Goodbye Greek Islands

We had to return our quad bikes by 10:00 this morning. After that I spent a bit of time getting some of my summer pre-work done before we walked along the cliffs and into town to explore the shops and grab a bite to eat. After lunch Tim and I wondered off and explored the winding streets of Santorini a bit more before heading back to the hotel to take final advantage of the internet.

Our ferry for Athens left Santorini around 5:00 and when we arrive we will pretty much go straight to our hotel and to bed. Tomorrow we will rise early and Steve will give us a quick day tour of Athens before we are on our own.

The Perfect Day in Paradise

Today was by far both Tim’s and my favorite day of the trip so far. Per Steve’s recommendation he gave us a guided tour of the island on quad bikes. We headed out around 10:00 and picked up the quad bikes, Sue rode with me and Granddad with Tim. Our first stop was a look-out where we had a gorgeous view of the buildings on the cliffs. After a quick photo op we continued on to Red Beach. Red Beach is named such because of the red volcanic rock formations and red color of its beach. The walk down to this beach was a bit steep and on unsteady terrain so we didn’t swim here, only stopped for a quick photo opportunity. The next bit of driving was some of the best as we weaved our way up to the peak where ancient ruins of Thira were. The views as we climbed higher and higher were simply breathtaking. Unfortunately when we reached the top we remembered it was Monday and the ruins were closed, but the view was entirely worth it. We then weaved our way back down and to Kamari Beach where we enjoyed a gyro, have I mentioned that the Greek gyros come with fries actually INSIDE the gyros, strange, but delicious. After lunch we walked down towards the cliffs and found a nice spot on the extremely hot black “sand” beach. I say “sand” because there was absolutely no actual sand just rocks. Other than being difficult to walk on it was amazing. Gorgeous scenery and refreshingly cool crystal clear water. After we were thoroughly cooked we got back on our bikes and headed to the hotel for a quick snack, shower, and sleep. We met back up at around 7 to drive to the other end of the island where we could watch the sun set on the Mediterranean. The drive up to the other side was shockingly beautiful as well. We drove along the cliffs and could see the fields sloping down to the sea below. The township we arrived in, was adorable, more of the blue and white and narrow shop lined streets we had seen in all of the islands. Steve led the way to the perfect location to photograph the famous blue domes of Santorini. This is when it pays to have a guide, I heard others say that had been looking for days for this spot, which is the spot from which all of the photos you see of the domes is taken. From there we grabbed a few drinks from a market and headed for our sunset viewing spot. The setting was perfect. Perched up on a wall we enjoyed our drinks as the sun sank lower and lower. Unfortunately the sunset ended up being pretty crap, but a few dedicated tourists applauded nonetheless and I can’t say that I would’ve rather ended my day any other way.

Snow Capped Island

After breakfast we had a bit of time to kill before our evening ferry so we walked down into the port village to have a bit of a walk around. Sue, Granddad, Tim and I shared a great lunch together at a little harbor side restaurant that had what many of us thought were the best gyros yet. Gyros are the way to go in Greece as they are amazing and cost usually 2-3 Euros, can’t beat that. We just have to hope we can find something similar in all our other destinations.

After lunch Sue and Granddad walked back up to the hotel to have relax a bit and Tim and I headed to Yialos Beach where we enjoyed free lounges (such luxuries!) while Tim read the paper and I listened to music. After a while we headed back up to the hotel and I went for a quick dip while Tim watched the soccer up in the reception area.

We almost had a big hiccup as the Flying Cat 4 was cancelled due to mechanical reasons and the next boat to Santorini wasn’t until midday the following day, but by the grace of God the Greeks actually re-routed a boat (which Steve says NEVER happens) and we actually got off 15 minutes earlier (which was still 15-30 minutes late).

Just a short 30 minute ferry ride later we arrived in spectacular Santorini with its cliff top buildings which look like snow on the top of a mountain. We arrived in the new port which meant we had transportation up to the top. Before the new port all visitors to Santorini had to take donkeys or cable cars to the top, and on Granddad’s first trip to the island it was only donkeys! The cruise ships still arrive at the old port so its passengers still utilize the donkeys are cable cars.
We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed into town for a meal at another restaurant with a beautiful rooftop terrace. Here I enjoyed my second helping of Mousakka, not as good as the first, but still delicious and some more local wine. The owner was kind enough to carry his own personal TV up to the terrace for our group to watch the Aussies play Germany in the World Cup. As it turns out it may not have been worth his while, but we certainly appreciated the effort.

Off to Ios

Our ferry wasn’t to leave Mykonos until mid afternoon so after breakfast Tim and I caught a bus to the beach just up the road, Stefanos. While, not quite as nice as Platy Gialos in my opinion, it was a nice beach and plenty of space to lay down our towels, we were going to pay 10 Euros for a lounge again. After an hour or so at the beach we decided it would be best to head back to the hotel, we had forgotten our sun cream, and didn’t want to fry. We walked back instead of taking the bus, it wasn’t a long walk, but there wasn’t much of a footpath, so it was a bit dodgy. Back at the hotel we just lounged around the pool and had a swim before heading to the port to catch our ferry to Ios.

