Thursday, 18 March 2010
Got off work an hour or so earlier than usual and that was a mission and a half just to do that…but that’s a whole other painful story that I won’t bore you with.
Got to Heathrow in good time. In fact, it took only 40 minutes from the time the driver picked me from the Office till we arrived at the airport. British Airways the airline that I was flying with had their cabin crew going on strike during the period that I was to be away. As a result my flight was moved forward by one or two hours, the reason for leaving work earlier than planned. It’s always a joy leaving from Terminal 5, it seriously takes only 8 minutes from curb to be on the other side of security.
Flying from London to Athens takes just a little over three hours and with the time zone difference I arrived just a little after 9pm. Sat next to an American girl from Minnesota on the plane, she was nice enough and was good for a laugh. I asked her what country she would be least interested in going to. Her answer (after looking out the window as we were landing and seeing a Lufthansa (German Airline) plane taxiing down the runway), was: “I never want to go to Lufthansa”…trying not to laugh I queried: “Lufthansa isn’t a country do you mean Lithuania?”…her attempted recovery was even more amusing. “If Lufthansa was a country I wouldn’t want to go there anyway”. Hahahaha How mental is she.
Picked my bag with little delay and caught the x95 Express Bus directly to Santagma Square, then got a taxi to the Intercontinental Hotel where I was staying while in Athens. I had a view over to the Acropolis and it was pretty both at night and during the day.
MAP OF ATHENS
INERCONTINENTAL HOTEL ATHENS
Friday, 19 March 2010
Woke up to stunning sunshine and clear blue sky. Always a treat when you are on holiday.
Headed out on foot after getting a map and directions from the hotel concierge. Found my way through the back streets to a street market where they sold fruit and veg. I loved the Orange Trees that line the streets loaded with ripe oranges. Stopped at a Bakery and got bottled water and something to eat while I was out and about. Made my way up to the Monument of Filipappos which has a superb view of the Acropolis and back down towards the port as well. (see my Photosynth below)
Teamed up with Rolf (who lives in London), he was really helpful in taking pictures. We had a good laugh too while doing it. I think he made me do more pictures of myself than I would normally. Was we wondered around the Acropolis and took probably more photos between us than your average Japanese tourist on holiday.
I then spent about three hours at the Acropolis Museum which is at the base of the Acropolis. Really interesting learning about ancient history. I didn’t realise that Drama and Theatre first began as a religious act as part of worshiping Greek gods. The floor of the museum is really neat as portions of it are made of thickened glass that you walk on and can see the ruins below that the museum is built over.
As I was walking back to my hotel I stumbled across a live music video being recorded so I stopped for about 30 minutes and watched and listened as the two women played their instruments. They were really good and it was fascinating just listening to them. (watch the video below)
By the time I got back to the hotel the sun was starting to go down. So I ordered room service and had a nice long soak in my 6ft soak tub before climbing into my king bed and falling asleep.
VIEW FROM FILOPAPPOS HILL
THE ACROPOLIS
GREEK MUSIC LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS
MY PHOTOSYNTH OF THE ACROPOLIS
FILOPAPPOS & ACROPOLIS (ATHENS, GREECE)
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Slept in till a little just after 8am. Dressed and wondered down to breakfast. It was a wonder buffet breakfast, with the whole ensemble including chocolate gateau (not exactly sure who would eat that for breakfast but I was good and refrained from giving in to my chocolate desires).
Took the hotel Shuttle bus to Santagma Square where I wondered through the National Gardens, then took a slow walk up Lycabettus Hill. While I was admiring the view, I struck up a conversation with Robert who asked for directions. We sat and chatted and admired the view for a couple of hours. Interestingly enough he also lives in London so hopefully we will catch up again. It was great being able to just enjoy the sunshine while watching the world go by from the top of the hill.
On the way back I wondered down the other side of the hill and found myself outside the Academy of Athens which has amazing architecture!
Walked back down as far as Hadrian’s Arch and was heading back to Santagmar Square to catch the Hotel Shuttle back to the hotel when my wallet got pick pocketed. I felt it pretty much gone straight away, but since I was in a crowd of people I had no idea which way to look to see who might have taken it. With help from the Assistant Manager and concierge I then spent the next four hours back at the hotel calling my banks/credit card companies to cancel my cards and reissue. I also had to arrange emergency cash as I had absolutely nothing in terms or money. HSBC and Mastercard were great they wired me funds immediately via Western Union. Unfortunately by the time I got to a Western Union just on 8:30pm they were closed. So had to wait until 10am Sunday morning till they opened. Meanwhile, I was supposed to be catching the 7:30am ferry to Santorini. I went and completed a police report and that was challenging considering English was not the officers first language. They made me walk 4 floors of stairs because their crappy elevator was out of service. This was just so I could fill out a report.
I then started wondering if I should just end my holiday early and head home, cutting my losses. Then my better judgement kicked in and I thought no I’ll wait till the morning and figure a way of completing my trip on a high note.
Got back to the hotel and opted for room service since I had no money which to buy any food anyway so it was the perfect excuse. I must say the meals were amazing. I then turned in for the night.
