Leaving Santorini

Well, it's goodbye Santorini and goodbye Santorini Princess.

 

We've had a pretty fantastic time here and it has been the perfect end to what has been a very exciting holiday.

 

It's a little hard to remember the start of our holiday as it was so long ago, but when we reflect on what we've done and see, it is quite special.

 

We're just waiting for our transfer to arrive before we fly back to Athens.  Then off to Dubai, again, with an 8 hour stop over, and then a 14 hour flight back to Melbourne.  We get in early on Sunday morning, to a 7° minimum.

 

The thing we are looking forward to most, except a reunion with the Jeep ;), is some steamed vegetables and possibly a lamb roast for dinner.

 

There will be one more update which will list the highs/lows/favourites etc.

 

Love to all our Family and Friends...

 

See you all soon.

 

Kent and Kath.

Santorini - We've Arrived

We've arrived in Santorini and got transfers from the new port to the Santorini Princess.

 

On; been here 1 night but I have only 1 word to describe this hotel, 'Perfect'.

 

Room service is well priced, the pool is awesome, Kath and I had a 60 minute massage today and are super relaxed.

 

We're going to try and visit some wineries tomorrow and hopefully hire a buggy the following day, but we'll see how that all goes :)

 

Back soon!! Love K&K

 

p.s. Thanks for the advance warning Daniel ;)

Naxos

Got to Naxos on the fast ferry and had a look at the information place to see if we could get some accommodation.

 

Again, we had a few in mind, but they did not have availability so we went with one that was recommended in the Lonely Planet and was also owned by the guy running the accom information place.  It was called Pension Irene II and was only a couple of years old.

 

Only EUR$40 per night per room and it had a pool so it was ok.  A far cry from Hotel Tagoo though with one of those little showers and a pretty ordinary view.

 

We managed to visit a little village during our 2 night stay which had a little distillery and some hand made arts and crafts that we had a peak at and did some purchasing.  We got their on the local bus which was an interesting experience.

 

On our return we were waiting for he bus and this Taxi driver pulled up and started coercing Leo into the cab and kept saying, no money, tickets, no money.  He was quite horrified that we didn't want to get in and at one stage had two of his door open trying to get us in.

 

From what we can understand he was wanting us to give us the un-used tickets and he would then re-sell them onto someone else, thus paying for the fare.  We got a nice air-conditioned bus back to the main town and had a dip in the pool.

 

Both nights there we had Mexican for dinner at Picaso's.  Nice food, cheap, and fast, a good change from the standard Greek fare of past weeks.

 

We're off to Santorini next for the last part of our journey.  We're staying at the lovely Santorini Princess and we are very much looking forward to it.

 

Love to All. Cheers, Kent and Kath.

Mykonos

We arrived on Mykonos and made our way to the Accommodation info place at the port.

There is a bunch of places to stay on the island either in the town or on the outskirts.

Kath had researched a few and knowing our price range we asked for what was available.

Hotel Tagoo, 700 metres from town was brought out and as this was the topic of some research we asked if there was availability for one, maybe two nights.

By pure luck there had been a cancellation, slightly tragic circumstances, but a cancellation none the less.

The owner, Yannis, came to pick us up and we went to the hotel. 700 metres seems like a long way on a flat road, but Tagoo was at the top of a big hill. So it was good to get a lift.

This hotel really made Mykonos for us as it was run by a family and the service was simply amazing! The pool area was spectacular and the rooms were fantastic.

http://www.hoteltagoo.gr

We loved it so much we asked Anna, or Mama Anna rather, if we could stay for 3 nights but it may not have been an option at that early stage.

Anna weaved her magic and managed to squeeze out another night for us and we will be forever grateful as this has been the highlight for me so far.

Kicking back at the pool/bar chatting to Jimmy the barman/lifeguard (Annas Brother), and Christof (spelling??) who has been a regular at Tagoo twice a year for the past 20 years.

We had Gyros and Italian delivered to the pool while sipping on cold cold Mythos.

Side Bar: Gyros Rock!

We did venture into the town a couple of times and bought some souvenirs etc. But most of the time was spent at the hotel.

From Mykonos we travel to Naxos so we'll be back in touch soon.

Love, K & K.

Tinos

We arrived on Tinos from Rafina and grabbed a taxi to our accommodation, The Porto Raphael hotel in the area of Porto just outside of the main town.

There was two types of rooms available, so we chose the better one as it had two levels and two bathrooms.

The owner told us that there were two mini markets within 400 metres of the hotel, so we went for a walk to get some supplies.

