Milton Keynes - 31st May to 1st June 2008

One of our friends from New Zealand, Sarah, was over to England (where she is from originally) for her 40th, so we caught up with her and her friends and family for a get together in Milton Keynes, about 40 minutes north of London by train. Milton Keynes is known for its roundabouts and its concrete cows, so we made sure we checked them out! Overall a fun weekend and good to catch up with Sarah and see where she grew up.

Devon (England) - 25th to 26th May 2008

We flew into London on the 23rd of May, the Friday before a long weekend. My sister and her fiance were making the most of the long weekend by doing a roadie west, to Devon, so we tagged along. Devon is true English countryside with small lanes and thatched cottages everywhere! We had a real pub lunch on Sunday before heading out to "the English Reviera" - Torquay, Paignton & Brixham for a walk along the beach and along the pier on our way to Exeter where we stayed the night. Unfortunately (perhaps not surprisingly) the weather caved in on us on the Monday, so we were stuck inside the car for most of the day, getting back to London around 6.

Athens - 22nd to 23rd of May 2008

Our trip back to Athen from Mykonos was a five hour ferry to the port of Rafina, then an hour bus into the centre of Athens. It was a little bit strange being back in a place we have been before! We wanted to make the most of Greek food since we love it so much, so we made sure we had a typical Greek dinner of tzatziki and bread, Greek salad, a mixed souvlaki plate and half a kg of wine (yes thats right, a "kg")!

We didn't do the Acropolis last time we were here so that was the only real thing we wanted to do on the last day of our holiday before heading out to the airport. The Acropolis was impressive and offers a great view over Athens, but after all the remains we have seen this trip it didn't have the same wow factor as it otherwise might. It was still very enjoyable and well worth the climb up the hill.

Mykonos - 18th to 22nd of May 2008

Another quick 40 minute ferry ride north to Mykonos, our designated "wind down" leg after almost three months on the go. We wanted to make sure Warren went back to work nice and relaxed! So we did exactly that, we had a place right on the beach, and spent between 6 and 8 hours a day doing nothing but reading our books and chilling out on the beach. Was the perfect way to help Warren get over his sickness but unfortunately Ange then got sick so she spent one whole day in bed. One of our nights we partied late at a full moon party right on our beach, we knew we were in trouble when we had to wait up until midnight for it to even start!

Paros - 17th to 18th of May 2008

Paros is very close to Naxos, only a 45 minute ferry ride to the west. We stayed in the second biggest town in Paros, Naoussa, which is built around a very cute little fishing port. We hired a scooter and visited a few different beaches. It was a tough afternoon of sightseeing though, a bike ride for half an hour, sit on a beach for an hour, then repeat. By now we were totally getting used to the beach lifestyle!!

Naxos - 14th to 17th of May 2008

Naxos is one of the bigger islands in the Cyclades. Once again we had a place right on the beach so we spent a couple of afternoons working on our tans. We were ready to explore again though, so hired a car and did a loop of most of the island which is quite mountainous but also has some spectacular beaches. We were only planning on spending two nights in Naxos but Warren got sick and had to spend a whole day in bed, but it certainly wasn't the worst place to spend a day in bed with the view over the sea!

Ios - 12th to 14th of May 2008

An hour's ferry north from Santorini is Ios, known as the party island of the Cyclades. The place we stayed at was right on the beach and had a cool pool so we lazed by the pool/beach during the days and went into Ios town to party at night. It is not a big place and all the bars are within one little square so it was very cool. Ios is a popular island for Contiki groups so there was lots of young people around, although you can imagine how much more in peak season (July-August). Ange bumped into friends of friends from NZ on one of the Contiki groups and we bar hopped with them one night.

Santorini - 11th to 12th of May 2008

Santorini is a two hour ferry ride north from Iraklion (Crete). It is a reasonably small island so we hired a small car and were able to drive around all of it in one afternoon (including a two hour pitstop to watch the F1). Santorini is extremely volcanic, and around most of the island sheer cliffs drop straight into the sea. There are only a couple of beaches, and to make Ange feel at home they are even black sand beaches!

Notice Warren driving on the wrong side:

Iraklion (Crete) - 10th to 11th of May 2008

Also known as Heraklion, Iraklion is another two hours east of Rethmynon. It is the capital of Crete and quite a big city, but not particularly attractive and not a lot to see so we jumped on a bus to the southern beach of Matala (two hours each way). The weather wasn't great and with that much travelling it was a bit of a quick stop, but we still managed some good r&r on the beach before heading back to Iraklion.

Here is Ange with our staple Greek diet of the "Pita Gyros", which comprises of a pita filled with chicken or pork, and tomatoes, onions, tzatziki, and french fries. Mmmm... On average we have had about one a day while in Greece!

Us leaving Iraklion the following day:

Rethymnon (Crete) - 9th to 10th of May 2008

One and a half hour bus east from Hania lies Rethymnon, a city built around a very nice beach. Our afternoon in Rethmynon consisted of lying on the beach followed by more lying on the beach. And after exactly 40 days Warren was back swimming in the ocean, albeit a much colder ocean than the one surrounding Thailand!

Along with seemingly all of Crete, Rethymnon has a Venetian fortress. Unfortunately it was closed the day we were there, so we just had to make do with walking around the outside, but not a bad wee walk!

