JB's Homepage

After waving off to Mykono’s we set sail to our next and final Greek Island, the stunning Santarini. Santarini is supposedly one of my most naturally beautiful Greek Island and is a little bit unstable as it surrounds and underwater volcano that last went off over 4,000 years ago that blew up the island so high that chunks of it have been found as far as Greenland.

Coming into port at Santarini, you can get an idea of scale of this island…

Those white dots on the top is not snow but a bustling town of white houses, and that 10 story cruise liner is about a kilometre from the coast line.

We soon docked and jumped on to the bustling port and set to find our ride.
Can you spot the sign for “Smith & Williams”… It’s there somewhere…

Jumping on the bus I sucked in my stomach as we drove on the tight windy roads up the mountain. I’m not sure what possessed the original inhabitants to build up such a high mountain and carve out an existence here. I think it has to do with the islands surrounding in such a way to make a perfect port about 2000 years ago, but the Volcano has caused earthquakes sinking parts so it’s not so perfect now-days.

In any case, Santarini is simply breathtaking!

The weather has taken a turn for the worse and settled in for a very miserable, windy, cold and wet two days. The girls didn’t want to leave the warm and cosy Hotel Charisi, so Ben and I set on an adventure to explore as much as we could come rain hail or shine!

Unfortunately I don’t have very many photo’s to detail the exploration as we spent the day mostly on scooters. I did take a couple of movies holding the camera with on hand and driving with the other, however these will have to wait until I return to Australia to be youtube-a-rized.   

Have a guess which way is correct with this sign?

If you said right, you’d be wrong! It does take you to a ‘look out’ to see Super Paradise beach but doesn’t actually take you to the beach itself. No matter we just wanted to see what it looked like, but it was quite fun to see other tourists drive by, stop, scratch their heads and then roll the dice to decide which way they’d drive.

Feral cats are everywhere on the island. I saw one during lunch walk past with a lizard tail wiggling widely out of its mouth. The locals seem to love these feral cats which does worry me somewhat. If this were Australia it would be shotgun season to try and protect the local environment. I guess in some way the cats are kind of ‘native’ if you consider they’ve probably been here for over 1000 or so years like humans have. But it’s a bit strange none-the-less.

Ben and I travelled around 90 kilometers and when you consider the island’s edges is 119 kilometers we saw quite a bit of it! At the top of the island there is a beach that is kind of a basin for all wash up, and with not a soul around we decided to explore as best we can from the comfort of our scooter seats.

You’ll have to wait for various antics on youtube of us testing the bikes off-road capabilities when I get back to the land of Oz.

Unfortunately the weather was so bad and the water so choppy that the day we were due to head out to our next island our boat was cancelled. This was a pain, but Ben and I were ready to brave the wind and rain to bring the girls back pizza and watch some movies on my laptop.

Again the hotel we stayed at was very homey and accommodating handing us plates, cutlery, and cups every time we had a meal in the open area there. It was great to relax and recharge our batteries as the wind howled outside bashing on the windows.

Of course I would have preferred sun-shine and less wind, but we did had an awesome time anyhow!

Waking up to a bright and sunny Mykonos we took advantage of the beautiful weather and decided to explore the island as best we can. First order of business was to teach Ben how to operate a scooter, and convince the hire shop that his Australian Motorcycle Learner’s would qualify him to ride one… Good news is, Ben is a quick study and we were on the road!

Of course, the only problem is to figure out exactly -how- to get where you want to go. The Map we had was fairly useless as it was designed for kids with colouring in pencils and had no detail whatsoever. No mater, we couldn’t get -that- lost and luckily our hotel was close to the main town.

The problem with Mykono’s streets is that most of them are dead ends. You may think you’ll be able to reach your intended destination if you head in the right direction and indeed you’ll be damn close and see it but encounter rocky mountains or man-made walls.   

It mattered not though as we had so much fun exploring the old tight roads and weaving through traffic.

The girls were a little concerned riding on these old noisy scooters. It is the way to travel on this island though as many lanes are two way but are only big enough for a single car. So unless you’re a local and know the tricks I think scooters are the way to go. Plus the top speed on the island is officially 60km/h, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the traffic.