We arrived in Ios and dropped our bags at the hotel before meeting back up to take the bus up to town. Ios’s township was adorable as well. It had much more of a community feeling than Ios, children could be seen playing in the Plaza, etc. However, up in the town it had the same charming narrow streets, white washed buildings, and blue shutters that could be found in Mykonos. Steve led us to another of his favorite restaurants that had a beautiful outdoor terrace. Steve recommended the lamb in the oven, and of course everyone ordered it, unfortunately, or as it turned out fortunately, they only had three servings left. So some of us obligingly agreed to have chicken in the oven instead, we of course ended up being the lucky once, as when the lamb came out it was hard as rock and was more bone than anything else. I was one of the lucky ones who had chicken, and I must say my meal was delicious, but poor Steve, all those with lamb could do was complain about how awful it was, and I must say it was beginning to be a bit of a down, until they brought out the EZ towels. For those of you that don’t know what an EZ Towel is, it is apparently a product of New Zealand, and our fellow tour member Robin Worthington, just so happened to be a representative for the product back home. She was so excited that they had EZ Towels in Greece that she practically gave us a full on infomercial telling us of all of its amazing uses, much like Bubba and his shrimp in Forest Gump. Anyway it provided for a good laugh (both for us and for our fellow diners on the terrace), saved the meal, and turned into a long running inside joke for the remainder of our tour.

After Dinner we headed to a pub to watch the USA vs. England game. I headed back to the hotel with Sue and Granddad a bit earlier than the rest to try and get a bit of work done. Sunday we would have almost a full day in Ios before leaving early evening for our final Greek island destination, Santorini.

The Birthplace of Sun and Soaking up Sun

After breakfast at our hotel, Tim, Granddad, Sue, and I took the bus into town to catch the ferry to Delos. After a short ferry ride we arrived in Delos, a completely uninhabited island, and met our tour guide to begin our explorations.
While one of the smallest of the Greek islands, Delos is one of the most sacred as it was the birth place of Apollo and his sister Artemis. As the birthplace of Apollo, Delos is also the birthplace of sun, and is historically one of the sunniest places on Earth. Zeus was the father of Apollo and Artemis, but their mother was Zeus’s mistress, and Zeus’s wife was very jealous and feared by many and for that reason, no one would accept Zeus’s mistress into their port except for Delos.

In addition to its importance in Greek mythology, Delos also thrived as a commercial center under Roman rule because the Romans declared it a tax free port. Despite its small size, approximately 1 square kilometer, Delos’s population at the end of the 2nd century B.C. was approximately 20-30,000. Delos was also a very diverse city with people from many different nations/religions co-existing. Citizens of Delos were free to worship their own Gods; others often assumed that their neighbor’s God may likely be the same God as their own, just with a different name. Evidence of this is found in the fact that Delos was home to the first Synagogue and that temples exist not only to Greek gods but to Egyptian ones as well. Delos was destroyed once in 88 B.C. by the Miltradetes and once more in 69 B.C. by Pirates. Delos was never fortified because they believed they were protected by the Gods, so when destruction occurred, its business and people moved on elsewhere and neighboring islands further decimated the city, re-using its structures for their own building materials. Today only 1/7th of excavations are complete.

After arriving back in Mykonos we stopped in town for gyros before Tim and I headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to Platy Gialos, a beach recommended to us both by Steve and the locals. The beach was nice, although we did have to pay 10 Euros for a couple of beach chairs and an umbrella, the beach was so packed with them you couldn’t lay a towel down between them anyway. The water in the Mediterranean is very cool, but refreshing on a hot day. After a couple of hours blobbing at the beach we headed back to our hotel to freshen up real quick before meeting the group to head to dinner.

We had dinner with the group at a little Greek Taverna just up the street from our hotel, I had the stuffed tomatoes which were very nice. After dinner, Tim, Steve, and I headed into town to watch a bit of the soccer. We enjoyed a few beers, or in my case more of that ridiculously cheap wine, and in no time the game was over. Somehow I managed to drag Tim into a dance club where I had another couple glasses of wine, although as Steve and Tim both informed me very little ended up in my mouth, most of it ended up on them or on the floor. What can I say it’s hard to dance with a full glass of wine! Needless to say I laid off the wine for the next couple of days.

A Maze of Blue and White

Our ferry arrived in Mykonos early afternoon and we were much to the relief of our fellow passengers transported to our hotel. After a long travel day we had a couple of free hours to rest and relax, which Tim and I spent poolside enjoying a light lunch before heading into town for an early dinner. Steve introduced us to a great restaurant or “creperie” rather where I had a Greek crepe with ham, cheese, tomatoes, peppers, olives, and feta, so far Greek food has been divine. Along with the crepe I enjoyed a nice Greek frappe, which is essentially iced coffee, but as with all coffee I have come across in Europe thus far, extremely strong and delicious.

After our light dinner Tim and I spent some time strolling through the charming streets, if you can even call them that, of Mykonos. Code in Mykonos states that everyone must white wash their building and paint their trim once per year. Citizens of Mykonos can only paint their trim blue, red, green, or yellow, and although blue is the most common, you do see some of each, and in a variety of shades. Mykonos is also famous for its 21 windmills. All of which contributes to Mykonos’ pristine charm.

