Part 3 - Naxos

Naxos
23 September - 25 September 2009

23 September 2009

We decided to leave the beautiful Mykonos today and brought two tickets to Naxos. Naxos is the largest island in the Cyclades island group in the Aegean. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture.

We brought the wrong tickets but ended up on a super fast boat and got there in half the time, which wasn’t such a bad thing. Today we managed to get accommodation for 10 euros (it was the worst place we stayed at) whilst it was still clean and fine, it was a mish and a half to lock the door with the ancient key!

As we were still close to town that avo we walked around the headland to have a look around.

Whilst Naxos wasn’t as pretty and maybe that is because it wasn’t as touristy it still had its highlights – which we see tomorrow.

24 September 2009
Today we decided to check out all the touristy things in Naxos

The Venetian Castle - Naxos town is located under the Venetian Castle built by Marco Sanudo after the fourth crusade. The Kastro was built on dense constructions of the Middle Ages. The "Barozzi" House is located at the southwestern gate of the Kastro and is still in property of the family. The Barozzis were one of the 7 families who founded Venice and were barons on Santorini. One of the houses has a nice shop "Antico Venetico" selling old dishes, furniture and textiles in the backroom, reminding the rule of the dukes. Actually, it is more or less a museum and has 4 columns of classical temples.

The castle is basically a whole bunch of buildings (mostly the brown in the photo above) and winding paths up the top of the hill. We decided to do a castle tour which included:

- The Venetian House Museum - which is a small private museum run by the decendants of the original owners.

- Taste of the traditional drink which I can't quite remember the name of

- History of the castle

- Archaeological Museum

- Byzantine Museum

After the tour we headed to The Antico Veneziano Shop which is just down the path from the Venetian House Museum. The Shop is housed in another Venetian House and is well worth a visit.

We were also told about the The Mycenaean city – which is located in the area of Grotta, in Naxos Town. Some ruins still stand, while part of the city is under water. According to recent findings, the agora of the ancient city stood in the area.

This is a little church on an island in the port of Naxos, there seemed to be some festival going on whilst we were there. --->

After the tour we headed to the gate which you can see for miles. Naxos Gate: This is all that is left of what was once to become a grand Apollon temple. The construction of the temple was started during times of prosperity around the year 530 b.c, but was never finished, and throughout the years most of the blocks of marble have been removed and used in the construction of other buildings. What is left of the temple today is only this 6 metre high frontal gate, as well as parts of the foundation wall. The idea of this gate standing like this for more than 2500 years without collapsing is incredible. Especially considering the number of powerful earthquakes that have hit the area throughout the years.

On my Greek Island Hopping book I got there was a picture of this gate on the front cover with someone standing in the doorway. The gate however was fenced off with, well, a fence that is just asking to be jumped over. When the coast was clear me and Casey jumped the fence and took our picture in the centre just like the book and quickly ran away again just in case 2009 was the year it was all going to come tumbling down! Can you imagine it – “Struck down by Ancient Ruins” “Two female tourists living in the UK were struck down my ancient ruins in Naxos Greece whilst trying to copy book cover”.

After spending the morning at the castle we decided to catch a bus to shark rock. I had been looking forward to this since I read it in my book and had the instructions on how to make it look like a shark to hand! (anyone who knows me, especially Debra, will know how excited I would get about something like this!). We jumped off the bus and walked towards shark rock, as we walked up the hill I was starting to get excited and then Casey yelled “there it is” I took one look to my right and then started power walking away. “What are you doing?” yelled Casey. “OMG did you not see that man, that was all I saw, I didn’t even see the bloody rock”. “No” she says and has a look again. Ewe ewe w ewe ew was all we could say and quickly walked away. OMG what a freak, lets get out of here and come back later and hopefully he has gone. Now you are probably all wondering what we saw, lets just say … this man must get excited by rocks that look like sharks and wondering tourists. So we walked down the other side of the hill, down the board walk and stumbled upon a nudist beach, eyes down we kept walking and then I saw somebody on top of the sand dunes, naked and staring right at us. OMG I say, what kinda place is this, just a free for all to pleasure yourself. Ewe w ewew ewwe ewe. So we kept walking and after about 30 minutes decided to brave it and walk back to take a very far away picture with super zoom, of shark rock. The boardwalk was clear, phew and we got to the top of shark rock hill. We made it and creepy man wasn’t there, snap, snap, snap and then suddenly from behind the rock creepy man pops out. "Run!" I yell he was coming towards us and because I had sneakers on I just bolted through the bushes, once I stopped I thought crap where is Casey? Some friend I am, just running and leaving her behind. Fortunately she made it down again and we power walked back to the bus stop to get out of this creepy place!

