Still looking for the elusive Kamari Beach.... its been two days now and we still couldnt find it however after trying every variation of road we ame across, we eventually stumbled upon it. Seems like all the restaurants are at least a third to double the price of the Perissa eating joints, so glad this is not where we chose to stay. A pleasant enough beach, with a long road of restaurants and beach bars on the road opposite. All very well set up for the tourists. We hired umbrella and deck chairs and settled in for the afternoon.
A nail-biting ride back to return the scooter, grab our bags and take the last bus to the port, to only just make it in time for our ferry to Ios.
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Sunday September 7th - Fira by Day
Today, we were back on the scooter, and drove back to Fira to get some good pictures of the famous cliff-side houses cut into the rock. Everything is painted white with blue accents. Woe-betide anyone wanting a red and yellow house with a green balcony! But it does make for some eye-appealing scenery. Next we drove the long way around the island, hugging the coast, seeing only clear blue skies, domed churches, donkey trails up the cliffs, and old men on carts pulled by asses, doing about 2 miles an hour.
We headed for the very tip of the island, to a tiny town called Oia, where we had an expensive seafood lunch of fresh octopus and stuffed eggplant. Not too bad but quite expensive. Walked lunch off around the cliffs as far as we could take the trail, with a view out over the volcano, nestled in the middle of the islet. Drove back by a faster route to Perissa Beach for a shower and change before heading out for a bite to eat. We searched all day for a beach called Kamari, next to Perissa but not accessable by road it seemed.. or were we reading the map wrong? Will try our luck again tomorrow.
We headed for the very tip of the island, to a tiny town called Oia, where we had an expensive seafood lunch of fresh octopus and stuffed eggplant. Not too bad but quite expensive. Walked lunch off around the cliffs as far as we could take the trail, with a view out over the volcano, nestled in the middle of the islet. Drove back by a faster route to Perissa Beach for a shower and change before heading out for a bite to eat. We searched all day for a beach called Kamari, next to Perissa but not accessable by road it seemed.. or were we reading the map wrong? Will try our luck again tomorrow.
Saturday Spetember 6th - Clubbing in Santorini
Having lost an entire day in Santorini, Sirena was none too happy as this was the island she had been most looking forward to. Our hotel at 12 Euro was great though. We spent a day on Perissa beach and in the evening hired a scooter so we could see the rest of the island. We drove to Fira, the capital of Santorini and had a good meal of Lasagne and beautiful baked fish at a restaurant overlooking the harbour. Fira is set on steep cliffs, with some houses actually cut into the rock, making for all the famous pictures of Santorini you see everywhere. Fira village is a maze of tiny narrow streets, whitewashed and quite attractive, altough now made very touristy with bars, expensive seafood restaurants and even a long street of jewelry shops. Snoggy hand-holding couples everywhere!
After dinner, it was still early (11pm) and the bars were not yet happening. About the only place we found with any life was Murphys Irish bar, which was packed with young (mostly) girls and a few locals trying to get lucky. We stayed for a couple of drinks and a boogy before checking out some other places. We figured it was getting close to end of season as some places were very empty. One guy, (yes, another aussie - this is turning into the story of my life) Vaughen, attempted to chat me up. It was so laughable. I dont think he realised I was about 10 years older than him. He kept asking me the exact same questions (name, where am I travelling, etc..) soooo dull. Then hed start off about himself, boring me to tears with his tedious tales of himself, all the while yelling into my ear over the din of the club. Then hed start over again with the same questions. Eventually I had to tell him he needed to learn some listening skills, but not until he had followed us around for a few minutes to various other bars, in a vain attempt to lose him. I dont believe in letting them down easy.
Fira by night was actually a little depressing but we were keen to see it by daylight to see if we couldnt get some postcard perfect pictures for ourselves. Eventually we gave up trying to have a good time - it was either working or it wasnt, and headed for home. We got a bit lost on the way back home, driving around Firas one-way side streets, and we were very happy to make it back to Perissa Beach finally.
