Greece

This was the first country on my trip that I’ve been to before; I visited Greece with my family, ten years ago in 2008. Back then, we traveled to Turkey via Athens, Crete, Naxos and Lesvos. This time, I was visiting with one of my close friends, Reegan. She’s been living in London, and had summer holidays over August/September.

Before Reegs arrived, I wanted to check out Meteora. Even though he hadn’t been, my friend Joe suggested I check it out on my way down from Albania. It ended up being not really on the way, and although Google Maps showed a 4-5 hour journey, it took nearly 12 in the end. I caught a bus from Permet, Albania, at 5:30am, and the border crossing took about two hours, getting off the bus, taking all our luggage off, opening it up, reloading, getting back on the bus, and all over again once more. Then, arriving at Ioannina I waited three hours for another bus to Kalabaka, the town near the Meteora rock formations.

After 12 hours on the bus, I was in a filthy mood, but beautiful Kalabaka and the stunning landscape cheered me up instantly on arrival. The wonderful host at Meteora Central Hostel was so lovely, and said there was still time to view the monasteries and sunset if I left soon. Some other backpackers were about, and we all shared a taxi to the top so it cost €2.20 each, and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.

The rock formations are geologically the same as that of Kata Tjuta in Australia (not that I’ve been, adding it to the list..), I was told. They are huge, boulder like cliffs, seemingly dropped from heaven. Meteora, in Greek, means “suspended in gravity”. The first monks arrived here in the 14th Century, and the monasteries built on top of the cliffs are nothing short of a miracle. They still use (and I saw it!) pulley systems to transport goods up and down!

I’m not a religious person, but I was truly moved when I visited St Stephen’s the next day. It was stunningly beautiful, and I almost cried, actually. I continued walking to the next couple of monasteries, and nothing compared to St Stephen’s for me. It was humbling to be amongst such giant, ancient structures.

After a big day, walking kilometres in the heat, an old Greek man called me over to the bench he was sitting, told me his brother lived in Melbourne and drove me back into town. That was a relief to be honest; I was exhausted! I had time to get some food before the train to Athens that night. I booked my ticket too late, and there were no seats, so I sat in the dining car and got drunk with Tim, a Scottish man living in Sheffield. We got on so well, that when we arrived in Athens at 11:30pm we went and had another drink before checking in to our hostel!

The next day, Reegs arrived, and even though it had been 18 months since we last saw each other, it was like no time had passed at all. We began our catch up over a crappy iced coffee, and later in the evening we had dinner and drinks with an old uni friend of mine, Tess, and her friend Rach. It was a great second night in Athens.

The next day we caught our first ferry to Andros; it was a short ride, about two hours, and the bus into town was waiting to take the ferry load to the town centre, Batsi, where our Lemon Tree Hostel was. The hostel was a bit weird to be honest, but nice enough, close to shops and restaurants. Luckily we made it for a swim in the town beach before dark, and it was glorious. The next day we walked around 20 minutes (I think) to another beach and paid for sun-loungers. This is not something I’d normally do, but what the heck. Total relaxation, drinks to order and shade from the sun. Again, glorious.

Less than 24 hours after arriving in Andros, we left for Mykonos, and to be honest, I probably wouldn’t return here, unless I turned 19 again, or had shitloads of money. Arriving super late at night wasn’t the best option, either. It was a long enough trip as it was, and our hostel had confirmed they would pick us up from the port, but they were 40 minutes late, so by the time we arrived it was nearly midnight. Trying to make the most of our night, we got changed and a quick walk led us to Club Tropicana on Paradise Beach. As we were stone cold sober, we immediately questioned why we were there, as the club seemed to be entirely comprised of wasted 19 year olds, grinding on each other and taking their clothes off on the dance floor, the DJ calling out “Where all my Aussies at, yo?!”…..cringing, we bought a couple of €5 beers and danced a little bit, fending off sleazy guys left, right and centre. During the next day, we caught the bumpy little bus to the town centre and took photos of the windmills, and enjoyed strolling through the whitewashed houses, trying not to be blown away by the wind.

