Part 1: Santorini
A few months ago my friend Lilly from Bulgaria, who always loves to ask me random questions, asked me if I would consider going on a trip with her this spring. So I asked her what destination she had in mind. Santorini is what she said.
So here we are now: on a beach in Santorini. Lilly is sunbathing next to me with a red scarf covering her face and I'm sitting, no, I'm lying next to her writing this blog post in the little notebook I got as a present when I went to Tanzania to write down my travel stories. Some soothing music is playing on the background, my sunglasses and swimming shorts are on and I'm staring at the sea, which is as blue as you would imagine it to be on a Greek island. I'm dreaming away more often than I'd like to, but that's no problem: I still have the whole afternoon to write.
It's just 4 days ago that, after months of chatting via Facebook, I met Lilly in person for the first time. Some people were hesitant about my holiday, since I would be spending a week with a person I never met before, but we got along very well from the first minute. We spent our first few days in Fira, the capital of Santorini, where one can enjoy the following view around sunset:
I now fully understand why some girls are dreaming of a honeymoon on Santorini.
On Saturday we took a long walk from Fira to Oia. The walk there is long and contains a lot of climbing, but the views are amazing and the village is worth a visit as well.
We decided to spend a few days at the other side of the island, where the views are less stunning. This is where I am now. We are staying at the most lovely place ever: Samson's Village in Perissa, Santorini. And because it's still low-season we were able to book our own apartment here for just 15 euros per person per night! It was a bit difficult to find at first (also due to some helpful locals sending us in the wrong direction), but I really recommend this place.
Before I tell the next story, I should first tell you a bit more about my travel partner Lilly. For example that she is a bit of a naughty girl. So when we climbed up a steep hill for 45 minutes only to find out that the ruins of ancient Thira (which we planned to visit) were closed on Mondays, she insisted on climbing over the gate to visit those ruins anyway. My rational mind wasn't comfortable trespassing and wasn't sure how we'd make it back over the gate without a lock to place our foot on the other side of the gate, so I didn't join her in her impulsive action. Therefore I can only tell the story to you the way Lilly told it to me afterwards.
According to her story, she was walking up the final path to the ruins when she suddenly heard a siren behind her. She looked back and saw a large pick-up truck. Out of the window on the driver's side appeared an arm that was signalling her to walk down again. The man in the car, I imagine him as a middle-aged bald man with big arms and an angry look on his face, got out of the car when Lilly passed by and without saying a word he opened the gate for her to let her out. The fact that the man didn't speak was a bit intimidating, but in the end Lilly was happy he said nothing and didn't force her to pay a fine or take her to the local police station.
Ok, that's all for now. From the Black Beach of Perissa I say to you: Goodbye!
Part 2: Mykonos
Hello! Here I am again! It's the last day of my trip to Greece and today I'm not writing to you from the airport of Athens instead of a sunny beach. A bit of a different environment, but I hope I can write nicely here as well.
The day after I wrote to you from Santorini we left the island and moved on to another island: Mykonos. Mykonos is more of a party island and (I didn't know this) it's also a very popular island for gay people. So when walking around town it happened to me for the first time that both partners of an approaching (gay) couple were checking me out at the same time. They even both moved their head simultaneously when I was walking by (even with Lilly walking right next to me). I wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, but I guess I'll take it as a compliment.
Lilly and I didn't attend any wild parties at this party island though. We explored the cute little streets of Mykonos (see photo below) on the first day and in the evening we watched the first semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest together. Before the show started we had a little argument over who should win, but afterwards we agreed that Sweden should win the contest. And it would have been a lot better for the contest if this prediction came true, if you ask me.
On the next day we rented two quads. That was really something nice. We drove across the entire island and visited many places that one could never see by only using public transportation. Interestingly enough, at the end of the day we were more tired than after our hiking day on Santorini. Probably this was due to the wind that was constantly blowing in our faces. But despite this, we had a very memorable day.
So now the trip is over and I will catch my flight home soon. I have had an amazing week here. It was less of a backpacking holiday than I am used to, but this kind of holiday was nice for a change. I can't wait to go on another big backpacking trip though. I have no idea where I will go yet, so people who have suggestions are more than welcome to share those with me.