ATHENS FROM LYCABETTUS HILL
MY PHOTOSYNTH OF THE ACADEMY OF ATHENS
NATIONAL GARDENS & LYCABETTUS HILL
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Woke up to another brilliant day. Packed my bags and showered and headed down for breakfast and to store my luggage with the Bell Service. Got the hotel shuttle bus back into the town centre got my 900 euro’s went to the travel agent which was about 3 minutes away, purchased return tickets by plane to Santorini. As it worked out my flight even though it was leaving Athens in the afternoon would get to the island about the same time had I caught the ferry.
So with pretty much a good four/five hours to kill I decided to head back to the hotel and settle my bill which needed to be done before noon anyway. I also took advantage of their safety deposit box, which is just like they have at the bank where you get buzzed into a secure room, get passed a locked box through a slot in the wall, you put whatever you want inside and hand it back to the person on the other side. You watch why they use their master key and another key to dual lock the box in the vault, then they give you the key and you are allowed to exit the locked room. I decided to leave all my emergency cash along with passport since I’m now paranoid about loosing things.
I then took the hotel shuttle once more back to Santagmar Square where I went and explored, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Plaka (the old town), and then climbed the South slopes of the Acropolis.
After picking my bags from the Hotel I got a taxi out to Athens Airport – which is a good 40 minutes from the city centre. My taxi driver was really friendly and pretty much gave me the low down on the Greek islands as we drove.
It was a beautiful day for flying and the clear sky gave me so great views of the islands as we flew towards Santorini. The flight only took 35 minutes so it was one of those up then down ones.
I then got a shared mini bus that was doing a few hotels in Fira and then on the way to Oia where I was staying. Oia (pronounced Eee-a), is right at the western tip of the island so you get to experience amazing sunsets. The place I was staying was Alexander’s Boutique Hotel and it was built into the cliffs in the traditional cave style dwellings. Oia is the most expensive part of the island but I think it was worth it for the experience. Alex (the owner) is a lovely man and kindly invited me to join him and his friend Martina (owns the hotel next door) for dinner at their favourite Greek Restaurant in Fira (a place called Simos Tavern).
After checking-in I headed towards to the end of the island to take photos of the sunset. I wasn’t disappointed. Unfortunately, camera’s don’t tend to capture the true fullness of the experience so even though the pictures look incredible – there is nothing quite like it in reality.
Got back about 8pm to my ‘cave room’, quickly showered and changed clothes and then waited for Alex and Martina. Simos has a really nice atmosphere and Angela and the rest of the staff are so nice and welcoming. Alex is a regular so has his table always reserved in from of the open log fireplace. Which is perfect, because the nights are cooler than the day. For starters we had a selection of various vegetarian Greek dishes for my benefit then for mains Martina had Stake and Alex had Lobster. I had a nice Aubergine and tomato dish with rice. Thomas and Maria (a Spanish couple on their honeymoon) joined us for the last part of dinner and for dessert. Thomas and Maria wer in the room next to mine at the hotel. I learned much about Greek culture and things about Santorini. Heard about places to go in Spain for a future trip. We eventually left and got back to the hotel after 1am. So much for an early night! But it was such a nice evening who could complain.
MY PHOTOSYNTH OF THE TEMPLE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS
TEMPLE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS, PLAKA, SOUTH SLOPE OF THE ACROPOLIS
GREEK ISLANDS AND SUNSET – OIA SANTORINI
Monday, 22 March 2010
Slept in till about 8:30am then had breakfast about 9ish on the Terrace outside my room. The view is absolutely stunning. If I hadn’t been needing to get into Fira by 10am I would have probably sat there for hours in awe of the panoramic views.
Took a Taxi from Oia to Fira, purchased my ticket for the boat trip to the Volcano and Hot Springs then walked the 700+ steps down to the Port of Fira at the bottom of the cliffs. I tell you it was hard going on the knees bracing yourself from going to fast. Waited round for about 30 minutes at the Port waiting for the 11am departure. Found a good perch on the topside of the old schooner that we were on.
Probably only took about 15 minutes for us to cross to the harbour on the volcano. We were then given 1:30hrs to roam the Volcano. Get to the summit and down again before the boats departure. Everyone kind of headed up the hill quite quickly like a swarm of ants furiously looking for food. I decided to go with a quick pace but stop and take photos as I wanted. Found lots of interesting subjects and scenes to capture.
Being volcanic the ground was extremely rocky and strewn with loose scoria and chip. So you had to take care not to slip and slide too much. My favourite part was about two thirds of the way up where we had to hike a ridge that was only about 2 metres wide. Words cannot explain how exhilarating it was to stand at the edge with no rail and for it to just fall away below with an incredible vista of the blue of the ocean stretching out at your feet.
At the top there was the tell tale smell of sulphur lingering in the air with wisps of water vapour in the form of steam coming forth from yellow stained openings in the rock face. Pretty much the only sign that this was still an active volcano. Not sure if I was expecting the whole red molten lava bubbling away – but that certainly didn’t happen.
