The Sphere Effect

I guess I’m a bit of a wally to try and write about a holiday that ended nearly three weeks ago - I should always try and write these things as soon as they happen, but as per usual, I have left it a long time and I am scrambling to try and catch up.

But to try and summarise our holiday to Greece…. I’ll give it a go!

Note: Introducing Gummi - In some pictures you may see a small gummi bear in a koala suit. This is Gummi and he goes everywhere.

Tuesday 11 July
Katrina, Kellie and were already in London and raring to get going on our holiday, whereas poor Mary was still on her way on an absolute killer of a flight - 37 hours in total, as she had flown from Perth via Melbourne (??!?) to Hong Kong and then to Heathrow. We met her at Heathrow Airport in the Wetherspoons Lounge (sweaty and stinky as she was!) and led her off to have a nice comfy shower before she began her next leg. We jumped on our Olympic Airlins flight which was delayed (apparently to be expected) and eventually arrived in Athens after midnight. To our horror, both Mary’s and Kellie’s suitcases had been destroyed (also apparently to be expected) but they were given new suitcases of the same or (in Kellie’s case) much better than the one’s that they had, so that all worked out okay in the end. Finally made it to our squishy room for four at the King Jason Hotel in Athens. Fell asleep immediately.

Wednesday 12 July
Never travel with someone who is likely to have jetlag! Mary woke up at 6am and got up to have a shower and get ready for the day. Honestly! I didn’t book any tours or anything on that day so that everyone (namely Mary) could have a nice sleep in and get over all the travel of the day before. Having had our sleep in rudely ripped from our grasp, we all decided to get up and go out to see what Athens had to offer. After a quick word with the people at the hotel, we decided to brave the Metro system, and worked our way over to the Plaka and did lots of shopping for things that we didn’t really need, but really WANTED. Had our first Greek lunch in a little restaurant in the Plaka. Returned to the hotel exhausted in the afternoon for a Nana nap and had a quiet dinner at a greek restaurant nearby. Nice lamb! Yummy!

Thursday 13 July
Bloomin eck. 8am Start for our day tour of Athens. Four girls, one shower and breakfast to be had. Once again a 6am start. Once again Mary up and awake and raring to go. Sheesh! So she got the first shower and then it was done in order of the people who take the longest to get ready. I had the last shower as I am the hardest to wake up in the morning and I have getting ready quickly down to a fine art (as I practice it every day in order to sleep in for the longest possible time). We were picked up by a tour bus to start our proper tour of Athens City. We drove through all the sites and stopped at the first Modern Olympics Stadium (not to be confused with the stadiums of 2004). After taking some pictures we were driven to the ruins of the Temple of Zeus and Hadrians Gate. Got a couple of great pics with the Acropolis and the Parthanon up on the cliff in the background. The our bus made it all the way up the cliff so we could walk up the cliff and see the Ampitheatre of Athens (very old) and then the Parthanon which is the temple of Athena. Actually I’m now a bit confused about which bits are which with the whole Acropolis, but it was all very interesting. The best bit of the day for me though, was to go and stand on a hill nearby, which is where Paul was said to have preached his well-known sermon about the ‘unknown God’. We all sat on the hill overlooking the city for quite some time, trying to imagine what it would have been like 2000 years ago, when the Gods that were worshiped were made of stone, and what it would have been like to bring a living, breathing God into that culture or rampant immorality. It was enought to make you think lots.

Back to the Plaka and Monastiriki - more shopping and then back to the hotel for another Nana nap (to make up for the early start). We had to get up before too long however to prepare for our next tour - Athens by night. Unfortunately Mary wasn’t feeling too well, and couldn’t come with us, but the rest of us jumped on our small tour van with a couple of other aussies and drove around Athens and down to the port Piraeus looking at the city by night. Then back to the Plaka for a traditional Greek dinner with singing and dancing. Okay, it was at this point that we realised that all of the time we were shopping in the Plaka, we had not actually been in the Plaka at all. The Plaka was much, much better and bigger than we had realised. I had to groan though as I realised that this would mean coming back to do even more shopping now that we had found the real thing. The dinner and singing and dancing was all great fun, and Kellie and I both got pulled up onto the stage for some dancing and kissing (on the cheek of course). Lucky Katrina got to miss out on that!!

