The Great Overseas Trip

Gallery: Nuremburg

jolinklater — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:56:00 GMT

Photos from Nuremburg

Gallery: Munich & Oktoberfest

jolinklater — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:53:00 GMT

Fun from Munich & Oktoberfest

Gallery: Tubingen

jolinklater — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:49:00 GMT

Photos from Tubingen

Munich & Oktoberfest : Sept 26

jolinklater — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:02:00 GMT

September 26

So we caught the train at 12.40am, with the intention of getting into Munich about 7.20am and heading to a pub called the Ned Kelly to meet Meg and her friends to watch the AFL grand final before heading to Oktoberfest. A great plan, if it had of gone to schedule! Clearly Oktoberfest is a huge festival, and even at 4am when we caught the train from Ulm to Munich, the train was packed and then continued to get even fuller as we stopped at each train station, until finally poor unlucky people at train stations closer to Munich were unable to get on the train because it was soooooo packed! Everyone was dressed up in their finest Lederhosen and the dress the women wear, and they looked pretty amazing! They had also brought some travellers (beer) for the journey! Because the train was so packed and people were still trying to get on, the train ran half an hour late, which means we missed our connecting train to Munich, which by the time we got to Munich, we were about an hour later than what we had planned. So we quickly dumped our bags and headed to the pub. Unfortunately on the way, Meg texted to say they had slept in so weren´t going to make it, but were heading straight to Oktoberfest...not happy Jan! But we headed to the pub anway. OMG, was packed!!!!!!!!! (i think this is what the whole day is going to be like!)...ended up watching the last 10 mins, but could only see like a third of the screen, haha! But managed to get a beer, just after it finished, so that brought me a little bit of serenity!

So off to Oktoberfest...on the train saw a beautiful old man and woman dressed in traditional gear (see the photo), and then we were there...was just amazing and totally indescribable! Was people everywhere, and not only did they have the beer halls, but there were places outside to get beers, and a massive carnival atmosphere with tons of rides and stalls! Was soooo huge! My fav thing of the day was the beer carousel! Spent a few beers sitting on that going round in circles watching people...also went on a couple of rollercoasters...the beer halls were packed and nobody was getting in! We had lunch in a beer hall and was really fun! The usual is half a chicken and a stein! We were so impressed that we were drinking steins (1 litre), that we bought one each as a souvenier! About 4pm we had a little snooze on the hill, like about 500 hundred other people (again see picture)...we ended up deciding to head back into the city to a pub as the place was know starting to smell like vomit and people were so smashed the were falling down and yet still MORE people were filing in!

Once we got back to the city we realised how stuffed we were from no sleep, so caught the 6pm train to Nuremberg, where Alex (from rugby) kindly picked us up and we finally got to have some sleep!

Stuttgart & Deizisau : Sept 18 - Sept 25

jolinklater — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:26:00 GMT

September 18

Today we flew into Stuttgart, Germany, took the train to Altbach and was picked up by Ulla - an old family friend of Lisa´s. We did two loads of washing as all of clothes were well and truly ready for a good wash! And best thing was that she had fabric softener and afterwards i even ironed ALL of the clothes (yes mum!). Ulla did a card reading for me, and apparently i´m getting married haha! Lisa´s were very boring, but apparently last time they said she was going to have kids, hehe!

Ulla LOVES to talk and so was very early in the morning before we got to bed!

September 19

Today we got up and went to a wedding! Was awesome! We got dressed pretty (or as well as we could with the clothes we were travelling with) and picked up a couple of Ulla´s friends and went to meet the bride. She was absolutely stunning! The groom was def batting well outside his grade! haha...German weddings are a bit strange. Everyone congregated at a central spot, then the bride AND the groom arrived in a wedding car, and then we all walked up to the church in pairs being led by a guy carrying a stick with flowers on it!

The service was nice, however i think the priest liked his own voice a bit as he spoke forever! We left Ulla there to mingle and go to the reception while we walked back home.