After dinner, it was still early (11pm) and the bars were not yet happening. About the only place we found with any life was Murphys Irish bar, which was packed with young (mostly) girls and a few locals trying to get lucky. We stayed for a couple of drinks and a boogy before checking out some other places. We figured it was getting close to end of season as some places were very empty. One guy, (yes, another aussie - this is turning into the story of my life) Vaughen, attempted to chat me up. It was so laughable. I dont think he realised I was about 10 years older than him. He kept asking me the exact same questions (name, where am I travelling, etc..) soooo dull. Then hed start off about himself, boring me to tears with his tedious tales of himself, all the while yelling into my ear over the din of the club. Then hed start over again with the same questions. Eventually I had to tell him he needed to learn some listening skills, but not until he had followed us around for a few minutes to various other bars, in a vain attempt to lose him. I dont believe in letting them down easy.
Fira by night was actually a little depressing but we were keen to see it by daylight to see if we couldnt get some postcard perfect pictures for ourselves. Eventually we gave up trying to have a good time - it was either working or it wasnt, and headed for home. We got a bit lost on the way back home, driving around Firas one-way side streets, and we were very happy to make it back to Perissa Beach finally.
Friday - September 5th
Boat left at 9am, an hour later than scheduled, but we were glad to finally be underway. It was packed, presumably with two boat-load of passengers aboard. Only room to sit was in the smoking lounge where I was miserable and cold. After a while, we upgraded to First Class Lounge for the 13 hour sailing. It was brilliant. We sat at the bow of the boat and got great views the whole way, with our own restaurant, bar, and lounge to ourselves. Got into Santorini about 10pm and were picked up at the port by the owner of Stelios Place, where we had booked in for the bargain of 12 Euro a night! I was impressed with it - a lovely pool, right by the beach plus cable TV in our room! We had a late dinner in town of more greek salad and lamb chops.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Thursday September 4th Whirlwind Trip of Athens
Very hard to wake up this morning. We had one goal - book the boats to the islands. If we managed to see anything of Athens at the same time that was a bonus. We checked out of the hotel and, with our luggage, headed straight for the nearest Starbucks and attemopted to lucate the Busabout travel agency on the map. We decided that bussing or metroing it, with all our bags, was too difficult, as Sirena with her cold was quite miserable also. So we decided to hail a cab to get to the travel agency that Busabout say you have to go to, in order to exhange your vouchers for boat tickets to the island (I had bought all my vouchers in London already). Now, it sounds the most straightforward thing, right? There are millions of cabs in Athens, all brightly coloured yellow. Unfortuantely, they do not stop for anyone. They slow down, wait for you to tell them your destination, shrug their shoulders (if youre lucky), then drive off. It was more difficult than finding an empty cab in London on a rainy Monday night during a tube strike. And Ive done that too!!
So, there we were, standing on the side of the road, taxi after taxi ignoring us, for about 40 minutes. Some taxis would slow down and we would shout into the window where we wanted to go and the driver would give us this "stupid tourist" glare, and drive off as quickly as possible. Wed noticed various other people had managed to get cabs, but they had people in them and we were very confused as to what the system was. Eventually, we approached a girl at a bus stop and asked her to give us a quick Greek language lesson .. we figured that we were pronouncing it wrongly. This appeared to work!! I affected a very stupid accent and after several more cabs stopping, one finally took us in. (Actually, I think we just barged our way in before he could drive off). And it had only taken an entire hour out of our morning.
Eventually we arrived at the travel agency were we spent some time booking sailings to Santorini, Ios and Paros. Not wishing to spend any more time in Athens, we booked the 10pm ferry to Santoini for that evening.
Took Sirena to the pharmacy to get her drugged up so she could at least breathe at night, poor thing. Decongestants, lozenges and aspirin. Next we took another taxi (we were experts by this stage) to the Plaka district again, where the previous night we had spotted a great looking hotel for the same price as the rip-off hotel we stayed in, and booked a room for the night we returned from the islands. We left our luggage there, and, as the hotel was only five minutes from the Acropolis, we spend a pleasant afternoon up at the Parthenon and Acropolis, and in the museum where a lot of the original statues (or at least what is left of them) are housed. I dont remember the museum from last time I was in Athens, but it was great to get some good shots of the famous landmark. Its dated from 420-450BC. Many stautues are missing or destroyed. I think there are some big ones in the British Museum also; I dont know why they wont return them.