I’m not sure if there is any official police presence on the island, as it seems everyone does what they want to do. Our guide warned us to wear our helmets or face $350euro fine. To be honest, I think our heads our worth more then any damn fine and I find it silly for so many cyclist riding around without the right gear.
The whole island has a feeling of a bit of the ‘wild-west’ in terms of lack of law and order. Nothing serious, indeed it’s a great feeling laid-back carelessness that’s just what we need to kick back and relax.

In the evening we decided to head up to the lighthouse which we’re told has the best view of Sunsets on the islands. Unfortunately for us we never quite made it to the light-house. We got to about 200-meters of it from the wrong road, but it was breath-taking view none-the-less.   

Here’s three of us looking at the various wonders from the top of the mountain with Cara taking the happy snap. Speaking for my beautiful wife here she is with me as the Sun as finally settling.

You can tell the weather is a little bit cold. It’s nice and warm when the Sun is out but a bit chilly and very windy otherwise. I loved running around on the Scooters exploring this island with Cara sitting behind as a pillion rider.

I’ve always favoured visiting new places on two wheels instead of four. You can see more, feel more, smell more, and if you want to stop you can park virtually anywhere. To be honest we took these little scooters father and on far more steep and rocky roads then they were originally intended. There were a few moments with two people on a single scooter simply didn’t work as we ascended some very steep peaks.

So naturally the girls had to jump off as Ben and I raced up to see if the view was worth it!

Greece relies on tourism to survive. The Greek islands are a bunch of islands similar to Australia Whytsunday’s islands in some ways as they’re geared for tourists and have vast stretches of natural beauty. Cara and I were looking forward to this final part of our trip as we’ll finally be able to relax instead of dragging our bags across half of Europe!

There were also a couple that were going to meet us in Athens for a boat ride as well…

Yes it’s my old mate Ben “MasterCyl” Routeledge and his radiant wife Vikki! The above photo was taken aboard the Ikathaki on our five hour boat ride from Athens to Mykanos. We all had much to talk about and the time passed quickly with stories and news from home. It’s not very often you get to spend time overseas with mates so it’s always great to take the opportunity when you can!

Also another advantage of having friends with us is that they can take photo’s of us for us! Cara and I have been working on our trick ‘hold the camera with one arm and smile’ myspace style shots, but now it’s time to trade camera’s with Ben or Vikki.

It was an awesome boat ride with our new crew of Aussie’s, and docking at midday in Mykonos we were greeted by a guide, picked up by a bus and taken to our hotel. Easy street!

Ben and Vikki were still quite exhausted from their 20 hour Airplane ride just as we were in Paris nearly three weeks ago. So they retired to their rooms early 18h to have a nap. I however had my eyes on a vehicle hire shop only ten minutes walk from our accommodation….

Cara heard a noisy scooter pull up outside our room and wouldn’t-ya-know-it, it was her crazy Husband who had found a scooter to travel the roads of Mykonos! She ran downstairs and jumped on quick-smart as we cruised the empty streets of this awesome little island to find a nice spot for the on-coming sunset.

You have to agree, Mykonos is positively gorgeous.

We rode for an hour and found a nice little spot in an urban area not too far away from our hotel. Stopping to take the beauty in of the horizon we cuddled up and watched the sun drop over the horizon.

The sunset was fantastic, especially being able to watch it drop over the sea. The constant fog (or I suspect pollution haze) reflects the Sun’s rays as it dips down and creates some beautiful pinks and purples.
Cara and I jumped back on the scooter and cruised back home.

Our accommodation here in Mykonos is fantastic, and is very spacious compared to our previous Hotels in our Europe trip. It’s fun by an old Husband/Wife who barely speak English but have hearts of gold and are genuinely warm and welcoming. We spent quite a lot of time communicating with hands and making various noises that are generally universal, but in the end we got there.
Unfortunately for us the electricity has blackouts in our hotel between 8h-18h as there is work on old water pipes nearby. This wouldn’t be a problem except this also means no running water as it’s all pumped… You can imagine trying to ask an old Greek lady for a bucket of water to flush a smelly toilet.

