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Hi everyone, we are now at the end of our travels in Greece. Since leaving the South we have had our "holiday within a holiday" traipsing around the Cyclades islands before heading north out of Athens over the last couple of days.
From Athens we grabbed an overnight ferry which arrived in Santorini first thing in the morning. This ferry gave us our first taste of real beds and air conditioning for months - it was almost a pity we were asleep for the whole ride! Santorini has some really interesting geography, as the island is the top of an old volcanic eruption crater, complete with a cauldera peeking up in the center. We stayed in the main town, Fira and hired a small blue underpowered motor scooter to tour the island with, which worked out really well as the place is quite small. The only hick-up came when we headed up to the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Thira, situated on one of the tallest hills on the island chain. Our poor underpowered scooter got the crap thrashed out of it going up this with both of us on board, especially as most of it was old
cobblestones which made for an interesting ride for us....
Next we hopped a little bit north to the Island of Paros which was a fair bit bigger than Santorini but thankfully a lot flatter. It was definitely time for another scooter, but this time we got the next size up with a bit more grunt, but in blue again. Paros was a great spot to beach hop, and we spent a day there zipping around the cost before moving onto Naxos next door. This time we dispensed with the scooter and just set up camp on the beach next to the main town for a day off from the tourism :-) Naxos does have some really striking ruins right next to the port - the lintel of a temple to Apollo which provides a kind of picture window onto the town from out by one of the break waters.
Our last island stop was at Mykonos where, you guessed it, we hired another small blue scooter and zipped around the island's beaches. Paradise beach, reported to be a nude one, was nothing of the sort - just far too many people crowded onto too small a strip of
sand. We had much more luck on the far side of the island away from the bus routes, much preferring a far flung one on the other side of the island inhabited by the local windsurfers.
After a week of this island and beach hopping with full catering, a/c and beds our time out on the islands ran out. We soon found ourselves sweltering in the heat of Athens, busing back to our camping ground and our home away from home, Bert the Bedford.
The concrete jungle of Athens soaked up far too much heat which stayed on into the night so we headed off to Delphi as soon as we could the following morning. After securing a camping ground with a much needed pool and having a quick dip or two we checked out the ancient ruins of the city.
These ruins are really well preserved and provide a great example of a theatre and stadium, as well as showing the footprint of the Temple of Apollo which the famous oracle is believed to have dwelt in. Delphi also hosts the curious Temple to Athena, called the Tholos which is a rather unique circle shape (photos
attached).
We have now stopped up in Kalambaka, to check out the mountain top monasteries of Meteora. These currently consist of a collection of six living Greek Orthodox monasteries sitting on the tops of large rock pillars. Ironically the monks picked these picturesque spots to discourage visitors , but now attract busloads of tourists everyday.
Meteora's our last main stop in Greece, so from here it's a big trek north - hopefully into climates which daytime temperatures less than 30 degrees C.
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