September 20

This morning we had a lazy Sunday and then went to watch a game of Handball. Was really awesome to watch, and am glad that i had tried the sport beforehand so that i understood what was going on, as i def couldn´t understand what people were saying. Was very physical and the Deizisau team went down by 3 goals, but they put in a very good effort! We had a beer afterwards and then walked home.

September 21

We did absolutely nothing today and it was great!!!!!!!

September 22

We were supposed to go into Stuttgart today, but didn´t actually make it...Lisa went down the street and bought a new camera (her´s got wet in the ´dry´ bag when we went scuba diving in turkey, but it ended up being a wet bag), and then we caught the bus to the next town Plochingen and got on the internet to book our travel for Oktoberfest and to Nuremberg. Is pretty funny because all the towns merge into each other and i can´t tell that we are travelling into different towns! haha...is kind of like the way suburbs work, except they aren´t suburbs, but their own little towns!

September 23

Today we took a train to another little town called Tubingen to visit one of Lisa´s friends and her bf. We watched her run a sports program for an hour for teenage girls and then went to the pub to watch the soccer and have some beers with her bf another girl and some of his mates. Was nice and relaxing. Then we headed home to bed.

September 24

Today Marietta (Lisa´s friend) had a practical exam for her PE course, so Chris her bf took us on a tour of Tubingen, including a very nice breakfast, and then to another town where just outside we drove up a hill and had lunch at the restaurant at the top which had an amazing view! Tried some traditional german food, which was ok, then back to Deizisau.

September 25

Today we went into Stuttgart and saw the Mercedes/Daimler museum. Was nice enough, but wouldn´t rave about it...it also went through other things in history that effected cars. Back home and Lisa started to cook dinner...was a traditional German meal where you put melted cheese and meat and stuff on potatoes...Ulla came home and told Lisa she had cooked the potatoes all wrong - Germans are really pedantic about how you cook potatoes and is just crazy! - but i thought they tasted fine. After tea, some of Ulla´s friends came around with there son. He had come to say goodbye to Ulla as he was leaving to go to uni at Vienna in the morning. After they left, Ulla did a card reading for me again, and again they said i was going to marry a rich guy...i don´t know about that, but at least it doesn´t say anything about kids! lol!

We re-packed our bags, and Ulla dropped us off at the train station about 12.20am all ready for out 12.40am train to Munich!

Gallery: Stuttgart

jolinklater — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:26:00 GMT

Photos from Germany

Gallery: Serbia

jolinklater — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:20:00 GMT

Photos of Belgrade & Novi Sad

Serbia : Sept 15 - Sept 17

jolinklater — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:30:00 GMT

September 15

Today we saw the sights of Belgrade (Belgrad, Beograd), Serbia. We started with the Kalemegdan, is a big park that has the Zoo and a big castle and war museum. We caught a train that took us all over the park and a much better way of seeing everything that walking! Moving south we passed the Saborna Church which is the tallest building in Serbia, and meant to annoy the Turks, just not sure how though...then onto Parliament, the courts of King Aleksandar and Milan, St Marko's church, the Sveti Sava Temple (largest Orthodox Church in the world) before heading back home. Walking around Lisa and i commented to each other how it had a similar feeling to Melbourne. That was until we encountered the bomb sites...Wow...talk about surreal, was like a set from Holywood, in the middle of the city. The photos don't do justice.

