- accommodation 15
- shared daily car rental 20 (10 per person)
- petrol 2.50 (per liter)
- takeaway dinner 4 (gyro or spinach pie)
- chocolate milk 1.5
- breakfast 2 (yogurt from grocery store mueseli)
- ferry ticket 20
- pint of murphy's irish beer 7
You should be doing a double take with that pint of beer! That's about $8.50 for A BEER!!! Read on to find out more.
After overloading our brains with the archaeological history of Athens, we decided we could use a little relaxation. So on the evening of March 26, Ken, Stacey and I hopped an overnight ferry to the island of Crete. We boarded the ferry an hour before scheduled departure and were surprised when the ship started leaving 15 minutes later, 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Needless to say, we were glad we showed up early.
We arrived in Iraklio, Crete at 6am with no accommodation reservations and ended up having to wake up a woman who ran a hostel. For being woke at 6am, she was far more pleasant than I would have been! We told her about the ferry leaving early and she was baffled. She said she usually shows up at the time of scheduled departure and that the ferry never leaves on time. We didn't find out until a few days later that the day we left Athens was daylight savings. We were lucky we didn't miss our ferry! A lot more things made sense after that (ie hy all the clocks we had seen the last few days were an hour off, why the museum closed an hour early and why our ferry left an hour early!)
Although we were on a break from ruins, we were told we couldn't go to Crete without seeing the ancient city of Knossos. So on our last day with Ken, we checked it out. It was interesting and set in a stunning valley, but there's only so many toppled ancient cities one can take in a certain time period before everything starts to look the same! That evening, Stacey and I said a teary goodbye to Ken (who is now in the comforts of home!) and went out with 3 Canadian boys we met earlier in the day for dinner and drinks. Sorry to disappoint, but I have no juicy stories to report. We all got along well and had a late night playing UNO with a few rounds of beer. We realized we had similar travel plans and met up with them again for a few days to island hop to Santorini.
Before leaving Crete, Stacey and I rented a car and spent 2 days exploring the island and town of Rethmyno. Santorini was gorgeous and my favorite of the islands we visited. That's probably because it was a postcard perfect picture of how I imagine the Greek islands; cliffside towns with whitewashed buildings and blue roofs, stunning natural beauty, long beaches with turquoise waters, colorful sunsets and warm weather!
We again rented a car and spent most of the day napping on a deserted black sand beach...soooo nice! It was the first time since last summer my legs have felt the warmth of actual sunlight! I am happy to report my tan lines are back but unhappy to say we had to invest 15 euros on sunblock.
After watching a gorgeous sunset in the small Santorini town of Oia, (where apparently everyone goes because I think the entire tourist population of Santorini was there!) we returned to our hotel and met up with the Canadian boys for a night on the town. We had heard good things about a local Irish pub which wasn't so Irish and charged the ridiculous amount of 7 flipping euros for a beer. I'm still fuming over that, especially since the store down the street was selling Heineken's for 1 euro each! The bartender made it up to us by offering us free shots throughout the night. Lucky for him, I really liked my beer. I can't say much for the shots.
The morning of our departure from Santorini to Naxos, we took a schooner across to the volcanic island of Nea Kameni (Google it. It's one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth's history.) where we hiked around for awhile and visited some luke warm springs. They were supposed to be hot but were barely bath temperature. They also failed to tell us that we had to jump from the boat into the Mediterranean and swim 50m to the springs. That doesn't sound bad, but the water temperature this time of year is barely warm enough to get your feet wet!
Naxos was equal in beauty, but its sunset was probably one of the prettiest I've seen yet.
Stacey and I were feeling a bit more adventurous and rented a scooter for the day to tour the island. Again, we spent most of our time napping on a beach. The ferry ride from Naxos to Rhodes was llllooooonnnnngggg (14 hours) and filled with loud Greek students on spring break. Unfortunately, Greece has the highest smoking population in Europe and the ferries are NOT smoke free. We tried to upgrade to a cabin room, but the ferry was completely full. We spent the night in seats that barely reclined with bodies laying around us. As if the smell and clouds of cigarette smoke weren't bad enough, everyone had their shoes off and there was a strong odor of feet in the air. Lovely...
