farewell Greece, ciao Italia (again!)!

With a lovely month-long holiday all but over, it was time for me to say farewell to Gina and Carla and make my way back to Italy, where I'll be spending roughly two months teaching English to school children at summer camps around the country.

Heading back to Italy meant taking two flights, a 30 minute flight to Athens and then about two and a half hours to Milan.

As I collected my bag at Athens International to check in for my second flight, I noticed it had been damaged in transit :-(

I was so annoyed! Especially as I only had a couple of hours to catch my next flight and I knew it would be a hassle to get compensated, especially with the language barrier. I reported the damage to the luggage desk, which offered me a replacement but it wasn't big enough or good enough as I'd spent a lot of money on my suitcase before leaving New Zealand.

My only other option was to submit a report, which was going to be a pain as I was leaving Greece in a little under two hours, but I decided to go with this option, have my suitcase shrink wrapped for my next flight and hopefully find a decent case in Milan and be reimbursed by Aegean Airlines.

So I arrived in Milan and found my hotel, close to the metro, before heading out to check out the shops in the hope of finding a case.... bad call! Milan is the shopping capital of the world and because of this, a) I didn't even know where to start and b) everything was ridiculously expensive!

The trip into town wasn't a total waste though, as I came across the Milan Duomo, which I probably wouldn't have made the effort to see otherwise, but it was actually a really breathtaking sight to see upon emerging from the metro. It's the fifth largest cathedral in the world and the largest in Italy - it took nearly 600 years to complete!

The next morning, I met up with some girls at Centrale station who I'd met on Facebook, and we headed to San Remo together to begin our week long orientation, where we would (hopefully!) learn everything we needed to know about teaching English to Italian kids.

where the aegean meets the mediterranean

After another full-on day, some more poolside relaxation was our plan. We had checked out the beach, but the water was cold and it was too windy, and plus we could use the sunbeds at the pool bar down the road for free and it was a lovely, friendly, welcoming environment.

A few hours later we were relaxed and sunkissed, and decided to take a trip to the south point of the island, Prasonisi, which is famous for windsurfing and kite surfing. It is also the point where the Aegean Sea meets the Mediterranean Sea, and it's possible to stand with a foot in each sea, which is cool.

When we arrived, the beach was, predictably, windy, but because of this there was a lot of litter and debris along the beaches (it was like a spit) which was a shame. The kite surfers seemed to favour one side of the spit, while the windsurfers were mainly zooming along the other side of the spit.

After taking a few photos and checking out the sights, we decided to head back to Pefkos and go out for the umpteenth delicious dinner at one of the local restaurants - so good!

rhodes, rhodes

With only one day remaining in Rhodes, we decided to check out the island's biggest town, which is also called Rhodes, about an hour away from Pefkos.

Traffic in Rhodes town is crazy as it is a huge tourist hotspot with very limited parking, so we decided to take a bus rather than drive and it was definitely a good idea. We checked out the lovely harbour and port area which was, like most spots on the island, really picturesque.

The other main part of Rhodes Town we wanted to check out was the Medieval Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe.

creatively titled water fun

For our fourth day in Rhodes, we decided on two fun activities: the water park in Faliraki, creatively titled "The Water Park", and an evening horse trek to the beach.

It turned out that The Water Park is one of the largest water parks in Europe, and there were a ton of slides for us to try out. What was even better was that because it isn't peak season yet, there were no queues for any of the slides. 

The slides were great - some were fun, some terrifying and we chickened out on a few of the ones which had sheer drops - I chickened out more than Gina and Carla. It was a great way to spend the day though, out in the sun, and in the afternoon we headed to the horse trek, which was on a small farm nearby.

We were greeted by an adorable little dog that looked like Baxter from Anchorman, and our instructor was really excited to show us their puppies - their dog had just had a litter three weeks ago, and the wee puppies were so cute! She tried to get us to take one but as much as I wanted to, I had to resist.

We set out on the trek and it was such a relaxing way to finish off what had been quite a hectic day - that is, until Gina fell/jumped off her horse! We had just reached the beach, and the instructor decided only then to warn Gina that her horse likes to roll around in the sand. She said not to worry, the horse only does it sometimes, but gave her a riding crop just in case. No sooner had she been given the riding crop, the horse decides to lie down, so Gina jumped off, scraping her knee in the process and getting as far away from the horse as possible. 

This caused a wee bit of a problem as after having a good roll around (which was super cute if you weren't Gina), it wandered off and our instructor had to spend a few minutes trying to coax it back.

Anyway, as the cliche goes, Gina got back on the horse and we trekked back to the riding club.

It was such a calm, peaceful way to spend a couple of hours!

snake vs. cat and a terrifying drive

After such a full on day yesterday, we decided on a morning and early afternoon of relaxation, followed by checking out some of the key sights on the west coast, and what we hoped would be an epic sunset.