September 16

We road tripped to Novi Sad this morning, a town about 75kms from Belgrade. On the bus it took just under 2hrs. We went with the plan to see the fortress and the museum of WW1 & 2 history. We arrived in Novi Sad and went to find an information centre. The first one was closed (seems to be a running theme for information centres to be closed or under construction here in Serbia), so we went to the ticket information booth. The woman spoke little English, but enough to tell us to catch the #4 bus to the centre. So, once at the centre we spent about 20mins looking for the information place. No luck. Lisa went into a hotel and was given the directions, right then right. I'm like, that will take us back to where we were though?! but we did as we were told, and as expected we arrived from where we came from...so instead of the second right we backtracked and went left. We finally found the information centre about 3.45pm and we greeted with the fabulous news that the centre closed at 3.30pm!!!!!!!!! FARK! So in a town were noone really spoke English, no map, no idea what these places are called, what to do. We decided to wing it and jump on a bus. Lucky for us the bus driver basically understood what we wanted after a few minutes of charades and then we were on the right bus to the fortress. What a disappointment haha! I was expecting a big fortress and castle, but instead was just a few walls in the ground! haha! We hiked up the hill and found the museum, but the guy in the doorway motioned no, said closed and then proceed to close the door! What a pisser...we clearly not our lucky day! We caught the train back to Belgrade (only $3.50AUD!!!!!!) and got back to the hostel about 8.30pm. We then got talked into going out (twist my arm), so a croatian guy, an american guy, two germans and us headed out to get some fruit flavoured beer. We were supposed to meet up with the croatian guys friends and see them play in a heavy rock place, but they called and cancelled (bugger, hehe!), so we headed to a club. O..M..G! i can't even describe where we went to! Was underground in a basement and was like 70's, 80's, 90's mix with some serbian/german folk songs chucked in...ridiculous! Was such a fun night! Lisa and i left the guys still partying about 3am, stopped for some food, and was in bed about 4am.

September 17

Up late this morning for obvious reasons and have just bludged all day. Might head to a football match this evening with some french guys who have come over to watch Toulouse play a Serbian team.

So the 4 guys from last night, Lisa and myself head out to the football stadium. There are tons! of people there and the thing that caught my eye - or actually ALL of my attention - was the 300 hundred (or so it seemed) riot police! There were sooooooo many of them and they were fully decked out in their riot gear...much more gear than i have seen or guys were on the news and stuff...the noise from the crowd inside the stadium is pretty crazy, sounds like there are 100,000 fans all screaming at once! We buy our tickets and are walking around to the entrance, when all of a sudden an ambulance comes screaming out of the ground and in the window i saw the ambulance crew putting and holding gauze on the side of this guys neck and shoulder...i immediately thought stabbing, and on the news later on we found out it was...lisa and i were like, what the hell have we got ourselves into! The croatian guy was telling us not to worry, because i think he could see us starting to slightly freak out! Getting into the stadium was worse than going through australian customs! They searched our bags, threw away lighters and then we got padded down (like police do on criminals) as well! So finally into the stadium and two ends are totally packed...our side and the one opposite to us is pretty full, and then you have the section where the Toulouse fans are sitting. Freaking hilarious!!!!!!!! There are about 20 of them, and they are fully guarded each side by a line of riot police as well as security people not to mention a huge fence!

Toulose scores first, and luckily there are all those security things in place, because some of the serbian fans are nearly over the fence, and are eally abusing the hell out of the Toulose guys, and not just your run of the mill stuff you see at afl, but really "i´m going to kill you, if i get you" kind of thing! The end to our left, is totally chockers and the whole way through the match they have drums, chants and songs! Was very entertaining!

We had thought about meeting up with the French guys after the match, but Toulose won, and apparently visiting team supporters have to wait for the arena to empty, before they are escorted out to a special bus to take them back to where they were picked up from, crazy!

They arrived back at the hotel not long after us and went straight to the computer. Apparently they were sitting in a bar in the city an hour or two before the match started and a group of Serbian guys walked up to them and started a punch on...clearly the French guys were outnumbered, and two of them were taken to hospital (as well as one serbian), with one of them in a coma!!! Glad i didn´t hear that before hand, or i probably wouldn´t have gone! Can´t believe how ridiculous soccer fans are...apparently stuff like this happens at most soccer games, just stupid! Hello, is a game people!

Packed our bags, and went to bed, as have an early flight out to Stuttgart in the morn.

Istanbul : Sept 11 - Sept 14

jolinklater — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:30:00 GMT

September 11

We arrived at the bus station to take us from Bodrum to Turkey about 9.45pm. While everyone was loading their luggage, we noticed a guy in black pants and vest with a white pinstripe, curious, we jumped on the bus and a few minutes later we were on our way. So once the bus gets out of Bodrum, this guy in the 'waiter' like clothes puts some gloves on and proceeds to walk up the bus giving the people water in a plastic glass, then offers tea/coffee and then comes back again with this roll/cake thing. Brilliant! And to make it better it was all free! We need service like this in Oz! What also made this a great bus ride unlike previous ones, is that we only stopped twice in the 12 hour trip! We were excited because we hoped we might have been able to get some sleep...but who were we kidding, no sleeping on a bus when you have someone sitting next to you!

