Greek Vacation 2017 : Part 3

Day 5

The next day, we took the champion jet ferry to Santorini. It was a quick 2 hour trip, once again, pleasant and enjoyable. But here lies the turn in the tale. My entire dream of visiting Greece, centred around Santorini and Mykonos was beautiful beyond my dreams so I had high hopes for Santorini. But Santorini, turned out to be a disappointment. It was very very crowded, not as neat as Athens or Mykonos,  the cute cobbled streets and the white and blue homes of Santorini were not half as charming as that of Mykonos and since the famous black and red beaches  and even the mono lithos beach had industrial affluents being dumped in them, the beaches were no good either!

We stayed at the Orizontes boutique hotel, once again with a sea view (the view and the rooms were fantastic but the shower was a horror!) at Pyrgos. On day 1 we had lunch at the fantastic Metaxi Mas Tavern which welcomes you with free tequila shots and once you have finished lunch, sees you off with dessert on the house! Suprisingly reasonable compared to the sky high prices in Mykonos.

Post luch, we set out to see the famous Oia sunset.  We first went to Fira town and took the  Santorini cable car. Ridiculously the 15 euro one way trip lasted less than 10 minutes and gave no special view. The Singapore cable car, the Capris cable car in Italy and the Panaromic cable cars in Switzerland will take umbrage if they knew this one called itself a cable car and charged such prices!

We shook our head, scratched our chins and made our way to the Fira town bus centre to catch a bus to Oia. On the way, we bought the young one a traditional greek dress and the leaf crown. Once again, the crowd was unbelievable and given we had seen the sunsets at Mauritius, Kanyakumari etc, we were not very impressed. More so, after we had a beyond fantastic view of the sunset from the decks of our ferry back from Santorini to Athens, especially as were were travelling towards the sunset and the nicely cool wind and the gentle rays of the sun provided the appropriate back drop!

We had dinner at Bao Concept in Fira town, which is the first time I have tasted the Chinese Bao buns! They were soft and lovely and the restaurant itself was very good. We then took a taxi back to the hotel – any trip from anywhere to anywhere seemed to cost us 15 euros in Santorini, no matter what!

Day 6

The next day, we went on a boat trip on the good ship Albatross to the volcanic Nea Kameini and the Pallea kameini. While dad and daughter turned away after a half way hike, never the quitter, I went all the way up to see the volcanic rocks and craters, smugly enjoyed the fantastic view from the top and on reaching the ship again, promptly demanded to be pampered the rest of the trip as I could feel every painful twitch and muscle in my calf that seemed to say – know when to quit silly woman, even your not yet 8 year old does!

The boat then took us to the hot springs for which one had to dive from the ship and swim a good distance in not so shallow water. All three of us opted to stay in the boat and wave gaily at all the other swimmers wading into the orangish water full of sulphur from the volcanoes!

The ship then made its way to the Thirassia island where lunch and a gentle swim at the pebble beach ensued. The princess and dad explored the eels and fishes swimming underwater and did what they usually do when in any water body – have loads of fun!

We came back to the hotel, quickly dressed ourselves up and visited the Megalachori traditional village in Pyrgos. At the end of the village we visited this lovely bakery, cunningly called the ‘Bakery and Pastry shop’!. The cheeky monkey was dressed as Goddess Athena with the costume bought in Fira and all eyes were on her! We had lovely pastries and icecreams, discussed about Bollywood and made our way back stopping at all the lovely blue domed churches ( that we missed in Oia – which is where all the signature Santorini phots are taken – due to the mad rush there!)  in the village and generally messing about amongst ourselves.

The best part was K telling the young one the story of Porous and Alexander and her asking philosophical questions like ‘ Who was the goodie and who was the baddie and if both were goodies, why did they fight!’

Day 7

We had a very relaxed morning by the pool , packed up and took the 9 hour ferry back from Santorini to Athens. Though we were booked deck seats again, given the complete lack of crowd ( was it because of the earthquake the day before at Kos, we are not sure) we were told there was no need to upgrade and we were given access to the poshest section of the ship.

We had a lovely time catching up on movies from our ipads, walking around the deck and taking in the views every now and then and of course eating in the lovely restaurants. It was a smooth sail and surprisingly relaxing. We held hands watching the sunset and the hues that the setting sun infused the clouds with, was sheer poetry by nature.

From the Piraeus port, we went back to our Athens Avenue hotel to our marble baths and cloud like mattress! 

Day 8

After a lovely breakfast later the next morning, we made our way to the national gardens in Athens. Once again, clean, beautifully maintained, free and an oasis in the centre of the city.

Post the mandatory chocolate milkshake and reading of our kindles, we went to Plaka again for some souvenir shopping for friends and back to the hotel again to pick up our bags and make our way to the airport.