Ben and Vikki rose from their slumber later on in the night and I ferried them and Cara to the main town for dinner at a cute little outdoor Greek restaurant. To be honest the town is only 15 minutes walk away, but why walk up a hill when you can motor up one?

… do as the Romans do! It was our operation to find out what exactly do Romans do in our two day trip to Roma. I’m calling it Roma instead of Rome, because that is the name it was called over 2000 years ago and still is today by the Italian’s and most other languages. The English language loves to rename things, but I thought since we’re in Roma…

This city has to have more archaeological ruins in it then beggars/hustlers, and there are a lot of beggars here. It’s crazy, as soon as we arrived in from ‘Termini Station’ (the main train station) and started walking to our Hotel we found an ancient church falling apart and a statue both over 1500 years old.

It is truly amazing to imagine how the Romans lived their lives and to see pockets of their past scattered through-out the city. More-so from a Westerners perspective as we have so much in common with Roman culture. The Republic, organised buildings, entertainment, running water, taxes, and so much more. Sure they didn’t invent a lot of that, they copied bits from various cultures but they definitely showed the world how to bring it all together.

Cara and I were starting to feel the effects of sight seeing from our previous trips, but we were determined to see as many sights as we could see in our short stay here!

Here we are outside of the Trevi Fountain, which is actually quite a new area built only 300 years or so ago. It was commissioned by a Catholic Pope but it has very little to do with Christian’s at all and has a very distinct Roman look to it. The water flows from on of the oldest aqueducts in Roma and is so pure that people used to bottle it up and take it home to save for the best Tea and drink for longer life. It turned into a bit of a tradition to take a drink from the fountain to ensure your return back to Roma.
This happened until around 1960 when for some reason or another the Italian’s didn’t like everyone taking the water so they changed the myth to instead flip a coin into the fountain instead of drinking it. Then they wanted more money to maintain it so they changed it to two coins instead of just one.   

You’ve got to love Human decisions and Human motivations behind things. Most of the grandest things made by man in this world have very distinct Human flaws and most importantly humour hidden in the work.

One of the biggest ruins here in Roma has to be the Colosseum…

The scale of this place is pretty staggering, especially when you considered when this thing was built.

This photo was taken inside the Colosseum, and whilst off-centre you can see the tiny little pixels of people on the ground and first level. Over 70,000 spectators could watch the spectacles take place in the Arena. The very word Arena I learnt later comes from this place. Of course Roman’s didn’t call it ‘The Colosseum’ back then, they called it the Amphitheatre Flavio.

Cara and I were a bit shocked to see the hour or so line-up to get in. Luckily we found an English tour guide that was about to head in, and these guys get to take the express gate through. So we paid a little extra for the guide and went in as a group. This has been our first ‘tour guide’ experience since we arrived in Europe but I’m so glad we chose to do it as we both learnt so much more about Roma.

Did you know Roman’s invented cement? And had bricks to use them with! After travelling through old Castles in France that were built around the time Roma was created it’s crazy to see the precision in the Roman work. The Romans had standard size bricks instead of haphazard stones. Each brick was stamped with the Caesar at the time, and here is an example of some bricks from the Colosseum…

Today of course the Colosseum is not at all similar to its former self. I would say ‘former glory’, but the Jews might not consider that very nice as the Colosseum was built with the help of about 40,000 Jewish slaves and a lot of the raw materials were ransacked from the Jewish Revolt. And once they completed the Colosseum in less then Eight Years (!), they were we rewarded by being eaten inside of it by Lion’s and Tigers.

I love it how our Italian tour guide pointed out things in the Colosseum and how they were ‘recycled’ instead of ransacked. This place would have been monumental even in today’s standards. White marble was everywhere and now there is not a single piece. You can see pock marks all throughout the structure, we were wondering what they were for… turns out they’re holes made by people stealing the Iron that was used to support it. Now days there is not a single piece of original Iron in the Colosseum.