After overloading our brains with the archaeological history of Athens, we decided we could use a little relaxation. So on the evening of March 26, Ken, Stacey and I hopped an overnight ferry to the island of Crete. We boarded the ferry an hour before scheduled departure and were surprised when the ship started leaving 15 minutes later, 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Needless to say, we were glad we showed up early.We arrived in Iraklio, Crete at 6am with no accommodation reservations and ended up having to wake up a woman who ran a hostel. For being woke at 6am, she was far more pleasant than I would have been! We told her about the ferry leaving early and she was baffled. She said she usually shows up at the time of scheduled departure and that the ferry never leaves on time. We didn't find out until a few days later that the day we left Athens was daylight savings. We were lucky we didn't miss our ferry! A lot more things made sense after that (ie hy all the clocks we had seen the last few days were an hour off, why the museum closed an hour early and why our ferry left an hour early!)
Although we were on a break from ruins, we were told we couldn't go to Crete without seeing the ancient city of Knossos. So on our last day with Ken, we checked it out. It was interesting and set in a stunning valley, but there's only so many toppled ancient cities one can take in a certain time period before everything starts to look the same! That evening, Stacey and I said a teary goodbye to Ken (who is now in the comforts of home!) and went out with 3 Canadian boys we met earlier in the day for dinner and drinks. Sorry to disappoint, but I have no juicy stories to report. We all got along well and had a late night playing UNO with a few rounds of beer. We realized we had similar travel plans and met up with them again for a few days to island hop to Santorini.
Before leaving Crete, Stacey and I rented a car and spent 2 days exploring the island and town of Rethmyno. Santorini was gorgeous and my favorite of the islands we visited. That's probably because it was a postcard perfect picture of how I imagine the Greek islands; cliffside towns with whitewashed buildings and blue roofs, stunning natural beauty, long beaches with turquoise waters, colorful sunsets and warm weather!
We again rented a car and spent most of the day napping on a deserted black sand beach...soooo nice! It was the first time since last summer my legs have felt the warmth of actual sunlight! I am happy to report my tan lines are back but unhappy to say we had to invest 15 euros on sunblock.
After watching a gorgeous sunset in the small Santorini town of Oia, (where apparently everyone goes because I think the entire tourist population of Santorini was there!) we returned to our hotel and met up with the Canadian boys for a night on the town. We had heard good things about a local Irish pub which wasn't so Irish and charged the ridiculous amount of 7 flipping euros for a beer. I'm still fuming over that, especially since the store down the street was selling Heineken's for 1 euro each! The bartender made it up to us by offering us free shots throughout the night. Lucky for him, I really liked my beer. I can't say much for the shots.The morning of our departure from Santorini to Naxos, we took a schooner across to the volcanic island of Nea Kameni (Google it. It's one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth's history.) where we hiked around for awhile and visited some luke warm springs. They were supposed to be hot but were barely bath temperature. They also failed to tell us that we had to jump from the boat into the Mediterranean and swim 50m to the springs. That doesn't sound bad, but the water temperature this time of year is barely warm enough to get your feet wet!
Naxos was equal in beauty, but its sunset was probably one of the prettiest I've seen yet.
Stacey and I were feeling a bit more adventurous and rented a scooter for the day to tour the island. Again, we spent most of our time napping on a beach. The ferry ride from Naxos to Rhodes was llllooooonnnnngggg (14 hours) and filled with loud Greek students on spring break. Unfortunately, Greece has the highest smoking population in Europe and the ferries are NOT smoke free. We tried to upgrade to a cabin room, but the ferry was completely full. We spent the night in seats that barely reclined with bodies laying around us. As if the smell and clouds of cigarette smoke weren't bad enough, everyone had their shoes off and there was a strong odor of feet in the air. Lovely...Rhodes was a little cooler than the other islands but the scenery was more unique. Rhodes has been ruled by several empires throughout history. It has been occupied by the Greeks, Romans, British and Ottoman, among others. When the Order of St. John's took over the island around 1200AD, they built a fortress and enclosed the main town with walls for protection against the Turks which still stand today. We mostly explored the medieval city in our 4 days. It attracts a good deal of tourists, especially from cruise ships. There are a lot of street vendors and shops, but it was more fun to walk through the deserted backstreets and moat.
On Friday, April 7, Stacey and I caught a ferry to Turkey, our 6th country, where we are now. We were both a little apprehensive about coming here although neither of us admitted it. Any fears or doubts I had about travelling in Turkey have been completely erased. The country is nothing like I expected and far better than I could have imagined. The people are incredibly friendly. They are genuinely interested in other cultures and go out of their way to learn more. I have had more earnest conversations with the locals in Turkey than in all of the other countries I've been to on this trip combined. And of course the natural beauty of the country is breathtaking. I've only been here three days and I'm already wondering when I'll be able to return!
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