Syros & Santorini

A bit of a surprise greeted us when we arrived at the ferry terminal en route to Santorini.  The wind was blowing a gale and the coastguard had decided that our ferry will go to the sheltered port of Syros until the morning when the wind was forecast to drop. The ferry would then continue onto Santorini.  On dusk we arrived in the port of Syros after a rough ferry ride.  We wandered around the township had dinner and got back on the for the night before we headed off again the morning.

On arriving in Santorini we quickly found a gyros shop for a late lunch then off to Oia to watch a famous Santorini sunset.

Santorini!

Houses cascading down the hillside in Fira, Santorini

Doorways to restaurants on the hillside below.

Church

Oia best place on the island to watch the sunset

Santorini sunset

Wandering the streets of Oia on Santorini

Church against the evening blue sky

Naxos - the Greek Islands

We arrived by ferry around lunch time in the main port town on Chora, Naxos (Greek Island).  I had assumed the ferry would be rubbish having only really dealt with the ole Interislander, but boy was I wrong…  escalators on and off and a cosy sitting area where we pitched up in with a window view.  After an early start and an oily spinach croissant and coffee on the ferry it was time for a decent lunch and a scout around the township.

Lots of eateries, and nik-nak shops, we walked along  the port and to the nearest gold sandy beach for a quick look.  Then back through the shopping area and the Naxos Castle overlooking the town centre.  The castle had lots of narrow winding footpaths. The architecture was typically of buildings with flat roofs, curved corners, with white walls and vivid blue doors and window frames.  There was literally a cat sitting/sleeping around each corner; in terracotta pots, on windowsills and lounging around on the stairs.  They were all well fed and clearly all domesticated.

Walkway to the castle

Blue doors and archways

Castle tower stone wall

Catching some rays

 

Seaview over Chora main town in Naxos

A ginger one

Hundreds of cats.

The best beaches on Naxos are 10-15km out of town.  On the second day we hired a small car to explore around ourselves.  Also to practice driving on the right hand side of the road, in a left hand drive car! The signage over here is woeful and getting out of town was a bit of a mission.  

Once out of town we headed for one of the most famous beaches called “Plaka”.  The beach has stunning white sands and blue azure waters.  It was a hot sunny day - but also windy as buggery and the water was freezing! 

Our "fun car" rental. 

Tiki-ed onto the next beach, travelled through a small settlement called Tipodes with the narrowest of streets.  For a few moments I was sure the car was going to get wedged and stuck, precision driving and a few over-revved hillstarts got us through the town and out onto a main road again. 

Tripodes - narrow winding, steep streets. Some sketchy driving.

We pitched up for lunch on the beach in Mikiri Vigia.  Contemplated a token swim but the water was ridiculously cold so had a sleep on the beach instead.  We rounded out the afternoon with a drive through the centre of the island, to some of the older towns.  

Mikiri Vigia beach 

Stones walls and churches everywhere

Katherine mastering the left hand drive.

 

The beard of Zeus leaning into the howling gale. Temple of Apollo also in background.

Athens, Gyros and the Acropolis

After mulling over options for our next destination "a beach" and "sun" were the main motivations towards jetting out to Athens, Greece.  We arrived mid afternoon and caught the metro train into the city centre.  After getting confused with our map and the odd greek street names we eventually stumbled upon the street of our hostel.  With the day almost over we ventured out to finds some local Greek cuisine settling for Souvlaki a dish with chicken and beef grilled on skewers.

View from our hostel room

Our hostel wasn't in the flashest part of Athens but we managed to score a room with a balcony and an amazing view out to the Acropolis which was lit up in the evening, amazing.

The following day we set out to explore the ancient greek ruins.  

Path up to the Acropolis

Theater of Herod Atticus 

The Panthenon

Greece!

The Panthenon

The Panthenon

Gyros for lunch

The temple of Zeus with the Acropolis in the background

The Kings seat in Panathinaiko Stadium 

Panathinaiko Stadium 

Katherine on the podium in Panathinaiko Stadium 

Greenwich

We traveled out to Greenwich famous for being 0° longitude and Greenwich mean time GMT.  The town area had an old clipper the Cutty Sark, Greenwich Museum and the Royal observatory.  Yes, we also had a token photo with the median line!

0° Longitude

Preparations for the upcoming Olympics where steaming ahead in the Greenwich town area.   The Greenwich green will be home to some of the equestrian events during the London Olympics.

Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath

Having covered off a fair bit of London city we decided to take a tour out of the city to visit Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and the city of Bath. On the tube to London Coach station we boarded a double decker bus en route to our first stop, Windsor.  The Castle towered above the surrounding town of Windsor, pretty impressive.  The Royal Standard flag was flying so we knew the Queen herself was staying there.

The outer tower wall

Castle keep

Inside the castle walls

St Georges chapel within the castle grounds

Moat path

Queens guardsmen after the changing of the guard

The tour around Windsor castle led us through the state rooms and St Georges Chapel which is where the Queen mother and Henry the VIII are buried.  The chapel is the spiritual home for the Knights of the garter. Each of the 26 knights has a chair in the chapel with a crown above with personal crest.  Behind each chair was also a number of plaques for each of the knights that had occupied that seat throughout history.  The castle had a view overlooking Eton College and would have had an internal moat at some stage. Had a quick pub lunch in Windsor then back on the coach to Stonehenge.

We were each given a audio tour to walk around Stonehenge and find out about its history.  

Audio tour, Mr Burns voice included

3 feet of air that time..

Stonehenge "Hanging Rocks" Henge = hanging

We finished the afternoon in Bath.  The city is named after the Roman Baths, whose waters come from a thermal spring that was thought to have healing powers.  Bath is the only geothermal site in England.  The water comes out of the ground at over 40 degrees and has to be cooled down before it goes into the baths.  The entire city is a listed as a world heritage site.  The only other city that has this is Venice, Italy.

Pulteney Bridge in Bath a grade 1 listed heritage building

River Avon