Greece: Part 4

Okay so my cold is finally on the wane, although this really has been a nasty one. I can't remember the last time I had a cold this bad. I thought I would get up to date with all my Greece posts within a few days so I'm somewhat surprised to be writing this final installment almost two weeks after we got back.

Brad and Asia's 'Greece on the improv' had been working out fine so far despite it being close to the peak tourist season. The only thing we had booked up to the time of the wedding was the flights there and back. I guess it helped to have accommodation provided. The whole time we were in Crete I was thinking I really should book the ferries to the islands for after the wedding. Well as it turned out, it wasn't until the day before we left that I decided this was a necessity. Unfortunately the ferry to Santorini was fully booked for the Tuesday, so some quick decisions on my part and I decided we would only spend one night in Santorini and two in the Island of Naxos, followed by a night in Athens before the long journey home. It meant that we had to spend one further day and night in Crete - things could be worse right? The rental car that we had hired as a group was due back on the Monday evening, so I decided we should get it for another day so that we could explore the west and south of the Island before we left. It turned out that we had a really great day on that Tuesday, visiting a truly amazing beach on the South Coast (Libyan Sea, funny to think we were so close to Africa).

In the end it turned out that Nick and Georgia were catching the same boat as us to Santorini. We really enjoyed the ride and the chance to catch up with them, as during the week prior to the wedding they had just been so flat tack we hardly saw them. The rough guide (and the lonely planet too) says that the best way to arrive at Santorini is on an open deck 'slow' ferry, which is what we happened to be on. I must say after riding on the fast ferry the next day I have to agree with them. Comparing the fast ferry to the slow ferry is somewhat like comparing riding in the car to riding a bike - you get where you are going a hell of a lot faster in the car, but man do you see a lot more on the bike. As we approached the port, the walls of the caldera rose up around and enveloped us - the sheer cliffs hundreds of metres above you to which photos can scarcely do justice. Santorini was incredibly touristic and I guess one of those places you just have to go once. There are amazing photo shots of the caldera on every street corner.

The next day we were on our way to the Island of Naxos. There were plenty of tourists here too, but much less than Santorini. Asia and I really enjoyed the chance to unwind with a couple of days on the beach and eating some great food. In fact I would say the best meal we had while in Greece, with the wedding as an exception, was at the taverna Scirocco in the main square we ate at the first night - big ups to the rough guide for this recommendation.

The final adventure of our trip was in Athens. We had given ourselves one night and two days to explore and as it turned out this was plenty. Everybody who goes to Athens goes to the Acropolis, the high rocky outcropping in the centre of Athens host to a plethora of ancient monuments including the famed Parthenon, one of the most recognisable icons from the ancient world. However, in a mean stroke of luck, there was a workers strike on at the Acropolis so it was closed for the whole weekend and we couldn't go and see it. We had to make do with views from below and the none to unimpressive National Museum of Greece.

So that was it, two weeks of sun, surf, fun and relaxation. Only 22 hours on a plane and we were back home...

Greece: Part 3

Got myself a mean cold today, snot coming out all over the shop. Funny thing to get a cold after being on holiday, since usually you get a cold from being run down. I guess the long flight and going straight back to work didn't help much. Okay so on with the Greece story:

After a thoroughly relaxing first week, we finally came to the real purpose of our trip - Nick and Georgia's wedding. The ceremony was a traditional Greek one in this quaint little chapel in the hills about 40 mins drive from Iraklio. Naturally we didn't understand a single word of what was said but luckily one of Georgia's friends, Julie had prepared a summary of the proceedings in English so we could follow what was going on. The ceremony was pretty sweet and the three laps of the altar at the end with everyone heaving rice onto the newly married couple was a particular highlight. Onto the reception then, where the spread of food was truly amazing. Things like goat, lamb , greek salads and olive-oiled potatoes were just some of the things on offer. Far to much food, but hey it's a wdding right. Asia and I were feeling pretty tired for some reason, we had had a late night the night before and I think it started to catch up on us. So we decided to pike from the reception about 1:30am - just when the Greek dancing was getting in full swing. In summary though it was a thoroughly enjoyable wedding, up there in the top one or two that I have been to.

Greece: Part 2

Well it's taken me a while to get around to updating the blog and continuing our Greece story. Couple of reasons for this, firstly both Asia and I got hit bad by jet-lag and today is about the first day I have felt like I'm not in zombie land. Mental note to self: never go back to work the day after arriving from a seven hour timezone change and a temperature change of 35 degrees to 7. Melbourne has been seriously cold since we arrived back, New Zealand cold even.