Night 2 saw us visit Scorpio’s with some Canadian girls we met in our room/tent/bungalow/thing. This was much closer to my vibe, a slightly older crowd, (which meant more expensive drinks, boo), and we were having a great dance when the club suddenly closed at 2am. What?! We waited for a bus into town to meet a friend of Reegan’s, and nearly had a heart attack when we bought beers at €10 each….so didn’t hesitate to accept a free Sambucca shot after that.

Next stop: Paros. Reegs and I loved the calm, villagey feel. Paros Backpackers was a fantastic choice, and I wish we had more time here. The closest beach was pretty rocky, but there were heaps of affordable food options (including vegetarian moussaka!!), and through a maze of lanes the jewellery stores and cocktail bars lured us in. We went to Sativa Bar, and it was great! Even though we drank Rosé,  the cocktails looked amazing, and they gave us free shots of raki! Amazingly, I managed to avoid Ouzo the entire time I was in Greece. We spent just the one night in Paros before moving on to Ios.

We found Ios to be a nicer, smaller version of Mykonos. You could party if you want to, and there were countless bars, restaurants and shops. It is, overrun with Aussies, but most of the time they weren’t too drunk and embarrassing. We walked up to the top of the hill stopping for photos at a dozen churches on the way. They were so picturesque, and the views were stunning, and you could sit and watch the blue sea for hours…

Island number…5? Santorini. Not doing any research left me spectacularly delighted with the black, volcanic sand on Perissa Beach, just a short walk from our hostel, Santorini Breeze. At €18 for a dorm bed, it was the cheapest accommodation we could find on the island. Not really having a plan of attack, we let our hosts organise us a day trip/cruise, where we visited the volcano, swam in the thermal waters, visited the quiet island of Thirasia, and were dropped at Oia for sunset. My favourite part was Thirasia; with a population of around 300, there were a few restaurants and cafes, but the rest was houses and churches. It was so picturesque.

In Naxos we caught a bus from the centre to the little village of Filoti, but we didn’t plan it too well, and missed the little art gallery that’s supposed to be quite good. It was super hot, but I enjoyed wandering up and down little streets and alleys taking photos of the houses and views. We visited the Portara, (the ancient doorway of a temple that was never completed, built around 500BC!) for sunset, and of course, it was completely packed with tourists, but stunning nonetheless. For dinner, we opted for a cheese platter, and upon learning that the god Apollo had left his son, a master cheesemaker, on Naxos to teach the islanders to make cheese, this became our meal of choice for the remainder of our time there. Cheese, bread, olive oil. Perfect.

There was a ferry strike on the day we were supposed to leave to head back to Athens, so we had to stay on the island an extra day (oh no). It was brilliant. We checked out another beach at Prokopios, just a short bus ride from Naxos port, and I couldn’t get over the calm, crystal clear water. It was sooooo beautiful. Like from a movie beautiful. I promptly put my camera away after realising it was a nude beach.

Arriving back to Athens, we did a free walking tour, collected from our hostel, and I couldn’t recommend our guide, George, enough. He knew so much about the city; we stopped for a free raki tasting, he helped everyone with directions at the end, and then showed us a great, affordable place to have lunch and drinks in the afternoon.  I realised my flight to Warsaw was that night, not in two days time, so I cancelled my next night at the hostel, and caught the train to the airport.

My advice, if you are visiting the Cyclades, is to take your time with it. The ferries are great, but taking one almost every second day is exhausting, and we spent a minimal amount time on each island, essentially only able to see the closest beaches and bars, unable to explore too much. Still, the sun was out, the vegetarian food options were endless, and Greek men were the least creepy I’ve experienced on my trip!

I’ve already been twice now, but I reckon there’s a pretty good chance I’ll head back to Greece again.