Hania (Crete) - 7th to 9th of May 2008

We arrived at Kissamos port, Crete, at 9pm after an 8 hour ferry from Githio. On the ferry we stumbled across some German backpackers who were heading into the town of Hania (aka "Xania" or "Chania") so we shared a cab for the 30 minute drive east. Arriving in a new town at 10pm with nowhere to stay was a bit of a worry, but thankfully we found a great location in the old venetian part of town which had plenty of available accommodation. Hania has the cutest little old harbour and cobbled streets but is actually a pretty big city. Our full day at Hania was spent walking the 16km trek through the Samaria Gorge, the longest in Europe. Starting with an 8.30 bus to the top (1200m above sea level and pretty cold, but not as cold as it would be in the snow in winter) the walk took us 5 hours down to the sea where we got picked up by a ferry and dropped further down the coast (where there were actually roads) for a two hour bus ride home to Hania. Needless to say after such a long day we crashed as soon as we were back!

The following day we explored Hania in the morning and went through the naval museum. The museum had a section on the Battle of Crete in 1941 when the Germans invaded Crete, and had a section on New Zealand's Maori Battalion that helped defend the island. We went to a local minimart where the owner asked where we were from and on hearing we were from NZ gave us both (plus himself) a shot of Ouzo and in his broken English tried to explain how the New Zealanders stood shoulder to shoulder with the Cretans while the English, Americans and others retreated.

Githio - 6th to 7th of May 2008

Githio, sometimes written "Yithio", is southwest Peloponnese, around 6 hours from Olympia (and another three busses, the first one being 6.30am). While we were mainly there to catch a ferry to Crete the following day, Githio is actually a pleasant little seaside town, seemingly away from the crowds. Only one ferry goes from Githio to Crete every week, so once again our luck was in! With not much to do, we spent the afternoon strolling about and reading our books, and even got a sleep in (to 9.30am) the next day before our 1pm ferry to Crete - a real treat!

Olympia - 5th to 6th of May 2008

Six hours and three different busses from Nafplio around the top of the Peloponnese back through Corinth, we arrived in the small town of Olympia. Because of the obvious attraction, modern Olympia is a town sprung up solely to cater for the tourist market. We arrived at the site of Ancient Olympia an hour before closing, so it is just as well that the site is surprisingly small, maybe only 300 metres by 300 metres with a stadium tacked on the side. The ruins themselves are still very awesome and even cooler visiting in an olympic year. The stadium is still very much in its original shape, with even the original start and finish lines still intact.

Notice the pillars still in the position they fell:

Nafplio - 4th to 5th of May 2008

We got a nice early 7.30 bus from Athens to Corinth (an hour and a half), but then changed our minds once there and decided to continue further south to Nafplio (another hour). Our first experience of the Peloponnese was most impressive, the old streets, fortresses and waterfront of Nafplio making for a very enjoyable afternoon of strolling around.

Notice the fortresses up on the hilltops:

Athens - 3rd to 4th of May 2008

Arriving Athens at 7am we only had one thought: find some accommodation and sleep! At about lunch time with some new found energy we spent the afternoon doing some "personal admin" and having a wonder around the streets of Athens, including the food markets and some of the ruins in the centre of town. Deciding to leave most of the exploring to later in the tour, we had a very relaxing day!

Thessaloniki - 2nd of May

We arrived in Thessaloniki after a three hour train ride northeast from Kalabaka to find that the trains to Athens were booked out for the next 2 days and we had planned to leave the following day. After a brief stress, we found the bus station which had plenty of busses available for that day and the following. The only issue being that it was a 6 hour bus! We decided to do the overnight bus thing to try and minimise the time wasted in transit so we had about 12 hours in Thessaloniki to see the place. Thessaloniki is Greece's second biggest city after Athens so we strolled the main street and spent a few hours relaxing on the waterfront before a superb authentic Greek meal with live music.

Kalabaka/Meteora - 1st to 2nd of May 2008

A further three hours inland by bus is a small town of Kalabaka. Its main attraction is the nearby monestaries at Meteora that sit upon huge rocks in the otherwise flat plains of the surrounding region. We spent a few hours bush walking through the forests in between the rocks, and went up to one of the monestaries. We were lucky enough to have some awesome weather which made for some spectacular photos.

Ioannina - 30th of April to 1st of May 2008

Ioannina is central mainland Greece. From Corfu its a two hour ferry to Igoumenitsa (on the mainland) followed by a three hour bus east. Ioannina is a town nestled on the side of a lake, it is suprisingly big, and even has its own university. Jutting out from the city on a small peninsula into the lake is an old walled castle, so that kept us busy for a while walking through the ruins and walking around the walls.

Corfu - 29th to 30th of April 2008

Corfu is one of Greece's Ionian islands, just west of the mainland. We arrived Corfu 5am local time and literally did not know whether to turn left or right off the boat. Because we were unsure if we could even get on our ferry, we didn't book anywhere to stay. Luckily a hostel we had heard of was picking some other people up so we ran for that minivan after half an hour of aimless walking around in the dark.

The hostel is geared up for early morning arrivials, so we were able to check in at 8am and have breakfast. Because we had some sleep on the ferry we were able to get straight into it, so hired a quad bike and went into Corfu town and explored some of the island, although it is huge. Corfu town is really pretty and very Italian like - we were quite at home! It has a pretty waterfront dominated by an old fortress, and cute little streets.