Joint Holidays

On a recent trip to the very posh King's Road in Chelsea, (which has some great shopping, if it weren't for the snobbish people who shop there) we stopped in at Peter Jones, a huge department store similar to Smith and Caughey's.

Despite it being the middle of October, they had all their Christmas decorations up, and had dedicated an entire floor to Christmas merchandise. The decorations were amazing, similar to the ones we saw in the Galeries Lafayette in Paris at Christmas last year. 

Enjoying the Autumn Sunshine

This is a little late, but at the same time, seems kind of timely due to the strange weather we've had this last week or so. 

A couple of weekends ago we spent the day relaxing in the sunshine after picking up some treats at the local farmers market. We weren't too impressed with the market last time we went, but this time there was fresh sushi, great coffee, home baking... and birdseed (which Bradley mistook for muesli). So we grabbed some salmon and chicken sushi, and a couple of cappuccinos, and found a nice spot in the field behind the market.

On our way to the market, we detoured through Chiswick House. We've walked through the grounds before (in the depths of winter), so it was nice to wander around in the sun and enjoy all the Autumn colours.

Last day of our Greek Odyssey

We left our bags at the hotel the next morning and went to explore the rest of Athens. We headed towards the Roman Agora and the Monastiraki Flea Market first. The Roman Agora was actually a marketplace, and is currently right next to one of the biggest open air markets in Athens. The Roman Agora is also the location of Hadrian's Library.

The pretty streets of Plaka, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Athens

Revisiting Ancient History in Athens at The Parthenon and the Acropolis

We spent the last day and a half of our Greece holiday in Athens. It was more like one full day really. We arrived in Athens from Paros at about 4.00 p.m. Our hotel was a 3 minute walk from the Akropolis Metro station, and about a 5 minute walk to the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

We checked in, dropped off our things and went straight to the Acropolis. We were really lucky, because the weekend we were there, a lot of the sights in Athens were free! So we saved lots of money by getting into the Acropolis, Temple of Olympian Zeus and Ancient Agora all for free.

It was much hotter in Athens than on the islands, probably because it was sheltered from the sea. In the city it was about 30 degrees even at 4.00 p.m., so it made the walk up the Acropolis a bit harder than it would usually be.

The Parthenon and The Erechtheum are just amazing up close, they are surrounded by scaffolding, but they still look stunning, and it's just amazing they have been standing there for hundreds of years. It was also really awesome visiting places we learnt about in Classical Studies at school, and trying to remember all the old Greek myths!

The South slope of the Acropolis

Pounda and Piso Livadi Beaches on Paros

We spent our last day on the Greek Islands at the beach. The day was much nicer than the day before, but it was still pretty windy.

We went to the beaches on the South side of the island since the wind was blowing from the North, and we were able to have some shelter on that side of the island.

We stopped at Pounda Beach first, this beach is packed is July and August, with a party scene to rival Mykonos, but we were there in the off season, so everything was closed up and deserted. We only saw two other people, so it was nice to have the beach to ourselves. I can't imagine sharing the beach with a thousand other people!

Watching Bradley swimming in the distance

Exploring Paros

We started our first day in Paros with a huge breakfast by the pool, it was a bit windy but nice and sunny... until it started bucketing down with rain with no warning! We had to grab our food and run inside. It was crazy.

I wasn't impressed that we'd come from lovely hot Santorini, to rainy Paros! 

Luckily it had started to clear up, and was fine again by the time we were ready to start exploring the island. We had thought about going to the beach, but were concerned it might start raining again, so instead we decided to visit some of the other towns on the island, Parikia and Lefkes.

From Santorini to Paros

We arrived at the port to leave for our ferry to Paros about an hour and a half early. We were told to allow an hour for travel since traffic around the port can sometimes be super busy but then our driver was half an hour early and there was no traffic!

So we spent our last hour on Santorini sitting in the sunshine watching the tourists come and go on day excursions around the island. You can always tell the American tourists!

It was so windy and the sea was really rough, I would not have wanted to be going out on a smaller boat that day.