25 September 2009

Today Casey decided to do a bus tour of the island whilst I decided to go to the beach for a tan. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that flash hot so just had a few quick dips and had an afternoon nap.

For dinner we headed to Susanna’s an Italian Restaurant that had amazing mussels and homemade wine. We walked home and then settled in with the ipod speakers and some drinks to get ready to go out. Being a Friday night and being in the know (ie. Don’t go out until midnight) we were ready for a good night. So we walked into town at 12ish and looked for the hot spots. Hmmm, there was music blasting but no many people, so we walked up and down the main street for a bit, hmm no one, ok lets just sit down and have a few strawberry frozen daiquiris and hang out and wait for a bit at 1.30am we were like, what this sucks, lets go home to bed. I am not sure where you are supposed to go there but it was pretty dumb!

Part 2 - Mykonos

Mykonos

21 September 2009 – 22 September 2009
Mykonos is part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. There are 9,320 inhabitants. It is believed that the island was named after a local hero, who is considered an offspring of the god Apollo and was worshipped locally in antiquity.

Today we got up at 5.30am and headed to the Metro station to jump on a train and head to Pireaus

Wharf which is where the ferries leave for the Greek Islands. Unfortunately we didn't pre-book seats, which I would recommend for the long ferries (this one was 5 hours), so I found a possie outside with my trusty blankie braving the elements to have a snooze whereas Casey did the traveller’s hunch over a table inside.

A little later in the morning when the sun came out --->

When we were planning for our trip we did a lot of investigation into tours, books, etc. We were told by everyone that the best thing to do is just cruise! Don’t pre-book your accommodation or ferries as its easy peasy when you get there. People will just be lining up at the docks with places to stay. Ok we said, we are independent woman, we can go on holiday and not pre-book accommodation, gulp! As we were due to dock we grabbed all our things and hoped what everyone said was as easy as they said. Fortunately for us it was. As soon as we got off the ferry all these people came towards us, bombarded us (I felt like a celebrity) offering accommodation. We took the first guy who talked to us, Bobby, because he was patient and didn’t pester us and also because it seemed that they were all the same price. We were travelling just off peak season so we paid 20 euros each per night, which we thought was pretty good – Mykonos was the most expensive place we stayed but it was our favourite. You will find as well that the people will drive you to and from your accommodation which is great! No wondering around in the dark looking for your hostel.

That avo as we were close to town we decided to walk down the hill (note: most islands are hilly!).

We had a look around the harbour, the famous Greek Island windmills - The windmills of Mykonos are the trademark of the whole island. They can be seen from every point of Chora (main town) village and they are the first thing to see when the ship gets close to the harbour, as they stand on a hill overlooking the area. There are 16 windmills today on Mykonos. Most of them were built by the Venetians in the 16th century and till the early 20th century, they were used to grind the wheat. They were an important source of income for the inhabitants and supported a lot the economy of Mykonos in difficult times. With the evolution of economy, their use gradually declined till they stop working in the middle of the 20th century -

We also saw the filming of “Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos” - is set to star both Nick Giannopoulos& Vince Colosimo (Vince also starred in Underbelly) and is set for a 2010 release. The sequel will be filmed on location in both Melbourne and Greece, and will involve Frank (Vince Colosimo) following Steve (Nick Giannopoulos) to Mykonos in order to collect a family inheritance. It was pretty exciting and we even had a word to Vince.

