To those following along and wondering why it took six months to get our last few posts up, we say: "Sorry". The missing posts are here: ancient Athens, relaxing Paros, beautiful Santorini, and the somewhat arduous Journey Home.

Be sure to check out the archives to see if you missed any posts. Also check out the masthead archive for a quick overview of the places we went.

Thanks for following along.

Phil and Jeni
11 January 2007

The ferry left at midnight, and even though it was the first ferry off the island, we were perplexed by the urgency and aggressiveness of the people waiting in line for boarding. We later discovered why. The ferry of course was completely overbooked and although we thought we had assigned seating (we never assumed a bed was part of the deal, but at least a seat we expected), we discovered it was a free-for-all. We did manage to find a patch of carpet (instead of the cold hard deck outdoors), where I slept on the floor and Phil managed to scam an uncomfortable crappy lounge seat for the night. There were bodies everywhere. Such was the beginnings of our travel experience back to Sydney.

We arrived at the mainland at some terribly early hour of the morning, and proceeded to work out how to get to the airport from the ferry terminal. We figured since we had time and taxis were hard to come by, we may as well try the Express Airport Bus. Turns out express buses in Greece stop at all stops--not very "express". In addition, it was crowded, no available seating, and as I standing in the entrance, I was repeatedly bashed by the bus doors opening and closing for people to get on and off. Such a lovely experience after our night of sleeping on a ferry floor.

And it doesn't stop there... So far we've been waiting or travelling for 36 hours, with the prospect of a 24 hour flight ahead of us. Next up: the flight from Athens to Bahrain on (gulp) Gulf Air.

After attempting to "shower" and change clothes in the airport bathroom, we wasted away what seemed an eternity at an airport café, then when it was time to check in, off we went. We were flying Gulf Air, Athens to Bahrain to Singapore to Sydney. We arrived at check-in to a teeming mass of Arab men, each with a massive amount of luggage, in hard suitcases each larger than me. We were a bit puzzled by the group, maybe they had all just been at a conference or something, and they seemed to know each other or be acquainted in some round about way. Unsurprisingly we were singled out by security and allowed to check in ahead of the masses who each had to have their lugged weighed and measured for compliance to the flight restrictions. It was all a bit little chaotic.

So off we went to the lounge to wait for boarding. This is where I began to notice the dominance of men on this flight of ours. It wasn't until we had actually boarded that I realised, apart from the hostesses, there was only one other woman in first class, and then myself. I know I am prone to exaggeration, but this was real--only two women on the plane, me the only one in economy class. I wasn't really sure how I should feel about it, but I certainly felt like I had many eyes on me, but didn't feel in any danger or threatened in any way. It was all very strange.

The whole time Phil was very apprehensive about making our connection in Bahrain. It was only a one hour layover. If we missed it, we were spending the night in Bahrain, which would add another 24 hours to our trip since there is but one Gulf Air flight per day from Bahrain to Singapore. But much to our relief the arriving plane landed early and we started our boarding process well ahead of schedule. Our relief was to be short-lived however. It took forever to get everyone seated.

It seemed the entire plane full of adults had been replaced with 10-year old children, and that every man on this plane had either just bought his first cameraphone, digital camera, or movie camera while in Greece. And every single one of them had to play with it at the same time. Every guy on the plane was wandering around, socialising, and taking pictures. Plus, no one understood the how the seat assignments worked. Everyone was in the wrong seat. The hostess would attempt to seat someone, find some other hapless person in that seat, then reseat that guy. Repeat over and over.

It took over an hour to get everyone seated. An hour! Finally, after all of this chaos and as Phil slowly began to lose it, someone got on the PA and announced that the plane would not leave until everyone had taken their seats and buckled up--it was like being at school! What followed is a sound that we will never forget. The sound of an entire 767 of passengers buckling their seatbelts at the same instant. Bizarre.

The rest of the flight proceeded uneventfully. Landing, was another matter. The second we touched down, and I mean the second, the entire plane unbuckled their seatbelts and at least half of the plane got up to start getting their luggage down out of the overheads. This is while we are hurtling down the runway at a couple of hundred miles per hour. Perhaps, they had a flight to catch too. A panicked flight attendant managed to take control of the situation and we were able to get to the gate without further mishap.