About 10.30am we arrive in Istanbul and thankfully to no flooding. Our directions then say to catch the metro to a specific stop and then to catch a tram to Sultanahamet. We step off the bus and see no signs pointing in the direction of the train station. A man comes up and says something in Turkish (obviously we have No idea what he says), look at him blankly and then he says 'where', we say metro and he points over there, so we head over. Another guy asks the same thing and we tell him and this time he points us to a bus? We head over and the sign says Sultanahamet, so we jump on...we assume that there is a problem with the train system maybe due to the flooding and it isn't until the 3rd stop and other buses have gone by with a big METRO sign on them that we realise that the bus company is called Metro! lol...fools!

After a bit more travel we make it to our hotel which is nicely positioned in the middle of the city, 2mins walk from Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque. We dump our bags and decide to take a walk. We find out that it's 20 Turkish Lira to enter the Aya Sofya and decide against this (1TL = 1AUD). So decide on a Turkish coffee instead. While sitting we start chatting to the waiter about how we would like to do a water pipe later that evening and he says we should come back for tea as it is Ramazan (Ramadan is Oz), and it will be free - due to the language barrier we weren't sure whether he was talking about the pipe or dinner, but either way we said we'd come back!

Just after 7.30pm we head back to the cafe and are absolutely gobsmacked when we see the place. Is packed!!!!! There are people everywhere! some sitting and some standing in line and others walking around with polystyrene trays (the ones that look like the trays the army uses) overflowing with food! We must have looked pretty shocked as some ladies motioned for us to sit down, which we did, and a few Turkish words later and we had one of these trays in front of us as well as chips with mayo and sauce and a plate of olives and extra bread. The tray had soup, which tasted a little chickeny but better, a stew, rice, and sweets, plus half a loaf of bread! Was one of the most delicious meals ever!

Turns out that the ladies are the wives of the owners and explains why they were eating on plates and had extra food (like Nutella!). We were so massively full, we sat there watching the comings and goings of people and by about 8.30pm, the place was quite empty. Talking to the owners, we found out that every night during the 30 days of Ramazan, they put on this free dinner for anybody that wants it, and they give big helpings because most people have been fasting between sunrise and sunset, and are obviously hungry! Most nights he said they feed over 600 people! Amazing!

After letting our stomachs settle a bit, we decide on a strawberry and a peach water pipe. Was a very different experience, and weird that the smoke tasted like strawberry or peaches! While was something i think you should do while in Turkey (When in Rome...) i don't think i'll be in any hurry to do again.

September 12

This morning we got up and had a traditional Turkish breakfast (see photo), again we gorged ourselves and needed someone to roll us out the door! The rest of the day we spent looking around Istanbul and then in the afternoon we headed to The Blue Mosque - not super amazing, pretty similar to the one we saw in Sunshine before we left Oz - and then onto the Grand Bizaar. On the way we dropped into a jewellery store and picked up a free 'evil eye' courtesy of the hostel. The Grand Bizaar was hilarious! Was like the Vic market, but indoors and people kept yelling at you when you walked by their shops. Was really good to see, although we didn't buy anything.

September 13

Gallipoli day. Up about 5.15am and we were waiting outside at 6am for our bus pick up. A van pulled up and we jumped in. In hindsight, or if we had of been more awake that early in the morning, maybe we should have asked a few more questions (or actually one!) as the van didn't have any signs on it and was just a random turkish man! oops...luckily for us, we went past more hostels and picked up another three couples. He dropped us off at a massive bus station, and about an hour on the bus later we realised we were on a public bus and not a tour bus. The other 3 couples were still with us and we all spoke about it and decided we would wait to see what happened when we got to Gallipoli and hopefully there would be people there to meet us.

