We have been slacking! Time for a blog catch up on all our adventures. Our last post left off as we arrived in Athens after a fantastic spin around Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam with Luce.

Since then we have been exploring Greece including Athens, Santorini and Mykonos. And have just spent a week in London soaking up every last drop of the 2012 Olympics. As we write this we are having breakfast in bed in our London apartment, packing and readying for the day. Today we are picking up a car and heading off North for eighteen days driving through the English country side. But we digress, back to Greece.

Athens


We arrived via train to Athens and were instantly blown away by the heat! It reached 40 degrees Celsius on our main day in Athens. We jumped straight in a cab and headed towards our hotel. We stayed at the Chic hotel a very nice place that Luce and Bella had recommended after their recent stay. It was one of the nicer places we have stayed and we really enjoyed the air conditioning and buffet brekkie! We had one full day in Athens and wanted to make the most of it. We decided a hop on hop off bus tour would be a great way for us to get an over view of the city. The bus drove us through the winding streets, past the fish and meat markets, and of course the highlight the Acropolis. The Acropolis contains the remains of several ancient buildings including the most famous and most photographed the Pantheon.The Acropolis is a UNESCO world heritage site and restorative and protective work is ongoing. It is settled high up on the hill over-looking Athens and is quite awe inspiring when you first see it. We spent time walking and exploring. The day was so hot the air felt thick and it was packed with lots of other tourists. The limestone floor has been walked over by thousands of people over thousands of years and is now so smooth and shiny, their were a few near accidents with people slipping over. For dinner we tried the local cuisine of Gyros! A pork kebab containing tomato, onion and hot chips (!?) all smothered in garlic sauce. Very filing but not something I could eat every day. Here are a few snaps of our time in Athens:  

Markets 

Meat and Fish markets, what a smell! 

A theatre, part of the Acropolis 

Not a cloud in the sky, exploring the Acropolis 

The Parthenon  

 The view from the Acropolis, you can see the sprawling city of Athens

House of Parliament 

Santorini


We were so excited to make our way to Santorini. After the heat and dirt of Athens we were ready to be relaxing on the beach. Up early our taxi arrived at 0530 to take us to the port. We were being ferried by sea jets and had a five hour ride ahead. The ferry was packed and not a breath of fresh air entered the closed off cabin, luckily we found our sea legs and before we knew it we arrived in the port of Santorini. As we pulled in the first sight you see is a sheer cliff face, with a bus filled winding road working its way to the top. Lots of ferries, lots of tourists and lots of locals yelling and calling, offering a place to stay or a ride into town,. We jumped on a bus and were on our way up the side of the cliff. Looking out of the bus we saw incredible views over the Santorini Caldera and the Aegean sea. We stayed in the nicest family run BnB called Stelios Place right on Perissa beach, the black sand beach. The mother piled us with free food and drinks, always cutting up fresh watermelon to feed all the young malnourished back packers. Santorini was heaven, we spent every minute on the beach under our umbrella, swimming in the ocean or eating the local cuisine. On our third day we hired a quad bike and set out to explore the island. We drove around to the red beach and had a swim, finding a big boulder half submerged in the ocean to jump off and sun on. We took the long road up North to Oia, the beautiful town you see in all the post cards; white buildings and blue domes. Hugging the coast line it was the best few hours just cruising along on the quad, stopping to take in the views as we pleased. Here are a few snaps of our time in Santorini:

Enjoying lazy days on the black sand beach 

Beach table service is the way to go! 

Can we stay forever? 

 We enjoyed lots of fresh fruit and juices

Cruising on the quad bike 

Red sand beach 

We rode along the coast line to Oia 

The beautiful sights of Oia 

Incredible views! 

 We had lunch perched up high over looking the sea

The ride home, check out that swimming pool! 

Where we stayed.  

The ferry Sea Jets

Mykonos:


Another SeaJets ferry ride and two hours later we arrived in Mykonos. We found a local who would take us to where we were staying in his Ute. Promptly his huge German Sheperd was called into the cabin and we were relegated to the back, a tiny falling apart plastic tray. As we spend along the bumpy coast holding onto our packs for dear life we wondered if that was such a good choice, highway robbery at 15 euro! We didn't argue with the man and his giant German Sheperd. In Mykonos we stayed with two guys in their house that we had again found on airbnb.com. They had two dogs and three cats which made for a cosy stay for two animal lovers. They were very easy to live with and helped us out with everything we needed. The sunsets we saw in Mykonos from the balcony of the house were breath-taking. Our house was a short walk from Agios Stefanos beach and we spent most days lounging here. This was my favourite beach so far on this trip, soft sand, clear water and not too crowded. Again we hired a quad bike for a few days and explored in town. I celebrated my 26th birthday whilst in Mykonos and had a great day on the beach. Here are a few snaps of our time in Mykonos:  

Breakfast by the beach 

Relaxing on the beach chairs 

Sunset view from our balcony 

 One of our cats checks out the view from the balcony

Riding the quad into town 

Walking to the beach

From Myknonos we flew with Easy jet to Gatwick, London. Here we have spent the last incredible week.  We will leave London for the next post as we need get going and start our English road trip. First stop tonight will be Tadcaster near York, a three hour drive north of London. Hope everyone is well and thank you for continuing to check in on our blog.

Love Aaron & Floss
xx