It appeared that we had a chance of making our connection. If we could figure out how to navigate the Bahrain airport in 15 minutes.

What followed is a blur. We have vague memories of sprinting through a very crazy international departure lounge--men in robes, women in veils, Louis Vuitton stores, you name it. We were in a full sprint and unbelievably managed to get to the gate just as boarding was starting. Unbelievable.

The Gulf Air flights to Singapore and then on to Sydney were both "boringly normal" to borrow a phrase from Michael Craig. We were able to get some sleep and even able to do some duty free shopping in the Singapore airport.

We touched down in Sydney on July 7, 2006. We made it.

The cliffs, white washed buildings with blue accents, and the pink flowers are classic imagery and is exactly what Santorini is like. We took a three to four hour ferry from Paros and only had a few hours to walk around the villages of Fira and Oia. But it was worth it, it was hard to take a bad shot.

A shout out to our friend, Ntina Antoniou. We found a jewelry/wine shop called Antoniou. The owner was very nice, told some good stories, and sold us a bottle of vinsanto (an excellent dessert wine). A photo for you.

Mostly we organised our excursions around meals. The most memorable was a great restaurant at the northern tip of the island that had expensive, but great, food and was situated overlooking a beach. Perfect for a dip pre and post lunch.

We continued our fascination of tzatziki and Greek salad and other classic dishes at many restaurants, mostly in Aliki. The drying squid hanging out the front of the majority of restaurants in Paros was certainly a novelty, but I don’t remember it tasting so good.

Much of the time on Paros was VERY windy, including the evening we arrived which had caused a black out (this made finding our hotel quite an adventure). One of the perks though was the amount of wind water sports on the island, including the very impressive Kite Boarding. I was tempted to take some lessons, but thought better of it given I was pregnant... Phil booked in for some diving, but the wind decided to cancel that, and we ended up doing neither.

One day we took an excursion to Antiparos. A small island just a 15-minute car ferry away. Antiparos is even slower and more desolate than Paros proper.

On Antiparos, there is the fantastic Cave of Antiparos. It is absolutely enormous, about 400 steps deep. Unfortunately the tips of many of the stalagmites and stalactites have been looted over the years (mostly by Russian soldiers in the early 1700's). The most bizarre thing, other than the hideous lighting, is the 300 year old graffiti. Lord Byron even left his mark.

Another excursion took us to Lefkes, the island's highest village. It was very peaceful and almost empty.

The main town on Paros is Parikia, the island's capital and port. It was a little busy for our taste and other than renting our car and killing time waiting for the ferry (more about that in the next post), not much doing in Parikia. Once you got off the busy road along the water there were some very charming paths that wound through the village.

One amusing item in Parikia was a castle that was built by Marco Sanudo, the Venitian Duke of Naxos in 1260 on the remains of a temple to Athena. Being a great student of architecture, old Marco simply incorporated bits of the marble in ad-hoc fashion.

All in all, the Greek Islands were not what I expected at all (I was thinking more Whitsundays or the Caribbean, where the islands are small, close together, encourage sailing, and are more tropical). The Greek Islands are much larger, and quite a distance from each other – not island hopping material – and are very dry and arid, not lush or tropical at all. But our stay on Paros was very pleasant, and just what we needed before heading home.

We arrived at the bus station and got a taxi to our little hotel. From our room we got our first glimpse of the Acropolis, a majestic ruin on top of a hill that the entire city sprawls around. An impressive sight. A visit to the actual ruins though is somewhat disappointing, with a lot of scaffolding and reconstructed ruins to make it appear as it once was.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus on the other hand was truly worth a visit. We were practically the only ones there, a nice change from other tourist attractions, and the sight was awe inspiring. The columns tower over you and your imagination is left to envisage what it once could have been like.

We also paid a visit to the Ancient Agora, where Socrates spent most of his time expounding his philosophy.

Continuing our success in eating in Greece, we found excellent souvlaki and went back multiple times for more. We also ate out in Plaka a few times, in trendy outdoor restaurants situated on cobbled streets on the hill of the Acropolis. Quite an experience.

One curious site was Tom's Recycled Garden. Apparently, Tom is an Irishman who has a penchant for making political statements out of bits of junk.

