birthday on the other side of the world

Waking up on your birthday when you're on the other side of the world and don't know anyone near you is an interesting experience! After a nice sleep in and reading a bunch of happy birthday messages from friends and family, I packed up all my stuff, checked out and headed to "Gyros Place" to treat myself to gyros for lunch. 

With about three hours to kill before my ferry to Paros, I headed down to the beach, ordered a cocktail and stretched out on one of the sun loungers despite the stormy sky, and just chilled out and read a book.

Ahead of me was a four-hour ferry to Paros, then a bus trip and another ferry to reach Antiparos where I'd be spending the next two weeks and two days with Michael, Rach, Jake, and later on Mike's parents and sisters. I arrived about 9pm and Mike and Rach spoiled me with a birthday cake and presents - it finally felt like my birthday!

After a few beers on the patio, Mike and I headed to the Houghtons' favourite Antiparos hangout - Remember Bar, where we spent a few hours catching up and enjoying the music, beer and free shots. 

On a Wednesday night, on an island with a population of 1,000 before the summer crowds have hit, we were the only ones in the bar and it stayed open until we left, about 2.30am and after only spending 26 Euros between us! 

hazy skies and non-sunsets

Negatives of travelling alone #1 - no one to put sunscreen on your back. I woke up with an epic tan/burn line on my back which will take weeks to even out!

Having seen most of the island yesterday, I decided to spend some time checking out the two main towns, Thira and Oia. I again hired the quad bike as it was a convenient and fun way to get around the island and after breakfast on my balcony overlooking the water, it was helmet on and off we go.

Thira, about a half-hour drive from Perissa, is the capital of the municipality of Santorini, and it was absolutely buzzing with tourists when I arrived and parked the bike. Following the crowds on foot to the Main Street, I checked out a range of souvenir stores and followed my nose to the clifftop restaurants with their breathtaking views.

After spending an hour or so checking out the sights, it was off to Oia, at the far tip of the island, to walk the length of the walkway along the famous whitewashed houses and restaurants. I had tried to do this yesterday but had forgotten to bring water. This time I was prepared, and the views were worth it!

Oia is world-famous for its sunsets, so after a couple of hours there I decided to head back to Perissa, have a swim and something to eat, and return to catch the sunset (I wanted to get back on the bike for a hoon around). The weather in Santorini had been mainly overcast the whole time I had been on the island, (except for a couple of hours yesterday when my back got nice and burnt!) which was disappointing but was something to do with the winds blowing red dust from Africa according to the owner of my hotel, who was sick of mopping all the outdoor areas non-stop.

On my trip back to Oia in the evening, the overcast sky had truly set in and the sun was nowhere to be seen - a bit of an anti climax to my last evening on the island. Deciding that the sunset wouldn't be worth the trip, I turned back to Perissa and enjoyed dinner on the beach.

island style

For my second day in Santorini I decided to hire a quad bike and explore the island. Not very big, I could drive the length of the island in just over an hour on my 50cc quad bike which maxed out at about 40km/hr. Armed with a map and some water, I wanted to check out every beach and town on the island in day.

Now, it has to be said that you don't go to Santorini for the beaches. Maybe living in New Zealand has spoiled me but I visited most of the beaches on the island and while I loved the climate and crystal clear water, the beaches themselves didn't excite me.

Red Beach, 'one of the best beaches in the world' according to Trip Advisor was cool to look at and unique with its red volcanic rock but it was very small and (unsurprisingly) packed with tourists, although more than half were content to simply look at the beach from the point (where the photo was taken) and not make the five minute hike around to the beach.

That's one negative (of many) about doing an arranged tour, I heard a tour group arrive and the tour guide say "Right, you've got 10 minutes here and back on the bus". Nowhere is 10 minutes enough time to appreciate what you're looking at or experiencing. The idea of being on such a timetable doesn't interest me.

Other stops along my little quad bike tour of the island were Thira and Oia, clifftop towns with picture perfect views, the island's lighthouse on its southwest tip, a picturesque monestary and a number of other beaches. 

