Blogs from Santorini, South Aegean, Greece, Europe - page 31

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Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 23rd 2008

"It has been said that the sunsets in Santorini are the best in the world. From the Caldera breathtaking views of the volcano & neighbouring islands. From the east, miles of dark sandy or pebbled beaches. Everywhere one sees small domed churches and remnants of days gone by." Santorini is all it is cranked up to be. Beautiful beaches, majestic cliffs, intriguing ruins. After 8 hours on the Blue Star Naxos ferry (£93.6) we arrived at the port at the bottom of the caldera. We grabbed our bags and headed to a travel agent to find some accommodation, after deciding that was too hard we walked back out and straight into the Hostel Anna van. The guy jumped out and convinced us to come with him and look at his rooms. So we got in the ... read more
Typical greek building
The Red Beach
Ancient City

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 17th 2008

After packing and leaving our luggage in the office, we walked up to Fira for our last chance to shop and see the view. We ate lunch at Restaurant The Greeks, having a Santorini Special Plate consisting of mashed fava beans, feta cheese, fried tomato balls, potato omelet, and a tomato and cheese spread. It was getting close to our 2:30pm trip to the new port to catch our catamarn to Crete, so we headed back to the hotel to wait. Again, Villa Manos was a great place to stay...very clean, friendly staff, and a great price. The ride down to the new port was ok, except for a very crowded van. We arrived at 3pm for our 5:45pm trip to Crete, so we had drinks in a cafe, then sat in the departure building and ... read more
Apokoros Apartments
Coffee, Crete Style

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 17th 2008

We walked down to the old port to board our boat for the tour. What a climb down! I was dreading climbing back up after the tour. The boat was like a small tow-0master schooner, but they used engines instead. We sailed out to the volcano's island cone. Apparently the cone has changed at least two or three times since the initial eruption in 15,000BC, with the last eruption in 1950. We hiked up and over the island to see the two cones. One is still live, with steam coming out of serveral vents. After walking back down, we boarded a similar boat for our trip to the hot springs. The guide warned us that they couldn't get the boat very close to the hot springs, so if we wanted to swim, we'd have to swim ... read more
Port below Oia
J.C. and the Donkey 2

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 16th 2008

We were going to take the boat tour today out to the cone, hot springs, and Thirassia Island, but the day seemed a bit cool, so we ended up taking another "down" day, if you can call hiking 6 or 8 miles a down day. We walked down from the hotel to Karterados Beach, basically a short strip of black sand with two cafes/taverns, and few people. By the time we'd walked to Monolithos, it had warmed up a bit. Monolithos has a bit fancier beach, with beach umbrellas, a couple of cafes, and a number of vacation homes. We thought about taking a bus back to Fira, but one didn't come along and I noticed a sign for the airport so we walked the mile or two there and had drinks at a cafe next ... read more
Monolithos Beach
Eva Tavern
Imerovigli

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 16th 2008

Today was a down day. We walked up into Fira and strolled around shopping and sightseeing the sites, churches, overviews, and myriads of up and down walkways. There are only two main streets in Fira, with a few connecting ones. The rest are dozens and dozens of narrow walkways up, down, and across, mostly crowded with shops, taverns, and people. There were two major cruise ships in port today, so it was even more crowded than yesterday. We ate lunch in a placed called Ouzeqi, where I had dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), Manoli had tomato balls, and we both had a Greek salad. About 20 Euros with drinks. Afterwards, we hiked up to Firostephani, the next small town above Fira. We then walked back down hill to the hotel. For dinner, we ate at a small ... read more
Ouzeqi Tavern

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 15th 2008

Kind of feels funny writing about our time on the greek islands (yes, we've well and truly moved on since then, now sitting a few hundred metres from the leaning tower of pisa). I think I left off as we abandoned our bikes at the hostel in Athens and took a fast ferry out to the little island called Antiparos. Why Antiparos? Well, mainly because a couple of years ago I read an article in the Tasmanian Sea Kayaking Journal about sea kayaking there, so I had got in contact with Kostas who ran the sea kayaking and arranged to hire some kayaks for a couple of days. We arrived mid-afternoon and it was raining as our ferry pulled into the island, not hard, but just a little. We found a lovely room in a little ... read more

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 14th 2008

Hello from santorini. Just nipped in to an internet cafe while we wait for the bus to go to the northern coast of the island, to watch the famous sunsets there in Ia. So. to update u with what we have been getting up to since the last time we wrote. We spent our last day in naxos just chilling out after our exciting day of exploration on sunday, and so after a decent breakfast of omlette with eric and julia, the 4 of us headed down to the beach and took it easy with some beers and a rematch of beach football. we managed to restore some national pride, winning 7-6. kerry played much better this time, getting her foot in in some last ditch tackles. after going back to get ready for the evening, ... read more

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 13th 2008

After walking about a mile to get 2 capuccinos for breakfast, I asked Poppy to call for the 4-wheeler. About 10 minutes later, I was getting the low down on 4-wheelers, then went back to pick up Manoli. We headed out about 9:30am... two old folks on a 4-wheeler! Along the way, we stopped at the Santos Winery just outside Pyrgos and took the tour. Very interesting and only 3 Euros for both of us. We also sampled some Vinsantos, their best wine. Yum! I actually liked it and usually dislike wine. We arrived at Pyrgos and against my better judgement, decided to ride up to the Prophet Ilias Monastery. Being on the top of the highest hill on Santorini (over 1,800 feet), it was quite a ride. Unfortunately, we found it was closed! Oh well, ... read more
Santos Winery
Prophet Ilias Monastery
Prophet Ilias Monastery Entrance

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 13th 2008

Woke up pretty much on time and headed for the port. Arriving early, we had capuccinos at a cafe across from the port and decided to buy lunch there too. A couple of "pies" (greek sandwiches) at 1.70 and 1.90 each. We'd been told food was expensive on the ferry, but it turned out we could have bought the same sort of food onboard for just a bit more, and they would have been still warm. Oh well, live and learn. We boarded the ferry, along with several hundred other travelers, and cast off. The trip was not that bad, but having to do it over again, we would have found warmer, less windy seats. The boat was so crowded there were people sitting and sleeping in the passageways and stairs! Along the way, we stopped ... read more
First view of Santorini
Villa Manos
Our room

Europe » Greece » South Aegean » Santorini May 10th 2008

athens was really cool. mynokos and santorini were beautiful. we saw some amazing things, all of which i'll talk about later but it's one of the saddest days of the semester right now. yesterday brad, one of my roommates for the semester and one of the guys that i traveled with, rolled his ATV. he didn't break any bones or anything but he has some serious road rash and just can't travel anymore. he got to the hospital and got checked out and last night he was ok but today even the most routine tasks are difficult and painful. he has massive scrapes all over his sholdur, arm, elbow, both palms, feet, and back. it was going to be hard to leave anyways, but for it to end like this is what no one expected. he ... read more




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