We stayed in a cute little place that was cheaper than the one in Rome but 100 times better quality. We had a wonderful little balcony and a breakfast feast delivered to us daily. The hotel was on one of the small marble streets, almost vehicle free (a few bikes and extra small cars every now and then), surrounded by the stereotypical whitewashed buildings and random remnants of the old town including crumbling buildings and dried up water fountains.

We found excellent traditional Greek food at Zorbas (we tried a few other places but kept going back to Zorbas), we ate such yummy things as zatziki (every meal--Phil was, and still is obsessed), keftedes (meat balls - but not as good as Ntinas!), zuchinni balls, eggplant dip, greek salad, moussaka, saganaki (fried cheese) etc. etc. You get the idea. We like Greek food. I also discovered the "Frappe with ice cream"--best drink eva--double shot of espresso (they like it strong) over a scoop of ice cream. Mum you need to make a trip to Greece just for this!

It was also in Nafplio where we discovered our own personal swimming spot in the harbour. There is a walkway that runs around the the point, and every now and then some steps down to the rocky shoreline. We saw the locals making use of these and of course tried it out ourselves. Swimming alone in the crystal clear Mediterranean sea after the heat of Rome was soooooooooo good!

All the time we were staying in Nafplio we discussed getting up early enough (before it got too hot) to walk the (supposed) 999 steps up to the Palamidi Fortress that overlooks the town. The arrival of our last day forced the issue and we ventured up the hill. Built by the Venetions in 1711-1714, it was remarkably intact, amazingly vast, and regarded as a masterpiece of military architecture--I expect mostly because it's on top of a rocky, completely untraversable hill. From the 216m high rocky outcrop we had excellent views of the surrounding sea and countryside, and the town below.

We stayed in the worst hotel so far on our trip--I should say the hotel with the worst bathroom so far on our trip. It had one of those handheld shower-heads, but in this case the mount was broken so you had to hold it or the water went everywhere. But since this was combined with the fact that there was no shower curtain, water going everywhere was an inevitability. The worst shower was compounded with a tub that basically was like standing in a cone, there wasn't really a flat bit to stand on. Fantastic.

Enough of that.

On our first day, we thought we'd check out the Vatican museum. We had a slow start and didn't get there until about 11. At which point the line was 1.5 hours long. It stretched as far as the eye could see, around the corner, as far as you could see again, around another corner, you get the idea. Needless to say, we bailed on our first attempt to see this museum of riches. We instead did a bit of walking, through the park (The Villa Borghese) then through central Rome. Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, all the highlights. Jeni particularly liked Trevi Fountain, a bit of an oasis in a concrete city.

On our second day, we thought we would try the Vatican again. This time we had a plan. We thought it a good one. We got to Saint Peter's Basilica at 7:30am, which was fantastic. The largest Christian church in the world, almost empty, it was excellent. We were able to casually take it all in without feeling like we were in a tourist trap. We were in the first group that went up to the dome--excellent views of Rome.

We then attempted the museum again. This is where the plan fell apart. We started our walk from St. Peter's square a little after 8:30 and made it to the end of the line a few minutes later. It was actually longer than it was when were there the day before! We gave up and accepted it, we waited in line for 1.5 hours. Joy.

The wait was worth it, the museum was big enough that it was able to take in the crowds without feeling packed--well other than the Sistene Chapel. The Vatican museum is pretty crazy, there is just a ton of stuff. It feels like it has the same quantity of treasures as the Louvre, in a space less than half the size. There is one room, which used to be called the Room of the Miscellanea, now the Room of the Candleabra (the old name was more accurate). It had more than 1000 sculptures, it was practically stacked.

The highlight, of course, was the Sistene Chapel--totally worth the hype. A couple of amusing aspects of the experience, there is supposed to be no photography and no talking. The first was mostly followed (though still ignored), but the latter was not at all. People would whisper for a few minutes, then the volume would steadily increase until about ten minutes later it was deafening, at which point a guard would yell to be quiet, and the cycle would repeat.

The frescoes were great though. Worth a vist.

