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Europe Part 1: The Islands

Prepare yourself for a long series of blogs...

First, to see pictures, check out ofoto.com, username = biffbabe@hotmail.com, and ask me for the password (I publicly put up the password, and someone put up dirty pictures - but I'm happy to share with you!).

GREECE
We arrived in Athens after a long day through Madrid (it's always nice to go through a Spanish speaking country and get some practice in). They didn't have the fact that I had asked for vegetarian meals on the flights, so that was annoying, but after giving us the cold shoulder, the stewardesses warmed up to us and gave us extras of the sides and some leftover first class food, so we didn't have to go hungry. When we got to Athens, we settled into the Hostel, which was tight and un-A/Ced, but oh well. We then explored some of the area, getting as close to the Acropolis as we could, and it was still gorgeous! It's amazing to think that people lived up on that hill from about 5000 BC and what they were able to achieve without our "modern technology."

Santorini
The next morning we left for Santorini through the port of Piraeus, and the ferries were amazingly nice! I was expecting a boat like we used to ride on whale watching trips, where there was little space to sit comfortably, but these ferries were huge and comfortable. It definitely beats flying to the islands since transit time is about the same (at least to the Cyclades). Arriving at Santorini, the port is on the cliff side of the island, where 1000 feet of cliif towers above the water, created by the massive volcanic explosion thousands of years ago. The pension we stayed in was really nice, with great owners and a nice location (not cliff side, but that's a LOT of $$!) That afternoon, we hiked along the cliff that leads from our town, Fira, to the end of the island. It was quite intense for just 6 miles - it took us about 4 hours because it was mostly up and down mountains and cliffs. The scenery was gorgeous though, and I had fun taking pictures of blue churches with the crazy settings on my new camera. We had dinner at a restaurant on the ledge - it was amazing to look over to the houses built in the cliffs, and the colors in the layers of the cliffs. The sunset wasn't all it was cracked up to be because it was a little hazy/cloudy, but it was still a great setting.

The next day, we rented ATVs and drove all over the island - to the archaeological site, a black sand beach (which is really hot!), and a red sand beach. The ATV was so fun! We could ride it anywhere on the roads or on the beach, and it was a great way to explore the entire island, on our own time. And for only $20 for a whole day! That night we went out, had a few drinks, and wanted to meet some boys, but there were only couples. Darn romantic island. The following day, we took out ATV to another beach, where we were literally the only people there. We spent a few hours there, then took a boat ride to the Nea Kameni, the volcano in the center of the bay of Santorini. We hiked around the volcano, following the trail of past eruptions and craters, to the stop, where the active center is. There was no lava spewing, but it reminded me of Mordor from Lord of The Rings. We then went to another small island where there is a hot springs, and we swam around there for a while.

Overall, I really liked Santorini, but it was hazier than I expected. However, the cliffs and the houses were beautiful!



Sifnos
We then went to Sifnos, which is a much smaller and less touristy island than Santorini. When we arrived here, the owner (Adonis) of the pension we were staying in immediately took a liking to us and invited us to his house. He then gave us stew made by his mother and proceeded to fawn over us. Adonis was the highlight of our trip to Sifnos and made it such a blast! He offered to show us around the island, and we happily agreed. After a little time on the beach, he took us around to have lunch on the other side of the island with some friends of his. Then he showed us a gorgeous church on a peninsula and took us to a cafe where we had baklava (or as he called it, "chocolate," because every dessert was called "chocolate" to him). Later that night, we went up a harrowing path to the top of a mountain where there is a monastery. You could see down to the villages below and up to the thousands of stars above. It was amazing what a lack of light pollution does - we could even see the Milky Way. Swati and I were the definite nerds, looking up more than looking down. The next day was more of the same, and it was very nice and relaxing. We also found out from some information I had printed from the web that Adonis is a very well-known potter!



Overall, the islands were gorgeous. We got some sun, but not too much, and saw a lot of the islands thanks to our ATV and Adonis. Then, it was back to Athens, which will be the next blog.

posted by Biff @ 3:16 PM