Ios Insanity

Our ferry to Ios wasn't leaving until the afternoon but Sam, Shereen and I had to check out of our room by 10:00. I had asked the hotel manager the day before if we would be able to leave a few bags with him while we waited for our ferry and he said that was fine, but when he showed up and we were giving him our bags he said he wouldn't take any bags that had valuables in them because he was just going to leave them in his car unattended. When I said I didn't care that he left them he still flat out refused to take them because he didn't want to make his car a target. Why his car would be more of a target with 3 giant suitcases with valuables hidden in them than with 3 giant suitcases with no valuables hidden in them was a mystery to me. So with no other option but to take our heavy day-packs with us, the three of us proceeded around the corner to a cute little cafe for breakfast. I had the last of my giant apples and grapes while Shereen had a coffee and Sam had a mixed fruit crepe that looked amazing.

Next we wondered how to spend the next 3 hours until our ferry arrived, with the beach being out of the question and keeping in mind that we had spent more than enough time in the old port.

Still with no real choice in the matter we shopped around in the old port for a while, and I managed to find a belated birthday present for my mum. After killing a mere 40 minutes and feeling sick of walking with our day packs on, I decided the best thing to do would be to go around to the ferry port and find a restaurant to string out lunch in.

We found a really nice restaurant with no one in it overlooking the sea and the ferry port, with free wifi to help lengthen the eating process with constant Facebook and Instagram checking.

We ordered a mix of small dishes to share including a giant mound of tsatziki, baked feta and calamari, and Sam and I waxed lyrical about how much we were beginning to love Greek food. About an hour and a half before our ferry was supposed to arrive I decided to check with our waitress that we were at the right port for the ferry since our hotel manager had not given us very good instructions.

She told us that, in fact, we were not in the right place and that it would take us about an hour to walk there. We quickly paid and left, and started walking to the port she had told us.

About 10 minutes in, the pedestrian path along the road ended and we had to start walking along the shoulder of this very busy road. I decided it was a bad idea and that it would take us more than an hour considering how winding the road was, so we headed back the way we had come to find a good waiting point to catch a taxi. We waited about another 10 minutes for a taxi but every one that came past had a passenger they were bringing from the new port and all were going the wrong way.

Deciding it would be hopeless waiting for one to come on this stretch of road without a passenger we decided we should walk back into the town area where there would be more taxis floating around. Finally we caught on dropping off passengers at the ferry port we had originally been at and we all piled in and gave him the name of the port we wanted to go to. He told us he didn't understand.

I got out my map and showed him the picture and the name in Greek and he said "you want to go there?" and I said yes, to which he replied, "That's here".

After a confusing discussion about which island we were going to and which ferry company we were with, we sorted out that we had in fact been in the right place the whole time and that our waitress was either too dumb to read a map or wanted us to leave the restaurant after we had been sitting around using wifi and barely ordering anything.

We walked down to wait in the ferry terminal, which turned out to be a building that had started construction and was abandoned at the skeleton phase before doors windows or any fitting of any kind were put in. Since we were still a good 30-45 minutes early for the ferry we decided to head back up to the cafe at the top of the hill- right next to where we had been half an hour before. We ordered some drinks and pilfered more wifi while we waited for the ferry.

When we finally make our way down to the ferry port we first had to meet our hotel manager who was bringing the bags he would store for us down to meet us at the port. We got our bags and sat around in the car park waiting for the ferry to arrive along with hundreds of other people. One ferry came and went and a few hundred people went with it, but our ferry was nowhere to be seen and the only information we were told whilst we were waiting was "it's late". Thanks, we got that.

After more than an hour of waiting in the sun our ferry finally came and it turned out we had assigned seating and I was next to this couple while Shereen and Sam were across the wide aisle. Luckily when the ferry started moving the seat next to them was still free and I was able to move.

We arrived in Ios and were greeted by our hostel van. Sam was staying at a different hostel to us at the other side of the island and so we parted ways there. When we got to the hostel we contacted Ray to see when she was going to move over to the hostel from Alana's hotel, but she decided that because it was Alana's last night in Europe she would stay with her.

We contacted Sam to see what the others had planned for the night and they mentioned some bar they wanted to go to. I told Sam that Shereen and I were going for dinner and since they wouldn't have a chance of contacting us once they left their hostel's wifi signal, we made plans that we would meet them at this bar if we were going out, but if we weren't there by 9 then they could assume that we weren't coming.

Shereen and I finished dinner and were feeling super tired, so we decided we weren't going to go out. Before going back to the hostel we headed down to the supermarket to buy some supplies for the room. When we got down there it was 9pm and Ray, Sam, Rhys and Georgia were at the cafe next door. 