Our need for some relaxation time was compounded by the fact that our hotel was a nightmare, full of loud, rude Eastern Europeans, a barking dog owned by the hotel manager that wouldn't shut up, music playing at the pool bar until 2am, a door that wouldn't lock, and Gina getting bites that looked suspiciously like bed bugs. Our first activity for the morning was to find a new hotel as we were just really unhappy with our accommodation.

We traipsed around Pefkos for an hour or so, checking out a few options that we remembered from when we first decided to go to Rhodes, and got a good deal at a great hotel which, ironically, was the other one we were trying to decide between when booking the original holiday. We got a two bedroom apartment in a super quiet area which was fantastic, and then it was time to tell our old hotel that we were leaving. 

When asked by the hotel receptionist why we were leaving, and after rattling off the reasons above along with a handful more, she just kind of shrugged her shoulders and offered no apology - she stopped short of laughing when we asked for a refund for the four nights we would not be staying there. The experience did teach us a valuable lesson though - if in doubt, check Trip Advisor, as the reviews for this hotel were terrible. We all thought the other person had checked, but apparently none of us had.

Anyway, we settled into our lovely apartment and headed to the Oasis Pool Bar which was becoming our home away from home. After spending a few hours getting ridiculously hot in the sun and reading books in the paddling pool, we headed to the west side of the island to check out a couple of castle ruins, in Monolithos and Kritinia.

Monolithos Castle

Monolithos Castle was beautiful, and it was awesome to stand amongst the ruins and imagine what the castle used to be. Both castles were set in prime position with gorgeous sea views, and by the time we reached Kritinia the sun was just setting, which was even more beautiful. The trip wasn't without drama though, as we were driving along the highway we saw a ginger cat sitting on the other side of the road, looking intently at what I thought was a coiled up piece of tubing. I slowed down because I didn't want the cat to get hit by a car coming the opposite direction, but we kept driving and about 10 seconds later, at the same time it hits both Gina and me... "SNAKE!". We turn around and head back to get a better look but by the time I can turn the car around, both the snake, and the cat, were gone.... The car behind us had also stopped and the German guy who had been in the car said he was pretty sure the cat got away, I sure hope so! 

It was so crazy seeing such a massive snake in the wild! We learned later from a local that it was most likely a constrictor snake. She said they aren't usually aggressive, unless they are hungry, so fingers crossed the ginger kitty got away.

Watching the sunset was just lovely and once the sun had gone down, we made our way back to Pefkos, taking a different (more direct) route than the one we initially took to get to the west coast. Using Google Maps and a normal map, we started down what we thought was a main road but which could have only been a road that had been closed for road works. NO street lights, NO paving whatsoever, not even proper gravel, just clay, rocks and earth movers everywhere. We were determined to continue down our shortcut and after about 10-15 minutes it started to get scary, especially when the car got very, very close to bottoming out on a section of road that had been cut up by huge lorry tracks. The mood in the car got very tense as we had no idea whether the road was going to just suddenly come to an end and with no phone or internet credit and only a vague sense of where we were going, we were all freaking out a little bit, but none of us wanted to show it. We breathed a collective sigh of relief when, after about 20-25 minutes, we came across a real paved road with street lighting!

symi island and a glimpse of Turkey

Top of our list of things to do while in Rhodes was a trip to the beautiful and quirky Symi Island. Not knowing too much about the island, we took a coach to Rhodes town and jumped on a ferry which took us to Symi in about three and a half hours. 

The ferry trip took us along the Turkish coast and the small town was simply beautiful when we arrived in the harbour - quirky colourful houses clinging to hills with a vibrant harbour area packed with restaurants for the hundreds of tourists that come to check out the island each day.

We chose a lovely, family-owned and run taverna (Greek restaurant) for lunch before setting out to explore for a few hours. Amongst the usual souvenir shops, we discovered the small island with a population of only 2,500 was popular for two products - sponges, and leather goods.

A wide array of sponges on offer, apparently they all serve different purposes

After admiring some of the leather goods in one stall, the woman took us behind the scenes to the workshop where she proudly showed off some leather art made by her boss which made the Guinness Book of Records - it is a picture of the town, comprised completely of tiny dots. Very impressive!

Once we got talking, the owner encouraged us to go up the steps behind his shop to his house, "only 50 steps and the best view of Symi"... he wasn't wrong! We were not on his porch for more than two minutes before a British man about 10 steps above him invited us up to his porch for an even better view... Symi residents love to show off their town!

By now we were sweating up a storm so we made a beeline for a beach, which was absolutely beautiful and really unique - about knee deep for about five metres out before it suddenly dropped off and you were in above your head - the contrast can really be seen too!

The second stop of the trip was the south of the island, about 45 minutes by boat, and the main attraction here was the Panormitis Monastery. I have to admit that it didn't hold much appeal, although it was beautiful, I was far more enthralled by the kitten we came across by the harbour!

All in all it was a fantastic, but tiring day. We returned to our hotel exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep.... which we didn't get. Music until 2am, loud arguments, a barking dog at 5am and swarms of mosquitos did not make for a good night at all!

ancient artefacts and a crystal clear beach

Just around the corner from Pefkos is the town of Lindos, which we decided to explore in our first full day in Rhodes. The most eye-catching element of Lindos is its acropolis, which rises above the town and offers absolutely stunning views of the Aegean.