A plateau above the main creator provided wonderful photo opportunities which weren’t wasted by anyone. Took some pictures of Shoshana and Penny using Penny’s digital SLR and Penny took some of me.
While everyone were making there way down to the boats, Penny, Shoshana and I decided since we had 25 minutes left we would go climb a peak just above the bay where the boats were moored. It was a good decision, as we got some brilliant photo that wouldn’t have been possible anywhere else. I took a neat picture of the girls jumping in the air. I can’t wait to see how it turned out.
We made it back to the boat with 5 minutes to spare. It was then off to an island on the other side of the volcano to where the Hot Springs were. We anchored in as close to land as possible then those that wanted to swim had to jump off the boat, swim through the cold water to the warmer water were the hot springs were. I think only 12 people ended up going. The rest of us stayed and watched from the boat. Juan, Penny and Shoshana all took the plunge…I didn’t like the idea of having to swim back through cold water to get to the boat (yes I’m a wimp). The guy next to me was busy saying that someone had told him that its only 5 degrees warmer at the hot springs so that didn’t help to change my mind about going in.
It was then back to the port of Fira. By the time we got to the port we had completely circumnavigated the volcano! To get from the port back up to Fira at the cliff top, we had three options: walk back up the 700+ steps, take a donkey up those same steps, or take the cable car. With only 1 euro difference in price between the Donkey option and cable car coupled with the fact that they told us we had to wait 30 minutes for the cable car. A group decision was quickly made that we would do the donkey’s. Juan asked if the girls or I if we were doing anything which we weren’t, so we decided that we would do lunch together.
Riding a donkey up a steep hill was hilarious, and great fun…provided you were not the donkey. With no rhyme nor reason they gave me one of the smallest donkeys of the lot. So the poor beast had to lug me in the hot afternoon sun up to the top. He was a little goer and would over take the other bigger donkeys like he had something to prove. They would head from one side of the path to the other and bump into each other in their quest to get their load to the top. With bells around their necks and pretty colourful saddle blankets it was a slight to behold. My thighs were clinging to the side of the donkey and I was holding onto the saddle with one hand so I could take photos and video with the other. At times the donkey would come to a sudden halt and I would almost fly off. He did this mainly to rest and graze.
In Fira we decided that Red Beach would be interesting to go to. Still don’t know who came up with that idea, I suspect it was probably Juan. We checked the timetable for the buses to see what time they leave for that part of the island. We discovered that most buses would leave about 3:30pm from Fira. Armed with that information we found a little pizzeria to have lunch. I had a lovely pizza with aubergine, tomatoes and something else that they grow locally. After eating quickly we headed back to the bus station only to discover that somehow we had missed the 3:30pm bus. Still don’t know how this was possible since the bus would have had to pass us as we were walking to the bus station. But they seemed quite irregular services.
The solution – we went and hired a scooter and a quad bike and shared the cost. Juan wanted to get a Scooter and Penny was more comfortable with a quad bike. So I doubled with Penny and Shoshana with Juan. This worked out well as I doubt I would have been able to take photos so well from the back of the scooter. After taking a few wrong turns we found Red Beach which is at the eastern tip of the island. We left the bikes at the car park and walked around the cliffs to the beach. Got some great shots with the afternoon sun turning the earthy red cliff face a bright contrast to the deep blue of the sky.
With the use of Juan’s tripod, and a little fiddling to get the timer feature working on my camera we took a group picture and then attempted to do a jumping picture which clearly was never gonna be successful. I don’t think Shoshana made it off the ground once in the picture – she was laughing too much.
Juan headed back to the shops down the road to get drinks and snacks while the girls and I headed down to the beach. We then nattered while watching the sun go down. Since it starts getting cooler once the sun goes down, Juan disappeared off and got some paper and lighter. We then gathered wood and got a nice little fire going. It was great sitting looking up at the stars, hearing the gentle lap of the waves on the beach and with the warm of the fire. I was right in my element being able to keep the wood burning evenly.
Don’t know what time we left the beach but we went to where the girls were staying which was a town on the way back to Fira. The plan was that Juan was going to drop me back in Fira and then head back to do a pub crawl with the girls. It was a lot further back to Fira than either of us thought and poor Juan was cold since he was driving the scooter. It wasn’t so bad for me since he was protecting me from the wind. The roads a really windy and being dark we missed our turn at one point because we were going to fast. We couldn’t stop laughing.
After dropping me in the centre of Fira, I caught a taxi back to Oia and was at my hotel by 9:30/10pm. Showered, uploaded some pictures to Facebook then climbed into bed after a tiring but successful day in the sun.
HIKING THE SANTORINI VOLCANO – PART 1
HIKING THE SANTORINI VOLCANO – PART 2
DONKEY ADVENTURE IN SANTORINI
SANTORINI VOLCANO ADVENTURE
DONKEY RIDING FROM PORT OF FIRA
SCOOTING THE ISLAND
RED BEACH SUNSET & BEACH BON FIRE
~ TJ
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