We decided to head back and go out with the people from the hostel instead. After a few drinking games and welcome shots we all headed to a bar owned by the same guy that owned our hostel. Ray and the others came to find us there, but a few of the friends I had made at the hostel wanted to go off to a different bar and I decided to go with them.

The bar was exclusively flavoured shots and for every 7 shots you bought you got a free t-shirt. Without going too far into it... I had more than enough shots for a shirt.

We left the bar a little while later and I went to find Shereen again. She had chosen to stay with the others and they were all together in a different bar. We hung out there as people started to disappear slowly- Ray tripped on the treacherous cobble stone street outside and was kindly escorted home by Rhys, and the friends I had made at the hostel also decided to call it a night. Sam was the next to want to leave when he sat on a single-serve packet of butter that Shereen had made me steal from the restaurant where we had dinner. It had started to melt in my bag so I threw it out onto the stone bench I was on, much to the dismay of an unsuspecting Sam.

After that we decided it was time to call it a night, and I wrangled a few people to help me drag Shereen home.

Look out for my next post on the rest of our time in Ios.

xx

More of Mykonos

Shereen and I were alone for the morning since Ray had decided to stay over at her friend’s hotel the night before. We started with a trip to the fruit store down the road, which for me, at this stage of the trip where I was really craving simple find-in-the-fridge food, was like walking into a candy store. I settled on an apple the size of my head and a bunch of grapes. I literally bit off more than I could chew with the apple- it was so big that it was going brown before I was even half way through and it was difficult to pose with in photos as Shereen kept yelling at me to hide it. We wandered around the old port taking photos and enjoying the different perspective we were getting in the light of day. 

When we were through we hopped on a bus to get over to a beach our hotel manager had suggested the day before. When we arrived the whole beach was sun-bed only with barely any room that you didn't have to pay for. Luckily I had spied another beach on the other side of the cliff and what looked like the beginning of a path just a little way back up the hill. We walked back and sure enough the tiny and slightly perilous path lead down to the bay. We expertly manoeuvred our way down and past the men selling knock-off handbags and pirated DVDs and set up our towels before racing into the water to cool off. 

After a few hours we packed up our gear and headed back to the hotel.

We got dressed up and arranged to meet Ray and Alana for some sunset cocktails in Little Venice- an area close to our hotel where the buildings came straight up out of the water. 

After some sunset sangria we went to find somewhere to eat dinner down in the port.

The next morning Ray, Sam and Georgia and Rhys (Sam's friends from his hostel) decided to rent ATVs to tour around the island. Ray asked if Shereen an I wanted to go and I really didn't like the idea of trying to drive one myself let alone get on the back of someone else's, especially after experiencing the sharp fast turns the island buses take around corners where they couldn't possibly see what is coming. Shereen was keen but didn't want to leave me so we tried to organise a beach that the two of us could get to by bus and that the others could meet us at on their journey.

But they were all set on venturing out where the bus wouldn't take you, so I sucked it up and decided to get on the back of Ray's.

/Shereen not so confident with her driver Sam

I got the job of navigating somehow, which was not the easiest at all. I was gripping on to Ray for dear life and trying to occasionally read the map at the same time. No roads had names so I had to judge by how far we had come and the direction and shape of the road if I could see it. After a slightly annoying detour we arrived at the first beach. The water was beautifully blue and clear but the whole beach was covered in rubbish. We spent all our time in the water there, except when the boys were jumping off some rocks that were around. 

On our way to the next beach disaster struck. Ray and I ran out of petrol.

Luckily I found a petrol station not far away on the map, so while we waited by the side of the road the others drove off to get us some more fuel. After they came back and topped us up enough to get up the hill to the station we filled the tank and set off for our next destination.

/Petrol station antics

Down a very long windy path that snaked alongside a river we made it to our next beach. The beach was in much better condition than the last but also had a lot more old naked people. We chilled on the beach for a while before deciding to have an early dinner at the restaurant that was there. We went inside and Georgia and Rhys realised it was the same restaurant used in Kings of Mykonos- which I haven't seen and apparently is terrible, but they enjoyed the novelty of it. After a great meal we all got back on the ATVs and started back. We stopped along the river (which didn’t look so much like a river as a toxic waste dump up close) to take some photos on this cool rock balancing above the water. I had been so worried about getting injured on the bikes all day but my only injury was inflicted when I had this giant thorny plant impale my foot with its 1 cm barb. 

Fighting the pain from my flesh wound, I got back on and took everyone on a long scenic route home, which I will pretend was on purpose because we got some great views.

I got dropped off at the hotel while the others went to find some bus Rhys wanted a photo on. The guys returned a while later with some wine and cheese and other drinks in preparation of our night out. I had let myself get really sleepy waiting for them so I couldn't get to into it.

After spending about an hour at this club which was crammed full of people on a Contiki, and a DJ who would say Myknoooooooos every 5 seconds, I excused myself and went home.

