Greece - The Greek Islands - 7 June to 16 June 2009

Greek Islands
Salads, Seafood, Sleeping in Alley ways

We decided to only choose 3 of the many Greek Islands to spend time on, all for different reasons. Santorini (a volcanic island) for its black pebble beaches and cliff top villages, Naxos because it was the biggest of the Cyclade islands and for its beautiful beaches and large town and then Ios for its nightlife and party vibe. At first we were going to do Mykanos instead of Ios, but Mykanos was really expensive for accomodation and also because Shane and Indy advised is to hit Ios, so we listened!

Santorini

We rocked up to Santorini at around 8pm after a flight from Cyprus to Athens, then a connecting flight from Athens to Santorini. We chose to stay in a part of the island called Parrisa rather than the capital of the island Fira based on googling some information on the island.

Pretty much all the restaurants and bar's in Parissa were on the beach front, with another load on the street behind. So we chose one of the restaurants on the beach front and ordered a 19.80 euro dinner for 2. Greek Salad, Bread, a glass of red wine each and a mixed seafood platter. It was fuckin awsome. I swear, the octopus that had the tentacles that were on our plate must have been the size of a small boat because it was like cutting through the base of a tree haha

The next night we went to a different restaurant that was a street back from the beach and i ordered an amazing seafood spaghetti and Suzie had a local dish called a Pastitsio, its similar to a Mousaka, just without the eggplant in it. Google Mousaka if you have no idea what im on about. hahaha

The bus system on the islands is really awsome, the buses are all coaches, so they are really comfy and can store luggage under the bus if you are heading to the port to catch a ferry. You buy a ticket for around 1.40 euro one way and just choose the bus you wanna hop on by reading the timetable thats put up on the walls next to the bus stops.

We used the buses to travel around the whole island in a day and see all the little towns that were spread out all over Santorini. Fira is the capital of the island is really nice with its cliff top location and winding roads, small cafe's, pattiseries and little bar's.

The View from there is out of control, its just the type of sights you read about. Its hard to believe that type of view is actually real.






We also ate our first Gyro's on Santorini in Fira. Gyro's are like kebabs, but the quality is 100% better than australian kebabs. Gyro's are made up of chicken, lamb, beef or pork meat, with tomatoe, lettuce, tatzyki (cucumber mayo sauce stuff), a few chips all wrapped in a fresh pita bread (i could eat the pita bread all day long, with nothing in it, they are so soft and tasty). They cost like 2 euro's ($4 aussie bucks) and are a backpackers best friend! haha

We were buying fruit and some bottled water in a supermarket, and i saw out the corner of my eye, the word "Cherry" on a can of coke and seriously nearly had a seizure... my first spotting of Cherry Coke in Europe, my addiction gets its first taste of whats to come.... Oh and if you hadnt seen my quick previous post, BEWARE OF PEANUT FLAVOURED CHEETO'S!... mother of god, its like eating a squishy peanut butter ball. Vomit.

Click through to the; Santorini Photo Gallery

Naxos

We arrived at Naxos at like 3pm and hadnt eaten since eating some fruit for breakfast at like 9am, so i was ready to kill someone. One of my biggest weaknesses is not eaing, i get really moody and impatient. haha We had been trying to so hard to be stindgy on breakfasts and lunches and not eating lunches til leate that it was really wearing me thin, so we quickly changed that up and have been cooking big batches of spaghetti and just putting them in the fridge. Workin a treat!!

Naxos is the biggest of the Cyclade islands, but only really has 1 town settlement, the rest you need a dirt bike or 4 wheeler to ge to, so we spent all our time at the beach and around town. We got the only bus and headed to the last beach and walked our way back.

We made 1 mistake tho. Walking into a nudist death trap.

Sure, it sounds awsome, chicks with ther racks out, titty and sniz's everywhere. But not when they are all 70+ year olds. It was like running through a field of land mines, you couldnt look anywhere without seeing droopy swingers and fat old men with penis's popping out from under there droopy guts. So we scurried past that fallout zone part of the beach and settled a bit further down with the younger, non naked part of the beach. Although, all the nakedness must have made Suzie feel pretty free, because she got topless as well in the end. *raises eyebrow*

We found a little family run restaurant in town that we ended up going to the next night to because it was so good. Anyways, we order a greek salad with pretty much every meal we have been having and on the first night I ordered rabbit (pictured to the right) and suzie ordered another Pastitsio. The rabbit was unreal, it was so tender that it just fell off the bone and every mouth full i was basically jizzing in my pants. It was wild. Everything is served with chips, which is a little lame, id rather some potatoes or some veggies!

