Ios

Its been a long time since I've been able to post because there is very little internet in the Greek Islands that we were on (which is actually part of the charm). We were on Santirini for 2 nights which was not nearly enough time and then went to Ios, one of my new favorite places in the world. Now we are in Athens waiting for our flight to London and missing the islands already. The best thing about Ios is the ease of it all. There is nothing to see and nothing to do, no attractions or sights, ancient monuments or museums. All there is on Ios is a few beautiful beaches, fantastic people, and a great nightlife. The city is lovely as well, traditional white buildings and byzantine churches, cliffs that jut right up to the ocean, azzure water still as a swimming pool, and perfect white sand. The island almost seems to be a resort for backpackers to go to relax after travelling. Our hostel, Francesco's, had incredible people staying there and we made great friends with a bunch of Brits, a couple Aussies, and some Canadians. We had a wonderful time and I already miss them, and the island, dearly. Our days were so routine and predictable - we sleep in, go to the Ios bakery for a yummy pastry, walk the 20 minutes to the beach, come back, shower, get a gyro for dinner from Porky's (yep, they even had vegetarian ones!), and then spend the night hanging out, dancing, and watching the sun rise before heading back to bed. Yes - definatly my kind of life. One day 5 of us rented a car (a little Fiat Panda) to explore the island, saw the old monastary, Homer's tomb (possibly), and some of the more secluded beaches. Oh, and a lot of goats! All over the road, not scared of cars or the horn one bit. I also learned that British and American is not the same language one bit, I had as hard of a time understanding them as the French Canadians who were there as well, though I did learn quite a bit of British English, the slang and the accent.

Now we are in Athens, took the ferry over with our new Canadian friends and got dinner with them in Plaka, the main district of shops and restraunts, and tomorrow head to London!

Greek Isles

I only have 4 minutes on this computer, but wanted to update that we are heading to Ios, another Greek Island, this afternoon. Santorini is incredible and I really wish we could stay longer but times running short!

Santorini

No free internet here either so this must be short for now -

We arrived in Santorini this evening by ferry from Athens. We had expected the worst - a 10 hour ferry with deck seats, thinking that meant we would be hearded like cattle into rows of wooden chairs crowded onto the top of the boat. Turns out we got the royal treatment instead for our 25 euro economy class tickets! We were in a very cushy lounge with so much room that I slept on a couch for most of the trip and we had suits waitig on us and exceptional customer service and comfort. I loved it!
When we got here we were greeted by a representative from our hostel (13 euro a night for a private room and bathroom!) and they had a van take us to the very nice hostel. I had no idea Santorini would be so easy, cheap, and cushy! So far, incredibly beautiful, cant wait to see it in the daylight tomorrow! Great black sand beaches and all that youd expect from Greece - rows of white houses and lovely colors.

Unfortunatly had a little trouble getting a flight to London to get our flight home to the states but hopefully that is worked out now, maybe a little more costly than I would have liked but you do what you must!

Ciao for now
*m*

Athens

The last day in cinque terre was wonderful - went on the most amazing hike, along the coast, through fields of flowers, forrest, and tiny villages. What I thought would be an easy hour or so hike turned out to be a 4 hour really difficult hike, but so so rewarding.

It took us an entire day to travel to Greece, taking the train to Parma, a plane to Rome, then a plane to Athens. Wow, I had no idea how difficult it would be to get around! Greek is impossible to read, speak or understand and even though we're in Athens there is hardly any English. The metro is not very well laid out or marked, making it really hard to get around. Though I wasnt expecting so much difficulty and its been pretty stressful to get around, its a good experience. Though I am very excited to get to Santorini today! Its a long (about 9 hour) ferry there, but I booked the hostel last night and ferrys run pretty frequently so it should be fairly easy to get over there.

Last night we had a ridiculously delicious dinner at a nice Greek tavern - the food was incredible! I had no idea I would like Greek food so much!