Category Archives: Greece

January 23, 2013 · 10:14 pm

Mykonos – cruising, eating, relaxing and pampering

26th June 2012

Maybe no-one is taking any notice but I seem to have my days out of whack somehow. I know that what I’m writing about today definitely happened on the 26th – not that I’m obsessing about it or anything, much.

Anyhow, after a few early mornings it was nice to have a sleep-in today, neither of us stirred until about 8:30. The buffet breakfast was astounding, it all looked delicious and the variety was huge.

Twinkling lights of Mykonos by night

We had booked a cruise that left from Platis Gialos (i think) at twelve – missed the bus and all the cabs were busy!! The girls on reception were lovely and eventually got a cab for us but when we arrived at the beach we realized we’d left the cruise tickets back at the hotel. Neither of us had a clue what the tour operator’s name was or even the name of the boat. Eventually we found the right one, after a few offers from other tour operators, just in time though, think they were almost ready to leave without us.

Blue, blue water around Mykonos

There were only about a dozen people on the cruise but there were a few who were good people watching value, they gave the rest of us something in common to talk about if nothing else!!

Shipwreck through glass bottom boat – Mykonos

One middle-aged Italian couple strutted around like they were god’s gift to everyone – he probably wasn’t just too bad but the woman was a real piece of work. Looked like she’d had lip fattening gone wrong and wore her bikini top with the neck strings tied around her body instead of around her neck so everyone was copping an eyeful of her nipples all day – not cool at all. Then there were a couple of guys who had eyes only for each other – they preened all day and I kid you not, if they rubbed sunscreen on each other once they must have done it ten times.

One of the quiet parts of Mykonos

The rest of the passengers were nice and fun to talk to, more Italians, some Brits and a couple of sisters who were Argentinian although one lives in London. We stopped a couple of times to swim, had a yummy bbq lunch and a couple of wines, saw quite a bit of the coastline of Mykonos and soaked up the beautiful weather.Even though it was after 5 when we docked it felt like we still had a whole day left to do more. We had a swim and sunbathe back at the hotel and had more treatments at the day-spa before we even went for dinner. The Thalasso Spa Centre is just gorgeous. During our stay we had pedicures, massages and enjoyed the Thalassotherapy pools. There are five pools in one big room, each pool is a different temperature and salinity and contains different minerals or oils. It was great, wonderfully relaxing.

The days are just so long, they never seem to end and it’s soooooooooooo much fun.

Mykonos here we come

26th June 2012

Acropolis at night

After our big day on the buses yesterday we headed back to the hotel worn out but happy, had quick showers and bolted to the top floor for a wine, nibbles and to watch the gorgeous sunset and the Acropolis come to life after dark. We honestly wouldn’t want to end our little visit to Athens any other way.We had an early start with a taxi ride to the port to catch the high-speed hydrofoil to Mykonos. The hydrofoils are huge and a real eye-opener if you’ve never been on them before. Our allocated seats were even in business class! We sat opposite a young couple from Brazil who were quite lovely so the (I think) 4 hour trip passed quickly. Sarah had the richest chocolate donut type pastry I’ve ever seen and then wondered why she didn’t feel well!!

Mykonos port

Arriving at Mykonos was a tad worrisome – the port area looked rather barren and deserted. As we met our driver who should come along too but the Brazilians and it turned out they’re staying at the Myconian K also. I couldn’t believe how much luggage the girl had, it was encouraging that ours weren’t the biggest or heaviest.We had a laugh about some of the vehicles there to collect their guests. Clambering into the back of tiny little 3 wheeler utes would be bad enough but I suspect that having twits like us taking photos and laughing would be even worse. Oh well, that’s the luck of the draw isn’t it?

Novel way to arrive at your hotel – Mykonos

Some of the buildings on the way were picture perfect and then we arrived at the hotel – it was just like another dream come true – all blue and white and gorgeous. It’s really just like the travel brochures and postcards and I love it.Our room wasn’t quite ready so we adjourned to the bar for a drink then headed to the day spa to organize a couple of pampering sessions and generally just took it easy. Poor Sarah wasn’t feeling too well all day but she did venture to the restaurant with me for dinner, hopefully she’ll be back to her normal self in the morning. We’re only here for a few days so I’d say we’ll be rather busy!!

