Athina Round 2

We started the beautiful day in Athens with breakfast in bed and immediately started looking for another hotel to spend the next two nights in. We just found out that the annual Athens Marathon was taking place and that it was a big celebration as it was the 2500'th marathon. Crazy!!!


We found a nice new hotel for the next two days and went to book in immediately. The rest of the day we spent shopping and chilling at cafe's.

Saturday night we were invited by one of Sox's friends, Stelios to his club Villa Mercedes. It was the most insane thing I have ever seen/experienced. It's a massive chic/sexy venue with girls dancing all over the show but in a stylish kind of way. It's not like something back home where you find grabby guys.. anyways it was amazing! Check out the pics




Marathon Day

Athens celebrated their 2500th annual marathon, so you can imagine the city was buzzing. We had breakfast which consisted of greek lamb and greek salad and lots of coke ☺ We walked around the rest of the day, went to the flea market and met a friend of Marnix, Michael. We got back to the hotel early enough to pack and go to bed. (we had to wake up at 2 am the next morning to catch our flight)

Adriano came to visit us at the hotel to say goodbye. We had a great time with him, laughing about silly stuff and looking at photo’s of our holiday. It was so nice of him to come and say goodbye.

We eventually got to bed at about 10 o’ clock, packed and ready to go.

Leaving Paros

The weather on the last day was horrible. We woke up to wind storms and rain and just plain miserable-ness. And it was horribly cold! We had some breakfast at the hotel and got on our 4-wheeler to explore some more. It was way too cold to drive around for long so we stopped at a coffee shop to drink some hot chocolate.


After we returned the 4-wheeler we went back to the hotel to get dressed for the ferry. We had to return the bike at 2:30, had already checked out at 12 and had to wait till 7 to board the ferry. We changed in the hall way where our bags were and finally caught a lift to the port. We anxiously waited in the freezing wind to board the ferry.


The ferry ride to Athens took 4 hours and was a bit bumpy, but luckily we were sleepy and had lots of things to keep us busy with.

We arrived just past 11 in Piraeus, Athens and took the Metro to Syntagma Square. We went to the hostel we stayed the previous time and when we got there they were fully booked. The had two beds left in the basement - which wasn't even a room. When we got down there, there was only 1 bed available and the other 10 beds were taken by creepy guys, so we turned around then and there and went to a hotel.

The hotel was really nice (5 star mind you). We ordered room service and breakfast in bed for the next day.

The Great Fall

We woke up to really bad weather and thunder. It was haling and it was as big as golf balls. We went down stairs for breakfast and the guy informed us that all the ferries for the day was cancelled. We were stuck on the island. No more Mykonos! ☹ We were really bummed about it, but decided to make the best of the situation. At least we got to see another island besides Santorini. We decided to leave Mykonos for next time.

We walked around town in the rain and hired a 4-wheeler. Before we got the the bike place Gizella bought a piece of land on the island. It was the funniest thing in the world! She was trying to climb over a chain/rope like thing and tripped while looking at 3 guys crossing the street coming to our side of the street. I wish we had a camera rolling to document the great fall. I was laughing so much I couldn’t even help her up and she was also laughing so much that she couldn’t even get up her self. We took lots of photo’s afterwards cause she was wet and full of sand ☺


We drove around for probably 10 minutes and took the bike back to the shop cause there was something wrong with the one wheel. We exchanged our bike for another cooler one and drove around for ages. On our mission we found a beach and a nice restaurant on the oceanfront. We had oven-baked chicken with potatoes and a traditional Greek veggie dish. After lunch we drove in the direction of Lefkos, another little town and had a beautiful view of Parikia. On our way home we stopped at a super market and bought some goodies for later. Just as we got home it started pouring again.





For dinner we went to a really nice seafood restaurant and tried the greek version of hummus. It was delicious! We also ordered a greek salad and sword fish to share. For desert the waiter gave us plain yogurt with sweet grapes on the house. Definitely something to remember to make back home.

Leaving for Paros

Packing for Paros was a bigger mission than we thought. During the week in Santorini we’ve accumulated so many things that we weren’t prepared to leave behind. We left everything in our room and went down to Fira to draw money and check our mails one last time.

We met the taxi at 2 just outside our hotel and drove off to Athinios Port to wait for our ferry to Paros. At the port we had lunch and watched Koreans sleep.

The ferry finally arrived at half past 3 and we boarded. The ferry wasn’t what I was expecting at all!!! It looked like a cruise ship inside. It was beautifully decorated and had cinema rooms, receptions, a gift shop, a few restaurants and one specifically that looks like Mc Donalds. Cool huh? The ferry trip was painless and just as we got really comfy we stopped at Paros. Unfortunately it was already dark when we arrived, but the little island looked very nice and welcoming.





We immediately found a place to stay and went to put down our bags. We walked around town a little and visited a very popular Greek Orthodox Church that was built 1600 years ago. We found a hotel restaurant just around the corner and had some delicious lamb shank, tzatziki and a greek salad. After dinner we went back home to drink a beer and just relax. We had a really nice little room with a balcony over looking the pool.

