Greek Islands

17-27 September 2010

Editor note- this article was started 5 months before it was completed. Some information has been missed out/condensed/forgotten.

Having a craving for some warm weather and a beach to relax on (it had been over 2 years since a swim in an ocean/sea). We booked a holiday to Greece for just after the UK school holidays when there was still some warmth in the air (in Greece that is).

The islands

Mykonos

Mykonos known as the party island. I think we were out of season or have become old. There was still some party happening but it wasn’t pumping. We liked this island the best as it had the most fun beaches and was very relaxing. It was small enough for us to walk to the beach from where we were staying.

Santorini

A fun little volcanic island with its sheer cliffs and amazing sun sets this was a very pretty island. We were happy to have hired quad bikes to make our way around to see the amazing beaches they had to offer.

Crete

This is the largest of the islands and the island filled with the most history. It was Glen who wanted to go to Crete for the history. That is exactly what we did. We saw loads of old sites and the museum it was good to know that I still had some knowledge from year 10 history still rolling around in my head. To see the palace was amazing. Where we stayed the beaches weren’t anything wonderful compared to the other island that is. I am sure on the other side they were much better but we had no car.

The Transport

Ferries – The best way we were told to get around the islands is on the ferries. Sticking to this form of transport as the best way to do it we hopped from island to island. Finding out later that some friends had done it by plane for only a little bit more, or at some points cheaper considering what we went through. As this was an experience to travel on a ferry we lived it up. Going by ferry should have taken a total of 14 hrs for the 5 legs, this ended up over 20hrs of ferry riding.

We started out on the ferry from Athens to Mykonos a nice early ferry at 7am, we walked over the rd from our hotel and straight onto the ferry. Stowing our bags and taking our seat. This first journey was nice and not too bad. I was able to read my book and Kieran went down the back and slept it off. Ohh I forgot to mention Kieran doesn’t fare to well on ferries or boat trips. Our first leg went well. The next leg wasn’t to be so smooth.

We left Mykonos to head for Santorini to meet up with friends. We were always doomed that day. We went to the wrong port, thinking the ferry would be at the same port that we disembarked at, but no it was a different. After a hr walk to the wrong port with full packs we got a cab and a frantic rush to get to the correct port we found our ferry was late, due to strong winds. We were meant to board at 14:45 we finally left the island at 16:45. This is the time we should have arrived at Santorini. The seas were very, very rough indeed. When we took our seats they began to hand out sick bags. As we started off Kieran took a seat down the back to try and calm down. Up the front was a different story, people were spewing to the left, the right and in front of me. It was amazing, there was always someone getting up putting a sick bag in the bin and looking for a spare bag. The best I could do was read my book and listen to my mp3’s so I didn’t have to deal with all the retching. 1.5 hrs into the trip we were told that we’re pulling into another island to get some fuel. This was not on the scheduled route. For this they gave us a voucher for food or water to the value of 4 euros. Most people went for the option of water and not food as they had just spewed it up. I took full advantage of this option and ordered a nice beer and a packet of crisps. Not having dinner as we were going to have it with Kris and Jeff on Santorni. We went back to wait for our ferry to arrive over 2 hrs after we arrived at the island. We boarded for our next leg, more spew

bags handed out. Kier went to the back and I continued to read my book. We finally arrived in Santorini around 23.30 what should have been a 3 hr trip took us over 7 hrs.

Our Ferry from Santorini to Crete was similar but not as rough. This time we were in business class, we were higher up at the top level of the ferry. Kieran wasn’t sick on this leg and was able to sleep the whole way.

From Crete back to Athens we had a sleeper cabin. It ended up costing the same as our first leg! We had a 2 bed cabin at the front of the ferry. It was a very nice room with a shower and everything. We boarded early and took to our room, went for a mini explore and then went to bed. The ferry was travelling from 2300-0550. We had no problems sleeping and it was well worth the money. At 0530 when they said something in Greek we phoned up and they said we could stay on board until 9. We stayed on until we were kicked out at 0830. It was good to sleep in and was a perfect room. I can recommend travelling this way from Crete to Athens.

