That night we went to a restaurant right near our hotel, also on the beach. It was having a Greek night, with dancing and all. So Ness, Christine, Laura and I got up to dance....and the music did not stop for literally 10 minutes....not ideal. However, it was still really fun.
We spend most of the next day lying on the famous party beach, Paradise beach. There are definitely nicer beaches than this beach, but from 4pm it turns into a big dance party with girls dancing on tables etc etc. We then went back into the main town and had a kinder beuno crepe (OMG I nearly died - this is the best thing I have ever tasted in my LIFE) and of course, got a gyros. That night we chilled at the hotel, eating dinner at it's restaurant and sharing some huge cocktails.
The next day we lay by the pool until it was time to catch a ferry to Santorini...tough life.
We arrived in Santorini in the afternoon, had a quick dip in our hotel pool, watched the sunset from a spot 20m from the hotel and then went and had dinner at a pretty nice restaurant.
The next day was quad bike day. While Ness and I chilled at the hotel, the rest of the girls went to pick up 3 quad bikes. On the way back to the hotel, Christine knocked down a motorbike. I wish I was there to see that.
So we hopped on the quad bikes and drove around Santorini, stopping at a couple of black beaches and the red beach. It was so fun. There is nothing like that feeling of the wind on your face and the views of the Mediterranean. It makes you feel so free. That night we went for dinner (had a some meal which was chicken with a Feta sauce - one word - wow). After that we went and got crepes (standard) and had a short stroll through the shops to end a wonderful day.
On our last full day in Santorini and my last day with all the girls, we decided to go shopping!! After a few hours and dollars spent (as well as a fish spa), we decided to ride Donkey's down to the old port.....it was a smelly and slightly life-threatening experience.
We then went to a restaurant for lunch which was right on the port and owned by some of Ness' family. There was no way we were going to go back up with the Donkey's so we caught the cable car instead.
That night we planned to go to a part of Santorini called Oia, known for a great view of the sunset. However, all the buses just drove past us and never stopped. Instead we went to a cliff side restaurant for dinner and watched the sunset from there, much better I think. After dinner we went and ate more amazing crepes and then ended up at this random bar with 2 for 1 cocktails and GREAT music. We all danced the night away until about midnight because I was catching a ferry to Karpathos at 2am! It was so sad to leave the girls but I was excited to be reunited with the family.
That next morning at 11am I woke up and the Ferry was slowly approaching Karpathos (the Island my Greek side of the family are from). It was so nice to see the familiar faces of my grandparents when I got off the ferry! They took me to breakfast and I ate the best yogurt with fresh fruit and honey.
I was in Karpathos for 2 weeks so I don't want to go through every single day there...but I'll mention some of the highlights! There was a 3 day saints day celebration on the first weekend I was there. Every day and night for those 3 days there was church, food, drinking and dancing! After this weekend, and for the rest of the time there, I just went swimming/snorkeling at a fair few different and BEAUTIFUL beaches, ate the freshest food on the planet and enjoyed a few nights of Greek night-life (where people don't really get to clubs until 3am...). Nicole and Laura came for the last week I was there and stayed in Pigadia (the main town area) while I stayed up in the Village of Othos with it's steep and one way roads...
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| The village - Othos |
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| Church celebration |
I had such a great time there :)
We left Karpathos as the sun was rising on a Monday morning and arrived in the capital of Greece, Athens. We only had one night in Athens so we had to make the most of it.
From the Airport we caught a tube to our hostel, right near the Acropolis. After we dumped our stuff, we climbed to the top of the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. The view from up there was amazing! Every building is just white! After that bit of a sweat fest, we went to the Acropolis museum to see heaps of Ancient artifacts and explored the rest of the ancient surroundings of the area.
We then went to Thanassis restaurant in Monastiraki for lunch to have his famous souvlaki. After a stroll and a shop down Ermou (a well-known shopping street), we sat and had our final kinder bueno crepes. What a sad but happy moment that was. After another stroll through the Monastiraki markets/shops, we went home for a nap. We had been up since about 5am.
That night we watched the sun set over the Acropolis from a roof-top bar. We then got another gyros and had an early, last night in Europe.
On our final morning in Europe, we decided to get up early and do one last bit of sight-seeing. We ventured to the first ever Olympic stadium. The ticket includes an audio tour which was really great :) There was even a room that had all the Olympic torches from every single Olympic games.
We sadly walked back to our hotel, got our stuff, ate our last gyros and mars bar ice cream, and caught a tube back to the airport......worst feeling ever.
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| Very last gyros..... |
