We're on a ferry from Athens to the island of Naxos in the cyclades islands region. It's a 5 hour trip so I have time to write. Greece has been great!The warmth and generosity of the people here really stands out! They are really suffering from the austerity measures and still they are so generous and kind It was so nice to get back on our bikes and on the road.
Athens and the acropolis was intense . We biked around the city soaking in the atmosphere of history and culture. Street cafes next to ancient ruins with the acropolis standing sentenial over it all. We liked it so much we spent an extra day and would like to go back for more. Maybe on our return from the islands. We would really like to catch a concert at the roman theatre at the acropolis. They were practicing for a concert when we were there and it was incredibly beautiful.Visiting the acropolis was ... (I'm running out of superlatives).. I have always been fasinated with it but to see it in person was awe inspiring. The size of it and the engineering required was impressive. It's beautifully lit up at night and it gives the entire city this sense of timelessness. We just pulled in to paros island. It's STUNNING ! The arid landscape and white buildings are a stark contrast to the azure water. The ocean is incredibly clear, which is such a difference from Indonesia.
Up date sun 6/22/13
I'm watching the sunset from a pier on thirasia . A tiny island off Santorini. We came here to escape the crowds there. To update: after a brief stop on paros we landed on Naxos and fell in love with it. We planned on a couple of days and ended up spending 5 days there. The main town, Horas has an old section with a maze of winding stone walkways with shops bars and resturants, many with views of the harbor. We found a nice place in town and did day trips biking to villages and beaches around the island. It's the kind of place people go
once and end up returning again and again. We went to Santorini expecting a lot of tourists and we weren't disappointed. Our first impression was "let's get the hell out of here !".but the views are stunning and we discovered that if you time it right you can find some quiet moments between the onslaught of tour busses and cruise ships. We got some cheers as we peddled with our packs up the steep switchbacks from the port to the town of fiora high above. We found a place and spent a night there taking in the views then yesterday morning we left our packs and headed out for a bike tour of the island. We ended up in Io which is the town younsee in all the brochures and postcardsWith the white buildings and blue domes cascading down the cliff overlooking the sea. It's truly stunning. But it gets lost in the onslaught of tour busses from Fiora. But we realized it quiets down in the evening so we found a room, raced back 7 miles to fiora, grabed our bags and found a bus back so we could spend the evening there. It was worth it! When its quiet and in the moonlight it's magical.! We had dinner and wine with a stunning view and then just strolled around till 1AM. We had to rise at 6:30 this morning to catch the ferry to this island. We biked a bit found a beach bluff and slept for 2 hours. We checked out one village with some neat dwellings carved in the cliffs then had to push the bikes up to another town for lunch with a view then took a long flight of stairs down to the port where I am now. Tomorrow it's up at 6 , back up the stairs and then a downhill ride to the other port.I'm going to soak in this view for a bit and hit the sack.While writing this the sun set and I m watching the most incredible moonrise over the city of firora 8 miles in the distance. It's a full supermoon and the sky is crystal clear and the water calm and moonlight is glistening on the water. Santorini is C shaped which creates a huge cove and we are camping on a pier on the water overlooking this.
It's a magical setting! !
