Three Men and a Lady in the Greek Islands


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Europe » Greece » South Aegean
October 3rd 2006
Published: December 14th 2006
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London to Athens and the Cyclades


Santorini SunsetSantorini SunsetSantorini Sunset

Great friends, amazing wine, incredible view... What more could you ask for?
Annette:

Like Christopher, I have been delegated to write about our Greek Odyssey with the boys. Everybody who’s anybody knows that Greece has always been like the Holy Grail to me. Finally, with Ed, Matt and Paul in tow we set out on this journey of self discovery!

After a semi teary goodbye to Christopher, we set out for the train ride to Luton airport which was pretty uneventful. That all changed when we arrived and our Easyjet flight had been replaced with Air Finland.

The plane looked like something left over from WWII, with broken seats and threadbare carpet! Not very reassuring! And upon looking out the window, we discovered we could see not one, but HEAPS of other planes zooming by far too close for comfort! Now I’m not religious by any means, but I was praying like a nun!

Anyway, we managed to reach Athens in one piece only to be confronted with our suitcases covered in a strange white and sticky yet somehow pleasant smelling substance! It turned somebody’s Head and Shoulders (not mine - Paul’s) hadn’t been closed properly and it had leaked everywhere! I (of course) started crying, because it was
Dinner in AthensDinner in AthensDinner in Athens

Looking happy and relaxed - not bad considering we had no idea what animal we were about to eat!
the first drama of the trip (this leg anyways), and besides my only other emotion available was angry and I couldn’t use that, because it was me who didn’t close the shampoo properly!

Thankfully Matt and Paul went to the gents and emerged with clean bags after making friends with the cleaning lady. And so we were in Greece!! Well, the airport in Greece anyway. It took us ages to leave, as the trains had stopped running at 8pm, even though there were still flights coming in…go figure. So eventually we managed to find some sleazy cab driver who promptly ripped us off. At least we were ripped off in style, the cab was a Mercedes, yay!

Finally we reached our hotel, which was run by a most unhelpful man. He seemed perplexed every time we asked a question, like we were interrupting his porn or something! The hotel was interesting, with a great view of the Acropolis which was lovely, but it had these weird old lifts that don’t have automatic doors. We stood around for a while wondering why the doors weren’t opening until a woman felt sorry for us and showed us how to open
Ferry to ParosFerry to ParosFerry to Paros

There was a storm a brewin' that morning - thankfully it cleared up!
the door! After settling in, we decided to get some dinner and found a nice restaurant where we were promptly seated and told by the waiter what we were going to have! We were not given any menus!! Luckily we ended up having a lovely meat platter, and the waiter even proceeded to take our picture on his mobile phone. I’m sure he enlarged my face haha.

After heading back to the hotel, we agreed that we would knock on the boys’ door when we were ready to go the following morning as we had to catch the ferry at 7am the next day. Anyway, we knocked on the boys’ door at about 6ish, and they weren’t even awake, let alone ready to go! We finally set off with only moments to spare to catch the train (full of leering men) and caught the ferry to our first stop…Paros. I was forced to run with a back pack on - can you believe it? I’m a lady!!
The ferry ride took 4 hours, but we amused ourselves by taking pictures of other unsuspecting passengers who fit the criteria of old and leathery and making more unmentionable top 10 lists.
Hairy Greek ManHairy Greek ManHairy Greek Man

See how subtle we are?


Seeing Paros coming into view was absolutely breathtaking. It was my first view of a Greek Isle, and I’m sure my heart stopped for a minute! When we arrived on the island we were met by the owner of the pension we were to stay at. He was lovely and carried my bags. Woo hoo!

The pension was heaven, there were cats everywhere, in fact the whole island was full of cats, what’s not to love about Greece hey! After settling in, we decided to hire scooters to get around the island. The boys ended up getting a quad bike, because the woman in the shop didn’t think they could handle a two-wheeled bike! Needless to say, we couldn’t handle the bike either, it was a death trap! We ended up getting a bigger one, size does matter as it turns out! We rode all over the island, and it was beautiful, but we lost the boys! I pictured them lost somewhere with only a Greek farmer for company ha ha. That was pretty much it for Paros, it’s not really a party island, it’s more like an appetizer of what’s to come.

The next morning we
Ed and the Greek FlagEd and the Greek FlagEd and the Greek Flag

Was it any surprise he kept getting confused for a local? Ha!
were transported by our lovely host back to the port to take a ferry to Santorini. We arrived in the afternoon and got ripped off by another taxi driver, but the hotel was gorgeous. Unfortunately, the desk clerk didn’t seem to be that gay friendly, and kept asking who was going to sleep in the double bed, as we could only get a double and a twin. I don’t think he liked the thought of Matt and Ed in the same bed! After we settled in, we went across the road and had one of the best meals in Greece, a gyro for 2 euros! It’s excellent; it’s like a pita bread with meat and hot chips stuffed in it, yum! After stuffing our faces, we headed over to the local beach. There were some interesting people selling cervical massages on the beach, Matt wanted to get one! Ha!