Last day in Santorini

Gizella, the amazing person that she is, woke me up with breakfast.- at ten (Croissants, ham and cheese). We got dressed and drove to Parissa beach as it was a beautiful day once again. We spent about 2 hours on the beach just soaking up the sun until Alex met us. We both had massages and left the beach straight after to return our cute little car. It was really sad to give her back ☹

We went for a late lunch at a café with a nice view and ordered some fresh fish, Dorado, along with a greek salad and stuffed tomatoes. It was the first time we tried stuffed tomatoes (another greek speciality) and it was amazing! It’s an oven baked tomato stuffed with green pepper, dill and mint risotto. At least that’s what we think it was. It was so tasty with loads of flavour.

After lunch we went to the internet café to check out accommodation in Paros. We didn’t find anything so we’re just going to pitch up and see what happens.

On the way home we stopped at the ferry shop and bought our tickets to Paros for the next day.

For our last night in Santorini we had a chilled evening on the patio and went for a few drinks at Murphy’s. We also discovered a new bar called Casablanca. So bummed we didn’t find it earlier. I even got dragged onto the dance floor by some Greek dude to do that Zorba thing. Not sure if they call the traditional greek dance that… It was fun!

Blue and White Monday

Monday morning was a beautiful morning so we immediately decided to take our beautiful car and go to Parissa beach. On the way to the beach we rented our car for another day as we weren’t ready to give it up yet. We were only 6 people on the beach and had the sun to ourselves. Soon after we arrived Alex approached us and sold us two back massages. Only 15 euro for a half an hour. I don’t think that’s too bad. Anyways we baked in the sun while he was busy with his other clients and then relaxed for some massaging fun.

For lunch we went to one of the beach bars and ordered some nibbles. The usual – tzatziki, bread and salad.

The weather turned a little after lunch so we decided to go for an afternoon drive. We drove all the way to Kamari beach and back to Fira. Once we got back we went to The Mill House Hotel to go and drink sundowners at Naned’s (Slimmes) pool bar. The sunset was once again breath taking!!




For dinner we went to the restaurant we went to the first night in Santorini and tried souvlaki and fava again. After dinner we bumped into Ted (the captain from the yacht) and had a quick chat with him. As we tried to get out of the parking lot we got ourselves into a tight squeeze with a few cars and walls, but quickly reversed out and all was good and happy again in the land of blue, white and sunsets. Phew …

O, I forgot to mention – we were supposed to go to Mykonos on Monday but decided to stay longer in Santorini seeing that the weather was so nice. ☺

Road Trippin'

The whole of Saturday was spent laying around and chilling so Sunday morning was an early-ish start. We walked to Fira to have breakfast with a view of the Caldera and volcano. We found a nice place with a nice waiter who offered us a custom breakfast. Lekker bacon, eiers, mushrooms en brood and our first coffee for the trip. After breakfast we went on a jewelry shopping spree and decided to go to Oia for the afternoon.



On the way to the bus station we decided to rent a car for the day. We travel in style ☺


We rented a black convertible beetle for 24 hours. Driving on the other side of the road and with a left hand steer was a challenge at first but we got the hang of it quite quickly and drove to Oia with the music blaring! It was so much fun!

We walked around in Oia taking in the most magnificent views you have ever seen and took millions of pictures. We even saw two Korean brides. Weird.





After that we drove to the other side of the island to Parissa beach for a beer. Then we drove up and down the beach road and went back to Fira for another trip at the grocery store.

At home we had dinner on the patio (French loaf, ham and happy cow cheeses).

Friday is Yacht day

Can you say ‘babbelas’?? We awoke to a beautiful day in Santorini, slightly fragile but happy about the weather. We had breakfast on our patio and headed next door to the travel guy, Aristotle. We booked a sunset cruise for the afternoon and went home to do some laundry and hydrate before the cruise.

The cruise was absolutely amazing!!! At 2 0’ clock we boarded the 41 foot yacht and set sail for the horizon. We went past the red beach and the white beach. None of these two beaches had sand, just rock – white and red. The white one mainly consists of limestone. I can’t remember the story about the red one. Our first stop was at the red beach. Some of the people got off for a swim but we held out for the hot spring stop. The hot spring stop was next and not hot at all. It was slightly warmer but it was still in an open bay so the regular see water made it a little colder. It was nice getting in the water and have a swim around.





When everybody was aboard again we sailed off to our dinner spot where the crew prepared prawns, calamari, squid, pork steaks, chicken strips, pasta salad with their world-renowned saganaki sauce (it’s on the food network), greek salad, tzatziki and eggplant dip. It was to die for!! We felt like celebrities the whole day. Definitely something to get used to. The best part of it all – I didn’t get sick.







The sea was a bit rough on the way back to the harbour but we made it back safely. We watched a magnificent sunset on the way back and arrived at the port at 7. It was definitely a day to remember and a trip worth while.

Dinner was at another little greek tavern and drinks at Murphy’s. Nenan (we call him Slimmes – the hot guy who picked us up at the airport) wanted to meet us at 11 for drinks but we left him a letter at the hotel (taped to the gate with lots of plasters) to meet us in town. Eventually he met up with us in Tropical bar, the local Australian bar. We had a few drinks and then went to his place for champagne. We were exhausted after a long day and went to bed.