The Final Leg

We left Paros on Sunday morning and caught the ferry to Athens. It was a sunny day and the ferry crossing was nice and smooth. Athens on a Sunday is a rather sad state of affairs as literally everything is closed. Everything except a handful of takeaway shops - so Sunday evening we really didn't get up to anything.

We were scheduled to fly out again at 7pm on Monday, so we really ended up with a bonus day in Greece. Given that our flight was going to be such a large one we tried to make the most of getting outside and exploring. Our first stop was the ancient Agora of Greece, which conveniently was just a single train station from our hotel. Surrounding area is called the Monastiraki, which is a really interesting market area. During the week it has a few alley ways full of interesting shops and on a Sunday (apparently) it turns into a rather dynamic farmers market. However, it was Monday, so we just too our time looking around the different shops many of which stocked a wide array of weapons and camouflage clothing , not really sure why.  Inside the Agora was very interesting, the highlight of the site is the Temple of Hephaestus which is one of the most well preserved temples in Greece. The temple was officially inaugarated in 416-415 BC and impressively the roof is still in tact.  We spent a couple of hours there looking around the ruins and exploring the museum.

From the Agora we took a bit of a walk through the downtown area. We walked from the Monastiraki down past the Greek Parliament to the Museum of Cycladic Art.  This is one of the more recommended museums in Athens and as a bonus its open on a Monday - which many are not. So we went and looked through it. The Museum is spread over six floors and explores ideas about how the various people groups may have lived based on the art work. Many of the pieces dated back over 6000 years and were unique because the ancient Greeks used simple household items such as vases and jugs to tell stories and depict scenes from everyday life. We spent a few hours looking around and watching the various short films before making our way back to the hotel to collect our mountain of bags and catching the train to the airport.

The actual process of flying back was okay. We flew with British Airways and were pleasantly surprised by the comfortable seats and wide array of movies. I was delighted to see the entire back catalogue of 007 films which kept met entertained for much of the trip. Our trip was divided into four legs Athens to London, London to Singapore, Singapore to Sydney and finally Sydney home again. The entire process too from 4pm Monday when we first checked in till 4pm Wednesday afternoon when we got through New Zealand Customs minus our bags which had managed to be misplaced along the way (one in London and one surprisingly still in Athens). We were also pleasantly surprised to be picked up at the airport by Kimilla's Uncle Alan and Aunty Vimila.

Looking back over the last three months we feel like time has really flown by and at the same time feel like we were gone forever. We have had such a good time and have seen some incredible places. The highlights for me include Barcelona, the Sahara Desert, Dublin and Drummond Castle in Scotland. Kimilla really enjoyed the beach in Milos, her 20 min Camel ride in the Sahara and Kilkenny in Ireland.

Even though we miss many people back in Canada we are happy to be home and looking forward to catching up with all the people that we haven't seen for a while.

For those that have been following we hope that you have enjoyed our long way home.



Items Lost or destroyed
1 Linen Shirt - Sam
1 Camping Mat - Sam
2 Pairs of Shorts - Sam
1 Pair of Flip Flops/Jandals - Kimilla
16 Kilos (between the two of us)
1 Berber Pizza in Morocco due to stomach bug - Sam
1 Haggis Dinner in Scotland due to stomach bug - Kimilla
4 pairs of socks - Sam
3 pairs of underwear - Sam
1 travel pillow - Sam
2 Wall Posters - Kimilla
1 Entire Camping Pack (although we will get this back in the next couple of days) - Sam

Greek Islands - Paros

The ferry from Milos was a bit of a mission. It arrived two hours late, it arrived in three hours late and in between the sea was miserably rough. I think the only saving grace was that we were pretty much the only people on the boat, so we were able to lie down on the seats and just go with it. It was horrible but we made it. We found accommodation pretty easily this time, there were a few people waiting at the port with rooms available so we just ran with it - it was after midnight and we were feeling pretty rugged.

Wednesday morning was nice, we walked to downtown Parikia and explored around. It is a cute old town with narrow streets and stone paths. We stopped of at the Panayia Ekatondapiliani Cathedral which was actually quite stunning. We've seen heaps of Churches on this trip and we were pleasantly surprised by this one. It had an outer wall and a garden courtyard which led into the main building which had enough gold and artwork that it put many of the others we saw in Europe to shame.

Inside the Panayia Ekatondapiliani Cathedral

From the Cathedral we took a look through some more of the back streets. There were quite a few interesting shops here, more so than Santorini. In a place like Santorini you feel like all the shops are selling the same stuff or stuff that you see pretty much anywhere. Where as the shops here seem very unique and the fact that they are still open at this time of the year suggests that they aren't just appealing to the tourist market (because in November there really isn't one). We stopped off for coffee and cat time at the gorgeous cafe which served the best croissants I've had since Barcelona - which is interesting because we did the French a good shot!!!