At Gallipoli we jumped off the bus and a guy walked up with a piece of paper in his hand that had our names on it, yay! Inside the hotel to drop off our bags and pick up a packed lunch, and we were on another bus (this one much smaller) and on our way to the battle fields. I'm not even going to try and describe Gallipoli, is a thing you really just have to do yourself. Was just amazing and moving and so many emotions all at the same time, including anger at the stupid British who stuffed up sooooo many times, and if they had a brain the result may have been very, very different!

Back to the town to pick up our bags and catch the big bus back to Istanbul. I mentioned to Lisa, i have a feeling that we are going to breakdown, and we had a bit of a laugh about it. Guess what. We broke down. We had a mini freak out during the second breakdown time as we had our flight out to Serbia at 7.45am and the shuttle bus was picking us up at 5.50am. Anyway, we finally made it back to Istanbul at 2am (instead of 11.30pm), and i suggested to Lisa that maybe she should just check her emails and check what time we were flying out. I don't know how pyschic i was that day, but i should have bought a lottery ticket. Instead of the flight being at 7.45am, it was actually 19.45, 7.45PM!!!!!!! I gave Lisa a truckload of sh*t, but was also very happy that at least we would get more than 3 hours sleep!

September 14

So, a free day that we didn't expect! We took advantage of this by having a bit of a sleep in, then decided to see the palace and spice bazaar. The palace was expensive again to go and see, and from the pictures on the outside, didn't really look worth it, so we trundled off to the spice bazaar. You could smell the place from miles away, and was pretty amazing. Again, the usual people yelling at you and saying hi to grab your attention. The spices were so colourful and there was masses of honey everywhere!

On the way out i also bought some perfume on the cheap, 3 bottles for very little!

Back to the hostel, pack and off to the airport.

Gallery: Gallipoli

jolinklater — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:57:00 GMT

Photos of Gallipoli

Bodrum : Sept 9 - Sept 10

jolinklater — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:12:00 GMT

September 9

OMG, if we were worried about catching a ferry to Kos and not having tickets booked to then get to Turkey, we should have been more worried about the present! So we loaded up the van to get from Perissa to the Port to catch the ferry to Kos. Instead of the owner driving us, he arranged for Papa and Mama to take us to the port so he could get some sleep...i'm glad someone did!

So Papa finally wakes up 15 mins late and we are on our way...we start off quite slowly and we are nervous about getting to the port on time...the roads we were on started to get a bit narrower, yet was still quite open, and i noticed Lisa's hands move towards something to hold on to, just as mine were doing...i don't know whether Papa was still asleep, but we were starting to get concerned not if we would get there on time, but whether we would get there in one piece! haha...and if we thought the open roads were bad, then we def needed new underwear when it came to navigating the windy steep road from the top of the island back down to the port (check out the photos!). By some freak luck chance of nature, we made it to the port in one piece and with plenty of time for the ferry.

Our next nervousness occured when we got onto the ferry (again, check out the photos)...we were directed to the third level, and when we opened the door, it looked like we were in a refugee centre! There were kids and kids and parents strewn everywhere on the floor with bright blankets tucked around them, one kid still had a bottle in its mouth that we swear was drinking while asleep...plastic chairs and tables covered in filth completed the picture. Now Lisa and i expect second class status, but this was ridiculous! Lucky we are nice girls, and i was able to sweet talk the porter to letting us down a level and made ourselves comfortable on the couches.

Arriving in Kos at 5am and it was still dark, so if there had of been no clouds we would actually have seen the sunrise, but was unfort too overcast for this. At 10am we boarded the ferry to Bodrum in southern Turkey and an our later we found ourselves buying a visa for Turkey at the wonderful price of 15euro, and finally got a stamp for my passport, yay!

Bodrum we soon found out is a very new up and coming tourist town, and as soon as we stepped off the ferry we were greeted with sales people selling everything you could think of, including very cheap perfume!

We didn't have a hostel booked, but a guy we met on the ferry from Kos said he had booked one and they were coming to pick him up, so we just hitched a ride to his hostel and thankfully they had a couple of extra beds for Lisa and I.

