Blogs from South Aegean, Greece, Europe - page 92

I know I've been behind on my blogs! I just wanted to write a quick one, for once, from the country I'm actually in. Greece to be exact. The island of Ios. Everyone should move to a greek island immediately! It's way better than Mexico or any place like that. Seriously. Also, I come home in just a few days. June 20th. I have mixed emotions, though mostly, I would rather stay here than leave. This however is an open invite for you to join me at the airport, with gifts, on June 20th. One day I'll check and see what time I arrive. But you know, if you want to be at the airport to greet me with gifts.. I wont hold it against you or anything. Anyway--I finally wrote about Berlin. I'll write more ... read more

Well ive straightened out my travel plans. ill fill you in as we go, but for now, i leave ios on tuesday for syrios. its another island to the north. from there im going to samos, which is an island just off the coast of turkey. thats about all i have together at this point. ive truley enjoyed my time here on ios. today i rented a scooter and explored the whole island. got to see the tomb of Homer, i neat castle overlooking the sea, and lots of beautiful beaches. had a proper greek meal at this little family restraunt on the other side of the island, and made it home unscaved. but know im ready for some real cultural exploration again. its really why im here. partying is getting old and im want the ... read more

We rented two cars and went exploring Tinos Island. Our first stop was the Convent of St Pelagia which is carved into the hillside. We had a lovely visit to this historic and holy site with women praying and lighting candles in the chapels we were visiting and THEN THE BUSES CAME just as we were departing. There were four or five of them so we obviously picked the right time to visit as it was peaceful the way a church is supposed to be until we were ready to leave. There was a little old farmer at the entrance selling dried herbs, peanuts and figs so we stopped to buy some to use during the journey and to take home. Our second stop was below the ruins of the Castle of Exombourgo, a Venetian fortress ... read more

We have just spent three days at Santorini since our last visit to the island some 8 years ago. The changes are enormous. The back of the island that swept from the caldera rim at between 300and 450 meters down to the airport and the sea, which was traditionally held in small farming blocks and country side, is now an extending urban development. New houses are being constructed everywhere but thankfully all are required to conform to Santorini house designs which at least restricts high-rise and non-Greek glass development. The other noticeable change is white and blue are not the only colours that people paint their houses. Now there are yellows and reds and warm earth colours, which make an interesting change to the Greek character of Santorini. Saying it’s Greek is a bit of a ... read more

We went to see the ruins in Delos. As mentioned in my guidebook, there were a lot of ruins and very little signage and what little signage there was appeared in Greek and French. That didn't bother me too much as I understand French quite well but the lack of description was a little disappointing as was the volume of tourists visiting the site. Most of our group climbed the hill to the Temple of Zeus but a couple of us chose to go to the museum instead. It was fascinating with the rooms laid out more or less by era. This allowed me to view several Archaic statues together, then several Classical statues together and start to sort out the differences that we had learned about prior to coming to Greece. It was also interesting ... read more