At 4, 5 and 8am respectively I woke up and Shereen and Ray had not come home. The first night Ray had decided to stay with Alana she texted us so we didn't worry. But with no word from them about where they were I sent her a text and tried calling but there was no answer. I was starting to get worried until I heard from them about 30 mins later saying that they had gone back to the hostel with the others which I had considered but didn't think was likely since they didn't have beds booked there. It turned out Shereen stole Rhys's bed and Ray had slept outside on this massive collection of beanbags at the hostel.

They got back a while later and I left them to sleep it off while I took a walk and got some breakfast. After a decent amount of window-shopping I headed back to the hotel to find them unsurprisingly still asleep. When they eventually got up Ray packed because she had decided to go to Ios a day early to hang out with Alana. She, Rhys and Georgia left on the ferry that afternoon and Sam came to our hostel to take Ray's empty bed. He had also had a pretty rough night so he slept while Shereen and I went out for dinner. We stopped on our way home for our mandatory crepes and bought one for Sam in lieu of dinner.

The next morning we said goodbye to Mykonos and headed to Ios.

Read about it in my next post xx

And You Will Go to Mykonos

We all woke up before the crack of dawn to get ourselves down to the port where we would be catching a ferry from Athens to the island of Mykonos. This involved a 5:30am train ride from our hostel which turned out to be the closest I have come to getting mugged on my whole trip (touch wood- I still have a month left).

Sam and I had our packs on and Shereen and Ray where wheeling their suitcases, so we all stood in the space by the doors for the ride, along with one other older gentleman who was by himself and had a few different pieces of luggage of various size. About 3 stops from the end of the line, a group of about 6 men all piled on and started trying to take the man's bags. But it what was strange was when I say "take" that's not really correct... They were merely lifting the bags and holding them, not trying to pull them off him with any actual force. It was like watching a really bad play where people were supposed to be fighting over something but it didn't look realistic. Anyway, the man was understandably getting distraught and I was trying to push these people off him and away from his things. My friends were doing the same and one or two other people on the train started yelling at them in Greek, and when we arrived at the next stop they all just dropped what they were doing and got off the train. After they had left someone on the train said, "they were thieves, make sure they didn't take anything". Well thank you Captain Obvious, but your help would have been better a couple of minutes ago. We asked the older guy if he was ok and if he had everything. Despite his passport being in his breast pocket for all to see, they hadn't taken anything from him. We realised that they weren't really targeting the guy, they were trying to distract us. Sam had seen one man's hand try to get in Ray's handbag but he slapped it away. None of us had anything taken because the rest of us had everything padlocked and protected, but it wasn't the greatest start to the day.

The next step of the journey was not much better. We had gotten our ferry tickets the day before and discussed which one we would take. Price was an issue for Sam, and he wanted to take the longer ferry that was €20 cheaper. Ray said she would keep him company and since Shereen and I would only have arrived and had to wait for them anyway, I decided that I could manage on the boat for a bit longer. Unfortunately this resulted in a 5 1/2 hr ferry ride, with little to no food, uncomfortable chairs, freezing air conditioning and nothing to do.

When we did finally arrive we were greeted by our guest house manager who drove us to our accommodations in the old port of Mykonos. We were staying right by the famous windmills on the island, and whilst we had to take a bus every time we went to the beach, I really loved being in the little village.

After we had settled in, we decided to go and see Sam at his hostel by the beach. We let him know we were coming and hopped on the bus to make our way out to the beach. Sam said he would be by the pool at the hostel, and I thought I spied him when we arrived but Ray laughed at me saying that couldn't be him, so we decided to check out the beach and see if he was there. We got out to the end of the beach which was the only place you didn't have to pay to sit, and we still hadn't seen Sam. Instead we had seen a LOT of old naked men and came to the conclusion that it maybe this wasn't the place we wanted to spend the afternoon. We walked back to the hostel and of course it was Sam that I originally spotted! His hair had just grown so much in the past month that Ray didn't recognize him.

We went for a short swim and hung out at Sam's hostel eating souvlaki. Sam also introduced us to Rhys and Georgia who were friends travelling together from Melbourne, also staying at his hostel.

We went back to our accommodation and Ray went to meet her friend Alana for dinner. Shereen and I went and got crepes and gelato for dinner and spent a little time walking around and enjoying the vibrant nightlife in the old port.

And thus ends our first day in Mykonos. More next time xx

 

Greece Lightning

After an early flight from Rome, Shereen and I found ourselves in the city of Athens. We were starting our trip around the Greek Islands here and I was super excited to see Ray and Sam again who would be meeting up with us for the trip. We caught the train in from the airport and I chatted with an Australian guy who spotted my contiki luggage tag and asked if we were doing and Island tour. He was meeting up with his group the next day and he hadn't done a tour before so we told him that he was going to have a ball, but probably not much sleep for the next couple of weeks.