Exhausted, I fell asleep on my local beach in Perissa for a couple of hours before waking and enjoying a traditional Greek lamb dish (can't remember what it was called) as the sun set.

 

HOT dogs (and cats... and donkeys)

When I booked my ferry ticket from Piraeus to Santorini, I'm not sure what I expected I'd be travelling in but I sure wasn't expecting a huge vessel, eight levels high with a range of restaurants and cafes, two massive garages for vehicles, a first class section and cafe-style seating throughout.

After searching around for the economy section, I realised that with an economy ticket you can just seat yourself wherever you like in the public area. People were stretching themselves along multiple chairs or bench seating, so I decided to do the same and catch up on some sleep during the eight-hour journey. The journey stops at a number of other Greek Islands along the way, so it was great to check those out but the most impressive island by far was Santorini with its white and blue houses seemingly clinging to the sheer cliff faces.

I was met at the port by Costas, one of the owners of the hotel I'd be staying at for the next three nights, Villa Dimitris in Perissa, on the south-west coast of the island. Recommended to me by Michael, who'd been to Santorini twice before, we soon figured out that he had sent me to the wrong hotel! Michael had stayed at 'Dimitris Villa' in the next town over, so it was an easy mistake to make.

It didn't really matter though, because Villa Dimitris was fantastic. I'm pretty sure I was their only guest - I never saw or heard anyone else during my time there and the owners were lovely and very helpful, recommending places to eat and visit, where to buy ferry tickets etc. I loved Perissa too - a black sand beach a world away from the relative hustle and bustle of the two main towns, Thira and Oia.

The first thing that struck me about Santorini was (not surprisingly) the amount of street dogs and cats everywhere. EVERYWHERE! The first night I went and had dinner at a restaurant on the beach and there were dogs just everywhere and I had to fight myself to not pat them. In the end though I did give in and gave pats to the less-mangier looking ones. They would go from restaurant to restaurant looking for scraps and they didn't seem to belong to anyone, just slept on the beach and played amongst themselves.

It's one reason why travelling to third world countries doesn't appeal to me, because I can't bear to see the living conditions these animals are subjected to. Most of the dogs and cats seemed happy enough (if a little mangy and skinny) but it made me sad to see cats picking through dumpsters and dogs limping. 

And the sad donkeys! They use donkeys to transport tourists from the bottom of the old port up to the main town of Thira, but I just felt sorry for them in the heat and they didn't seem to have any water available either.

I came across one particularly mangy-looking black cat in Oia that was sleeping in the shade and had followed me around a bit earlier in the day. I woke it up and poured some of my water next to it so that it made a bit of a puddle and the cat lapped it up so quickly, it made me sad to wonder where its next drink would come from. The shopkeepers don't seem to mind the cats and dogs everywhere, but I do wonder . One shopkeeper I spoke to said there are 20 cats around her shop and she has 12 at home!

getting less than you bargain for

It may have been a quick visit, but it was definitely short and sweet and I loved every minute I spent in Rome. I know I'll probably be back there at some point in the next few months, but I also know that Rome is just the tip of the iceberg and I can't wait to explore the rest of Italy in the coming months. If Rome is the 'Auckland' of Italy, there's gotta be a lot more to love about the country.

So with that, we packed up and took the metro, and then the train to the airport to begin the next leg of our trip, and another new country to add to the list - Greece!

Everyone I know who has been to Greece absolutely raves about the Greek Islands, so the prospect of spending nearly a whole month relaxing in paradise is really exciting. I'll spend a night in the port town of Piraeus, catch the ferry to Santorini the next morning where I'll spend three nights, then on to Antiparos for just over two weeks and top it off with a fantastic week in Rhodes with the lovely Gina (good friend from NZ who lives in England) and the equally lovely Carla (Gina's sister who's visiting Europe for a month or so).

At Athens airport I say goodbye to Michael, Rach and Jake as they race off to catch their ferry to Andros, and take a long, hot, dirty bus ride to hot, dirty Piraeus.

