Spain & Greece

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This is a blog for Remi.

Our upcoming move to Perth has offered up the ideal opportunity to expose you to what I hope will be a lifelong love of travel. Your mum and I have done this sort of thing a few times already (not our first rodeo, Tim) and we thought the additional challenge of catering for a know-it-all 3 year old is exactly the sort of adventure we need. The idea was based upon a the dreaded prospect of a long haul flight direct to Australia with a hyperactive, moody toddler to contend with. Plus yourself. This nightmare scenario opened the door for us to break up the journey into shorter legs, which then quickly evolved into the chance to milk it for all its worth. And here we are..

The following is an account of our 4 month journey through Europe and Asia, en-route to our new home in Australia. One of the fundamental principles of travelling is to pack light and to only take the essentials where possible, so I'm a bit puzzled as to how I've managed to end up with a bag full of Lego. Luckily our first flight to Barcelona was with Ryanair - and their famously lenient baggage policy - to meet up with the 'Search Mafia'. By some miracle, our luggage was under the weight limit and the flight passed off fairly uneventfully, that was until you confiscated my kindle, the reason being you were 'expecting an important message from Ash'. I don't think you've got a grip of what the kindle actually is yet - although if it had YouTube installed, you'd no doubt be an expert.

Upon arrival in Barcelona, we made our way to Sant Cugat, home of our hosts Jen and Tim. Our first couple of days were a bit of a washout through a combination of sickness and a thunderstorm in the region, but by day 3, we were back in the land of the living and ready for 2 days in Sitges with everyone. For the following couple of days, you were in your element with 4 'aunties' at your beck and call. However, you couldn't be bothered to learn any names; instead choosing to identify people by the colours of the clothes they were wearing. Auntie Ange became 'the blue one', Auntie Claire, 'the red one' ands so on. After a fantastic few days with Jen, Tim, Ange, Joe, Claire, Laura and Jon, everyone went their separate ways and we continued on to Athens.

Our first day in Athens saw us visit the Panathaneic stadium, the only stadium in the world made entirely out of marble and venue of the inaugural Olympic Games in 1896. You had a ball sprinting around the track in whatever direction you saw fit in 35 degree heat. It was an absolute pleasure to chase you around too. Thanks for that. We walked around Athens taking in the sights including the street art in Psyrri before climbing up Fillipappou Hill for sunset which was far from pram-friendly. Neither was the 40 minute walk back across Athens to our accommodation. They are no fans of street lights here. Or pavements. This is definitely a different version of backpacking to what I'm used to. The next morning, we set for the Acropolis - the must see attraction in Athens. We booked a 9am time slot to avoid the worst of the day's heat but the climb up was still a bit of a challenge - without the trolley this time. Still, it was worth all the time and effort to see your little face light up as you sat with your back to all the incredible, historic monuments playing with stones and dirt and refusing to pose for any photos. Not even 2 weeks in and you're winding me up.

The following morning, we had a 40 minute flight down to Santorini. The downloaded episode of Molly and Mack ensured it was a quick, peaceful flight for all involved. We picked up the wreck of a car we booked from Hertz and made our way to the accommodation to drop off our bags. This isn't the first time I've read a blog on how road conditions in a particular place are 'not for the feint hearted' - it never inspires confidence. I think they were referring to how small and windy the roads are though; parking is very much at a premium as there are just too many people here for the infrastructure to cope with and the influx of cruise ships passengers on a daily basis just add the problem. After sunset in Fira on our first night, you were treated to what I think was your first ever Gyros. I'm reassured that you're having the time of your life so far as when we asked what you favourite part of the trip has been, you answered 'the eating food'. Santorini is best known for its iconic whitewashed buildings and blue domed churches built into the cliffside and sunset at Oia is high on most visitors to-do list. On our last night we ventured out to face the crowds to watch the sun go down over the Caldera but it was as busy as expected and we decided to walk down to Ammoudi bay (300 steps each way) to an incredible seafood restaurant that had been recommended instead. The number of people streaming out of Oia to walk back to their cars and buses after the sunset reminded me a bit of the crowds coming out of Old Trafford after the match. Except people here didn't look traumatised by what they'd just witnessed. Although Santorini was nice - it was probably amazing 10 years ago - to be honest we were quite happy to be leaving the crowds behind the following day as we caught our ferry across to Naxos. In the queue, we got talking to an Australian family, it turned out they were from Mt Eliza and live a couple of streets away from our former home in Mohilla St. Small world.

Our accommodation in Naxos was basic to say the least but it had a pool and was £156 for 5 nights, so no complaints whatsover. We decided to hire a car for 3 days to explore the island and really enjoyed our time here. It is far more sedate than Santorini, the summer season is coming to an end, temperatures are starting to cool and the number of tourists is dwindling. There were some great places such as the mountain towns of Halki, Apiranthos and Filoti and the beaches at Agios Prokopios, Plaka and Hawaii - you would've stayed in the water all day with your Konfidence jacket keeping you afloat if we'd let you. We loved our time on Naxos, we would've liked a few more days on the island, but we had to get moving again.

To get to our next stop, we caught the Athens bound ferry and disembarked at Paros before jumping on a smaller ferry to the neighbouring island of AntiParos. AntiParos is small and underdeveloped, most people generally go over as a day trip from Paros. Apparently the relative isolation persuaded the likes of Tom Hanks, Madonna and Bruce Willis to buy their own villas here. I've somehow now managed to gain a bucket and spade for my backpack, to go along with the lego and tubs of plasticine - I'm like a mobile play centre. At this point, you seem to be getting used to travelling a little bit and are anticipating moving on every few days. Your only question is 'are we living here today?' and you seem content with the answers so far. You are definitely coming out of your shell in terms of talking to adults, as the elderly couple sat in front on the ferry back to Athens discovered. You introduced yourself and your new doll, unprompted, explaining its anatomy and accessories in detail - before throwing in a bit of a song and dance for good measure. They seemed impressed, although it was difficult to be sure as they didn't speak a word of English.

We have reconsidered our Pelopennese route at this point and realised that an extra 10 days of driving isn't ideal when we have got a similar itinerary in Albania next up and back to back driving trips would definitely be a test of your limited patience (and mine). You and your mum are constantly bickering and to be honest, I think you've been getting the upper hand in the exchanges I've overheard. Instead, we just decided to drive to Nafplion for 3 nights, a 2 hour drive from Athens. You are becoming a very vocal presence in the back seat with suggestions like 'Daddy can you stop going through tunnels, I'm reading'. If you've got a better suggestion of how we can get to the other side of the mountains, I'm all ears. The highlights from our time in Nafplion were undoubtedly climbing up to the Fortress of Palamidi and visiting the Ancient Ampitheatre of Epidaurus on the drive back to Athens for the final time. At the time of writing, Israel has been turned into a war zone, so we'll need to re-assess our options for the route through to Dubai. For now though, it's on to Albania..

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Comments

[Brommers]

Anyone got a spare Tene Lady?
Absolutely bloody hilarious! Love it! What a fantastic idea, she’s gonna love it in years to come when she re-reads it. Keep the entries coming.