White Noise - Greece

Octopuses drying in Naoussa, Paros

And so on to Greece, the real "holiday" part of the trip, 2 weeks of island hopping, lazing on beaches and overdosing on seafood. Having spent 4 summers in London with only 'Version 2006' really living up to sunny expectations, it is difficult to fathom why this was our first visit to Greece, particularly since after only visiting 4 islands on this trip there are still some 150 for us to explore in the future!

Church Bells in Ia, Santorini

People had warned us not to spend (I think that "waste" was the phase commonly used?) too much time in Athens and after a day there we could see what they were talking about. After an initial feeling of relief at again entering a proper city after so much time in laid back Croatian beaches and slow moving Albanian villages, our impression quickly moved to underwhelmed, with the hordes of tourists and endless urban sprawl. It is true that Athens probably provided the best food we ate in Greece (including one massively amazing souvlaki platter) and it does have some incredible ancient sights, it's just that overall we didn't feel like we needed to have spent longer there - particularly when you have the Cyclades waiting for us!

Our big mugs in front of the Parthenon

The ladies of the Erechtheion

The Acropolis was a little crowded...

The amazing detail of the 2,500 year old Parthenon

Meaty bonanza!

An early morning rise supposedly had us up at the Acropolis (now) before the peak of the crowds, which was fortunate as there were more than enough people to deal with as it was. It really is an exercise in organised chaos, with literally more people than can be imagined trying to squeeze through the one narrow flight of stairs through the Temple of Nike. While unrealistic, it would have been much more of an awe inspiring experience without so many people, perhaps why places such as Volubilis in Morocco had more of an impact on us? Though you can't deny that it is impressive, particularly when you remember that it is some 2,500 years old and also when viewed from afar, in some nice peaceful surroundings.

A more serene and peaceful view of the Acropolis from Philopappou Hill

The Athens sprawl extends down to the Port of Piraeus

3 Green Bottles, sitting on a wall

What else is there to say about Athens? As I mentioned earlier, it was great to get into some Greek food, gyros, souvlaki, moussaka, salads - definitely the best we had in Greece, probably because being a functioning city unlike the islands there is more of a focus on quality rather than ripping off? In addition to the Acropolis, there are of course many other ancient sights, the Roman and Ancient Agoras, Temple of Zeus, though beyond these there doesn't seem to be a lot other than rundown medium rise concrete buildings. In style I thought it very different to Western European capitals and much more aligned to it's Balkan neighbours, despite political outlooks dictating that Greece is generally seen as a Western European nation. While overall we weren't that impressed with Athens, you can't deny that it has a certain vibrancy, which both being well and truly city people, was definitely a welcome change!

Deities on the Tower of the Winds at the Roman Agora

An very unimpressed man waiting for a metro at 5am

Aimes discovering that Mykonos Town is rather white

Our first island stop was Mykonos, previously somewhere we were going to avoid - expecting a tourist hellhole, yet the place we probably enjoyed the most in the whole of Greece - expectations are a funny thing! While it is true that a lot of effort is obviously put into making Mykonos Town, in particular, a perfect sea of whitewashed buildings and pavements filled with over priced shops and restaurants, somehow it just works and doesn't end up feeling like an "Old Greek Island Town" style Disneyland. They obviously take tourism seriously though, as more than anywhere else we visited in the Cyclades there is an absolute consistency of whitewashed, geometric buildings contrasted against the parched, rugged, volcanic landscape.

One of the boatmen of Mykonos, about to pick us up from Platys Gialos Beach

Whiteness of Cycladic Houses

Venetian windmills in Mykonos Town - those Venetians got about!

Having lacked beach for the previous week in Albania, this was the first thing on our Mykonos agenda (after a cheeky gyro for me anyways) with us deciding to go all out and take on the party central of Paradise Beach. Again this was a nice surprise and no where near as trashy as we were expecting (though we did end up dancing on tables at one point...). Over the next few days we also checked out the superlatively named Super Paradise Beach and Platys Gialos though much to our surprise neither surpassed our first day in Paradise - expectations! All the Mykonos beaches had the benefit over Croatia of actually having sand and still with that amazing visibility, down a good 4 or 5m even without goggles.

Mykonos Town's harbour

Us, pre-table dancing at Paradise Beach

The scrubby, rugged landscape of Mykonos

Lazyman photography, from our sunlounge on Paradise Beach

As it was nearing the end of the "season" we managed to secure ourselves an awesome little apartment right in the centre of Mykonos Town, overlooking a little square and only a couple of minutes walk from the Windmills and Little Venice. Coincidentally, Wog Boy 2 was being filmed just around the corner from the apartment, and through Aimes determination, we secured (what we call in the business) a walk-through, which no doubt will end up on the cutting room floor (as we say in the business ;).