We came away from this trip with two key take aways. The Greeks can be abrupt and almost rude in the way they talk but they are actually very gallant and extremely helpful. And Athens could be a weekend trip and the rest of the time is better spent in Mykonos. Santorini, is just hype ( purely in my personal opinion) and the money i sbetter spent on one fo the other quieter islands.

All in all, this trip was like all the other ones. Full of suprises, mostly good, some not so good, wonderful memories and overall , yet another experience to cherish and save for those rainy days that are bound to come J

Greek Vacation 2017 : Part 2

Day 2

The next day we went to the Panathenaic stadium, the Parthenon and the Acropolis museum. The tour guide, Anastasia was very good and gave us the story and history behind the pieces in the museum as well as these ancient structures. We then proceeded to Cape Sounion to the temple of Poseidon.

 Throughout, the heat was balanced by the cool winds and the emerald views of the Aegean,  on either side  on the drive to Cape Sounion was fantastic and ethereal.

I also loved the view of the yachts, boats and the weekend swimmers jumping off the rocks directly in to the water all from the top of the hill where the temple of Poseidon was located.

Day 3

We took the Hellenic seaways ferry to Mykonos from the Piraeus port. We had been booked deck tickets which were ridiculous, so we upgraded and sat in the very comfortable lounge chairs for a mere 12 euros! It took around 6 hours to reach but we did not feel it as we had our ipads and tablets pre-loaded with good movies, good food was available, the restroom (atleast the ladies’) as with anywhere in Athens and Mykonos – were extremely clean, no matter how many tourists came and went and we could walk around and breathe in the fantastic sea air whenever we liked. We also went up to the front of the deck to savour the fantastic views and enjoy the cool winds.

At Mykonos, we were to stay at the Hotel Paradision. Now, if I were to dream of a hotel that would be my ideal place of relaxation, this would have been it. A small establishment of may be 15 rooms if not less, it was beautifully and tastefully decorated in blue and white. We had the Sea view room and what a view it was from the cute balcony! Breakfast was home made and the best I have ever had with atleast 20 items laid out every day. The breakfast area was by the pool which in itself overlooked the Tourlos bay. To come down to the fresh aromas and to watch the sea and ships and have breakfast was the highlight of my day. (Though this did not stop one particular American to ask if they had any ‘diet coke’ as he came down for breakfast! There were 20 home made items, an assortment of tea, coffee, chocolate milk and juices but no, he would like a diet coke please!)

The fantastic Stefanos beach was a mere 10 minute walk away and it was breath taking to say the very least. We went straight down and had a whale of a time. One caveat is that all the restaurants in Mykonos were very very expensive as much as anything in Athens was cheap by UK  standards. The cheeky monkey enjoyed the swim and looking for fishes in the crystal clear water and frolicking in the golden sands. There were many other famous beaches like Super Paradise, Elia beach etc but Stefanos was small, uncrowded, beautiful and just perfect for us. Even the walk to and from the beach, due to it being uphill, awarded heavenly views and a real feast for the senses. All the while, the sun was beating down but we did not feel the heat as the nicely cool wind kept things just right!

The walk to the hotel is a very steep uphill, which was a bit of a challenge but then given the hilly terrain of both Mykonos and Santorini, if you need views, an uphill walk, comes with the package.

Day 4

The next day, we had booked a cycling trip to Fokos Beach with Yummy pedals. We rode though the reservoir of Ano Mera (stopping first at the Paleokastro Monastery) with around 11 other bikers  mostly American and some Italian.  Dimi, the tour guide was friendly and informative. She stopped near a church by the road and explained to us the greek concept of ‘Dhama’ where a family prays for something and has a very small, single room church built as an offering. Sometimes these are built within the premises of a family home. Every day, the lady of the house ensures that incense and lamps are lit and outsiders are allowed to walk in and pray as well. We stopped at one such church overlooking a hill and small though it was, it was beautiful and very well decorated.  Dimi or Dimitra said that in most cases, even weddings are held at these small family churches, which means barely the bride, groom and the priest can make it inside the church while the rest of the wedding party stays outside!

The trip was fantastic but because of the large group mostly made up of fit adults, the difficulty level of the terrain was quite high. We were the only family, so we had to adjust. K and I took turns on the electric bike pulling the trailer carrying the cheeky one and this was easy. Whenever we took our turn on the normal bike, it really did prove quite difficult. The beach itself was unsurprisingly beautiful, but after Aigos Stefanos, we were too spoilt and just took a small dip in the water. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the onward trip, but the return uphill was killing, to say the least!

We then went back to the Vioma Organic farm that was run by Dimi’s parents. The young one had a great time feeding the donkey and the goat in the farm and chasing Oscar, their dog, under the tables and chairs.