In the old town

Lots of cats

After our coffee we checked out the Paros Archaeological Museum. It was small and there was only a small entry fee but we saw some of the oldest relics of anywhere we've been on this trip. There were statues and parts of buildings that date back past the 5th Century B.C. It was quite interesting to see how things look after two and a half thousand years. We were quite surprised that most of the displays were just out in the open without protective glass. In fact some of the items were outside, we concluded that after surviving outside for so long a little bit more wind and rain probably wont do much.

Inside the Archaeological Museum

The weather forecast suggested that the afternoon was going to be miserable with wind and rain but it looked like it was going to hold out. So we headed down to the nearest beach. This lasted for all of five minutes as the weather soon turned and we abandoned it for a souvlaki restaurant for a rather late lunch. The afternoon turned out to be a complete write off as the rain really did come in, which I guess was a good thing because I have been sick with a cold since Paris and it gave me a good chance to rest for an afternoon, while Sam did a bit of work.

A windy beach we didn't stay at for long

Thursday morning the weather was much better than the previous evening. We escaped our room around 8am went out for a walk. This time heading down past the downtown area and out the other side, just to see what was there - not much it turns out, but it was nice to get out in the sunshine.  We made a bit more of a plan for the following days and decided that we would rent a car. We did a bit of shopping and haggling and eventually drove away in a little yellow zipper that we have named Sunny.

The main street downtown Parikia

With our new found freedom we drove out of Parikia and made for the historic village of Lefkes. It was a scenic drive that took us about 20 minutes and provided us really interesting views of the terraced hillsides and olive groves. The town itself was rather cute too, much like downtown Parikia but on a hill with winding stairs and narrow streets. We strolled the streets talking to the cats and generally being nosey. While it is a bit of a tourist attraction around 500 people actually live in the village. One of the attractions at Lefkes is an old foot path dating back the byzantine era, which takes you out from the town and down the valley around some of the terraced olive groves. It gave us a good chance to take some photos looking back at the town.

Cute little streets in Lefkes

More streets in Lefkes

Walking the Byzintine Road

Looking back at Lefkes

We walked the trail for around an hour and then made our way back to Sunny before heading off to see more of the Island. Our next stop was in a little fishing village called Naoussa. Again, this village was quite a pleasant surprise. From the outskirts it was nothing special, but after being cooped yesterday afternoon we wanted to get out and walk around, so we parked up and footed in. There were more interesting shops and windy paved streets that you could only walk down. What was really pretty was the wharf, it was surrounded by the traditional white buildings and stocked fully of little boats and yachts. There were plenty of cute store, restaurants and cafes to poke around too.

The fishing village of Naoussa

It was about then that the weather started to turn again - so we jumped in Sunny and cruised off again back to Parikia for a late lunch. The weather looked to write off another afternoon so Sam went for a hair cut - his second since he pretty much cut it all off just before we left New York - gosh that boys hair can grow. We ended up having head back to the room for a while to avoid the torrents which was okay, I guess. The weather did pick up again a couple of hours later so we jumped into Sunny and went looking for the Marathi Marble Quarries, which were supposed to be quite impressive but weren't - either that or we didn't find them properly and the real mines were somewhere else. I didn't matter really, we just wanted to get outside and it didn't last long, the rain rolled in again an hour later.

Yesterday the rain cleared out. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were going to make the most of it. We got out of the room by about 8.30 an hit the road. We decided first up to do a bit of a tiki tour (Canadians see here) around the Island. We started by heading south and ended up eventually in the North. The drive was very scenic with views of the surrounding islands. Paros is much bigger than Milos and the drive actually took quite a while given that we were stopping every now and again. Truth is the roads here in on the Greek Islands haven’t been well marked. Sometimes you aren’t really sure what is a main road and what isn’t, in fact sometimes we aren’t sure if it’s a one way street or not.

We made our first official stop at Santa Monica beach – which according to Trip advisor is the best beach to visit on Paros. However, by this point the wind had really picked up. So we managed to enjoy the beach for the rest of the morning and the afternoon but only at a very specific and wind sheltered point on the beach.

Santa Monica Beach

From Santa Monica we headed back to Naoussa for a light lunch and a couple of games of backgammon at one of the local cafes (score ended up being 1 a piece). After lunch the wind really set in so there was no sense in heading back to the beach. Rather we drove back in to Parikia and went for a walk around the western most tip of the coast line. The walk was really nice despite the wind and it was pretty to get a better view of the main town.