A few months ago my friend Lilly from Bulgaria, who always loves to ask me random questions, asked me if I would consider going on a trip with her this spring. So I asked her what destination she had in mind. Santorini is what she said.
So here we are now: on a beach in Santorini. Lilly is sunbathing next to me with a red scarf covering her face and I'm sitting, no, I'm lying next to her writing this blog post in the little notebook I got as a present when I went to Tanzania to write down my travel stories. Some soothing music is playing on the background, my sunglasses and swimming shorts are on and I'm staring at the sea, which is as blue as you would imagine it to be on a Greek island. I'm dreaming away more often than I'd like to, but that's no problem: I still have the whole afternoon to write.
It's just 4 days ago that, after months of chatting via Facebook, I met Lilly in person for the first time. Some people were hesitant about my holiday, since I would be spending a week with a person I never met before, but we got along very well from the first minute. We spent our first few days in Fira, the capital of Santorini, where one can enjoy the following view around sunset:
I now fully understand why some girls are dreaming of a honeymoon on Santorini.
On Saturday we took a long walk from Fira to Oia. The walk there is long and contains a lot of climbing, but the views are amazing and the village is worth a visit as well.
We decided to spend a few days at the other side of the island, where the views are less stunning. This is where I am now. We are staying at the most lovely place ever: Samson's Village in Perissa, Santorini. And because it's still low-season we were able to book our own apartment here for just 15 euros per person per night! It was a bit difficult to find at first (also due to some helpful locals sending us in the wrong direction), but I really recommend this place.
Before I tell the next story, I should first tell you a bit more about my travel partner Lilly. For example that she is a bit of a naughty girl. So when we climbed up a steep hill for 45 minutes only to find out that the ruins of ancient Thira (which we planned to visit) were closed on Mondays, she insisted on climbing over the gate to visit those ruins anyway. My rational mind wasn't comfortable trespassing and wasn't sure how we'd make it back over the gate without a lock to place our foot on the other side of the gate, so I didn't join her in her impulsive action. Therefore I can only tell the story to you the way Lilly told it to me afterwards.
According to her story, she was walking up the final path to the ruins when she suddenly heard a siren behind her. She looked back and saw a large pick-up truck. Out of the window on the driver's side appeared an arm that was signalling her to walk down again. The man in the car, I imagine him as a middle-aged bald man with big arms and an angry look on his face, got out of the car when Lilly passed by and without saying a word he opened the gate for her to let her out. The fact that the man didn't speak was a bit intimidating, but in the end Lilly was happy he said nothing and didn't force her to pay a fine or take her to the local police station.
Ok, that's all for now. From the Black Beach of Perissa I say to you: Goodbye!
Part 2: Mykonos
Hello! Here I am again! It's the last day of my trip to Greece and today I'm not writing to you from the airport of Athens instead of a sunny beach. A bit of a different environment, but I hope I can write nicely here as well.
The day after I wrote to you from Santorini we left the island and moved on to another island: Mykonos. Mykonos is more of a party island and (I didn't know this) it's also a very popular island for gay people. So when walking around town it happened to me for the first time that both partners of an approaching (gay) couple were checking me out at the same time. They even both moved their head simultaneously when I was walking by (even with Lilly walking right next to me). I wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, but I guess I'll take it as a compliment.
Lilly and I didn't attend any wild parties at this party island though. We explored the cute little streets of Mykonos (see photo below) on the first day and in the evening we watched the first semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest together. Before the show started we had a little argument over who should win, but afterwards we agreed that Sweden should win the contest. And it would have been a lot better for the contest if this prediction came true, if you ask me.
On the next day we rented two quads. That was really something nice. We drove across the entire island and visited many places that one could never see by only using public transportation. Interestingly enough, at the end of the day we were more tired than after our hiking day on Santorini. Probably this was due to the wind that was constantly blowing in our faces. But despite this, we had a very memorable day.
So now the trip is over and I will catch my flight home soon. I have had an amazing week here. It was less of a backpacking holiday than I am used to, but this kind of holiday was nice for a change. I can't wait to go on another big backpacking trip though. I have no idea where I will go yet, so people who have suggestions are more than welcome to share those with me.