Friday 14 July
Up early AGAIN! When do we get to sleep in on this silly holiday?? Same process of waking up at 6am in order to be ready for the bus at 8am. This time our busy took us west of the city out to Corinth. We were all very excited at the prospect of going to see this ancient city in which Paul lived for quite some time. Oh to walk in the footsteps of Paul and other Christians who lived so close to the time of Christ. Corinth had excellent ruins, however for Katrina and I who had seen the ruins of Ephesus before, Corinth wasn’t quite as exciting. Kellie and Mary had not yet been to Ephesus yet, so it was very exciting to be able to run around and see all of the old building etc.

In the evening we went back to the REAL Plaka for some dinner, and more shopping, and Mary bought a beautiful painting which we expect to see hanging up at her house sometime soon (and not sitting and mouldering in a corner somewhere).

Saturday 15 July
Yawn - Never ends this getting up early business. This time it was to go to Delphi. I don’t think I had ever even heard of Delphi before, but apparently it was a very famous site with an Oracle in times of old. Set way up in the mountains in featured a Temple to Apollo and various other sites and a large museum. It was a very interesting day, albeit with lots of travel - 3 hours there and 3 hours back. Quiet dinner tonight and bed early.

Sunday 16 July
SLEEP IN DAY! NOTHING ARRANGED! NOTHING TO DO! WHAT BLISS! Slept in til lunch (with a scrappy getting up to grab some food and then back to bed). Then decided to brave the public transport to see if we could find our way to Voula Beach which is apparently one of the ‘nicer’ beaches in Athens, although it is a private beach which you have to money to get into (shock). Took us two hours to get there, only to find that the beach was CLOSED! Was really difficult to find as well as everything was written in Greek (it’s all Greek to me) and Voula looks like it is spelt ΒΟΥΠΑ. With the genius of Kellie and Katrina (and perhaps Mary, but definately not me) we worked out where we were going and were a bit disappointed with the public beach we ended up at. Greyish sand, dirty water, and thousands of fat greek people everywhere. Actually it was quite fun, and I felt very thin. There was no-one speaking english and we felt very greekish ourselves.

On the way back into Athens we had dinner at a beachside cafe and watched the sunset and got chatted up by a very arrogant Greek man who thought he was God’s gift to women. We were too kind to correct him….

Monday 17 July
Slightly later sleep in the morning - didn’t have to get up until 6.30am YAY! Then picked up by our own private taxi driver and taken to our Cruise Ship for a five day cruise around the Greek Islands. Happy, happy, Joy, Joy!! If you have ever pictured a cruise ship as a nice relaxing lay around by the pool and do nothing kind of holiday, then don’t do the trip we did. My goodness, I think I got to sit next to the pool once in five days. Spent the first couple of hours working out where everything was on the ship before we got to our first port - MYKONOS! Not quite was I was originally expecting, very rocky, but gorgeous once we got into the town. Absolutely like the picture postcards, lots of whitewashed walls, and cute little grottos and churches, and lots and lots of SHOPPING! Bought a gorgeous pair of pewter shoes, ones I had invisaged in my mind for months but had never actually seen in real life. We walked all the way through the town to look at the picture postcard windmills, and then left Katrina to spend a little time on her own, while Kellie, Mary and I went to have a cocktail in a sunset bar. Very, very expensive sunset that one, so we decided to enjoy it for all it was worth. Kels and Mary had a wine or two, and I ordered a cocktail without realising there was rum in it. Rum is very yucky! So I gave it to Kellie and Mary who both got a bit pissy! Was very funny for me, although a bit less funny trying to get them back to the Cruise Ship by 10pm in time for a massive dinner. YUMMO!

Tuesday 18 July
Will this never end? Up at 5.30 as we had just arrived in Kusadasi (Turkey) and our day tour out to Ephesus started at 7AM!! Madness! Where is the relaxation in that huh? So Kellie, Mary and I (Katrina stayed behind) made our way out to our bus and went hurtling through the countryside to the ancient ruins of Ephesus. I have been there before but was still very excited to return, but it was thrilling for Mary and Kellie. I think it is one of the most interesting ruins in the world. Unfortunately we had very little time and got rushed through the entire thing in just under an hour and a half and were given no time at all to go exploring. It was amazing to be able to sit in the ampitheatre, and to know that Paul had preached down there. To walk the streets knowing that the Apostle John and Mary, Jesus Mother had live there for a time. So much of it is still in tact and it is stunning! We were quite upset to arrive back in Kusadasi Port to find that we had been rushed through so that they could take us shopping to try and tempt us with Turkish Carpets, leather jackets etc. Everywhere you go in Turkey you get harrassed by shopkeepers so I was quite glad to get back on the boat - particularly as both Kels and I had booked a massage.. ahhhhh….

