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Published: August 12th 2007
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I spent 2 days wandering the streets of the Plaka and up to the Acropolis and took an excursion out to Delphi to see where the Oracle once stood to gabble her prophesies. Most people I know have indicated that Athens is a filthy city and doesnt have much going for it. I found the tourist area around the Plaka to be quite nice and 2 days is the right amount of time to spend. Although, I have to say the port at Pireaus is absolutely filthy - trash biled up all over the place - I took the train out here to check it out and get a ferry ticket - all that is here is the ferries.
Seeing the old Acropolis and the ruins at Delphi was pretty amazing - and would have been even more amazing had it not been 40 degrees outside - there is a definite lack of shade in both places. I should have also read up on my Greek history and myths a bit prior to my trip to really appreciate the places I was ruins I was seeing. The Acropolis lit up at night can be seen from most points in Athens
and is a sight to behold.
I stayed in a decently run backerpackers - Athens Backpackers, whose rooftop bar has one of the best views of the Acropolis at night - and it was pretty clean too. Food in Greece, if you are eating anything other than gyros, is not particularly cheap. The introduction of the Euro has significantly upped prices here. I try not to convert.
One thing that I find odd about Athens is the number of shops selling furs. I don't think it gets that cold here, but I've seen more furs for sale here than anywhere else in the world. Another interesting tid-bid is Apollon street after the church. You can buy all of your god goods here - bishops robes, crucifixes, virign mary and those things that you wave incense around in. The whole street is lined with stores selling only these things. I can get bishop garb!
From Athens, I took a ferry to Santorini - heralded to be the most beautiful of the Greek islands. Summer is a busy time on the islands and since I booked my ticket the day before departing, I had to take the 7 hour
slow ferry. Luckily I booked a seated ticket. The ferry was so jammed, that if I had an economy ticket, I would not have found anywhere to sit other than the hallways!
I stayed out at Perissa beach in Santorini and chilled out for a few days. Anny Studios had fairly cheap rooms and a lovely pool. I did spent one day doing the tourist thing - trip out to Kameni to see the volcano and swim in the hot springs and to Thirasia, finishing in Oia for sunset. The trip was jammed with about 100 tourists on a motorized sailboat. A little crazy, but I'm glad I saw the sights - octopus souvlaki on Thirasia was amazing and sunset in Oia was really beautiful - although didn't turn out so well in my photos.
After 3 days in Santorini I boarded a 50ft Bavaria sailboat for a week of sailing the Cyclades. I met some really cool people onboard - a couple from Tenessee who are rafting guides and a few fellow Canadians and the Swiss guy. The experience was more about the sailing than touring islands, but we did stop at Ios, Naxos, Syros, and finishing
in Mykonos.
I had the best Mexican food I've had in a long time at Harmony in Ios (one cannot eat greek food all the time for 2 full weeks!).
From Ios, we sailed to Paros, but moored off the island for an evening of peace and quiet. The action on most of the islands surrounds the harbours and people like to party until dawn, therefore one gets very little sleep at night without earplugs. Our mooring was calm - we spend time simming around the boat and had a lovely dinner on board under the stars.
Next we sailed to Naxos, where we spent 2 nights harboured and which is probably one of my favourite islands out here. We spent a day buzzing around the island on ATVs and dunebuggies. I really wanted a scooter, but our skip was worried, as they are dangerous and recommended the atv instead - I tried explaining that I have driven a scooter for 4 years, but he stronly recommended that atv. I didn't really like driving it, as I found the steering quite difficult - so I switched in with one of the dunebuggy drivers (rafting guide from Tenessee)
and held on to life on the edge - boy did he like to drive! It was fun!
From Naxos, we went on to Syros and the wind picked up here significantly - we stayed 2 days in Syros, which is the capital of the Cyclades, but not particularly interesting, before coming to Mykonos, due to the wind situation.
I got off the sailboat yesterday and was really glad I was only on for a week. The quarters were quite cramped and I was sharing a washroom with 3 guys, which was getting a little manky by the end of the week.
I am now on day 2 in Mykonos, which is a fun island, but tres expensif! Almost double the cost of things in Santorini - which isn't a cheap island either. I was hoping to spend some time in Delos while I was here, but the lonely planet was misinformed about the ferry departures - the last ferry departs at 11am, not 12:50pm (I found that out at noon - a little too late) and is not open on Mondays. Yesterday I spent the day on the beach - and got a little burned -
my first burn of the trip. I mis-sprayed my sunscreen and have some interesting spray patterns on my legs.
Tomorrow I ferry back to Athens bright and early and will be flying to Florence on the 1st for my week of cycling in Tuscany. I'm hoping the tempartures cool, as I'm not sure how well I will hold up cycling in tempartures in the high 30s (mid 90's)!
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