It is a bit sad to see all these old buildings deteriorate so much by the hand of man. I suppose that’s progress though.

On a taster note, using our Lonely Planet guidebook we found Roma’s supposedly best Gelati ice cream shop. Here’s Cara about to munch down on some Fig and Ginger Cinamon combo!

I ended up with Vanilla Bourbon and Honey infusion…. Mmmm it was sooo yummy!

We took an evening walking tour guide that went around most of Roma’s city. It was awesome because there weren’t that many people that came along, but they were all English speaking. At the end of the night we ended up at a restaurant and all had dinner together which was fantastic. There was an American couple who were on honeymoon as well us who were fantastic, two kiwi girls who were working in the UK on holiday and a handful of other American random’s.

After dinner was finished at around 22:00 our walking tour guide showed us as well as the Kiwi girls a bus to travel home. On the packed bus he offered a drink at his favourite pub to watch the end of a soccer match and we all agreed. Needless to say it was a great night with cheap Becks on tap and too many pints to count.

Cara was a bit miffed with me not being able to walk straight home through the strange streets of Roma at 3 in the morning but we managed to make it home safely without too many incidents.
I did wake up around 8 still very drunk though… Vertigo sucks!   

I always wanted to drive up a mountain in Europe. You see it all the time in movies with those twisty turns and tunnels. Today we decided it was high time to drive up a mountain, and an awesome receptionist pointed out a castle on a map for us called Gourdon.

Traffic in France is interesting, here are a handful of observations from a wee old country town driver (Brisbane)…
- Lines on the road are just guides and do not mean you have to stay with in them, if you feel like driving on the wrong side of the road just do it until you see oncoming traffic.
- Indicators (blinkers) aren’t necessary and indeed useless, as most frenchies don’t understand that when you indicate you’re turning left it doesn’t mean you can turn right.
- Blind corners aren’t blind, you just step on the gas as you enter the turn! Also feel free to overtake on blind corners.
- Small cars in Australia are considered regular size here. And god help you if your driving a larger car/bus.    

I’ve been taking note of how scooters and to a lesser extent Motorcycles get around here. Scooters seem to be able to go literally anywhere including footpaths, so if the light is red and they’re in a hurry they’ll just pop on to the footpath, take the walking zebra crossing and jump back on the road.

I guess the general vibe is that people are trying to get to their destination as quickly as possible. Drivers seem fairly courteous, but if you’re slow they’ll do anything possible to get around you. And since I’m not a local and have no idea what’s ahead of that next blind turn you can guess I’m a little on the slower side.

In any case, driving up the mountain was a blast!

Here we are halfway up to Castle Gourdon, and we just had to stop to take a peek. Mountains and open landscapes like this simply don’t exist where I’m from, and was quite breathtaking to see. By this stage Cara and I were also taking a breather from the drive up as it was a little stomach churning. When we finally arrived to the castle we were blown away!

The castle is around 1000 years old, and why an eye opener for Cara and I. You can just imagine people living here and etching out a life over the years. On the far side of the castle was a restaurant overlooking the mountains with another breathtaking view.

We loved this place so much and wished we could stay a night here! Next time we’re around perhaps, I’m sure this castle will be here for another 100 years or so.

After a refreshing Pizza and Blanc Vin we drove down the mountain to Canne. The drive was a lot easier since we were hugging rock instead of cliff-face and pushed through the peak hour traffic. The Canne Movie festival is about two weeks away, so we could see quite a lot of preparation happening. Quite a few books we’ve read suggested that this town lives for the Movie festival and they’d be right as we found very little else there to keep us there.

Intent on enjoying the weather we drove along the coast and pulled up beside a beach. The Mediterranean Sea is a hell of a lot calmer then the Pacific Ocean and it seems a lot colder. Quite a few families were enjoying sun-baking on the beach as did we. I’m not sure about the rules here, but topless seems to be the way to go for women wanting full body tans!

I figured out that Gazoline means Diesel, refuelled the Citeron C3 and 22 litres we had done around 510 Kilometres. All in all a fantastic getaway day taken at our own time and exactly what I wanted to see in Europe with Cara.