Either I'm getting old or it was the longest 400 metres I've ever experienced.  We arrived at the market, possibly a day later can't recall, and got a few things for breaky etc.

Tinos is an interesting place with approx 1 church per resident :)

Seriously though there is so many churches on this island it's not funny. We hired a car and went for a spin around to see some of the little villages and we found an awesome little cove where Gaz and I had the now famous 'giant ice cream'.

We left a day earlier than we had tentatively planned for as it was a bit slow going there even for us.

We are off to Mykonos but not sure how long for at this stage, stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

Cheers, K & K.

Nafplion or rather, Tolo

After getting to Nafplion we drove around a bit and parked near the harbour. We got out and discovered that the Hyundai had a flat tyre on the rear right. There was a big nail sticking out and you could hear the air escaping.

It looked at bit stormy so the girls set off for a look around and Gaz and I changed the tyre. We got it done just in time as there was lightening and rain coming our way.

We went to look at some accommodation and it was a bot crappy so we asked if there was more beach front type accommodation around and the guy from the Information/Accommodation place said to try heading along the coast a bit.

We headed for Tolo and went for a cruise along the 'nard'. We pulled up opposite this little bar and Gaz and I both said, yep, this is the place for us.

We went upstairs to the Santa Maria hotel. It had only been open 10 days and had just been through a major refurbish. Clean, nice rooms with balconies and nice bathrooms. Being so new there was a couple of teathing problems, but nothing to really compain about it.

We were right on the back and had air con and a little restaurant and bar down stairs, what more could you want.

We stayed in Tolo for 3 nights all up and visited the most famous ancient amphitheatre that is still in use today at Ephidavros, just outside of Nafplion. There were other ruins there but nothing that excited us enough to walk through them.

We headed back and spent a bit more time at the bar and having a swim. Tolo was a great little place, quite with plenty of taverns and cafe's. The Santa Maria Hotel and Restaurant were brilliant. Nice staff, excellent service, I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting a 'holiday' as it is just so relaxing.

From Tolo we headed back to Athens on the Toll way, spent about an hour lost looking for the Europcar office near the airport to drop the car off, only to find out that we could have just gone straight to the airport. Oh well, sh!t happens.

Dropped the car off and then got a cab to Rafina. This was an experience in itself. The sign at the airport listed prices to Rafina at EUR$20 so we thought that would be sweet.

We jumped in the cab and attempted to get the set price, but he said it was on the meter. We got going to the right place and as we were sitting in traffic the cabbie started saying that the sign at the airport was not including tolls and time sitting in traffic. He was getting quite angry about it and we tried to say that we understood what he was saying.

I get the prase book out and said to him in Greek 'I Understand' and he smiled, politely corrected me and everyone was happy.

We got to the port in time, got our tickets and sat down to have one of the most sensational Gyros you could imagine. It could have been because we were starving but it was simply awesome.

Got on the ferry and we headed off to Tinos in the Greek Islands.

Take care all.

Cheers, K & K.

Delphi and Olympia

After Meteroa we travelled to Delphi to see the Santury of Apollo which included the temple of Apollo, the amphitheatre and the stadium, the gymnasium and the temple of Athina. This was all pretty much rubble, but the stadium was pretty amazing.

We then drove to Olympia which took us across to the Pelopenese (spelling??). Had to find some accommodation in Olympia so we stopped at a place listed in the Lonely Planet. They were fully booked but suggested the Hotel Hercules.

This was an interesting experience as this scary looking greek man came running out yelling 'Cheap Hotel, come look, cheap hotel'. We tried to ignore him but he was very persistent.

We went in and I took one look at the bathroom and turned around and walked out. Kath tried to get a price out of him but he was reluctant to say. Eventually he said it was EUR$35. Cheap indeed, but not quite what we were looking for.

We drove around a bit and the scary dude kept following us. He seemed to be everywhere we looked, following us from block to block to see where we were going. Freaky.

We went for a drive up to the more costly hotel but it was booked out. A lady at one of these hotels suggested Hotel Antoni which had rooms so we stayed there for the night.

Before settling down we went and visited the Museum of Olympia which was a good introduction to the Olympia sites the following day.

Got up and had some breaky at the hotel, went out to the site and wandered around for about 2 hours. Basically a lot of imagination required to picture what is would have looked like. The stadium again was the best part, very impressive. We also saw where they light the olympic torch prior to its journey around the world leading up to the Olympic Games.

From here we headed to Nafplion on the east coast of the Pelopenese.

Back soon, Love, K & K

Meteora

Woke up reasonably early today and had breakfast at 8. Left shortly after to go to Meteora, where the monks hang out.