Busses – We got to Experiences the busses on every island and the mainland (except Santorini as we had Quads) The buses were good, clean and easy to catch. Sure there were the normal hiccups of, is this the correct place to catch the bus and where do I get a ticket. We worked it out in the end. On Mykonos it was a challenge as we had to get the bus at a certain point but no one told us. Luckily for us the bus drivers were nice and probably used to tourist so they would stop and pick us up. They would then tell us the correct place to get the bus. Also trying to tell them where to stop the bus is fun as there are no signed bus stops and we had to explain where we wanted to go.

In Athens it was always a rush to get on the bus you want. We only did this to the airport and there is always a rush for airport transport where ever you go. The local busses looked pretty packed there too. On Crete the busses were nice and air conditioned, we were able to get around to most places on the bus, that is the beach and historical sights. Easy for tourists to work out, if we could do it so can you.

Side note on Mykonos we caught a Ferry bus, which for a fee we could hop from beach to beach. We decided to see all the beaches in one area and started at the first. Deciding to wait for the boat bus to return we gave up and walked for 10mins to the next beach. We shouldn’t have waited and just walked. The boat bus doesn’t stop at every island. It has no schedule it only stops there if people want to get off. Tip next time go to the furthest beach and work your way back. It was a fun boat ride for a few euros.

Trains/Metro – Just like every other metro we have travelled nothing special to note here.

Quad bike – on Santorini we hired quad bikes to make it easier to get around the island. We could have taken a bus but working out the cost of that and time we decided it would be cheaper and easier to just get the quads. Taking into account how much fun they would be was not in the equation. I would recommend hiring these as it was such and easy way to get around the island and they didn’t take much fuel.

The beaches

The beaches are made of sand…duhh Glen well no this is a surprise as a lot of the beaches in Europe are pebbles. It was wonderful to be back on a beach where I could get sand in my flip-flops and not have a rock under my heal. For me the down side to the beaches was they are all calm. There were no waves at any of the beaches we went to. Its fine for some people like Kieran who are content with sitting and reading but I need some action. I waded in the water most days and it was very relaxing and peaceful.

The beaches are everything you expect from them and after visiting you understand why so many Europeans visit Greece. Side note to this and it is the way in Europe, is the deck chair rule where you have to pay for a deck chair. Being new to this and generally refusing to get a deck chair we splashed out and got our selves 1 at all the beaches we went to. You would start to learn to ask before just sitting down as one of them cost us 10 euro a chair. We sat there for a few hrs to get our monies worth.

The history walking

Athens - Acropolis

When in Athens you have to see all the big attractions. The biggest of them all is the Acropolis. We walked all over the city that day and finally made our way up to the Acropolis. At the bottom we bought a bunch of vouchers to all the sights as it was cheaper and we knew we would use them and they lasted 7days, Bargain.

It was a cracking hot day we were struggling something savage. We had clearly been living in the cold for so long. At some points Kieran was feeling faint. We stopped to have water and she felt better. We made our way to the top and it was well worth it. The view from the top was stunning. The history and age of the building even more impressive. I know I say it a lot but it was well worth the trek. It was so well worth it we went back on the last day when we returned to Athens before our flight home. We needed to get some photos of our friend Flat Stanley.

While in Greece we took a cut out of a child’s book character called Flat Stanley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley). We did this for our niece who was doing an assignment on him and had to send him to people living out of her town. Around the UK and Greece we trotted snapping away with Stanley on our shoulder. Half way through our visit to the Acropolis we were told we could not take a photo of flat Stanley as he was considered a symbol and you are not allowed to take a picture of a symbol at the historic site as it could be something to do with terrorism! Flat Stanley a symbol of terrorism!…what has happened in the world?

Knossos Palace

As I said earlier I studied the Minoan civilisation in year 10 history at high school. This was a must for me. I could not go to Greece and not visit Knossos Palace on Crete. The place was a wonder to see in real life. After all those late nights looking at text books and writing essays on it. I was happy to see it in real life. Even more surprising was I retained some of that information. We took a guided tour around the palace, we had to get a guide from the front and they are all registered. This was very handy for Kieran to listen to the lady instead of me and I didn’t have to sounds like a loud annoying know it all tourist (the ones I despise, you know them). I would recommend a visit here for sure. It is a bus ride away from the centre of Heraklion. It’s a cheap bus ride and there are loads of other tourist on it so you won’t get lost.. the bus even terminates at Knossos.

This was our time in Greece. It was an amazing country from the food to the people to the sights. We would go back for sure. It was a trip to remember in all the good details as there were no bad details just better details for a story.