Rome

Friday 27th June

We leave Santorini today to Rome for an overnight stay - a stepping stone to Split to catch our cruise around Croatia. We have a few more days here before heading home - don't want to think about that!

Santorini airport is a shocker - everything about it. For the destination it is, it really needs a huge upgrade . Guess the way the economy is in Greece it will be a wee way off. It is really evident on travelling around that the economy is struggling. There are unfinished and abandoned building projects everywhere! 

We arrive in Rome about 3pm, the plane is an hour late and head for our hotel, which is close to the railway station and some of the major sites,

Once we settle head off for early dinner and a walk about the city.

Lovely fountains and the colour of some of the buildings is stunning - orangey - red.

The Spanish Steps - lots of restoration projects happening around. Heaps of people about too!

Trevi Fountain under restoration too - really disappointed about that! Will just have to come back. Threw the coin in anyway. Would have thought these projects would have been done before the full on summer tourist season. Threw a coin in anyway!

The Pantheon - built between 118AD and 125AD - a temple to all the Roman Gods.

Smart Car's the way to go - parked sideways to save space. Same size as a motorbike side on!

There are heaps of them around all over Europe.

Lovely little streets, filled with outdoor restaurants. Lovely lifestyle.

Piazza Navona

Piazza Venezia 

The Roman Forum

The Mighty Colosseum - will be back next week to have a look inside. So well preserved.

Santa Maria Maggiore - fabulous paintings at the front - not such good light to see them. Beautiful .

We have an early start tomorrow. Plane leaves at 7am so will need to be up at 4.30 to get to the airport. Lots more to see next week! Alarm set and wake up call. 

Santorini - Greek Islands

Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th June

Wednesday

As seems to be the norm, the ferry is late again - at least an hour! Lovely modern boats and very well patronised. It's not that cheap island hopping, but there's no checking in 2 hours before or waiting for bags.

Santorini is volcanic and the towns are built on top of the cliffs, overlooking the caldera.

There are beautiful views over the caldera to the other islands nearby.

Our Suzuki Jimny is waiting for us at the port, which is great. So we load up and head off to our hotel where we are meeting Rebekah. She is staying with us for a night before heading to Turkey.

The road from the port is steep and winding. It is really hot -34 degrees. Can't wait for a swim.

Our hotel looks over the other side of the island - not the caldera, budget didn't allow for that.

Lovely views and great swimming pool.

Fira Town

The view from the top of cable car. Down to catch donkey up.

First stop some lunch and then the famous donkey ride up 455 steps from the old port. Feel a bit mean, but that's what donkeys are used to. It is pretty smelly and all is going well until the donkey man comes behind and cracks his whip and the donkey takes off and not in a straight line! I get the giggles, Rebekah is hating every minute and Sam is riding as if he's a texan cowboy! Sam and I loved it. Rebekah on record saying " this is the worst experience of my whole life!" 

"Ride em Cowboy"

"I feel sick. Get me off here. This is the worst experience of my life"

"This is fun! I love it."

As if that wasn't bad enough we had to get through about 30 donkeys all lined up, swishing their tails in our faces as we went by.

Rebekah ran for it! That was a bit hairy, cos we were worried they might kick. Donkey ride done and ticked off - it is a must do!

We head back to the hotel for a swim and a bit of a rest before going to Oia. This is the spot where most postcard pictures are taken and best place to see the sunset. The white buildings are gorgeous on the hillside with their blue roofs and the caldera views are stunning.

The view over the caldera.

The churches make the skyline special.

We find a lovely taverna over looking the caldera serving traditional Greek food. Great finish to the day.

Thursday

Our host Leah has been cooking all day yesterday - so she tells us and has made lovely spinach and cheese pastries, pikelets and cakes and cookies for breakfast, along with the traditional cereals, toast etc. very nice!

Red Beach has been recommended as a must see, along with the archaeological site of Akohira village.  Roof down, wind blowing through our hair, we head there in the Jimny. Sam loving driving it of course.

Red Beach - hmmm . Certainly didn't wow us, but I guess for those that haven't seen volcanic rock faces it is stunning. We were a bit disappointed.

The archaelogical site was pretty impressive. A whole village slowly being unearthed. It is all covered over, so nice to wander around out of the sun!

Time for a bit of a swim. We stop at Perissa Beach - black beach. Tiny little black stones. We set ourselves up with loungers and umbrella and drinks and relax for a couple of hours. Prefer white sand beaches myself. But it's ok.