We also tried the local red wine that was actually made by the family that ran the restaurant, it was quite nice and was the same as the other local red's we had been drinking, very light and light bodied comparing to the heavy and full bodied Aussie red's. They also gave us another half litre of red wine and free desert!

The the second night i ordered mixed lamb and veal patties with rice and Suzie ordered Kleftiki lamb (pictured to the left), which is like a lamb hot pot. The Lamb and Veal patties were SO ridiculously tasty, definately the best tasting dish i have had since leaving Australia and Suzies Kleftiki Lamb was really really tasty to, but more of a wintery type dish. Didnt really suit sitting outside in 30 degree heat in the Greek Islands hahaha

Ios

We left Naxos at 11am and arrived in Ios a little after 1 because the ferry was delayed a little.

Our accomodation was more budget than anywhere we had booked yet, but we mainly booked it because of how fun it looked and the fact it had a basketball court. Yes, i was itching to shoot a ball around hahaha

For 9 euro's a night each ($18 aussie dollars), we got a fabric tent room thing, with a shade house thing over the top that had a bed in it. hhaha The view from our tent thing was awsome tho!

So on the first day i went straight to the basketball court and there was already a guy down there playing, a guy from Texas called Kevin. So i made friends with him and he had hired a jeep for the week and offered to drive us into town to party at the night time. So that was pretty awsome.

The last bus into town is 11pm, so everyone sits around drinking in the bar around the pool until the last bus then heads in. So around 11pm, me and Kevin were ready to roll and we couldnt find Suzie, then we find her trashed and dancing with the dude that works at the on site store haha. So we rounded her up and broke her up with her new love interest and drove into town. First stop was the Fun Bar for some Kareoke and giant Jenga. It was packed and everyone was in high spirits and liquored up, Me and Kevin were rippin fools in giant Jenga, then it turned into foot giant Jenga, were there were some awsome up skirt shots being taken by any sly basterd with a digital camera haha (including myself, i tried my hardest to get some sniz shots, but the ladies were blocking the shots pretty well haha) ...and then me and K'dog were like "Where the hell is Suzie" .. turns out, she had gone to the toilet, came back out the toilet, couldnt find me or Kevin (who hadnt moved from playing Jenga, which was right infront of the hallway to the toilets) and was sitting outside crying cos she thought we had left. hahahaha some chick runs up to me and is all like "ARE YOU SUZIES BOYFRIEND, BECAUSE SHE IS CRYING BECUASE YOU LEFT HER!!!!" hahaha i was all like "Who the hell are you! haha we were playing JENGGAAAAAA!" and then Suzie gets all crazy eyed and was just way to pissed so she wanted to go back to the place we were staying. So me and Kevin dropped her off and then went back into town.

So after the Fun Bar, we headed into the main part of town, to the square. Kevin was tuning some bar chick, so he wanted to go meet up with her so we headed to where she worked and hung there for a bit. After 30-45mins I got a lil bored, so went on a walk by myself. Checked out a few more bar's and met some aussie's who i hung with. Then.... thats it.. thats where my memory ends. The next thing i remember, im waking up in an alley way. haha I had spewed, passed out sitting down, had lost my hat and the sun was coming up. It was 6:30am.

So! I pulled myself together, tried not to focus on the fact that i had lost my hat, it was daylight, i had a headache that would kill a small animal and that i had 45 minutes of walking up and down brutal hills to get back to our accomodation and just started strolling. IT WAS THE DEVIL!

The next day all i did was sleep (and a little bit of spewing), i swear it was the worst hang over i have ever had in my whole life hahaha

Thank you Ios.

Its been really windy for the last few days, which sucks ass. But the weather is still really nice, mid 30's, cloudless sky. Just really windy!

Also, because our accomodation is very very budget, Mossies have been the death of a decent nights sleep. Anything thats sticking outside of a blanket gets mauled, my face, my hands, anything. Even with a good coating of Mossie repelant, it doesnt make the slightest difference. They are after your blood, and they will get it anywhich way, even through a bad tasting Mossie repelant.

Fuckin Mossies.

Oh and if you look close, i think i had some morning wood..

....TO ATHENS!!