Lovely to photograph as the buildings are sitting on the tops of these huge rocky outcrops.

Drive was pretty quick and we got to the first one. There was about 10 buses parked out the front so we didn't go inside.

Went up to another that was closed today and tok some more pics. Better without hords of people.

We went up another road towards one of the Nunneries and this was relatively quiet.  We went inside and the girls had to put on these lovely little dresses as ladies must wear skirts.

It was lovely inside with a couple of chapels and some nice gardens.

As the buses started to arrive it was our queue to make a move. We went back to the hotel and checked out then started to 4 hour drive to Delphi.

The drive was really nice, beautiful scenery and nice roads. We had one stop in Lamia for a pastry from a local bakery, and then continued on our way.

It was very hilly, but the corners were long and fast which made for fun driving.

We got to Delphi in good time and checked into the Hermes Hotel. Fantastic view over the valley and right in town near a bunch of tavernas and shops.

Off to see the ruble tomorrow and to head doen to Olympia.

Cheers, K & K

Leaving Paxos

Left Paxos this morning. We had a Taxi pick us up at 6:30am and took us to the port to get on the hydrofoil.

Got to Corfu at about 8:15 and then walked down to the port where the ferries to Igoumenitsa leave from. There was one leaving at 9:30 so we got 4 tickets and sat down to wait.

Only after getting these tickets did we see the other guy waving frantically that there was a 9am ferry but oh well, we just had to wait another 30 minutes. No big deal.

Got on the ferry which took about 90 minutes to get to Igoumenitsa. We had booked a hire car to be picked up at 11am so we were doing well on the timing. Got off the ferry and got some directions to the Europcar office and things were looking good.

Of course, just when you think things are going well they generally turn to crap, and right on queue things turned crap.

The hire car place had arranged a Group C car for us, when we had ordered and paid for a Group D car. Not much difference you say? Well I can tell you with 4 adults each with a large pack and a day pack, there is a big difference between a C and a D.

After arguing with the chick about what we ordered and what was supplied Kath eventually got her to find out what she could do. She rang her boss and they arranged for us to take the Group C car to the Airport at Ioanina, about an hour away, and then we could swap it for a Group D car.

This was acceptable to us so we stuffed everything and everyone in the Fiat Punto and off we went.



The new freeway they are building across Greece is wild. Its not finished yet so you find yourself getting on and off it, but the scenery while driving along it is breathtaking. The mountain range is called the 'Pindos Mountains' and is the most spectacular in Greece, in particular the Katara Pass. Just amazing.

We got to the Airport at Ioanina and swapped the Punto for an almost brand new Hyundai Accent. Pretty top spec unit with only 3000k's on the clock. It was big enought to fit all the big packs in the boot plus a couple of the smaller ones. More leg room, more comfortable seats. We were much happier.

Continued diving towards Meteora (Kalambaka) where we were planning to stay the night. Kalambaka is at the foot of the Meteora, where Monks have built monistaries (spelling ???) on top of these huge cliffs, made famous (for me anyway) in the James Bond film 'For Your Eyes Only'.

We pulled into town and found the Meteora Hotel and they had rooms available so we checked in and unloaded all our gear. Gaz isn't feeling the best so he hit the bed and Kath, Leo and I went in search of a Pharmacy to get some tablets for Gary.

Found them easy enough and got them back to Gaz. Then we went into the town to find a Cafe or Taverna to get something to eat. There is quite a few places here and we basically ate at the closest one to the hotel. Food wasn't spectacular but not the worst we'll have either.

Back at the hotel now writing this blog. Yay! I'm finally writing about something that happened today!! Lets see if I can keep it all together for the rest of the trip.

Lots of Love to all the Family and Friends.

Kent and Kath.

Paxos

We've had the most amazing 6 nights on Paxos. Of all the places we've been too this is one that is simply a must for a return visit. The village of Loggos is quite and simple, with boats and scooters to hire.

Just to list a few of the things we did:
- Day trip to Anti-Paxos (this included a reasonably big walk from beach to beach and back again)
- Days scooter hire where we went up to Lakka, and then Gaz and I put them through their paces in some of the local 'streets' and also some of the unlisted rock tracks. Scooters can go anywhere :)
- Days boat hire, which was a big saga that I'll go into below
- Dinner at the Tavernas
- Beers and Coctails at the Roxi Bar
- Frequent visits to the local Bakery
- Many Mythos on the little balcony off our accommodation
- and many other things that I don't have time to list right noww...