Dimi dropped us  back near one of the Kato Mili ( the famous Mykonos wind mills) and from there we  took a walk around the streets of Mykonos and passed the Mattiyianni street and reach the old port. The streets were marvellously white and blue with the cobble stones winding a playful path throwing surprises when least expected. The famous meletemi winds were in full force and there were a few seconds when I was worried my slightly built cheeky monkey may get blown away!

But while K was enjoying his freshly caught fish by the old port, we had  mum and daughter bonding time, exploring the shops and brazenly walking into gold and diamond outlets to check out the Hellenic designs! As always, with her chocolate brown, big eyes that melt anybody and everybody (except her mum who knows the cheekiness that lies behind those puppy eyes!) opened doors everywhere for us! Every body was keen to chat with her and were only too willing to answer all her inquisitive questions!

By this time, we were long overdue for a fight, so K and I duly had an argument and I stormed off along the coast making my way by walk to the hotel all the way from old port to the new port! I had assumed dad and daughter would catch a taxi and I could upbraid them for making me walk while they sashayed in by taxi. Alas, the poor souls had hoped to catch me half way so they followed me all the way by foot and by the time all three of us reached the hotel, we were too exhausted to continue the fight and pressed each other’s feet and massaged the calf muscles in sympathy!

Dad and daughter still had the energy to go to the fantastic pool and have a wonderful time. Dinner once again was a disappointment as the veg options were spinach pie, rice in stuffed peppers and fried manoumi cheese – all of which were wonderful but not continuously day after day and especially at the outrageous Mykonos prices. We discovered that the best way to cover lunch and dinner at Mykonos is to go to one of those charming bakeries and grab a pie and an icrecream for less than half the price at a restaurant! Something to remember for next time J

Greek Vacation 2017 : Part 1

After a hectic school and work year full of battles big and small, this vacation was something all three of us greatly looked forward to. Though KK and thangam prefer the Cyprus version where all they did was laze around the swimming pool and get up only for food , for my sake, they agreed to go for Athens, Mykonos and Santorini – the ‘active’ vacation  and boy was it active!

We were thrilled to have been lucky enough to be allocated business class fares for the onward trip for economy prices. Little did we know that the only reason was because Lufthansa did not provide special meals on short haul trips unless you are booked business class and since we had 2 vegetarian meals selected and it was not yet peak season, we were prioritised and given business class( Birmingham to Munich and Munich to Athens)! This was not the case on the way back (Athens – Frankfurt- Birmingham).

We landed in Athens and stayed in the Athens Avenue hotel in Syggrou square. This was about 15 minutes ( 4 euros by taxi)from the famous Plaka district which is just around the corner from the Acropolis, the Parthenon, Syntagma square etc.

The rooms were fantastic, with the marble tiled deep bath being the highlight. However, the hotel was not where we were expecting to stay and there was no swimming pool which was a disappointment to the young one who was looking forward to a swim.

The first thing that stuck me about Athens was that it had a general run down look especially due to the graffiti that defaced every wall there was, even the walls of private homes. However, on a closer look, for such a crowded and touristic city, the city was spotless. I have been to Rome, Edinburgh, London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Belgium, Paris and Singapore and while all these cities looked richer, Athens was definitely cleaner.  The graffiti though spoiled the entire look and feel of the city.

We explored a side street and found a quaint bakery and generally roamed around till it was time for the night tour of Athens.  After a short tour with the tour guide giving us some info on the Acropolis, Hadrian’s arch, Lord Byron’s statue, changing of the guards etc we stopped at the beautiful marina Alimos for a look-see and a selfie J

This was all through key tours and as per their itinerary,  we next walked through the fantastic Plaka to a greek tavern where we had a traditional meal overlooking a stage where there was a continuous stream of dancing going on. The music and dancing was great fun and many from the audience joined in. It was as fun as a Bollywood show if not more. Most in the audience knew the greek lyrics and joined in lustily! All that we did was join in whenever the crowd went ‘Opa!’.  (Bravo?!)

What impressed me was the general comfort level of women and the gallantry of the men. Even at midnight there were lots of young women dressed for a party, walking the plaka  and I did not notice even a single man behave in an untoward manner.

Especially in the Taverna, while the audience joined in the dancing, the DJ, invited random people and paired them off together. He even asked the ladies to kiss the gentleman thus selected on the cheek. Without exception, all the men behaved gallantly and with decent charm. One particular gentleman was very tall and he was paired with a short lady. The lady was asked to kiss this guy’s forehead. She shook her head and was wagging her finger at the DJ. Cutely the gentleman knelt down to enable the lady to give the requisite kiss and then took her hand, kissed it and walked away.