We must now have been running on adrenaline and not thinking, because instead of going to bed for some sleep (after getting none the night before), we said yes for going on a tour of a village.

An hour later and we were at the Village Etrim drinking Turkish coffee and Sage tea at a coffee house. There were old men there playing games kind of like dominoes and women herding cows by to milk, just as you would totally expect in Turkey, was crazy!

We were then taken by the guide to his parents house and his lovely mum brought us lunch which was beyond delicious! (LOVE turkish food!) and then took us into the house to show us the carpets that the local women make. Was pretty unbelievable...most of the carpets take at least 4 months and some up to a year! They were really beautiful and some of the best ones were made of silk. Lisa was clearly running on nothing, because she was talked into buying a silk carpet, but was absolutely gorgeous! and last time she was in Turkey, her Grandmother and her nearly bought one, and this was much cheaper so she jumped at the opportunity. The setup is really good, as the company is run as a cooperative, so 95% goes to the women and community, and the company keeps 5% as commission.

After spending about 5 hours in the village, we headed back and had a traditional Turkish dinner cooked by another Mamma! Man, the food is seriously sooooooo good! Who knew i even liked eggplant!

September 10

Up early this morning to be taken scuba diving...in Turkey! We got picked up, and after dropping in at the supermarket to pick up ingredients for lunch, we were at the dock and getting onto the boat. Was a very nice boat, and we headed upstairs to enjoy the sunshine while we motored our way to the dive site. There were four experienced divers so they went first, and then when they returned Lisa, myself and an English lady took our turn. Was really beautiful, lots of different fish to see and coral, and black sea sponge stuff and visibility was pretty unbelievable!

Back up and have some lunch, then another sunbake before our second dive. This time we went down to about 12-15m and saw some more fish, a star fish, sea grass and some other cool stuff. Back home about 5pm and quite stuffed, so we chilled in the pool, and then again back upstairs to the restaurant for another mamma's special (so good, and mum you'll be impressed because it is soooooooo healthy!). A bit of tv watching then we caught the 10.30pm bus for overnight travel to Istanbul. We are hoping that the floods that have apparently killed 23 so far, haven't reached southern Istanbul (they are about 150kms north west)...the girls on the boat said their mum was a tour guide and her work hadn't been interrupted, but spose we'll just have to wait till we hit Istanbul in about 12hours time!

Gallery: Turkey

jolinklater — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:46:00 GMT

Photos from Bodrum, Istanbul & Gallipoli

Gallery: Santorini

jolinklater — Tue, 8 Sep 2009 12:49:00 GMT

Photos of Santorini

Santorini : Sept 3 - Sept 8

jolinklater — Tue, 8 Sep 2009 12:43:00 GMT

September 3

So we caught the midnight ferry and was actually very nice! We grabbed ourselves a nice dark corner and rolled out the sleeping bag, and had quite a good sleep! Woke up about 9am and then had a pleasant view of arriving into Santorini at 11.30am.

OMGosh...we hadn't booked a hostel to stay in because many people had told us we would be greated by people when we got off, wanting us to stay with them and that we could barter them against each other and get a cheaper price...well, that was certainly true! As soon as we stepped one foot off the boat, i felt like i was a super star and totally famous! There were so many people behind the barriers calling out (i had no idea what they were saying because it was too loud!)...so we went and chatted to a couple of people, before settling on a hotel in Perissa. A short trip later up the side of the huge cliff and down the other side and we were at Perissa...the hotel is really nice, has a pool and our own private room and balcony, sweet!

The sun was shining, so we took advantage of this and chilled by the pool.

September 4

Today we decided to take a tour to the Volcano, mineral springs, the town of Oia and to watch the sunset there...so we got up early, left the hotel about 10am, went back to the Port and took a ferry to the Volcano which was on another island a few minutes away. Was pretty huge and took us about 30mins to climb to the top and the ground really looked like it was the moon! 15mins walking around, and thenn 20mins down and we were back on the boat, drenched with sweat and ready for the mineral springs...a short ferry ride later, with the smell of sulphur getting stronger and we jumped from the ferry into the ocean and swam down through some rocks into the 'mineral springs'...not exactly what we imagined mineral springs to look like in the fact that it was just a dead end from the ocean...however it was quite warm, and the rocks just above the water were a bright orange colour.