The Acropolis of Lindos dates back as far as 300 BC and has been built and rebuilt and destroyed and excavated and rebuilt time and time again. It's kind of a fortified village containing statues and remains of structures from all different time periods and was well worth the 6 Euro entry fee.

Carla and I with St Paul's Beach in the background

View of Lindos from the acropolis

It was a bit of a walk from Lindos up to the acropolis in the heat, the other option which many tourists took was the donkey or "taxi" as the Greeks called it. We decided to walk and were harrassed every few steps to take a "taxi" instead. When we expressed sympathy for the donkeys we were told "it's okay, it's their job" which made us laugh a bit.

Gina caught a donkey sleeping on the job

After exploring the acropolis we found ourselves at St Paul's beach, a lovely, sheltered bay that is almost a lagoon. It really was beautiful, if a little rocky and shallow, and as we didn't have our togs on we dipped our feet in and decided to come back another day.

We spent the evening at a local bar in Pefkos, playing the quiz and having a cocktail - bliss!

tearing up rhodes with the provics

After spending one night in a lovely hotel in Athens (and deciding to watch Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in the French Open semi final instead of checking out the Acropolis - yes I can hear the groans from here) it was a quick 35 minute flight to the island of Rhodes, just off the coast of Turkey but still a Greek Island, part of the Dodecanese. 

Here I met up with my good friend from New Zealand, Gina, who now lives in England and her sister, Carla, who is currently holidaying in Europe. We had chosen the small village of Pefkos, on the south-east side of the island to spend our seven nights, and it really is a great location.

In terms of the terrain, Rhodes is pretty similar to other Greek Islands I've visited over the past month: hilly with sheer cliffs, contrasted with the most crystal clear blue azure water. 

All photos from Rhodes taken by Gina and Carla, avid photographers - I didn't pick up a camera all week!

We met at the airport and settled into our hotel before heading into the town on foot to have some lunch, check out the beach and plan the week ahead!

knee high to a grasshopper

With about a day and a half on Naxos, the plan was to chill out, check out a couple of great beaches and the harbour, as well as the main town (called Naxos).

I soon realised that a day and a half is nowhere near enough time to explore such a big and beautiful island, so I checked out Trip Advisor for the best beaches and restaurants. My first afternoon was spent at Agios Georgios beach, a beautiful horse shoe shaped bay with crystal clear water and restaurants literally on the sand. This was the closest beach to my hotel and while it was gorgeous, it was really shallow and more suited to families with children.

It was a great spot to stretch out on the sand (sand was very rare in Antiparos and non-existent in Santorini which is full of volcanic rock) and soak up some sun. There was a lot of activity around with people playing all manner of games on the beach, but very few in the water as it was only knee deep as far as the eye could see!

After a few hours, I headed back to the hotel and had a swim in the gorgeous pool before going out to dinner. I chose a very busy Italian restaurant in the town square, and was not disappointed. The pasta was incredible and to top it off I was given a free Kahlua shot with whipped cream on top! The Greeks are so hospitable they often like to give something on the house, usually a shot or a small dessert or sweet, it's a great way to top off a lovely meal.

The next day, I woke early and after breakfast at the hotel I decided to take the bus to the top rated beach in Naxos, Plaka, which was about an hour away. This beautiful beach, 5km long, could have easily been in New Zealand if it weren't for the absolutely crystal clear water. Beach umbrellas and sunbeds were dotted along the beach and it was practically deserted, unlike yesterday's beach which was vibrant and full of people and activity - a lovely place to spend a few hours.

The water is still fairly cold though! It's still early in the season so the water hasn't warmed up yet. It's nice and refreshing to take a dip in after getting too hot to sunbathe, but I'm not too keen to stay in much longer than a dip!

bye bye Antiparos

After nearly two weeks of nothing but utter relaxation in paradise, it was time to say goodbye to Antiparos, as well as Michael, Rachel, Jake, Elsie, Noel and Emma. For my last day on the island, Mike and I decided to hire quad bikes and zoom around the island, checking out areas we couldn't reach in the car.

Mike and I at one of the high points on the island

It was fun hooning around on the bikes again, and it really made us see the island from a different perspective. The lady at the rental car place couldn't for the life of her understand why we wanted to hire the bikes when we had a car, but we had a great afternoon taking the road less travelled.

The crystal clear waters of Stillwater Beach

One of the numerous, picturesque little churches on the island

The view of Antiparos harbour from my balcony

Michael in the Main Street of Antiparos

My adopted kitten for two weeks, I named her Snuffles (I think she had cat flu)

Next, I'm taking a one hour ferry to the largest island in the Cyclades, Naxos for two nights. It was a spur of the moment decision to check out Naxos, originally I was going to spend two nights in Athens before heading to Rhodes, but I changed my mind and decided to do this instead!