After we had finished sunning ourselves, we decided to go to one of the local bar/restaurant for a few cocktails. Ed and Matt were panting over the waiter, and he in turn obliged with some free shooters! Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for me to become tipsy and then scramble
Matt on the QuadMatt on the QuadMatt on the Quad

He couldn't be trusted on two wheels...
into some random shop to buy a short pink skirt and leftover pink plastic thongs from the 2004 Olympics! Of course I still thought I looked hot and so we took a bus to a more happening part of Santorini where we danced the night away in some Irish pub and paid for cocktails that cost 20 euro each! We somehow managed to find our way back to the hotel at the end of the night after wowing everybody with our drunken dancing!

After breakfast the next day, We decided to hire a car. Paul was behind the wheel at one stage and kept driving on the wrong side of the road. All of us closed our eyes, and that was including Paul! I decided I couldn’t bear it and joined the boys in the back seat! Then on we decided to explore some infamous red beach which involved lots of climbing, it was horrible! I’m a lady - I do not climb! And there were no masseuse there either!

After leaving the red beach alive we went to a lovely restaurant to watch the sunset. Paul ran down about a million steps to look at some old
ParosParosParos

Amazing views... And Paros looks nice too!
ruins and then ran back up again just in time to see the sun setting on beautiful Santorini. After that, we headed back to the local bar to have some more free alcohol, and not too late a night as we were leaving for Mykonos the next morning.

The next morning was great, no hangover, no rush and instead of getting the ferry, we were to be on a much quicker hydrofoil. As soon as I stepped onto the vessel though, I knew there was gonna be trouble. The trip was only about a 2 hour journey all up, and I was sick from the minute I hopped on, until I arrived in Mykonos. Now I don’t want to leave anybody with any illusions, so I’ll be specific, I spewed my guts up from go to whoa!

Once we set foot on the island of Mykonos I was fine. We got transferred again to our hotel, which was a really nice place about 100 metres from the beach, and was family run. After unloading all our stuff, we went down to the beach where we had a lovely lunch overlooking the water and all the tiki umbrella things,
ParosParosParos

Fishermen at work!
it was very tropical. When you see all those calendars of the Greek Isles, they really look like that; the water is crystal clear and everything just stunning.

Anyway, after lunch we headed over to Mykonos town by the beach and did some shopping. Mykonos has fabulous shopping, heaps of jewellery stores and they even have a Starbucks! Anywho, after more stuffing of our faces with things filled with hot chips, we went to a place called RamRod. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to what sort of establishment it was, but I will say one thing, they made the best coffees there ever! The boys made friends with an old lesbian who was also a bit leathery!

The next day we went off to Super Paradise beach which was really pretty. The boys all went snorkelling, while I just lay on the beach blending in with the sand! Ed had the idea of using coconut oil to bring out more colour…and it worked, I turned into a beetroot! The nudists weren’t anything to look at either, they were old and their bodies all in need of some ironing! Anyway that night, we went back to Mykonos
Dinner in ParosDinner in ParosDinner in Paros

Mandatory tasting of the local cuisine - first on the list: Dolmades!
town as it was our last night together, so we did some more shopping and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. We said our goodbyes that night, as Ed and Matt were flying out early the following morning, whereas we were getting the slow ferry back to Athens later that afternoon.

The next day was quite subdued as it was the first time we had been alone since leaving Australia, and our first time in another country! That morning, after breakfast, we went down to the beach again and sat at the restaurant overlooking the water until we caught the ferry back to Athens.

We got into Athens at about 8pm and got yet another taxi driver who ripped us off. We should’ve gotten out when the other customer in the car started screaming at him in Greek and then left!

Our hotel was really good as our balcony faced the Acropolis which was gorgeous. We went over to the Acropolis to have a look, it was all lit up and looked beautiful. After taking some photos we went hunting for a restaurant to have some dinner, and couldn’t find one within walking distance. So we wound
ParosParosParos

Cute Greek building
up at a convenience store buying heaps of junk food and more feta flavoured things than you can think of!! The next morning we left Athens to fly to Rome, but before we left the hotel I asked the concierge to post some postcards for me, and only arrived a week before Paul and I arrived back home.

Unfortunately for the hotel, I had already listed them as big fat liars who threw away my postcards on Tripadvisor! Oops!



Additional photos below
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The cliffs of insanity!
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The fact that she could blow any minute makes her that much more exciting!
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I nearly plummeted to my death getting to this beach! It was almost worth it... Almost!
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(Greek style)
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The most westerly point - Bloody Amazing!
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Cute churches...
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Finding the perfect spot for our sunset...
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...and the last seconds before the sun teared on the horizon.
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I spewed all over the place I tell ya!
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Beach two minutes from our hotel!
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He's mine... ALL mine!


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