Back on the boat and we headed to another town, or rather another port, as to get to the town you had to climb a million pratically vertical stairs to get to the top of the cliff where the town was...alternatively for 5euros, you could sit on a donkey and get it to take you to the top...guess which i chose! haha...only took about 10mins to the top on the donkey and was quite a fun ride! We spent about 15mins looking around the town and admiring the view, and then we took on the treacherous task of walking back down to catch the boat to our final destination of Oia.

So we arrive at Oia, and again we need to scale a mountain side before we can reach the town. Luckily there are more donkeys to help our plight! 5 more euros well spent and we were at the top and started to look around Oia. Was about 4pm by now, and we had to kill time until 7.40pm when sunset would take place. Apparently the best vantage point was at the edge of town (and also edge of the cliff), so we headed down there about 6.30pm and the place was already starting to get full...we found ourselves a nice little place to sit and waited until the sunset. Was quite nice, but really not as great as the massive hype around it and i can say we def have better ones in Aust, but was still nice to do.

We headed back into town to catch the bus from Oia back to Perissa and our hotel, and nearly found ourselves stranded in Oia, because our bus driver was apparently 'sick', so luckily we talked another bus driver into giving us a lift back with them!

September 5

Today was a very lazy day and after getting up quite late, we went for a walk down to the 'Black' beach - due to the beach being made of dark pebbles not sand - to see if we go could diving or snorkelling...they were booked out for that day, so we arranged to go snorkelling the next day. On the way back we dropped in at the Travel centre and inquired about the cheapest way to get to Turkey. After some internet searches on air fares, we decided to catch the ferry to Kos, then to Bodrum which is in southern Turkey, stay the night, then head to Istanbul the next day.

September 6

This morning we were at the diving centre by 9.30am and were kitted up to go snorkelling...they were 6 other people joinging us, but they were going diving. We headed out to our first site and had the adventure pleasure of being taken on a wave jumping boat, was pretty awesome! Unfortunately the snorkelling was not as impressive, and we decided we were glad that we had not paid to go diving! Another fun boat ride back, a quick stop to have something to eat and drink, and another boat ride to the next spot...here we were promised caves to snorkel in, but once there again a disappoinment, but only one cave and today the sea was too rough to go in, plus we then found out you can only go in about 12m and you can't see anything! haha...but still had a nice time floating in the water, and watching the divers learn!

Once out of the water and back into the boat, and lisa all of a sudden leans out of the boat and spews everywhere! the fish had a feeding frenzy, and i was just hoping the divers weren't about to surface, because was on their side! haha...another spew a few minutes later this time out of the other side of the boat, and she was feeling a little better, and i think it also helped that one of the divers said he had spewed 3 times while he was down there!

So another quick trip on the boat of fun, and we were back at the pier and a short time later back at the beach and dive centre.

We headed straight back to our hotel and Lisa went for a little lie down and i headed to the pool.

That night we ventured into Perissa town centre and had a meal. We asked for water, a coke, chips, garlic bread, a greek salad, and a pork souvlaki (gyros if you are in Greece); what we got was wine, water, chips, toasted bread, a greek salad and a slab of pork on a plate! haha! quite funny...

September 7

Today we hired a quad bike and toured around the island of Santorini (also known as Thira). We saw many, many wineries, and had quite a few laughs when our 50cc quadbike with two people and a bag on board was trying to climb back up huge mountains as the island is very hilly! i think most of the time we went up a hill our top speed was about 20kms, but usually about 15kms! coming down the hills was great fun (lisa didn't think so! haha) and we were able to get up to about 50kms...

We stopped in Fira for some lunch, and watched the owner Mama yell at some customers because they wanted the breakfast menu at 12.50 and it closed at 1pm...then they said fine they'll just have coffee and she yelled and said no, if this is a place for food, go to the coffee shop over there if you want coffee...was quite funny...and so they left...she turned out to be quite a hilarious person, so was an entertaining lunch.

