After getting heat stroke from our day at the Acropolis, being attacked by the persistent mosquitoes, and exploring the city of Athens on foot, Carlee and I set out for some Greek islands. We asked the guy working at our hostel for recommendations, and chose to leave the following day for Mykonos on the way to Santorini. I'm so glad we took his advice because the island was beautiful.
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| Tzatziki and a cucumber and tomato salad |
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| The Acropolis at night |
The ferry itself was fine, and luckily we had also been told to buy assigned airplane-style lounge seats, which meant we could be guaranteed our comfortable seats, when others were trying to find comfortable spots to rest their eyes, and could lose their seats if they got up.
Since our ferry was at 7:30 am, we thought we'd leave the hostel around 6:45 am, but then we were told that we should leave around 5:30 am. We had plenty of time to pick up our tickets and buy breakfast before boarding. (Spanakopita is the breakfast of champions)
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| Ferry to Mykonos making a stop at another island |
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| On our way to Mykonos |
Our hostel picked us up at the ferry (with the sign held up and all), and drove us to our place in the middle of heaven - right close to Little Venice, the windmills, city centre, and the bus stop. We had been upgraded to a room with 3 double beds and a mini kitchen, so Carlee and I kind of had our own rooms. There were countless cheap gyros (2.50 Euros), so much tzatziki, and Greek salads galore on Mykonos. Unfortunately, the cocktails were insanely expensive (12.50 Euros!!!), so we bought cheap Greek wine from the mini mart.
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| My section of the place in Mykonos |
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| So much space in our room(Carlee's side)! |
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| Upgraded room in Mykonos |
The next morning, Carlee and I stopped by a little breakfast place our hostel recommended, and as I was digging into my Greek yogurt and fruit, I noticed that we were surrounded by tables of pairs of men. The man at the table next to us leaned over and complained about "all that noise. I don't see why they couldn't have done the construction during January or something", whilst drinking a beer, and later telling his man "friend" that he would see him later at the beach. I suddenly realized that we were in a gay breakfast place. I was later told that Mykonos is known for gay tourism, and then all of the little clues seemed to make sense. You learn something new every day!
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| Ship sailing into the sunset |
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| Sunset in Mykonos |
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| Windmills in Mykonos |
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| Waterfront, Mykonos |
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| Little Venice in Mykonos |
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| Windmills (again) in Mykonos |
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| Start us off with a free, delicious drink? Yes please. |
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| Street in central Mykonos |
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| Restaurant in Mykonos |
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| Gyro...complete with fries inside |
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| Mykonos from one side... |
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| Mykonos from the other side... |
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| Mykonos |
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| Me in Mykonos |
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| Mykonos |
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| Mykonos |
Carlee and I split up one afternoon on the island, and I hit a quiet little beach (you have to take a bus that comes once every hour or two, and it's an old, run-down Greyhound-type bus). The water was surprisingly cold, so I didn't bother getting my bathing suit on and swimming, but I soaked up some sun and stared at the amazingly blue sea for a while. The next day we tried a different beach together, and the water still was not all that warm or inviting, although gorgeous to look at. Still early in the season, I guess.
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| Beach #1 (Ornos) |
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| Beach #2 |
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| Look at how clear and gorgeous the water is! |
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| The 5 seconds I was in the water! |
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| Windmills (3rd time's a charm) in Mykonos |
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| Mykonos |
After a few days in gorgeous Mykonos, Carlee and I took our next ferry to Santorini. Again, we were met by our driver sent from the hostel/hotel, and we drove the incredible climb from port all the way up the cliffs to just outside Fira, where we stayed. This time we were greeted with a hot meal, beverage, takeout menus (the best thing when you're 2 km from town, and there are no sidewalks or safe places for pedestrians to walk to get there), and our hotel room with a twin bed each, a kitchen, bathroom, and a communal pool. Life was good!
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| The ferry that took us from Mykonos to Santorini |
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| Hostel in Santorini |
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| View from hostel room in Santorini |
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| View from the hostel room in Santorini |
We tried taking the bus to the black (volcanic) rock beach in Perissa, but instead got on the bus to Kamari. Either way, it was a cloudy and cool day, so we had an amazing meal (and Carlee had her grilled octopus! :s), and enjoyed some reasonably-priced drinks. Then we went to Fira and had some more drinks overlooking the cliff sides. And then a few more. And then it was late and we were hungry, so we stumbled upon a gyro place, and it was hard to take in all 18 items on the menu, so when Carlee ordered an Arabian gyro pita, I ordered the same thing. It's the stuff that dreams are made of. I had mentioned earlier in the trip that although gyros were delicious with tzatziki, I thought they could use a bit of garlic. And that's exactly what we got with the Arabian pitas. They were so good that we went in search of more the next day, trying to retrace our steps. Once we found the place, we went back at least once per day!
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| Free appetizers! |
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| Eating tzatziki as an appetizer...I could get used to that |
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| Carlee's tentacle-filled meal |
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| Wine finished! |
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| Just after eating a delicious meal in Kamari |
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| So photogenic! |
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| Bad beach weather? No problem! |
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| Kamari beach |
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| Kamari beach |
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| Kamari beach |
The nights got unusually cold for that time of year, and while the days were hot, they were also hazy. Luckily we still got to visit Oia and see the famed sunset from the remains of an old castle. My hopes of renting a scooter were dashed when the people at the hostel told us the roads were narrow and didn't always have a barrier to stop us from going over the edge of the cliffs, but when we took the bus to Oia, I was glad that we chose to play it safe. The drive was eye-widening at times. When we returned to our hostel that night, one of the guys working there laughed about how two tourists in ATVs had gone over the edge that day (not dead, just lots of broken bones apparently), and I was very thankful not to be those people.
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| View from where we had some drinks (Fira) |
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| The volcano at dusk |
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| Fira all lit up at night |
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| View of Fira and the volcano across the water |
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| View of Santorini from Fira |
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| Carlee getting her dry skin nibbled away by fish |
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| Very neat to watch the fish go after the feet! |
We actually experienced a windstorm our first night in Santorini, and the wind was so incredibly powerful that our balcony shutters slamming against the windows sounded like they were about to break the glass. Our metal table and chairs on the balcony had all been moved and knocked over, and the tables and chairs around the pool all got blown into the pool. The next morning was beautiful, without any sign of the wild storm the night before, except that a lot of our things in the room were covered in dust. Apparently the dust gets blown over from Africa, and the windstorm must have sent it in our room through every single crack possible.
Overall, the Greek islands were incredibly beautiful, had neat shopping, amazing views, friendly people (everyone seemed to have a relative in Toronto), and even nicer staff at the hostel in Santorini. They really went out of their way to make you feel at home. I would go back in a heartbeat...but maybe next time when the water and the nights are warmer! And I would love to eat another Arabian pita gyro!
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| Blue and white rooftops in Oia |
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| Oia before sunset |
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| Donkeys coming up the hundreds of stairs from the port |
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| Oia |
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| View of Santorini from Oia |
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| Sunset in Oia, Santorini |
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| Sunset in Oia, Santorini |