In the afternoon, our next stop was Patmos Island where John was given the vision which became Revelation - the last book in the bible. Apparently he was given this vision in a cave which has now become a Greek Orthodox Shrine. Wasn’t too much into the shrine - was a bit gaudy for me but was quite happy to stay outside and think about John wandering through the hills. Katrina was very useful in Patmos, as she arranged for us to get a taxi for a very small amount to each of the places of interest instead of paying the exorbitant amount for the local tourist buses. Well done Katrina!

Big breakfast, dinner and lunch today. Starting to feel like I am really putting on weight….

Wednesday 19 July
Docked at Rhodes at 7 this morning - but knew that we had the whole day there so we decided to sleep in just a little longer until at least 7.30am. Katrina however was up and ready and out to see if she could save us some more money (Go Katrina). Apparently to get a bus to the places we needed to go, was going to cost us 45 euro each. But she got us a taxi all to ourselves for the whole day for just 120 euro - 30 euro each. Definatley the way to do it if anyone else is thinking about going to Rhodes. Rhodes is the home to one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the world (which is no longer there). It also has a large medieval fortress, more temple ruins, pottery, and St Paul’s beach, where apparently St Paul came into Rhodes at once time (he really did get around, our Paul). So we drove around, looked at things, went for a swim at St Paul’s beach but decline to climb up a cliff to see more temples (we had seen enough). Then back to the ship for more food (the kg are starting to show now).

Tried to get Kellie and Mary to go dancing with me tonight, but everyone was too tired!! What is with us all? Are we getting old??????

Thursday 20 July
Another blooming early morning as we arrive at Crete to go and see the Palace of Knossus which would have been fascinating had we not already been ruined out. Home to an ancient civilization which were much more civilized than the Romans - absolutely fascinating. Apparently the whole things had been covered with Ash when the Santorini Volcano blew itself 3000 years ago or so. Then off to the museum which was interesting, but I had had enough by then, so back to the boat for us.

In the afternoon we stopped at Santorini. Now this is an interesting Island situated on a volcano. Had to wait for an hour to catch a cable car up to the town, and an hour to catch it back down again. We were only there for four hours, so that was two hours gone. We spent most of our time trying to get a photo of the typical blue domed, white washed church. After an elusive search for over an hour, we finally asked someone, only to be told that they had just white washed all the blue domes and turned them white. Typical! We returned down the cable car at sunset, and got to see our last incredible greek sunset. Beautiful.

After yet another large dinner, we decided that we were finally going to brave the dance floor, only to find it covered in 15 to 22 year olds. Yick! Decided to give the whole dancing thing a miss and admit that we really are just getting older. Walked out of the disco to find a young girl throwing up all over the floor - twas lovely! Last night on the cruise Back to London tomorrow.

Friday 21 July
Last early morning - 5.30am start to be off the boat by 7am. Then picked up by our taxi driver to go straight out to the airport. A bit disappointed as we got there by 9 and our flight wasn’t until 2pm - but we got there so early that they put us on the earllier flight leaving at 10am. YAY!! Well it was yay, until we went through the security check to find out that I had put my brand new Swiss Army Knife (a new present from my best friend Marianne in Perth) in my carry on luggage. It got immediately confiscated, and I got immediately into tears. They were very nice and agreed to put it back into my hand luggage and put that through checked in luggage. So I got to keep my knife, but lost all of my books etc for the flight home. We got back early enough that Kels came back to Putney for the afternoon (and to do some shopping) before heading back to the airport for her flight home that evening. Oh the tears. I miss her still

Saturday 22 July
Mary and Katrina were still staying at my house all squished into my bedroom. We got up 1pm - watched tv all day, did nothing. It was great!

Sunday 23 July
Goodbye to Mary and Katrina (more tears and sadness) - and then off on my next adventure. To be continued……

PHOTO ALBUM - To see a few more photo’s of our trip - check out our photo album.