Today was fairly similar day except there was much less wind - which I consider a blessing as today is the last non-travel day of our trip. Given that we will be travelling home for the better part of the next four days we made the most of our time outside. We managed to skype Sam's parents (and Jonny) first thing, which was nice because we hadn't spoken to them at all since we were in New York. After that our day was fairly similar to yesterday, we spent the morning at Santa Monica beach. We stopped for Coffee and Backgammon in Naoussa (Sam won this time - best of three) before heading back into Parikia. We had a lovely late lunch at a beach front cafe. The table we sat at almost had its legs in the water and it was really beautiful. After that we spent some time on the beach in Parikia just making sure we squeezed every last minute of sunshine out of our time here.

Local past-time cafes and backgammon

Greek Islands - Milos

We caught the ferry from Santorini bright an early on Monday morning. The sailing was very similar to last time except that this time the ferry didn’t have a deck to sit on and the sailing took about half the time. So in truth we didn’t see too much along the way – but was we were two of only a handful of passengers on board we were pretty comfortable.

We arrived in Milos, the Island for Lovers/the Island of Colours (depending on who you ask) at about midday. Given that the campsite was 5km out of town and closed we decided to try our luck at some of the other accommodation around. Talking to other travelers in Santorini, most of the islands are pretty quiet at this time of year and you can usually just turn up at a hotel and get a pretty decent rate. So our first job after getting of the ferry was to find somewhere to stay – and quickly because after nearly three months travelling we are carrying quite a bit of stuff with us.

Our grand welcome

It was simultaneously easy and difficult to find a good place to stay. Meaning it was easy to find somewhere to stay and difficult to find somewhere good. After being overwhelmed with room offers as we got off of the ferry by some of the locals we decided to try our luck at the nearby hotels – which wasn't very lucky at all. Despite having the appearances of being open (doors open, lights on etc.) most (at least 5) were very much closed. At this point we were getting a little frustrated and wondering if we should head back to where the first people approached us. It was at that moment that we were approached by a little old Greek woman named ‘Nina’. She didn't speak much English but enough that we learned her name and that she had a room nearby. She took us up several flights of stairs (not fun with all our bags) to her room, which really was just a room separated off from the rest of her house by a nice sheet pegged along a rope and to make it worse – no wifi. We then went through the agonizing processes of telling her in English – which she didn’t speak, that we didn’t want her room which was awkward and on a side note turns out she is a fairly prolific personality downtown as we have uncomfortably bumped into her six times in the street since we said no, each time she say’s something in Greek about WIFI.

Anyway, by now we were really getting a bit stressed. It looked like it was going to be the tent again but this time in some dodgy back alley with the stray cats (and yes there are a lot of them). Our day was saved by a young Polish guy who picked us up off the side of the street. He and his wife (who live in Santorini) were visiting Milos and had found a place with nice rooms in our price range. It was actually a funny chain of events as even though we had located the place and moved our stuff into one of the rooms (which was self-contained and nicely furnished) our polish friends couldn't contact the owner to let them know that someone else, who they had never met, who doesn't speak a word of Greek was not only coming to stay for a couple of nights but had already moved in.  We spent the rest of the day exploring around the walk-able areas from Adamas, where we were staying.

Beach just out of Adamas

A view of Adamas

Yesterday we spent the first part of the morning getting organized with ferry tickets for our next leg and most importantly renting a car. Once we had the car we were away laughing and got a chance to explore some of the most amazing parts of the Island. Since it was relatively early in the day we first check out some of the archeological sites around Palaka. Which includes an Ancient Theater, the area where Venus of Milos was found (we saw her at the lourve in Paris) and some ancient Catacombs. The catacombs are understood to be some of the earliest in the world, but unfortunately due to us visiting in the off season we weren’t able to get in to see them.

From there we drove around exploring a little more on our way to Sarakiniko – which is probably the number one beach we have visited on our tour.  These volcanic rocks have been shaped by wind and waves which many suggest looks like the landscape on the moon. It was really beautiful and we had the place entirely to ourselves (in the early afternoon at least). We had fun swimming around the clear blue water and jumping off the rocks. Even though its heading into winter here the weather is still amazing and we had a full day of uninterrupted sunshine to enjoy.

Looking down on Sarakiniko 

Clear water and moon rocks

Floating in a cave

Because no one was there and he could

In the last afternoon as it started cooling down we went for a bit more of an explore around the southern part of the Island. We even found some geothermal pools along one of the main beaches, which Sam dutifully tried. The thermals were warm and too hot to stand on but not warm enough to heat all the cooler water around them, so I didn’t bother to join him.