22 September 2009
This morning we slept in (after having to get up at 5.30 the previous morning) and then went to the beach. Unfortunately for us we caught the wrong bus and this beach wasn’t as good so we jumped back on another bus and headed to Paradise Beach. In peak season this beach would be packed but it was quietening down so wasn’t that bad for us, we managed to secure two chairs right near the edge of the water and spent the afternoon reading, sitting in the sun and just generally relaxing.

That night we decided to get dressed up and see what the Mykonian night life had to offer. We had a few drinks at home and headed in around 9.30ish. When we got there we were told it was far too early for dancing and that midnight was the time to go out. Ok then, so we went to a busy restaurant called Nikos for dinner. We were seated close to a local man and ended up chatting to him through

dinner. He grew up in Mykonos but now lived in San Francisco. He was really nice and chatted to us about growing up on the island, helped us with some Greek letters, shared his wine and even paid for our dinner! After dinner he took us to his brother’s bar that had amazing views of the windmills, where we had some drinks, listened to some traditional Greek music and watched some Greek dancing – I even got dragged up for a bit of a dance. We then headed to the Downunder bar for a shot before heading to Scandinavia Bar where we spent the rest of the night dancing and chatting to Syros who told us he was a male Gigolo!

When it was time to go we decided to try and walk home, now imagine the streets of Mykonos in the day time like the labyrinth, how’s about in the dark with two semi fully intoxicated girls. I was convinced we could find the way home, but after we ended up in sooooo the wrong direction, I agreed to get a taxi home.

- being a bit silly on the way home!

Greece - Part 1 - Athens

The time had finally come! I had finally tidied up my room, packed all my things up and shipped them home. My time in London is almost over but, I have an exciting two week trip planned in Greece which is what this blog is all about.

ATHENS

19 September - 20 September 2009

After getting up in the middle of the night to get to Gatwick Airport from up North, me and my travelling buddy, Casey (who I met on my Scotland tour) were on our way to Athens. We got to Athens at around 10 in the morning which left plenty of time to find out hostel and start looking around.

That afternoon we spent looking around the city to get our bearings and we stumbled upon the changing of the guard. It was sooooo funny, they had cute little outfits (don't tell them I said that) and were kicking their feet around like horses. I took a couple of videos because it was so bizarre.

That night we headed up to the roof bar at the hostel and looked out at the Pantheon.

20 September 2009

Today we decided to looking around the Acropolis (The Acropolis is a flat-topped rock that rises 150m above sea level in the city of Athens, with a surface area of about 3 hectares) Hill and all the other sites which were included in the ticket (12 euros - recommend it). The site included:

- Parthenon

The Parthenon is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena whom the people of Athens considered their protector. Its construction began in 447BC and completed in 432BC on the Athenian

Acropolis.

Unfortunately, like most sites in Europe the Parthenon was covered in so much scaffolding you didn't quite get the same wow factor like most other sites, but it was still cool to

see it and learn the history and on the hill you got an amazing view over Athens.

Also up the top with the Parthenon was the ancient Greek temple Erechtheum (The temple as seen

today was built between 421 and 407 BC.)

Ancient Agora

The Ancient Agora (The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states. Early in Greek history (900s–700s BCE), free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council) of Athens is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora.

Roman Agora

The Tower of the Winds, also called is an octagonal Pentelic

marble clocktower. The structure features a combination of sundials, a water clock and a wind vane.It was supposedly built by Andronicus of Cyrrhus around 50 BC, but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2nd century BC before the rest of the forum.

Hadrian's Library was built by Roman Emperor Hadrian in AD 132 on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens. The library was seriously damaged by the Herulian invasion of 267 and repaired by the prefect Her

culius in AD 407-412).

The Temple of Olympian Zeus

also known as the Olympieion, is a colossal ruined temple in the centre of the Greek capital Athens that was dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. Construction began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world, but it was not completed until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD some 650 years after the project had begun. During the Roman periods it was renowned as thelargest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world.