My friend Toby from NZ has been staying with us the last couple of nights, he has made a stopover on the way to his big OE in the UK. It's been great to catch up and I'm now nursing a seriously sore head after one drink to many at the Quiet Man, our local Irish establishment, last night.

Okay on with the Greek story:

It would remiss of me not to mention the truly amazing place that we were lucky enough to stay at for free while we were in Crete. Nick and Georgia, our friends who got married, had organised for a friend of a friend, Michael to loan a few of us the use of his house for a week. The house was built in a semi traditional greek style and situated on a decent block of land containing grapevines and olive trees. The setting was truly picturesque, and the photos, while good, don't even do it justice:



So this is one big thank you to Michael who generosity was truly incredible.

Most of the week leading up to the wedding consisted of late nights, Greeks typically don't have dinner until after 9pm and when in Rome, sleepins followed by afternoons lazing on the incredible beaches:



A couple of cultural differences in Greece were immediately obvious - it's everyman for himself on the roads, and don't flush your toilet paper! The roads in Greece are crazy. Road rules are really an afterthought and those painted white lines that you normally use for crossing the road as a pedestrian, don't even think about wandering out in front of an oncoming car, they will not stop and you will certainly become another statistic. The toilet situation was a bit odd at first but once you got used to it wasn't really too bad. Apparently the story is that the plumbing in Greece can't handle the toilet paper so every toilet has a little bin where you place your used toilet paper.

Okay, I've had enough of typing for now. To come still is the wedding story and our journey after Crete. Hopefully this time in the next couple of days.

Were back, Greece - Part 1

We're back and what a fantastic whirlwind break. I think we both need a holiday to recover from our holiday! Since there is far too much for one blog post, I'm going to split our adventures into a few, maybe more, parts. So here is part one...

We set off at for Greece on Sunday evening the first of July and we nearly didn't make the airport because of my antics. Firstly, I decided that it would be an excellent idea to go for a 23 km training run in the morning before flying out in the evening. As if this wasn't a bad enough idea, I then followed this with a large feed of bacon and eggs and then not feeling suffuciently full or hydrated, I decided to wolf down a super smoothie (banana, blueberries, yoghurt, milk and protein powder). For about 1-2 hours after I was feeling greet, not unusual after having run so far. Then things got ugly, a real bad headache started to emerge and I started to feel very queasy - all this about 2 hours before we were due to be picked up to go to the airport. I had to lie down and Asia had to pack my luggage for me. I continued to feel sicker and I became certain that sooner or later I was going to vomit, the super smoothie, bacon and egg mixture was really starting to disagree with my stomach. So about 30 mins before our imminent departure I rushed to the loo and vomited for the first of three times before the taxi arrived. Nothing however was going to stop me from getting on that plane, although I admit 22 hours in a cramped plane not feeling the best wasn't a prospect I was looking forward to. However, the whole time I knew this wasn't a bug and just a combination of exhaustion and eating the wrong food. I wasn't done with vomiting at home though, no sooner had the taxi left and the motion had me feeling queasy again. I asked the guy to pull over and very graciously, just like a 4am drunk, I stumbled out of the cab and puked the remainder of my insides out into a gutter on Mt Alexander Road - the poor taxi driver didn't know what to think! The final vomit though had done the trick and I immediately felt better and within 30 mins was feeling pretty much 100% - we were finally going to Greece and we had two weeks of sun, sand and swimming to look forward to.

The trip over was just your usual uneventful 22 hour plane ride - although I have to say the Emirates service and food was fantastic. We arrived in Athens at about 2pm in the avo and were immediately hit by the heat. We managed to negotiate the metro system with only two fights, and before you new it we were on the overnight ferry bound for Iraklio, Crete. We decided that the extra money for a cabin was worth it and pretty much slept the whole journey (9 hours). The shot below is of a surprisingly fresh looking Asia as our ferry comes into the harbour at Iraklio.

Luca and Brendan were kind enough to pick us up from the port and taxied us back to our accomodation, about 10 km from the centre of Iraklio. The shots below are of the next couple of days, me at Knossos (some ancient ruins from the Minoan civilisation pre BC), Asia and Brendan at a 'Taverna' on a beach on the south coast of Crete and a shot of the beautiful and mostly tourist free beach just in front of the taverna.

Okay that's about my typing limit for now, more to come over the next few days...