Day three was ancient Rome. We started with the Colluseum where we bit-the-bullet and got a guided tour. Totally worth it as we learnt a few good nuggets of information, the most interesting being the reason for all the holes in the walls--looting of iron reinforcements to make weapons in the Dark Ages (800-1200 AD). The Colluseum was pretty cool, definitely a highlight. We finished up about 11am and continued onto Pallatine Hill. Did you know that Europe in summer can get hot? Really HOT! This was a day we truly felt it, as the Hill and the Roman Forum had scarce trees for shade and lots of dust and of course ruins. We managed a few hours of walking around but bailed for air conditioning early afternoon.

Rome is a great city, the amount of random ruins, continually running drinking fountains, and late night activity gave it a real atmosphere. We didn't seem to find the good food but I'm sure it's there--maybe for more euros than we wanted to spend.

One find for you Ntina, we saw a mint VW Karmen Ghia on the streets of this medieval village, I took a photo for you. Don't cry!

We spent quite a bit of time in Florence, about 4 days, which worked out well because we were a little burnt out and needed some down-time. Our hotel was in this great old building from the 16th century, with nice 15 foot ceilings. The location was a bit odd, though convenient due to its proximity to the train station, but across the street from Cartier, next door to Prada and Gucci. Not bad for 90 euros.

Looking down from our hotel room.

The HUGE doors to our hotel that I couldn't open without help.

In addition to meeting up with Eric every now and then, we also met up with Fred (a college friend of Phil's) who was in town for a Neuroscience conference. We met for dinner and had a good time with him and his colleagues from the conference.

Over 4 days we did a few key sites but highlights include eating and drinking venues. The first we found was a cafe in a little laneway that offered a significant selection of really good wines, excellent meat and cheese plates, and other yummy goodies, including one of the best Brucettas eva! BTW, the quality of tomatoes in Italy is phenomenal -- and because I'm writing this from Greece, I can also say thery are excellent in Greece too.) It was also at this fine establishment we had a New York experience and sat next to Charlotte's second husband from Sex in the City. Many hours were spent whiling away the time here.

Another cool find was an authentic, hole-in-the-wall wine bar that had been there forever, was extremely popular and had bar-style seating for only about 8 people, and so always had crowds spilling into the street. The wine was excellent, the snacks/tapas were fabulous, and the atmosphere really friendly and lively.

Apart from eating and drinking, we did see some sights, the crowds were challenging but we still persevered and made it to the Uffizi museum, containing MANY scuptures, mostly of naked men, and of course many renaissance paintings. The Duomo in Florence was a unique building, different to the majority of other churches we had seen so far in Europe. It was strange to look at because it appears flat (like a picture and not three dimensional) and is really huge and the exterior is all marble, amazing to imagine how they could source so much of it. Due to long lines and closure the day we decided to brave the crowds, we didn't end up climbing the dome of the Duomo but climbed the campanile instead for excellent views.

We had planned to meet up with Eric Nevin, a friend of ours somewhere in Venice. Little did he know that we had booked the same hotel and so when he found us at reception checking in it was quite a suprise!

When Phil was in Venice ten years ago he hated it. He remembered tons of tourists and high temperatures. Strangely, on this trip neither was a problem. We routinely found quiet, empty streets. The pace of Venice was nice and slow. In the end, we spent three days in Venice. We ate fairly well, kept the sites to a minimum, and for the most part, relaxed.

The obligatory site, the Piazza San Marco, was the most crowded but still much less so than Phil remembered. The worst part was the pigeons--thousands of them. People actually sell packets of bird food for 1 euro for the express purpose of feeding these flying rats. Disgusting.

The Basilica on Piazza San Marco was worth braving the crowds and the pigeons. Unbelievable mosaics, cool tile floors, a nice museum on the upper floor, and great views of the Piazza from the balcony.

That night we wanted to make sure we could catch the Italy world cup game, and so went looking for a bar in a town called Lenovo, which was on our way back to Genova. This was not the largest or most happening town, we had to ask for directions on where to find a bar that would play the game, and were directed to a small neighborhood haunt where most of the clientelle were there for the game and weren't even drinking. The most memorable experience though was the train ride back to Genova after Italy had won the game. Each station we stopped at, as the doors opened, we could hear horns and cheers and lots of celerating by the local Italians.

In the end it turned out to be a good trip, we watched the world cup in the bar and enjoyed the fact that we were pretty much forced to do nothing at all for a day.