From the Eiffel Tower to the Acropolis

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Nat had come out to Europe for 4 weeks of tripping around and after 5 days in London, we both headed out on Paris on the eve of the rugby world cup kick-off, not that we realised until we heard it on the news at the airport. This does explain why we found it hard to book accommodation for our 2 nights in Paris. The flight was quick, zip, up and down.

What a fast 2 days in Paris. On Friday we burned around catching all the major sites … Montmartre, Sacre Coeur, Louvre, then walked along the Jardin de Tuileries, and through the Concorde and took a ride on the ferries wheel, which was there because of the Cup, it was a great view of the city. We then walked up Ave des Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. That evening we went up the Eiffel Tower, it provided a mesmerising view across the well lit city. On the last day we did a great walking tour around Marais which was a real highlight of the day, I learnt as much as I have learnt about Paris ever, even though this was my 4th time in the city!
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That evening we headed out to Athens, arriving in at 2am and we were stunned with the amazing views of the Acropolis from our little balcony. From the Eiffel Tower to the Acropolis in the same day! Poor Kara arrived in super late from London, like 5am, so had a sleep in the following morning.

Nat and I met with the rest of the travel team that morning, Steph and Hamish, and set off to visit the local flea market to soak up the local culture. We made it up to the Parliament just in time for the ceremonial changing of the guard. It was rather a special. The road was shut, a band came, plus 50 or so guards came parading down in tights with tights, pompoms on their shoes, high steps … a great spectacle. After that we met up with an now rested Kara, and we spent the next 3hrs on a walking tour around Athens, which was fascinating; Panathinaikon Stadium (site of the first modern Olympics 1896), Temple of Zeus, Hadrains Arch, finally the Acropolis. The Acropolis wowed me; to hear about the history, how it was attacked by the Christian’s, Moor’s, etc, very cool.
The following morning we headed to Delphi, this is famous for the Delphi Oracle who basically use to get wasted and give advice. The setting was stunning looking out across the valley, it was very ruined but you got an idea of what it use to be like. The museum there was wicked, had some amazing statues, including a beautiful bronzed horse man. That evening we went to the top of Lycabettus Hill, the view at dusk across the sprawling city was fab. The evening we over did the vino and woke up worse for wear after getting in at 4.30… not a good move since we had an very, very early morning ferry to Mykonos.

Mykonos was hot and white, all the buildings were white washed with the classic blue roofs, at the edge of town there why 5 windmills which were very pretty as the sunset behind them. The food in Greece was beautiful fresh seafood; sardines, snapper, octopus, taramasalater, and more, yumo! Pre-departing for our next island Naxos, we went to check out the archaeological site on Delos, a 30mins boat ride to a small barren island 5km and 1300 wide. It was void of vegetation but very hot, no shade. Apollo was born on Delos, thus a very famous religious site; the site was huge 30k inhabitants. The main feature being a Terrace of Lions and had a great view of the surrounding islands.

On the way to Naxos we stopped off at Syros, it was a cute little port town with crumbing old buildings, it had a very Italian feel. Lucky we had a pick up on arrival to Naxos as the hostel was not near the waterfront. We hired a car the following day and drove around the island. First stop was a beach; it was so windy and cold so we cruised on. Then we found our way to the olive grove ‘alpine’ area which was cute and had a very authentic lunch, next we then drove down a snaky road to an old port town and shot over to the other side of the island as the sunset. Hamish did a cracking job of the driving that day, especially with 3 women backseat drivers.

It was another early morning start for the ‘flying cat’ to Santorini to meet up with Katie and Ant for the last few days. We caught a cab to Ora, and then went back into Fria as Kara had accidentally left her wallet on the ferry, so we tried to report it, no luck she had to go back the following day to sort it out. Fria was buzzy, lots of people running around; we had a marvellous lunch with a great view over the spectacular coast and topped off the afternoon with a champagne cocktail and an excellent view.
Ora was stunning; more white washed buildings, lots of little chapels, windmills, and phenomenal views and sunsets. I ended the trip with an amazing lunch at one of the most romantic restaurants on Santorini and a walk with Ant and Katie. Santorini was stunning I can now see why people rave about it… go there immediately!
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