After lunch, we head to Kamari and had a bit of a swim, then an icecream and back on the bike to head to a little cafe we saw to have a cocktail (spelt coktail in Santorini hehe!) and watch the sunset. Luckily we had a bit of time up our sleeve, because boy did we get lost, and instead of going down the mountain, we went up and around it...but was all good fun!

Was getting extremely windy by the time we had our cocktails, so after one, we decided stuff the sunset, it happens all the time, lets head back to our hotel!

September 8

Today is our last day, so we packed up and just taking it easy by the pool until 10pm tonight when we will be driven down to the port to catch our 12.40am ferry to Kos.

Athens : Aug 31 - Sep 2

jolinklater — Wed, 2 Sep 2009 15:16:00 GMT

August 31

We arrive at the airport and are greeted by about a 50 army men all in their uniforms, looking very fine and dandy...so Lisa and i sat for about 30mins until we had to go board our flight, and took in the 'scenery', mmm...haha...

The plane boarded about 10-15 mins late, but we didn't think anything of it until we had taken our seats but the plane didn't move...then over the loud speaker the captain comes over and says the control tower has informed him that because of the high traffic we can either use half a runway to take off, or wait an hour...i wanted to yell out use half the run way! but instead he chose to wait an hour...man, not cool...waiting one hour on a plane and not being able to get off...although we didn't have too much to complain about, because we didn't have to catch a connecting flight like some people which they were def going to miss!

Finally arrive in Athens and is quite an easy trip from the airport into the city...the trip from the city to our hostel was not quite as easy and Lisa and i were well and truly ready for a rest once we had found where we were...(again, cities in Europe really need to invest in signs!). It started to rain not long after and so we decided a trip to the cinemas was in order and saw "I hate Valentines Day".

September 1 (despite Lisa writing in her journal 32/08/09)

Because we were itching to get to Santorini, we decided to do the Hop on, Hop off bus tour to try and see Athens in one day. Mission accomplished!

Just as with Rome, if you imagined the ruins as buildings the places would have been huge! Mostly everything was made of marble and a bit of limestone.

We drove past the stadium where the first modern Olympics were held. Very well preserved and all made of white stone, and was a pretty awesome sight for our first trip through Athens.

We jumped off the bus at the Acropolis and scaled the mountainside to the top and the view of Athens was pretty damned amazing, as was the Acropolis! A lot of the structure had netting and scaffolding on it, as they are trying to restore it to how it was way back when.

Back on the bus and our next jump off was at the National Archaelogical museum. Lisa was very excited to see the gold death mask of Agamemnon - who is the guy that took over Troy with the big horse filled with people.

The museum was pretty small, but had lots of items made out of gold, and the jewellery was pretty damn awesome, even some pieces that i would like for my collection!

Kinda happy that we got to see basically all of Athens in one day...not my fav city, is very old and run down and lots of 'commission' style houses from when there was a big population influx into Athens that they had to accommodate quickly. Plus everyone is so damn rude!!! Somebody forgot to add onto their customer service description that you need to provide customer service and preferably with a smile, or at least recognising that you are speaking to someone...not cool! Know i realise why they say Australians are nice...because we actually treat people with respect! and use please and thankyou! lol...

September 2

Today we have caught the metro to Piraeus and booked ourselves a seat on a ferry leaving at 12midnight getting into Santorini tomoz at 11.30am. There was a ferry that left this morning at 8am, but we missed it by about 3 hours, haha!

So, spending our time catching up on emails and being a tourist...can't wait for the crystal clear beaches at Santorini! YAY!

Gallery: Athens

jolinklater — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 20:24:00 GMT

Photos of Athens

Gallery: Rome & Pompeii

jolinklater — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:57:00 GMT

Photos of Rome

Gallery: Lisbon

jolinklater — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:49:00 GMT

Photos of Lisbon

Gallery: Salamanca

jolinklater — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:44:00 GMT

Gallery: La Alberca

jolinklater — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:30:00 GMT

A couple of photos from La Alberca that we are allowed to put up