- The Middle photo is from the top of the Acropolis Hill - was testing my new camera's zoom, I think it came out pretty good and gives you a nice view

Theatre of Dionysus

The Theatre of Dionysus was a major open-air theatre in Athens, built at the foot of the Acropolis. Dedicated to the god of wine and fertility, it hosted the City Dionysia (religious festival). A stone-version of the theatre, which was built c. 325 BCE, seated between 14,000 to 17,000 spectators. After this the theatre fell into disuse and little is recorded until 61 CE where there is evidence of major renovations done by the emperor Nero.

- The photo on the right is from the top of the Acropolis Hill.

That afternoon we went on a mini train tour around the main areas of the city. It went past most of the sites we had already seen but it also went past the site of the Olympic Stadium which was host to the 2004 Summer Olympics it was also the first time since 1896 that the Olympics were held in Greece.

After visiting the stadium we went for a walk through a park and met a few of these little fullas just walking around, so cute!

New Camera

Its about time right!

I have spent months and months looking over cameras and humming and harring trying to decide which camera I liked best. It has now been something like 4 months since my camera broke and I am heading to Greece in less than two week so it was time to decide. So I decided on:

Olympus MJU Tough 8000 in Blue

Its the same brand as my last camera (that broke!) but I wanted something I knew how to use and that took good photos and I will be more careful when I take this one underwater. Whilst reading the manual it suggested that I get the seals changed every year so I will do this, this time. I have tested it underwater and all seems to be going alright.

Its 12 mega pixels and has a cool setting called beauty, whereby you take a picture and it will show you the before picture and then the enhanced picture - great for those drunken shots where you think you look fab and then realise that maybe you don't!

I like it so far but I doubt it will get much use when I get back to oz...

Edinburugh, Scotland

Edinburgh

I had a miniature stopover in Edinburgh in April before my Easter Scotland tour and thought it was so nice that I might go back. So this weekend I hoped in an overnight coach and headed on up.

I got to Edinburgh - Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437 -around 8am on Saturday morning where I was greeted by a friend, Casey, who lives there that I meet on my Scotland tour. We had breakfast in an all American dinner before unloading my stuff back at hers and headed into town. We walked past The Elephant Cafe - which is the birthplace of Harry Potter. JK used to spent her days here writing Harry Potter looking out the back window looking at a fancy pants private school and Edinburugh Castle.

- Me outside the Elephant Cafe

The month of August was an excellent time to visit Edinburgh as the Fringe festival and Edinburgh Tattoo was in full swing. On Saturday we spent most of the day watching street performers, skits and walking down the high street. After my falling asleep during a skit we decided to walk back to hers (I love that you can walk everywhere there) and have a nap.

On Sunday I decided to do a free walking tour of the city. It was really good and because our guide was so enthused in the history it lasted four hours (it was only supposed to be there). It was really interesting and I learnt so much about the history of Edinburugh.

Look who I found in Blackfriars cemetry - there is also a McGonogal - nout sure about the other characters

Heart of Midlothian

The heart-shaped design of the cobble stones near St Giles Cathedral marks where the entrance to the Tolbooth used to be located. The Tolbooth was originally set up in 1561, as the name implies, to collect tolls but also became used as a prison after 1640. There was also a scaffold for hanging criminals (and others) and the heads of the more famous victims would be displayed on spikes in the face of the building. The Tolbooth was demolished in 1817.

Perhaps as a sign of disrespect to the town council, it became common for passsers-by to spit on the cobble stone design. While this is not encouraged these days, it is wise to give the emblem a wide berth when walking past - just in case!

After the tour I quickly rushed up to the castle for a look around. The castle is pretty much the same as a lot of other castles I have been to. It does hold the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny ... woooooo

- Me with the castle in the background

The Stone of Destiny

Our tour guide had great fun telling us about the Stone of Destiny and because she was an excellent guide we got a reinactment of it all as well but basically - The Stone of Scone/Destiny is an oblong block of red sandstone. It was used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland, the monarchs of England, and, more recently, British monarchs.