Later Tim had his first of many gyros in Greece before we headed back to the hotel and to bed, Friday we planned to head first thing to the neighboring island of Delos to explore its ruins, so we needed our rest.

Flying Carpets and Ancient Ruins

After a quick breakfast in Kusadasi, we packed our bags and loaded into the bus for a short ride to a Turkish carpet factory, where we were going to learn about Turkish carpets, the different types, how they are made, etc.

The gentleman at the Turkish carpet factory was called Mehmet, as are 95% of Turkish men he joked. Mehmet gave us a brief history of Turkish carpets. He explained that the Turkish people were nomads in their early days and therefore had to produce a multi-purpose item that could be easily transported, much like the Native American Indians. In Turkey, these nomadic people were born on, slept on, played on, and prayed on carpets. The carpets were made by taking the wool from animals, washing and cleaning it, using vegetable dyes to color it and then weaving the wool on a loom to make the carpets. The quality of the carpet is not determined by its thickness but by the number of knots per square centimeter. There are three main types of carpets. The first is wool on wool which done with wool thread on a wool stringed loom, these are the carpets traditional of the nomads. The second is the wool on cotton which is done with wool thread on a cotton stringed loom which allows for more knots per cubic centimeter which lends to a more durable carpet and allows for more intricate designs. The final type of carpet is the silk carpet. The silk carpet has 100 knots per square centimeter compared to 10 for a standard carpet. Carpet factories hand select girls to make the silk carpets because of the high level of skill required, and errors cannot be afforded due to the expensive nature of the silk. Also, unlike in the other types, the weavers cannot merely do the design by eye but must follow what are called millimetric papers. The average silk weaver works about an hour and a half during a working day and can do about 2000 knots maximum in that time, at this rate it would take 500 working days to complete a silk carpet 1 square meter in size, which may have something to do with why they are so stinking expensive.

After learning about the carpets and seeing all of the different types, a few of our group purchased carpets, although we did not as the one I liked most was 7000 US dollars. What can I say? I have expensive taste. So while the others completed their shopping, we enjoyed a nice cup of Turkish apple tea, which I am going to dearly miss once out of Turkey, before heading on to Ephesus.
Ephesus was amazing, much busier than the other ancient cities we have visited thus far. It was nearly impossible to take a photo without someone walking into it. Settlements in the area of Ephesus date back to 6000 B.C., however, the earliest settlements were 60 kilometers from the site we visited and in those days were called Asaba. The city of Ephesus spanned many eras and had throughout history been occupied by among others the Hittites, Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. The escavations started in 1825 and while only 50% complete, much of the ruins are very well preserved/restored. With all the tourists walking down the ancient streets of Ephesus it was almost easy to picture the way it would have been when it was a living breathing city as we made our way from ancient site to ancient site. I would love to go back to Ephesus and spend more time, one of the down sides of these organized tours is that they run on a schedule, but the nice thing is you get to see so much in so few days.

After touring Ephesus we stopped for lunch at an adorable open air restaurant where you took your shoes off and sat on big cushions on the floor, something I’m sure designed for tourists to think they are getting an “authentic Turkish experience”, although I must say the only Turkish looking people I saw were sitting at tables. At lunch we all tried guzleme, or Turkish pancakes. Tim had the honey guzleme and I had the spinach and feta ones. The guzleme was quite good, in fact perhaps my favorite Turkish meal, the drink however was a slightly different story. Iyran is a yogurt drink, which essentially tastes like cold frothy sour milk. I drank most of it, and it did get better the more I drank, but overall I would give it a pass if ever I came across it again. When in Rome!

After lunch we stopped at a leather shop, which I must say was not nearly as interesting as the carpet factory and was mostly pushy salesmen trying to get you to buy extremely expensive leather jackets. The one and only thing worth mentioning about the leather factory is the fashion show. While mostly horrendous, the glimmer in the show was when my husband got pulled up on stage and walked the catwalk in a slick leather jacket. Don’t worry! I got the whole thing on video!

After that it was time for us to wish Turkey farewell. Gurkan, our Turkish guide dropped us at the port where we met Steve, our Greek speaking Aussie tour guide, who was going to take us through the Greek Islands. We had originally been meant to depart on Thursday, but as we learned, Greek ferries sort of do their own thing, and if we didn’t leave on Wednesday we wouldn’t be able to leave until Friday. So we boarded our ferry and had a short stop in Samos where I had the absolute best Mousakka I have ever had, although I haven’t had many, at a little restaurant that Steve said was his favorite in all of Greece. I also discovered that wine in Greece is as cheap as water, a discovery I would soon regret. But for the mean time I enjoyed a nice bottle of Fokianos a local wine found only in Samos. After dinner we boarded a ferry to Syros where we hauled our bags up winding streets and stairs before crashing at our hotel at nearly five o’clock in the morning, Thursday we had to rise again and be aboard our next ferry by around 10:00 a.m. Easy to say, we didn’t get much sleep.