Upon arriving at the accommodation I've booked on booking.com I'm pretty grossed out by the condition of the hotel. My room reeks of stale cigarette smoke, my sheets have yellow sweat stains on them, the shared toilets and showers look like they haven't been cleaned in weeks and there is no air conditioning so the room is unbearably warm. I decide to just grin and bare it, as it's only for one night and the room was cheap (now I understand why). But when the wifi in my room doesn't work, it's the final straw! Normally something like that wouldn't matter to me when I'm on holiday but when you're in a rough neighbourhood so you don't want to go out at night, the TV is in a foreign language and you want to research the next few weeks of your trip, it was a big deal.

(picture may not be an accurate representation of the room) 

I go downstairs complain to the manager and he says there's a problem with the router and there's nothing he can do about it because it's a Sunday. He takes me to another room which is closer to the router and says I can use this room to use my wifi, and go back to my room to sleep. At this point I'm really just wanting to get out of there so I tell him that I need it in my room and if he can't give me a room with wifi then I'm not going to be able to stay there. He just kind of shrugs his shoulders so I leave and try to find another hotel. I end up finding a great hotel about a 10 minute walk away which was doing a last minute deal - half price - so I ended up paying only 10 Euros more for a room which was more than acceptable. Now I just have to hope that I don't get charged for the crappy hotel, as on booking.com if you cancel with two days or less notice you still have to pay.

I'm usually a pretty easygoing person and I have never walked out on a hotel that I've booked online but when you are travelling by yourself I think you have to make sure you feel comfortable in whatever environment you are in and that hotel just didn't feel right. I knew I was going to have a hard time getting to sleep so decided even if it cost a lot more, to move on. Plus, the new hotel even provides a complimentary drop off service to the port!

By this point I was starving - it was about 7pm and I hadn't eaten all day as we'd been rushing around, so I look up Trip Advisor and find the best rated restaurant in Pireaus is an Indian restaurant about a 10 minute walk from my new hotel - so I decide to make my first meal in Greece an Indian feast!

I get there about 7.30 and the restaurant is completely empty - however I am welcomed in and my meal is whipped up for me quickly and it was absolutely delicious. About half an hour later the restaurant is still empty and it's not til I'm walking back to the hotel about 8.30-9pm that I notice restaurants starting to fill up - apparently in Greece everyone eats dinner really late!

from roman royalty to tennis royalty

Day three we finally got the scorching weather I'd been expecting from Rome. Rach wasn't feeling well so Michael and I took Jake to the Roman Forum and wow, was that ever impressive! The shells and pieces of buildings thousands of years old were really amazing to see. We wandered around for an hour or two, reading the plaques and listening to tour guides to get an understanding of what we were looking at. It was basically a public square where town meetings, elections, and other public business was attended to.

It's also the site where Julius Caesar's remains are buried, Romans still leave flowers on his grave - I found that area a bit creepy.

I also went and had a look around a museum at the top of Capitoline Hill which displayed sculptures, monuments and paintings that date back to BC - most of them in honour of various Emporers, particularly Caesar and Augustine.

From Roman royalty to tennis royalty, it was time for me to head to the tennis arena to cheer on Rafa against Tomas Berdych. I got there plenty early (hard for most of you to believe I'm sure) and managed to catch most of the woman's semi final which featured an Italian woman, Sara Errani and the hometown support the crowd showed was unreal. She managed to push it to a third set against Azarenka and I'm sure it was the intense support from the crowd which got her that far.

But onto the main event, and it did not disappoint!

Rafa, who would win the tournament the next day was in superb form and if I'd thought the previous night's match went too quickly, this one was even faster - he dismissed Berdych in straight sets in only 1 hour 17 minutes.

Being a crowd favourite in Rome, he stuck around after the match for a long time doing interviews, hitting balls into the crowd and signing autographs, what a man! It was awesome to see him play live and I was kicking myself a little bit for not getting finals tickets when we originally booked, but I think a Nadal vs Federer final would have seemed to good to be true all those months ago.