All aboard the bus around Athens

25th June 2012

View from dining room, Astor Hotel, Athens

I thought the view from the rooftop of La Palma in Stressa was impressive but this morning I found another view just as jaw dropping. The dining room is on the top floor of the hotel and when the lift doors opened I’m afraid some very “ocker” language slipped out – the view was astounding. The Acropolis was just there in front of us – well, actually it was probably a few kilometres distant but it took my breath away. I couldn’t stop looking at it and marveling that today I was going to see another of those places I’ve been reading and dreaming about for years and years.

We had a huge day around Athens on the hop on hop off buses. First stop was the Acropolis for a few hours – I was just so happy to be there. I feel inadequate that I don’t have the words to express how I feel when visiting places like this but to walk in the footsteps of the ancient Greeks and to see and touch the stones they carved thousands of years ago is truly a dream come true for me. Sharing it with Sarah is a nice change because even though I’ve been with a tour most of the last month I’ve usually taken in the big sights on my own. We took miles of photos, probably none that haven’t been captured millions of times before but we had a great time. A few people also took pity on us trying to take “selfies” – we must look like a pair of dills at times because we usually laugh hilariously at our results. I have to tell you the freshly made lemonade at the kiosk outside the site was most welcome after wandering around out in the sun and is easily as good as the Italian version at Pompeii.

Great spot for lunch in Athens

We made good use of the buses, visited more of the ancient sites and found a lovely little shady street full of cafe’s and shops for a yummy lunch and window shopping. After lunch we boarded the bus again and took in the sights down around the port then late in the afternoon made our way back to the markets we’d seen earlier in the day. By the time we got there most of them had packed up so we sat and had a wine and more food because of course we had to keep up our energy.

Markets in Athens

Then just because it was meant to be we found a few market stalls still trading as we made our way back to catch the bus. Sarah bought a couple of cute old ornaments and I bought a few old postcards and photographs of Athens. They are little treasures, one was posted to Paris on 13/4/36 while another shows the Parthenon and is dated 28/12/52 – not worth much really but great reminders of a fantastic day.

On the Acropolis, Athens

Erechteion Temple, Acropolis, Athens

Athens – gorgeous buildings left to die

Faded beauty in Athens

Acropolis at night, Athens

Think it’s seen better days – Athens

Taking bike safety seriously in Athens

Athens – a city of contrasts

Athens is massive!

Now that’s a view – Acropolis, Athens

So many sad buildings, Athens

View from the Acropolis, Athens

Beautiful parts of Athens

Dusk on the Acropolis Athens

Let me loose in here – Athens book stall

6 Comments

Filed under Greece, Mid-life travel, Travel

Tagged as Acropolis, athens, female, Parthenon, travel

January 6, 2013 · 1:33 pm

Athens

24th June 2012

Due to my new-found love of a glass on wine at just about any time of the day or night we had a nice cold glass of white in the bar before heading out for a quick walk. We spent most of the time catching up on each other’s news but took quite a few photos as well. We are staying pretty much in the heart of the city, quite close to Syntagma Square and the Parliament.
We saw some really sad sights this arvo, lots of abandoned and graffitied buildings as well as quite a few beggars. I’m not sure if it’s worse here than other parts of the city but it certainly feels quite depressed. There wasn’t much in the way of restaurants open so we resorted to a Pizza Hut for an early dinner with a carafe of sangria. Sarah enjoyed the sangria but it wasn’t really my cup of tea although you never know if you don’t try do you?
Don’t quite know why but it took a bit of work to find our way back to the hotel – probably talking too much and not looking where we were going. Between Sarah’s phone and our somewhat dodgy sense of direction we found our way back to familiar territory. Another lesson learned though – we should always have a map of some sort! Sarah was astounded that it was still light at nine at night, that’s us Queenslanders for you, no idea what daylight saving is like at all.