Not a bad way to spend the day!

Back to the hotel, lunch and a swim at the pool and a bit of a snooze. Woken by the bells in the churches near by. They go for a good few minutes! 

Early dinner, drop Bec at airport. Another round of farewells, as she heads to Turkey. This really is the last time we'll see her for a couple of years. Great that technology keeps us in touch though.

Early night for us after a quiet coffee. 

 

Naxos - Greek Islands

Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th June

Monday

It's a 45 minute ferry ride from Mykonos to Naxos.  We arrive at the port in plenty of time, but at the old port, only to find our ferry is leaving from the new port. There is a bus service that runs between the ports, but we just miss it. This little old man offers to take us. What an experience! Doing very well for himself picking up stragglers getting from one port to other. In the end we were there in heaps of time. It was an hour late. We saw him do 2 other trips while we were there 7 euros a pop. Not a bad hourly rate!

So cute! It was pretty tight in the front he was almost sitting on my knee!

Naxos is one of the biggest of the Islands. It's a bit greener than Mykonos on first appearances. It is well known for its marble. It supplies most of the marble in the area. 

View from the boat. Really windy as we arrive

This is the temple of Apollo, which stands on the hill overlooking the town .

As soon as we got off the boat we rented another Suzuki Jimny. Driving to our hotel was enough. It was a heap of ...... Several things wrong with it, rattled and clanged, so took it back and got full refund.

Later in the day we sorted another car a cute little Chevrolet 900cc with a soft top! No more Jimnys available. Only 28 euro a day.

Our hotel is on St George's beach a 10 minute walk along the beach to town. It is a popular spot for kite surfing and windsurfing. Our room has a lovely balcony overlooking the beach.

We took a quick trip out to a couple of the beaches before dinner - a Greek Night - buffet and dancing at our hotel. There is 8km of sandy beach on this coast and they are the most popular spots on the island. About 3kms from our hotel.

Agia Ana

Plaka Beach

Will definitely be back here tomorrow!

Head back to the hotel for our Greek Night. A buffet of all the traditional Greek dishes a real feast

Then a bit of dancing. Fun!

A great night!

Tuesday

Georgia from Zorba's car rental drew a bit of a tour on our map ,so that's the plan for today. 

A couple of archaeological sites and a visit to some of the beaches.

First stop is a little village, Melanesia, right up in the hills. There is a bit more green here. Olive trees and grapes growing in the valley.

These are some marble statues that were discovered in an old marble quarry - they are unfinished of course.

This ancient aqueduct was also discovered way up in the hills that provided the water supply for Naxos. Water is not such a problem here as it is on Mykonos .

There is marble all around in the hills. It is incredible to see the big blocks squared of in the quarry all set to go. Few nice benches in there! 

We are pretty high up in the hills and have views either side of the island.

We head down a very winding, narrow road to a little old port called Moutsounas. This was the main export port for emery. The old aerial is still on the hillside. It is also a fishing village, so a good stop for lunch. A gorgeous spot. 

Seafood platter - prawns, fish, squid, and mussels, Greek salad, 0.5l of rose and dessert all for 22 euro. Pretty good deal!

F

We wind our way back up the hill and pass the only working windmill on the island. You can stop at the cafe and have spinach and feta pies made with the freshly ground flour - bit full though!

Like the other Islands there are churches everywhere. Some perched right on top of the mountains!

Time to hit the beach !

Pirgaki Beach - right at the bottom of the island - a bit stony and exposed.

Kastraki Beach - very quiet, a little bit rocky. Beautiful clear water and the white pebbles on the bottom glow.

Mikri Vigla- popular spot for kite surfers today. Beautiful sandy beach

The view around the coast to Plaka, Agia Ana and Prokopios beaches - 8kms of white sand

Plaka Beach - we stop here for a swim and a bit of sun. Has lovely sand dunes too.

Agia Ana Beach - known for the cedar trees that unusually grow in the sand.

Prokopios Beach - this is where most tourists stay. Very sheltered beach.

Tonight the wind has dropped heaps and the beach out from us is like glass. We walk into town along the beach for dinner. Find a lovely Greek tavern settle in for a lovely meal and a few too many ouzos as it turns out ! Had to help celebrate Greece's win against the Ivory Coast in the soccer!

Naxos is a lovely island, really laid back and quiet. Great beaches! Think it will become more of a destination in the future.