To finish off the evening, Michael arrived just in time for Federer's match as his bus had broken down and we watched Federer also dismiss Benoit Paire in straight sets, setting up an epic final for the next day.

sporting greats now and then

One major observation I've made here is that EVERYONE speaks English to some degree. You can approach anyone and ask if they speak English and they'll usually say "only a little" but then when you ask a question they can reply with near fluency. It really makes me feel like an ignorant tourist, expecting the locals to speak my language, so when I'm back in Italy for those two months I'm going to make a real effort to learn more than just the basic greetings.

For our second full day in Rome we had three activities planned - the Colosseum, Roman Forum and then for Michael and me an evening of tennis.

The Colosseum is absolutely a must-do in Rome. We'd bought a Roma Pass the previous day which gave us free entry to two attractions in Rome as well as free public transport. Upon entry we hired audio/video guides which was well worth it - it explained everything from the architecture to the activities the ancient Romans flocked to the stadium to witness - from public executions to gladiator games and simulated Naval warring and it really gave a feel for just what went on and how much blood was shed.

Unfortunately Jake started to play up after being very patient at the Vatican the previous day so we decided to flag the Roman Forum and head back to the apartment in the afternoon for some down time before the tennis.

Michael and I had decided to book tickets to two night sessions, which would give us a men's quarter final and then a men's semi final, as well as a couple of women's games. Upon checking the draw we discovered we'd be watching Federer play both nights (provided he won his quarter final) which was cool but I was really hoping to be able to watch Nadal. 

When we arrived at the stadium we asked at the ticket office whether there were any tickets available the following day for Nadal's semi final and were told yes - but they started at 200 Euros! We had bought ours online about six months earlier and only paid about 35 Euros so that was a huge increase! At the gate, we were offered 220 Euros for our Federer tickets the following evening, but turned the offer down as the tennis was the whole reason we were in Rome to begin with.

The match was fantastic and if we had any complaint, it would be that it was not long enough! Federer was the crowd favourite and beat his Polish opponent Jerzy Jankovic in straight sets. We had superb seats with a great view of the game so all in all it was a great experience.

Upon arriving back at the apartment I decided to give one more go to getting to the Nadal game and checked for tickets online - I found there were a couple of single tickets going for 70 Euros so I decided to go ahead and book one - how often would I get this chance again?

when in rome

After an eight hour nap it was time to meet up with Michael, Rach and baby Jake who I'll spend the next few days in Rome with. First priority was dinner and we found a great trattoria (restaurant) around the corner where Jake could enjoy his favourite meal - pasta and boy there was lots of it!

Michael and I opted for a giant pizza which was filled with ham and bacon, and Rach went for the scampi pasta. When it arrived she was pretty grossed out as "it still had eyes". The pizza was great and the Italian waiters just loved making a fuss over Jake!

Our first day in Rome we decided to visit the Vatican City and after figuring out the Rome metro we got there in no time. As we were walking down the road to the Vatican we were confronted with a street full of men trying to sell us a private tour of the Vatican to "avoid the two-hour queue at the door", not to mention the men every couple of metres trying to sell umbrellas and ponchos as it had started to rain. We decided against the private tour due to the expense and when we arrived at the Vatican there was no queue whatsoever!

I'm not really sure what I expected of the Vatican, I didn't really have any expectations but just that it was one of those 'must-sees' in Rome but I'm glad we did it. The rooms upon rooms upon rooms of gorgeous artwork were really breathtaking and I could imagine those with a keen interest in art and Catholicism could spend days there dissecting each painting but not being particularly artistic or religious I was happy to just admire them at face value.

Of course, the highlight was the Sistine Chapel which was just beautiful. After spending an hour or two inside, we went around to St Peters's square which was absolutely packed. Initially keen to go inside the basilica, we were put off by the huge queue which snaked in a zigzag throughout the square and decided to move on and find the famous Trevi Fountain.

After a stroll through a local market we made our way to the fountain which was, of course, brimming with tourists (and street vendors trying to rip off the tourists). After admiring the fountain and making a wish, it was time to find the closest metro and head to our sunset bike tour of the city.

