archaelogical museum to kill a little more time before our fast boat to mykonos.  honestly...i suck at museums.  personally, i would rather see something historic in its original environment like the acropolis or notre dame for example versus 50 million pieces of jewely/knives/what have you not displayed under flourescent lighting with a sign that has 4 languges on it.  with that said, there were a few cool statues that i enjoyed at the museum which were the aphrodite and zeus ones.   similar to my last trip to greece, we only spent about half a day there which was plenty for me!

temple of hephaestus

aphrodite from the museum

meteora, greece

(sorry it's been so long since i've updated but we've been running around everywhere and haven't had much of a break, which i suppose isn't such a bad thing afterall, right?)


immediately after arriving in greece after 21 hours of traveling (we had a 9 hour layover in doha), pert and i got into the city bus station only to get right back on a bus for 5 hours to head to central greece.  we went to the town of meteora where there are monasteries that have been built on top of cliffs!  it is quite the sight to see.


on a side note, i will say that the buses were a lot nicer than i expected which was a pleasant surprise.  we stayed in the town of kalampaka for the night which is at the foot of meteora.  the next morning, we woke up early and caught the bus up to the biggest monastery before gradually making our way down.


we started at the grand meteora monastery (megaro meteora if you wanna be greek about it) which was amazing!  once you paid the 2 euro fee, you just went in and wandered around.  these monasteries are still in practice so we weren't able to see everything.  in total we saw 5 monasteries (one of which was in a james bond movie) which was about 6km in distance and took us about 4 hours to do.  afterwards we headed back into town and then caught a bus back to athens.


if you ever have the chance to go to meteora, it is definitely worth checking out.  not only are these monasteries stunning, the surrounding environment is also breathtakingly gorgeous.  it is like nothing you've ever seen before.

megaro meteora

awesome catacombs

another monastery...forgot the name :(

this is the one from the james bond movie 'for your eyes only'

view of kalampaka from the top