The boat hire was quite special though so it gets a bit of space. We hired the boat from Julia's Boat Hire, the same mob we hired the Scooters from. It was a 40hp (horse power) boat that was licenced to go around the island and to anti-paxos.

Not all boats can do this as some are only allowed to go up to Lakka and down to Giaos. We go this one because it was obviously bigger and gave us more options.

Anyway, we get around to the western side of Paxos and are looking for the Blue Caves, which are supposed to be quite special. I'd slowed down to view a nice cliff face villa and as I increased the speed the motor seemed to 'slip'.

We had basically lost all drive execept for when we were at idle, so we were only able to go very very slow.

Not sure what to do as there was no radio, I grabbed my mobile and called the Agni Travel emergency number and Norma answered. I got her to call Christine on Paxos, and she got a hold of the guy who rented us the boat.

About 45 minutes later he was around to us and diagnosed that the problem was with the propeller seperating from the rubber sleeve.

He gave us his boat, a 30HP so not licenced for that side of the island or anti-paxos, and we continued on. All a little soured by the experience we motored back to the eastern side and found a little cove where we anchored, had a bit of a swin, made some salad sandwiches and had a bit of a snooze.

It all turned out alright so you can't complain too much. It's not like we sank or got stranded in the middle of no where :)

All in all Paxos was a fantastic experience. It wouldn't take anything at all to get me to go back there, however next time I would like to do it by yaught as that would be truly special.

Bye Paxos, we will miss you.

Love, Kent and Kath.

Rain, Train, Plane and Ferry

Up bright and early to head to Paxos. Of course it was still raining and so after finishing our pack we bolted for the train station, picking the alleys that had the most cover along the way.

It was 6am and what else would you expect to see but a nigerian selling umbrellas at the train station.

Got the airport train along with hundreds of commuters and after about 40 minutes we were at the airport.

Checked in with plenty of time and so we sat down for a cup of tea and a sugar doughnut.

Got on the plane and after a reasonably uneventful flight we landed in Corfu.

We had a bit of time to kill here before or ferry to Paxos so after getting our ferry tickets, and checking in our luggage we went for a walk to the old Corfu town.

Wandered around for a bit and then went to find a grocery store to get some food for Paxos.

This was our second rain experience as it started to really come down. Funnily enough, there was nay an umbrella selling nigerian in sight. There was one selling sunnies, but he really screwed up that morning by guessing it was going to be sunny :)

We headed back to the port in the rain and sat to wait for our hydrofoil to Paxos.

There was a bit of confusion about where we were supposed to be waiting, but we stayed with the masses and eventually our boat showed up.

About an hour on the ferry and we were in Gaios, capital of Paxos. A rep from Agni was waiting for us with a taxi to transfer us to or accommodation.

We are staying in a little sea side village called Loggos, which is about 5 mins north of Gaios.

It's a sleepy little village, with boats for hire all around the harbour. Our accommodation, called Limani, is at one end that allows us to see the whole harbour and a lot of the shops.

Limani is great, 2 bedroom with a little balcony overlooking the harbour. There are 2 little supermarkets nearby that have everything we need, including the all important Mythos beer that Gaz and I have come to appreciate.

More on Paxos soon.

Cheers, K and K.

Athens - 'Rest Day'

We got up all ready to be relaxed. Had a few things to do, be nothing that should have be a worry.

One of the main things was to post some 'stuff' back home. Just stuff we'd bought along the way and didn't need to be lug around for the next 4 weeks.

This proved more difficult than it sounds as the Post Office didn't seem to carry boxes or couldn't think outside the square enough to go out the back and find one for us.

They sent us up the road to another post office, probably because we were being so difficult.

These guys were marginally better, but still only had a smallish box. We had some papyrus in a tube to send back as well so we went to a stationary shop to find a bigger tube to send that and the rest of the stuff went in the box supplied.

We put about 1000 layers of tape around each and put them in the hads of Hellas Post. I hope we see them again.

Our last night in Athens we went to a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant. Food was good, cheap and service was speedy.

It started to rain but we were under cover and didn't care really. The street vendors were out almost instantly selling dodgy umbrellas. It's funny to see how quick they go from watches to sunnies to umbrellas.

Travel day tomorrow, up early for train, plane, and ferry to get to Paxos.

Cheers, K and K.

The Rubble

Today we had a full day of ancient sites to visit so we headed out early and much to our surprise on sunday, access to all the sites is FREE!