In 1296 the Stone was captured by Edward I as spoils of war and taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into the coronation chair.

In 1328, in the peace talks between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, Edward III is said to have agreed to return the captured Stone to Scotland. However, this did not form part of the Treaty of Northampton. The Stone was to remain in England for another six centuries.

So …

On Christmas Day 1950, a group of four Scottish students stole the Stone from Westminster Abbey for return to Scotland. In the process of removing it from the Abbey, the students broke the stone into two pieces. Once the police realized the stone was stolen they launched a massive man/car hut so the boys hid the greater part of the stone with gypsies in Kent for a few days, they risked the road blocks on the border and returned to Scotland with this piece, which they had hidden in the back of a borrowed car.

The smaller piece was similarly brought north a little while later. This journey involved a break in Leeds, where a group of sympathetic students and graduates took the fragment to Ilkley Moor for an overnight stay, accompanied by renditions of "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at." –

A major search for the stone had been ordered by the British Government, but this proved unsuccessful.
Perhaps assuming that the Church would not return it to England, the stone's custodians left it on the altar of Arbroath Abbey,. Once the London police were informed of its whereabouts, the Stone was returned to Westminster.

In 1996, in a symbolic response to growing dissatisfaction among Scots at the prevailing constitutional settlement, the British Conservative Government decided that the Stone should be kept in Scotland when not in use at coronations. On 3 July 1996 it was announced in the House of Commons that the Stone would be returned to Scotland, and on 15 November 1996, after a handover ceremony at the border between representatives of the Home Office and of the Scottish Office, it was transported to Edinburgh Castle arriving on 30 November 1996 where it remains.

After the castle I met Casey for some more street performer watching before heading home to rest my dreary feet (over 7 hours of walking/standing, phew, more exercise than I do in one week). That night we bundled up (its cold up there!) and headed into town for a ghost tour of the city (more walking) the tour was ok, there were two many of us to be scary, but it was an alright tour, not sure I would recommend it though.

See my ghost "orb"

My trip was over on Monday and I headed on back down to London.

It was a nice trip and glad I got back up to see Edinburgh again.


Toni

Long time no hear (and write)

Hello to all my loyal fans ... Louisa and Hayley (if there are any others please make your presence known and me feel better by leaving a nice message in my guest book).

I know it has been a long time since a real update but, I STILL don't have a camera. I know it has been ages and how can I possibly go without, but it has been a huge decision and now I have finally made my decision I am waiting for it (my selected colour) to come in stock (sad I know and no its not pink UNFORTUNATELY!).

So I just thought I would post a post to let you know my plans for the next month and a bit.

- this long weekend heading to Edinburgh to hang out with a girl I meet on my Scotland trip

-2 more weeks of work. Thank god. I have just had the WORST two weeks at work in the whole entire world. My boss was awful he called me names I didn't even know the meaning off and then today kindly told me that I wasn't at my screen enough, that I was not a staff member and not to talk to the staff so I rewarded his behaviour by walking out at lunchtime and not coming back! Asshole! I let my agent deal with the rest !

- 1 week off - since I walked out on my job (it was a TBC placement) I now have a free week and I have decided not to waste it on work so am thinking, Nice or Vienna.

- 2 weeks in Greece. I am heading to Greece for two weeks of spontaneous travel. Me and a friend are going to Athens and then going to spend the rest of the time island hopping around the Greek Islands will no accommodation and no plan!

- Back to London for a weekend full of leaving festivities, drinks, bowling and of course, The Church.

- Heading with Debra back to Ireland for 5 days of travelling round and unravelling some family history.

- Then back to London for Fri and Sat and then on Sunday around 9pm heading to the airport for my trip back to the Oz arriving in Brisbane around 9.35am on Tuesday morning.

So kiddies until I have some pictures and tales of adventures I need cheering up at the moment so text, email or facebook me with your stories and adventures.

Love Toni