Oia and Amoudi Bay

We spent our last morning on Santorini in Oia. We slept in a bit and caught the bus from Imerovigli to Oia at about 10.30 a.m.

We were catching the ferry from the port to Paros at 3.00 p.m., so we had to be back at the hotel for our port transfer at 1.30 p.m.

The bus was pretty full, but we managed to get on and we arrived in Oia at about 11.00 a.m. We wandered around for a while, and decided to wander down to Amoudi Bay. Amoudi Bay is located 300 steps below Oia. It's a long way down and it was so hot, and pretty slippery that it took a good 20 minutes to walk down.

Perissa and Kamari

We spent our third day on Santorini on the opposite side of the island to where we were staying. After breakfast we wandered down to Fira to get the bus to Perissa. Perissa is about a 40 minute bus ride away from Fira, because the bus goes on a really long random route to get there, but it was a good way to see some more of the inland of the island.

Perissa is a tiny beach town popular with British tourists on package holidays. However since we were there at the end of the season, it was pretty much empty. There are a few shops, but the main attraction is the beach, with cafes along the beachside, and loungers up and down the beach.

We stopped and had an iced chocolate at one of the beach side cafes and watched the boats departing for other beaches on the island. It was nice to get out of the hot sun and do some people watching.

After stopping for a cold drink, we did some shopping in some of the little stores in Perissa, it was mostly jewellery and beach wear, but I got a cool top that I'm wearing in these photos. It's similar to one Kylie brought me back when she was overseas, but that got too big for me and I had to give it away. So I'm glad I got to find another one similar.

The Ridiculously Picturesque Oia

So after spending the morning in Fira, we hopped on a bus and headed to Oia. Oia is about 40 minutes by bus from Fira, and about 30 minutes from where we were staying in Imerovigli.

Oia is the most famous and most photographed place in Santorini. It is very famous for it's stunning sunsets, houses perched on the cliffside and the many churches with their blue roofs. If you Google Santorini, the images that come up are most likely of Oia.

The drive to Oia is pretty scary. There is one road in and out and that is on the side of the cliff. There is a HUGE drop on one side, and it does not feel safe when you are going around corners with no guard rail on a packed bus that feels like it might tip over!

But once you get there Oia is stunning. The bus drops you off in the parking lot, and you follow one of the many winding lanes that lead you up through the town up towards the cliffs.

Like Fira, Oia is very touristy, especially in the late afternoon when everyone flocks to watch the sunset. However, you don't need to go all the way to Oia, any village on that side of the island will give you amazing sunset views.

There were lots of tour groups in Oia, a lot of people from the cruise ships only have one day, so they do one big tour of the island, and it's funny to watch them all walking around together with their matching stickers.

Discovering Fira

On our first full day in Santorini, we decided to spend the day exploring the two biggest towns, Fira and Oia. 

We left our hotel around 10.30 a.m. after a yummy breakfast of bread, preserves and coffee. Italian and Greek breakfasts seem to be pretty much the same, usually coffee and bread or pastries. Their main meals seem to be lunch and dinner, and we were pretty happy to adopt that diet! 

We were going to spend the morning in Oia, but the bus was too full and didn't let us on when it went past, so we wandered down to spend the morning in Fira instead. Plus, we could get the bus to Oia from there later and it would be empty. 

Fira is the capital of Santorini, and it's also the biggest town on the island. It has lots of shops, so we spent most of the morning wandering around looking at all the different jewellery shops. Santorini has lots of shops full of amazing jewellery made from lava rocks and beads. I bought a LOT of stuff while we were in Greece! 

Greece also has a lot of ornaments and statues, especially of Owls, which is the symbol for wisdom, and seen most frequently with the Goddess Athena, the patron saint of Athens. I love Owls, and we managed to bring home 3 different Owl figurines, including one completely made of lava rock and one made of mosaic. We had to buy a bag in Athens to bring them home! 

Fira is pretty touristy, being the first place the cruise shipper's arrive at when coming off their ships. But it's also really pretty, with winding alleys full of shops and some amazing views over the Caldera.

The view from the trail towards Fira