Back at Plaka, a giant home-made ice-cream thick shake later, we did a spot of souvineer browsing then got the metro to the port. Where it was discovered that there were no sailings that evening due to bad whether out at sea. Oh shit. Nowhere to stay!! We queued for tickets the next morning at 8am, all the backpackers in the same boat (no pun intended)... needing a cheap place to stay that night. We wandered around the port looking for hotels.. of course - they were all fully booked out, the annoucement about all the boats being cancelled apparantly having gone out around 3pm, about the same time we left the travel agency. Sods law! We were wondering where the hell we were going to spend the night when out of nowhere a cab pulls up and the driver asks if we need a hotel and how much we were willing to pay. Going against all precautions, we jump in and he turns out to be pretty friendly... he stopped at various hotels in the area and jumped out with me and we tried to get a room for the night but they were all full. Eventually he drove us to a place he knew about 10 minutes away and bargained the price down on our behalf from 80 Euro to 60 Euro. I am pretty sure I can claim this on insurance though. I shook his hand and the two of us spent a fun evening at a pretty posh hotel dying our hair and doing our nails and being generally quite girly. :-)
So, there we were, standing on the side of the road, taxi after taxi ignoring us, for about 40 minutes. Some taxis would slow down and we would shout into the window where we wanted to go and the driver would give us this "stupid tourist" glare, and drive off as quickly as possible. Wed noticed various other people had managed to get cabs, but they had people in them and we were very confused as to what the system was. Eventually, we approached a girl at a bus stop and asked her to give us a quick Greek language lesson .. we figured that we were pronouncing it wrongly. This appeared to work!! I affected a very stupid accent and after several more cabs stopping, one finally took us in. (Actually, I think we just barged our way in before he could drive off). And it had only taken an entire hour out of our morning.
Eventually we arrived at the travel agency were we spent some time booking sailings to Santorini, Ios and Paros. Not wishing to spend any more time in Athens, we booked the 10pm ferry to Santoini for that evening.
Took Sirena to the pharmacy to get her drugged up so she could at least breathe at night, poor thing. Decongestants, lozenges and aspirin. Next we took another taxi (we were experts by this stage) to the Plaka district again, where the previous night we had spotted a great looking hotel for the same price as the rip-off hotel we stayed in, and booked a room for the night we returned from the islands. We left our luggage there, and, as the hotel was only five minutes from the Acropolis, we spend a pleasant afternoon up at the Parthenon and Acropolis, and in the museum where a lot of the original statues (or at least what is left of them) are housed. I dont remember the museum from last time I was in Athens, but it was great to get some good shots of the famous landmark. Its dated from 420-450BC. Many stautues are missing or destroyed. I think there are some big ones in the British Museum also; I dont know why they wont return them.
Back at Plaka, a giant home-made ice-cream thick shake later, we did a spot of souvineer browsing then got the metro to the port. Where it was discovered that there were no sailings that evening due to bad whether out at sea. Oh shit. Nowhere to stay!! We queued for tickets the next morning at 8am, all the backpackers in the same boat (no pun intended)... needing a cheap place to stay that night. We wandered around the port looking for hotels.. of course - they were all fully booked out, the annoucement about all the boats being cancelled apparantly having gone out around 3pm, about the same time we left the travel agency. Sods law! We were wondering where the hell we were going to spend the night when out of nowhere a cab pulls up and the driver asks if we need a hotel and how much we were willing to pay. Going against all precautions, we jump in and he turns out to be pretty friendly... he stopped at various hotels in the area and jumped out with me and we tried to get a room for the night but they were all full. Eventually he drove us to a place he knew about 10 minutes away and bargained the price down on our behalf from 80 Euro to 60 Euro. I am pretty sure I can claim this on insurance though. I shook his hand and the two of us spent a fun evening at a pretty posh hotel dying our hair and doing our nails and being generally quite girly. :-)