Along the way, one of the many street vendors tried to give Rach and me some roses, which is a big scam because they pretend its a gift and then ask for money. We didn't accept, but the man assured Rach and Michael that it was a gift and so Rach accepted and we kept walking. About 30 seconds later the guy appears next to Michael asking for a couple of Euros which Michael refused. He ended up following us quite a way but disappeared as soon as we descended the metro steps. Rach left the roses behind saying "they weren't given with love".

The sunset bike tour started off as a bit of a traumatic experience for poor Rach, who hadn't ridden a bike for years - she actually thought the tour we were doing was a tuk-tuk tour where you sit in a wagon pulled by a guy riding a bike so it was a bit of a shock for her - and for wee Jake, who hadn't been on a bike before but he loved it!

(We did put a helmet on him before the tour started!)

The tour took us around a lot of places we would never have been able to cover on foot, and as we were the only ones booked it was like having our own tour guide of Rome for two hours. We cycled up a hill which gave us a great view of the city while our guide filled us in on some of the history of the city, the buildings, the Tiber river and so on. He took us down narrow, crowded streets past endless restaurants, along the Tiber as well as to some of the city's most famous spots.

Poor Rach had just gotten the hang of her bike when out of now where, the crank fell off in the middle of the street! The guide managed to race to a nearby gas station to tighten it and then Rach and I swapped bikes as she was terrified it would happen again. Well, about 30 minutes later it did and the only option at that point apparently was for us to cover the remaining two kilometres with the guide cycling next to me pushing me, and that was a strange experience!  There aren't really any bike lanes in Rome so we were cycling along the road two abreast - we definitely got some angry blaring horns!

After the tour we found a fantastic cheap trattoria around the corner and I had the best lasagne of my life. Even though we were in a touristy area, the bill for the three of us plus Jake only came to 26 Euros including beers and wine!

burning calories a mile high

Wow, Rome is a LONG way from New Zealand. After two long-haul flights and more than 30 hours of travel, I finally arrived in the Eternal City, with a strange combination of exhaustion from lack of sleep and excitement about the next few months.

Sat next to an interesting fella on the first leg of my flight, Auckland->Hong Kong. A rather large man, he greeted me with a hearty introduction and I knew I was in trouble - I am definitely a 'polite smile then straight into movies/book/music' kind of traveller, but not Steve from Marton. After 20 minutes or so of one-sided chatter I managed to turn my attention to a movie while he turned his to the flight attendant for the first, of what I later learned would be many, snacks.

Here's me thinking aeroplane food is to be endured, not enjoyed, but ol' Steve must have seen the flight as a 12-hour buffet, ordering drinks two (sometimes three) at a time and even asking (and getting) two meals at dinner and breakfast! He even asked for a third dinner as he wanted to sample all three options but the flight attendant never returned with it - he had to make do with eating my salad.

Just as I finally manage to nod off, Steve decides it's time to "go for a waddle and burn some calories" and spent the next hour or so strolling up and down the aircraft. 'Calories' become a great topic of conversation upon his return, apparently in Hong Kong you can just sit there and the heat burns the calories for you!

After bidding goodbye to Steve in Hong Kong, I managed a quick nap at the airport before boarding for my 13-hour flight to Rome, only to discover the inflight entertainment systems weren't operating - I didn't mind much as it gave me more incentive to sleep, and by the time I arrived in Rome and found my way to our apartment I was still feeling mostly alive.

So what's in store for me for the next few months? Four days in Rome with the main purpose of attneding two nights' worth of tennis at the Rome Masters 1000 tournament, plus sightseeing, pizza and gelato. Then three nights in Santorini, Greece; two weeks in Antiparos, Greece; a week in Rhodes, Greece and then back to Italy where I'll spend two months travelling around the country teaching English at children's summer camps. After that, who knows! A trip to Spain is on the wish list and when the cash starts to run out I can hop to the UK as I've got a two-year youth working visa.