The Greek Islands

For our full day in Corfu, Rosie and I got up early and took the bus to Paleokastritsa which has several lovely beaches and a very old monastery. We spent all morning lazing on the beach, and then headed for the monastery, which is atop a hill overlooking the beaches, and where a group of monks have been farming olives for centuries. They have a little museum, a beautiful chapel and an old olive press. We spent the afternoon at a cafe, drinking cafe frappé (which the Greek are obsessed with) and eating bread and dips.

Next came our epic journey to Athens involving a bus, ferry, and bus ride totaling around 8 hours. Luckily our hostel had a cosy rooftop bar with amazing views of the city, with the Acropolis and the Ancient Agora all lit up. This time Rosie and I managed to convince the other girls it was worth getting up early to see the Acropolis, so we headed off just before 9. It was still crowded but I'm glad we didn't leave any later, because it was boiling hot up top. The temple was spectacular as was the theatre of Dionysus. After refreshing ourselves with frozen lemon drinks, we wandered through the Ancient Agora (later replaced by the Roman Agora), which also has a small museum of some of the artifacts found among the graves of the forum dating from as far back as 2000 BC. Next came the Athens Flea market which was just by our hostel, and along one it's back streets I bought a necklace from an old Greek man who sung for me 'Long way to Tipperary' while reminiscing about the Australian troops who's passed by his home town. For lunch at the markets we got pita, which in Greece they like to fill with meat (or none if you're me) and salad and tzatziki, and chips!

In the afternoon Raffaele took us to see the changing of the guard which was quite the spectacle. The guards are not allowed to move for any reason, so another soldier would come around to wipe their faces with a wet cloth while they waited for the changeover. They do some slow marching and changeing formations (the 2 old and 2 new guards), which involved a fair bit of standing on one leg. When I post photos you'll see what I mean >.< At dinner that night, which in Greece doesn't start until about 10 pm, we stuffed ourselves at a restaurant with live Greek music. On our way home Rosie found 20 euro, so we decided to head back to the hostel's bar and treat ourselves to a drink and talk to some other backpackers. We then had to be up at 5.30 to get to our next ferry nice and early, since there were no allocated seats. By afternoon, we had arrived in Santorini.

I went for a walk around town by myself (while the other napped!) to admire row upon row of white houses with some very luxurious hotels among them, and the tiny chapels with blue roofs that the island is famous for. Then I met the others for sunset in Oia, which is in the North of the island. There were people perched on roofs and crowding the sidewalks and bars. It was quite the ordeal trying to get back to the bus station so we could get back to fira for dinner. For our next day in Santorini, Rosie and I booked a boat trip. It was sooooo good. We boarded at 9 and sailed off to the volcano in the middle of the caldera, to the hot springs for a swim, then to the red beach (where the sand is red) for a cold swim off the boat and some lunch. We made friends with a Spanish couple, 2 Germans, and the crazy tour guide who spoke 6 languages and would just kind of mix them all together sometimes.

The rest will have to wait, since Greek internet cafes are proving expensive ...