Travel Blog Posts
May 14th 2008
We are almost home. Sunday night we spend our last night in Athens at Monastiraki. On restaurant row. we had been there before.Tonight we sit on the promenade. against the fence. flocks of pedestrians pass by. as we wait for our meal we notice a number of marble plinths and other assorted antiquities lying in a small fenced off area between us and the rail line. We are next to the Agora. In 1913 part of the Agora was ripped up to make way for the railway. So it goes. This is a city so steeped in history that it can aford to have antiquities lying around like a kind of marble dump. The promenade is lined with hawkers peddling their wares. In Europe, footpath hawkers are part of the landscape. Gucci sunglasses and Prada bags ... read more
May 11th 2008
We are back in Athens after 2 weeks. it feels like we've come home. the view of the Acropolis from the balcony still leaves us breathless. Last night we got in at 8 o'clock after the shortest flight in the world from Santorini. Honestly i've been speeding over speed bumps and stayed in the air longer. Our last day at Santorini was spent driving around catching up on places we hadn't seen. Basically this meant the other end of the island. we took photos and got a whole new perspective on where we had been. When we got in we grabbed a cab and came straight to the hotel and then to a local restaurant: MYSTIC PIZZA. Their big selling point is organic beer and pizza crust made from flour made from cannabis seeds. Unfortunately or ... read more
May 9th 2008
Had the best fish meal on tour last night at the local harbour. followed by 263 steps back to the top. Good for the soul. today we had a fabulous day touring the volcano. we caught a boat at 10.25 and spent the day travelling between isldands. the highlight was the volcano which still smokes and is still warm to the touch. the volcano last erupted in 1950 and is constantoly monitored. ran into Cassey and Shalini on their honeymoon from Canada. Delightful couple. we swapped taxi stories and shared travellers tales on a very pleasant boat trip. tomorrow we will head to the other end of the island and maybe visit the old port before we fly back to Athens.... read more
May 8th 2008
Santorini is what you see in pictures and soooo much more! Coming in to the port on the seacat, the first thing you notice are the cliffs, with the white buildings clinging to the sides. The "tourist info" is really "car hire", and we hire a car as Oia is a bit of a drive from the port. Up the mountain road and through Fira, the main city, and suddenly we are looking down on a wide plain, farmland and houses, spreading to the volcanic beach ("smooth black sands", the brochures boast). This is not the Santorini of the travel brochures! Our hotel is just off the main square, where we and others park the car. we do not have direct access to views of the sunset, but a walk up the "street" next to the ... read more
May 6th 2008
Just a quick update. Knossos was disappointing. There are a number of 19 and early 20th century archaeologists whoi have a lot to answer for. Arthur Evans did Knossos and rebuilt stuff in the style he thought was "most appropriate". As a result he "restored" areas as he felt they probably were 1600 BC. Hah!!!! This morning we came on a seacat to Santorini. Hired a car. drove around the island today in 90 minutes and sat on the gighest point. Spectacular views. But the biggest news is that Dale and the team at The Loft won the Local Govt cultural awards on friday for the Loft's music program. Well done to all. Great stuff and i'm very proud of you.... read more
May 4th 2008
Some catching up to do. Firstly, Apologies to Sherry and Chengwai from Malaysia who we ran into at Delphi and said we would add you to our blog. It is now done. Secondly the name of our suburb in Athens was Exarchia (where the anarchists reside) Thirdly we have had a small hiatus from our frenetic travelling in Crete. We arrived on Thursday. The car could not be organised until saturday morning. Meanwhile Liz and i came down with a 24 hour virus which laid us low. We did nothing but sleep, drink tea (we have a jug) and watch the most appalling Greek television. Subscription tv is everywhere in Europe and when you see free to air you can understand why. Let me tell you about Fortress of BOYAN (or close anyway) filmed on an ... read more
April 29th 2008
It's argos actually. Napflion is the gold coast of the Peloponnese. Sunday. everything is closed for easter. We pick up our car and we decide on the spur of the moment to go to Delphi before the pel. All along the way there are spits roasting whole lambs. In every village there are industrial quantities of these spits. out on the footpath over an open fire. easter is big here. We get to Delphi. It's only when you get to greece that you get some idea of how the landscape and geography shaped the development of civilisation. It literally is mountains with valleys in between. Imagine Newcastle but at Merewether, Kotara, Wallsend and Mayfield is MT Sugarloaf just rising out of the flat. And Mt Sugarloaf is barren with only limestone rocks showing. and there is ... read more
April 26th 2008
Athens is wonderful. On Thursday night we visited a restaurant recommended to us by our friends Mandis, Panagiotis and Eleni (welcome aboard guys). It was very good although we ordered what we thought was whitebait. But this whitebait must have been sired by sharks cause they were huge. We wimped it and chose not to eat the heads. But hey the waitress gave us 2 free beers(Heineken) for no reason at all, cause we were nice customers. While we were at the restaurant a young family came in with their 2 year old. I watched him throughout the meal. Mike he ate just like you did when you were 2. The way the mum fussed over him, cut his food and spoke to him encouragingly brought home very strongly to me that what unites us as ... read more
April 24th 2008
You wouldn.t be dead for quids. this was the view from our balcony when we eventually arrived in Athens last night. our train left Istanbul at 8.30. Our "sleeper" was designed for people of limited stature. anyway we managed to get ourselves and our luggage in. The motion of the train meant that we were soon asleep (well i was anyway). We awoke to be asked for our passports at the last station in Turkey. We sat for 45 minutes while they wrote the details sown in longhand - in pen and ink - in triplicate no doubt. we went back to sleep. and awoke in Pythion where the Greek police checked our passports. unfortunately the engine and driver to take us to Salonika hadnt shown up so we sat, and sat and sat. i fell ... read more
April 22nd 2008
We had a very leısurely two days. Yesterday after the markets we had a rest. Thıs was the fırst non actıvıty for a long whıle. Had a half and half meal last nıght. Lamb kebabs were to dıe for. Chıcken wıth Pıstachıo nuts was so so. We chose a restaurant that dıd the huge bread that rıses on the top layer. Ok. Have only had pıdda bread served to us once. It,s all french bread. today we went to the blue mosque and the Ayasofıa. Very dıfferent feel to mosques from cathedrals. we had to take our shoes off of course and carry them ın a plastıc bag. one of the ıntereestıng aspects of Ataturk,s tıme ın power were hıs socıal reforms. He made women equal before the law, a massıve reform and he ensured that ... read more
Tot: 0.101s; Tpl: 0.005s; cc: 10; qc: 90; dbt: 0.069s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.61.183); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.7mb