We had a bit of a plan to see the more well know sites, so started on our way. We had originally planned to see the Acropolos tomorrow, but as it was a free day, we decided we would fit it all into the one day. This was good for two reasons, 1: it was free; and 2: it meant tomorrow we could rest and prepare for or trip to Paxos.

It was a full on day and by the end of it we were pretty much rubbled out.

We went in search of a bite to eat, whic took longer than one would normally have expected in the middle of Athens, but eventually we found ourselves in a little garden restaurant and we had a nice meal. Of to bed as we have a busy day of relaxing tomorrow :)

Cheers, K and K.

 

Greece

Well, we've arrived in Greece and we're no longer 'on tour' so to speak. No transfers, no director, no timeframes.

We got through customs and found our luggage, got some euro, and headed to the train station. This was all remarkably easy. We got our tickets, got on the train and we we're away.

We got out at our stop, packs on backs, and set off to find our hotel. After an initial orientation, we knew where to go and after about 10 mins we we're at our hotel, the Hermes, Athens.

We were meeting Leanne (Leo) and Gary here so we have a Quad share room, which is small, but very clean and perfectly fine for us.

We went for a wander around and almost immediately fell int love with the place. Little alley ways with shops and cafe's.

Leo and Garys flight was significantly delayed so we had a bit of time to kill and this was a good way to get our bearings.

They eventually arrived and after getting settled we went to dinner. We'd received a card from a local restaurant on our travels earlier and so we thought we'd give them a shot.

After dinner we hit the Zed's as we had a big day of rubble spotting to do tomorrow.

Cheers, K & K.

Back to Cairo

We arrived back in Cairo to the magnificent Conrad Hotel.

We have 3 nights here so we can relax, unpack a bit, and get some washing done.

That night we went to the Giza Sound  & Light Show. This was a bit corny, but worth seeing. We 'd opted not to do the show at Karnak so we had to do this one.

The next day we were off to the Pyramids. Wow, I said I wouldn't believe them until I saw them and now that I have, I still dont :)

We initially went to the step Pyramid, one of the earliest pyramids, and had a look inside the tombs of the kings helpers. These had amazing 'stories' on the walls.

Sue and I went inside the tomb of the king. It was very small, and I had to crouch down quite a bit. Kath didn't go in but there wasn't much to see so no biggy. At least I can say I went in one!!

Next we went to Giza and first we saw the big sucker (and had a bit of a climb on it), then went to a point where you could take panoramic shots of the main 3, the we went to the second largest.

I wont dwell here as I'm obviously way behind (considering I'm writing this from Paxos, Greece).

After this we went to a clothing store where Tommy, tour director, gets all his cloths from. Got a few shirts and then headed back to the hotel.

Spent some time with Susan and Gail over the next couple of days before their departure and our departure to Greece.

Saying goodbye was hard as Sue and Gail had made our trip so much more enjoyable. Thanks guys and see you soon xoxo

Now off to sunny, and soon to find out, not so sunny, Greece.

Love, K&K.

Aswan to Luxor

We cruised on the Tower Prestige I towards Luxor.

This was a nice boat, 'The Best On The Nile' reportedly. It was pretty good, with an onboard gift shop and a jewelry shop.

There was a bar on the 2nd level and a disco on the 3rd level. We had a rooftop BBQ on the first night, which was basically a buffet on the roof.

The BBQ was held after visiting Comombo temple.

Next day was cruising all day to Luxor. We had to go through a 'lock' at one stage which was the only highlight apart from the amazing scenery.

We stopped early in the morning to visit Edfu temple, which is the most complete temple existing temple in Egypt.  It had some amazing carvings and stories to be told.

We arrived at Luxor at abot 7pm that night, and had a dinner and party all dressed up in traditional egyptian attire.  Party games and much laughter was had. How very embarrassing.

More to come soon. This is hard to keep up with, but I'll do my best.

Love, K&K. 

Aswan

We departed the Old Cataract Hotel on route to the temple of Phelea, which was the second largest temple moved due to the creation of the Nile Dam.

This temple was on an island, about 15mins ride from Aswan.  On the boat  Tommy had arranged for one of the local vendors to sell necklaces made from a black stone, whos name escapes me.

After wandering around the temple for a while we headed back to the boat for the trip back to the bus.

We then went onto a perfume place. These guys dont actually sell perfume, they actually sell the essence from the flours that is madr to create perfumes.

This was demonstrated quite well and we had a chance to purchase if desired. We bought a small glass container that will look good on the mantle.

We the went and had a look at th unfinished oboleski, which was a big bit of rock still attached to the side of the hill.

Onto our boat now for the beginning of our Nile Cruise.

Love, K&K.