The Port at Pollonia

For dinner we joined Mike and Dorothy our new polish friends at a local seafood restaurant. The food was fantastic and because they both spoke Greek they were able to order more traditional dishes. We had a nice array of vegetables, fish, calamari, sardines and different dressings and sauces. It was good fun and interesting to hear from them about what life in Poland and Santorini is like. We look forward to hopefully catching them when they come to New Zealand in February.

This morning the weather was a bit too windy for sunbathing so we took the car and drove to a few more of the areas that we hadn’t seen. Sam got a bit ruffled driving through some of the hillside villages as the roads are very narrow and the Greeks are notoriously alarming drivers to be around. To quote the Lady at the rental car company – “There are not very strict road rules here in Greece”.

The view at Firiplaka

A pretty flower I found

This afternoon we will catch the ferry onto Paros, slowly island hopping our way back towards Athens. 

Greek Islands - Santorini

We left Athens at the crack of dawn on Wednesday and embarked on the 7 hour sailing to Santorini. The boat was pretty good, it was a beautiful sunny day and the water was nice and still. So we spent the whole day sitting up on the top deck enjoying the scenery when there was some available and reading when there wasn't.  Arriving in Santorini was pretty incredible. It is a Volcanic area which has the most picturesque perched village hanging hundreds of metres up the cliff face.

We got off the ferry and caught the bus in to Fira, the main area on the island and made our way to our Campsite - aptly named Santorini Camping. Camping is probably the best way to sum it up because our lodging is very basic. While it isn't costing us very much we pretty much have access to some ground to pitch our tent on and a shower. There should be a kitchen but it is off season and it is occupied by several unused bunk beds, old machinary and a stray dog with its latest litter of (very cute) puppies - which we are not taking home (hear that Kimilla, we are not taking any of them home). So we arrived, we got set up and settled in at the camp site and did a bit or exploring around downtown. Our exploring of downtown included what might be the most stunning sunset we have ever seen, looking from the main street of Fira, out over the Volcano.  Eventually, we our way back to the campsite, had some dinner and spent the rest of the evening pretty quietly.

Thursday we got up at the crack of dawn again, thanks to the nearby roosters and donkeys - but we were okay with it, its part of the charm. We had some porridge (oatmeal) for breakfast and went for a bit of an explore around the downtown. After some quick administration we caught a bus to Akrotiki where we spent the day exploring the Red beach. The fairly distinct area is marked by a bright red sediment and a beautiful stoney beach. It was lovely and warm and we spent most of our afternoon warming up on the stones and cooling off in the water. It was good fun and a really interesting area to hang out in.

Eventually we came back downtown (again on the bus - which is pretty well setup here). I bought myself a cold drink from a small store and went and watched the world pass from one of the nice lookout points along the main street while Kimilla went out and had a look around the shops. It was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon.

and we boiled up rice and tuna.

Friday Morning we got up bright and early after our porridge and coffee and bought our next lot of ferry tickets which we will use on Sunday. From there we did one of the must-do’s of Santorini and walked from Fira to Oia (pronounced e-ya). The walk took us about three hours from start to finish. It began on the main street of Fira and was made up of about four different stages. The first stage wound around the coastline out of Fira through a narrow cobble stone street which took us past some incredible hotels and houses build into the side of the mountain. The second stage was a little less interesting, it still wound around the coast but it was pretty flat and at points we had to walk along the road – on an upside we did see a cave that housed a donkey. The third stage was pretty interesting as it took us right up and over “” mountain the climb wasn’t too intense but did get a little interesting right at the top whe the track simply stopped and we were left to mountain-goat our way from the top to a little chapel that stood on the Oia side. The final stage took us into Oia.

Oia itself is what you see whenever you see a picture of a postcard of Santorini. It is a stunning place perched high into the cliffs with white and blue stucco buildings and terraces. We took a good long time to explore around the little streets and shops to the Old Port area (the new port being nearer to Fira). The landscape was rather spectacular and very much worth the trip to the Island alone. We couldn’t help but note what a great time of year it was to come here because the place was all but deserted. A handful of tourists from a cruise ship and us – that was about it.

Our afternoon was a tad less interesting, we caught the bus back to Fira and found the best souvlaki place in the world – its call “Nick the Grill”, and I can’t decide if it’s a clever play on words, a grammatical error or if in fact the Grill’s name is Nick. Perhaps I will ask when we eat there again tomorrow. After our lunch we decided to walk out to the Eastern Coast to see the beaches along there, but we got a tad lost in the maze of back roads and never actually got there. Oh and it was happy New Zealand birthday for me.