When we got to our stop I was instantly confronted with the Acropolis hill and after we checked in to our room we had a peek out on the balcony and were greeted by an amazing view of the Parthenon, made evn more spectacular by the electrical storm that sent lightning bolts down around the ruins. Zeus was clearly having some fun up in the clouds.

Ray's flight was supposed to be arriving around 5pm so we decided to chill out in the hostel until she got there. By about 5:45 Ray still wasn't there and Shereen and I were really hungry, so we left her a note that we had found a restaurant in our area that sounded good and that if she got there soon she should come and meet us out. So Shereen and I set off to find this restaurant. About 10 minutes in I was beginning to wonder if this was the best area for us to be walking by ourselves as the sun went down. There were men all over the streets, shouting at each other and looking like they were about to start beating each other up at any moment. As we walked around still searching for the restaurant we began to feel their eyes on us and they started cat calling and whispering suggestive things to us as we walked by. When we got to the address of the restaurant it wasn't there. We walked around the block a bit, trying to interpret the Greek street names and my Google map directions, but after running into another group of men we cut our losses and got the hell out of there. We were going to just go to a different restaurant on the way back but we didn't have any way of contacting Ray to tell her not to go to the restaurant we told her in the note. So we went back to the hostel to change our note and save her from certain peril.

When we got back we just decided to have dinner at the hostel cafe on the roof and wait for daylight before venturing out again. Ray arrived after dinner and we bravely risked the streets to get some gelato around the corner from the hostel.

The next day we waited for Sam's arrival before setting out to climb the Acropolis. I was expecting a steep ascent but in truth it wasn't that bad. We walked around the ruins and enjoyed the beautiful view for a while before winding our way back down the opposite side.

The four of us then decided to find somewhere for lunch and we stumbled into this little square lined with restaurants. As we walked around looking at menus, the maître d' of one of the restaurants pulled Ray and Sam over, kissing Ray on the cheeks and telling them he would give them a deal for lunch. It was 10 euros for a gyros plate and drink so we decided to sit down- which the guy wouldn't let us do until he had grabbed and Shereen and I as well and dealt us some creepy "cultural" kisses. It was my first proper Greek meal and I fell in love instantly.

After lunch we walked around a bit until I lead everyone to Bretto's distillery which houses a huge collection of ouzo and flavoured liqueurs, all displayed with awesome back-lighting in the bar.

That night Ray, Shereen and I went around the corner from our hostel to a cute little restaurant with live music, while Sam recovered from his early morning flight. We had an authentic Greek meal and got treated to a free brownie each for dessert.

Then we all hit the hay to get some rest before our eeeaaarrrlllyyy ferry the next morning.

Next post on our time in Mykonooooos Xx

 

Cab Catastrophe

Shereen and I had decided to stay out near the airport for our last night in Rome, as we had an early flight to Athens the next day. So after I had spent the morning watching my AFL team the Eagles get beaten in their next elimination final against Collingwood, Shereen and I split a taxi with Kayla and Paul to the airport before continuing on ourselves to the hotel which should have been another 20 minutes away.

After dropping our friends at the airport we gave the next address to the driver and we set off. After about 20 minutes our driver pulled up in front of a hotel that was not ours. I told him he was at the wrong address and I showed him the correct one again. After looking at it he told me it didn't exist. I told him that was the address on the website and he just kept saying the numbers didn't go up that high on the street. He asked for the phone number of the hotel and he gave them a call, then told us he knew where he was going now and set off again. Another 15 minutes later we were on a dead-end dirt road.

Our driver turned around and called our hotel again and also stopped to ask some policemen for directions. He assured us NOW he knew where he was going, but I wasn't so confident so I started tracking us on my GPS. I also asked him to stop the meter but he refused and just kept saying "it's ok, it's ok". After another 15 minutes I finally spotted our hotel. Too bad that we were on a freeway and we had needed to take the previous exit to get to it. The driver was getting almost as annoyed as me by this point. He was yelling in Italian and banging the dashboard with his fist. After another 5 minutes we finally reached the next exit and got off to backtrack to the hotel. By the time we got back to the hotel the fare was 80 euro. The guy had been completely useless and it had taken us over twice as long as it should have. I whispered to Shereen that we weren't paying a cent over 40 euro and that if he had an issue with that she should run inside the hotel and get someone o help us. When we had gotten our bags out he only asked for 40, so he didn't try and rip us off, but it didn't make it any less annoying. After freshening up, Shereen and I had our last Italian dinner in the little family restaurant next door. We were sad to be leaving the next day, but were also excited to start the next stage of our trip.


Only a short post today to finish up our experiences in Rome. Let's face it, without photos you only want a post to be so long!

Next up is my post on our time in Athens- complete with photos ;)

Xx