Little Venice, Mykonos - a little sunnier than Little Venice, W2 1TH

More Mykonos Town uber whiteness

Boats lined up at the end of the day at Super Paradise Beach

A Church in the Chora


More lazyman photo, this time from Super Paradise Beach


Contrasts

From dancing on tables in Mykonos it was on to the much more laid back island of Paros, a short one hour hydrofoil hop but a real change of pace. Considering that Paros is apparently the fourth most visited island in the Cyclades, the contrast with Mykonos (and subsequently Santorini) is particularly marked. Renting a scooter we had the opportunity to see much more of the island than we had in Mykonos and we promptly set about finding ourselves a few near deserted beaches both on Paros itself and on the neighbouring Antiparos. Fortunately the traffic in Paros is orderly compared with the somewhat chaos of Mykonos and cars seem to have a level of tolerance for bad scooter drivers. Particularly on Antiparos, where there is virtually no traffic at all, and you are free to glide around the little coves and winding hills with virtually no cares in the world.

Church near Golden Beach, Paros


More clear water this time on Chrissí Aktí (Golden Beach), Paros


Naoussa Reflections


Two doofuses



Naoussa still life

The car (and bike) ferry to Antiparos

Our favourite spot on the island was definitely the little fishing village of Naoussa, a much more cute little harbour than Parikia, where we were staying. As you can see from the blog, there were copious photo opportunities with the harbour packed with colourful fishing boats, rows of fish and octopus laid out to dry - so perfect you suspected that it had all been laid out for the tourists - something that wouldn't have surprised in this part of the world...

Fish drying in Naoussa


Eclectic Cross in Parikia


Another Naoussa reflection shot

A Parikia sunset with touristic touches

Perhaps the only real dissappointment with Paros was that the food definitely fell into the "tourist" menu category, with a particular mention being required for the 'seafood platter' which turned out to be a collection of McCain's deep fried dubiousness rather than the fresh feast we were anticipating. It wasn't helped that this "meal" was followed by a pretty intense electrical storm meaning that the restaurant was packed up around us as we tried to consume it, not that it really had that much of an impact on our enjoyment. In fact the only decent meal we had was some very good Thai on a deserted beach on Antiparos, which when followed by a macchiato and a swim made for a pretty perfect day!

Aimes in Parikia, Paros

One more Naoussa boat

People jostle for their first glimpse of Santorini from the Ferry hold


The quintessential Santorini view in Ia

Expectations again played a significant role in our experience of our final stop in Greece and what we had expected to be the zenith of Greek Islandness - Santorini. In as much as we had been unexpectedly impressed by Mykonos, it is safe to say that we were just as, if not more so disappointed by Santorini. While all the elements are there for it to be impressive, with the volcanic cliffs topped with tiny little villages looking like a dusting of icing sugar, for some reason it just didn't do it for us, perhaps we were expecting too much? Though, there is also the feeling that someone is always waiting to rip you off, with anyone who isn't a tourist themselves seemingly intent on getting as much cash as possible out of the former. While Mykonos is just as touristy, for me it pulls it off with much more dignity and professionalism than Santorini which can perhaps rest on the laurels of its setting?

The vllage of Ia perched on the top of Santorini's volcanic cliffs

A moderately impressive sunset from our balcony

More windmills, this time in Ia

A mediterranean feast in Akrotiri

A better sunset from our balcony

One area in which it can't be disputed that Santorini is inferior to the rest of the Cyclades is on the beach front, where the clear water and yellow sand beaches are no where to be found. Though while not living up to our previous experiences, it can't be denied that they are unique from the black sand and lava flows of Parissa to the red cliffs of Akrotiri. They even had some waves, which should have made them more enjoyable, but just had us longing for a return to the crystal clear waters...

More whiteness, with Fira contrasted against the black caldera

Me working too hard on my journal to notice the sunset

Exploring Fira

The colourful patchwork of Ia

At the end of the day Santorini is about sunsets, and when it comes to Santorini sunsets you can't go past Ia, the little village at the top of the island. Unfortunately (and again unsurprisingly) this is no secret, so at 6pm the buses are crammed full of people racing up to get their perfect Greek Island photo - as a result it is not the most enjoyable experience, particularly when the clouds decided to not play along. Ia is a quaint little town and I'm sure that the sunsets can be magical, it's just that the little lanes don't really cope with the daily influx of Americans, Germans and Chinese bus tours particularly well. In an example of how Santorini doesn't work as well as Mykonos, you would think that more buses would be run before and after sunset when everyone on the island wants to get up to Ia, but no, they stick to their half hour schedule which results in some pretty dire pushing and shoving when one does turn up (Lord of the Flies stuff). Ironically, having decided to not take on the crowds for a second night, and settling for a bottle of wine on our balcony instead, we were treated to an truely amazing sunset, which we were able to enjoy without another person to be seen - again expectations are a funny thing!

Church of St John the Baptist in Fira

"Red" Beach, while not as nice as many others through Greece, it is definitely unique

A view of the volcanic cliffs along the walk from Fira to Ia

Our peaceful balcony sunset

Aimes not impressed with the crowds in Ia

Our beautiful little lunch spot in Akrotiri

So that was Greece for now, had we more time (that old complaint) I think it would have been nice to get off the beaten track a little and enjoy a bit more of the real Greek Islands, away from the tourist menus and beach clubs, and get more of a feel for what we got a little taste of on Paros. Then again there's always 'next time'!

Stinky donkeys after a day hauling cruise ship passengers up the hill

Ia by night